Joy Smith Reviews Fantasy

Title: The Heroine's Journey

Author:  G. Miki Hayden
Genre: Fantasy
ISBN: 9781605922164
Reviewer:  Joy V. Smith
Reviewer's link: http://pagadan.wordpress.com/
Review was originally published on Amazon
Publisher:  Noble Romance Publishing
Reviewer's rating: 5 stars
Available at Amazon

 

Reviewed by Joy V. Smith, author of Detour Trail

 

When am I?!

 

This is an engrossing, intertwined story of two girls facing challenges in their own times.  Gwen is in high school, and her life got really complicated when she decided to write her midterm paper on The Heroine's Journey because what she was studying in school was all about heroes.   Guin is in the Middle Ages surrounded by heroes--and a king.  The history seems well-researched (I know some of the basics because I have a sister who loves English history, and I've picked up a lot over the years).  But, more importantly, the background is an integral part of the story, and you hardly notice it.  However, it makes the grime and the harsh conditions back then real to the reader.  Guin was the protected daughter in her parents' castle, but she was subject to the whims and rules of the times.  She tried to escape her fate, but she learned she couldn't trust anyone, but she didn't give up, and the two young women encouraged and helped each other even to the battlefields of war--and high school.

 

Life in school wasn't easy for Gwen.  Who could she trust?  The jock she was helping with his paper?  Her teachers?  Her friends?  Well, she really had only one friend, but then...  'Course it didn't help that people, including her mother who dragged her off to the psychiatrist, began to think she was crazy because she spent part of her time in the past--not just on reasearch...

 

Highly recommended.  The meeting and melding of minds is believable. (I wondered how the author would handle that.)  I liked Gwen and Guin and couldn't wait to see if they would succeed in winning through to their goals.  Harder when you're not sure what your goal is....  And would there be heroes on their journeys?  Lots to like in this book, including issues and people we can relate to. 

 

Joy
My other blog (media tidbits and more)
http://pagadan.livejournal.com/

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