Renhala by Amy Joy Lutchen
My rating: 4/5 cats
gather round, urban fantasy-romance fans…the rest of you can go do something else. or maybe you should stay, too. because i never would have thought to classify myself as an urban fantasy-romance fan, having never read one, (because i don’t think Life Guards in the Hamptons: A Willow Tate Novel counts? ) but i liked this one a lot, so one never knows, does one?
take a risk in 2013.
i’m glad i read this one. it is a fun story with likable characters, good action scenes, and it is genuinely funny in places. i particularly liked the relationship between kailey and her mother; it was touching without being treacly, and even though the book is primarily a fantasy-world adventure story, this relationship definitely stood out for me as the strongest writing. which is probably just my fantasy-inexperience talking; for me it is easier to be affected by things i can hold onto, emotionally, than by things that are more surreal.
so, basic plot-stuff: kailey lives in south side chicago, where she has just survived a brutal assault by a creature not of this world. she is slowly recovering, physically and psychologically, but the world around her is changing. strange creatures are being seen around town, and there have been other attacks on humans. kailey has a terminally sick mother, a high-maintenance best friend named amber, an excellent akita named kioto, and a deep and abiding love of tea.
on an evening out with april, meant to be a “back in the saddle empowerment” outing, kailey meets an old man who gives her a gift. and then things really start rolling.
it turns out, there is another realm, called renhala, and select people are able to travel freely between the two realms. kailey learns that she is one of them, and has many as-yet undeveloped powers. which is an awesome thing to find out after you have been attacked and left for dead. way more empowering that a night out in heels.
but recently, evil elements from renhala have been slipping into our world, and kailey has to discover her powers and fight the bad creatures with the help of some good creatures. including:
a greble, which by its description i kept picturing like this:
a pregnant ceetchan, which is like a raccoon:
because there isn’t much that is cuter than a baby raccoon
unless it is bunches of baby raccoons:
a wood sprite named jenna:
and, of course, some handsome gentlemen. you can insert your own images for them.
as far as the baddie things that come creeping, there are meeples, which are like cute little bunnies:
but bunnies who will kill you
and pixies, which are kinda like this:
and mooncats, which are seductive and sexy sentient cats.
so, like, the opposite of that. they can go either way, in terms of whether they will help you or kill you. they are renhala’s wild cards.
there are other creatures and humans, as well, but i grow weary of GIS. fun fact: you can GIS any phrase in the world, and the odds are good that one of the results will be angelina jolie.
as for the romance elements…well, i am like a little kid. i am always watching the movies waiting for the close-up makeout scenes to end so we can get back to the killing. this is not an erotica-romance, by the way, so there is less for me to giggle over, but it does have a love triangle, and those of you who like that sort of thing will probably find it very engaging. i will just say that i would definitely have chosen the other fellow. no contest.
so, yeah, for me to have read a 430-page book outside of my genre-preferences, and NOT feel bored or confused at the end of it all, and to feel annoyance at the cliffhanger ending (reader-annoyance, not angry-annoyance), well, that is saying something. if you’re looking to get into the genre, or are already into it, check it out. i have no idea how it stacks up against others of its kind, but i enjoyed it, so there’s that.
**so, naturally, the fact that kailey is a “karmelean” had me singing this to myself the whole time. and considering one of my first crushes, after admiral ackbar, was on boy george, i think we have figured out why traditional romance novels just don’t do it for me.
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