Francesca Bella has definitely broken the mold with this new novel! Written completely in poem form, this novel follows two potential lovebirds in a magical land. Writing an entire novel in rhyme is a feat in and of itself, but Bella goes even further above and beyond by creating a decent story out of these rhymes.
The story is broken in ten chapters, called “cantos;” each canto is broken into stanzas of fourteen lines each. One thing that I personally loved was the creativity that Bella was able to put into her rhyme schemes. For one thing, the rhyme schemes aren’t all the same! Occasionally there is your average AABB or ABAB rhyme scheme, but there is also some fun ABBA thrown throughout as well. And her rhymes are not all your normal “cat and bat” rhymes. No, Bella also includes slant rhymes, near-rhymes, internal rhymes, and identical rhymes. I greatly admire the amount of poetry skills that Bella possesses to make a full rhyming novel. In my opinion the format of the book is the highlight, and it is masterfully done.
I was a little bit disappointed in the story, though. I found it too much of a basic, happily-ever-after storyline for my personal tastes. I was hoping that something more magical would happen towards the end. Honestly, I expected Trenton and Vana to turn into winged pigs themselves, and then live happily ever after! I was disappointed that, as far as the reader can tell, Trenton never told Vana about his other dalliance. And I was disappointed in Trenton for having to resort to magic to achieve his ends, despite repeatedly saying that he would never. I was also disappointed overall in Vana, for she seemed like not much more than an airhead who placed unreal expectations upon others.
Overall, it was a fun read. The story was great, as long as you are into happy endings; and, most people are.