Tempestuous

Tempestuous by Lesley Livingston
Harper, 2010
361 pages
YA; Fantasy; Faerie
4.5/5 stars

Source: From the library

SPOILERS for first two books!

Summary: The conclusion to Livingston's Wondrous Strange Faerie trilogy! After Kelley says she does not love Sonny Flannery, events are set in motion.  He can't believe her about-face; she can't believe she managed to lie despite her faerie blood.  The illness of her father leads to chaos among the Realms and Kelley has to access both dies of her lineage in order to save the world.

Thoughts: As usual, it took me a bit to jump into the world of Kelley Winslow and her friends and relations.  She is so determined to protect Sonny that she is willing to sabotage their relationship, which is admittedly a theme I hate.  Why can't couples ever just talk normally to each other?!  But the trope does set the plot in motion as Sonny and Kelley independently investigate; the switching between points of view enables the reader to put pieces together (something that I predicted actually turned out to be true!) for the final showdown between our heroes and the villains.

I really liked that Kelley struggled more with her relationship to her father Auberon and mother Mabh.  While she did not understand them and had a contentious relationship in the previous books, she moves closer to building a stronger bond with them and accepting their legacy.  They really do seem to love her, even if their nature doesn't express that love as a human might understand it.

The appropriateness of the title kicks in as Shakespeare references have abounded throughout the books and Kelley's acting company takes on the challenge of performing "The Tempest" as the conclusion to this novel.

I was sad for a general lack of Tyff, Kelley's roommate and another faerie, but I understand that she didn't really play a part in this story. Other secondary characters remain such as Maddox, Fenn, Chloe, and of course the wonderful Puck/Bob.

Overall: A fitting conclusion to this fantastic trilogy-my favorite Faerie novels! The mix of magic, romance, and mystery please me immensely. I highly recommend reading them all in order now that they're all released as the previous books ended with massive cliff-hangers.

Cover: Another striking cover with her beautiful bright hair grabbing the eye.

Darklight

Darklight by Lesley Livingston

HarperTeen, 2010

310 pages

YA; Fantasy; Faerie

Sequel to Wondrous Strange

Source: Library

Spoilers!

Summary: Kelley is living in NY and continuing to act while her love Sonny tracks down the remainder of the Wild Hunt in the Otherworld. New secrets emerge and new magic is uncovered.

Thoughts: I'm so pleased that I wrote a mini-review of Wondrous Strange because while I knew that I read it, I didn't remember much about it. This blog helped me get psyched up about this although I still don't really remember much about Wondrous Strange. Some parts of it came rushing back though as I read because Livingston did a good job of linking back to the first.

Again I really liked the supporting characters especially Puck, Tyff, Mabh, and Titania. The only problem is that sometimes they were more interesting than Kelley and there wasn't enough of a focus on them. While I apparently thought Sonny was kind of hot in Wondrous Strange, I did not get that feeling in this. I preferred Fenn even if he is pretty vicious.

I am frustrated by the lack of answers although I realize this is the middle of a trilogy and I hope they are answered in the final. I especially want to know about Auberon's illness and how Kelley and Sonny will be reunited. There was also a lot of jumping around in plot

Overall: 4/5, not as good as the first but looking forward to the third, which will hopefully answer my questions!

Cover: I like Wondrous Strange's cover better but this is still very striking and it fits.

Wondrous Strange

Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston

[Sorry that it's minimal-I wanted to post before everything left my head. I will try to flesh it out more later.]

Summary: Kelley is an aspiring actress in NYC who meets this weird guy Sonny. Turns out he's a changeling (human raised by fairies) who's been trained to protect the mortal world from the strange beings within the fairy world. There is something odd about Kelley, to Sonny's way of thinking. But what could it be?

Kelley is a pretty strong character; she handles the many things that are thrown at her well. But she only really taps into her strength toward the end. However the book is well set up for a sequel and I assume there will be more of her butt-kicking! Sonny is kinda hot. I like reading about good guys but lately I've been somewhat disappointed. I'm excited to read more of him.

I also really liked the supporting characters: Sonny's friend and fellow guard Maddox; the sneaky actor who plays Puck in Kelley's production of "A Midsummer's Night Dream;" Kelley's roommate Tyff; Kelley's Aunt Emma; the fairy king Auberon; and Queen Mabh.

Cover: I think it looks like she's underwater and from certain angles, her hair looks incredibly vibrant and from others very bland. Thumbs down.

Overall: 4/5; I'm interested in the sequel and I would probably recommend this book.