Cloaked

As she did in Beastly and A Kiss in Time, Flinn mixes traditional fairy tales with a modern setting in a romance that is clever but not always compelling. When the beautiful princess of Aloria visits the fancy South Beach hotel where kind, 17-year-old Johnny toils in his family's shoe-repair shop, she transforms his monotonous life. The princess promises to marry him if he can find her brother, who a witch has transformed into a frog. Borrowing details from such stories as "The Elves and the Shoemaker" and "The Frog Prince," among others, Flinn sets Johnny on an adventure involving talking animals (actually bewitched humans called "used-to-bes"), greedy giants, and a cloak that can transport Johnny and his best friend Meg anywhere they wish. Johnny and Meg face various villains and tests, from a relentless witch and her goony son to a park ranger who threatens to sell the frog prince on eBay. But readers may tire of the endless cloak hopping; they will have long guessed the book's conclusion, including who Johnny really loves and what really happened to his long-lost father. Ages 12–up. (Feb.)