I can't begin to tell you how happy I am to have found this book. It seems like all preteen/teen entertainment involves one of three things:

1. Princesses (or female characters so self-absorbed that they might as well be princesses)
2. Kids who are wiseasses and have no respect for adults in their lives
3. Vampires

Chloe Diggins is no princess, and as far as I can tell, she's not interested in dating vampires. :)

Chloe is smart, warm, energetic and curious. She's learned quite a lot from her father, and that knowledge guides her on a tremendous adventure in a foreign land. She's the kind of kid that I wanted to be, one that's smart enough and strong enough to solve a 500-year-old mystery and save her family in the process.