On the Horizon – no good deed (Kara Connolly)

Ahoy there me mateys!  I received this young adult fantasy eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  So here be me honest musings . . .

no good deed (Kara Connolly)

Title: no good deed

Author: Kara Connolly

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group – Delacorte Press

Publication Date: TODAY!!! (hardcover/e-book)

ISBN: 9780385743938

Source: NetGalley

 

So mateys, why should ye check out this book?  Because it is a fun romp of a tale about time travel and a female Robin Hood!  Sign me up.  As usual the cover first drew me interest:

Kick-ass girl with bow?  Sign me up.  I also like the target vibe going on.  And I am so glad I read it.  It is light and silly and fun watching Ellie set the Robin Hood myth into action.  I thought she was a great character – spunky and intelligent.

The secondary characters of Sir Henry and Sir James were fun to read about also.  I enjoyed their animosity towards each other.  Another great character was the young boy, Much, who helpfully is related to practically everyone in Nottingham and surrounding environs.  He is also sweet and endearing.  Eleanor of Aquitane also makes an appearance too.

I had a few problems with the book that stemmed from the anachronistic elements of the story that the other characters seemed to just accept.  Ellie being a girl for one.  I suspended disbelief for this one.  Other things like sneakers and passports I had slightly more problems with.  But overall, once I stopped being so critical, I found even this silliness to be enjoyable.

Oh and also I learned an awesome fact from reading this book – where the word sheriff comes from – “shire-reeve”  Further research led me to this fact:  “The Anglo-Saxon word for chief was gerefa, later shortened to reeve. During the next two centuries, groups of hundreds banded together to form a new, higher unit of government called the shire. The shire was the forerunner of the modern county. Each shire had a chief (reeve) as well, and the more powerful official became known as a shire-reeve. The word shire-reeve became the modern English word sheriff – the chief of the county. The sheriff maintained law and order within his own county with the assistance of the citizens.” source

I have to admit that I kept picturing the sheriff in this novel to be Alan Rickman’s version in Robin Hood: Price of Thieves.  Because Alan Rickman makes everything better.  Anyways if ye want a quick paced retelling then give this one a try . . .

Side note:  The author has a fun post showing showing photos and telling stories from her trip to THE Nottingham.  Ye should check it out by clicking here.

So lastly . . .

Thank you Random House / Delacorte Books!

The author’s website has this to say about the novel:

Fans of Dorothy Must Die will love this reimagining of the legend of Robin Hood. Girl power rules supreme when a modern girl finds herself in the middle of a medieval mess with only her smart mouth and her Olympic-archer aim to get her home.

Ellie Hudson is the front-runner on the road to gold for the U.S. Olympic archery team. All she has to do is qualify at the trials in jolly old England. When Ellie makes some kind of crazy wrong turn in the caverns under Nottingham Castle—yes, that Nottingham—she ends up in medieval England.

Ellie doesn’t care how she got to the Middle Ages; she just wants to go home before she gets the plague. But people are suffering in Nottingham, and Ellie has the skills to make it better. What’s an ace archer to do while she’s stuck in Sherwood Forest but make like Robin Hood?

Pulled into a past life as an outlaw, Ellie feels her present fading away next to daring do-gooding and a devilishly handsome knight. Only, Ellie is on the brink of rewriting history, and when she picks up her bow and arrow, her next shot could save her past—or doom civilization’s future.

To visit the author’s website go to:

Kara Connolly – Author

To buy the novel please visit:

no good deed – Book

To add to Goodreads go to:

Yer Ports for Plunder List