Review: The Shadow Cabinet - Maureen Johnson

The Shadow Cabinet by Maureen Johnson, published by Hot Key Books on 5th February 2015

Goodreads synopsis:
Grieving, shaken, and feeling very much alone, Rory's life as a member of the Shades of London has changed irrevocably. It's only been a matter of hours since Stephen was taken from her, possibly for ever. Her classmate Charlotte is still missing, kidnapped by the same people who tried to take Rory. Rory is no longer a schoolgirl haplessly involved in the dealings of a secret government unit. She is their weapon in a matter of life and death.

With hardly a moment to think for herself, Rory is back to work. Charlotte must be found -- as must Stephen, if he is even out there. Lines must be drawn and forces rallied. Something is brewing under London, something bigger and much more dangerous than what has come before. The Shadow Cabinet holds the key to everything, and it is up to Rory to unravel its mysteries before time runs out...

Review:
‘The Shadow Cabinet’ is the third book in the Shades of London series. I thought this was the concluding part but judging by the ending, there is still more in store for Rory and co. I do think that the overall storyline could have been wrapped up in three books but Maureen Johnson obviously has more twists and turns up her sleeves. 

The story picks up after the events of ‘The Madness Underneath’, with Stephen in hospital and Rory expelled from school. Things begin to get very strange as she starts to unravel the truth about what is going on beneath the streets of London. It was strange not seeing Rory at school and actually I missed that a lot in this book. I always enjoyed seeing her trying to maintain a normal school life with her newfound abilities and I felt that this offered an air of reality about proceedings. It took a bit of getting used to not having that feature as part of this instalment. At the same time, I did enjoy following Rory through the streets of London and visiting some very familiar landmarks. 

Now, it’s a long time since I read the previous books in this series, so I felt like I needed a recap at the start and that’s just what I got. That helped to ease me back in and caught me up with everything I needed to know about the plot and the characters.  I will admit that I got a little lost at times with some of the paranormal elements of the story but Maureen Johnson did a good job of steering things back on track and sucking me back in again.  

Lots of terrible things happen in the book and the characters don’t always get what they want but I think this is reflective of life in general.  It also helped to keep me on the edge of my seat because I had no doubt that just about anyone could meet a sticky end if the plot called for it.   

The ending packed a real punch and definitely left me wanting more.  I honestly have no idea what will be thrown at the characters next but it's exciting waiting to find out. 

Review: Let It Snow - John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle

Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle, published by Penguin on 5th September 2013

Goodreads synopsis:
An ill-timed storm on Christmas Eve buries the residents of Gracetown under multiple feet of snow and causes quite a bit of chaos. One brave soul ventures out into the storm from her stranded train and sets off a chain of events that will change quite a few lives. Over the next three days one girl takes a risky shortcut with an adorable stranger, three friends set out to win a race to the Waffle House (and the hash brown spoils), and the fate of a teacup pig falls into the hands of a lovesick barista.

Review:
I decided to wait to read this one until December so that I could enjoy the Christmas themed stories in the run up to the big day.  You definitely want to start this title when you're curled up by the fire with a big mug of hot chocolate in your hands.  'Let It Snow' consists of three festive and inter-connected stories by bestselling YA authors John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle.  Each is extremely unique and quite quirky.  Personally I'm not a big fan of short stories as I often find that I'm not given enough time to become properly acquainted with the characters or that I'm just getting into a story when it's suddenly all over.  I did find this was the case with this collection although I still enjoyed it.   

The first story is called 'The Jubilee Express' by Maureen Johnson.  It's about a girl called Jubilee who is on her way to stay with her grandparents for Christmas when her train gets stuck in the snow in the small town of Graceland.  Here she meets an interesting cast of characters who also feature later on in the book.  This is followed by John Green's 'A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle' which features Tobin and his friends trying to get to the Waffle House after finding out that fourteen cheerleaders have descended there after being stranded in town.  The final story called 'The Patron Saint of Pigs' by Lauren Myracle was actually my least favourite.  It centres around Addie who has promised to collect her friends teacup piglet but can't seem to focus after having split up with her boyfriend Jeb.

Each story centres around the themes of love and friendship.  They feature romance and new beginnings, as well as what happens when friendship turns into something more.  There's the promise of forgiveness and starting over, with all the characters' stories concluding in quite unexpected ways.  It's not the best Christmas book I've ever read but I still enjoyed this wintery, festive collection which would make a great present for the holiday season.
 

Review: Devilish - Maureen Johnson

Devilish by Maureen Johnson, published by HarperCollins Children's Books on 7th June 2012

Goodreads synopsis:
Ally and Jane may not be that popular but they're good friends...that is until they each get allocated a freshman, a 'little' to show the ropes to at school. Cracks begin to show as Ally changes into a whole different person, literally overnight. She's dressed better, making new friends, and ditching Jane more and more. But Ally's transformation has its price. And it's up to Jane to save her former BF from a ponytail-wearing, cupcake-nibbling devil in disguise!

Review:
I previously enjoyed 'The Name of the Star', the first book in Maureen Johnson's Shades of London series, as well as '13 Little Blue Envelopes' so I was looking forward to reading more by her.  Sadly 'Devilish' didn't quite meet my expectations.

The story itself was pretty unusual.  It's about a girl who makes a deal with the devil to become popular and her best friend who is determined to save her no matter the cost.  The quirky plot didn't particularly engage me and I kept thinking how far fetched the whole thing was.  Although the initial idea of selling your soul to the devil was interesting, in reality it didn't actually work for me. 

Extremely light-hearted but lacking any real substance, I was hoping for much more from this book.  It was funny in places but the humour wasn't consistent throughout and I found myself reading on just to get to the end and see what was going to happen.  The ending was also quite abrupt and left some elements of the story underdeveloped. 

I'm a fan of the paranormal but I thought that 'Devilish' lacked that essential spark which I look for in a book.  I've read some great reviews of this title so there are lots of people out there that loved it but it fell a bit flat for me.

Review: 13 Little Blue Envelopes - Maureen Johnson

Goodreads synopsis:

When Ginny receives thirteen little blue envelopes and instructions to buy a plane ticket to London, she knows something exciting is going to happen. What Ginny doesn't know is that she will have the adventure of her life and it will change her in more ways than one. Life and love are waiting for her across the Atlantic, and the thirteen little blue envelopes are the key to finding them in this funny, romantic, heartbreaking novel.

Review:

’13 Little Blue Envelopes’ follows the journey of Ginny, as she globe-trots her way around the world according to the instructions, left in a series of 13 letters, by her deceased aunt.  Her travelling adventure takes Ginny on a trip of self-discovery, opening her eyes to new experiences, emotions and people.  It’s also an opportunity for her to let her hair down for once and just have fun!

This wasn’t a stand-out book but I still enjoyed it.  I’m not a traveller myself so I had the pleasure of living vicariously through Ginny instead!  It was a quick read (I finished it in one evening) and would probably appeal to a slightly younger teen audience.  I liked the way that by the end of the book Ginny had become more self-assured and confident (but I reckon she was pretty confident to start with to go gallavanting around Europe on her own).  It did surprise me a little bit that Ginny’s mother would let her go alone, without any idea of where she was going to end up, but maybe that's just me.

There are certain aspects of the story that I would have liked to have seen developed further and a bit like Ginny's journey I felt it was all rather a whirlwind at time, skimming the surface without digging deeper into the story itself.  However, I loved reading about all the places she visited...I only wish I was as brave as her!

I haven’t read anything by Maureen Johnson before but I'm now interested enough to try some of her other books now.  I've heard that 'Girl at Sea' is very good and of course there's going to be a follow-up to '13 Little Blue Envelopes', so I shall be looking out for that too.