SURVIVING SERENDIPITY
When I chose Jacquelyn Sylvan's debut novel, Surviving Serendipity, for review, I was intrigued by the concept of a modern young woman finding herself transported to another world and finding she was a royal heir and had an arduous task laid out for her before she took the throne. However, I wondered if perhaps the book wasn't my cup of tea when I began its first pages and delved into the life of 21-year-old June out on the town to drink herself into a stupor on her birthday. I wasn't sure I even liked June; but from chapter two onward when June finds herself in Prendawr and in the company of four blue Valforte warriors and a strange sorcerer, I knew I was hooked. June, I discovered, had remarkably admirable qualities and proved herself very noble from the beginning, even when she struggled with being removed from a world and a life she found she loved very much and tossed into a very unforgiving alien one.  Soon, June and her companions are on a quest to find three pieces of an ancient tablet that will tell her how to save the world. But not all is as it seems in this new world.

Like any skilled author, Sylvan has created a new world and refreshing new characters like the Valforte and a beast called a draek that's a cross between a wolf and something else. Though there are other familiar beings (fairies, aliens, dragons), they are cast in a much different light than others have done. The landscape and the vegetation is also different, and so is the food, and many of June's growing abilities as she discovers that being a royal also means she's a sorceress.

Surviving Serendipity is adventure in its grandest sense. The quest is noble, the characters are complex, the cultures are varied and interesting, and the villains are devious enough to present delicious challenges for the questers. This is a thrilling, most marvelous read! It is hoped that Jacquelyn Sylvan will continue to bring readers other adventures. She has talent and has something to say, especially about social issues that exist in our own world and in June's new one.

Since this book deals with adult behaviors (drinking, swearing, and sex), I would recommend it for more mature teen readers and adults.

Janie Franz- www.MyShelf.com

SURVIVING SERENDIPITY
Rating: 4 Enchantments

June didn’t expect much from her twenty-first birthday, all she wanted was a night out with her two best friends and fiancé Kyle. But when she returns home alone from a rather depressing night out, she could never imagine what would be waiting for her or how very life changing a guy dressed like an extra from the ‘Pirates of The Caribbean’ could be when he whisks her away to a whole new world, one that everyone there expects her to save.

June’s a very fun, likeable character. A definite fish out of water story, June must learn to deal very quickly with the information thrown at her. Nothing in her life was what it seemed and now she must accept who she really is and step into a life she never expected, all to save a world she doesn’t know.

The scene that sticks out in my head long after finishing SURVIVING SERENDIPTY takes place quite early in the book when June has just been transported to her new world. Waking up in a foreign room, she follows the sound of voices to find a group of blue men around the kitchen table, with the now familiar pirate/genie right there with them. I so loved this scene because it’s where June starts to learn the truth about herself, that she isn’t who she thinks she is and in a laugh out loud moment, that she isn’t speaking English like she thinks she is, she’s speaking fluently in a whole other language she never knew existed.

Ms. Sylvan creates a very unique, very detailed world in which to set SURVIVING SERENDIPTY. I look forward to reading more from this talented debut author.

Lisa
YA Director
Enchanting Reviews
April 2008

Surviving Serendipity, Jacquelyn Sylvan, Echelon, January, ISBN 1590805860, YA Fantasy, ***1/2

June's life was nice and normal, ordinary even, until one day she is whisked abruptly away to another planet, one where she is the heir to the throne, and it is her job to defeat the evil that threatens that world. That is only the first surprise. Ahead of her lies heartache, more stunning revelations, confrontations that can alter the fate of a world, many sacrifices, and love. What she always believed is no longer true, but there are many layers to the actual truth, and not all of them pleasant.

June's story is one that is intriguing and mature enough to capture an adult's fancy, yet appeal to older teens as well. Earth myths and alien worlds are effectively blended into an easy to read tale that is both familiar and new.