Tuesday, February 01, 2011

Scarlett Fever--Maureen Johnson

Title: Scarlett Fever
Author: Maureen Johnson
Publisher: Point (Scholastic)
Pages: 336 p
Source: library

Scarlett is your typical teenage girl--she lives in a hotel, works for a theatrical agent, and helps her brother figure out the best way to die while trying to fasten a seatbelt on an airplane. Scarlett is actually far from typical. Her family runs a small hotel and barely make ends meet, her older brother is a struggling actor, her older sister is dating a rich guy the family doesn't like, her younger sister is a cancer survivor who lives to make her siblings miserable but comes back from camp "nice". Scarlett is obsessed with a young actor and intrigued by a new classmate she's supposed to spy on for her agent boss. She has a lot of things on her plate, but manages them all with humor.

This is the first Maureen Johnson book I have read and I understand now why she has such a cult following on twitter. Although this is a sequel to Suite Scarlett, I didn't feel lost or confused at all. Johnson does a good job of alluding to previous events with just enough explanation to advance the current story. Scarlett is funny and likable. I loved her family and the close relationship she had with her brother. The characters are realistic and while not perfect, their actions are understandable. The book is thoroughly enjoyable and will prompt new readers to seek out the first one and to hope a next one is published very soon. The book ends rather abruptly like a friend hanging up the phone in the middle of the story. We're left saying "What next??"and hoping we get an answer soon.

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1 comment:

Allison said...

I loved the first Scarlett book, and this review reminds that that I really need to pick up the sequel! Such fun characters.

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