Wander Dust

Michelle Warren

Publisher: Michelle Preast

Publish Date: already out

Version: e-book

Series: The Seraphina Parrish Trilogy

 Not all those who wander are lost.
-J. R. R. Tolkien

Seraphina Parrish is a normal (and I use that term loosely) sixteen year old girl who lives in Miami with her father.  The story starts out with her sixteenth birthday celebration.  It is at a restaurant with her dad, Ray and his girlfriend, Maddi.  During this celebration is when Seraphina, who goes by Sera, first encounters the Lady in Black and feels the effects of the lady in black’s fire.  This terrifies Sera and she is sure that the Lady in Black will come back to finish the job that she started.   The night is almost completely a bust when Ray gives her a birthday present.  It is a bracelet that belonged to her mother before she died.  This makes the whole night bearable.  While trying on this bracelet at school, something strange happens.  Sera is transported to another city in another time.  Then there is the mysterious letter with a picture of a boy in it.  Sera doesn’t know who the boy is, but he makes her feel safe whenever she looks at his picture.

After some mishaps in school that end in Sera getting “grounded for life,” Ray decides that it is time to send Sera to her Aunt Mona’s in Chicago.  Mona is her mother’s sister and Sera has always loved visiting her and is looking forward to moving so she can finally find out things about her mother.  When she first arrives in Chicago, she learns that the airline has lost her luggage and all she has is what is on her back.  This isn’t nearly enough for the cold Chicago winter.  While traveling to Mona’s brownstone, she not only is freezing, but encounters “the grungy gang” who seem to want to kill her.  She doesn’t know what to think about this, but knows she needs to run to get away from them.  It is on the platform while running that Sera first meets the boy from the photo.  She isn’t sure at first whether he is good or bad and thinks he might be with the grungy gang.

Mona finally finds her, gets her home and gets her some clothing appropriate for the winter.  Even though Sera trusts Mona, she isn’t sure whether she wants to tell her about the things that have been happening.  She thinks that she is going crazy and doesn’t want anyone else to think that also.  She then starts her “list of weird,” or the things that she cannot explain. 

Sera is to start at Washington Square Academy, where Mona works.  It is the same high school that her mother attended, so she is happy about that.  At school, she makes friends and sees the boy standing outside her classroom.  Sera tries to be late for class in order to see this boy and ask him what he is doing there.  Finally, she gets in contact with him and learns how to wander.  Once she does this, she is transferred to the boarding school side of Washington Square Academy.  She learns things there that she never could have imagined.  Her list of weird still plagues her and as the book goes on, she adds and subtracts things to the list.

I thought that this book was a good way to start out a series.  It gives you the background information of what “wandering” is, but also leaves enough questions so that you’ll want to read the next book.  This book was a good read.  I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

 

Ever since her sixteenth birthday, strange things keep happening to Seraphina Parrish.

The Lady in Black… burns Sera’s memories.

Unexplainable Premonitions… catapult her to other cities.

The Grungy Gang… wants to kill her.

And a beautiful, mysterious boy… stalks her.

But when Sera moves to Chicago, and her aunt reveals their family connection to a centuries old, secret society, she is immediately thrust into an unbelievable fantasy world, leading her on a quest to unravel the mysteries that plague her. In the end, their meanings crash into an epic struggle of loyalty and betrayal, and she’ll be forced to choose between the boy who has stolen her heart and the thing she desires most.

Wander Dust is the breathtaking fantasy that will catapult you through a story of time, adventure, and love.

• Seraphina.  She is thinking about her list of weird all the time.  Even though she doesn’t understand things, she goes on to find out more about her mother, making tough decisions along the way.  Sera truly shows her character in the decisions that she is forced to make.

• Aunt Mona.   She tries her best to do things right by Seraphina and is hindered by what she can tell her.   Even still, she always puts Sera ahead of other things and she is one that Sera knows she can trust.

• Macey DuBois.  She is Sera’s first friend in Washington Square Academy.  Sera doesn’t tell her everything that is going on and Macey is still a good friend to her and helps her out a little when she first arrives at the Academy.

• Gabe, the activities director at Washington Square Academy.   His enthusiasm for the things he has to do is contagious.  I just love reading about the things that Gabe has had a part in.   He is unpredictable, but that is part of his personality that is so great.

• Samantha James, Max Bishop.  They are in Sera’s team.  At first, they don’t seem too pleased to be paired up with Sera, but later on they warm up to her.  While in the Washington Square Academy, you live in an “apartment” with your team, attend classes with them, and are basically with them 24 hours a day.  With all this time spent together, Sera still doesn’t get to really know them until near the end of the book.  Sam and “Bishop” help Sera out in a lot of things that she couldn’t do on her own in her pursuit to find out what happened to her mother.

• Sera’s list of weird.  I like how she adds things that she doesn’t understand or seem weird to her and subtracts things that she figures out.  I also like her determination in finding out the answers to her list of weird.  I think we all should have this attribute.

• Ray Parrish.  Sera’s father.  Even though he acts like a dork at the opening scene, which I understand Sera’s attitude of being grossed out, he does try to do right by Sera.  Sending her to live with her Aunt Mona was a tough decision for him.  He is a single father who has no idea how to raise a teenage daughter.  Throughout the book, Sera mentions how her father wouldn’t have shown her compassion, how he puts his job and girlfriend before her, but in the end, I think he is a good guy.

• The Washington Square Academy.  Holy Crow!  If all schools were like how this one is described, I don’t think we would have nearly the dropouts as we do now.  Both sides are described and seem wonderful to me.  Although, living in an apartment where your every whim is catered to does seem like quite the wonderful thing when you are in high school.

• Some of the other classmates in Sera’s school.  I won’t name names or say why I don’t like them because alas, that would spoil the book for you and this is one book that you should definitely read!

• Terease Ivanov. I didn’t like her before she was introduced in the Academy and I didn’t like her after. She is the one who seems to appear out of nowhere to discipline the students. The description of her seems fitting to her personality.

• The Grungy gang. The way that they are described as being putrid and smelling like garbage. Yuck! Also the fact that they are after Seraphina, doesn’t help their popularity any.

I think the girl on the cover is Seraphina although she looks older than sixteen.  The Chicago skyline in the background is fitting to the events that happened and the fact that the Academy was in Chicago.  I’m not sure what the field has to do with the story, but that is irrelevant.  The fact that she is running is integral to the story.  I liked the colors in the cover.  Overall, I think that this is a very nice cover and it outlines the story well.

See the author interview and giveaway.