The Key to the Golden Firebird, Maureen Johnson

The Key to the Golden Firebird by Maureen Johnson, reviewed by Eleanor

Author: Maureen Johnson's Website

Publisher: HarperCollins Publisher

Buy this book: Amazon uk/Amazon us

Number of pages: 297

What is this book about?

As three teenage sisters struggle to cope with their father's sudden death, they find they must reexamine friendships, lifelong dreams, and their relationships with each other and their father. (goodreads)

Who should read this book?
If you like Sarah Dessen, you'll definitely like Maureen Johnson.

Star Rating: 3 Stars

Would you have tea with the protagonist? Yeah, I guess. Although she's pretty busy holding her family together to do anything for fun.

Would you fall for the main love interest? No, Pete is sweet but a bit too annoying for me.

Would you want to 'strain' the main antagonist? The books I have been reading recently have had a severe lack of obvious antagonists. I'd say May's nemesis is her past. And yes, I would strain it.

Were the characters three dimensional? Yep.

Do you like the authors flavour of writing? It kept me reading so yes.

Was the writing strong or weak? It was an easy read.

Was the ending to your taste? At the very end it was but there were a couple of things that happened towards the end that I didn't really care for.

If this cover were tea, would you drink it? No.

Favourite Quote: "The funny thing about stop signs is that they're also start signs.”

Overall: This is a good read, written in a style similar to Sarah Dessen's novels. I preferred it to '13 Little Blue Envelopes', (the first book I reviewed!) just because I liked May more than Ginny, but they are both great books. I read this fairly quickly, in about a day I think, so it's not a difficult read at all and the ending is nice!

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Unrest, Michelle Harrison

Unrest by Michelle Harrison, reviewed by Eleanor

Author: Michelle Harrison's Website

Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK

Buy this book: Amazon uk/Amazon us

Number of pages: 375

What is this book about?

Seventeen-year-old Elliott hasn't slept properly for six months. Not since the accident that nearly killed him. Now he is afraid to go to sleep. Sometimes he wakes to find himself paralysed, unable to move a muscle, while shadowy figures move around him. Other times he is the one moving around, while his body lies asleep on the bed. According to his doctor, sleep paralysis and out of body experiences are harmless - but to Elliot they're terrifying. Convinced that his brush with death has opened up connections with the spirit world, Elliott secures a live-in job at one of England's most haunted locations, determined to find out the truth. (blurb)

Star Rating: 3 Stars

Would you have tea with the protagonist?
No. He's a bit boring to be honest.

Would you want to 'strain' the main antagonist?
There isn't a main antagonist in this book but I would definitely want to strain all the restless ghosts that won't leave Elliott alone as well as overprotective Hodge.

Were the characters three dimensional?
They were.

Do you like the authors flavour of writing?
Yes.

Was the writing strong or weak?
Strong.

Was the ending to your taste?
No, not at all. I really enjoyed the book until the last 15-20%.

If this cover were tea, would you drink it?
No. It's quite a creepy cover.

Overall: I was really really enjoying this book until, as I have mentioned above, I got close to the end and just didn't like where the story was going anymore. The characters were actually great, okay a little boring but I still really liked them, and I thought that the relationships between them were interesting and realistic. I think the main problem for me was that I can read very fantastical books and I can also read very real life books, but this book was a little bit too much 'in between' for my liking. I am not superstitious at all and so, no matter how realistic an out of body experience might feel, I would not ever think that it was anything other than my mind doing crazy things. I started this book in that mind set and so when it became clear that the dreams in this book were in fact something other than just a mind playing tricks, in my eyes it became unbelievable and a little silly. I know that this is a fiction book and so ghosts being real is absolutely fine but, for me, it didn't really work. Saying all that, up until the end I really was hugely enjoying this book and the twist at the end (not the ghost one) was really surprising, which was great, so I would still recommend this if it sounds like your sort of thing.

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