Review: Great book for the Tweens!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 17, 2013
MY REVIEWI received a free copy of this novella which is 1.5 in The Morgan Sister's Series from the author Suzy Turner in exchange for my honest review. I read the book in as a mother of a once young teen, and as a book lover that also reads YA.The cover is really atmospheric, which fits in with daisy living in a cemetery. It also represents Daisy's situation well, everything looking dark, lonely and bleak for her.The female on the cover depicting Daisy is a really good match and certainly what I imagined Daisy to look like, with the bright copper red hair. If anything on the negative she looks slightly older and more mature than I thought Daisy would. I like the fonts and placement of the title, series title and authors name, they are prominent enough to be seen yet do not take over the whole cover which is good. It is right that the main character in the book Daisy be "center stage" and prominent on the cover.The blurb tells us a little about what Daisy is going through and put that together with the fact you will have read The Morgan Sisters, The Ghost Of Josiah Grimshaw, you should be really wanting to know more about Daisy as she has a somewhat brief appearance in that book.Daisy is quite a complex character really but Suzy manages to keep things in the book simplistic enough for the age group she is aiming for. The language is kept easily readable and not taxing to maximise the enjoyment of the younger reader. I would say the books are aimed at the younger end of the teen market, who can be an extremely critical crowd. The book flowed well and it did the job it set out to do which was to give us some background on Daisy and her life before she inevitably joins the Praxos Academy. There are mentions of songs in the book which I think will appeal to some of the younger generation. I did know the Coldplay song and I think linking the book title with the song being sung a few times in the book is quite clever. My only worry is will the young teens like it or will they think it a bit too far to go or twee. The teens these days are really mature for their ages perhaps too much so. Though I think the book will be loved by the tweens before they become cynical teens.As an adult reading the book, the language, words used and sentencing was quite basic making it an easy read. Don't take that comment as a criticism, what i'm trying to say is other than the simple layout on sentences and words this book could easily appeal to older teens and adults too. For me the book was an easy fly trough read, which as an adult it should have been. Will the books appeal to boys and girls? I think they will though this novella was probably more girl aimed. I still re-iterate my statement when I finished the first book, this could easily be a sensation such as Harry Potter! This novella reminded me a little of the Enid Blytons Secret Seven and Famous Five books. Would I have bought this for my daughter wen she was younger? Yes this is the type of book my daughter would have been reading at age 10+ as the language and content I feel are suitable from that age.So what did I think? Did I enjoy the book? Yes, I would remind I think it's aimed at the younger teen. Would I recommend the book? Yes to the appropriate age group.Will I read more of the series? Yes please! Will I read more by Suzy Turner? I will and I have read other books by Suzy.