Extraordinary

I'm terribly sorry for the long absence, but I have an excuse! I just finished my finals, and as much as I love the blog I love passing my classes even more.

What does it mean to be extraordinary? Phoebe finds herself drawn to Mallory, the strange and secretive new kid in school. Soon the two girls are as close as sisters . . . until Mallory’s magnetic older brother, Ryland, appears. Ryland has an immediate, exciting hold on Phoebe—but a dangerous hold, for she begins to question her feelings about her best friend and, worse, about herself.

Soon she’ll discover the shocking, fantastical truth about Ryland and Mallory, and about an age-old debt they expect Phoebe to pay. Will she be strong enough to resist? Will she be special enough to save herself?
from nancywerlin.com

Beth says 3.5 Stars...

I adored Impossible and was really excited for this book. I was expecting to be blown away yet again, but I wasn't. It's not to say that the novel was awful by any means, but it just couldn't live up to my expectations. Once again, Werlin fuses fantasy and reality, however, the fantasy elements were slightly more pronounced throughout the book. One thing that really bothered me was how the book was formatted. The story was punctuated with little conversations with the faerie queen, showing the opinions and plots of the fay. I found it highly distracting and thought that it detracted from the story as it created a split in my attention. I had an idea of why Mallory and Ryland were doing things, but didn't fully understand. By the same token, I wasn't as confused as Phoebe so couldn't fully relate to her. This was the main problem of the book because it caused a severe disconnect for me, as I was unable to focus on either plotline. The rest of the plot was actually well done and very intriguing, but just suffered from a slight case of a split personality.

I had an issue connecting with the characters. I found Phoebe rather irritating and self absorbed. I wanted her to be stronger throughout the book, instead of just in flashes. I know that it's impossible to be strong all the time, but significantly more would have been realistic. The way Mallory was written made me dislike her for large chunks of the book, but overall I found her more appealing than Phoebe. Pyland was purposefully unlikeable, and so he did absolutely nothing to enhance the characterization.

Overall the book wasn't actually bad. I wouldn't put it anywhere near the top of my list, or even on it. This is one to wait for until it comes to your library. As much as I hate saying it, it wasn't nearly spectacular enough to capture my love. It felt rather ordinary.
Book from Library