Great middle grade book! I think that it has just the right amount of fear-factor for it's targeted audience. Would definitely recommend!

*thank you to Netgalley and North Star Editions/Jolly Fish Press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

4 stars.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. It is a short, middle grade, horror story based on an actual true story. What more could you want for a middle grade scary story. The writing was well done and although my advanced copy did not have the illustrations, it was still a great book. The story kept me interested in what was going to happen next and it definatley reminded me of the movie, 'The Shining' which I have to say is one of my favourite movies. I would recommend this for ages 9-12 but even older people will also find this quite enjoyable.

Wow this was a very atmospheric middle grade ghost story based on a real person. I watched The Shining the night before reading this book (They are both based on The Stanley Hotel in Colorado.) and I had the hotel already in mind which made reading this story even more fun! It was a quick read for me but I really enjoyed the author's take on room 217 and the author's note at the end, which really added some history and depth. I loved the main character was a brave twelve year old girl named Jayla and how her seven year old brother really stuck up for her and followed her lead. This was a great book to read going into October and I hope to read more of this highly creative series!


Thank you to Thomas Kingsley Troupe, Jolly Fish Press, and NetGalley for an advanced ecopy of this book for a fair and honest review.

I love middle-grade books, ghost stories and haunted mansions. Granted, these kind of stories have been told thousands of times, but I never get tired of them, so I was expecting this to be a quick and entertaining read… but it fell flat. I kept waiting for some (predictable) twist to happen at the end, or at least for an explanation, but nothing of the sort ever happened. In conclusion, it was just pretty boring.

a good ghost story, definitely something that you would like to read during the autumn season or near Halloween!!

Quick read, so it was very easy to finish the book!

Really enjoyed the book and the story!

I really didn't know much more about this book except that it is a juvenile ghost story. It is, but with so much more. I had no idea that this was going to be a series based on Haunted America but geared to a younger audience.

I really enjoyed this and could see this series holding a young persons' interest. I didn't think it was scary but may be too much for some younger children. I would say the writing would be okay for young middle schoolers but the content may be better for preteens. Heck I am 42 and I liked it!

This is a children's Horror story, targeted at age 8 - 12. I'd say it's appropriate for that level, yet the writing is very good! It's part of a series of real life ghost stories, set in places where ghost sightings have actually been reported.

Jayla and Dion have to accompany their father, a landscaper, for a job in Colorado. It turns out that the hotel they stay in has a reputation for being haunted. Jayla is in seventh grade, her brother is a little younger.

As it turns out, the room they stay in has a resident ghost. When the children experience a sighting of the ghost, they set out to investigate.

I'm no expert on children's literature, but I think this was extremely good for the age group. The writing doesn't 'talk down' to the children's level so I was able to appreciate Jayla and Dion's adventure and concerns about getting into trouble for various things.

While the fear factor would be considered tame for the adult Horror reader, I think it pushed the scary parameters just enough to keep a child interested while not giving them nightmares, unless they're overly sensitive. It's still a ghost story and the dark can be frightening!

This would be an excellent choice for the sort of kid who enjoys Goosebumps or children's adventure stories.

I'm a Colorado resident and have visited the Stanley Hotel, so I just had to read this book. It's a nice spotlight on a spooky location, fun and entertaining. Perfect for your kid interested in ghosts, and great for more reluctant readers since it's fairly short.

Recommended, especially for my Colorado friends.

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Trapped in Room 217 (Haunted States of America series) by Thomas Kingsley Troupe is a quick, fun, and spooky MG horror story that is easily read by children from age 8 to 99. I love the idea for this series as each story features ghost stories and creepy mysteries from each state. But I have bit of a confession to make: I only picked this book up because of its setting. The horror fans among you are nodding knowingly right now, but for those of you who aren't familiar with the Stanley Hotel, let me explain: it's the inspiration for Stephen King's novel The Shining and Stanley Kubrick's subsequent film adaptation of the same name. Thomas Kingsley Troupe slips in a few clever nods to those works, but Trapped in Room 217 is definitely its own story. Troupe is more interested in one particular tale from the Stanley's haunted history than in hedge mazes or bloody elevators.

This installment tackles The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado.

actually knew about the location before i read the book, as excited as i was to read it, but i read it a lot slower than I normally when I love a book.. I was just so scared at 8pm trying to read this.. It doesn’t have the super creepy factor but still a well-written and interesting story. The author did a great job with the story and I was a satisfied reader!

Jayla and Dion go with their father to Colorado as their father has been hired for a job. They will be staying at the best hotel in town. It is the Stanley Hotel. Unknown to them the hotel is haunted. Their room is haunted by a ghost who was a maid for the hotel. When Jayla wakes up, she is scared when she sees the ghost. The ghost comes right up to Jayla’s bedside where the maid bends down and does something under the bed. What? Strange events happen such as straightening the bathroom after she and her brother have used the bathroom. The bathroom is straightened up with towels neatly folded on the towel racks.

While I read this novella, I found myself being in the room with the kids. It seemed so real! There are discussions between Kayla and her father about ghosts. Do they exist? This is a nice gentle story of a ghost. I didn’t give you all the experiences that Jayla and Dion had. You will not have nightmares from reading it. I highly recommend reading it!

Book Review
Title: Trapped in Room 217
Author: Thomas Kingsley Troupe
Genre: Paranormal/Family
Rating: *****
Review: The opening to Trapped in Room 217 was great, we meet Jayla and her brother, Dion, who move to Estes Park, Colorado for their father’s job in landscaping. However, it means pulling the kids out a little early for school, but they shouldn’t be there more than a week. I liked how this is a broken family dynamic as the mother left them a long time ago, so it is just Jayla, Dion and their dad.
Once they arrive in Estes Park they learn they are going to be staying in the Stanley Hotel which seems more like a mansion and instantly gives Jayla the creeps. However, she tries to settle in for her father’s sake and work is work but strange things start happening and she seems to be the only one who is noticing them. One night both sibling see the ghost of a maid from long ago and while both are scared they seem to sense that she doesn’t want to harm them. But as they are kids, their curiosity gets the better of them and they begin investigating the history of the hotel.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, Jayla and Dion head down into the tunnels under the hotel to investigate when their hear voices and the batteries in their phones mysteriously die. However, Reuben the caretaker finds them before they can become too scared and takes them back into the hotel. They tell him about their room being haunted and he lets slip that the ghost of the maid is called Elizabeth and that the hotel draws in both the living and the dead.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, the siblings find some help from hotel staff and learn that there are more and more ghosts residing in the hotel including Lucy a runaway who uses to live in the hotel until she was found and thrown out causing her to freeze to death and that she hasn’t left since. Jayla realises that Elizabeth is looking for something which is why she keeps returning to their room. The pair find the item they think Elizabeth is looking for and now all they can do is wait for her to return.
In the end, everything works out fine for the family. While the book does have a few scary moments they are quite on the tame side and would make ok reading for younger kids but not too young. I found I really enjoyed Trapped in Room 217 and I will be reading more from this author soon.

Jayla and Dion were on break from school. When their dad had to work in Colorado they thought it would be one great adventure. Little did they know that they were staying at the Stanley Hotel, one of the most haunted hotels in the area.
Jayla and Dion were typical children they were curious and looking for adventure, so when a ghost made an appearance in room 217, they were up for investigating. Plus, if it got Jayla out of maths homework than that was even better.
This story is perfect for children and adults who want a gentle ghost story, with its atmospheric feel to it, you got instantly drawn into the story. As I was reading this, Jayla and Dion reminded me of my own children and I did wonder what they would have done in that same situation.
A special touch was this hotel and room exists and if I lived in the Colorado I would definitely pay a visit. This was a quick read and I read it in one sitting. I am curious where this author will take us on his next haunted visit.

4 stars

This was such a fun story! It is about a young girl Jayla who ends up staying in the most hunted place in Colorado after her fathers job requires him to spend a week in Colorado. On the first night she and her little brother Dion see a ghost dressed as a maid in their room. They discover her name is Elizabeth, she was a maid who worked in the hotel up until her death. They discover that she is trapped looking for a necklace in their room. In the end they reunite her with the necklace.

The setting in this short novel was amazing – it helped create the eerie atmosphere that I really loved. Another thing I loved about this was the sibling relationship between Jayla and her little brother Dion , as someone who has a little brother this was a really honest account of what having a younger sibling is like. Also this gave me haunted mansion vibes and I used to love that movie. So the hotel in this novel is a real haunted hotel that the author actually visited which I thought was really cool.

The only issue I has with this was that the ending felt a little abrupt and I felt like it was quite rushed at the end trying to resolve everything.

I have a confession to make: I only picked this book up because of its setting. The horror fans among you are nodding knowingly right now, but for those of you who aren't familiar with the Stanley Hotel, let me explain: it's the inspiration for Stephen King's novel The Shining and Stanley Kubrick's subsequent film adaptation of the same name. Thomas Kingsley Troupe slips in a few clever nods to those works, but Trapped in Room 217 is definitely its own story. Troupe is more interested in one particular tale from the Stanley's haunted history than in hedge mazes or bloody elevators.

The majority of the story focuses on the ghost of Elizabeth Wilson, a former maid at the Stanley who is by and large a benevolent spirit. Her appearances are still quite eerie, though; when hotel guest Jayla wakes up to see the apparition at the foot of her bed, Troupe makes the reader feel like they are right there with Jayla, trying to hide under the covers and make sure they don't make eye contact with the spirit. The scariest encounter, however, occurs when Jayla and her brother Dion meet the other ghostly inhabitants of the hotel. I don't want to spoil that part for you, so let me just say that I read that part in bed with the lights off, and I was so creeped out that — even in 90-degree weather — I ended up with a heavy blanket over my head.

The story is compelling and the characters are interesting, but the climax of the story was incredibly frustrating for me. Jayla thinks Elizabeth is trapped in the Stanley, so she tries to help her spirit move on to a better place. However, the way Jayla plans to do this makes absolutely no sense. She ends up wreaking all kinds of havoc that never would have occurred had Jayla taken any logical action. I must admit it diminished my enjoyment of the book a bit. Still, it was a fun, spooky read, and I always enjoy hearing stories about the Stanley.

Trapped in Room 217 is a quick, enjoyable book for fans of history, horror, and the paranormal. There was no artwork available in the e-galley I read, so I'm afraid I have no opinions to give on Maggie Ivy's illustrations. But it's a fun ghost story with a creep factor enhanced by the fact that it's based on a real-life haunting, and I'm curious now to check out the other books in the Haunted States of America series.

Trapped in Room 217 (Haunted States of America series) by Thomas Kingsley Troupe is a quick, fun, and spooky MG horror story. I love the idea for this series as each story features ghost stories and creepy mysteries from each state. This installment tackles The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado which was the inspiration for The Shining by Stephen King. I liked it well enough as we learn about the background of the hotel and get to know the kids at the heart of the story. After all the build up, though, I was just a bit underwhelmed by the ending which didn't quite seem to be on the same level as the rest of it. The story is meant to have illustrations sprinkled throughout, but the ARC just includes a gap for the place they're supposed to be. I wish I could have had the opportunity to see them while reading if they'll be as great as the cover. Finally, I'm think going to have to keep an eye on this series to see where Ohio's installment will be set - my guesses are for the Ohio State Reformatory, the Buxton Inn, the Athens Lunatic Asylum, and the Ceely Rose House at Malabar Farm.

This was a cute (can a ghost story be cute?) fast paced story based on a true haunted hotel. Loved the characters and the author's personal experience at the end of the story.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book, which I voluntarily chose to review.

The right amount of spooky and funny. I found myself laughing out loud and also creeped the heck out. Its gonna be hard to sleep tonight xD. 

It surprised me to find out that this place, and thos ghost are real. I do wish the story had been a touch longer (it only took 45 minutes to read) and that some of the spookier elements of the story hadn't been left hanging. But overall, really good ghost story. 

An ecopy of this book was given to me by netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Note: I received a copy of Trapped in Room 217 by Thomas Kingsley Troupe via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Yasssss, Spring break is here! And what better way to spend it than sleeping in Colorado’s most haunted place: room 217 of the Stanley Hotel. Jayla Walters’ father’s job brings both her and her brother, Dion, to the spooky hotel, and right away, Jayla gets this inkling that something in this hotel just isn’t right. Heck, in the very first night, Jayla witnesses a transparent woman, donned in an old maid’s uniform, walk towards the bed. This routine occurs throughout the week, but what happens when Jayla and Dion break the maid’s nightly tradition?

Trapped in Room 217 is part of Thomas Kingsley Troupe's series, The Haunted States of America. This ghostly series uses real-life lore to create an entirely new and terrifying tale.

Trapped in Room 217 was such a quick read. If I wouldn’t have started so close to bedtime, I would have definitely finished it in one-sitting. This book literally takes just about one hour to complete. It also helps that Trapped in Room 217 is quick-paced, and begs for you to keep turning the pages.

I’ve never read a The Haunted States of America novel, so I was genuinely surprised to read a middle grade novel that centers around a very famous haunting. I absolutely love learning about real-life haunts. So, it really did please me to see that Thomas Kingsley Troupe’s book, >i?Trapped in Room 217, actually talked about Elizabeth Wilson, the maid who haunts room 217.

Also, bonus points to Troupe, because he actually stayed overnight at the Stanley Hotel, and had his own experience with another ghost named Lucy. I’m definitely adding ‘stay at the Stanley Hotel’ to my bucket list. It’s clear that Thomas Kingsley Troupe has a lot of knowledge on the paranormal, and, to be honest, he is #goals.

I found Jayla and her family to be absolutely adorable; especially as one of the goals for the kids in Trapped in Room 217 is to help free Elizabeth Wilson’s soul. Instead of running & hiding from the spirit, these two lil’ nuggets wanted to help. I’m sorry, but I’m gonna need a minute — that’s too precious.

It’s also worth noting that Trapped in Room 217 does have illustrations. Due to the fact that my copy was an e-ARC, the illustrations weren’t included yet, but I’m so excited to see a copy of the final book when it becomes available for purchase on September 1st.

I truly enjoyed my time reading Trapped in Room 217. It would make the perfect quick Halloween-read this season, and I definitely recommend if you’re looking for an eerie good time. I know that I definitely plan on searching for more of the books from the series.

I love finding middle-grade books that I knew I would have loved as a reader at that age, and Trapped in Room 217 is another to add to that list!

Trapped follows a sister and brother duo along with their father, as they visit the Stanley Hotel in Colorado. This is the hotel that The Shining was filmed in, so you know it's bound to have some scary stuff going on!

Despite being for younger readers, parts of this were actually creepy even for me!

This was a pretty intense book for a children's series. I appreciate the way the haunted areas were handled. It would have been really cheesy if there were ghosts floating around everywhere, but the voices and noises made it a more mature read. This book is perfect for kids that like scary stories.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Author: Thomas Kingsley Troupe
Publisher: Jolly Fish Press
Publication Date: 01 Sep 2018