Review for "Faelorehn"

"Faelorehn" is the first book in Jenna Elizabeth Johnson's "Otherworld" trilogy.
☺☺☺☺☻
The cover is a wash of cloudy pink. Green outlined glowing branches snake over from the left hand corner. Mystical lettering declares the title. The cover reminds me of a solarized image and while nothing fancy it does have a strange allure.
"Faelorehn" begins on the edge of a dream. The same dream Meghan Elam has had every year she can remember just before her birthday which coincidentally falls on Halloween. A dream of her past, of before she was adopted, of the night she was found, a naked toddler on grimey streets with nothing but a large strange white dog to accompany her. It's been a long road to finding a place in the world for young Meghan, haunted by visions and voices, but she has finally found that place with her loud obnoxious brothers and her group of outcast friends. Constantly afraid of how strange she really is, afraid she suffers from psychotic affliction, afraid of going back on the meds, Meghan hides the truth of her thoughts and feelings from everyone. Until the day she meets the mysterious Cade and begins to wonder if the things she sees and hears are really there afterall.

What I liked:

• First off I liked Meghan, she kinda reminds me of...well me. I had glowing neon stars on my ceiling too. Once upon a time I cried and begged my dad to stop cutting down the trees because he was hurting them. I had an ecclectic group of friends that didn't fit anywhere else either. It's easy to like someone who reminds you so much of yourself.
• Secondly the descriptions of the creatures and the places in the book are top notch. From the minotaur like critter to the toady little goblins everything is fleshed out to the hilt.

What I disliked

•  This is probably just me but I hated the way Robyn and Wiccans in general were depicted. Wiccans aren't all goth girls with piercings, dyed hair, and too much eyeliner. They're not all cluelessly tromping around with internet printouts  acting out just to get attention. For once I wish authors would take this a little more seriously.
• Secondly, while I did have an ecclectic group of friends, none of these friends were friends with each other. It just didn't work that way, at least not for me. And the level of bullying in Meghan's school seems a little off the scale. Maybe my school was just better than average but people stepped in when bullying went to far, strangers stepped in. 
• Again this is just me but if you already know anything about Celtic mythology go ahead and steer clear of this one. Watching Meghan stumble around in the dark getting her hand held was just excruciating for me with my extensive prior knowledge of mythology. And she doesn't even think to ask Robyn about the Celtic gods and goddesses?
• For the most part nothing happens in this book to paint Meghan as a heroine other than her blind willingness to walk right into a trap in order to help a friend, in fact not much happens at all other than going to school and coming home. The lack of action causes the plot to kinda rattle on like a car badly in need of an oil change.

I know my lists of dislikes for this book sound a little rough so why does 'Faelorehn' get 4 smilies? Well most of my problems with the book are my own personal hang ups and the writing was good. It wasn't hard to get through and I contemplated continuing with the series. You can currently find 'Faelorehn' for free for the Kindle. The second and third books are already out, 'Dolmarehn' and 'Luathara', for $2.99 and $3.99 respectively as well as short novella, 'Ehriad' for $.99. You can out more about the author as well as her other series at www.oescienne.com .
☺☺☺☺☻
4 out of 5 smilies
Recommended mostly for young adults, but adults who'd like to dip their toes in a celtic storyline might find it enjoyable as well.

Synopsis: "I never heard him come after me and even as I climbed the slope and stumbled onto our shaded back lawn, I didn’t look back. It was like the day the gnomes chased me all over again, but this time I was not escaping some horrible little creatures, I was fleeing from an incredibly good-looking guy who could very well understand me completely. I was either saving myself from that serial killer I always imagined lived down in the swamp, or I had finally gone over the deep end . . .
Meghan Elam has been strange her entire life: her eyes have this odd habit of changing color and she sees and hears things no one else does. When the visions and voices in her head start to get worse, she is convinced that her parents will want to drag her off to another psychiatrist. That is, until the mysterious Cade MacRoich shows up out of nowhere with an explanation of his own.
Cade brings her news of another realm where goblins and gnomes are the norm, a place where whispering spirits exist in the very earth, and a world where Meghan just might find the answers she has always sought."