Winnie Wednesday's future is looking bright. Hemlock Falls is no longer hunting the werewolf, she and Erica Thursday are tentative friends, and Winnie finally knows exactly where she stands with Jay Friday.

With everything finally on track, Winnie is looking forward to the Nightmare Masquerade, a week-long celebration of all things Luminary. But as Luminaries from across the world flock to the small town, uninvited guests also arrive. Winnie is confronted by a masked Diana and charged with an impossible task-one that threatens everything and everyone Winnie loves.

As Winnie fights to stop new enemies before time runs out, old mysteries won't stop intruding. Her missing father is somehow entangled with her search for hidden witches, and as Winnie digs deeper into the long-standing war between the Luminaries and the Dianas, she discovers rifts within her own family she never could have imagined.

What does loyalty mean when family and enemies look the same?

In this third book of the Luminaries series, The Whispering Night, Susan Dennard has created an emotional and intense conclusion to Winnie's story, with fast-paced action and tons of intrigue and secrets revealed.

From the very beginning, the narrative jumps directly from the previous book into the search for answers and clues as to where the missing source is. Jay, Erica and Winnie are working together but new challenges arise for them all including the Dianas. What makes this so exciting is the action and all three working together to resolve the impossible. I love how surprising the ending is and how joyful.

If you like young-adult urban fantasy, this is well-written with complex solutions and interesting outcomes. The characters are layered, the story is emotional and intense and the ending is one of the best I've seen, wrapping up things in Winnie's world but leaving a dangling thread for the overall world. I certainly hope to see more from the world of the Luminaries.

Rating: 5 out of 5 crows. ~~ Andrea Rittschof

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