Debut Showcase: Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston

Wondrous Strange ( US - Canada - UK)
By Lesley Livingston (Website - Blog - My Space)
Publisher: HarperTeen (December 23, 2008)
Hardcover: 336 pages
Snippet

Publisher's Blurb:

For seventeen-year-old actress Kelley Winslow, faeries are just something from childhood stories. Then she meets Sonny Flannery, whose steel-gray eyes mask an equally steely determination to protect her.

Sonny guards the Samhain Gate, which connects the mortal realm with the Faerie's enchanted, dangerous Otherworld. Usually kept shut by order of icy King Auberon, the Gate stands open but once a year.

This year, as the time approaches when the Samhain Gate will swing wide and nightmarish Fae will fight their way into an unsuspecting human world, something different is happening . . . something wondrous and strange. And Kelley's eyes are opening not just to the Faerie that surround her but to the heritage that awaits her.

Mulluane's Take:
This debut novel is a YA tale of budding romance and self discovery. Set in New York, this is an Urban Fantasy with faeries! Not your cuddly sugar plum faeries either but some very nasty, very angry faeries. The Compulsive Reader has some nice things to say about the book here. They suggest that this one belongs at the very top of your wishlist!

Tia's Take:
I'm curious as to why Kelley needs protection. Sonny's name is delightfully Irish--as is Kelley's. I agree with Mulluane--this is an urban fantasy that would interest me. The cover is delightfully creepy. The author, like Kelley, is a stage actress with some TV experience. Her role as Waitron-9000 sounds hilarious. For more info, read her bio.