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1.30.2010

Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston - Blog with Bite Feature

Wondrous StrangeWondrous Strange  by Lesley Livingston 
Paid for by me, and downloaded to my Kindle





PJV's Quickie POV:   Parajunkee seems to be stuck in faerie land a lot lately. Faerie themed YA, all the rage, speak to our inner child that still secretly believes in faeries. Luckily the faeries that I believed in as a wee babe weren't the scheming, sociopath faeries that Ms. Livingston brought to life in Wondrous Strange. Ms. Livingston's tale of the faerie Otherworld and the group of changelings that guard the human population from being over run by faerie monsters is fast paced and a little sweet.  Her tale brings alive a world that you can almost believe is true.  She meshes "real" faerie tales within her fiction, bringing forth characters such as Puck and Herne the Hunter, giving them personalities and back-stories that justify their legendary stories. Wondrous Strange was a fantastical, modern story of love, deception and triumph, I was thoroughly entertained and engrossed.  Can't wait to read Darklight.

Review:   Kelley Winslow, aspiring actress, has landed her dream job.  Luckily for her the actress that was playing the lead of Titania the Fairy Queen in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream twisted her ankle, and now Kelley has the lead.  Unfortunately, she can't seem to remember her lines. Which is how she ends up in Central Park after dark, meets a handsome, yet kind of deranged stranger, and rescues a drowning horse that later follows her home and takes up residence in her bathtub.

Talk about our weirdness.  But things don't get better, they just seem to get weirder and weirder.  Handsome Stranger, turns into crazy stalker.  Her fellow actor Bob, who is playing Puck starts making cryptic statements, her usually militant roommate is actually infatuated with the horse in the tub, even after it eats her very expensive soap. Oh yeah, and she might have glowed a bit at some point.

The stories underlying plot might not be an original one, there is a girl, who might be a bit supernatural.  Girl meets boy, who may or may not also be a bit supernatural. Boy instructs girl on her supernatural roots and they just may move to happily ever after, just if they can over-come an evil plot that is directed at the girl.  Yes, we've read this story in numerous ways, with numerous kinds of supernaturals, but as normal as the storyline is, Livingston takes the story to new heights with excellent characters, a wonderful back-drop and new spins on the tried and true paranormal YA plots.

Entertaining, well written and engaging, Wondrous Strange had me cringing in some scenes, sniffling in others and basically wanting more when it was over.  Can't wait to read Darklight. 


Recommendations:   Lovers of faeries, the supernatural and young adult novels you'll really enjoy this novel.  There is nothing vulgar or sexual in the pages, so parents have no fear.  The story can be a bit trite in some instants, but it still has a maturity that adults will enjoy.  BWB rating 3/4.


Have you read Wondrous Strange?? Lesley Livingston is offering a signed copy of Darklight to our Blog with Bite Top Reviewer! Submit your review today and you could win!


Click Here.







8 comments:

Sandy said...

Lol, I loved Lucky! He was so charming, even when he ate the expensive soap ;)

Mariana S said...

I havent read it yet but I really want to ^^
Great Review!

Dahlia (TheBookShopaholic) said...

I have this, I guess I should hurry up and read it.

Barbara said...

I'm stuck in series mode but most tend to be vampires but I do love faeries so I think I'll see about checking this out.

Nikki @ Bookizzle said...

Another book sitting in my TBR pile waiting to be read. I'll hopefully get to it soon. Loved your review!

Also, I have an award for you
here!

Monster of Books said...

I enjoyed this book, but feel the sequel is so much better!!

Lola said...

AWESOME review!!! This is definitely going on my tbr list! :)

Wings said...

Awesome review!

Im so glad this was my intro to faeries, it was excellent!

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