Friday 12 July 2019
ReadItDaddy's Chapter Book of the Week - Week Ending 12th July 2019: "Peril En Pointe: A Swan House Mystery" by Helen Lipscombe (Chicken House Books)
Normally when we're drawing up our "Book of the Week" books, we do so in advance but C was adamant that this got into the BOTW slot as soon as possible.
With a bit of blog-juggling and some quite stern looks from "The Boss" her willing slave-typing-monkey did as he was bid.
So here we are then with "Peril En Pointe: A Swan House Mystery" by Helen Lipscombe, and one of the most impressively accomplished debuts we've read in a very long time.
The book is a darkly delicious slice of adventure that may initially put a few folk off (A ballet school book? EWWWW!) but don't let the setting fool you, this is a story filled with exquisite plot twists, amazing characters and some truly mighty girls who love their ballet and their adventures in equal measure.
The story begins with Milly who yearns to dance like her ballerina mum.
Soon Milly is given the chance of a lifetime to prove her ballet skills, but during a pivotal performance Milly messes up.
What's worse is that her mum is nowhere to be found. She has literally disappeared off the face of the earth. Milly is forced to face life on her own...until...
...some months on, Milly receives an unexpected invitation to join the Swan House School of Ballet. Thrilled, Milly accepts, only to find that Swan House is a ballet school with a difference - A ballet school FOR SPIES!!
As Milly begins both her ballet and super-agent training can her new-found skills help her discover the truth about her mother's disappearance? Milly is determined, but determination might not be enough to unravel the mystery so Milly may need help!
Quite often over the last few weeks I've found C tucked up with this book and it was only when she seemed to be taking longer than normal over it that I found out she'd read through it multiple times (normally she blitzes through books in a matter of hours once she gets her teeth into them).
Pretty high recommendation. I truly hope Helen's working on book 2 because this has been a huge hit with us, and we're pretty durned sure you're going to love it too!
Sum this book up in a sentence: A brilliant, dark and fantastically intricate mystery story based at a ballet school like no other, this has the makings of a truly phenomenal series.
"Peril En Pointe - A Swan House Mystery" by Helen Lipscombe is out now, published by Chicken House Books (kindly supplied for review).
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