Title: Wondrous Strange (Wondrous Strange #1)
Author: Lesley Livingston
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: December 23, 2008
Source: Purchased
Seventeen-year-old actress Kelley Winslow thinks that playing the role of the fairy queen Titania in a production of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream could be her lucky break--if she can pull it off. But when she meets the handsome Sonny Flannery, Kelley has to face the shocking truth that the world of Faeries is all too real--and that she is an unwitting part of it. Sonny warns Kelley that she is no mere mortal, and that she is being hunted by powerful forces from the Faerie realm. Now, Kelley must come to terms with her heritage--and her growing feelings for Sonny--if she wants to save not only herself, but also the human world that she holds dear.
Every time I went to the bookstore I saw Wondrous Strange on the shelf and it caught my attention every time, I just never picked it up. After looking the book up online, I finally decided to buy it during my next trip to the book store. Once I started reading, I began asking myself why I had waited so long to get the book and read it. The story was captivating and imaginative and made it very difficult to put the book down. This was an amazing debut novel by Lesley Livingston and a great start to what promises to be a great trilogy.
Kelley came to New York after having dropped out of theatre school in order to pursue her dream of becoming an actress. That dream seems to be coming true when the lead actress in the play she is working on gets injured and she has to fill in for her. In comes Sonny Flannery, a mysterious stranger who almost seems to be stalking Kelley, everywhere she goes he just seems to show up. And let’s not forget about the horse who has taken up residence in her bathtub after Kelley rescued him from drowning in a lake in Central Park. And that’s just part of what’s going on in Kelley’s life.
I loved Kelley right from the start. She was an extremely likable character and totally relatable...until you learn some things about where she actually comes from, and even then it’s still possible to relate to her. For once, the female protagonist in a paranormal story doesn’t just accept and go along with everything that’s happening. Her initial reaction to faeries being real: she basically laughs in Sonny’s face and tells him that he’s a nut case. Basically a normal reaction to information like this. It was very refreshing to have a female character who just didn’t go along with everything that was presented to her.
And then there was Sonny. I don’t even know where to begin with Sonny. How Kelley managed to to fall in love with him right from the start is a mystery to me. I don’t think anything I could possibly say would do him justice so I’ll just let you read the book and find out for yourself. Trust me you won’t be disappointed.
The book as a whole was simply amazing. The plot was amazing, the characters were amazing I don’t really know how else to describe this book. Wondrous Strange was a lot more than I expected it to be and I can’t wait to go to the bookstore and pick up Darklight, the second book in the trilogy.
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