The Paper Gardens

This had the set-up to be a terrible book. The main character is half-elf, the elves are loosely based on Norse mythology without directly coming out and saying so, there's an apparent love triangle, and a magical prophecy that (of course) only the main character can fulfill. I was very surprised how much I ended up enjoying this book.

Lark knows that it's a goofy, teen paranormal romance, and it has fun with that premise.

I couldn't stop laughing when Mia admitted that she only pretends Pride and Prejudice is her favorite book whenever people ask her.

The first half of the book establishes a possible love triangle, but by the last quarter, everything is cleared up, and all possibilities of a love triangle are neatly squashed. While it was obnoxious to have the possibility of a love triangle set up in the first place, the way it was handled made it pretty clear from the beginning that there never really was one to begin with.

The villains were despicable, but they weren't handled in a cartoonish way - they've got clear goals for what they want, the foremost being "we want to be able to walk in the sun again". And while that would ultimately lead to "enslaving humanity", it's nice that that wasn't their only goal.

The lack of high school bullies was also a relief. I was so worried there would be a high school "mean girl" in there somewhere.

I really only had one problem with this book, and it was more of a personal hang-up than anything. And that was the seeming lack of reading comprehension among the elves. They've had this prophecy for at least eighteen, twenty years - at least slightly before Mia was born, and she's a senior in high school. In all of that time, everyone just assumed that the prophecy was about one specific child. Despite the fact that it clearly says "they" and "them". Nearly twenty years, and nobody noticed that. They really only figure it out at the end, and even then it's Mia going, "Wait a minute..."

You really dropped the ball there, guys.