** spoiler alert ** Beware, spoilers.

I seem to be finding a lot of books these days with bereavement as their central issue. Ice Lolly is the story of Laurel and told primarily in the first person. It was a curiously unsatisfying book for me because the language, whilst realistic at times, seems to slide in and out of character. It's almost a modern fairytale in some points (what with the wicked stepmother, the good fairy, the animal best friend) and for this it lost a lot of impact for me as I tend to seek the realism in titles of this nature. I enjoyed the imagery of Lolly blocking herself up in an igloo but this really wasn't explored enough for my liking.

On another issue, I had some issues with the cover quote - "Funny, funky,feisty - and fantastic reads" This obviously relates to more than one book, what with being plural and all, and gave me a little concern about the validity of the content.

However I have very much enjoyed some of Jean Ure's other books and would reccomend seeking out some of these as they really are worth a read. It's just that Ice Lolly promised more than it delivered for me.