Mistwood by Leah Cypess: Review

Mistwood
By: Leah Cypess
Book received from the library

Synopsis (From Goodreads): The Shifter is an immortal creature bound by an ancient spell to protect the kings of Samorna. When the realm is peaceful, she retreats to the Mistwod.

But when she is needed she always comes.

Isabel remembers nothing. Nothing before the prince rode into her forest to take her back to the castle. Nothing about who she is supposed to be, or the powers she is supposed to have.

Prince Rokan needs Isabel to be his Shifter. He needs her ability to shift to animal form, to wind, to mist. He needs her lethal speed and superhuman strength. And he needs her loyalty--because without it, she may be his greatest threat.

Isabel knows that her prince is lying to her, but she can't help wanting to protect him from the dangers and intrigues of the court . . . until a deadly truth shatters the bond between them.

Now Isabel faces a choice that threatens her loyalty, her heart . . . and everything she thought she knew.

My Review:
First off, there is one thing about me that you should know. I have terrible reading retention. I read so quickly that I often forget the finer details about stories. Hence why this blog exists. Mostly as a reminder to me of the books I have read and how I felt about them. With that said, I should tell you that I had seen this book around on different blogs and for some reason kept thinking it was a paranormal romance. It is not. And every time I read the synopsis I thought, wow, this looks like a really good book.

And it was.

I have a checklist of questions to ask yourself to determine whether or not MISTWOOD is a good read for you:

Do you like fantasy?
Do you like strong female characters?
Do you like romance in a book to be quietly in the background; giving flavor to the story like pepper on a very juicy steak?
Do you like not knowing what's going to happen in a book until it hits you right at the very end?
Do you like slower moving plots that set you up for a whirlwind ending?
Do you like chocolate?

Okay, ignore the last question. But, if you answered yes to most of those questions, it is a pretty safe bet you are going to like Mistwood.

Believe me when I say that every character was interesting. I've mentioned before that sometimes characters will blend together for me and I can't keep people straight. That was not a problem in this book. I think part of it was that there were fewer characters to keep straight, and each character had a very defined voice. So many of the passages in this book were beautifully written, and the dialogue flowed very well.

The plot of this book wound around like a windy road up a mountainside. For most of the story I really could not figure out where it was going to end up. And right when I thought I had Isabel pegged, she did something completely unexpected. I was unable to pull out all the stops and give this a five-star rating because sometimes Isabel was just a bit too wooden and inaccessible for my taste.

I really enjoyed this debut novel by Leah Cypess. It was wonderfully written, and I am positive she has a wonderful writing future ahead of her. Also, I wanted to tell you how incredibly nice Leah is. She is probably the nicest person I've never met. Anytime I ask for anything on my blog, she sends me an email right away volunteering in some way or another. And after speaking with Angie the other day, she informs me that Leah is as nice in person as she seems through my computer.

Book-a-likes: Fire and Graceling by Kristin Cashore, Poison Study by Maria V Snyder

My Rating: