This is a brilliantly witty story with a furry tail ending. One girl. One boy. One spell to be broken. Ondine de Groot is a normal fifteen-year-old who lives with her family in the European country of Brugel. She has a pet ferret called Shambles. But Shambles is no ordinary ferret...He's Hamish McPhee, a boy cursed by a witch. A witch who happens to be related to Ondine. When Shambles turns back into Hamish temporarily, Ondine knows that she has to help him break the spell. He is the most gorgeous boy she has ever met and her one true love! He just can't remain a ferret forever. Can he?This book has to be one of the most adorable and funny books that I have ever read. To tell the truth I thought it was maybe a bit young for me, but later I found a little bit of adult humour that totally had me laughing. This book is so out there it's unbelievable.
The country of Brugel sounds like a medieval European country with some references to modern day technology, it is, in fact set in the present. This was a bit hard to believe but don't waste too much time on that as it just adds to the feel of the book. The idea that magic is welcomed in the country and that Ondine's parents want her to have magic powers so much that they send her to Psychic Summer Camp really adds this fairytale feel to the book.
The writing is the best part of the book though. McKenna writes the book in a kind of fairytale way but adds these really funny footnotes that just had me totally laughing out loud. There are some Scottish words in there and it was so well written that I totally imagined myself in this old fashioned European town witnessing Ondine fall in love with Hamish first hand.
And whats a fairytale without a handsome prince? Except in this book the handsome prince is the bad guy and the rude, obnoxious ferret is the love interest, who'd have thought? Vincent was a fairytale bad guy through and through - we don't get much of a background and most of the characters are pretty one dimensional but I enjoyed reading abouy each and every one of them
Overall, Ondine was a book that had me laughing out loud all the way through, I totally enjoyed it for a quick and enjoyable read!
Overall Rating: B+
Originally released by Egmont on June 5th 2010.
Copy received from publisher for review.
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