Sunlight and Shadow by Cameron Dokey is the retelling of the operetta “The Magic Flute” by Mozart. The book is quite short so there isn’t much depth to this retelling, but there are musical references such as the bells that can bring you your one true love and, of course, the magic flute.

It is the story of a young girl, Mina who is the daughter of estranged parents, the Queen of the Night and the Mage of the Day. Mina has lived with her mother for sixteen years but now her father has claimed her and plans on picking a proper husband for her. But Mina arranges to have her true love come to her through the magic of the bells and he is a prince who happens to have made a magic flute that can put his love into music. Of course her father doesn’t approve and sets trials that they must complete if they want to be together.

One thing that I didn’t care for with this book is that the POV changed almost with every chapter which I thought was rather excessive for such a short story. But overall this is a light and simple tale of romance and magic and how fate unfolds to the satisfaction of all. ( )

I am truly in love with the retelling's of fairy tales done by this woman. ( )

This was a very interesting book with many very intriguing characters. The story is full of the thoughts and emotions of many of the different characters and gives you the opportunity to see different points of view by alternating view points from time to time. This was a very enjoyable book to read. ( )

I love this book, it never gets old! I've probably read it three or four times since I've bought it about a year ago ( )

The POV changed between characters frequently and often without any indication between paragraphs. The reader just had to deal with the mental whiplash and read on hoping to identify which character was speaking within a few paragraphs of the character change. By about halfway through, I was skimming rather than reading. And instalove has never been my favorite, so that didn't help much either. ( )