Wisdom’s Kiss by Catherine Murdock - OPTIONAL

Murdock, Catherine Gilbert  Wisdom’s Kiss, 284 pgs.  Houghton Mifflin, 2011.  $16.99  Content: Language: PG (5 swears; 1 God); Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG.  

In this book there are three main characters: Wisdom, a second-in-line princess who is on supposed to marry the prince from a neighboring kingdom; Trudy, a maid who has the ability to see events before they happen and who is in love with and has been lifelong best friends with Tips; Tips is a circus acrobat, but he leads Trudy to believe he is a soldier.  Wisdom journeys across the kingdom to arrive in Froglock where she is to marry the prince, which the prince’s mother, in a complex plot, is hoping will give them an opportunity to overtake Wisdom’s kingdom.  When Wisdom arrives in the city, there is a circus in town and Wisdom longs to live outside of her title and be involved in the exciting circus, her dreams are furthered when she impresses the emperor with her abilities at the circus and falls in love with the acrobat Tips.  Trudy has come to Froglock as a lady-in-waiting and is excited to meet up with her childhood best friend Tips, who has been writing her love letters for the six years he has been gone.  However, Tips falls for Princess Wisdom and all three characters have to come together to save Wisdom’s kingdom from the rulers of Froglock.  Some characters obtain their dreams and others get their hearts broken, and through the use of magic they strive to save the kingdom.  

This book was the most confusing and wordy novel I have read in a long time.  The format was horrible, using encyclopedia entries, letters and diaries from many different characters who had names, titles and nicknames that were interspersed throughout furthering the confusion.  Because there wasn’t a main character it was hard to really care about any of the characters, and the ending was rushed.  As you can tell from my lengthy review, it was so confusing it’s even hard to explain.  Not my favorite read and I have enjoyed other books by this author.  

MS-OPTIONAL.  Reviewer, C. Peterson.