Mistwood by Leah Cypess

Sorry for the delay in posting. I've been working diligently on my first two chapters. I think I'm finally starting to get them right where I want them, so now I just have to play the waiting game to see what some of my beta readers think. For anyone interested,  you can find a very recent version of my first five pages here. I get one more round of feedback from the creators of the blog and guest author Leah Cypess. I also have my first five pages out in the YALITCHAT community now, so I'll hopefully receive more feedback soon.

But on to the review. I recently finished reading Mistwood by Leah Cypess. Many of you may remember that she did an interview for the blog a couple of months ago, and that she is also the guest author for the workshop I'm doing. Coincidence? No, not really. I had met Leah Cypess a  year or two ago, and loved Nightspell. I never got around to reading Mistwood though until recently.

Mistwood Summary:
The Shifter is an immortal creature bound by an ancient spell to protect the kings of Samorna. When the realm is peaceful, she retreats to the Mistwod.

But when she is needed she always comes.

Isabel remembers nothing. Nothing before the prince rode into her forest to take her back to the castle. Nothing about who she is supposed to be, or the powers she is supposed to have.

Prince Rokan needs Isabel to be his Shifter. He needs her ability to shift to animal form, to wind, to mist. He needs her lethal speed and superhuman strength. And he needs her loyalty—because without it, she may be his greatest threat.

Isabel knows that her prince is lying to her, but she can't help wanting to protect him from the dangers and intrigues of the court . . . until a deadly truth shatters the bond between them.

Now Isabel faces a choice that threatens her loyalty, her heart . . . and everything she thought she knew.


Mistwood Review:
Let me start off by saying that this book was excellent. Leah is a phenomenal writer, and she always does an excellent job with surprise twists. I have to say that I think I liked Nightspell better than Mistwood, but I definitely liked Mistwood. I won't spoil it, but I will say that there is definitely a surprise twist there that I have to say I didn't see coming. She kept hinting at something, but I was unable to put the pieces together until she revealed them.

The idea for this book was definitely original. My only complaint is that for reasons that are revealed later in the book, the Shifter can't shift and she doesn't know why. It would have been cool to see the shifter get to shift into anything that she wanted, but that would have ruined the storyline. Overall a great read.