The Treachery of Beautiful Things

The Treachery of Beautiful Things

by Ruth Francis Long

A darkly compelling mix of romance, fairy tale, and suspense from a new voice in teen fiction

The trees swallowed her brother whole, and Jenny was there to see it. Now seventeen, she revisits the woods where Tom was taken, resolving to say good-bye at last. Instead, she's lured into the trees, where she finds strange and dangerous creatures who seem to consider her the threat. Among them is Jack, mercurial and magnetic, with secrets of his own. Determined to find her brother, with or without Jack's help, Jenny struggles to navigate a faerie world where stunning beauty masks some of the most treacherous evils, and she's faced with a choice between salvation or sacrifice--and not just her own.

As soon as I read this synopsis I knew I just had to read it, and when my friend and I went out to pick it up I was ecstatic and hoped with all my heart that I would not be disappointed.  I read the excerpt on the back and was like, "OH MY GOSH! HER WRITING IT'S LIKE THE MOST AMAZING WRITING I HAVE EVER READ! IT'S LIKE POETRY!"  So naturally I was expecting her writing throughout the book to have the same style and be just as amazing as the excerpt paragraph on the back cover. Sadly I was sorely mistaken. The writing was average and then, much to my annoyance, there would be random times and sentences that were just like the writing on the back and extremely out of place. This I had to take off points for in my book. The storyline was amazing and I loved every bit of it. It was compelling, entirely original and creative, and used ideas from various fairy tales and characters from Irish and Celtic folk lure. Ruth put a creative twist on all of her fairytale inspired scenes and characters so that even those were original and it kept the story from becoming predictable.  The plot was great full of twists and turns that surprised you and cliffhangers. The characters were great. I loved fallowing Jenny and Jack's journey and they both changed so much during the book. I loved that Jack loved Jenny and thought she was beautiful because she wasn't perfect or as stunningly beautiful as the people in his world. I also liked that she wasn't perfect she was instead perfectly normal. I loved this book so so much. It is defiantly a must read. I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.              

Briana