Wondrous Strange

This addition to the bevy of books about teenage girls turned faerie princesses stands out with a balanced mix of faerie lore and authorial invention. Kelley, 17, gets her big break when the woman playing Titania in an off-off-Broadway production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is injured. But the world of Faerie becomes too real after Kelley rescues what she thinks is a drowning horse in Central Park Lake only to have it appear later on her balcony and station itself in her bathtub. Suddenly she’s caught the eye of Sonny Flannery, a human changeling who guards the Gate between Faerie and Manhattan, and the longer he watches, the more certain he is that she is Auberon’s stolen daughter. Kelley is appealingly feisty and stubborn, and her romance with Sonny develops quickly but believably. Some of Livingston’s plot twists strain credibility, but the big reveal of Kelley’s parentage is well played. With an ending that promises a sequel, this book will capture readers eager for romance, magic, and suspense.