Review: ‘The Silver Locket’ by Marie Fostino

Marie Fostino was kind enough to send me a free ebook of ‘The Silver Locket’, in exchange for a review, so here it is:

Review Of‭ ‘‬The Silver Locket‭’ ‬by Marie Fostino

[Warning:‭ ‬This review contains a few spoilers‭]‬.

The Silver Locket by Marie Fostino

I must admit,‭ ‬at first,‭ ‬when I started‭ ‘‬The Silver Locket‭’‬,‭ ‬I didn’t really identify with the main character,‭ ‬Jenny,‭ ‬and I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to continue reading.‭ ‬But I’m glad that I did‭!

Although some of the writing is a little‭ ‘‬suspect‭’ ‬in places,‭ ‬and repetitive,‭ ‬Marie Fostino is an expert at using evocative language and emotive imagery to create heart-wrenching moments.‭ ‬Indeed,‭ ‬the ending even brought tears to my eyes;  although I didn’t see it coming,‭ ‬really,‭ ‬when looking back at the overall plot,‭ ‬it was inevitable‭ ‬- there really was so much subtle foreshadowing.

A couple of things that I did find confusing,‭ ‬especially at first,‭ ‬were the‭ ‘‬head-hopping‭’ ‬between different characters – with no apparent break/indication of a change of point of view -‭ ‬and how the thoughts of a character were shown.‭ ‬Sometimes the thoughts of the characters were speech-marked,‭ ‬other times they weren’t.‭

Although I didn’t really like the change of perspective at first,‭ ‬I began to get used to it,‭ ‬yet,‭ ‬overall,‭ ‬I feel that the story would’ve been strengthened had it solely been told from Jenny’s point of view.‭

At first,‭ ‬I found the characters and situations a bit stereotypical,‭ ‬i.e.‭ ‬good girl meets bad boy,‭ ‬Bad boy changes good girl,‭ ‬but then I realised that it is a thing that happens.‭ ‬After all,‭ ‬it showed the readers how big a problem drugs are,‭ ‬and how influential some people can be.‭

I must admit that I loved Jenny’s character arc.‭ ‬At the beginning,‭ ‬she annoyed me,‭ ‬but by the end,‭ ‬I felt that I could relate to her,‭ ‬and felt sympathy for her.‭ ‬But,‭ ‬I also admired her too.‭ ‬Similarly,‭ ‬I liked Jacy’s transformation,‭ ‬for the same reasons.‭

There were quite a few formatting issues,‭ ‬as well as grammatical errors (those aren’t really the author’s fault),‭ ‬but I did notice in two places where characters‭’ ‬names were misspelt.‭ ‬Particularly in the second-half of the book,‭ ‬I felt that there was more telling going on,‭ ‬rather than showing,‭ ‬but the ending was really evocative and emotional.

I also found a lot of the more minor and background characters to be one-dimensional – Jenny’s brothers and sisters, and some of Jacey’s friends.

The actual plot is great,‭ ‬and the event which triggers the whole plot off,‭ ‬is one that most people can relate to:‭ ‬moving house.‭ ‬This gave the book a very realistic feel,‭ ‬and I like how Marie Fostino created the illusion of a lot of time passing in certain parts of the narrative.

I also liked how the book started and ended with the grown-up Jenny’s point of view,‭ ‬showing how events in the past can really affect the individual in the future.‭ ‬I felt that this was realistic,‭ ‬and very well done.‭

Although this review sounds a little negative and critical, (like many of my reviews do!), this book is definitely worth reading; in ‘The Silver Locket’, Marie Fostino has delivered a powerful story.‭ ‬Indeed,‭ ‬I found that I couldn’t stop reading this,‭ ‬and I did read it in two evenings‭.‬

After finishing ‘The Silver Locket’,‭ ‬I discovered that this is one of those books,‭ ‬where,‭ ‬once you’ve read it,‭ ‬you can’t stop thinking about the main characters‭ (‬and the emotional ending‭)‬.

So, go and take a read of it for yourself, to find out what I mean.

Madeline’s Rating for ‘The Silver Locket’: 3.5 out of 5 stars.

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Buy ‘The Silver Locket’ on Amazon (US) or Amazon (UK).