Black Butterfly - Softcover

"A very charming, witty, and suspenseful young adult novel about a haunted inn in Maine, ghosts, first love, and getting to know oneself. Highly recommended." R. Barri Flowers, author of Ghost Girl in Shadow Bay "The Black Butterfly is a hauntingly delicious mix of ghostly adventures, budding romance, and page-turning intrigue that will have you breathless up until the end." Marley Gibson, bestselling author of the Ghost Huntress series "Highly enjoyable and hits all the right notes for a teen reader. Penny's voice rings so true." The Show Me Librarian "A great find for those readers interested in a bit of fantasy and romance very enjoyable. I was quite pleased to think I might meet Penny and George again. I think you might be too." Books, Teens and Magazines "Really enjoyed this novel This inn is packed with mystery, ghosts, and some romance. Quite an interesting adventure to read with lovely character development." The Styling Librarian "There's enough going on in this book to make me want to do more than hold hands at movie night, and for me to look forward to our families going to the same campground again next summer. Mystery, death threats, secrets, dream walking, ghost whispering, amazing food, angst and growing up well, you get the idea." Young Adult Forever "Aspiring foodies will savor Vernick's ghostly mystery and romance served up between meals at the Black Butterfly Inn things get exciting when the relationship between Penny and George heats up and details of an untimely death unfold." ALAN Picks " She is a wonder-filled gateway into the quirky hotel, Black Butterfly, and the sumptuous, lavishly described cooking of chef Rita George [the love interest] is charming, and his past with the hotel and the island adds to the lived-in feel of the setting Their relationship grows in a swoon-worthy rush over the course of a week and is fun to follow Along with romance, Penny also spends her time meeting the Butterfly's two ghostly residents, going on dream journeys, and learning about her mother. It is all a bit of a mess, but a delicious one, and the family relationships and other hotel residents provide enough grounding to make it work. By book's end, Penny's home life looks different most of the mysteries have been solved, and she is looking forward to a summer of more heavy smooching." VOYA Magazine

Penny is furious, and who can blame her? She has to spend Christmas break alone at the Black Butterfly, an old inn at the coldest, bleakest edge of America the coast of Maine. This "vacation" is the brainchild of Penny's flaky mother, who's on the other side of the country hunting ghosts. Penny most definitely does not believe in spirits. Or love. Or family. Until, that is, she discovers two very real apparitions which only she can see...and meets George, the handsome son of the inn's owner...and crashes into some staggering family secrets. If only Ghost Girl didn't want Penny dead. If only George were the tiniest bit open to believing. If only she could tell her mother. Then maybe this could still be a vacation. But it's not. It's a race for her life, her first love, and her sanity. Shirley Reva Vernick is rapidly becoming the new hot item in young adult fiction. Her first novel, The Blood Lie, won the Simon Wiesenthal Children's Book Award, was silver medalist for the Sydney Taylor Book Award, and was an ALA 2012 Best Book for Young Adults. Her second novel, Remember Dippy a feel good adventure about a fourteen-year-old boy shepherding his older autistic cousin through his summer vacation was released in spring 2013 and won the Dolly Gray Literature Award from the Council For Exceptional Children.This time around, Shirley wanted to let loose with a page-turning coming-of-age romance mixed with ghosts and adventure. Shirley is the creator of the much visited storytelling website storybee.org. She lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.