There’s a really good story trying to get out of this one, but I’d have to give it a three. By Chapter 3 I had no real idea where the plot was going, while elements like bed time stories, an abbey and Wicca are thrown in but never really seem to gel or develop. I wasn’t even sure what genre this one should fit in.

This does not mean it is a bad book. Written in first person it reads like a memoir of an imaginary person: events occur in a jumble just as they do in life and do so very rarely in fiction. Early on the supporting cast are scarcely developed, and a lot of time at the start is spent with a character who never appears again.

The author has a good grasp of teenage english, including mangled adverbs in the first section which fortunately stop once the narrator is older. Initially I took these for an error, but they do seem to be narrator’s voice.

This is why it gets a three and not a two: I’m not its target audience and it might appeal more to young readers than me.