Lightkeepers
by Kennedy Plumb

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: YA romance

In this modern Rapunzel re-telling, Rapunzel (Zella) has lived in isolation all her life, one of the first “Children of the Lighthouse,” an organization her mother founded. Though she understands her mother’s reasons for keeping her shut away and has always done her best to obey, it only takes one small crack to make her wonder about the world outside the stone walls. When a young man bursts into her room looking for refuge from the cops, Zella sees a way out.

This book was overall okay, though not really my thing. The set-up of Zella living in a lighthouse as part of a cult, and having been lied to her whole life about the world outside to keep her complacent wasn’t bad, but I think it was all quite shallow for being something so dark and potentially deep. Based on what we’re told about her isolation, she knows more things about normal life than I would expect. And once she starts getting out into the real world, she doesn’t really seem as naïve as I feel like she should be.

Ryder’s foster situation is also fairly interesting to start with, if a little cliché, but again, it wasn’t explored as deeply as I might have preferred. Instead, the focus is mostly on Zella’s freedom or on Ryder and Zella’s burgeoning relationship. And their relationship advances fast enough that it doesn’t seem stable to me. I mean, he’s a foster kid whose every action is defined by his need to belong and she’s…well, she’s a cult child who’s been isolated her whole life and is presented with the opportunity for freedom by an attractive teenage boy. It’s probably not unrealistic that they become chummy so quickly, but to me, that’s not exactly romance.

One other thing to note—this book was self-published, and is overall one of the better self-published books I’ve read. It wasn’t terribly obvious, other than maybe the shorter length to the book, which seems to be a common thing with self-published books. In the end, I think this book is aimed at 2 things that I’m not: a teenager (specifically female, I assume) and a fan of Tangled (which I’ve never seen). However, my daughter is a 14-year-old girl who is a fan of Tangled, and after I read this book, she did as well, and she liked it. So if you’re in that audience in some form, you might do well to check out this book or at least other reviews at the link below.

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If you’ve read this book, or read it in the future, feel free to let me know what you think!