Review: The Girl with the Red Ballon by Katherine Locke

The Girl with the Red Balloon.
(The Balloonmakers #1)
Katherine Locke
Release: September 1, 2017
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When sixteen-year-old Ellie Baum accidentally time-travels via red balloon to 1988 East Berlin, she’s caught up in a conspiracy of history and magic. She meets members of an underground guild in East Berlin who use balloons and magic to help people escape over the Wall—but even to the balloon makers, Ellie’s time travel is a mystery. When it becomes clear that someone is using dark magic to change history, Ellie must risk everything—including her only way home—to stop the process.

Review:
Do you ever read one of those really popular books that everyone is gushing about only to read it and not like it? This was one of those books for me which makes me sad because I had only heard really good things about it. I'm definitely one of the black sheep for this one because it's had almost all glowing reviews so far.

I don't how much I want to say about this because I don't want to taint anyone's reading experience with my apathetic feelings on it. I will say that I liked Ellie well enough but she was kind of a flat character for me. I really struggled to connect with her. I didn't see any of the traits some of my blogging friends did. Kai and Mitzi were both intriguing but they also felt pretty meh.

What can I say about the plot? Honestly. It felt repetitive and I was just bored. I thought the time traveling aspect was an incredibly fun part of the story though. I think that and the scattering of a few sweet moments throughout the book is what kept me reading until the end.

Overall, I liked the idea of this book. The subject matter, the concept, the ideas behind it were fascinating. But there was just something about it that didn't work for me. I'm sad that I didn't like it as much as I wanted to but I can see a lot of my friends loving it.

ARC provided by the publisher via Edelweiss.

 

  2 / 5 Stars