Monday, July 25, 2011

Book Review: Tris and Izzie


Tris and Izzie

by Mette Ivie Harrison
Release date: 11th October 2011
Publisher: EgmontUSA
Pages: 272 (ARC NetGalley)

Summary from Goodreads:

A modern retelling of the German fairy tale "Tristan and Isolde," Tris and Izzie is about a young witch named Izzie who is dating Mark King, the captain of the basketball team and thinks her life is going swimmingly well. Until -- she makes a love potion for her best friend Brangane and then ends up taking it herself accidentally, and falling in love with Tristan, the new guy at school.

Review By Alaiel Kreuz:

True to be told, I've never read "Tristan and Isolde"'s legend, of course I've heard of it, but never truly look for it since I believe the end is not going to be happy, how can it be? But after reading this book I think I can handle a sad ending. This book is going to be the happy ending I need.
The book was engaging and a complete new story using the names of characters and places of the original legend. A fresh start. One that I liked a lot.
We are set with Izzie, a teenage girl that is 16, has the perfect boyfriend (hot guy of the school, basketball leader and of course, the popular guy) Mark King. Her best friend is Brangane or Branna (ringing bells already?), a tall girl who is part of the swimming team.
Izzie's past is sad, her dad died of a flu and she herself was about to die but luckily for her her mom was a witch and she managed to save Izzie, but not her dad, it was too late for him. Since then her mom was single, and for a very good reason: Izzie's parents had drunk a love philter which in their case was completely normal, they were deeply in love and knew that nothing was going to change that... but love philters are for ever and if one of them dies the other one will never fall in love again. Pretty hard, huh? I think it is...
The story begins with Izzie thinking that, since her love life is so perfect she is the one that can help her bestfriend to find a boyfriend. Why not? She can even give them a love philter to make sure they have their happily ever after, right? Right?
Wrong.
First of all, she has no magic, for some reason magic skipped her generation so she can't make a love philter. Second, hello?! You can't go and decide someone else's life!!! But well, I think she didn't get that part... and she didn't need to do a love philter... her mom had one on her cabinet, so why not go and take it? And so she did.
But the day she was going to give it to Branna and the boy Izzie thought was the right for her - she still needed to figure out wich one was that- a new boy had transfered to their school: Tristan. Yes, our handsome hero had finally arrived! But after a few misunderstandings Tristan and Izzie are the ones who drink the love philter.
What to do now? She already had the best boyfriend ever and although Tristan was handsome, very attractive and well, PERFECT, she needed to stay away from him. Somehow.
On top of that, there was a two-headed dog going after her, Branna was acting very strangely, Mark was very sweet and nice to her (and that annoyed her so much!) and Tristan had a magic sword. Oh, and there was a giant, a naked giant going after her too.
Don't forget to add the truth behind her dad's death.

Maybe the only thing that I didn't like too much was the final battle. Too quick and a little simple for my taste I think. But still, I'm sure I'm going to buy this book as soon as it comes out. And don't let me begin with the cover because I think it's gorgeous!

Alaiel's Rating:


If you really like it, you can find it here:

8 comments:

  1. I'm glad you liked this.
    Actually I'm currently reading this, but I just can't seem to get into it. Don't really like the style of writing and the characters. I'll finish it nonetheless and I hope I'll like it a little bit better towards the end.

    Thanks for sharing your opinion! :)
    Carina

    ReplyDelete
  2. I started this and then almost immediately placed it back down. I'll pick it up again of course and I will hopefully like it as much as you do.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have always loved this story although not as well known in North America. I'd love to read this modern version.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I just requested this book on netGalley and will soon be reading it, thanks to your review I'm really excited for it now! Sounds great! Who doesn't love the tragic love stories, especially in modern settings! :)
    Great review sweetheart! <3

    ReplyDelete
  5. I recently read/reviewed Tris & Izzie. I loved it, but I have to agree with you, it seemed a bit rushed for me. But I absolutely love the cover! It's beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I can´t imagina how glad am I that you liked it. I have pre-ordered it months ago and almost everybody didn´t enjoy it so I was really afraid.
    Awesome review! :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ah I really want to read this book now :)

    ReplyDelete

Something to share? (cheese would be awesome!) I love to read your comments :]