A magical and atmospheric novel from the award winning children's author featuring Violet, who has always been under the mesmerising, controlling influence of her brother Will, but now Will has learned a shocking secret of his past and things seem to be getting worse. My favourite quote from 'Midnight' is "Mum tried to play teddies with me, a trite game of "'this is Big Growl and this is Little Growl"'.

This is a wonderful, wonderful book, absolutely enchanting, and a must-read for anyone who's ever been weird, lonely, and/or fascinated by the beautiful butterflies pinned to the corkboard of life. A painting of a beautiful nymph cradling a little rabbit could also be a hungry girl with her fingers clasped tightly round the rabbit’s neck, ready to strangle it for a stew. But I don't want to hate her because it'd feel like I was blaming the victim, and I admire her creative streak and love of fantasy and fairy tales. I don’t mind multiplot storylines as long as the main plot gets resolved and to me, the most important one here would be the relationship and emotional abuse between Will and his sister. And nor does Violet stand up to her brother, Will: What was I doing, still playing these weird games with Will?Violet is sure that someone who can create the fairy tales she loves so much would be able to conjure up a solution to her problems. Will has discovered a shocking secret about his past that is making his behaviour even more strange and dangerous.

Their marriage is clearly falling apart, and Violet does compare her mother being a spineless doormat to her authoritative father to her own toxic relationship with her brother, but the parents remain together at the end.The star being knocked off is due to the loose ends that are still bugging me hours after finishing it and whilst I read other books. As I mentioned before, I think this book is great for Halloween, it is spooky and would be great for that time of the year. I also liked the slightly sinister edge there was in this book in places - to Will's games, to their father's treatment of both his children and his wife, and to the idea of changelings and all that came with it. The arrival of Jasmine, a new girl at school who immediately befriends Violet, seems like it might change Violet's life for the better. Sobre los personajes, odio el comportamiento bipolar y sádico que tiene Will, y me da igual las escusas que el libro le quiera dar para justificar ese comportamiento de mierda que tiene.

Violet especially loves to read books by her favourite author Casper Dream who she hopes to meet one day. If there was a consequence, children would know what Will did was wrong and they should not behave like that. Violet retreats further into a fantasy world built around the fairy characters created by her favourite author, Casper Dream. I thought it was clever how subtly the author showed bitter realities of the world which won’t affect younger readers but older readers will see it for what it is. This could be quite upsetting for a lot of younger readers, and honestly, I’m a little shocked that I adored this so much as such a tender age.

Making things worse is that the female friendship between Violet and Jasmine - which takes up most of the book and is developed beautifully, with definite queer vibes - is sidelined and dropped unceremoniously at the end in favour of the sibling abuse dynamic, where apparently everything is fine and sorted, in a rush. Meanwhile, Violet befriends the new cool girl at school who she enjoys hanging out with, to Violet life seems better with her new friend Jasmine around until Violet feels she has been used and betrayed by her in the middle of a game with her and Will. Violet is a fan of Casper Dream (yeah, totally not a pseudonym)'s fairy books, which she is embarrassed by because she thinks she is too old for them (she's thirteen). They work for a while and then play Truth and Dare where Will asks Violet who she likes better, him or Jasmine.

Jacqueline Wilson (Author) Jacqueline Wilson wrote her first novel when she was nine years old, and she has been writing ever since. I am a natural blabbermouth and through the years I have found the written word to be a more potent outlet to drive home my point (than talking at people? Violet is extremely depressed to see how weak her mother is, and how she does everything her father tells her to do and does not care that her husband has no respect for her whatsoever; because it reminds her of herself, and how she always does what Will tells her to do. Violet has always been in the shadow of her mesmerising, controlling brother Will - by turns delightful and terrifying.Moving on in the story, a new girl, Jasmine Day, comes to Violet's school and she chooses her as a friend.