Book Review: The Girl Who Never Was by Skylar Dorset
OMG, one of my favorite fic authors wrote a novel, and I bought it and adored it!! (Not sure if she wants her fandom identity linked with this, so I won’t tag her, but that’s how I found out about her novel and what really motivated me to read it ASAP!)
In this young adult fantasy novel, Selkie Stewart thinks she’s a normal Boston teenager…who is being raised by her eccentric aunts because her father is in a mental institution and her mother abandoned her on the doorstep when she was a baby. When she turns seventeen and goes searching for her long-lost mother, though, is when things really start getting weird, and Selkie discovers her connection to a magical world of faeries, ogres, wizards, and the dreaded Seelie Court. And meanwhile there’s a hot and very special boy in her life…
This one took me a couple of chapters to sink into-a bit too much Bostonian history at the beginning, as well as Selkie’s understandable confusion about the faerie world and frustration that no one will answer her questions. But once it got going, I was so hooked, and it’s partially because of the fun, deceptively straightforward world-building, but mostly because of the two wonderful leads.
It’s great to see the narrator, Selkie, evolve throughout the story. While at the beginning she’s naturally bewildered and lost, once she gets her bearings, she’s brave, resilient, and determined-and delightfully stubborn, a particularly magical trait of hers (as you will see!).
And then there’s Ben, who’s just swoon-worthy: attractive but so vulnerable and with lots of secrets. For those of us who mentally align Benedict Le Fay with the looks of a young Benedict Cumberbatch, he is even more of a treat (Le Fay is tall and thin and graceful with dark curly hair and changeable blue/green/gray eyes and he does the nose crinkle, and it’s just perfect and so enjoyable). I fell in love with him pretty much instantly and loved him more with every scene. My favorite part is how the book starts off with him protecting her but then quickly moves to her doing her best to rescue him. Their touching loyalty to one another is what really drives this novel.
The sequel, The Boy with the Hidden Name, is expected to be published December 2, 2014, and I really can’t wait!
EDIT: The sequel is out, and I reviewed it at this link.
In this young adult fantasy novel, Selkie Stewart thinks she’s a normal Boston teenager…who is being raised by her eccentric aunts because her father is in a mental institution and her mother abandoned her on the doorstep when she was a baby. When she turns seventeen and goes searching for her long-lost mother, though, is when things really start getting weird, and Selkie discovers her connection to a magical world of faeries, ogres, wizards, and the dreaded Seelie Court. And meanwhile there’s a hot and very special boy in her life…
This one took me a couple of chapters to sink into-a bit too much Bostonian history at the beginning, as well as Selkie’s understandable confusion about the faerie world and frustration that no one will answer her questions. But once it got going, I was so hooked, and it’s partially because of the fun, deceptively straightforward world-building, but mostly because of the two wonderful leads.
It’s great to see the narrator, Selkie, evolve throughout the story. While at the beginning she’s naturally bewildered and lost, once she gets her bearings, she’s brave, resilient, and determined-and delightfully stubborn, a particularly magical trait of hers (as you will see!).
And then there’s Ben, who’s just swoon-worthy: attractive but so vulnerable and with lots of secrets. For those of us who mentally align Benedict Le Fay with the looks of a young Benedict Cumberbatch, he is even more of a treat (Le Fay is tall and thin and graceful with dark curly hair and changeable blue/green/gray eyes and he does the nose crinkle, and it’s just perfect and so enjoyable). I fell in love with him pretty much instantly and loved him more with every scene. My favorite part is how the book starts off with him protecting her but then quickly moves to her doing her best to rescue him. Their touching loyalty to one another is what really drives this novel.
The sequel, The Boy with the Hidden Name, is expected to be published December 2, 2014, and I really can’t wait!
EDIT: The sequel is out, and I reviewed it at this link.