Cursed Cruise by Victoria Fulton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
**3.5-stars**
Cursed Cruise, by Victoria Fulton and Faith McClaren, is the second book in the Horror Hotel series. These books follow a group of teen ghost hunters, Chrissy, Chase, Emma and Kiki, who have their own YouTube show.
In the first book, which I haven’t read yet, the teens stay at a haunted hotel in L.A., that I am imagining to be like the Cecil Hotel. The events of that book are referred to here, but I don’t feel you need to read that one first. I didn’t and don’t feel my enjoyment of this was impeded at all.
However, I will say, after reading this, I definitely want to go back and read that one now. It sounds like it was intense, and I think the setting of the hotel would be really fun.
In this one, the teens get invited on the first voyage of a recently recommissioned cruise ship, the RMS Queen Ann, which gave me total QE2 vibes. I’ve read mysteries set on the QE2 and really enjoyed them, so was excited to see something similar in a Teen Horror novel.
The ship has a dark history, with many deaths and dark happenings occurring aboard over the years. It’s assumed to now be haunted.
The Ghost Gang is not the only ghost hunting team making this maiden voyage though. There’s another group, a bit older and more experienced then our mains, that cause a bit of tension.
They’re not very kind and the groups have a bit of a competitive spirit amongst them. They both have their sights set on a syndicated television slot. Chase, from our group, really has his heart set on getting that show.
There’s also a bit of romance in the group, with Chase and Chrissy in a relationship, and Emma and Kiki in a relationship. They do have an adult chaperone as well; I think it was Kiki’s Mom, although she wasn’t too big of a presence, I still liked having her there.
We follow along as the teens get settled into their cabins and begin investigating the history of the ship and the bizarre occurrences happening aboard. Chrissy is the one with the most connection to the supernatural, so we get a lot of those aspects from her perspective.
I thought it was interesting that the author’s included the ship’s perspective. You don’t see that very often, but when you do, I tend to enjoy it. I like the feel of a place, or thing, becoming a character unto itself. It’s interesting and I thought it was fun here.
Overall, this was good. I think the authors delivered on what was intended. If I were going to pin this down to a recommended age category, I would put it into a more Tween Horror niche than YA Horror.
I feel like this is more advanced than a Goosebumps, but may best be enjoyed by Readers aged 11 to 14. It’s a great stepping stone to more advanced Horror. I know I would have loved it had it been a part of my Point Horror line-up from the mid-80s. Totally cool.
Thank you to the publisher, Underlined, for providing me with a copy to read and review. This was cute. It definitely had a nostalgic feel for me!
