Dark Storm by Sarah Singleton

Dark Storm by Sarah Singleton
Buy Dark Storm by Sarah Singleton at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Teens
Reviewer: Catherine Bakes
Summary: Ellie is spending the summer with her grandparents in a town by the sea. But when a ghostly boy starts to haunt her will she forget everything in her life just to lose herself in the past?
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 352	Date: March 2012
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 978-0857070753
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Ellie is spending the summer with her grandparents, in the house where her mother grew up, while her dad and his new girlfriend go on holiday together. Although it's been more than a year since her mother's death, Ellie is finding it hard to move on with her life. Whilst shopping in an antique shop one day she comes across the model of an old theatre, and sets free a ghost who made the model theatre with his sister hundreds of years ago. With this model is a script for Romeo and Juliet, which the local theatre group are currently putting on. Ellie's grandparents are keen for her to join the group, and it's here she meets new friends and begins to fall in love with a ghost.

I thought the idea for this book was really original and it will excite lots of readers. The plot is well paced to keep readers interested. My main criticism is that the characters are quite old (very late teens) compared to the age group it is aimed at (early teens), which made it confusing to read: older readers would find it patronising, yet I don't think younger readers would be able to appreciate some of its content. For example, the characters go down the pub for a few drinks, something miles away from the life of a twelve/thirteen year old, which I felt made parts of the book feel very detached.

Another thing that I found confusing is that Ellie and Harry's relationship seemed to bloom out of nowhere, and they fell in love very abruptly: there was no build up, it just seemed to happen. I think this was down to how the book is written though, as in some places the grammar is a little confusing. However, Ellie's relationship with Alex was well written and built up very nicely – I liked Alex all along. Sarah Singleton has written a good book about grief, which is what this book is to me: Ellie's obsession and love for Harry quickly erases her grief over her mother's death, and she becomes so absorbed that she forgets to live her life. If there's a reason to read this book, then that is it.

For more books like this one try reading more Sarah Singleton or Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater

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You can read more book reviews or buy Dark Storm by Sarah Singleton at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Dark Storm by Sarah Singleton at Amazon.com.

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