Wednesday 13 March 2013

Finding Cherokee Brown - Siobhan Curham


Pages: 331
Publisher: Electric Monkey (Egmont)
Release Date: 7th March 2013
Edition: UK paperback, review copy

Other Titles by this Author: Dear Dylan

His lips touched mine and for one split second the whole world stopped. Then every cell in my body fizzed into life...

When I decided to write a book about my life I thought I’d have to make loads of stuff up. I mean, who wants to read about someone like me?

But as soon as I started writing, the weirdest thing happened. I found out I wasn’t who I thought I was. And I stopped being scared. Then everything went crazy!

Best of all, I discovered that when you finally decide to be brave it’s like waving a wand over your life – the most magical things can  happen...

I loved Dear Dylan so I had high hopes for Siobhan’s second novel. Luckily Finding Cherokee Brown is just as special.

Cherokee is a fantastic heroine and I alternated between wanting to wander around Spitalfields Market with her and giving her a big old hug so no one could hurt her! She really is my kind of girl: loves rock and metal, detests tidying up, has piles of books everywhere and wants to write a novel. The excerpts of the second-hand book on writing she lives by at the beginning of each chapter was really cool and I loved seeing how they subtly related to what went on with Cherokee in the chapter.

I think that the development and growth of Cherokee’s character over the novel was really nicely done. Having it stem from her dad, and even Harrison to a degree, come in to her life and allow her to feel brave enough to take back control and fight back was so refreshing. It’s usually a shock circumstance where the heroine has to save the world, a family member or it just completely disappears with the introduction of The Boy. They gave her the understanding of her that she needed.

Cherokee’s dad did worry me though. I was so worried that he’d get scared and run off again and break her heart. She was in such a fragile place that the bullies would have got on top of her and goodness knows what would have happened! Her relationship with her dad and the change in her confidence really illuminated how stifled she felt by her mum and stepdad’s complete obliviousness to her feelings and school life. The secrets that were kept from her only made it even worse for me. I couldn’t believe what Cherokee’s mum had kept from her!

Finding Cherokee Brown is heart-warming and empowering and I think that Siobhan Curham is becoming a staple read for teenagers with her tackling of tough issues with heart and sensitivity.


Thanks to Electric Monkey for sending me a copy for review.

Sophie 

3 comments:

  1. Really want to read this, sounds fantastic!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This sounds so good! I saw it in a bookshop yesterday and will most likely be going back to buy it soon. Lovely review! :)

    ReplyDelete

Leave a message, I'd love to hear from you!