Book Review- The Iron Witch

I read The Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney for an Around the World Tour.

From Goodreads:

Freak. That's what her classmates call seventeen-year-old Donna Underwood. When she was seven, a horrific fey attack killed her father and drove her mother mad. Donna's own nearly fatal injuries from the assault were fixed by magic—the iron tattoos branding her hands and arms. The child of alchemists, Donna feels cursed by the magical heritage that destroyed her parents and any chance she had for a normal life. The only thing that keeps her sane and grounded is her relationship with her best friend, Navin Sharma.

When the darkest outcasts of Faerie—the vicious wood elves—abduct Navin, Donna finally has to accept her role in the centuries old war between the humans and the fey. Assisted by Xan, a gorgeous half-fey dropout with secrets of his own, Donna races to save her friend—even if it means betraying everything her parents and the alchemist community fought to the death to protect.

This story was just okay for me.  I didn't really connect with the characters or the plot.  I found myself getting distracted and I couldn't really remember what was going on each time I went back to the book.

Donna, Navin, and Xan  were all just okay.  I think Navin wanted to be more than best friends with Donna and it will be interesting to see what comes of that (if anything) in the sequel.  I think some people had a problem with the instant connection between Donna and Xan but it didn't really bother me.  In fact, I think that if I had to pick a character I liked the best, it would be Xan.

The plot was interesting on one hand, but on the other, didn't really keep my attention.  I just felt distant from the whole thing.  That being said, I look forward to reading the sequel.

I gave this book a rating of 3/5.

The Iron Witch will be released on February 8, 2011.

This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
2011 100+ Reading Challenge: 8
2011 ARC Reading Challenge: 7
2011 Debut Author Challenge: 1
What's in a Name? 4 Challenge: Evil
2011 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 6

*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free for an honest review as part of the Around the World Tours.