Aibella's life changes forever the day before her thirteenth birthday when flames shoot out of her fingers. Then, when trying to escape, she and her friend, Theo, are caught in a dense fog on the waterways of Venice and Theo is bitten by a skull. Panicking, Aribella fears the worst for her friend until a cloaked gentleman by the name of Rodolfo comes to her rescue. Curing Theo and returning him home, Rodolfo then takes Aribella to a magical and very secret organisation which just happens to be a very beautiful hotel in the centre of Venice. Here Aribella meets others who, like her, have their own special powers and she begins to learn how to control her new-found ability. However, something isn't right and Venice and its residents are in danger - can Aribella and her friends come to the rescue in time?
I really liked Aribella and her conflicting emotions: the bravery of wanting to save her friends and help her father, mixed with her self-doubt in her new-found skills and her desperate need to fit in. I suspect that there are many who read the book who will identify with this.
There's a glamorous feel to this book (set in Venice, the opulent hotel, the masks, the gondolas...) which contrasts well against the sinister mists and skulls, the threat to Venice and a mysterious death - it all makes for a delicious story that will keep you guessing and will make putting the book down virtually impossible!
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