Alright so I'm going to be honest, when I initially seen this book I had zero interest in it. The title Wretched Waterpark made my brain go "a haunted waterpark, that doesn't sound interesting at all" and thats probably because I personally don't like waterparks. But then my library lost a hold I was suppose to pick up and I was annoyed, and they had this in stock and I said "you know what, fine I'll read it, since I can't read the book I originally came here for" Thus I checked out Wretched Waterpark and brought it home, read it and...... Loved it. hahaha.

This was such a thrill to to read, and I'm glad my pettiness forced me to read it haha. You can feel the inspiration from A Series of Unfortunate Events flowing all through out this book, only a bit more mild. There are gothic tones, mysterious aunts, disappearing people, 3 siblings stuck at a GOTHIC themed waterpark, which I have to say sounds really intriguing, and might be a waterpark I would actually visit.

We follow Theo and Alexander Sinister-Winterbottom (I love that last name haha) twin siblings who get wrapped up in the mystery around the disappearance of Mr. Widow. The story unfolds slowly as Theo and Alexander determine if they are there for fun or if their parents have just abandoned them or if they have set up some elaborate summer scavenger hunt. Their aunt is a strange person who is surrounded by so much mystery that even the kids are confused in regards to her. I'm very curious how her part of the story will develop over more installments. Their older sister Wil is obsessed with her phone, but that's normal for her. Theo and Alexander meet Edgar, a teen around the same age as their older sister Wil, who works at the park and is right off the bat one of those side characters you just end up loving. Every character who works at the waterpark gives off Gothic vibes and White did a really good job with building them as you can't tell who can be trusted and who can't.

Theo and Alexander are great main characters, they work really well together, one is always brave and reckless the other is always cautious and worried. Its hard to like one more then the other since they are together at every moment and for them that's the best. They understand each other but they still try to make the other see reason. Not a lot of squabbling between them which I honestly didn't even notice, but it also didn't feel like they were being forced to get along, they just felt like they naturally got along. I do hope Wil will get more development in follow up books, as her one trait was "I'm addicted to my phone" and for me that got old really quickly, I'd like to see her developed more.

I have to say the direction the unveiling took in regards to the mystery around Mr. Widows disappearance caught me by surprise, and I love that. I feel certain villains will pop back up in later books, and that there is some larger story at play involving the children's parents. There are a lot of questions left over at the end that makes you want to come back and read the next spooky adventure the Sinister-Winterbottom's will embark on.

Wretched Water is full of Gothic tones and wild schemes with lots of mysteries afoot. A great spooky read for the season.

That was a really cute middle-grade book.