The Last Resort, by Erin Entrada Kelly
From the publisher, Scholastic Press:
available September 2, 2025
Twelve-year-old Lila has two
goals for the
1. Win back the friends who
ditched her for being "too dramatic"
2. Stop being so dramatic
But then Lila's estranged
Grandpa Clem dies, throwing a wrench in her plans. Now she'll have to spend the
summer in Ohio while her parents decide what to do with Grandpa Clem's creepy
Victorian Inn. It's supremely unfair. How can she show off the "new and
improved" Lila from so far away?
Even worse, strange things
keep happening. En route to Ohio, the family gets into a scary car accident. No
one's hurt, but the remainder of the trip is... odd. At every rest stop, Lila
sees people in weird old-fashioned clothes. People no one else can see or
hear...
Lila convinces herself it's
just her overactive imagination until the day of the funeral when she spots an
old man sitting in her grandfather's favorite chair. She does a double take --
it's him, Grandpa Clem. He tells Lila that he didn't die of a heart he was
murdered. Possibly by someone who wants to control the inn. Because it's not a
normal bed & it's a portal between the land of the living and the realm of
the dead. A hotel for ghosts passing onto the afterlife.
With the help of her
skeptical brother, Caleb, and their new ghost-obsessed neighbor, Teddy, Lila --
the girl who's vowed to be less dramatic -- must uncover her grandfather's
killer AND stop the evil spirits desperate to make their way back into the
human world.
Enter the world of The Last Resort! Ghosts from the story will emerge from the pages of the book, allowing readers to talk to spirits from the past and help solve the mystery!
Phenomenal book! Perfectly crafted, excellent characters, the right amount of spookiness, ghosts and mystery. What a feat. I wanted to post this as soon as I read it, but wanted to wait until it was closer to coming out in Sept.
I loved that Lila was overly
dramatic with an active imagination – so many of us are that way – and it gives
us insight as to how others interpret that. It warmed my heart that Lila was
able to meet her grandpa, even if it is as a ghost. Estranged families may not
always see how it affects everyone in the family and why things are the way they
are. Regret is tough.
Seeing how the ghosts’
stories developed is always fascinating. Lila’s journey to being brave and
resourceful is satisfying, too. Love the cover!
Plus, there is a QR code to
interact with the ghosts. Book 2 comes out in Spring 2026 by a different
author. Is anyone having as much fun as I am? Loving this creativity and great
story telling.
Join in the fun and the mystery,
you won’t regret it.
