Wondrous Strange
Author: Lesley Livingston
Series: Darklight (#1)
Publisher: HarperTeen
How Received: publicist
Since the dawn of time, the Faerie have taken. . . .
Seventeen-year-old actress Kelley Winslow always thought faeries were just something from childhood stories. Then she meets Sonny Flannery. He's a changeling—a mortal taken as an infant and raised among Faerie—and within short order he's turned Kelley's heart inside out and her life upside down.
For Kelley's beloved Central Park isn't just a park—it's a gateway between her ordinary city and the Faerie's dangerous, bewitching Otherworld. Now Kelley's eyes are opening not just to the Faerie that surround her, but to the heritage that awaits her . . . a destiny both wondrous and strange.
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Have you ever tried a new flavor of icecream? You've had so many other similar flavors that you're not sure if you're going to like this one or not, and at the first bite, you seem a little iffy, but after a few more you decide it's a really good flavor.
Wondrous Strange was a bit like that.
You have the theater-fairy thing in Eyes Like Stars and the daughter-of-a-King-who-doesn't-know-it in The Iron King, and when I started reading it, that's all I could compare it to mentally.
Then I forgot about both as I got caught up in the plot.
It's not fully original - obviously, the stolen daughter thing is done all the time, and sticking a changeling in Mid-Summer Night's Dream isn't exactly a brilliant idea. But both are well done and the characters are well thought out.
I think the thing I liked best is that Kelley and Sonny don't just fall in love right away. They don't really use the word 'love' until the last few chapters of the book; it's more like a really affectionate relationship until they realize what's going on around them, and what's important to them.
As for the plot itself -- I didn't like the whole 'attack on Manhattan' bit; it leaves too many open threads at the end of the book. Besides that, though, I enjoyed watching it unravel and everything come together, and the few twists and turns at the end.
Overall Rating & Final Comments: 9/10. A magical ride with interesting characters.
Which book?: Eyes Like Stars if you're a theater fan, The Iron King if you're a faerie fan in general, and Wondrous Strange if you prefer the Unseelie Court.