Mistwood Review

Hey Blogger Buds,
A while ago, I got Mistwood by Leah Cypess (links below) from the library. Today I visited my local indie and found out I have some impressive connections to her, and decided to buy the book. This review I wrote a while ago, but I never had a chance to put it up. Instead of the usual picture, below is a quick, grainy, photo of my

That is my hand

Blurby:

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.

Review:

Mistwood has an interesting premise, and I had high hopes for it, though it was not as good as I expected.

I've seen positive reviews for Mistwood, but I did not find Isabel, the main character, likable, nor did I think that her main struggle should have been so hard.

Isabel comes across as slightly whiney. She keeps saying "Oh, poor me. I can't do this one little thing so I'm hopeless. Whatever shall I do?" And then when it comes to telling her prince about this problem she puts her pride first and refuses to tell him.

And then it's open-ended. I mean, I can sorta guess what's going to happen, but what's up with that? They never actually confessed their undying love for each other, and she never had to choose between "her loyalty" and "her heart".

Now, this book may sound awful the way I describe it, but it had some redeeming qualities. I loved some of the side characters. Will was cute and loyal, and there was also Ven, who was just sweet and awesome and loveable.
There's even a Severus Snape of the book, Clarrise. You spend the whole book guessing, in a good way, what side she's on.
The book also had very impressive action scenes, good suspense, etc.

***3 stars.

I did a little post about a companion novel, Nightspell, a few months back, when I was originally planning to post this.It's here.
Links: Goodreads Amazon BookDeposity Barnes&Noble Borders AuthorSite

Peace,

RR