Summary
Tori and her mom are getting by. But it’s just the two of them. Expenses exceed income, and money is really tight.
When they get word that Great-Aunt Muriel has died, and she planned a contest for a family member to win the estate, Tori wants to try to win.
The contest is to see who is the last family standing after two weeks of living like a Colonial family. Farming. No electricity. Doing things by hand. Not only will Tori and her mom have to figure out how to leverage both of their gifts, but Tori’s going to also have to work against sabotage and the temptation of a teenage boy.
Review
I’ve mentioned before that I enjoy the MIX line of books from Aladdin. This is one of the books in that line, previously published under the title Colonial Madness.
The story is fun! Tori and her mom have an interesting dynamic since it’s been just the two of them for so long. And while Tori tends to be the serious one, she has a lot to learn about her mom. She sees only how they are different – not the things that make her mom special and capable in her own way.
For me, the contest was secondary to the mother/daughter story and the other things going on between the characters. I was frustrated by some of the adults and the ways they handed things that came up. But it all come together in a satisfying ending!