'SHINE' BY KATE MARYON REVIEW!

As soon as I read the blurb on the back of this book I felt like I had to read it! Even the front cover stood out a mile-and I found out that it really suits the story. I also loved that this book wasn't perfect. One of the chapters is called 'It's Chriiiiiiiiiiiiiiistmaaaaaaaaasssssssss..."(and yes, I copied that exactly from the book). I've never read a book that has actually done that but it just made me love it even more!


This book tells the story of a 12-year-old girl called Tiff who lives in London with her mum. At the beginning of the book Tiff calls her mum a Magpie as she loves shiny new things. As for Tiff she doesn't like her mum stealing. It makes her feel uncomfortable. One night she is home alone with her best friend Chelsea when she spots Mikey(her mum's partner-in-crime) on Crimewatch with the car her mum owned. The next thing she knows Chelsea's dad is knocking on the door and when her mum comes home she is being rushed on a holiday-but she does remember Chardonnay, the dog she's had for less than a day.When they get to board the ferry to France Tiff knows something's not right. It's the middle of the night and all so suddenly herself, her mum and Mikey are going on holiday? The next thing she knows a policeman is questioning Mikey about where he bought the car and him and her mum are being driven away, handcuffed and blue lights flashing. This is when everything starts to lose it's shine.

When they get to the prison Tiff tries to calm her mum down as she's in a middle of one of her tantrums. She doesn't have anyone else to stay with so asks her mum about the possibility of staying with her Auntie Cass on Stark. Her mum ran away from Stark without saying goodbye to her family 13 years ago. Tiff is taken to an emergency foster family for the night after having to say goodbye to Chardonnay who has to go the the kennels. Amida her social worker promises to come back in the morning-but she is left stuck there until Monday with the spiteful Matilda. Matilda tells her that 'this is a rubbish dump and you've been dumped here, just like the rest of us' As she starts to believe Matilda's mean words she gets the call that her Auntie Cass is coming to get her and bring her back to Stark. You start to wonder Will Stark be as boring as Tiff's mum says it is? Will her mum ever come back? Will Tiff get along with her new family? What will they be like? Why did her mum leave Stark? Did she leave any enemies behind?


SPOILER ALERT


I really enjoyed how, throughout the book, you got to know Tiff a lot more-and who she really was. I thought that Tiff not wanting her mum to come back because she was worried about how she would act was a great touch! It wasn't 'I'm missing my mum so much and I can't wait for her to come back!"-Tiff had an opinion. I wasn't  expecting Tiff and Holly to end up being sisters towards the end. I especially enjoyed the part where Holly-who was bullying Tiff, was in trouble and Tiff still helped her but asked 'Why Should I?". This is how she got to the bottom of the story between her mum and Holly's mum-just like the way Holly manipulated Tiff. Another part of the story I enjoyed was the relationship between Isla and Max-I thought it would more likely be Tiff and Max but it added something extra to the story. I would have liked to see more of their relationship(a kiss maybe!)The thing that was good about this story was that Tiff put her own opinion across. Instead of going back to London and doing what her mum wanted to do she spoke up and said she liked living on Stark! This and her being confused, worried and not knowing what to do made the story feel real. I would have liked to see an Epilogue at the end though(maybe even another book) as I'm still wondering whether Tiff and Chelsea keep their promise to meet up on Valentine's Day when there 18 at Tiffany's! I think the epilogue could be set then explaining whether they stayed on Stark, along with what happened to Max and Isla.


SPOILER OVER


I would rate this book an 8.5/10 because I really enjoyed the story and loved how Tiff's opinion came across throughout it! Also, how unexpecting everything was. I would have loved to see an Epilogue at the end of this book as there were a lot of questions I would have liked to see answered. At the beginning of the book Chelsea and Tiffany make the promise to meet up when there 18 on Valentine's Day at Tiffany's-I am still wondering whether they met up in the end! The reason I rated it an 8.5/10 is because it may have been a bit too young for me and I got through it in 3 days!. I still really enjoyed it but I would recommend it for girls around age 10. It is still worth reading if you want a book to just sit back, relax and read! Overall, I was really impressed by this book!




Just an update from a day dreamers world,
Sophie


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