The Secret of Goldenrod by Jane O'Reilly

Trina and her father travel a lot.  They rehabilitate houses, then move to the next project.  Trina's only regret is her mother.  She travels more than they do and she never comes home.  She loves the postcards she gets but she wishes she could see her.  She doesn't even remember what she looks like.  Right now, though, they are moving into a run down house that has seen better days.  It's in the middle of nowhere and the whole town is only 397 people.  She knows this is going to be awful...

Carolrhoda Books and Net Galley gave me the opportunity to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published October 1st.

Trina is a pretty cool kid who adjusts well to living in strange places.  The only hard part is school.  This school is even worse because they don't have computers, they have blackboards.  Not only that, the other students don't like her because she's new.  They make fun of her name (Citrine, which rhymes with latrine) and refuse to believe she's living at Goldenrod.  They all believe it's haunted.  It has its secrets but it's not really haunted.

This is an interesting tale with a talking doll (who imparts a lot of common sense to Trina), a communicating house, and moods that Trina can feel.  There's lots of activity and discoveries, including the history of the house and the death of young girl.

Trina learns how to make friends and with their help, she solves part of the mystery of the house.  She knows her father loves her a lot, has accepted that her mother is gone, and then she comes up with a scheme to find a permanent home.  Life is finally starting to come together for Trina.  This was a good read!