DragonWriter

Writer. Librarian. Follower of Jesus. Hufflepuff. Horned Serpent. Musician. Also, most importantly, a ginger. Follow for clean reviews of books, and general blogging if I think of something to say! I also love putting characters in Hogwarts Houses and talking about why they fit in a certain House, so expect a lot of that. *unfortunately, I do not accept unsolicited requests to read and review books at this time. I am pretty picky with what I read and do not want to disappoint anyone. Thanks!*  My Goodreads page

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Hello! Some changes: I changed my blog handle or username or whatever it’s called, but I’m still here ranting about books and other things. Also, I skipped last week because of who I am as a person (aka I have no excuse), so because I have more reviews than I do other kinds of post, even though it’s the first of the month I’m posting a review. ANYWHO

I’ve wanted to read this series for a while now but, like most of the books on my TBR pile, I’ve put it off for one reason or another. Well I finally checked out this eBook for my recent plane trip and thought I’d be able to finish it either on the way there or on the way back. Well it was way longer than I expected (a good 700 eBook pages, so not huge, but not something I was able to finish during that quick trip especially considering the fact the book Bird Box, which I also checked out, had my eyes glued to my screen because I just had to keep reading it). I did, after some weeks of having to return the book, check it out again, etc, finally finish it. I liked it. It gave me serious Eragon vibes (one of my favorite series)—abandoned baby is adopted/raised by a villager in the mountains, he’s out hunting one day, finds this mysterious book…and accidentally summons a demon. I’m not really into demon stories, but these critters aren’t like demons in the way I think of them except for the fact that they can be summoned or whatever (which also happens in the Bartimaeus trilogy, another favorite, though those guys are actually djinn). Ignatius, our hero’s demon, is a little cutie Salamander demon. All the summoners’ relationships with their demons reminded me a lot of the bond between rider and dragon in the Eragon series, though to a slightly lesser degree. I love stories with bonds like that, so that was an added plus. Most of the book follows Our Hero after he summons this demon and makes his way to the summoners’ school some ways from his home. Then it turned Harry Potter-like in that we read about Our Hero going to class and practicing the different intricacies of being a summoner (summoners are extremely important to the war effort against the orcs). There are also elves and dwarves, so now along with Eragon and Harry Potter I was getting LOTR vibes. Three of my favorite series, so all good things, all good things. It did drag a little bit through the middle, but otherwise I have no complaints. I liked the characters, especially Fletcher—he’s a nice blend of noble, hotheaded, naïve, and brave. I was intrigued by the world and enjoyed learning about all the different demons and their relationship with their summoners. The ending took me off guard, too.  Also, megapoints for the totally awesome cover. 10/10 In summary, I’ll definitely be finishing the series. But, true to my form, I don’t know when I will get around to it…

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Excuse me for a moment while I compose myself.

Ok, I’m back. It’s going to be hard to review the final book in a trilogy without spoilers, but I’ll do my best.

For those of you just tuning in, Ptolemy’s Gate is the third book in the Bartimaeus Trilogy, a series set in Victorian London but with magicians ruling the roost and calling upon djinn to do their bidding. Bartimaeus is our sassy-pants jinni narrator, along with Nathaniel (the 12-year-old now 17-year-old who keeps summoning him) and Kitty, a commoner who’s out for change in the mostly corrupt magician government.

Overall this book isn’t my favorite of the series. Listening to it on audiobook over the course of a couple months probably didn’t help this, but I couldn’t remember the plot of much of what happened. Granted, there were still great scenes and great interactions between Bartimaeus and Kitty and Nathaniel, and even flashbacks to Bartimaes’s days with Ptolemy his favorite master (an important point due to the title and the overall plot of the book). I do know I enjoyed every minute of it, though. Bartimaeus is extremely weak from being in our world too long, Kitty is desperately trying to figure out the secret to Ptolemy’s Gate, and Nathaniel is trying to keep the magician world from falling apart. I would consider most of it a buildup to the last few chapters. Basically, it all goes to crap and the three of them have to work together to stop djinn from taking over the world.

It’s a bittersweet ending to the series as a whole. I’m not entirely happy with it, but I’m not dissatisfied either. As a warning, it gets emotional. Pretty hard to pull off but Stroud did it. I listened to this on audiobook, and usually audiobooks have this little music playing at the beginning of the book and at the end, and the characters were still talking and interacting when I heard the ending music start playing and it was literally a moment of OH NO, THERE IS SO MUCH GOOD AND MIRACULOUS INTERVENTIONS THAT NEED TO HAPPEN RIGHT NOW BUT IT WON’T BECAUSE THIS IS THE END CREDIT MUSIC, so that made it even more emotional. I wish there were more. I wish there were more stories of Kitty and Nathaniel and Bartimaeus. Thankfully, there’s a prequel starring our very own jinni, which I will listen to in short order (or long order because it takes me forever to get through audiobooks), but it won’t be the same because Nathaniel and Kitty won’t be in it.

But in summary, an excellent, excellent series. 5-stars all the way through. I have no disclaimers. Read it if it sounds like something you’re interested in—or listen to it. The narrator does an excellent job.

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Ok, so I enjoyed Jennifer Nielsen’s False Prince series, and so far she hasn’t let me down and I know her books will be clean, so I picked up all three books in the Mark of the Thief series at my library and read them fairly quickly. Overall I didn’t think they were as good as the False Prince. A lot of stuff would just BAM happen all of the sudden, and the magic was pretty crazy, and my mind would wander at long sections (part of it is that I think I’m in a reading slump. I need to reread some of my favorite books, I think). Anyway, that aside, it was still a really solid series and one I would recommend. First of all, it’s set in ancient Rome. My jam! And we follow our hero Nicholas as he starts out a slave in the mines tasked to go into this cave and bring out the bulla of Caesar said to have magical powers. Well of course he takes the bulla and gets thrown into a conflict between emperors and praetors and gods spanning hundreds of years when all he really wants to do is take his sister and his mom and leave the empire for good. There is one dude—Radulf—who annoyed me to no end (also, without too much spoilers, I got serious Darth Vader vibes from him at times…), and I was kind of confused at Nic’s reaction to him. This guy was abusive and yet you’re going back for him?? He does that a lot, for different characters, too. And I understand relationships and abuse are complicated and people can be really noble, but a lot of it seemed too convenient. In my notes I have written “this Radulf guy can stop now” so that should tell you more than enough about his character. Also, continuing the Star Wars vibe, here’s a verbatim line from the third book: “Victory comes from protecting what you love, not destroying what you hate.” Straight outta Star Wars (well, considering this was written and published before the Last Jedi, I guess I’d have to say it’s straight outta Wrath of the Storm (the third book)). In conclusion, a good series. If you liked the False Prince and if you like Roman stuff, I would consider picking it up.

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I realize I cut her eyes off in this terrible photo but I was trying to take a cutsey look-I’m-reading-with-my-window-open-isn’t-this-a-beautiful-moment picture at the time and then I realized I didn’t want that much of my room in the photo but it was the only one I had because I returned the book to the library. I apologize. At least the title and author are still visible...

My rating for this book on Goodreads has seriously been flipping back and forth between 3 stars and 4 stars. I would say it’s a solid 3.5—better than a three, some days it could be a four, but the more I think about it the more I’m not sure it’s a 4 star rating?? Help me?! I blame half of my indecision on the INCREDIBLE reading slump I’ve been in for the past month. I don’t know what happened, but something turned off in my brain and I haven’t been able to really get into any of the books I’ve read. Maybe I’ve been picking not so great ones, or I need to go back and reread something I know will be good, or I shouldn’t worry about my Goodreads challenge…any number of things. Anyway, so take this review and my rating with a grain of salt because of it. I was so excited to read this book and it started off GREAT. It has this exciting fantasy premise that I’m all about. Zelie is one of the maji, a group of magic-users who can’t use magic anymore because the evil king cut off their connection to the gods and burned their villages and slaughtered a lot of people years ago, including Zelie’s mother. When the princess, daughter of the evil king, witnesses her maid and friend get murdered by her father, she steals a scroll from the king that is one of the three artifacts needed to bring back magic and runs into Zelie, and the two of them and Zelie’s brother go on a quest to bring back magic. But uh-oh, the brother/prince is after them…and he’s dealing with secrets and problems of his own. SOUNDS GREAT, RIGHT? Right. And overall it was, for sure. I loved the magic aspect of it, and Zelie and the princess are awesome, and I was really drawn in by the prince’s struggle and his POV. But then…the romance. It’s slightly spoilerish, but I’ve just got to say it. The prince is tracking down Zelie and tries to kill her a couple times and vows to kill her and all this, and WHAT DO WE HAVE but them falling for each other. Like, really fast. In the span of days. After they promised to kill each other. Look, I’m all about enemies-turned-friends-then-lovers stories and the tension that comes with it, but there was none of that here. It was BOOM enemies and then BOOM oh no you’re really attractive and BOOM actually I have a change of heart within two days. For a book that’s 500 pages long, this romance happened really, really fast for me with little development. And it got heated quick. When they’re supposed to be bringing magic back to the world and have two days to do it?? But let’s take a break to heavily kiss and all that?? I’m sorry. No. Especially when you’re planning more books. You could have drawn out the tension and showed them overcoming things together as friends AND THEN developed the romance in the subsequent books. Or not? Since the ending was kind of interesting… So, to sum up, I would definitely give this book a read. Other than the quick romance I really have no complaints, and it’s great for lovers of YA fantasy. Plus, it was very well written stylistically wise, and I follow the author on social media and she is such a neat person (from what I can tell off social media). Plus it has all the fantasy elements to it that I like. Including some of the ones I don’t, like generic quick romance. But I’m optimistic for future books.

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Okay this book is a total deviation from the norm of what I usually read, but I just had to write a review of it because it was AMAZING. Background: there I was, sitting at work, trying to decide what book(s) I should bring on my upcoming plane trip. I wanted something good, something that would suck me in and keep me occupied and reading for hours on a plane, but I was in a massive reading slump and didn’t know what would be good and wanted to bring ebooks so they’re easier to travel with and I was just a mess. So I asked my coworker what book would be good for such a time, and Bird Box was one she recommended. She and I read very different genres, so you can tell how desperate I was. But Bird Box was available on my eLibrary, so I downloaded it and thought I’d give it a shot. I went into this knowing pretty much nothing. My coworker had said something about it being a thriller, kind of post-apocalyptic: something happened to the world, something largely unknown, and this woman and her two children have to survive a 20-mile trip down a river while blindfolded, because people who see the mysterious something that has invaded our world go completely mad and then kill themselves. It was insane. I guess I’m going to have to read more horror/thrillers after this, because I was SO sucked in. Each chapter left me so anxious. It starts with the woman and her children heading out on their trip, but the story is told through flashback chapters from the beginning of the end of the world to the woman’s approximately 6 month time with the people in her house where they’re trying to survive whatever’s outside. They go out blindfolded. They keep thinking they’re hearing things. They don’t know if they can trust the people who come to their door. It was creepy. It was suspenseful. It was so well-written. It kept me turning pages. I don’t want to say a lot because I think part of why I liked it was because I really didn’t know what was going on or what was going to happen. And there really wasn’t a lot of language and no sex at all, which is an added plus. If you like thrillers and post-apocalyptic craziness, read it. And even if you don’t, give it a try. You may be like me—seen maybe 2 horror films in her life because you’re mostly uninterested in the genre and have read no Stephen King or other books on the subject—and end up tearing through this on a plane.

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A shorter review today, but it’s a long time in coming because I finished this book a while ago. Also, sorry for the weird photo, I couldn’t get a picture of the actual book because I’m at home, so you get the audiobook version from my phone.

Another 5-star Bartimaeus book. Why did it take me so long to get into these? (because time and the mile-long TBR pile, that’s why). Also, though this takes me forever to listen to because I have limited time for that and I had to check it out a million times and I forgot my place at one point and sometimes I zoned because that’s easy for me to do, the audiobook is worth it. The narrator does such a good job. Ok, so the blurb for this book is Nathaniel’s a couple years older and is an up and coming magician’s apprentice in Britain. We have his POV, and Bartimaeus (yay) once Nathaniel summons him to look into a terrible Golem that’s terrorizing the city. We are also treated to Kitty’s POV in this one, and I came to really like her as a character. She’s part of the resistance against magician rule in the country, and man does stuff go DOWN in her chapters. I didn’t take as many play-by-play notes for this one as I have for audiobooks in the past (which you probably appreciate). I will say it opened with me thinking “what am I listening to” about this weird slave girl in a play, and I wasn’t sure where we were or what was happening or who these characters were, but it got better a chapter or two later. Nathaniel is as much of a Slytherin and a prat as ever, and I so enjoyed the summoning scene with him and Bartimaeus (Nathaniel was previously going on about how he’s determined not to summon Bartimaeus and I’m like “uh huh”). They are the dream team, mostly because they take no craps from each other. There’s also one part…with Gladstone’s tomb…from Kitty’s POV…that could have been straight out of a horror movie. It was THAT creepy and good, and the narration the guy did for the spirit guarding Gladstone’s tomb…whoo boy. Also, I have a note written down that says “JUST WHEN I THOUGHT THIS HORROR MOVIE WAS OVER”, so brace yourselves, I guess. To sum up, this book was just as enjoyable as the first one, full of interesting characters and crazy action scenes and snarky one-liners and heart-pounding action throughout. I definitely recommend this series.

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(ahem, sorry the picture is faded, but that’s how the screenshot came out on my phone and it’s too late to change it now).

Well, it’s here. At long last we have come to the end of our journey. The last book in the UnEnchanted series. And what a wild ride it was, made all the wilder by this concluding book. (If you’re interested in reading my reviews on the previous four books—UNENCHANTED, FAIREST, FABLE, and REIGN, you can find them pretty easily on my homepage. I think. I don’t really know how to work tumblr). Where to even start. Or end, as it were. Prepare yourself for another incoherent rant. We start off right where we left off—Teague destroyed the Godmother guild and now our heroes are running around with their heads cut off (figuratively, I feel like I had to clarify due to the craziness these books have thrown at me) trying to regroup. My first thought was, hold on, is this our old narrator? (because the last book had a different one and I was quite bitter, I’ll admit it). Sure enough, I checked and it was! Anyway, moving on. An extremely sad part came out of nowhere when a black omen dog (kind of like the dog of death in the third Harry Potter book) tracks Mina down to the safe house and her mom sacrifices herself because it won’t stop until it claims someone’s life (remember this for later, this is an important plot point). And dude…it was sad. Like, Charlie (Mina’s younger brother) who’s never spoken a word starts yelling “NOO” and “MOOM” while crying (well done, narrator, well done) and it was so sad. The next note I made is not quite as sympathetic. I jotted down “ok this whole flower thing for the mom is sweet and all but can we get back to Teague.” Yes, I admit I have a thing for the tortured bad guys…though Teague is all sorts of messed up. Basically I’m left with him because I don’t ship Mina with Brody (never have, never will) and he was the only other option, sooo here we are. I’ve always liked Jared, too. ANYWAY Now we end up at a carnival somehow (I apologize, due to the holidays and travel for a wedding it took me a while to write up this review so I didn’t remember details at the time) but I do remember Mina paying for a kissing booth that Brody is at for charity, and she gets sort of mad at him for not pushing the Mean Girl from book 1 away, but she realizes she isn’t jealous (YES YES YES FINALLY) and then decides to get back at Brody by paying to kiss another guy. I can’t make this up. And this other guy is suspicious and good looking and no one we know…which of course means it’s Teague in disguise. Which I called right away. And the kiss…okay, so it got awkward real fast. Again, having someone read it to you is the worst. There’s a phrase that went “he nuzzled her lips with his own” and I NEVER WANT TO HEAR THAT EVER AGAIN. And then the fairytale bad guys from the other books attack the carnival (and they have tesla coils or something? What?) and Teague basically says that he’ll keep coming after the people Mina loves unless she turns herself in, which is where the Beauty and the Beast thing comes in. So things move along. Mina finally realizes she’s part Siren (thanks to her mom being the little mermaid, no I am not making this up) and has been compelling Brody to like her this whole time (cue happy dancing from me, SEE YA BRODY), she FINALLY admits to Brody that she fell in love with someone else (Teague) the night of the time traveling glass slippers and the ball, so she lets Nan have him as her best friend was supposed to, everyone is happy, they try to come up with a plan to trap Teague in a mirror world but Mina has a dream where that goes to complete crap (except for the part where she snuggles with Jared) so she decides the best course of action is to just turn herself in to Teague. He promises not to hurt Charlie, but then he gets bored and says he’s going to go after Charlie, Mina screams and cries about this for a few days before he comes back and says “just kidding,” (I would have stormed out because he broke the deal, but that’s just me), there’s also an adorable flirting in the library scene that made me smile too much simply because I am a librarian and was listening to this in a library and isn’t that every librarian’s fantasy. Anyway, I’m going to jump to the end because we’re practically there and that’s what you’re all waiting for. Her mom’s side of the family (the sirens/mermaids, remember?) kidnap her back from Teague, so of course he goes on the warpath and they all end up by San Francisco Bay for the big showdown. And she and Teague face off…and she finally stabs him. After two books of avoiding it. And he dies…and then she begs this sea witch, the one who originally split him into two halves (long story but we met her earlier) to bring him back, like, make up your mind?? And the witch says I can’t, blah blah blah…and then she does. But only temporarily. He comes back as TWO DISTINCT SOULS because they were separated for long enough that now there’s two of them, and Teague jumps in front of the black omen dog who’s coming for Mina and it takes him and he dies (again). And Jared only sticks around long enough for a tearful goodbye before the sea witch can’t hold onto his essence any more and he disappears. This is some Shakespearean tragedy. But wait, there’s more. Mina knows something is wrong in the Fae plane now that Jared is dead. A-girl, whose name I can’t spell and can’t even remember right now, who was a contender for Teague’s heart back in the day, has set herself up as queen. Mina goes to confront her with the hope of putting the Fates (Teague’s parents) back on the throne I guess, but who really cares. And she gets there and lo and behold…TEAGUE IS NOW THE OMEN INSTEAD OF THE DOG! And A-girl orders him to attack Mina (and he can’t back off until he’s done his job). So Teague takes her to an in-between plane where he can talk to her and tells her to get the bone whistle from A-girl because that’s what controls him. So they go back to the normal world, there’s a scuffle, and Mina gets the bone whistle and sics Teague on A-girl instead of her, thus claiming the death he needs. And then in the world’s strangest proposal Teague talks about how in the beginning of the world there was darkness and light and a balance between them (did someone say Reylo?) and I quote “his father the sun and his mother the moon” and that he is clearly the darkness and he needs a light queen to rule beside him. And Mina says Yes. And they live happily ever after. I’m a writer and I couldn’t make this up. In conclusion: if you’ve made it this far through all five of my rants, congratulations. I did really enjoy listening to this series, mostly for the craziness it put me through. Though I’ve basically spoiled the whole thing for you, I still think it’s worth a read (or a listen. Vastly entertaining that way). And then you can tell your friends and rant about it yourself.

[serotoninbluemmy]

[dragonwriter1633]

My first ever reblog, I don’t know what I’m doing

But this is seriously so accurate and I don’t know where this meme came from, but where as it been my whole life

[dragonwriter1633]

Taking a break from reviewing today a) because it's Easter and I'm lazy and I'm celebrating Jesus by eating a ton of food and b) I've been in a reading slump for the past month and can't get into anything I've read. So if you've got any great recommendations for books that will get me out of this funk, send them my way 🐇✨

[dragonwriter1633]

Ok, this one surprised me. It’s a New York Times bestseller, and I read some conflicting reviews about it, but overall there’s been good buzz about it and the premise was intriguing. Plus I needed a new audiobook, so here I am. Summary in brief: (for the life of me I can’t remember the name of the world), but anyway this fantasy world is ruled by the rich because they have the most time, and time is currency thanks to the Alchemist and the Sorceress who got into shenanigans hundreds of years ago and bound time to blood, so now people are drained to pay for things. Jules lives her poor but manageable life until her father is drained of blood/time so much that he can’t pay rent, so she goes back to the Girling estate where she used to work to get some better money. But her father doesn’t want her to go because the elder son nearly killed her and the younger son and that’s what drove them away. But is there a deeper reason why he doesn’t want her to go back? I did listen to this on audiobook, so my experience may be different than reading it, but I will say that a lot of the book felt like a buildup to the second (and final, I believe) installment. It was pretty slow-paced, with a lot of emphasis on the secrets and the intrigue and the unanswered questions to keep you going, which did work for the most part. If you like your books like that, then you’ve got no problem. Most of the book shows Jules at the palace, meeting the queen and the princess and reacquainting herself with the younger son (who she thinks she’s in love with) and wondering why her father is so insistent she stay away from the queen and what’s going on with the vault, things like that. Points for this word-for-word line in the book though—one of the characters said, to my face, “WHAT IF THE ALCHEMIST IS JUST MISUNDERSTOOD.” Yeah. That happened in real life. I love it so much. The ENDING though. Once all was revealed, I couldn’t stop listening. I’m so glad it was a slow night at work and I was able to be out straightening in the stacks so I could finish it. It actually took me by surprise, and I was super anxious as I listened to it. I have no idea what’s going to happen in the second book, but you can bet I’ll be there when it comes out. Ok, because I just have to shout into the void about my feelings on this book, DO NOT READ AHEAD UNLESS YOU WANT THE ENDING SPOILED OR YOU’VE ALREADY READ IT. YOU’VE BEEN WARNED. I straight up love reincarnation plots. I don’t know why, and I’ve never written one myself just because I think it’s sticky to do, but I love the idea of souls coming back in different bodies and at different times and I love the idea of immortals hating each other for centuries or lovers finding each other across eons. I just think it’s so cool and there are so many things you can do with it. So that’s part of why I thought the ending was really intriguing and really well done. I knew there was more to the alchemist/sorcerer bit (and I do recall thinking “man I just want to hear more about their drama”. Be careful what you wish for), but I had no idea how directly related it was to the characters. Also, and I’ll end by saying this: at least I have only one past self to let down, and not dozens. ALSO also, and this time really to end, the cover is beautiful.

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I’d really like to call the next set of books The False Prince Trilogy, but alas, it is actually called The Ascendance Trilogy. This title makes sense when you read the books, if it isn’t immediately apparent. Ok, so this book was one of the William Allen White Award winners at my library, and it’s a bestseller, and it’s been compared to The Queen’s Thief Trilogy—ONE OF MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITES, GO READ THOSE BOOKS IF YOU HAVEN’T—so that was a pretty good recipe for me to read it. I was hooked. The book is in first person and Sage, our hero, has a great voice. Witty and sarcastic, two of my favorite things. The story follows our witty and sarcastic orphan hero as he is plucked from the streets by a noble with slightly shady motives who wants to choose a false prince from three contenders to masquerade as the missing-presumed-dead younger prince of their kingdom. Secrets are kept and revealed, nothing is as it seems, and we meet a cast of great (and evil and annoying) characters along the way. The second book takes a completely different vein, but follows the same characters and overall storyline. All I’ll say is: PIRATES. My one-word review for the third and final book would be this: WAR. I won’t get too spoiler-y with this one, but if you’ve read it and want to discuss, please comment or reblog or however this works. Overall, I really enjoyed these books. They were quick and fun to read. However, in the words of my mother (who also read these books), “The Thief it ain’t.” Couldn’t have put it better myself. There really is no comparison, for those of us who have read both series. Some of the plot twists were a little contrived and easy to spot (though I will admit it gets harder and harder to fool people who read widely and have seen everything at least at one point in their lives), but I’m willing to overlook things like that because I liked the characters, the overall plot, and the story in general. Recommended for fantasy lovers! And because I have a slight obsession with putting characters in Hogwarts Houses, I feel like Sage would be either a Slytherin or a Ravenclaw. He’s super cunning, but the only reason I hesitate to put him fully in Slytherin is because he’s not that ambitious. He does what he needs to, but he was totally fine with a certain thing that I will not say because spoilers. Let’s just say it was fine with sitting around for a while and letting people tell him what to do. Could be a Ravenclaw thing to do, biding time and having a head for strategy and all that. I could be talked into either one. All I know is he’s most likely not a #HufflepuffMC.

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This. Was. CUTE. And I had no idea it was written by the author who wrote the Running Dream (which I haven’t read, but still cool). Ok, so I’ve seen the movie (my dad was weirdly obsessed with it a few years ago and we watched it like five times over the course of a couple of weeks and told everyone we knew about it), but it’s been several years and I didn’t remember a lot of details. And my reading buddy friend told me about the book and that it was even better than the movie. So I downloaded it from my eLibrary and voila, here I am writing a glowing review about it. In brief, the story is told from the dual POV of a girl and a boy who are neighbors. The story starts when they’re both about 7 and the girl moves into the house down the street from the boy. She immediately “flips” and falls head over heels in puppy love with him. The boy of course is having NONE of this for several years…until he flips, too. But by that time, the girl has flipped back and sees him for the person he really is, a person who’s not that great (but were any of us that great in middle school?). This is the quality boy-meets-girl story I’m here for. It was really cool to see each scene first from one POV and then from the other so we got the whole picture. Also, for a quick middle-grade book, it’s got some remarkably deep, hard-hitting lessons in it. Like seeing beneath the surface of people, and how everyone has secrets and stuff about them that makes them either really great or really not so great, and how often we’re so blinded by a particular aspect of a person that we don’t see the whole picture. The story also goes to show how volatile human nature is—one minute you’re “in love” with someone, and the next you realize meeeh better not and you aren’t. Or one minute you’re repulsed by someone and the next you’re telling yourself how beautiful their eyes are. Say what you will, these things are just as true in middle school or high school as they are in adulthood. People are people, y’all. Another cool aspect is the acknowledgements at the end of the copy I read. In one section the author puts examples of letters she’s gotten from readers about how much they loved the book or even how the book changed their life and their perspective. One girl said she quit liking someone because of how shallow he was, and this book helped her realize it. Another—all the way from China—said it helped her figure out her own relationship and gave her hope. That. THAT is why I write books. That’s one of the reasons why I read and review books and try to spread the love. That’s why I think stories are so important. They teach us who we are and who other people are. They make us laugh and cry and give us hope. They change our perspectives and through that, our lives. Read a book. Change your life. Recommend the book. Change another life. Read Flipped.

[dragonwriter1633]

People, this review is going to be another incoherent rant. When I checked out the first audiobook in this series, I did not expect to get this wrapped up in the story. I feel like most of my life is moving from obsession to obsession and most of the time I know things are going to totally take over my mind and heart and I’m cool with that, but this series caught me by surprise. Call it a guilty pleasure. ON TO THE REVIEW (this is book 4 in a series, so if you have nothing better to do with your life like me and you’re interested at all in what happened up to this point, you can go find my reviews on my homepage of UnEnchanted  Fairest, and Fable). We last left our plucky heroine Mina back at home after she reunited the evil side of her boyfriend with his good side, as happens to us all from time to time. Now Teague, the evil side of her boyfriend and at this point her full boyfriend I guess and the mastermind behind the curse on her family, is out to get her. Well, Mina is still in school in our opening chapters (and I’m a little miffed there’s a new narrator. I kept being like THAT’S NOT BRODY’S VOICE and TEAGUE SOUNDS LIKE A WEIRD 18TH CENTURY STUFFED UP NOBLE, NOT A BROODING MASTER OF ALL EVIL, just because I wasn’t used to it. But anyway) and I mean, I’ve had some bad PowerPoint presentations but at least the fae prince who’s trying to kill me and who also happens to be my almost boyfriend whom I accidentally reunited with his bad side hasn’t shown up in the middle of mine and changed the slides to make vague threats. So I feel for Mina. Teague comes to her in school and gets in her space and demands “the dagger” (which left part of its hate steel in his heart, I can’t make this up, but I’m getting ahead of myself) and at this point I dropped the application I was holding to throw up my hands because it’s always something. So far the backdrop for this particular book is that Teague wants some dagger that Mina doesn’t have. I should have known the respite from Brody in the third book wouldn’t last long. Despite not remembering much about the curse, he’s all up in Mina’s grill and declaring undying love and kissing her and literally it was the longest kiss description ever, somehow made worse and more awkward by the fact that someone is reading this book to me. Like watching an awkward scene in a movie theater with a bunch of strangers. I was literally cheering when the wolf showed up and lunged for Brody’s throat. Yes, the wolf was actually Teague in disguise. Or sent by Teague. I’m not sure at this point. And yes, I need help, because yes I do ship Teague and Mina. Then, once Brody is filled in on all the curse happenings, the evil stepsisters show up because this particular tale is Cinderella and Brody and Mina have to go to this homecoming ball as homecoming prince and princess. Of course, Brody in all his brilliance goes “the girl falls in love with the prince, right? And the prince falls in love with her? Easiest quest ever” and I commence throwing up. As a side note, Mina’s theme song is Gorgeous by Taylor Swift because she’s always stuttering and stumbling around these hot guys and can’t say anything to their faces. As another side note, I realize that the exact opposite of my suspicions—Brody being bad and Jared being good—is happening right now but I may or may not still be in denial. I have a random note written down that says “ah yes, the chiseled jaw” so that description must have popped up somewhere. Ok, so, the ball. Which Teague party crashes (yay!) and makes threats again. And Mina goes to the godmother’s guild and learns certain Grimm family lines are disappearing because something is happening to them in the past, and Mina has to travel to the past to fix it. At this point, I was singing Taylor Swift’s “ready for it” because I see how this is gonna go. Mina is going to be the one who broke Teague’s heart all those years ago and turned him evil. I know all about self-fulfilling prophecies. I do hate being right. She puts on the magical Cinderella shoes that take her back in time, and who does she meet that saves her from an ogre but Teague himself. The conversation was everything I ever wanted but very very bad at the same time because again, I see how this is gonna go. Teague was so nice, and sweet…and somehow Mina ends up in the competition with all the girls vying to be Teague’s wife, and she’s all like “I’m here on a mission” (to kill Teague) and yet she saves Teague’s life multiple times and doesn’t take the many opportunities she has to kill him. Like Mina, I love you, but please…though I don’t really want her to kill him. Also, the fairy godmother told her not to take off the shoes because she could be trapped but what does she do? She takes. off. the shoes!! I could go on and on, but this review is getting long, so I’ll throw out the highlights…something was called “enough to make a polar bear shudder” which is my new fave phrase. The final test to make it to the tower and be Teague’s wife involves a maze and I thought perhaps the maze is a metaphor for Mina’s life in that she doesn’t know where she’s going or what she’s doing and she always ends up back in the same place. She meets Teague in the tower along with the fae who’s trying to kill him and somehow there’s this big misunderstanding because Teague thinks Mina was trying to kill him and she’s a liar and all this, and basically he throws her out of the tower and vows to find her wherever she goes. Yep. And then she meets her dad and I was literally thinking “all I need now is for her dad to actually be Teague and then I’ve seen it all.” Thankfully that didn’t turn out to be the case. And then she meets the Grimms and saves Hans or Wilhelm or one of them, which fixes the timelines. And then I thought Brody was proposing but actually he was just proposing a relationship…and then I was happy because I thought the godmothers were going to take away his memory again, but he was wearing a charm so shoot it didn’t work…and then Teague blows up the godmother guild. To be continued.

[dragonwriter1633]

This weekend was crazy and I’m already a day behind and am rushing my way through Monday, so I’m throwing up a review of an ARC I received last year and already reviewed on Goodreads. 

Thanks to School Library Journal for sending an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I'm hopeless for a good fairy tale retelling, and this book is a cute modern story that's loosely based on the classic Cinderella tale. While I did enjoy it, I wasn't always sympathetic with Tate's situation--sure, she had a rough break with being in the wrong place at the wrong time and has to deal with "house arrest" and a strict stepmother, but compared to a lot of Cinderella-situations and the terrible things characters and and real life people have to go through, I wasn't that worried about her. The romance was a little unconvincing to me, too, which made the romantic parts seem forced and overdone, but I did like the email element to it; those parts were reminiscent of the book Ella Enchanted and the movie You've Got Mail, both of which I love. It's hard for me to pick up a contemporary and really enjoy it, but this book was a quick read and a good story that was well worth it. This book had some good things going for it, too: I really liked how (slight spoiler) Tate begins to bond with her stepsister, get along with her stepmother, and learns to come to terms with the fact that she was in the wrong in some ways, too.That's a cool element that is often missing in Cinderella stories. I also sympathized with her situation with her best friend, and actually cared more about that relationship than I did the romantic one (as usual). I also really appreciated how clean this book is--no language, sexual content, or violence. Additionally, I was intrigued from the start with the title "It Started With Goodbye" and the idea that "not every story begins with once upon a time", and sometimes you have to be at your lowest before good things can happen to you. If you like retold fairy tales and are looking for a lighthearted, quick story, you might want to try this book.

[dragonwriter1633]

Next up: The Glass Sentence by S. E. Grove, the first in the apparently bestselling Mapmakers Trilogy. I hadn’t heard much about this trilogy and only discovered it when I saw the three pretty spines of the trilogy lined up next to each other in the YA section along the back wall of my library. Always looking to read what’s in our collection for well-informed recommendation purposes, I picked it up and checked it out. The Glass Sentence has without a doubt one of the most unique settings I’ve ever seen (so I must agree with Megan Whalen Turner, one of my absolute favorite authors, who said something similar when she endorsed this book). Thanks to the phenomenon (thank you spell check, because I can never get that word right on my own) known as the Great Disruption, which occurred during the early 1800’s, the world has been thrown into different ages across the continents. It is now 1891 and our MC Sophia must set out to dangerous new ages to find her uncle, a renowned cataloger who has been kidnapped by the baddies who want to find the “world map” or some sort (it has a Latin name I can’t recall at his moment) in order to set the world back to the perfect age. I really enjoyed this book, and like I said it was has great worldbuilding. The only negative thing I can say is that I didn’t really get pulled into the story, and I’m not sure why. It was a long book, but I love long books and read many. Maybe the characters didn’t really resonate with me. If I don’t love the characters or at least one character, I don’t care much about the story. Something got lost in all the complex world building, which I would still like to see more of in the future books. Yes, I’ll definitely be reading the other two books—I have a thing about finishing series and have finished series much worse than this one—but I’m not sure when. I have moved on to a reread that I know will be a quick, fun read. Four out of five stars! No Hogwarts sorting for this one, because like I said, I don’t have a lot to say about the characters, not even Sophia. I do have to end with a quote, though, that sums up an aspect I really liked about this book. Our MC doesn’t have an internal clock, something I found fascinating. She easily loses track of time and doesn’t really know how long things take, especially if she’s by herself. A possible reason for it (though it is maybe debunked later on) is written here (longer than a pithy one-liner, but worth it): “She never spoke of it to her uncle, but she had a dreadful suspicion of how she had come to lose her sense of time. She pictured herself as a very young child, waiting for her parents at a dusty window. The little Sophia’s clock had ticked on and on, patiently and then worriedly and finally desperately, counting the seconds as her mother and father failed to come back. And then, when it became clear that the waiting was futile, the little clock had simply broken, leaving her without parents and without any sense of time at all.”

[dragonwriter1633]

8 BOOKS THAT MADE ME CRY OR TEAR UP

I wasn’t originally planning to post this today; in fact, I wrote it this afternoon rather than in advance like most of my posts, just to prove that it’s on the fly. But I was inspired because I was reading Morning Star by Pierce Brown today, and I started crying even though this is the second time I’ve read it (a rare feat following an already rare feat, which is getting me to cry in the first place). You see, I’m not much of a movie/book crier. When I do “cry”, it’s more like tearing up and needing to dab at my eyes—nothing dramatic. Some books, though, really start the waterworks.

So, for no reason whatsoever other than I got emotional this afternoon while reading, here is a list of the 8 books that made me cry or tear up. I will mark spoilers if I decide to go in depth about why, since they all have to do with character deaths (I’ve never cried from happiness in my real life, let alone over a book, so prepare yourselves for a lot of death/sadness). I have a shelf on Goodreads to aid me in remembering my saddest book moments, so here I go.

1. Brisingr by Christopher Paolini—actually crying (SPOILERS)

This part, man. The part where Glaedr dies. I cried. I write dragon/rider connections, too, so it’s a topic near and dear to my heart and when Oromis died and Glaedr freaks out and starts saying Alone. Alone! ALONE!! I just lost it. This might have been a repeat crier for me the second time around, but I don’t think I cried the third or fourth time I read it (yes, I’m crazy. Yes, I love these books).

2. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins—teared up

I know I’m not alone for this one. I mean, the whole book is a doozy, but the part where Katniss is yelling at Buttercup near the end after everything…that was it for me. I also tear up at that part during the movie.

3. Where the Red Fern Grows--?? (SPOILERS)

Actually I’m marking this one off because I don’t remember actually crying over it, though it is on my Goodreads cry shelf, I just remember being really sad because THE DOGS DIE, LIKE, I’M NOT HEARTLESS.

4. Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine—teared up

I think I should avoid all “mocking” books. This one really gave me the heavy-chest feeling pretty much throughout the whole book due to the subject matter and the POV. The girl’s brother died in a school shooting and there’s this one scene…not good, man. Not good. But a beautiful and important middle grade book. Read it.

5. Love that Dog by Sharon Creech—teared up

Also I should avoid dog books, apparently. This one is a quick read written in verse from the POV of a young boy and I really was not expecting what happened at a certain chapter, though I’m sure you can all guess, and we were reading it in class and my entire class just starting sniffing and needing tissues. Oh boy.

6. Wonder by R. J. Palacio—teared up (some spoilers)

This too is an emotional middle grade book, but the only part that really got me for a second was the part where August is talking about his dog and he says something like “she was the only one who didn’t care what my face looked like” and I just

7. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling—teared up (SPOILERS for the two people left in the world who haven’t read it/seen it, one of whom is my father).

Cedric’s death. Harry’s reaction. Basically the end chapters. That’s it.

8. Morning Star by Pierce Brown—SOBBING

And the book that inspired it all. I really don’t want to talk specifics (yet I really do because it’s amazing and none of my friends have read these books so I have no one to rant with) because this is one of the books you have to experience on your own, but suffice it to say there’s a ton of death and mayhem and characters you love and hate die, and actually the one that made me cry today was a character I kind of hate, and yet don’t, and the reason I cried is because the main character has been through so much and lost so many friends and doesn’t want to lose even this jerk and is so willing to forgive and yet nothing he does makes him change his mind and the writing is just brilliant and Darrow is one of the most believable characters I’ve ever read about and I’ve never been more emotionally invested in a series and I’m losing it again. Anyway. I also sobbed at a different part the first time I read it because I was so angry and so dreading what I thought might happen and then I was right (plus I had a crappy day and it was 11pm) and then I was right again and all was well. Confused yet? READ THESE BOOKS (disclaimer: there is crude language and lots of violence throughout, but that’s about it).

Well, there you have it. A comprehensive list of the books that to date have made me feel things enough to have those feelings leak out of my eyes. Have you read any of these books? Did they make you cry? What books give you sadness like this?

[dragonwriter1633]

Ok, this was a cute book. And FUNNY. I was smiling throughout, and even laugh-out-loud giggling a few times (in the work break room. Cue the strange looks). I had basically no idea what to expect from this book except for a monty phython-esque style with historical fiction, so allow me to clear it up a bit for you. Background: revisionist (or true??) history of Lady Jane Grey, the queen for nine days before being beheaded by Bloody Mary. In this story, however, instead of Protestants and Catholics there are Eodians and Verities, aka people who can shapeshift into animals and people who cannot. Edward is the son of Henry the VIII, an Eodian, and of course we have his sister Mary who is a firm Verity…and there may be a plot to murder Edward and steal the throne (so THAT’S why he “died” young) with an ADORABLE arranged marriage thrown in. So you have some fantasy, historical fiction, romance, adventure, and humor all thrown into one book. If it’s not clear by now, I am a total sucker for arranged-marriages-that-turn-into-mutual-respect-and-then-love, and that’s just what I got here (slight spoiler I guess?). Jane and Gifford (call him G) are sooo cute. Maybe I would have found my true love by now if I had been forced into marriage, I don’t know. The plot above is basically the plot of the book, so if you like humor and romance and some action and history and fantasy and a simple but endearing book, this is the one for you. It’s also clean, with little to no swearing or sensuality. I can highly recommend it. A brief note on Hogwarts houses: I’m going with Ravenclaw for Jane because all she wants to do is read (me too and I’m a Hufflepuff, yes, but hold on) and she’s very strategic and smart and into planning all the plots and making sure people are in line, though I could see her as a Gryffindor as well because she has that brave spirit and won’t let people push her around. For G I’m leaning toward Hufflepuff, just because he’s a pure soul who wants to recite poetry all night instead of visit brothels (very specific, I know) and doesn’t mind chilling as a horse and eating apples all day, and he kind of gets dragged along into all these shenanigans while at the same time stands up to his evil *spoiler* and doesn’t mess around when it comes down to it. Edward…he’s got to be a Gryffindor. One of those that has to be pushed to their greatest potential (think Ron). I’m thinking of these on the fly, so correct me if I’m wrong, but these are my first impressions. I’ll probably come back and change them after I reread it in a year.