REVIEW: The Twice-Lived Summer of Bluebell Jones by Susie Day

On her thirteenth birthday, Blue makes a desperate wish. To be transformed into a cool, confident teenager. Enter Red, appearing from nowhere like a wacky fairy godmother. She's only visible to Blue - in fact, she IS Blue, but a year older. With Red by her side to guide her, Blue can avoid all the gruesome embarrassments! But her future self causes a heap of crazy trouble - and there are dark secrets she's not telling...

The Twice Lived Summer of Bluebell Jones is a short book and it didn't take me long to read it - but it certainly made an impact on me! I loved everything about the book. The characters, the writing, the storyline, and the ENDING! 

Bluebell was a lovely character. She was kind and quite insecure, and very likeable as a main character and narrator. Red was...a strange character. I didn't think she should have kept so many things from Bluebell, but I suppose for the sake of the story it had to be done! There was a brilliant cast of supporting characters - I loved Bluebell's friend Fozzie, Bluebell's fantastic sister Tiger, and of course, the mysterious Merlin!

I liked the idea of Bluebell's 14-year-old self coming back to guide her - I've always loved time-travel in books, and I liked Susie Day's take on it. Although it wasn't actually as it seemed... 

The Twice Lived Summer of Bluebell Jones seems like a light-hearted read, but it's much more than that - there is real depth in it. The themes of family, friendship, and gaining confidence in yourself are important in this book, and Susie Day portrays them skillfully and subtly. I also liked the themes of music and photography - I love when a character is passionate about one or two things in particular in a novel, especially when they are also interests of my own as well.

I finished this book reading late into the night, because honestly, I couldn't stop reading! The book is so enjoyable to read, and also, I dying to see what happened in the end! The ending totally threw me - I was NOT expecting it. At all! After I had finished, I just sat there for about five minutes with my mouth open, thinking about the amazing book I had just read. I wish I could say more about it, but I can't (because it's a massive spoiler obviously!). You'll just have to read it for yourself!

The Twice Lived Summer of Bluebell Jones is much more than it seems from looking at the cover. It is a wonderful novel, and will break your heart!

                                             Rating: 4.5/5

Source: For Review - a massive thanks to the publisher for sending me this in exchange for an honest review.

Format: Paperback
Pages: 177

Age group: 9+

Official Publication Date: 2nd August 2012
Publisher: Marion Llyod books (an imprint of Scholastic)