352 pages, Library Book (hardcover)
Finished on 29/5/2012
Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Fantasy
Synopsis via Shelfari:
All her world’s a stage.Motivation to Read It: I've been wanting to read this since it came out, and I saw it at the library and just had to have it.
Bertie Shakespeare Smith is not an actress, yet she lives in a theater.
She’s not an orphan, but she has no parents.
She knows every part, but she has no lines of her own.
That is, until now.
Enter Stage Right
NATE. Dashing pirate. Will do anything to protect Bertie.
COBWEB, MOTH, MUSTARDSEED, and PEASEBLOSSOM. Four tiny and incredibly annoying fairies. BERTIE’S sidekicks.
ARIEL. Seductive air spirit and Bertie’s weakness. The symbol of impending doom.
BERTIE. Our heroine.
Welcome to the Théâtre Illuminata, where the actors of every play ever written can be found behind the curtain. They were born to play their parts, and are bound to the Théâtre by The Book—an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of them, but they are her family—and she is about to lose them all and the only home she has ever known.
Lisa Mantchev has written a debut novel that is dramatic, romantic, and witty, with an irresistible and irreverent cast of characters who are sure to enchant the audience.
Open Curtain
Review: Eyes Like Stars first attracted me to it because of the beautiful cover. Then when I read the synopsis and figured out that it was revolving around a theatre setting, I was completely intrigued. I have to say that it definitely lived up to my expectations.
Beatrice Shakespeare Smith, aka Bertie, has been at the Theater as long as she can remember, and causes quite a lot of mischief. To earn her keeps, she decides she will direct the Hamlet cast, but the play (as in the dialogue, etc.) will be in Egypt this time. There isn't a lot of belief that she will be able to pull it off, but Bertie is determined to show that she isn't just a troublemaker.
One character that they don't have in the synopsis (above) that I think is really important is Ariel. He's the bad boy of the story, and some of the authority figures at the Theater have told to stay away, which made him all the more captivating to me. Nate was also a pretty good character. I loved how he was so protective of Bertie; that really made me enjoy him being around Bertie. All the characters were great, though, not just those two. You could really enjoy them and what they had to bring to the story.
The plot was awesome. Point blank period. I was pulled into it from the very beginning. I didn't want to put the book down once I'd gotten about 50 pages in. The whole time I was trying to guess at what would happen. Amazing, just ahmazing. The fairies -- Peaseblossom, Mustardseed, Moth, and Cobweb -- are too funny. They had me laughing through several parts of the book. I would love to have me some fairies. Anyone know where I could buy some?
I totally recommend this book to anyone that's looking for a little humour, a little romance, and lots of storytelling :).
3 comments:
Awesome review!
Thanks for posting
I love this series, such awesome and fun books. Love the fairies they are awesome!
The word that kept coming back to me as I read it was effortless. The humor works perfectly, and the dialogue rivals Gilmore Girls--only it's a lot more genuine. The cast--and it is a large cast, since, you know, every character from every play lives in the Theater--was handled deftly, and even the minor characters shine.
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