An exciting boarding school adventure with some fab characters! Recommended!

😍 Clare, our MC, who got a scholarship at Sycamore Hill! She is smart, but not annoyingly so. I loved how hard she studied but I also love that she took time (with some motivation of Rose) to relax and do some other things as well. She was a sweet character and I love how, when she hears crying and sees someone in need, tries to help them out and comfort them. I also loved seeing her discover Sycamore Hill, find out all about it, learn about hockey, and it was great fun to see her feel more and more at home with each week.
😍 I loved the side characters (well, OK, not Sinead and her lackey). Rose was such a fun character and while she was rich she wasn’t flaunting with it, instead she wanted to help out her friends, I loved her courage and how she went for things if she wanted to go for it. Molly took me a bit to like, but as soon as she opened up I really liked her. Despite being a bit of a scaredy cat she fits in well with the friend-group of Clare/Rose and I loved seeing them do things together. Plus, there is Niamh the prefect and a really sweet girl who wants to help out the first years and make sure they are settled in and takes care to be nice to them. Nancy, one of the girls in Clare’s year group who was chosen to make sure the other girls did their things (forgot the name) and who didn’t abuse her powers once but instead did a wonderful job. And there are others! It was just so fun.
😍 The boarding school, the lessons, everything. I just wish I could step in this book and be part of it. I just love the sound of boarding schools and wish I could have gone to one (but we don’t really have them in my country, so sad). I would love to be part of a midnight feast!
😍 It is set in 1963, but it felt like it could have also easily been set earlier, 40 years but also 100 years. It felt ageless. No sure what the correct word is. The only thing that gave away the time were the music, the telephones, and some other stuff. I love that!
😍 I also love that the boarding school was mostly run by nuns, with a few exceptions of the day teachers that popped by. I loved the different personalities of the nuns, how the author took the time to make them really come to life.
😍 The mystery was fabulous! I loved the addition of a ghost/ghostly noises that set our girls off to go on investigation and find out more about the tower, if someone died, who that mysterious girl was that Clare saw, and also try to not annoy people with questions (because peeps in this book really do not want questions). I loved seeing the mystery grow and finding clues, getting hints, and slowly being able to form a picture of what happen. But the culprit? Well, that remained quite the surprise and I love that!
😍 The last part of the book was just fabulous. Exciting. OMG. Gasp!

😒 Why oh why do we always have to have a bitchy character in books like this? In this one that person is Sinead and I just disliked her from the first time we saw her and sadly she only got worse and worse with each new part. sighs

❓I really need a picture from someone for those beds. I still have no clue what beds those are and Google doesn’t help/doesn’t know either. And yes, it is a small detail, but since it is a vital part of their daily schedule it was mentioned often and my mind just constantly tried to form a picture… and failed. XD

All in all, I am just hoping and praying that we get more books set in this school with this group of friends, because I desperately need more!