Saturday, January 30, 2010

Wondrous Strange- HBIC REVIEW

Wondrous Strange - HBIC Seeker Review
Posted by Tina at Tinasbookreviews
Wondrous Strange was a love letter to all those who dream of dancing with pixies and meeting shimmering knights on horses. I loved, loved, loved it!!!!

We open our tale with flavor of A Midsummer’s Night Dream and Kelley Winslow, an aspiring actress living in New York City, practicing her lines in central park when she draws the attention of Sonny, a changeling and guard of the faerie realm. He is mysterious and intrigued by Kelley’s spark that drew him to her. That same fateful night she rescues a horse from a pond; the horse follows her home and proceeds to live in her bathtub. (The horse scenes were hilarious!) What she doesn't know is that the horse is a kelpie and Sonny is a part of the Unseelie King's elite guard, the Janus. Things get stranger as Kelley tries to figure out who Sonny is, and how she and the bathtub horse are involved.

Wondrous is told through the voices of Sonny and Kelley. Sonny fits the stereotype of a conflicted magical assassin perfectly; down to his unexplainable love of Kelley. Where things are predictable with them I loved that it wasn’t a pop out of nowhere romance. Kelley is a bit freaked out by Sonny and has normal stay away from me freak feelings. Reading through Kelley’s perspective was humorous as it was fun. I loved reading her come to terms with being a fairy, and at points the plot was a little to clean, to resolved for believability, the charms of the characters made up for that immensely. The action scenes and magical world Livingston created were doused with detail and rich visuals that portrayed a fantastic view of the Fae world.

I found the writing to flow at a fast past and thought the humor, drama and magic worked together beautifully resulting in a big cloud of cotton candy.

Swearing is minimal and the biggest sex scene is kissing, this is a lovely tale for teens and adults alike. Id recommend this for 14 and up. Blog with Bite Rating 4/4

Discussion Questions

1.Faeries seem to be very big in YA lit lately, how does Wondrous Strange compare to others in its genre such as Lament, Wicked Lovely, etc.? I think the world of the Fae was more believable and more fairyish (is that a word?) than the trendy stuff out right now, it was edgy without being extreme, ie like Tithe which took the darkness, trend and drugs to far IMO for YA.


2.How did you view the relationship with Kelley and Sonny, was it a believable romance? I loved the romance....I think it started the right way....kelley was freaked out at first but then slowly fell for him, as slow as you can in a 200 something book.

3.Wondrous Strange was written in the typical fashion of paranormal literature, with the protagonist unaware of her supernatural abilities, meets boy who introduces her to the world... do you find these plot lines tiresome in their likeness, or do you believe there are always similarities within fiction and it is all about the deeper story? Im finding them a bit overdone.....but I did enjoy this story, I thought it was sweet.........

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