That killer just happened to be the father of her ex-boyfriend, Nash, and afterward, Penny’s parents forced her to break up with Nash. Following the sudden death of her best friend, Sophie hopes that spending the summer with family on a remote Scottish island will be just what she needs.

I thought they were so deliciously creepy and unusual, as well as not being all that well known, so it seemed like a great starting point for a horror novel. Certain things – such as ghosts and haunted toys – were scary a hundred years ago but remain just as frightening today. I wanted Sophie to be quite normal, in contrast to the other family members, but her courage and determination are the things I most admire about her, as well as her commitment to find out what happened to her friend. I still think that the old Point Horror series from the 90s deserves reading, although those books might be a little harder to find now. I could almost imagine this book being played out as a movie, one with a lot of silence and creep-up-on-you scenes.You can find some quite interesting, and perfectly ghoulish, upcycled jewellery on places like Etsy, which are made from broken pieces of the dolls. There’s a particular thrill that comes from putting yourself in the mind set of characters who are going through hell. I think that you should always be aiming to scare yourself when writing horror, or else you can’t really hope to scare your readers – which is what we all want from a good horror story! In this young adult horror novel, a girl staying on a remote island suspects the tiny Victoria-era dolls in her family’s old mansion are up to murder. She favored dresses that were low-cut so she could show off her lovely neck and shoulders, and she always enjoyed being seen by others, to bask in the compliments about her beauty that often followed.

Losing our loved ones, or dying ourselves, is one of our most fundamental fears, so it’s a useful one to tap into for horror. Frozen Charlotte dolls are quite unique, and not all that many people seem to know about them, so I thought they’d be more interesting.Below is my version, composed from story lines found in the poem, ballad and other tales about Charlotte.

Author Guy Bass introduces SCRAP, about one robot who tried to protect the humans on his planet against an army of robots. This book is a real page turner and the tone is dark and cold which matches the setting of a small Scottish island perfectly. Charlotte’s mother pleaded, “Now Daughter dear, put this blanket around you for it’s a dreadful night and you’ll catch your death of cold.It’s commonly accepted that these dolls were didactic tools, physical representations of the consequences of parental disobedience. I'd love to see more historical type novels from Alex Bell in future, and eagerly await her next offering. Find out about the latest book in the 'Girl, Missing' series, Secret Sister, in this short video by author Sophie McKenzie.

Unfortunately, I haven’t visited the island myself, as there wasn’t enough time to fit this in when writing the book.

The story of Frozen Charlotte is a folk tale from the 19th century about a vain young woman who froze to death while traveling to a New Year’s ball in an open sleigh. The boring truth of it, Gabriel, is that I don't dress like this to hurt my parents or draw attention to myself or make a statement.