A Real Reader

I have to say, industry reviews are nice enough. Often online reviews are nicer. But nothing is nicer that a great review from a real, bonafide reader. I was lucky enough to get such a review last week and wanted to post it because it was so wonderful. It came on a kind of bad day and it put everything in perspective to me. It doesn't matter what cranky industry reviewers think. Ultimately, what matters is what readers think. I write for readers. To be quite frank, I don't expect to ever win a writing award. I'm not that kind of writer. Awards don't matter that much to me. But readers? *Smile* They matter the most.

So a huge, enormous thanks to Rebecca D. for this amazing review.


To be completely honest, what grabbed my attention when I picked up Wings for the first time was the quote by Stephenie Meyer on the front cover: “Wings is a remarkable debut.” I had adored Meyer’s Twilight saga, and was disappointed when the series concluded. I was therefore excited to find a book she seemed to hold in such high regard. I started Wings on a long flight from Boston to London as a way to distract myself from the fact that I usually hate flying. But as soon as I started reading Wings, I found that I just absolutely could not stop. For the three hours it took me to read the book, I did not look up once. I was oblivious to the time passing, to the old man snoring next to me, even to the fact that I was on the plane. The story completely sucked me in. I was immersed in the main character, Laurel’s world, and even when I finished, closing the back cover, checking my watch and realizing with a jolt that three hours had somehow managed to pass, I was not yet ready to leave behind the characters I’d already come to think of as friends. In those short three hours, I managed to fall in love with a new set of a characters and a new world. Wings tells the story of Laurel, a girl who must learn to accept a fairy tale world she does not believe in when she discovers that she is actually part of that very world. During the search for this new identity and her quest to find her real home, Laurel must face harrowing situations that threaten not only her own life, but also the lives of her parents, of David, her sweet biology partner and best friend, of Tamani, the strange but gorgeous faery who knows hidden secrets of Laurel’s past – secrets that even Laurel is not aware of, and the life of the mystical world Laurel is fighting to save and protect.Though told in third person narrative, Pike proves to be as much of a master in revealing Laurel’s point of view as Meyer is in portraying the thoughts of Bella Swan. Reading the story, I often felt like I was listening in on the intimate confines of Laurel’s mind. Beautifully crafted with its entangled web of mythology and real life, Wings is gripping, startling, and utterly wonderful. In a literary age that has now seen both the finales of Harry Potter and Twilight, the Wings series is poised to become the next book to transform our world."

Seriously, how awesome is that?

Thank you so much, Rebecca. I'm glad I could save your plane ride, because you certainly saved my day. No, my week. Probably my month.:)

I don't post a lot of reviews here, good or bad because, well, I don't want this blog to scream "Look at me, look at me," too much. But this one was special. I hope you enjoyed it.

Ciao!