Book review: Lake Ephemeral by Anya Allyn

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Description:
Six children without memories of their early years can never leave the valley that gave them life.

Seven manors surround Lake Ephemeral, and their residents are hiding terrifying secrets. Seraphin Ferón was first brought to the valley of Lake Ephemeral as an eleven-year-old orphan, to meet a mother she'd never known she had. But before Seraphin arrives, her mother falls ill with a mysterious illness and is kept locked away in the attic.

After Seraphin arrives, she discovers that the vast estate is plagued by an exotic, massive species of carnivorous plant—named the Coffin Flower, capable of consuming humans.

No one can answer Seraphin the riddle of why the residents stay at Lake Ephemeral year after year or why no one ever leaves. She decides, at all costs, to find her way into the attic and finally meet her mother. In the events that follow, Seraphin will be propelled into a horrifying new existence.

Teen science fiction for all ages. A group of scientists, a hidden valley, mystery, carnivorous plants, genetic experiments and thrilling adventure. Contains love and romance scenes that might not be suitable for ages under 14.

Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)

Review: 
This was a well-written novel that kept my attention through its story-telling and sense of mystery,  keeping me off-balance for much of the time.

As soon as Seraphin arrives at Lake Ephemeral, we learn of how odd the place is. The residents act not quite how you'd expect normal people to, and things start to happen to Seraphin that seem to be unnatural. With books like these, one of the fun parts is trying to figure out what's really happening as I'm reading the story. Sometimes I uncover the secrets early on, which leaves me disappointed. However, I'm happy to say that Lake Ephemeral kept me guessing throughout the book. There are gradual reveals along the way, which is great, because as revelations are made, they also bring up new questions, so I was constantly trying to keep up in figuring out the mysteries within the novel.

The last part of the book, once most of the strange happenings have been explained, turns into an action tale, which was also entertaining. Overall, I really enjoyed reading Lake Ephemeral and recommend it to all readers.