Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston

I must admit I was immediately intrigued by the beautimous cover on this book. Love the dress, love the hair - it caught my attention. Then I read the teaser and said to myself:

faeries? check
Shakespeare? check
shiny, sparkly wings? check, check

ding, ding! We have a winner!

Kelley has come to New York, fresh out of high school, ready to meet the acting world head-on. She's found the perfect apartment (even if her roommate is a little OCD) and has finally landed a huge role in A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Avalon theater - a very off, off Broadway theater - but hey, theater is theater, right?

Sonny on the other hand, is a changeling - taken from his parents at birth and fated to live in the faery realm forever. He has been raised to become one of the elite Janus guard who protect the human world from the nasties that might try to slip through the gates from the faery kingdoms and just happens to be pretty dang good at his job - which explains why when Kelley is almost killed he is right there to play knight in shining armor.

What Kelley doesn't realize is the closer she gets to Halloween - when the gates between the faery and human world will open - she will get one up close and personal meeting with the faery kingdom in all its beauty and cruelty. Sonny will do anything to protect Kelley against the fae; even if it means losing everything he loves.

The Shakespeare references really made this a stand-out read for me. That combined with Kelley's descriptions of the stage mixed with the machinations of evil and benign faery creatures constantly drew me in. Sonny and Kelley's characters were so blindingly real to me - Sonny can fight, is loyal and is officially my new dream boy. ::sigh::

One thing I really liked about this story is although it uses known fairy creatures and themes, the plot is entirely original. Some of the revelations weren't a surprise, but most caught me totally off guard - just like a real fairy bargain perhaps? It comes as no surprise that I totally ate up this story and am very, very delighted to read Darklight this December.

series reading order:
~ Wondrous Strange
~ Darklight