Wondrous Strange

October 6, 2008
It's not just the jacket that's strikingly similar to Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely
: debut novelist Livingston, too, delivers a lost-now-found faerie princess; a dark, brooding changeling love interest; faerie royalty and warring faerie courts (summer and winter), with accompanying threats to the human world. As a read-alike, this book inescapably invites comparison, and fans of Marr (or Holly Black) may be disappointed. The author offers a promising variation: she uses Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
as a window onto the faerie world (17-year-old heroine Kelley Winston, an aspiring actress, steps from understudy into the role of Titania). But the Shakespeare device will also be familiar to many YA readers, and it embellishes rather than advances the plot. The shining performance belongs to Sonny Flannery—neither human nor faerie, he is a member of the changeling guard that watches the gates between the human and the fey realms. Sonny is detailed to the gate in Manhattan's Central Park, where he and Kelley meet. Readers may want less Kelley, who comes across as naïve, and more Sonny, finding in him a worthy hero and romantic interest. Ages 12–up.

January 1, 2009
Gr 7-10-When Kelley moves to New York to pursue her dreams of theatrical success, she expects that her only encounters with mythical beings will be confined to the stage, in the Avalon Grande Theatre's production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". All of that changes when she meets Sonny Flannery, who introduces Kelley to a world she never knew existed. A member of Auberon's Janus Guard, he patrols the portal (in Central Park) between the human and faerie worlds on the few dangerous nights when it opens and members of the Unseelie Court can pass into the mortal realm. He is strangely drawn to Kelley, and as he gets to know her, he begins to suspect that there is more to her history than either of them know. Through encounters with sirens, hellhounds, and kelpies, Kelley and Sonny are drawn irrevocably into a battle among the Fey. Despite the budding attraction between them, forces they can hardly understand seek to keep them apart. Set against the backdrop of present-day New York City, this enchanting first novel weaves together the worlds of theater and magic in a way that is sure to please fans of both. Readers will revel in the hints of Shakespeare within the text as they are introduced to faerie creatures both familiar and "wondrous strange.""Misti Tidman, Boyd County Public Library, Ashland, KY"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2009
Grades 7-10 This addition to the bevy of books about teenage girls turned faerie princesses stands out with a balanced mix of faerie lore and authorial invention. Kelley, 17, gets her big break when the woman playing Titania in an off-off-Broadway production of A Midsummer Nights Dream is injured. But the world of Faerie becomes too real after Kelley rescues what she thinks is a drowning horse in Central Park Lake only to have it appear later on her balcony and station itself in her bathtub. Suddenly shes caught the eye of Sonny Flannery, a human changeling who guards the Gate between Faerie and Manhattan, and the longer he watches, the more certain he is that she is Auberons stolen daughter. Kelley is appealingly feisty and stubborn, and her romance with Sonny develops quickly but believably. Some of Livingstons plot twists strain credibility, but the big reveal of Kelleys parentage is well played. With an ending that promises a sequel, this book will capture readers eager for romance, magic, and suspense.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2009
While playing Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream, seventeen-year-old Kelley discovers she's the daughter of Faerie king Auberon. Naturally, she learns this as the mortal world is most threatened by fairy incursion. Kelley's story dovetails with Sonny's, a changeling guard of the gate between mortal and fairy realms. Plentiful action, a complex setup, and humorous plot strands keep pages turning.

(Copyright 2009 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

March 1, 2009
Kelley Winslow, a seventeen-year-old actress playing Titania in a NYC production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, discovers that she is actually the stolen daughter of the Faerie king Auberon. Naturally, she learns this just when the mortal world is most threatened by a fairy incursion. Kelley's story dovetails with that of Sonny, changeling guard of the gate between mortal and fairy realms; they fall into a star-crossed romance. Puck (now going by "Bob") makes a memorable appearance, as does the treacherous Queen Mab, as Livingston reinterprets Shakespeare's classic comedy, injecting backstory and projecting aftermath. Unfortunately, the romance feels forced, as Kelley barely has time to change her view of Sonny from stalker to savior before they are declaring passion eternal. Still, plentiful action, a complex, slow-to-unravel setup, and humorous plot strands (such as the fairy horse that follows Kelley home to live in her bathroom) ensure that the pages keep turning in this clever debut.

(Copyright 2009 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)