loopyloulaura

I was a little apprehensive about starting this book. Firstly I am not a young adult: no matter what my heart tells me, the wrinkles tell me otherwise! Secondly, it was written by the fabulous Deborah from My Random Musings who I met at BlogOnXmas and was lovely so the thought of critiquing her work was daunting!

I will start off with the only negative comment I have and that is that I didn’t get grabbed by the prologue as it is set in a dream. Re-reading it afterwards, I think I felt uncomfortable with the present tense which is my own personal preference and doesn’t reflect on the language or story.

However, the opening chapter really gets the story underway and introduces us to the very likable main character Lacey, a high school student.

I was a little surprised that the book is set in America. I was expecting it to be in the UK for some reason! Anyway, Lacey is starting a new year of school and has a new teacher but when she meets him it is the man from her dream. Just when she thinks it might have been coincidence, he talks about meeting her in her dream. The subtle way he drops it into the conversation made me shout ‘ha!’ at that point earning a strange look from Zach 🙂

The teacher Mr Hartman explains that Lacey is a witch (a bit Harry Potterish if I’m allowed to make comparisons) and they start to train together to develop her powers so that she can defeat a dark wizard who hasn’t yet realised his powers. But who is the dark wizard…?

The book has plenty of mystery, red herrings and twists. My imagination kept running away with me about potential suspects and outcomes. NO SPOILERS!

Overall I really enjoyed this book and I’m hoping there will be a sequel as there seems to be a suggestion at the end that Lacey’s story isn’t over…

Thank you Deborah for giving me the chance to read your book and I will share it with my children when they are old enough and I can tell them I know the author!