Illusions

August 1, 2011

Gr 7-10-In Spells (2010), the sequel to Wings (2009, both HarperTeen), faerie Laurel chose her human boyfriend David over Tamani, her faerie guardian, who then disappeared. Now Laurel's thrown when Tamani unexpectedly shows up at the start of her senior year, posing as a Scottish exchange student. Klea, the mysterious female troll hunter who saved Laurel from her evil troll nemesis in the previous book, turns up in town, too. She asks Laurel to look after a shy Japanese exchange student who isn't "exactly...human." Suspecting that Yuki's a faerie, Laurel is wary of both Klea and Yuki's motives since Yuki doesn't respond to Laurel's efforts at friendship and might even hate her. When Tamani befriends Yuki to gather information, Laurel can't help feeling jealous. There have been signs of trolls in the vicinity, but no actual sightings until they attack Laurel and her friends and then disappear through an invisible barrier. After David and Tamani come to blows over her, Laurel breaks off with both of them-but can't deny her attraction for Tamani. Everything comes to a climax at the winter dance, when they discover what Yuki really is and what she's capable of. Readers are left hanging just as the action gets exciting, guaranteeing another book in this romantic paranormal series.-Sharon Rawlins, New Jersey State Library, Trenton

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2011

The third in this four-leaf series wilts at the outset, with prose more clichéd than its predecessors, but perks up in the second half.

Laurel's back in her real-world hometown of Crescent City, Calif., trying to live a normal teenage life without pining for Avalon, her faerie homeland. Trolls are probably hunting her, but they don't attack often, so Laurel's biggest quandary in this installment is deciding between--chime in, paranormal romance fans!--the two dreamy boys who adore her. Steadfast David is human, while steamy Tamani is Lauren's personal faerie guardian; they're equally loyal and equally smitten. Daily life becomes precarious when Klea, a tough special-ops fighter who frequently saves Laurel's life but emanates untrustworthiness, asks Laurel to befriend Yuki, an exchange student who's obviously hiding things. As a plant (in this world, faeries are biologically plants), Laurel works with powders and beakers and pestles trying to determine Yuki's secret--is Yuki a faerie too? Pike's third-person narration uses Tamani's perspective sometimes, conveniently showing readers scenes behind Laurel's back. It's unclear how Laurel and Tamani shift from knowing that Yuki and Klea's motivations are unknown, to assuming they comprehend who Yuki and Klea really are (they have no evidence), but those unfounded assumptions underlie the climax's surprise.

Fans will revel in the idealized characterizations, breathless abstinence romance, lurking danger and newly explicit Arthurian parallels. (Paranormal romance. 12 & up)

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