Me, My Elf & I

Zephyr #1

by Heather Swain

It's not often you see an elf in the middle of Brooklyn, let alone a tall, blond, gorgeous elf in the middle of one of the most prestigious performing arts high schools in the country. And yet, that's just where Zephyr Addler finds herself: smack dab in the middle of a bustling New York City school, worlds away from the secluded woodland community she knows so well. But Zephyr knows that she has to figure out how to live in the world. And dress in the world. Thanks to a little friendly advice from her new friend Mercedes, Zephyr starts to get the hang of Brooklyn. That is, until Zephyr snags a role in a commercial, beating out the most popular girl in school, Bella Dartagnan. Now with Bella and her friends out to get her, can Zephyr out-maneuver the mean girls (and catch the eye of a certain cute boy) without losing herself?

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Magic, Romance, Elves, Music, Contemporary

279 pages, Paperback

First published March 9, 2009

About the author

Heather Swain lives in a crooked house in Brooklyn, New York with her husband, two children, and a barkless dog. She is the author of novels for adults and young adults, craft books, and numerous short stories, personal essays, and non-fiction articles.

Reviews

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Since the main character Zephyr is an elf, I was expecting a Christmas theme to the book, but it wasn’t Christmassy at all.

The plot is very similar to Mean Girls but with elves, and it was very dated, with references to MySpace, Friendster, Treo phones, and other now-defunct technology and social media.

I didn’t really care for Zephyr as a character. She was wishy-washy, kind of bratty, and immature.

[Kate McMurry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mean Girls Meets Elf, a fish-out-of-water, comic YA fantasy

Fifteen-year-old Zephyr Addler has just moved to Brooklyn with her five siblings, her naturopath mother, and her folk-rock-star father from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Switching from being home schooled in a cottage in the woods to attending a sophisticated arts high school in a big city isn't Zephyr's only culture shock. She's living for the first time among humans.

Zephyr is an elf with the magical ability of casting spells and can potentially live hundreds of years. In addition, like all her fellow elves, Zephyr is a tall, gorgeous, green-eyed blonde who is fit and lean from a vigorous, outdoor lifestyle and a healthy, natural diet. She also shares to a great degree the elvish trait of empathetic kindness.

Zephyr's family plans to be away from Alverland, their secret. elvish home, for only a year while Zephyr's dad is making major strides in his musical career. But the adult elves in their close-knit community--especially Zephyr's grandmother--are very worried about what will happen to the Addler family in an "erdler" (human) city. Zephyr doesn't care about any of that. She's got big plans, and she can't wait to get started on them. She wants to act, sing and, most of all, have a date with a cute erdler boy!

This book is well written, and the story is a comic treat. I enjoyed very much learning about Zephyr's life as an elf. She is immensely likeable, as are her eccentric, lovable family. Zephyr's struggles to fit into the human world are at times funny and at others poignant. I also found it very clever the way the author uses Zephyr's virtues of kindness and innocent naïveté to get Zephyr--and her friends and family--into whacky messes.

Teen girls will gobble up this story! And parents will approve very much of the elvish lifestyle. They don't drink, smoke or engage in uncommitted sex, so the book is G-Rated and could safely be read by girls as young as 11.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is the typical story of the new pretty girl at school. She becomes friends with the first people that talk to her. She locks on to the popular boy/boyfriend of reigning queen of the school as the one she loves even though she doesn't know him at all. She butts heads with and bests the jealous queen. All this happens while she maintains her wonderful, sweet self (only deviating slightly to best the mean girl but she feels really bad about it).

All this can still make a good story if it's interesting. This one was not that interesting. This book was not terrible, however. It just took a long time to read because I wasn't interested in finishing. Even the author's attempt at making it unique (Zephyr being an elf) didn't help. Everything in this book was predictable and boring. It did have few moments that were amusing, mostly revolving around Zephyr not understanding something.

I also didn't buy Zephyr and her relationships. As I pointed out earlier, her best friends are the people she meets first and the boy she likes is the first one that talks to her. What beyond that makes them friends or a love interest? Not much in this book.

[Ariel · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book came out in 2009, and it feels like it with the cringe-y IMs and slang. As someone who was a teen on AIM in 2009, I can safely say that no one ever sounded like that.

Aside from the cringe worthy writing, it features a "fish out of water" main character in Zephyr who was terribly annoying and came off like a complete idiot before turning into a total b*tch. The love interest is the personification of a human trash bag (because he's full of garbage) and there was so much girl on girl hate, I just couldn't stand it!

Needless to say, I will NOT be reading the sequel.

[Grace Shim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know there is another book, a sequel, to this one and I want to know if they are going to find out that she is a elf and has magic powers. I think Zephyr and Timber are perfect for each other and I'm surprised Ari and Mercedes aren't, you know, a couple.

[Moriah · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was interesting to read about how an elf was adapting to human culture. The book definitely showed readers more about human society though.

[Cheyenne Brewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such an adorable book and I absolutely loved it!! Can't wait to read the second book!

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't remember the last book I read about an elf, let alone a chick lit book! So this YA novel was cute, refreshing, and needed in the world of realistic fiction and vampires of today's lit.

Zephra ia a teenage elf who has grown up in a secluded town of elves in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Her dad is a growing folk artist, and the family moves to New York City so that he can record videos and expand his art. Zephra is excited because she is able to enroll in NYC's performing arts school, where she will be able to sing, act and perform to her heart's content. But first she must learn how to be herself in a world of erdlers (humans). Humans aren't always nice and Zephra learns the hard way. Bella is the popular, rich, famous girl at school who is jealous and wants to ruin Zephra. Timber is the cute ex-pop star who is dating Bella and showing interest in Zephra. And Mercedes and Ari are the students who adopt Zephra as their friend. All in all, this is a cute read with a great chick lit cover. It even has glitter!

[Bookworm007 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Throughout the entire book I had this nagging feeling that Zephyr was gonna end up with Kenji or someone else and NOT Timber. It was really weird when he said that "nothing special" happened to him during the weekend when, really, he hung out with Zephyr and her family and also kissed her! Zephyr thought he didn't care that much about her and I was thinking that she got stood up or something but noooooo, they still like each other. Oh well, it's cute that way.

I really like this book because Zephyr is new to the "erdler" (human) world and knows nothing about BlackBerries to Googling so she kinda makes a dork outta herself but it was funny. Ha ha I really liked how she thought Mary Kate and Ashley were THREE girls :D

In the end it seems like there could be a possible sequel and if there is one I would so read it!

Ok never mind, I had to edit this because right after I pressed "save review", the sequel popped up :P

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, it's a silly teen fantasy, disgustingly fluffy in parts. But here's the thing. It's the "fish out of water" theme that does it for me. The main character is a teen elf who lives in our world in a secluded elf community in the woods, but she and her family go to Brooklyn, NY to live so that she can go to some performing arts school. Fish-out-of-water tropes ensue! There's a mean girl, romance, and at one point she accidentally outs her gay friend, causing friendship angst! (And the awesome thing about her elf community is that gayness is totally accepted and part of the community, nobody cares who you love) I expected this book to be completely dumb, but even the cheesy parts ended up being charming for me. So I think there are sequels or other books in the series, so yay, a pleasant surprise! :D

[Ash R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a girl who just moved to New York. In her new school everyone thinks of her as a beautiful girl. But others are just jealous of her and what she brought to this school. This makes the school bully Bella make fun of her, and back-stab her!

I can make a text to self connection to this because when I was in elementary school the kids use to make fun of me. sometimes it would be my own "friends". So I can understand and relate to how she feels. We both felt hurt, and sad, also felt like we had no body on our side.

I would give this book a 4 because it was a good book that many people especially teens in the modern day can relate too. Though it was kind of dragging, and long to get to exciting/good parts.

[Elizabeth Wyatt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this as much as I thought I would, but it was a cute story. Zephyr is an elf who starts at an erdler, or human, high school. She desperately wants to fit in, but doesn't always understand the lingo that the other students use. She quickly makes friends and starts to get involved, including signing up for a tv commercial audition. But, she makes an enemy of the most popular girl at the school, Bella, and drama starts ensuing, including a new love interest. I got a little frustrated with Zephyr and her antics, but then I realized how old she was. It was a cute high-school, romance, story with a twist of fantasy. I did like how it all turned out, so I was happy in the end!

[B.B. · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, this is the first one of the series. I'm reading the next one now, but it's weird I was going to read the second one first... I'm glad I figured out there was a first one... But to talk of the actual story/plot/climax, I didn't like it near the end. She turned into such brat. She should have stayed her nice elf-self. And why would she even waste her time with a stupid boy like Timber? My only guess is that he was one of the "Dark Elves" but then Zephyr will make him good again, or something. And how DUMB that she started talking like a dork when she had perfectly good grammar before when IMing. All in all, I didn't really like the book. Maybe the next one will be better, though...

[Lia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very fluffy, but parts of it appealed to me, even if the elves were no more than blond people (from Michigan!?) who live very rustically, and can cast spells. It had a good message that was kind of sloppily executed. I was hoping she'd heal the heart of the mean girl with kindness, but no. Falls shy of that.

However I liked the message of being yourself, kindness, honesty, and family (in its many forms - yay!) And it took me back to my own high school days, dressing in tunics & boots, amulets, being an elf among the erdlers, hehe. So that was nostalgic and fun.

[Suzanne Toon]

I loved the complete and utter ignorance of the character and how she adapts-I do mean that lovingly, I promise! I had started the book, put it down, considered returning it, and then picked it up again. Glad I did-just finished the second book and can't wait for the third! There's a lot of history, a lot of things for the group to figure out and then there's Bella. No, I'm not talking about that Bella! LOL! This Bella would give mean girls a run for their money-and what will she do next, now that she's losing the fight with high school drama? Who knows?

[Elaine Warner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute, fun to read. Zephyr Addler moves to New York City with her family while her father works on his music career. Sounds like an every day occurrence, but the Addler family is from a small community in Wisconsin made up of elves. Elves are nice people who live a simple life, but when Zephyr moves to New York she finds that real people, or erdlers, are not so nice and don't always say what they mean.

[AK · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a bad story line, and it made me laugh a few times. One thing that bugged me though was that she had elf ears on the cover, but there was never a mention of them in the book. And when she did get her hair all braided and pretty by some 'erdler', her ears were never mentioned. Plus, her secret was never outed even when the got the guy, not like the book needed anymore drama, but I mean at least tell the boy your secret o.o...
Other than those points, not a bad book (:

[Wisty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this book sometimes dragged on and the writing was occasionally childish, it was ultimately a fun read that had me laughing out loud a few times. However, I think I'll skip the sequel. And I was NOT a fan of most of the characters ( I'm looking at you, Timber)

Actual rating is more of a 3.6.

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's rare that a YA book doesn't make me want to gouge my eyes out. I picked it up because I love Heather Swain, and it was a quick, cute read. I would encourage my imaginary teenage daughter to read this.

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

-------------aaaaaaaaaaa-----------------wwwwwwww------------------eeeeeeee------------ssssssss-----------------oooooooooo-------------------mmmmmmmmmmmmmm--------------eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Mina Khan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Going in I expected this to be a bit hokey...and while there were a few eye-rolling moments, overall it's a very cute story with interesting characters, thought provoking questions, and an important message of being true to oneself. Glad I read it...might even re-read it down the road.

[Trina Knittle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute read. It was a decent elf book and it was a nice change from the typical books I read. It was decently paced and quick to read. It was cute, refreshing, and had me laughing. The characters were all interesting and I didn't find one that I disliked. I loved how the story was written.

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

*yawn* Too much like a teenage human girl novel. If it weren't for the occaisional bout of magic, I would have tossed it.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

ok,not wonderful

[Safaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book is so funny and awesome. its so cute how she
is so clueless about everything in new york.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was not the best for kids but has alot of cusing

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't finish this book. It wasn't bad or anything. It was actually kind of cute. I might pick it up again later, but i just wasn't in the mood for it. If i finish it, i'll write a full review.

[Jacqueline Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome i loved the drama and it was very cute

[Sara jacobs · Rating 4 out of 5]

i relly liked this book. it was an awsome read you can relly picture what the characters are like. i would definetly recomend this book if your looking for a fun read. :)

[Sarah Cummens]

I loved how believable the story was, not in the sense of going and looking for elfs, but Heather Swain explains her story thouroughly.