Digital Advertisement #1-Scarlett by A.C. Gaughen

Title: Scarlet 

Author: A.C. Gaughen 

Publisher: Walker Childrens'

Date Published:  February 14, 2012

ISBN Number: 0802723462
Recommended Age Range: Age 12 & UP
Medium: Windows Photo Story 3 

Summary: As soon as I saw this book in the bookstore one day, I knew I had to read it. I absolutely LOVE Robin Hood stories and was particularly intrigued by this one. I also ran across the title on YACENTRALBOOKS.COM, and it also sounded fascinating, so I caved and bought it for Kindle Fire. I did not regret it. This book was great. Everyone knows the legend of Robin Hood and his band. His best friend Will Scarlet and Little John and a Neville-type character called Much. They rob the rich to feed the poor. However, Will Scarlet is not a guy at all. She is actually a girl who is a skilled thief who dresses in boys clothes and pins her hair up a la Mulan and helps Robin. She is also haunted by the death of elder sister, but the reader does not find out more about that til midway through the book. However, there is much more depth to Scarlet. She has a past that she is unwilling to share with anyone and is quite willing to engage in rough and tumble to help the poor. She is not selfish and does not eat for feeling sorry for those who have nothing. I do not want to write anything to give it away, but Scarlet ends up being caught in an interesting love triangle between Little John and Robin, and readers will actually be surprised when her true identity is revealed. Gaughen is an excellent writer and really engages how Scarlet wants to be perceived as a poor, common girl by instituting "were's" instead of proper "was." Which gives the reader the impression that Scarlet is a commonplace girl, which in fact she isn't. All I can say is, READ THE BOOK! 

What's Great about it: I think it really reinvents the legend of Robin Hood. This is the debut novel by A.C. Gaughen, and it is absolutely fantastic. I really enjoyed reading this novel and look forward to a sequel because she definitely left it open for one. Gaughen blends all the typical characters, King Richard, Prince John, Little John, Much, the Sheriff of Nottingham, and gives them all depth. She quotes that she made Robin a little more broody her, haunted by the sights he saw on the Crusades and delves into the lore of the Kevin Costner version of Robin Hood, where his father is branded a traitor and put to death, and Robin's noblity stripped. This book was absolutely fantastic and I could not really put it down. 

Genre: Action, Thriller, Mythology

What's similar: Disney's Robin Hood, Kevin Costner's version of Robin Hood, Men in Tights, Pretty Crooked