I've had a netgallery account for ages, but I've never caught up with all the books already on my NOOK so I've rarely used it to get more. But as part of my attempt to start thinking about my reading more, I asked for A.M. Dellamonica's Child of a Hidden Sea, and lucked into a copy.
It's a fun portal world -- girl goes to another world and discovers things. At times it doesn't seem to take itself too seriously, because our viewpoint character knows that this is not her world and it doesn't seem as real too her -- it's a place to explore and wonder at, but especially after she finds she can get back, it's a display, not a reality. Cute ship captains, magic possibilities, hot aristocrats from another island -- it's like a vacation.
But as she returns and becomes more involved with the lives of the people, some of them her relatives, suddenly she and the reader realize that these are events are real, that these people matter, and that the danger may be more than they can overcome. It deepens the story and leaves the reader feeling that an whole meal, not a like popcorn snack, has been read. It didn't hurt that the main character is a strong woman, not perfect but a real protagonist, and her protective feeling towards her brother proves intense enough to help her rise into a real hero. I just found out that there's a sequel planned, and I'm also interested in seeing what Dellamonica's previous books were like.
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