Scarlett Fever

Scarlett Fever
written by Maureen Johnson



The Martins are back in full force in this sequel to Maureen Johnson's 2008 release, Suite Scarlett! Scarlett Martin and her spectacularly quirky family are up to their usual funny business, snarky and sharply witty as ever. You thought Maureen Johnson was done with characterization? You were very, very wrong indeed. Characters that seemed to be developed to death got even more complex in their new storylines. I was especially glad to see more of Marlene, even though I found her "big reveal" to be underwhelming, but she was the most fascinating of the Martin siblings to me. There was an even more expanded focus on each sibling, but at the same time, the sibling dynamic is retained, and each character could be looked at as simultaneously an individual unit and a group. It's a rather complex plot, but it all really just comes down to this one heartwarmingly crazy family in the end. Johnson has quite the talent of making sure that her descriptive passages are interesting, rather than falling into everyotherauthor's trap of boring overly-long descriptions. It's a very low-key, laid back, calm, even toned book, even during big events. I did have to question the introduction of Dog-Murray, as he did just seem to be that stereotypical cute doggy sidekick, not serving any larger purpose. One thing I do have to point out--following Maureen Johnson through twitter, her blog, etc, made this really a more dynamic, interesting read. Somehow, having known her a little better, it's almost as if you can hear this crazy stuff that's on page, coming directly out of her, nodding your head all the while going "oh yeah, that's Maureen." Such fun! Next book, please?

Rating: 5/5

Cover:

Which do you like best?

or


Cause personally, I wish they'd gone with the latter. What do you think?

Also by Maureen Johnson:
Suite Scarlett

Devilish

I got this book from...:Borders