Glimmerglass

Glimmerglass (Faeriewalker #1)

Jenna Black

It's all she's ever wanted to be, but it couldn't be further from her grasp...

Dana Hathaway doesn't know it yet, but she's in big trouble. When her alcoholic mom shows up at her voice recital drunk, again, Dana decides shes had enough and runs away to find her mysterious father in Avalon: the only place on Earth where the regular, everyday world and the captivating, magical world of Faerie intersect. But from the moment Dana sets foot in Avalon, everything goes wrong, for it turns out she isn't just an ordinary teenage girl, she's a Faeriewalker, a rare individual who can travel between both worlds, and the only person who can bring magic into the human world and technology into Faerie.

Dana finds herself tangled up in a cutthroat game of Fae politics. Someone's trying to kill her, and everyone seems to want something from her, from her newfound friends and family to Ethan, the hot Fae guy Dana figures she'll never have a chance with...until she does. Caught between two worlds, Dana isn't sure where she'll ever fit in and who can be trusted, not to mention if her world will ever be normal again.

I read this right after I read Tiger Lily, in hopes that it would cheer me up, and it did! Glimmerglass was really fun and a quick read, and not at all what I had expected. It was humorous and cute, and just overall really (for lack of a better word) fun to read.

I'm really struggling to write this review for some reason, and the best thing I can think of to get my thoughts out is to give my summary of the plot. A little redundant, I know, but it should work. Glimmerglass starts off with Dana Hathaway being utterly fed up with her mother. Ms. Hathaway is a drunk, and Dana hates having to be the one who takes care of her. So, she decides to give up the responsibility and go to live with her dad, in Avalon. Avalon is the one place on Earth where magic works, and it is home to humans and fae alike. Unfortunately for Dana, her dad is indisposed and she is whisked away by her weird, overbearing aunt- whom she's never met. It's kind of just one bad thing after another for Dana, but it's pretty funny for the reader. She's kidnapped, and then kidnapped again, develops a little bit of Stockholm, and then is reunited with her father. Mixed in with that is some romance and fighting. Altogether, it makes for just kind of a quick, fun read. In my opinion (which most of this is), it read a lot like Demon Princess: Reign or Shine (which I reviewed earlier this year, here). However, I did like Glimmerglass a lot more.

Dana was a sweet girl. Fairly cynical, and kind of stupid sometimes, but still pretty sweet. She's 16 and isn't very experienced in the boy department (I can definitely relate), so when a totally gorgeous fae guy shows interest, she goes for it. Unfortunately, that ends up backfiring a little on her, but I don't blame the girl. She definitely makes a lot of mistakes, and doesn't really think things through, but I liked her well enough. Ethan was cute. Cocky and totally annoying, but cute. I didn't like him very much for Dana, but he was a fun character to read about. His sister Kimber was definitely my favorite of the female characters. She was funny and has a totally cool name. She was also pretty cynical, and kind of reminded me of me (she's an engineering major!!). So, she got lots of bonus points in my book. My overall very favorite character award here definitely goes to Keane. First, he has the same name as one of my very favorite bands (eep!). Second, he's a total jerk, but he's not overly cocky like Ethan. And third, he's just totally awesome. He gives Dana some self-defense lessons, and is a really good teacher. He's cute in the bad boy sense, and I like him as a possible prospect for Dana in the future books :) Jenna Black gave each character a lot of personality, and that did make this a pretty good read. There were plenty more characters that I could talk about, but these were all the teenagers, and I liked them better than the social-ladder-climbing adults.

And then there was the cover. The cover is beautiful!! It's actually the main reason I wanted to read this book so bad. It love the cover-Dana looking at herself and the silver sparkle dots all over it. I think the design on the spine was definitely my favorite, though. It's pink and has the sparkle dots, too. :) I love it a lot. 

I'm gonna give it 4 stars, because, while it was definitely a fun read, it was a little too fast paced, and the romance was just kind of superficial and moved way too quickly. Other than that, it was good! I recommend it to fans of the Demon Princess books, because (like I said earlier) it reads very similarly. 


I've got the second one sitting here next to me, so I'll go read that now :)

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