Kelley has moved to New York City to pursue her dreams of acting on stage. While rehearsing for the lead role of the Summer Queen Titana from Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night's Dream in Central Park, Sonny Flannery, one of 13 members of the elite Janus charged with guarding the gate Samhain in Central Park, comes across her, spellbound. Mesmerized by the hidden explosiveness of her aura, Sonny is addicted to her and being with her leads to complications in the four seasonal Faerie Courts.

The characters in Wondrous Strange, except for a few, seem very wooden. Ms. Livingston describes what they do and their interests all at once (like describing what all 13 members of the Janus guards do) instead of slowly revealing the characters. It is almost as if the author is afraid that the reader won't pick up on the character's personality traits unless she spells them out for the readers. Also, very predictable and contrived in the romantic aspect. However, I did like Bob. I hope Bob is in future books because he made the book somewhat worthwhile to read. I may continue with the series because I'm curious how things pan out, but will be getting it through Interlibrary Loan than buying it. ( )

Kelley goes to New York City. At 17, she already knows that she wants to be an actress, and is lucky enough to have a part in a production of Midsummer Night's Dream. But it is the week before Halloween, and there are strange happenings in Central Park, where she meets the mysterious Sonny Flanagan and rescues what she thinks is a horse out of the lake. Sonny turns out to be a changeling, of Oberon's court and a guard helping maintain the separation between fairie and the human realms. Kelley turns out to have some strong connections to fairie herself. ( )

This book is about a young actress, Kelley, that discovers she is part of the faerie world. In the process of discovering her true heritage, she falls in love with the handsome guard of the otherworld--Sonny. This book was interesting as it had some good twists and there was enough action to keep the reader entertained. However, I thought the chemistry between Sonny and Kelley fell flat. Hopefully the next book in the series will improve. ( )

Reviewed by The Story Siren for TeensReadToo.com

I loved it, I LOVED it. I love it so much I want to marry it. If you are a fan of faerie books, you'll want to read this one. If you've tried faerie books before, but didn't like them, you'll want to read this. If you aren't a fan of faerie books, you'll still want to read it. It's that good.

Incredible characters, incredible writing, incredible plot. It was really just so fantastic, it's hard to find the words to describe it. I never in a million years would have guessed this was a debut novel. The key to my heart is great characters and storyline, and this book had it all and then some. Even the minor characters stood out to me, and they were fascinating. Like Chloe - she is a siren, has a very minor role, and yet she is very memorable. As well as a few other characters..... but I don't want to give all the goods away.

Completely original plot! I figured a few things out, but other things I was oblivious to until they were revealed. I've read other faerie books about the faerie "royalty" - if you've read Melissa Marr you know what I'm talking about here. Not that I'd even compare this book to Marr's because they are at totally two different ends of the spectrum. And I don't mean that in the quality of writing, because they are both fabulous writers. Did I just write fabulous...don't you just love the plethora of "f" adj.!? Do you think I'm subconsciously doing it because of the whole faerie thing... freaking fantastic fascinating fabulous faeries! I promise I did NOT do that on purpose!

Great writers write what they know.... what movie is that from? Never Been Kissed! I think that statement definitely has some truth to it. Kelley is an actress (a struggling actress to be more specific). The theater scenes within the novel were marvelous (notice no `f' here!) so I wasn't surprised to learn that the lovely Lesley Livingston herself is at home on the stage. I wonder if she knows any faeries personally?

I think the thing I loved most about WONDROUS STRANGE was Kelley. She is an exceptional female protagonist. I was instantly drawn to her character. She's honest, she imperfect, and she doesn't pull the Bella card. When a cute guy tells her that faeries are real, she reacts like a normal person and laughs in his face. LOVED IT.

And I must mention Sonny. Ah... Sonny.. Mom, can I have one? Yeah, that's really all I'm going to say about him, because if I tell you, they you're going to want him, too, and you can't have him because he's mine. No really, I'm not going to tell you how incredibly cute he is, and how he kicks major faerie butt, because he's all about protecting the mortal world from the mean faeries.. And yet, he can still rescue the damsel in distress even if she is mean to him and laughs in his face.

I simply cannot say enough good things about this novel. I highly recommend you grab a copy of this book. It would make an awesome Christmas present! And I'm even more thrilled to mention that this novel is the beginning of a trilogy! ( )

To be honest, I picked Wondrous Strange up because I know some of Leslie's other work, and I was anxious to support her and her projects. The verdict? A decent start out of the gate; not perfect by any means, but a good read nonetheless.

The plot, fraught with faeries and actors and such, was fun and fast-paced, but I felt that the story as a whole would have been better served by another 50 pages or so. The end in particular was unfortunately rushed, although it was saved by a number of interesting twists and turns. Most of the background characters feel real and developed, which isn't entirely true for our two protagonists (though goodness knows they have more personality than a certain vampire pairing I could name); I can only hope that they get more development in the sequel.

On the plus side, Livingston has said that she gets most of her inspiration from places, and it shows. Leslie is great at setting the scene, and some of the best passages in the book are descriptions of the sights, sounds, and smells of New York. Kelley and Sonny are playing out their story in a very real, very tangible place, which is awesome. Also? Figuring out the logistics of moving a horse around NYC is pretty much the best thing ever.

On the whole, while it certainly wasn't the best urban fantasy I've ever read, Wondrous Strange is an honorable addition to the genre. I'll happily wait for the next installment! ( )