Book Review-Glimmer Glass

By Jenna Black

Published by St. Martin's Griffin

Released on May 25,2010

Source: Bought

4 stars- A Great Read

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 she's 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 the Faerie.

Soon, 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 or who can be trusted, not to mention if her world will ever be normal again.

I hadn't heard of Jenna's books before I started hearing buzz about Glimmerglass. Now I see what everyone was talking about. I think this is going to be a great new Fairy series. Jenna Black's writing for Glimmerglass flowed so well. From the moment I started it, I literally couldn't stop reading it.

Glimmerglass's world is both in the human world and Avalon. I really liked that Avalon is in London. The descriptions of Avalon had me wishing I could go there. I liked that some of Jenna's faeries had the British mannerisms.

It's hard for me to pick which character I liked most. Dana, Glimmerglass's main character is a tough character and one I think readers will like. She's a typic teenager pushing bounds of what's in front of her and won't take no for an answer. Take for granted she's grown up dealing with an alcoholic mother and being 16, wants to have a normal teenage life. She leaves for Avalon excited to meet the father she's never known, who just so happens to a fairy King.

Avalon is not the simple, teenage life Dana wanted. She meets a handful of great characters, two of whom I'm torn between Ethan and Keane. As Dana learns her true nature and the gift she has, she finds that her life is threatened more than once. She's caught in the middle of amazing fairy politics that have left me wondering who's got Dana's best interest at heart.

With the twists and turns, some action, a little bit of romance and the hierarchy of Avalon, Jenna kept me completely invested in her store. The ending has left me wishing I had her sequel to Glimmerglass in my hands.

I want to mention that outside of her mom being an alcoholic, there is an underage drinking scene while in Avalon. I do like that Dana's mom's alcoholism is addressed later in the book. There is very little language.