Extraordinary by Nancy Werlin

Synopsis:
What does it mean to be extraordinary? Phoebe finds herself drawn to Mallory, the strange and secretive new kid in school. Soon the two girls are as close as sisters . . . until Mallory’s magnetic older brother, Ryland, appears. Ryland has an immediate, exciting hold on Phoebe—but a dangerous hold, for she begins to question her feelings about her best friend and, worse, about herself.

Soon she’ll discover the shocking, fantastical truth about Ryland and Mallory, and about an age-old debt they expect Phoebe to pay. Will she be strong enough to resist? Will she be special enough to save herself?

In the vein of Nancy Werlin’s previous novel Impossible, Extraordinary is a tale of friendship, romance, and the faerie realm.


My Review:
I give this one a 3.5/5 stars. I have only read one other book by Nancy Werlin and that was “Impossible” which is one of my all time favorite books. So when you get a book like “Extraordinary” you not only have high expectations because of the name but also because of the person who wrote the book. And I have to say I was slightly disappointed. While I enjoyed the book and thought the storyline was interesting and fairly well developed there was just something that was off for me. Maybe it was the pacing of the book or maybe it was the story itself and the fact that the main character was being manipulated and lied to the entire time and we as readers knew this. I suppose it was integral to the story that we know Phoebe the main character is being mislead and the reason behind that but it kills any mystery. It also killed my thoughts about Phoebe because she seemed so needy and clingy to a guy we knew cared nothing about her. I think the only character that I truly liked was the Phoebe’s good friend Benjamin who seemed wise beyond his 17 years and seemed like the only guy that anything positive to say about Phoebe.

One thing I will give the book is its beautiful cover which looks like Phoebe is walking through a dream with mystical qualities and beautiful colors. I think those that have read Werlin’s other works and even those who have not will find this story fairly entertaining although I can’t say I will recommend it to others.