One Mum Too Many! (Step-Chain 1)
These two volumes are the first in a series of six about the perils and pleasures of step-families. Each has a chapter-length extract from the next book in the series as an addition to the main narrative and a rather complicated family tree at the beginning, thus leading readers through the series.
One Mum Too Many! brilliantly evokes the horrors of children visiting their father's new home. His new family are almost clinically saintly but his daughter Sarah is an utterly convincing teenager, truculent and troubled.
Book 2 is less successful - though to be applauded for tackling the emotional turmoil of the teenage male. Events are too plot-driven with characters often hollowly stereo-typical in the face of a relentless barrage of disastrous events.
This series can be seen as a cynical exploitation of a growing market or as a genuine sounding board for young readers adrift in fractured families. The sympathetic treatment of characters at risk suggests that it will be the latter.