Review on The Bird

The Bird is a Fantasy book (with a little bit of Romance, in my opinion) that was released February 19, 2013.

The Bird by Jo Michaels
Blurb:
Stormy Terrebonne’s life is about to be changed forever by a bright red cardinal. She soon finds herself being whisked away from all she’s ever known to save an entire race of people known as Trobodytes. When she’s presented to the Queen, Stormy learns how she’s expected to help: By killing an evil wizard named Bordash Bladeslinger and stopping him from cutting down the sacred trees that bind Trogon to Earth.
Now, there are only two trees left. One of the trees presents a double dose of jeopardy: It’s also tied to the renewed life of Stormy’s mother. While Stormy learns more about the gifts she gained by becoming a Trobodyte, someone manages to poison that all important tree.
It’s a race against time as she faces a legion of fairy tale creatures she never knew existed, learns to harness the power within herself to battle Bordash Bladeslinger, and tries to find a way to heal the dying tree before it collapses and takes her mother with it.
Age: 15 years and up
Review: 2.5 butterflies
Alright, I want to start this off my saying I really wanted to like this book. But the writing style and voice just didn't work with me and annoyed me many times.
It starts off with Stormy (also, that name is not my favorite) sitting and drinking coffee. She then starts talking to it and finds that the bird reacts differently then most birds. She ends up following the bird and it turns into a gorgeous man.
We're totally fine so far, right? So then this guy—whose name is Michael, by the way—takes her to a magical and mystical place and doesn't answer any of Stormy's questions. Stormy just follows him anyway, without bothering to stop and force him to answer any of his questions. I have a big problem with her right there. I would not blindly follow this mystical dude who transforms into a bird.
Later, she meets Michael's mother, who turns out to be the queen. This queen tells her that they need her to save their world, etc, etc. They also tell her that they will give her something to make her dying mother turn thirteen again and will turn Stormy into an immortal 18-year-old.
This woman, who by the way has children, debates about it for like half an hour and then agrees. What? She doesn't really think about what her children will do without her. I mean, they do get financially supported by this strange race that she's found, but she's their mother. They need her. But she's just accepting of it. (Now, this gets clarified around the last third of the book, where she explains that her children are grown.)
Now the book's not so bad apart from this. It's got a good premise, and the setting is very original. But the way the author writes was not my favorite, and I was hoping for a longer book so things aren't so high-paced.
After Stormy wakes up with a new body, she sees that her mother's gone. A few chapters in, we skip from Stormy's mother's point of view—the thirteen-year-old's name is Valletta, by the way—to Stormy's point of view, which was a little confusing. 
During the story, there are some things that aren't explained and I had to guess, like when the queen is explaining about the wizards and witches and then calls them the Ws. Nowhere before did she explain that they called them the Ws, that was just sort of assumed.
And then the attraction between Michael and Stormy. There's nothing and then all of a sudden she's thinking about a possible relationship with him (and it's obvious he likes her too). It felt too sudden—as if it was put there as a passing thought. After one kiss, they're calling each other “baby” and holding hands all the time. It felt too rushed.
Many times I felt that Stormy was impulsive—and not in the good way. Some things that she does happen without any inkling of what Stormy's thinking. We're supposed to be reading her point of view, but we don't really get what she's thinking all the time.
At about the last third of the book, when everything was explained and I got used to the way of writing, it was much better. It's what redeemed this book for me. The action was pretty good and things were flowing much better. And I have to admit, the twist near the end was kind of awesome. I was not expecting it whatsoever—and normally I'm really good at expecting twists.
Though the ending was good, it wasn't enough to redeem the book for me. 

A free copy was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Goodreads * Amazon

Click HERE to enter the giveaway for this e-book and some swag!

Yours,

Labels: , , , , , , ,