Ladies of the Lake

Plot: this book is the third book in the Gilda Joyce series. This time 13 year old Gilda Joyce gets a scholarship to go to an all girls Catholic school called Our Lady of Sorrow in the Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills. Gilda's first choice was not to go, but when she went to go check the school out she found out that someone had accidentally suicided themselves on the lake in the school. Since Gilda is a "psychic investigator" she decided to go to the school and find out what really happened. In order to solve this mystery she has to encounter the headmistress, a group of senior girls, a handsome teacher and some pretty crazy stuff. This book was definitely full of thrill, excitement and really good cliffhangers.



Character Description: the characters i am choosing to describe are Dolores Lambert, the girl who drowned in the school lake, and Brad, her mom's cuckoo boyfriend.

• Dolores- she was the freshman girl that died because she drowned in the lake. I do not know much about her because it doesn't really talk about her except when the headmistress mentions the bridge outside the lake. this bridge was built after her death to make sure no one would take short cuts and only use the bridge. I know that she was dared to go somewhere but she didn't make it, i know this because it says it in the first chapter.


• Brad- he is Gilda's mom's boyfriend who got Gilda the scholarship. In the beginning of the book he moves in with the Joyce family and later on in the book he starts acting suspicious so Gilda and her older brother spy on him. He is described as a clown by Gilda but as a gentlemen by Gilda's mom. He doesn't get the spotlight to often in the book.

Your Thoughts: I really enjoyed this book because it was full of twists and turns that were unexpected. The part i liked the most in the book was when she figured who was behind the drowning of Dolores. I liked this part because it was completely unexpected and she figured it out in a cool way that wasnt dangerous. I was surprised that a girl like Gilda could figure out the people behind the death in only a short period of time.

Reading Strategies: the reading strategies i used were questioning and mental images. I mainly used questioning towards the end of the book when Gilda was figuring out the suspect(s) were. I used mental images in the beginning when it described Dolores walking in the freezing cold blindfolded. I also imagined when she fell into the ice and inhaled the icy water instead of oxygen.

Author Information: the author of this book was Jennifer Allison. She grew up in Michigan but now lives in Washington D.C with her husband and son, Max. The only books she has written are from the Gilda Joyce series which include The Ghost Sonata and Psychic Investigator. I like how at the end of most chapters she left off with a cliffhanger, which made me want to continue reading.