Cloaked

Cloaked by Alex Flinn, 2011. 341 pages. Published by Harper Teen. Source: Borrowed from Library.

I'm not your average hero. I actually wasn't your average anything. Just a poor guy working an after-school job at a South Beach shoe repair shop to help his mom make ends meet. But a little magic changed it all. It all started with a curse. And a frognapping. And one hot-looking princess, who asked me to lead a rescue mission. There wasn't a fairy godmother or any of that. And even though I fell in love along the way, what happened to me is unlike any fairy tale I've ever heard. Before I knew it, I was spying with a flock of enchanted swans, talking (yes, talking!) to a fox named Todd, and nearly trampled by giants in the Everglades.

Don't believe me? I didn't believe it either. But you'll see. Because I knew it all was true, the second I got cloaked.

First Sentence:

I've never seen a princess before.

When I saw Cloaked at my library I considered reading it- mainly since I've been curious about Ms. Flinn's writing. Even so it took me about four library trips to finally get up the nerve to check it out. I am so glad that I took the plunge on reading Cloaked because I could not put it down and devoured in in about three hours.

Clocked was one of the funnest books I read last year. The characters were witty, but not so much so that they began to grate on your nerves. I think that she hit the a pretty perfect balance of witty and funny with the cast of characters in her book.
   One of the things that made this book so good for me was Ms Flinn's writing. I was pretty much a goner and lost to this book from the first sentence and devoured it in a short number of hours (some where around 2-3).
The ending was one of my favorite parts of this book. I liked the ending because I was so happy that it ended the way it did, had it ended a different way I probably would not have enjoyed it nearly much.

Unfortunately, I cannot remember the main protagonists name...at all. Even so, I thought he was one of the best characters I've read about in quite so time. I liked how he did not or would not believe that he some how got pulled into fairy tale-like adventure, and that it was going to take him on quite the journey. One of the things that made him such an interesting character would have to be that he came across as real. What I mean to say is that he was not searching for adventure, but when it did fall into his lap and once he believed that what was happening was in fact truly happening he did the best he could to deal with the situation. Plus he kind of cracked me; don't remember why I thought he was so funny, but I did.

What I enjoyed the most about Clocked would have to be the unique spin on the classic fairy tale of the frog prince, as well as the other classic fairy tales that were woven into this,  that Ms. Flinn put on the story. I absolutely devoured every page and am so wishing that I had read this sooner or that I owned it simply so that i could revisit it. And the is a high compliment from me-if it makes my books I want to reread list.
   I probably should have wrote this review sooner, but at the this time I cannot think of a single thing I did not love about this book.

Final Verdict: Cloaked best spin on a fairy tale I've read in ages.

Cloaked earns 5 out of 5 pineapples.