Review: a refreshing new YA title
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 5, 2014
So, I'm not entirely sure how Ms. Zabski did it, but I think she might have turned me into a furry.(That's what we like to call a hook, my friends; because now you have to read my review to find out what the effe I'm talking about... What can I say; I'm a tricky little hobbit)The story starts with Jaime. She's a loner, not quite comfortable in her own skin, who only has one real friend and her mother in her corner. Or does she? She gets home after a hellish day of school to find her mother is missing. A series of misadventures follow, and she finds out that all are not as they seem in her not so perfect little world. Just when you're thinking "what else could go wrong?" she gets a call from her one and only friend, Allie, who tells her that her mother is missing as well.And then you get to Part Two, which is told by Allie, and you curse a blue streak because you don't want to read the past 24 hours from Allie's perspective, you want to find out what's going to happen next, and will anyone be doing the no pants dance with Patrick? (For the record, no. And I knew that going in since this is true YA, but I still was looking for it... like perhaps the story had changed since Jena read it.) I told my friend Amber Lynn Nautsch (like that name drop?) that I would probably be over it in 11 pages, but that was a lie. I was over it in 2. You think Jaime's story is crazy, wait until you get to Allie's. Oh my goodness folks!In Allie's part you find out she's not all rainbows and puppy dog farts as Jaime seems to believe. No, this character has a hidden rage to her, and beneath that is a whole other level. Allie is just like an ogre in that she's got layers upon layers upon layers. On her travels, which, again, are far more intense than Jaime's, she runs across an animal can speak... in faerie at least.Then we have a story with the two of them together. I like Jaime more as a person, but Allie really is the more compelling character. She's just got so much more going on, and she also has the added character trait of knowing that she's really just tagging along on her less than remarkable best friend's adventure. Her best friend who seems to have the attention of the boy she likes. SO NOT FAIR! (Again, I like Jaime more as a person, and can tell she'll be an epic character, so I want her to get the heart throb, but I still really like Allie.)Obviously they can't both get Patrick, so this is where the furry angle comes in. So remember that animal Allie ran across? Well when I realized I wanted Jaime to get the boy, I found myself wondering if maybe, just maybe the hare could become a real boy. A real teenage boy. A real teenage boy who's like, totally dreamy *hair flip*. When I start hoping that bunnies are hunks, I realize the book has me hooked.Ok, so it was a little weird that the mother's were always referred to as their first name. I always call my mom mom, unless she's really pissed me off at which point I call her mother. But then again my husband always calls his adoptive father by his first name, so who knows.Also, it leaves off in a terrible spot. Not so much cliffhanger, more "AH MAH GAWD I NEED MORE NAOW!" kind of way that leaves me banging on Ms. Zabski's windows like I'm a zombie and she's the only human left on the planet. The sequel can't come out soon enough for me. Actually, if I'm being honest, I keep opening the file hoping there will be more this time. There never is.5 fluffy little bunnies.