LONGBOW GIRL | BOOK REVIEW

This is my review of Longbow Girl by Linda Davies.

This was such a feel-good, easy reading story. If you’re into some Young Adult reading, a little bit of fantasy and some kick-ass girl power then this is a story you should take a look at. Rick bought this for me as a present because I recently completed a beginners archery course and am really loving my archery right now. So here is my review of Longbow Girl.

Merry Owen is a teenager who has been brought up by her father to be an absolute boss at archery. (Little bit of archery humour there…boom boom). The Owen family have lived at their little farm in Wales for hundreds of years and in every generation there has always been a master longbow man. There has always been a constant family feud with the family who own the estate and the Black Castle (the de Courcy  family)  adjoining the Owens’ land ever since the times of Henry VIII. But Merry and James De Courcy are best friends and don't let their family feud stop their friendship. Meeting up, frolicking and complaining about how rubbish this family feud is is usually the order of the day.


The Owen farm is in danger of having to be sold due to an incident where their prize stud stallion was killed by The Black hunting hounds. But luckily Merry finds an old book that could be worth a lot of money on their land…but then she's knocked unconscious in the snow and  it’s stolen! Drama


Merry finds a secret river cave, which she swims through and finds herself going back in time! She accidentally ends up getting her ancestor arrested and then needs to compete in an archery competition so that the Owens don't lose their farm…but back in time.
Can Merry save the day? And the farm? Will we find out who’s stolen the book? And will James’
parents ever accept his lifelong dream to be a professional footballer for Manchester United? You'll have to read to find out!

As I mentioned before, I really love the feel-good can do attitude of this book. It took me right back to my childhood when I would literally just devour hundreds of adventure books. It's very much in that sort of genre. I think it's something a little bit different, as there aren't too many books out there about female archers. (Are there? Correct me if I'm wrong).

 I loved the whole rural, farming horsey element of it too. It was totally up my street. I love that the girl heroine in this book is smart and prepared for all situations. She doesn't need rescuing. She doesn't come across a male hero that rescues her. She doesn't accidentally discover a way out of her situation. It's her brains, skill and wit that solve her problems. She's skilled with a bow, a knife and in horsemanship. She's my kind of girl.

I think possibly Davies could have found a better way for Merry to go back in time rather than just swimming through a magical river cave, and I found it a bit unbelievable that this magical river cave would take her back to this exact point in history..but maybe that's just me. I also think that James could have had a better lifelong dream than playing football for Manchester United. Being that the book is set in Wales, I feel his aspiration should have been to play rugby for Wales. Also, I hate football. Just putting that out there.

I also love that romance wasn't a huge factor in the book, I think there's a brief moment towards the end, but it's not a huge part of it. Too many authors think that every single adventure story needs some sort of a romantic relationship and you end up slapping your forehead at them. But it was very nice to see that a girl and a boy CAN just be friends.


Over all I really enjoyed this book and will probably read it a few more times. This is
also a classic example of when you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. By the cover, I thought it was some sort of an African theme, but it's really not.

Have you read Longbow Girl? Or do you have any book recommendations for me for 2017? Let me know in the comments!
Longbow Girl

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