When sixteen-year-old Jensen Meadows finds herself caught in the middle of an ancient faerie war, she soon learns that faeries aren’t made of sparkly goodness. They’re vicious. And worse, they’re after her. With the help of Liam Casey, she delves into their world to find her missing sister and begins to suspect that her whole life has been nothing more than a faerie tale. [Goodreads]
Sixteen-year-old Jensen Meadows seems like a fairly normal teenage girl. She has curious boys eyeing her, a gossipy friend and girl drama which may break out into a catfight. But Meadows soon finds herself caught in the middle of an ancient conflict between faeries. Helped along by Liam Casey, a faerie, Meadows is surrounded by danger.
It turns out Jensen Meadows is a faerie herself. Or, more specifically, a nixie.
Jensen and Fiona, Liam’s sister, go to a party on the Isle of Mermen. The party seems to go well but eventually turns into a crazy brawl. It is here at the party that one of Jensen’s teachers from high school reveals himself as something quite a bit more unique than a boring math teacher.
But the real shocker is the six words her math teacher says at the end of the story.
Thoughts on Shimmerspell
There are a couple of places where you almost have to roll your eyes at the dialogue such as this line from Jensen.
“And this dagger in my hand says that I prefer Team W, now do what I said.”
Luckily, the eye rollers are few. The dialogue is concise and informative while always moving the story along. Spencer does a great job with pace and you’ll find yourself tearing through the book in one or two sittings.
Shimmerspell is pretty much an origin story where Jensen Meadows changes from normal teenager to faerie teenager with a strange family and unique friends. Jensen’s personal growth was minor and mostly related to wrapping her head around being a nixie. However, Jensen’s worldview changes dramatically as she learns that her sister is really her mother and she’s now part of a world that teens only dream about – fae, elves, witches, wizards, etc. Kimberly Spencer does something a little different, she ties in her story to the classic tale of King Arthur.
Jensen Meadows, in this novella at least, is more a victim of circumstances than a hero taking control of her life and overcoming obstacles to win the day. However, from the sounds of it that part comes in book 2 – Limerick. On a positive note, the characters are interesting and you can empathize with what Jensen is going through. Kimberly does a great job of keeping the story engaging with little plot twists and revelations.
Conclusion
Shimmerspell is a fun novella. But, it’s going to appeal more to young ladies who like Twilight than guys who like Lord of the Rings. Which of course isn’t a bad thing, we all know the success of Twilight. I downloaded the book just to try something different and since it was a short story I knew I could blaze through it quickly. I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by Shimmerspell. So, if you want to try something different or you like teen drama, then you’ll probably enjoy it.
