Book Review: Towering by Alex Flinn

Towering

by Alex Flinn

Genre: YA, fairytale re-telling, romance

Published May 14th 2013 by HarperTeen

Source: Publisher

Purchase: Barnes & Noble * Book Depository * Amazon

Blurb (Goodreads):

At first, I merely saw his face, his hands on the window ledge. Then, his whole body as he swung himself through the window. Only I could not see what he swung on.

Until, one day, I told my dream self to look down. And it was then that I saw. He had climbed on a rope. I knew without asking that the rope had been one of my own tying.

Rachel is trapped in a tower, held hostage by a woman she’s always called Mama. Her golden hair is growing rapidly, and to pass the time, she watches the snow fall and sings songs from her childhood, hoping someone, anyone, will hear her. 

Wyatt needs time to reflect or, better yet, forget about what happened to his best friend, Tyler. That’s why he’s been shipped off to the Adirondacks in the dead of winter to live with the oldest lady in town. Either that, or no one he knows ever wants to see him again.

Dani disappeared seventeen years ago without a trace, but she left behind a journal that’s never been read, not even by her overbearing mother…until now. 

A #1 New York Times bestselling author, Alex Flinn knows her fairy tales, and Towering is her most mind-bending interpretation yet. Dark and mysterious, this reimagining of Rapunzel will have readers on the edge of their seats wondering where Alex will take them next!

My Thoughts:

Knowing that Alex Flinn, one of my fave fairytale re-tellers, has put her magic again on a fairytale was just so exciting. I'm counting the days, weeks, months after reading Bewitching--her last novel that I devoured--for the release of this book. Even though I'm not really a fan of Rapunzel, I'm very excited to read Towering. I wasn't a fan of the Frog Prince but I really liked her Cloaked. So after that, I believed that it depends on the writer how he/she will slay an original story. I believed that Alex Flinn knew how to do it. 

Towering was told in two perspectives: Wyatt and Rachel. There were also some chapters that belonged to Danielle's diary--the missing daughter of the old lady Mrs. Greenwood, whom Wyatt is staying for a while for a vacation. This book was mysterious. It was creepily mysterious from the first chapters--the kind of mystery that I had a lot of guesses and still could not point my finger to the right one. Compared to other books, the mystery of this book was interesting and hard to guess, for me. Though I noticed that the pace was slow and the mystery of it is killing me, but it was also the one who kept me reading to find out the real story.

I think Towering was a little different from the other fairytale re-tellings (particularly Rapunzel) I've read (from different authors) and from Alex Flinn. It was different in a way that this book had more background story in it compared to the last Rapunzel re-telling I've read, and I liked it. It had story and answers readers would seek why's a girl locked in a tower for all her life. What I didn't liked about it was the main reason why she is locked. From the wonderful mystery leading to that revelation wasn't a good combination, although I'd give credit to the author that she made a solid background story. It was also different from Alex Flinn's novels because this one somewhat failed my high expectations. Towering could be forgotten because of her past books that are really wonderful and she just nailed her last novel, Bewitching. Even though I loved fairytales and know them well, I didn't liked the way Wyatt and Rachel instantly fell in love with each other. Maybe I needed more to be convinced.

Towering was nice. There's just something about it that I didn't liked that I couldn't put my finger on like I the way I've thought about the mystery. The fans of Alex Flinn (like me) might not enjoy this because of the expectations after Bewitching, but you'd enjoy this if you haven't read any from her or you're looking for a book that contained creepy mystery, fairytale romance and a happily ever after. This book was set on a winter season so you'd probably enjoy this while summer, feeling cold and an urge to shiver even if it's damn hot around. This was also one reason why I think this novel didn't failed completely--the effectivity of being sucked into the world of this book: feeling the cold and the eeriness of it.

*Thanks to Sarah and HarperCollins for providing me a printcopy for an honest review!

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