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holtfan 's review for:
The Forgotten Book
by Mechthild Gläser
3.5
Roommate: "Pride and Prejudice."
Me: "Say no more!"
*reads synopsis*
"Just kidding! Say more! What?"
Despite the slightly odd description, I gave this book a try and found it rather charming. It reminded me of a [a:Kerstin Gier|298438|Kerstin Gier|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1276520835p2/298438.jpg] book, minus Gier's super immature heroines. (Yay!) Is it just the nature of German YA to sound similar? IDK, GO READ THE BOOK AND TELL ME.
I loved the heroine, Emma. She's spunky & sunny and somehow breaks the usual YA heroine mold. She felt like a real extrovert. She also uses her brain and figures things out fairly fast. I love her relationship with her friends (I'm always going to be a sucker for strong female friendships) and with her Dad. Pretty cute.
The fairy tale/fantasy element also added immensely to the story. It took a bit to get going but, especially as the book neared its climax, it really developed things. Very creative and imaginative!
Yet the very imaginative and creative nature of the faun and the book leaves me extra frustrated with the thing that drew me to The Forgotten Book in the first place...the P&P retelling. Or the Jane Austen references in general. They weren't needed. This author has plenty of originality to tell her own story. No Darcy needed. Copying the romance from P&P just made things predictable. I like the way author tweaked his first proposal. That seemed more realistic....but still kind of stupid (and unlikely). Darcy and Frederick echoed their literary counterparts too closely. They lost the originality of the other characters.
I will keep an eye out for more from this author! Thank you for sharing, Michelle!
Roommate: "Pride and Prejudice."
Me: "Say no more!"
*reads synopsis*
"Just kidding! Say more! What?"
Despite the slightly odd description, I gave this book a try and found it rather charming. It reminded me of a [a:Kerstin Gier|298438|Kerstin Gier|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1276520835p2/298438.jpg] book, minus Gier's super immature heroines. (Yay!) Is it just the nature of German YA to sound similar? IDK, GO READ THE BOOK AND TELL ME.
I loved the heroine, Emma. She's spunky & sunny and somehow breaks the usual YA heroine mold. She felt like a real extrovert. She also uses her brain and figures things out fairly fast. I love her relationship with her friends (I'm always going to be a sucker for strong female friendships) and with her Dad. Pretty cute.
The fairy tale/fantasy element also added immensely to the story. It took a bit to get going but, especially as the book neared its climax, it really developed things. Very creative and imaginative!
Yet the very imaginative and creative nature of the faun and the book leaves me extra frustrated with the thing that drew me to The Forgotten Book in the first place...the P&P retelling. Or the Jane Austen references in general. They weren't needed. This author has plenty of originality to tell her own story. No Darcy needed. Copying the romance from P&P just made things predictable. I like the way author tweaked his first proposal. That seemed more realistic....but still kind of stupid (and unlikely). Darcy and Frederick echoed their literary counterparts too closely. They lost the originality of the other characters.
I will keep an eye out for more from this author! Thank you for sharing, Michelle!