Review--Why I Let My Hair Grow Out by Maryrose Wood

SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO BREAK AWAY...

When my boyfriend dumped my on the last day of school, it was just the icing on a ten-layer my-life-sucks cake. Hacking off all my hair and dying the stubble orange seemed like the next logical step. Okay, I was acting out. But my parents freaked and called the travel agent, and before you could say "Let's fix Morgan," I was being sent on a bike tour of Ireland. As if pedaling my way across an entire country with a bunch of losers in padded shorts is supposed to cheer me up?

...TO FIND YOUR WAY.

So I'm hating the Emerald Isle, hating my tour mates, liking-yet-hating the cute redheaded guy who drives the luggage van--when a most unusual bike accident tosses me headfirst into some crazy, once-upon-a-time corner of the past...I'm talking faeries and wee folk and a hunk warrior dude named Fergus, who knows how to treat a girl who's part goddess. (Hmm, wonder who that might be?) Now, in addition to biking across the country, I have to help undo some evil curses and perform an impossible rescue. Some vacation, right? But in the middle of this becoming-a-legend stuff, I'm realizing there's some growing I need to do--and I don't just mean my hair...

My friend read this and said I had to read it, and since I've been recommending tons of books to her I decided to give it a try. Why I Let My Hair Grow Out by Maryrose Wood was an interesting read. I've read so fae books and have liked them quite well. And this one wasn't too bad.

There was some language in this book, but since it's done in an Irish tongue/brogue/whatever, you're not really reading the "bad" words. And it wasn't too hard to read either, for sometimes I do struggle with strong dialects in writing, mostly Southern slang--that I practically have to read out loud! But this one was pretty manageable!

Morgan herself was quite the character. She wasn't too annoying or anything either. She was quite...real. She seemed like someone I would be friends with. And she is dealing with a lot of emotional stuff come the start of summer vacation and when she's forced to take this "vacation" trip overseas it does seem a little extreme. I mean how many parents can actually afford to ship their daughter off overseas for a week-long bike riding tour? Not many and it's never clearly said what her parents do for a living, but I digress.

Truthfully it did take me a bit to get into this. I was waiting for Morgan to enter "faery-land" and get to the good stuff. She finally does around page 58, so not too long. And I did think that Morgan would be spending the majority of the book there, but once again, she didn't. It's kind of a back and forth thing, but it was still unclear on really why she was able to do this. I guess it was just the magic of Ireland.

The characters were quite good, very believable. Everyone had their own personality. There was even similarities between characters in the "real" world and "faery" world when you look for them. Morgan notices them too, so don't worry about actually looking for them.

The tasks that Morgan has to do in faery world comes from a curse and in order to break the curse she has to solve the riddle with her actions. A little confusing, but Morgan figures it out pretty easily after some time--have to get over the "where-the-heck-am-I?"- thing. It was towards the end when a shocking revelation came to front that I got a little confused. It was just one of those WTF moments, you know?

There are 2 other books that I know of to this series, not sure if I'll read them. My friend really enjoyed this one, but I guess I just liked it. One of those books that was interesting and whatnot but not sure if I would go further with the series myself.

Overall rating 3/5 stars--okay read, but not totally spectacular, but again, not dreadful, still pretty interesting!