Review: Adorable short story - Young adult audience
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 7, 2011
The writing team that is Ilona Andrews just can't do anything poorly.  As short as this story is, 300 kindle pages, it's absolutely charming.  The setting is, I'm assuming, modern urban fantasy about various houses with magic.  17 Year old Alena is forced into a date with the neighborhood thug, Chad, because her family needs the connection to get a loan approved by his family.  Although she is left with the choice to go, it would be insulting not to accept his date and it is her obligation, even though she can see absolutely nothing good coming of it.Self fulfilling prophecy or not, it turns into the worst date ever, starting with Chad ogling her [...], to conversations that are harder than pulling teeth.  Everything they try goes wrong, and Chad gives up all perceptions of gentlemanliness to finish off a job that his friends couldn't take care of.  From there, Alena finds herself chasing around a poor helpless pig that Chad is hellbent on destroying.  She's put up with everything the night has thrown at her, but she refuses to sit back on her date and watch him brutalize a helpless pig.  She ends up saving the pig's life, takes him home, and proceeds to have a complete breakdown with tears and confessions of how miserable her life is, naked no less, only to find out that the pig turns into a man and .... poof...disappears.Needless to say, things end on a happy note of potential continuation which I would be pleased to read about.  It sounds like an intriguing prologue to a new series to be perfectly honest, although I doubt they had that in mind.  Regardless, it simply boggles the mind that in such a short story, they manage to get you caught up in the web of emotions as if you were going through the series of unfortunate events yourself.  I could totally relate to the pain, pressure, and humiliation, as well as the light at the end of the tunnel.  If you've never read Ilona Andrews before, you can't go wrong.  There's nothing they could put out that I wouldn't buy and they've ruined me forever for any Urban Fantasy that isn't part of the Kate Daniels World.  Having said that, totally worth the .99 for entertainment.