Crossover Review: The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker

The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker

by Leanna Renee Hieber

Dorchester

http://www.leannareneehieber.com

ISBN: 9780843962963

Release Date: August 25, 2009

from the author's site:

What fortune awaited sweet, timid Percy Parker at Athens Academy? Considering how few of Queen Victoria’s Londoners knew of it, the great Romanesque fortress was dreadfully imposing, and little could Percy guess what lay inside. She had never met the powerful and mysterious Professor Alexi Rychman, knew nothing of the growing shadow, the Ripper and other supernatural terrors against which his coterie stood guard. She knew simply that she was different, haunted, with her snow-white hair, pearlescent skin and uncanny gifts. But this arched stone doorway offered a portal to a new life, an education far from the convent—and an invitation to an intimate yet dangerous dance at the threshold of life and death… 

my thoughts:



I'm calling this a crossover review because The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker is not actually marketed as a Young Adult novel. In most stores you'll probably find this in the Romance department, but I can also see this being shelved with the Fantasy books. Despite that this book is a great story for fans of Young Adult fiction. As the story opens, Percy is only eighteen and is attending a new school - an experience many of us can relate to. 
 
I was hooked on Strangely Beautiful from the first page. Leanna Renee Hieber has a writing style that keeps you hooked to the story. I hated to put the book down. Percy is a gentle character and one who is easy to like. Alexi is a dark and brooding hero, but I don't know that I'd quite call him your typical tortured hero. The secondary characters are overall good people, though there are some scenes where I wanted to smack some sense into them. However that's pretty much due to a case of the reader having more information than the characters. 

I actually feel the need to comment on the title here too. I really feel The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker is very much the perfect title for this book. Having a longer title evokes a more classical feel which Strangely Beautiful definitely has.  

I highly recommend Leanna Renee Hieber's Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker and I'm anxiously awaiting book 2, The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker. Book 2 is due out in just over a week on April 27. I know I'll be ready to grab a copy on release day, I suggest you do too.