Review: Enchanted

Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

Published by Harcourt's Childrens Books

$17.99 (US hardback)

305 pages

What it's about:



It isn't easy being the rather overlooked and unhappy youngest sibling to sisters named for the other six days of the week. Sunday’s only comfort is writing stories, although what she writes has a terrible tendency to come true.

When Sunday meets an enchanted frog who asks about her stories, the two become friends. Soon that friendship deepens into something magical. One night Sunday kisses her frog goodbye and leaves, not realizing that her love has transformed him back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland—and a man Sunday’s family despises.

The prince returns to his castle, intent on making Sunday fall in love with him as the man he is, not the frog he was. But Sunday is not so easy to woo. How can she feel such a strange, strong attraction for this prince she barely knows? And what twisted secrets lie hidden in his past - and hers?

My thoughts:
I actually read this book a while back so this will not be a very in-depth review.

Mostly what I want to say about this book is how much it surprised me. When I think of retold fairy tales, I think of cheesey, modern day stories. You know, like Alex Flynn's books. They are cute and stick pretty close to the Disney versions. That is not at all the case with this book. Not even close. Enchanted had a more "grown up" voice to it. It felt more "Grimm" rather than "Disney" to say the least.

What I also didn't expect was for the book to have a whole lot of fairy tales in it. It wasn't just the Frog Prince story, but it also had Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, The Old Lady in the Shoe, and many more. They all had their own twists and flowed really well together.

I absolutely adored this book and I will definitely be rereading it sometime in the near future. It is one of those books that every time I see the cover of it, I think "awww I loved that book!" and look back on it with nothing but fondness.

My rating: 10/10

Cover Reveal: Mind Games by Kiersten White

If you follow Kiersten White on any social media, then you know she's been a real tease when it comes to her new book Mind Games. Well, today she was finally able to reveal the cover!

This cover is absolutely amazing. It was a mouth gaping open and a "ohhhhh-awwwww" reaction for me. I love all the images inside the face. Just...wow.

Here is the blurb from the book jacket:

Two sisters,

Bound by

Impossible choices,

Are determined to

Protect each other-

no matter the cost.

James's frozen face melts into a smile. "Do you want to know the trick to getting in trouble under the watchful eye of a psychic?"
I think of the nailed-shut windows. I think of Clarice. I think of the two, the two, the two who are now zero. Tap tap. "Yes, I absolutely do."

"Don't plan it. don't even think about it. The second you get an inkling of what you could do, do it then. Never plan anything ahead of time. Always go on pure instict."
I smile. "I think I can do that."

Mind Games comes out Feb. 19th, 2013

Top Ten Tuesday-- Beach reads!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the lovely girls over at The Broke and the Bookish

This weeks topic is I'd Recommend As Good Beach Reads

Here are the books I've read during summer and think are good summer reads:

1. Beauty Queens by Libba Bray:
This book had me literally L-O-Ling the whole time. I would even read sections of it to my family members because it made me laugh so hard I thought they should hear it.

2. Forgive My Fins by Terra Lynn Childs:
This book is so adorable! And pretty much the only mermaid book that I've ever read that I actually liked.

3. The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade:
What's not to love about this book? And I always connect this book with summer because I read it for the first time in summer.

4. Clarity by Kim Harrington:
This book takes place in summer and is soooooo good. Definitely a great beach read.

5. Just One Wish by Jannett Rallison:
All of Janette's books are really good summer beach reads but I had to pick just one and this is my favorite of hers so this is the one I went with.

6. Hunting Lila by Sarah Alderson:
Ah! Everyone should read this book!

7. Paper Towns by John Green:
John Green is brilliant. For realz. I picked PT because part of it takes place in the summer. Plus TFIOS will make you bawl your eyes out and who wants to cry at the beach?

8. Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson:
Road trip + super adorable boys + great music playlists = awesome

9. Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins:
Oh Cricket, how I adore you.

10. Saving June by Hannah Harrington:
This one I haven't read, but it's on my TBR list for this summer.

Review: Hunting Lila

Hunting Lila by Sarah Alderson

Published by Simon and Schuster UK

Genre: YA

$5.99 (Paperback from Barnes & Nobles)

318 pages

What it's about:



17-year-old Lila has two secrets she’s prepared to take to the grave. The first is that she can move things just by looking at them. The second is that she’s been in love with her brother’s best friend, Alex, since forever.

After a mugging exposes her unique ability, Lila decides to run to the only people she can trust—her brother and Alex. They live in Southern California where they work for a secret organisation called The Unit, and Lila discovers that the two of them are hunting down the men who murdered her mother five years before. And that they’ve found them.

In a world where nothing and no one is quite as they seem, Lila quickly realises that she is not alone—there are others out there just like her—people with special powers—and her mother’s killer is one of them…

My thoughts:
When I first read about this book on Goodreads, I got really excited about it. Back then, the synopsis for it on GR was a little confusing which made me even more intrigued, but I was having the hardest time finding a copy of this book. I searched for a long time before I realized that this is strictly a UK book and not sold in the US and then finally I ordered it online.

Because this is a British book, the writing and spelling is a little different which had me laughing at times because the book takes place in California. It was funny reading all the characters say things like "mum" and "rubbish" instead of mom and garbage but they had to say it with American accents. Got to love accents in books.

I had been in a book slump before I got to this book, but Hunting Lila has definitely taken me out of that slump. I gobbled this book down in a few short hours, only putting it down to get something to drink and to use the bathroom. I had to know what Jack and Alex did for the Unit, I had to know who killed Lila's mom, and lastly I had to know when in the world Lila was going to tell Alex she is in love with him!!!

Speaking of Lila and Alex, I couldn't get enough of their relationship even if it was a little... illegal due to their ages. But still. It's a book so I will just overlook that. Lila is pretty intense when it comes to her feelings for Alex. She is positive about her feelings because she has felt this way about him almost her whole life. I couldn't help but love him right along with Lila because even though her feelings are intense, they didn't seem fake. I could actually believe their relationship.

I could have this review go on for a long time about everything I loved about this book. The romance, the suspense, the special powers, all the story twists, everything. I loved it all, well, except for the stupid cliff hanger. I must get my hands on the second book, Losing Lila, the minute it comes out in August!!!

My rating: 10/10

Review: Masque of the Red Death

Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin

Published by Harper Collins

Genre: YA (dystopian?)

$17.99 (US hardback)

320 pages

What it's about:

Everything is in ruins.

A devastating plague has decimated the population. And those who are left live in fear of catching it as the city crumbles to pieces around them.

So what does Araby Worth have to live for?

Nights in the Debauchery Club, beautiful dresses, glittery make-up . . . and tantalizing ways to forget it all.

But in the depths of the club—in the depths of her own despair—Araby will find more than oblivion. She will find Will, the terribly handsome proprietor of the club. And Elliott, the wickedly smart aristocrat. Neither boy is what he seems. Both have secrets. Everyone does.

And Araby may find something not just to live for, but to fight for—no matter what it costs her.

My thoughts:
Ever since I first heard about this book and then saw the cover, I knew I had to read it. A retold Poe story? AWESOME! This new trend of adding Poe's works to YA fiction is one that I'm adoring. I knew if this book was anything like Nevermore by Kelly Creagh, that I was going to be madly in love with it.

After finishing the book, I can't say that I'm madly in love with it, but I did enjoy it. I don't know what I was really expecting from the book. Maybe for it to take place in the same setting as Poe's short story, aka the castle, and be a little more like Poe's work, but it wasn't like that at all. The book takes place in the city a few hours away from Prince Prospero's castle and the time setting is... I don't know when. If I had to guess I'd say around early 20th century. I was surprised by the Steampunk feel of the book.

I only have one main complaint about this book which is that at points, the writing could be very confusing. There would be random sentences that didn't seem to fit in. Like they were accidentally not deleted during a rewrite. There were also times that I felt like some sentences were left out and I'd have to go back and reread the last paragraph to figure out how the characters got from point A to point B. These problems didn't so much feel like a style of writing, more like editing errors.

What I really loved about this book was how dark it was. Weird thing to love about a book, I know, but it's true. Griffin did a fantastic job showing how horrible the plague was and Prince Prospero? What a bastard! He's right up there with Voldemorte and Valentine on the evil scale. He was an actual villain to be scared of.

So overall, I liked this book. I could have done without the religion vs. science parts, and the writing could be confusing, but it was still a great book and I will probably continue on with the series.

My rating: 8/10

Cover Reveal: Mark of Athena

Tonight when I got off work and checked my facebook, I saw that Rick Riordan posted the cover for the next book in the Heroes of Olympus series! Woo hoo! Here it is.....

BAM! There it is! Isn't it so incredibly beautiful? With the pink owl in the back and the Romans and the Greek Demigods fighting on flying ponies. I love love love it! Definitely my favorite of the 3 so far.

Mark of Athena is the 3rd book in the Heroes of Olympus series and will come out October 2nd 2012 in the US.

Review: The Queen's Lady

The Queen's Lady by Eve Edwards

Published by Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Genre: YA historical fiction

$17.99 (US hardback)

336 pages

What it's about:



England, 1584.

When beautiful Lady Jane Rievaulx begins her service to the Queen at Richmond Palace, she is thrilled to see the court's newest arrival . . . Master James Lacey.

No matter that Jane was previously courted by the eldest Lacey brother—James is the one who has won her heart. For his part, James cannot deny his fascination with Jane; his plans, however, do not allow for love. He is about to set sail on a treacherous journey to the Americas, seeking absolution for what he sees as past sins. But when Jane is forced into a terrible situation by her own family, only one man can save her. Will Master James return to his lady before it's too late?

My thoughts:

I read the first book in this series, The Other Countess, about a week before reading The Queen's Lady. One of the comments I made about that book is how it didn't feel like it was set in the Elizabethan era. Normally when I think of living in that time and living in the court, I think of it as terrifying. There are spies everywhere, you can be put in the tower, or worse, killed, for hardly any reason at all. Pissing off the queen seems an easy task, and all the other things that go along with that. I can not say it is true for this book. TQL does a great job with showing how much it would suck to live in that time. How women are treated as property and bargaining trades.

This is the story of Lady Jane, aka the lady who was supposed to marry Will in the first book. Now we get to see hers and James' story. I absolutely love Jane. She sticks up for herself! That is incredibly brave of her, especially in this time. She makes decisions to help her friends rather than to help herself. She doesn't let people belittle her, and she is smart. I freaking love her character. Then there is James. He is a fun guy. Always witty and charming. Very likable. We are also introduced to loads of new characters that are also very entertaining and will be showing up in book #3.

I can honestly say that I liked this book much better than the first, though I did love that one as well. The characters are ones you want to root for and become attached to, the drama is intense, and the historical setting is interesting. I'm normally not big into historical books, but I love this series.

My rating: 9/10