The Key to Extraordinary by Natalie Lloyd

"Beneath the stars of Blackbird Hollow

by the shadows of the ridge

Down a path no man can follow

lies a treasure someone hid ..."

In this family every girl will have a Destiny Dream. The dream is always set in a field of flowers. Emma's mother dreamed of being a musician. Emma's grandmother, Granny Blue, dreamed of being a boxing champion. Emma does have her dream, but it is such a puzzling one. She sees daisies, violets, red roses and an old key. There is a legend about her home in Blackbird Hollow involving hidden treasure and now there is an urgency to find it because it seems Granny Blue is about to sell their cafe, named the Boneyard Cafe, because it is beside the graveyard - to an unscrupulous developer. 

Time is ticking but where is the treasure? What does the dream mean? Is there a way Emma Pearl Casey along with her two friends Cody Belle Chitwood (she lives at the Sweet Peaches Trailer Park) and Earl Chance can solve this? There are obstacles of course. Earl no longer talks due to a past dreadful trauma. Emma has a childhood facial scar which means almost daily taunts from the school bully Beretta Simpson.  But Emma does have support from her grandmother and her uncle with the delightful name of Periwinkle plus her wonderful brother Topher. I love that his girlfriend is called Waverley Valentine. 

Along with a delicious mystery, terrific character names in this book and time spent in a spooky graveyard, this book is also filled with a hot chocolate drink called Boneyard Brew. It contains a secret magical ingredient. And there are lots of warm muffins served in the cafe and also toasted banana sandwiches along with joyful jamboree nights of music and dancing. You will find yourself tapping along to the beat of the song - especially the one that seems to be explaining the way to the treasure. 

Blurb from author web page: Everyone in Emma’s family is special. Her ancestors include Revolutionary War spies, brilliant scientists, and famous country music singers—every single one of which learned of their Extraordinary Destiny through a dream. For Emma, her own Destiny Dream can’t come soon enough. Right before her mother died, Emma promised that she’d do whatever it took to fulfill her Destiny, and she doesn’t want to let her mother down. But when Emma’s dream finally arrives, it points her toward an impossible task—finding a legendary treasure that’s supposedly hidden near her town’s historic cemetery. If Emma fails, she’ll let down generations of her Extraordinary ancestors . . . including her own mother. But how can she find something that’s been missing for centuries and might be protected by a mysterious singing ghost?

I almost gave this one five stars because there are so many delicious turns of phrase used by Natalie Lloyd. Here are a few:

"Boneyard Brew is like hot chocolate with a heavenly twist. ... Once you've had a taste of Boneyard Brew, you'll never stop craving it."

"My brother can read people like a story. He knows when a smile's covering sadness and which sparkly-eyed look is a sure sign of a secret. He can hear a broken heart in the sound of someone's voice. He's especially good at reading me."

"The human heart is a big thumping miracle, I decided. What else in the world could keep beating after being so broken?"

"I think about how nobody knows how long they have in the world. And how we only get a certain number of words to say and share. I'd hate for the last words that come out of my mouth to be mean ones."

"Sometimes you don't realise how special a place - or a person - really is until they're slipping away from you."

The Big Empty - "Birthdays are the worst when you've lost someone you love. Other days are that way too, of course. Tuesdays. Fridays. Sunday afternoons. Holidays and school picture days and rainy days. There's at least a few lonely minutes hiding in every day one you've said goodbye to someone you love. But Birthdays are fierce."

A bouquet of quirks, whimsy, sweetness, and magic. Kirkus

Companion books:

Eight Keys

The Dollar Kids

Three Times Lucky

The Parker Inheritance

Moon over Manifest

The Higher Power of Lucky

I saw The Key to Extraordinary at a recent charity book sale. It was published in 2016 and so the print copy is no longer available but there is an ebook version. I have put two covers above - my copy is the white one but I prefer the purple and blue. I already knew the name Natalie Lloyd because I loved her book A Snicker of Magic.