I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

"The king is growing old and is concerned about who will replace him. His new wife wants to produce an heir to the throne. The only problem? The king’s first wife gave birth to a son, and no one knows for sure what happened to him. Rumors swirl throughout the castle. The solution is simple: dispose of all orphans in the kingdom. Except, it isn’t that easy. Avery and her friends won’t go quietly. And what they’ve discovered could blow the kingdom apart."

The Glass Castle proved to be a great late middle grade/early YA read. Netgalley has listed it as "middle grades", however, I've included early YA readers due to the mild romantic overtures between several of the characters and the fact that the book does include the death of a very minor character. Throughout the book, I got the sense that even though the main set of characters are 13 years old (this is mentioned clearly several times) they talk, act, and respond as older children. Having teenagers myself, I would have put their age to be more along the line of 15-16 years old. This bothered me somewhat, as the book is being published as a work of religious fiction. As a Christian mother, I would prefer books geared towards my 13 year old to have little to NO romance and was surprised it was included in a religious fiction book for that age group. It would be more appropriate if the teens in the book were slightly older.

As for the religious aspects of the book, I felt that for the most part they were included in the book in a great way without feeling forced or awkward.

The plot of the book is fast paced with quite a few suspenseful scenes that kept me on the edge of my seat and made for a very long night of reading, as I was having trouble putting the book down.

Overall, I felt that even despite the slight oddity of the characters ages versus their behavior, I enjoyed the book immensely and look forward to reading the next in the series. ( )

Accidently got this YA book instead of the adult memoir, using the same title. Fun read, that I could imagine younger readers would get caught up in. ( )

I am reviewing this book, which is the first in a series, for my church library.
Wow. As an adult the ending drove me nuts! But I can see how and why the author did this as a book for kids.
I thought it was well written with just enough reference to God that it won't turn off a non-Christian while showing that it's ok, and sometimes necessary, to pray for your life. ( )