City of Secrets

I hope Mary Hoffman won’t mind being mentioned in the same sentence as the famous boy wizard, but as I started on City of Secrets, I felt the same kind of excitement as with a new Harry Potter. I simply liked being back at Barnsbury Comp, with a new Stravagante, and meeting up with the old ones as well.

City of Secrets is the fourth Stravaganza novel, and I don’t recommend reading it before the first three, or you’ll be lost. The books have had a revamp, with new covers with some attractive teenagers portraying Luciano, Georgia, Sky and now, Matt. The cover of City of Secrets also shows people being burned at the stake, and it had me shivering from the word go.

I loved it, and I wasn’t the only one, as the Resident IT Consultant stole it while my back was turned. One day he’ll learn not to lose my bookmark. Or maybe not.

The Stravaganza series is simply a very good mix of modern and historical adventure, with romance, and the books work as travel guides to Italy, too. And there’s humour. I could see that the Halloween party would be good for some inter-century fun, and it was. Though it was the cardinal and his cousin hitting each other that really got me.

If I have my say, Mary won’t stop with book five. We can use many more.