Cloaked by Alex Flinn

 

Cloaked

Author: Alex Flinn [also wrote: A Kiss in Time & Beastly]

Pages: 341

Memorable Quote: He bursts into tears, and not some manlike tears either, where you pretend you’re brushing something off your face and, incidentally, wipe a tear. Nope. He starts bawling like a kid who spilled his Slushie…

Favorite Characters: Meg & Todd

Summary: 

I’m not your average hero. I actually wasn’t your average anything. Just a poor guy working an after-school job at a South Beach shoe repair shop to help his mom make ends meet. But a little magic changed it all.

It all started with a curse. And a frognapping. And one hot-looking princess, who asked me to lead a rescue mission.

There wasn’t a fairy godmother or any of that. And even though I fell in love along the way, what happened to me is unlike any fairy tale I’ve ever heard. Before I knew it, I was spying with a flock of enchanted swans, talking (yes, talking!) to a fox named Todd, and nearly trampled by giants in the Everglades.

Don’t believe me? I didn’t believe it either. But you’ll see. Because I knew it all was true, the second I got cloaked.

Review:

 I love Alex Flinn! Every book I read by her just makes me love her a little more. Twisted or modernized fairy tales are a bit of a guilty pleasure for me, but Cloaked takes off a bit of the guilt by making me feel like I’m learning about new stories that may not have had the spotlight they’ve deserved in recent years. Sure, I’m completely familiar with The Elves and the Shoemaker and The Frog Prince. Ever heard of The Six Swans or The Valiant Tailor or The Salad? I hadn’t, until I read this. Now I’ll definitely have to look up a few of those, especially the last. The title is . . . interesting. By mixing elements from all of the aforementioned titles as well as many more, Alex Flinn serves up a brand new fairy tale that will have you flipping the pages to find out what happens next.

Johnny, a poor and overworked shoe repair guy, with dreams of designing his own shoes, is a great main character. While he does have several unselfish motives, he still does a few things solely for himself (a shoe pun? Did I just do that?). I liked how while most of his intentions were pure, he was still realistic. I don’t know of many people who would put their lives on the line for a complete stranger, albeit a very beautiful one.

This book was funny one moment, serious the next, and overall it had a ‘quest’ feel to it that made it seem like an old tale while the setting was modern day Florida. It had a little bit of everything in it; romance, suspense, comedy, evil villains, brave heroes . . .

Cloaked was wonderful, and definitely a novel I’ll remember for a long time! It’s as great as the other two twisted fairy tales by the same author, Beastly and A Kiss in Time. I can’t wait to read more and branch out into the other books written by Alex Flinn. I’m sure they’ll be just as good!

I give Cloaked 5/5 stars.

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• Book Review:Cloaked (teensread.wordpress.com)