BOOK REVIEW: Fire Colour One by Jenny Valentine

you can find the book at:

GoodReads
Amazon
Barnes and Noble (unavailable)
Author Bio

goodreads summary:

Iris’s father, Ernest, is at the end of his life and she hasn’t even met him. Her best friend, Thurston, is somewhere on the other side of the world. Everything she thought she knew is up in flames.

Now her mother has declared war and means to get her hands on Ernest’s priceless art collection. But Ernest has other ideas. There are things he wants Iris to know after he’s gone. And the truth has more than one way of coming to light.

my review:

Rating:★★★★☆

~ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review~

The title, Fire Colour One,  refers to the Yves Klein painting FC1, I googled it- it looks cool, but the book is Iris who lives with her mother, Hannah, and stepfather in America until Hannah announces one day that they are returning to the UK to see Iris’s father, Ernest, who is dying. Hannah is desperate to get her hands on Ernest’s art collection. Iris has no recollections of her Dad other than what her mother has told her. She has grown up with the knowledge her father wanted nothing to do with her. Gradually, Iris and Ernest start to bond and Iris hears Ernest’s side of the story, and the life he has lived ever since her mother left him years ago.

Considering it’s a reasonably short book, the author creates and builds excellent character within. Iris is a pyromaniac, but also a troubled girl due to her neglected past. Ernest was a sweet character, I so wished he had raised Iris rather than that terrible excuse for a mother she had. The novel also explores her relationship with her best friend, Thurston, who she had recently fallen out with before she left for the UK. Their storyline was sort of ambiguous, and I spent a lot of time wondering if they were friends or dating? I couldn’t tell, but it was quite lovely to be kept wondering since I think it would have overshadowed Iris and Ernest’s relationship.

Fire Colour One doesn’t have a whole giant plot going on, and for an adventurous reader like me, this would usually be a turn-off. But the way everything was told in Iris or Ernest’s backstory was excellent

Overall, an enjoyable and relaxing read. Iris’s story was equally joyful and sad. And that ending had me in stitches. I don’t want to spoil anything, but it was SO GOOD.

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