Tyger Tyger by Kersten Hamilton

 A fresh take on the paranormal, you will want to read this Celtic romance over again as soon as you reach the end.

Food to eat while reading: Tadpole Soup


Read the synopsis here.

I read Tyger Tyger on my iPad and plunged right in without knowing anything about it. Imagine my surprise when I found that the book has Celtic folklore, sign language, a magic system based on music and paranormal romance-all elements that are in my own WIP. Karma!

The characters at times reminded me of the kids in A Wrinkle in Time-the sister who has a quirky and intelligent little brother and the love interest who helps them. Other times Finn reminded me of Peter in Peter Pan-the immortal boy who has no family and watches Teagan’s family with interest.

The first chapter will draw you in quickly as Teagan works with a chimpanzee who speaks sign language. The sign language comes in handy later on when she is in trouble and I found that satisfying.

Though I like the angst that develops between Teagan and Finn, I really wanted more of the romance and I wanted Finn to have a bit more depth and mystery to him.

The celtic mythology in the book is cleverly woven into a contemporary setting. I found myself a bit lost with all of the Irish names and folklore-even though I study it myself. I want to read the book again to figure out all of the mythology and that won’t be a problem, I will read the book again anyway.

Only one part jarred me out of the book. When a loved one dies, the author skips over the entire grieving process and barely mentions that it happened. Because it is someone close to Teagan, I feel yanked around and don’t get a chance to deal with the death and experience what she dealt with.

All of the characters are real and multi-dimensional. Teagan’s best friend Abby is a great side-kick with an unusual family. I have to say that one of my favorite parts of the book involve Abby’s love of painting angels. That scene grabbed me and I’m hoping to see more of the result in the sequel.

I can’t wait until In the Forests of the Night comes out next year! I’ll have to console myself with reading Tyger Tyger again.

On a personal note, I wrote to Kersten and asked if she would share some of her resources on Celtic mythology.  She wrote me back within an hour and shared some with me.  Thanks Kersten!

Genre: YA fantasy paranormal romance

Publisher: Hardcover, 322 pages, November 15th 2010 by Clarion Books

Where I got the book: www.netgalley.com *

*I received only a copy of the e-book as compensation for my review.