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Book Review: Winter’s Passage

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

There’s something special about being given products to review. I really love it. Part of it, no doubt, is the idea that I’m getting free schwag. (And who doesn’t love a little free stuff?) At the same time, as with all honors, it comes with great responsibility.

Sometimes, I’m a lot of work. I received two books this month to read and review. And I was really excited about both.

The first was a book for teens. I have a teen. It was a fantasy. She lives in a fantasy world. Seemed like it would be a great fit. Oh, better still…it was an ebook! As I’m slowly breaking away from the life of the technophobe, I thought this would be fantastic.

Word to the wise, keep in mind, ebooks can be easily deleted. Yeah. About that. So, the book was emailed to be as an Adobe file. And I received it the same day I found out about the Yahoo! Mother Board Summit in California . I had soooo many emails in my box that I promptly deleted it. Well, nuts!

After a few apologetic emails, I received Winter’s Passage by Julie Kagawa once again.

Now, this book is a teen fantasy romance for Harlequin. I was intrigued because it combines the fairy realm with the real world in a contemporary setting. In this novel, Megan Chase, half-breed daughter of Oberon, the king of the Summer Court, is traveling with Prince Ash, son of Mab, Queen of the Winter Court. If you have studied any of this area, then it helps. (And by studied, I mean watched movies, read literature, even experienced a bit of Shakespeare…) Puck is one of Megan’s best friends and is currently encased in a tree.

The story, as part of a series, does a fine job of keeping you in the loop if this is the first one you’ve read. It just so happens, for me it was. And I liked that. I’m pretty quick on the uptake, but it’s nice not to have to work for it.

The premise was reasonably fresh. I liked the book. This is not one that is destined to become a timeless classic. It does, however, fill a void. For those kids who can be convinced to read most anything as long as it’s on a computer screen, this is ideal. At 67 pages, it is considerably shorter than most novels. That’s how ebooks work. And I think, in order to truly give a better review, I’d have had to read more of the series. There are others in the series coming out over the next few months.

PS. On a completely different note…wish us luck! Rachel and I are off to the DMV. I’m not sure which of us is more scared.