Amelia Hammer must go live with her cousin, Simon, in a small town
in Ontario while her parents take off to Peru for work-related
reasons. Amy, a city girl, at first does not take kindly to the
simpler life in a tiny town but soon events prove to be more
interesting that Peru ever could be. Ammy finds a peculiar red ring
which seems very special to her. Then later one evening Ammy and
Simon find on their building's roof a very tall, pale woman with
very long hair wrapped around her naked body sitting in the
winter's blizzard cold. At first she doesn't talk much but after
sheltering her in a store room they learn she is called Mara and
not from this world. Her brother has sent an assassin after her and
the teens find themselves right in the middle of the action.
This was one of the better YA fantasy novels I've read this year.
The contrast between the city teen and the small town teen showed
that real teens come in all sorts of temperaments. The dialogue was
realistic and the book was very well written. The plot was gripping
and very exciting to see it unfold with a big surprise reveal
towards the end. The book ended nicely, wrapping up the plot points
in the novel, yet leaves an opening for a sequel to continue with
the characters. I have nothing negative to add as I thoroughly
enjoyed this tale of fantasy, magic and other worlds.