Extraordinary by Nancy Werlin

From Goodreads:

Phoebe finds herself drawn to Mallory, the strange and secretive new kid in school, and the two girls become as close as sisters . . . until Mallory's magnetic older brother, Ryland, shows up during their junior year. Ryland has an immediate, exciting hold on Phoebe, but a dangerous hold, for she begins to question her feelings about her best friend and, worse, about herself. Soon she'll discover the shocking truth about Ryland and Mallory: that these two are visitors from the faerie realm who have come to collect on an age-old debt. Generations ago, the faerie queen promised Pheobe's ancestor five extraordinary sons in exchange for the sacrifice of one ordinary female heir. But in hundreds of years there hasn't been a single ordinary girl in the family, and now the faeries are dying. Could Phoebe be the first ordinary one? Could she save the faeries, or is she special enough to save herself? 

This book is a wonderful YA read. It's really about finding out who you are and finding the courage to then stand up for yourself. In other words, letting yourself be who you really are deep down inside. It's not an easy thing for a young teen to do let alone adults. In fact, I know several adults that would benefit from this message. She finds herself several times in this book. At the beginning with selfish and bullish type of "friends" and then later with Mallory and Ryland and even later the queen.

Perhaps, it's better if I just stay silent and let someone else say what I'm trying to say:

"To be one's self, and unafraid whether right or wrong, is more admirable than the easy cowardice of surrender to conformity." ~ Irving Wallace

To me, that is it in a nutshell. Thanks Mr. Wallace! :)

It is also a story to say that if things were easy in our lives. we may never truly find out who we are. We may not like the struggles in our lives, but sometimes they are necessary to push us further along with ourselves and find out who we can become. There is also a subject brought on with her boyfriend, Ryland. I think it was an interesting and unusual way of dealing with the subject of boyfriend abuse. Not the physical kind, but the more insidious type of verbal abuse.

So, while I do find the messages within this story important, I should note that the story itself is well written and the pages go fast. Phoebe's story is as fun and you do root for her especially in the end. I give this book 4 stars and recommend it to every young person or really anyone beginning their journey on finding themselves.

I'd like to thank LibraryThing early reviewers and Penguin Publishing for this ARC. No compensations for my review was received.

If you would like to find more information about this book just go HERE.  It's the page Penguin has put up for all the extra information about the book.