My eleventh book review: The Name of the Star

The Name of the Star
Genre: Young Adult
Pages: 384
Published: September 29th 2011
Author: Maureen Johnson

Summary from Goodreads:
The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it's the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city, gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper events of more than a century ago.
Soon "Rippermania" takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him. Even her roommate, who was walking with her at the time, didn't notice the mysterious man. So why can only Rory see him? And more urgently, why has Rory become his next target? In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, full of suspense, humor, and romance, Rory will learn the truth about the secret ghost police of London and discover her own shocking abilities.

My review:
The Name of the Star seems very anticipated by many readers and some authors also recommended this book. When I saw it in the bookstore, I read the bookblurb from Cassandra Clare and thought I had to read it! This book did not disappoint me. The cover is also good, representing the story of the book. The Name of the Star is the story of Rory Deveaux, a girl from Louisiana who moved to London and went to a boarding school. In London, murders like Jack the Ripper were occuring and Rory suddenly finds herself involved in the murders and the case.

This book is quite scary. Maureen Johnson describes London really well. I can feel myself as Rory and how she lives her life in London. The book progressed with the development of Rory and how she adapts with her school and the murders. I find myself really intrigued about Jack the Ripper and did a little research about the cases and compared it to the case in this book. I want to know how the author writes the murders based on the case of Jack the Ripper. After learning about different characters, I kept on trying to guess who Jack the Ripper is in this story and the secrets behind different characters. The book is full of surprises and I really enjoyed the setting of London used in this book and also the chilling murders in London.

One thing about this book  is the romance  is quite weak and 'un-touched'. I've read reviews of this book from some other bloggers and I agree with what they say that the romance was not strong. Rory was attracted to a boy called Jerome but I wasn't able to connect on how she falls for him or how Jerome falls for her too. The attraction was all too sudden and there were some romantic scenes but it was dropped for a while, then back again but it wasn't the main part of the book. I really wished that the romance was a little bit more because I can still imagine how Rory would fall for Jerome and his characteristics and personalities. It would be good to balance the scary things happening with a romance between the 2 characters. I even hoped that Jerome would somehow help solve the case but he wasn't that important in this book although he was intelligent.

Overall: Words I would use to describe this book: Chilling, Jack the Ripper and London. This book is set in a beautiful city with gruesome things happening with murders mimicking Jack the Ripper. It is quite scary and Maureen Johnson successfuly describes London really well. I enjoyed this book although the romance was weak and untouched.

4 Forget-me-not flowers for The Name of the Star