The Mirror

Last night I was checking on my father (still sick) about midnight, when he decided he wanted a cookie!  Normally, we would have cookies, but my mother had eaten them all (24 of them) since I baked a couple of days ago.  So I am making cookies at midnight!  I was glad to see him eat something, but I was not thrilled to be baking.  It then got Doozy all excited who then started acting like a loon running around the house.  I was so glad when everyone settled down (about 3 a.m.)!

The Mirror by Marlys Millhiser is an interesting novel.  Shay Garrett is twenty years old in 1978 and it is the night before her wedding to Marek Weir.  Her mother is giving her an ugly old mirror as a wedding gift.  The frame is composed of hands with finger nails shaped like talons.  It is in her bedroom of her family’s home The Gingerbread House in Boulder, Colorado.  Shay is looking in the mirror when she hears a humming noise.  She remembers mist and blackness and then nothing.  Shay wakes up in the same bedroom, but it is different.  It is 1900 and they keep calling her Brandy.  Shay is in her grandmother’s body.  Brandy is also twenty and being forced by her father, John McCabe to marry the next day (everyone thinks she is crazy because of things she saw in the mirror).  Shay finds herself stuck in Brandy’s body despite attempts to get back to her own body and time.  Shay makes the best of her situation and lives a full life (it helps that she knows things that are going to happen).  She does, though, keep a diary of all her adventures while in Brandy’s body.  When baby Shay is born, she wraps up the diary and puts a note on it.  It is to be given to Shay on the day of her wedding.  Rachel, Shay’s mother, puts it away and forgets about it.

Brandy was going to run away the night before her forced marriage when the mirror takes her to 1978.  She finds herself in Shay’s body and her grandmother dead on the floor in her bedroom.  The grandmother is Shay in Brandy’s body (it can get a little confusing at times).  Brandy does not understand this new time period.  She feels that everyone is not dressed appropriately.  Brandy retreats into herself and waits for Shay to figure out the mirror.  Her family thinks something is wrong with her and are contemplating putting her in a mental asylum (real caring family).  After sleeping so much, her family calls in a doctor.  Brandy is pregnant (and shocked since she is a virgin).  When her family talks about an abortion, Brandy runs away.  Luckily for Brandy she is taken in by a nice, eccentric, elderly man.  He helps her to stay hidden from her family.

When The Gingerbread House is robbed (the mirror is stolen), the diary is found.  Rachel ends up reading it and finally understands what happened to her daughter.  It also explains a lot about her mother.  You will have to read The Mirror to find out what happens!  I have to admit that I put off reading this novel because it was so very long.  But once I started reading it, I could not put it down.   A little over half of the book is taken up with Shay’s story (with her in Brandy’s body).  We then get to find out what happens to Brandy in Shay’s body.  I truly enjoyed this book.  The only thing I did not like was Brandy in Shay’s body.  She made no attempt to read books and understand the time period she was in (or her new life).  She acted like some fragile woman with no brain (it was insulting).  Otherwise, this was a great book to read.  I give The Mirror 4.5 out of 5 stars.  It is well-written and I loved the plot.  The writer even left it so there could be more books as the mirror continues on with its adventure.

I received a complimentary copy of The Mirror from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  The review and opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you for stopping by and checking out my book review.  I am currently reading Thirteen Days of Midnight by Leo Hunt.  Have a great, relaxing evening and Happy Reading!

Kris

The Avid Reader