Shadow Hand By Anne Elisabeth Stengl Book Review

Shadow Hand

Tales Of Goldstone Wood, #2

Review Written By Madi

Book Title: Shadow Hand

Author: Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Series: Tales Of Goldstone Wood

Source: Bethany House Publishers

Genre: Magic Fiction

ISBN: 978-0-7642-1028-0

Number Of Pages: 408

Publisher: Bethany House Publishers

Year Of Publication: 2014

Rating: Two Out Of Five Stars

 

 

Book Description

 

She will take your own two hands
to save your ancient, sorrowing lands.

By her father's wish, Lady Daylily is betrothed to the Prince of Southlands. Not the prince she loves, handsome and dispossessed Lionheart, but his cousin, the awkward and foolish Prince Foxbrush. Unable to bear the future she sees as her wedding day dawns, Daylily flees into the dangerous Wilderlands, her only desire to vanish from living memory.

But Foxbrush, determined to rescue his betrothed, pursues Daylily into a new world of magic and peril, a world where vicious Faerie beasts hold sway, a world invaded by a lethal fey parasite . . . .

A world that is hauntingly familiar.

Book Review



I absolutely LOVE historical fiction. It is by far my favorite book genre. When I read the description for this book, I was intrigued. The story is set in medieval times? How interesting. I thought that maybe it would be like some of Melanie Dickerson's books, and I LOVE her. I requested this book with high expectations. When it arrived in the mail, I was surprised how thick it was. I didn't realize it was quite so long. No matter, I'm a fast reader anyway. The second thing I noticed about this novel was it's absolutely gorgeous cover. It's so . . . magical. I ought to know better than to judge a book by it's cover, but I can't help but love a book even more if it has a good story AND it's pretty. I opened it up, and I realized that it was just as pretty looking on the inside. The cover page, page numbers, and bits of poetry makes this book look very well done. To whoever was in charge of design, awesome job! Very professional. Unfortunately, the story didn't match up to the outward beauty. I was disappointed at first, but then I decided that I should read on a little further before making judgment. Well, over 150 pages in and I'm still not lovin' it. I thought to myself, "Maybe I'm just not used to this writing style," and I read on, still hoping. Then when I passed up the halfway mark, I realized that I was gonna have trouble finishing this book. And I did. The characters are such lack wits. Nothing that was going on had a purpose. Actually, I found it downright weird. Stengl is definitely no Melanie Dickerson. I just feel like this book was . . . well . . . pointless. It was waste of my time and now I'm behind on my reading. The only thing I liked about it aside from it's cover was how Daylily was a redhead and that her hair color really made her stand out in several parts of the story. If you read about someone referring to the girl with the "fiery hair", you know whom they were referring to. I'm sad to say that I won't be searching out any more books from this author, and I would not be likely to recommend it to a friend.

 

~Madi For The Literary Maidens

 

Note: I was provided with a free copy of this book by Bethany House Publishers in exchange for my honest opinion. I was not further compensated to review this product and all thoughts and sentiments expressed above are completely my own and unbiased.