Review: Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston

Book Description (from the back of the book):

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.

My Thoughts:

Wow. Just wow. From beginning to end, I was captivated with the whole story. This is the best faery book I’ve read so far! I’m looking forward to reading Darklight!

Lesley Livingston pulled me in with her poetic and hypnotic writing and compelled me to read on with her words. Lesley makes such vivid imagery that gave justice to the beauty and wickedness of the Fae. It was easy for me to picture everything. The modern setting was sliced with the magical realm, purposefully making Central Park the site of the convergence of Otherworld and ours. It intrigued me a good deal on how she made a famous landmark a place of magic and threat.

Kelley is in New York to fulfil her dream to become an actress. She is simply human in every way she could think of. She is of this world. At least that is what she thinks until the day she saw Sonny aka Handsome Stranger outside Avalon. With every strange and somewhat disturbing encounter with Sonny, she finds out that there’s more to Central Park than what meets the eyes and that there’s more to her than what she knows.

The simple glamour of Kelley’s play, the wonder and danger posed by Winter King Auberon, Autumn Queen Mabh and the Otherworld, and the budding love between Kelley and Sonny merges into an addicting story that is hard to resist. I devoured this novel and ended up satisfied. The tale of the Wild Hunt brought to life an enchantment twisted into a tragic and vengeful ending.

All the characters were interesting and entertaining. I especially liked Bob the boucca aka Puck. Naturally mischievous and humorous, he never fails to entertain and surprise me with his caring side for Kelley. And I discover that he plays such a bigger role than I initially suspected. Because of him Sonny and Kelley’s lives are tangled together in threads of vengeance and love.

Wondrous Strange is hypnotic and addicting with every page of magic, secrets and emotions wound through twists and turns. Everything is interconnected in this remarkable debut. I highly recommend this to fans of Faery and even if you’re not and would just like to try, I recommend this too. You won’t regret it.

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