With every adventure, comes a great risk, otherwise it wouldn't be an adventure. Let's find someone who knows a little about that:-
For 12 year old Venus Lionheart, things are pretty normal at first. She's at school, has geeky friends like Sebastian and Eric, and yeah...it's fine, until she finds herself in Freaksville, Shropshire (well no, it's
Helmsmere, Shropshire)
Fortunately, our Vee is not without help, and she soon finds herself on a mission (yep - a mission, not a quest, I think that implies she might just fail!) and has friends like Galahad (I kid you not) and a really special guy whose name begins with M (but I can't tell you who it is because it will give all the choc-covered treats away in one go but I can say it is not M from the 007 movies).
With this band crew of hardened warriors (and not so hardened, in some cases) Ophelia traverses time, visits stones before they became a tourist attraction (yeah, Wiltshire Council, all your bus tours and spoken guides are way less interesting than the Stones themselves, okay?)
But let's not forget that Venus has some powers of her own. And they don't go down too well with a man who may or may not be a man of the cloth...
Overall, Venus Lionheart's first adventure won't be her last. This is a fun and thrill packed debut novel, which will have you chuckling at one moment and cheering at others. In the best tradition of my all-time favourite children's novel, Rebecca's World, this book can hold it's head high. The reason why debut novels are enjoyable is because the author can write not knowing what the world will think of their book. Write fearlessly, and you never know what you'll be capable of. I think you'll be hearing a LOT more about Dino Costi in the not so distant future.
