Review: Enjoyable, fun, and hilarious!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 13, 2014
REVIEWED BY KATIEIt's definitely important to understand that GILDING THE LILY-PAD has the same story line as The Frog Prince, just told from a different point of view; this story is told from the hero's POV, while the latter was told entirely from the heroine's POV.I'd never read a companion novel before so this was a first for me. I reread The Frog Prince right before GILDING THE LILY-PAD because it had been a while since I read it the first time and I needed a little refresher. I seriously don't know how Lothlorien did it: it reads as if she wrote these books at the same time! Every awkward pause, odd comment, or strange look from The Frog Prince is explained in GILDING THE LILY-PAD. Thank goodness she decided to write it, otherwise we would be missing so much information that has seemingly been there the whole time!I thought this was a really enjoyable read. I loved hearing the story from Roman's POV. It connected so many dots and filled in some minor gaps that The Frog Prince left. It feels like I now have the WHOLE story and I love the characters even more for that! I got double the time to get to know and love them, even though it was within the same period of time. Does that even make sense?GILDING THE LILY-PAD was exactly the kind of book that I needed at the time. It was lighthearted, funny, easy to read, and since I already knew the main plot line, it let me just relax and get enveloped in the story. It almost felt like rereading one of your all-time favorite books, but with a few new twists!You also can't go wrong with Lothlorien's writing style. I love her writing! Her characters are incredibly witty and humorous. Leigh is uncomfortably awkward at times, but can also be sharp as a tack when rifling off a comeback line. I also appreciated that through reading GILDING THE LILY-PAD we learn that Roman isn't as completely suave and confident as he appeared in The Frog Prince. His inner monologue was fantastic and I was glad to see him a little more humanized with his emotions this time around.I'm a bit torn about the companionship of these two novels. Overall, I think it worked really well, but there were times that the story seemed a bit redundant. The scenes were mostly the same between the two books, and sometimes, not enough new story emerged to make it different enough for me. On the other hand, some of the charm of GILDING THE LILY-PAD was that it showcased the same scenes. At times, I wanted to check back to see how the scene played out in The Frog Prince.One thing that I was hoping for was a little more information at the end of the book. Lothlorien wraps it up nicely, but I wanted to know more of how it will all work out. Maybe I'm jumping the gun here and she'll answer those questions eventually...I have heard talk about The Frog King! :)BOTTOM LINE:GILDING THE LILY-PAD is a great read if you're looking for some fun and witty dialogue and writing. It was relaxing and easy--perfect for a vacation, or just a break from reality. I would definitely recommend reading The Frog Prince first, but check this one out afterward to get the whole story!RATING: B+Note: I received a review copy of this title courtesy of the author in exchange for an honest review.