Review: Great Story, Terrible Editing
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 4, 2013
Daniel and Sophie's only memory of their cousin Felicity is of a little girl who sat under a table, wailing at the top of her lungs, in the middle of a family wedding.  That little girl bears very little resemblance to the blonde, nose-pierced and perfectly made up young woman who steps off the bus from north Auckland and back into their lives.  With a sneer at their bumpkin ways and total contempt for their small farm in Misty Point, Felicity makes it clear that she sees the visit as punishment and is counting the days until she can return home.  Her arrival is the herald of a series of calamitous events including the widespread death of the farm's chooks.  Did Felicity poison them?  Or is someone else with more evil intentions at work to throw them out of their home?  The addition of another visitor to their home, a hitchhiker named Patrick, contributes to the growing excitement.  Patrick enthralls them all with his tales of travel and adventure.  His appearance has a surprising effect on Felicity's personality and allows Daniel and Sophie to see below her polished surface.  As Felicity begins to change, the cousins realize that they may sharecommon ground after all and may be able to work together to solve the mysterious events plaguing the farm.I often like to take a breather between my more serious reading to enjoy books written for children and teenagers but with plots and characters that are rich enough to satisfy even a more mature audience.  This book has all of those things, in addition to its interesting glimpse of life in rural New Zealand and the folklore that its culture is based upon.  The author's humor and the quirky illustrations add to its charm.  Unfortunately, those characteristics get lost in the absurd number of typographical errors throughout the book.  If I hadn't received it as a free Kindle edition, I certainly would have requested a refund.  There is no excuse for the number of easily identifiable mistakes that are found in this book.  That fact is sad, for it is a great story otherwise.  If not for the extremely poor editing, it would rate at least four or five stars.