The Mephisto Covenant

The Mephisto Covenant By: Trinity Faegen

Rating:  Really Good

Age Group: 15+

Summary (from Amazon.com):  Sasha is desperate to find out who murdered her father. When getting the answer means pledging her soul to Eryx, she unlocks a secret that puts her in grave danger—she is an Anabo, a daughter of Eve, and Eryx’s biggest threat.

A son of Hell, immortal, and bound to Earth forever, Jax looks for redemption in the Mephisto Covenant—God’s promise he will find peace in the love of an Anabo. After a thousand years, he’s finally found the girl he’s been searching for: Sasha.

With the threat of Eryx always looming, Jax knows he has to keep Sasha safe and win her over.  But can he? Will Sasha love him and give up her mortal life?

My Thoughts:  The plot of this book was really unique.   I loved the way Jax and Sasha’s relationship advanced, and I also enjoyed learning about the Mephisto and the Anabo.  I was on the edge of my seat right from the get go, and the pace was just so to keep me there!  I also liked the characters.  Jax and his brothers struck me as well developed, especially considering that there were so many of them.  I already know which one I want the next in this series to be about.  And Sasha was a fun main character.  Anyway, I also liked that even though this book was very sweet it was also very dark.  Really, a great deal of the story is around people losing their souls and how such lost people are dealt with.  There were parts were I was seriously freaked out!   And the twist at the end got to me.  I don’t want to give it away, but let’s just say that two of my favorite side characters were lost.  But this brings up something that bothered me about this book.  Some details seemed sort of vague.  At some parts I’d be reading and there weren’t many details, then suddenly something was happening and I didn’t understand what was going on.  It only happened a few times, but it took away a bit from the experience.  Also, there were a few parts were Sasha’s reaction just didn’t seem believable.  Again, I can’t really give a good example without giving away the end.  Which is bothersome.  But all in all, I found the main characters pretty well developed and I LOVED the plot (though there were a few slow parts, the story was still very good).  There were just a few things that bothered me, but not enough to keep me from enjoying the story.  I’d certainly recommend this book. 

The Princess Curse

The Princess Curse By:   Merrie Haskell

Rating: Incredibly AWESOME

Age Group: 12+

Summary (from Amazon.com):  Twelve princesses suffer from a puzzling (if silly) curse, and anyone who ends it will win a reward. Reveka, a sharp-witted and irreverent apprentice herbalist, wants that reward. But her investigations lead to deeper mysteries and a daunting choice—will she break the curse at the peril of her own soul?

My Thoughts:  Oh my goodness, this book was so good!  This was a very well written and interesting retelling of the fairytale “The Twelve Dancing Princesses”.  I loved the other cultural elements Mrs. Haskell put into this book, including the Romanian and Greek histories.  I’m no expert on history, mind, but I still liked the complexity of the environment.  And the characters!  They were very well rounded, and I particularly liked Reveka.  She was a strong and interesting character, and I like that she wasn’t perfect.  She does kind things very often but it’s not ALWAYS for kindnesses sake.  While it’s nice to have main characters that aren’t tempted to do the bad thing, it’s also nice to see a character seriously consider doing to wrong thing.  There is a part in this book were Reveka knows that she should stay to help solve the curse, but she had been given a lot of money to leave and so she seriously considers the option.  She was a very down to earth and intelligent character, too.  I don’t know, they’re small details that make her character all the more complex and real.  And I very much liked Frumos, and the bits of his story we get to learn.  I also really liked Mihas, for all he was annoying, because he was an interesting character even with his flaws.  And the Princesses.  There are, well, twelve of them so we don’t get to know them all, but we did get a good range of characteristics for most of them.  I really liked that the way they had such different personalities, and I like that not all of them were awful.  Though the one that was awful?  I wanted to smack her, stinking brat. Ehem. And the plot!  I love the way this book is written, and I love the twist the story took.  I particularly like that we don’t hear this story form the Princess’s or the Soldier’s view point as is so often with retellings of this fairytale.  This is a book I would DEFINITLY recommend.  I am so excited for the next book in this series!     

Book Recommendations:  A Tale of Two Castles By: Gail Carson Levine

Drink, Slay, Love

Drink, Slay, Love By: Sarah Beth Durst

Rating: Incredibly AWESOME

Age Group: 15+

Summary (from Amazon.com): Pearl is your typical sixteen-year-old vampire—until the night a unicorn stabs her through the heart with his horn. Oops. Now she’s experiencing a number of alarming symptoms: noticing her own reflection, feeling sympathy for a human victim, and being able to withstand the sun. Pearl’s immunity to sunlight thrills her family, who enroll her in high school so she can lure home tasty friends. Pearl quickly discovers that high school is very similar to vampire culture with its rigid rules, clear social hierarchy, and a might-makes-right attitude. But having a conscience makes it hard to cope with an evil plot the Vampire King has in store for the local humans. Will Pearl overcome her bloodsucking instincts in favor of her newly acquired conscience?

My Thoughts:  This book was simply amazing.  First off, this is a very classical portrayal of vampires.  They are cruel and heartless, and they don’t care who has to die so long as they get to live.  And that is very refreshing.  In their culture no amount of lenience is allowed.  If you break the rules or are disrespectful in any way, they you are punished, likely with torture.  But even while this book includes such horrific details, it still manages to be incredibly sarcastic and funny.  Seriously, there was a scene where Pearl is wondering why detention is so terrifying, and that maybe it’s like that time her mother locked her in a dark room for an extended period of time with not food and where there was no noise.  This scene was quite scary because of the way she described the torture, but at the same time I couldn’t help but laugh at its comparison to detention.  The way she talks about torture as if it’s the same thing as shopping for shoes shows just how much cruelty is a part of her life and the vampire culture.  And to me these details are incredible and they make the story so much richer.  Not only was the writing witty and diverse, the plot was great.  I was pulled in and I couldn’t put it down.  There weren’t any slow points that got bogged down by the monotony of high school, and the end was perfect (in my opinion of course).  And I loved all of the characters.  They were very well defined and fun, even the background characters. I particularly loved Matt and Zeke. Pearl was splendidly sarcastic and the way the author writes her character is believable and so much fun!  While she gains a conscience she doesn’t change all at once.  She is confused about these new feelings, but she doesn’t change her priorities.  And that’s how it would happen.  People don’t change everything about themselves all at once, it takes time.  Small steps lead up to a character redefining moment, and that is what happened here.  And the unicorn twist?  I just loved it!  It’s a unique spin from a classical perspective (if that makes sense?  It sounded better in my head…).  All in all, I would definitely recommend this book, especially to people who like vampire themes but are looking for something new.

The Ordinary Princess

The Ordinary Princess By: M.M. Kaye

Rating: Incredibly AWESOME

Age Group: 8+

Summary (from Amazon.com):  Along with Wit, Charm, Health, and Courage, Princess Amy of Phantasmorania receives a special fairy christening gift: Ordinariness. Unlike her six beautiful sisters, she has brown hair and freckles, and would rather have adventures than play the harp, embroider tapestries . . . or become a Queen. When her royal parents try to marry her off, Amy runs away and, because she's so ordinary, easily becomes the fourteenth assistant kitchen maid at a neighboring palace. And there . . . much to everyone's surprise . . . she meets a prince just as ordinary (and special) as she is!

My Thoughts:  I loved this book so much!  It was a short, funny read filled with interesting characters and a main character you can’t help but love.  One of my favorite characters was actually the fairy that gifted her with Ordinariness, mostly because the kingdom of Phantasmorania saw her as a villain while she was really looking out for Amy’s best interests.  Princess Amy was such an adventurous and sweet person that you can’t help but want her to achieve everything she sets out to do.  I liked how she was different from what everyone expected (the seventh princess in this kingdom is always the most beautiful and demure) and I liked how her family was described, including the allusion to Sleeping Beauty.  Amy’s relationship with the prince struck me as very believable and sweet.  This is a good, simple, heartwarming read that will bring anyone’s mood up.  I’d recommend this book very highly.

Book Recommendations: The Wide-Awake Princess By: E.D. Baker, Golden By: Cameron Dokey, Ella Enchanted By: Gail Carson Levine

Starstruck

Starstruck By: Cyn Balog

Rating: Not my cup of tea

Age Group: 14+

Summary (from Amazon.com):  Gwendolyn "Dough" X doesn't think she has much going for her—she carries a few extra pounds, her family struggles with their small bakery in a town full of millionaires, and the other kids at her New Jersey high school don't seem to know that she exists. Thank the stars for her longtime boyfriend, Philip P. Wishman—or "Wish." He moved away to California three years ago, when they were 13, but then professed his love for her via e-mail, and he's been her long-distance BF ever since.

At the beginning of her junior year, though, Wish e-mails that he's moving back to Jersey. Great, right? Well, except that Dough has gained about 70 pounds since the last time Wish saw her, while Wish—according to his Facebook photos—has morphed into a blonde god. Convinced that she'll be headed for Dumpsville the minute Wish lays eyes on her, Dough delays their meeting as long as she possibly can.

But when she sees Wish at school, something amazing happens. He looks at Dough like she's just as gorgeous as he is. But Wish is acting a little weird, obsessed with the sun and freaked out by rain. And the creepy new guy working at the bakery, Christian, is convinced that there's more to Wish's good looks than just healthy eating and lots of sun. He tells Dough that a mark on Wish's neck marks him as a member of the Luminati—an ancient cult of astrologers who can manipulate the stars to improve their lives. Is Wish and Dough's love meant to be—or are they star-crossed?

My Thoughts:  I’m afraid I’m not very fond of this book.  The concept is very interesting and I did like that the main character wasn’t a stunning beauty, but I didn’t like the way the story was presented.  Dough dwelt on her looks A LOT, and while I can sympathize I don’t think it should be the only think you think about.  She had such awful luck, and almost everyone in the story was a jerk.  I don’t know, it seemed to me this book was about how people are judged by appearances, and yes the end shows that this is wrong, but that doesn’t change the fact that the characters sacrificed a lot just so that they would look better or be seen as better looking.  I’ve mentioned before that I don’t like stories that dwell, and this book is filled with characters that do nothing but.  For all the reasons I personally didn’t like the book, it wasn’t the worst book I’ve read by any means.  It’s just not really my cup of tea.  All in all, I wouldn’t recommend this book. L

A Tale of Two Castles

A Tale of Two Castles By: Gail Carson Levine

Rating:  Great

Age Group: 8+

Summary (from BarnesandNoble.com): In this fairy-tale whodunit, country girl Elodie's parents scrounge up fare to send her to the city of Two Castles, with instructions to find a weaver willing to take her on gratis for a 10-year apprenticeship. (Elodie, intent on joining a theatrical troupe, has other ideas.) Alas, months earlier the guilds abolished 10-year apprenticeships; now everyone must pay, and Elodie's one copper is stolen (by a cat) the moment she draws it from her purse. With no other prospects, she takes the only job she is offered: assistant to the dragon Meenore, who, in addition to its skills as mobile water heater, has a sideline as local detective. Elodie must overcome her fear of being eaten to help Meenore save another hated local—Count Jonty Um, the ogre who occupies one of the town's two castles. With a faint echo of Puss in Boots, Carson crafts a persuasive fantasy realm and a capable heroine. Readers should enjoy watching Elodie hone her powers of deduction to unravel the mystery of the ogre's sudden disappearance, and will likely anticipate further sleuthing adventures with this companionable duo.

My Thoughts:  Gail Carson Levine is one of my favorite authors of all time, and this book definitely doesn’t disappoint.  I loved all of the main characters, especially Meenore.  Who DOESN’T love a helpful, problem solving dragon?  And Jonty Um was just adorable.  Truly, all of the characters were developed and the plot was interesting.  Elodie was a wonderful character, she was smart and spunky.  I liked watching her grow into herself throughout the story, and I liked seeing the other characters show their colors as well.  Really, the character interaction made this book for me, it was so good.  And the twist at the end?  Yeah, I would never have been able to deduce that.  I’m not really familiar with Puss in Boots, so I can’t say how similar this story is to it unfortunately.  This was a very sweet story filled with wonderful characters, and I would recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy books.

Book Recommendations:  Ivy's Ever After By: Dawn Lairamore, Ella Enchanted By: Gail Carson Levine

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children By: Ransom Riggs

Rating: Incredibly AWESOME

Age Group: 14+

Summary (from BarnesandNoble.com):

 A mysterious island.

An abandoned orphanage.

A strange collection of very curious photographs.

It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

My Thoughts:  I really loved this book!  I don’t usually read horror books, much less like them, but this book was just so interesting and unique that I couldn’t put it down!  First I want to say that while this book DID have some very scary parts, the book as a whole wasn’t as dark as I was expecting.  From reading other reviews I thought it would be utterly terrifying, but it wasn’t.  There were many sweet and funny parts that kept the book from being such.  I really liked how the characters were developed and how the Home was introduced, and I loved Miss Peregrine and the children.  Finding out about their pasts and the reason why they hid was my favorite part, along with the children’s peculiarities themselves.  And the pictures!  These added so much to the story, and made the story seem so much more real and believable.  I tend to imagine things as cuter or safer than they are described simply because that’s the direction my mind likes to go, but thanks to the pictures the true nature of the book came through.  I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes supernatural books as well as those that like horror.

Book Recommendations: Bones of Faerie By: Janni Lee Simner

The Girl in the Steel Corset

The Girl in the Steel Corset By: Kady Cross

Rating: Great

Age Group: 13+

Summary (from Amazon.com): In 1897 England, sixteen-year-old Finley Jayne has no one…except the "thing" inside her.

When a young lord tries to take advantage of Finley, she fights back. And wins. But no normal Victorian girl has a darker side that makes her capable of knocking out a full-grown man with one punch….

Only Griffin King sees the magical darkness inside her that says she's special, says she's one of them. The orphaned duke takes her in from the gaslit streets against the wishes of his band of misfits: Emily, who has her own special abilities and an unrequited love for Sam, who is part robot; and Jasper, an American cowboy with a shadowy secret.

Griffin's investigating a criminal called The Machinist, the mastermind behind several recent crimes by automatons. Finley thinks she can help—and finally be a part of something, finally fit in.

But The Machinist wants to tear Griff's little company of strays apart, and it isn't long before trust is tested on all sides. At least Finley knows whose side she's on—even if it seems no one believes her.

My Thoughts:  So this was a fantastic book.   You don’t find many steampunk novels out there, at least I don’t, and I think that it’s a really cool genre.  The thing I like best is the atmosphere, especially in this novel.  It’s just very unique and interesting, a melding of old and new ideas and mannerisms.  The setting was rich and well described.  The other thing I loved about this novel was the characters.  They were all very interesting and unique, and I especially loved their back stories.  Each character was complex, with a story of their own, ,and I loved find those stories out throughout the book.  Finley’s was especially interesting to me.  In this book there was a little romance, though mostly it was building up for the next book.  There were parts of this story that had links to classic stories from the industrial era, and I thought that was a nice touch.  And the science!  While I had trouble envisioning the technology of the world (to me, if it acts like a phone then it looks like a phone, no matter how it was described), I really liked the idea of Organites and rapid evolution (my biology centered mind geeked out a bit :P ).  It was believable in the context of the story and I love that in books.  I loved how the characters interacted and how the story resolved, and I especially can’t wait for the sequel.  This is a definite must read!

Fairy Bad Day

Fairy Bad Day By: Amanda Ashby

Rating: Good

Age Group: 12+

Summary (from Amazon.com): While most students at Burtonwood Academy get to kill demons and goblins, fifteen-year-old Emma gets to rid the world of little annoying fairies with glittery wings and a hipster fashion sense. She was destined to be a dragon slayer, but cute and charming Curtis stole her spot. Then she sees a giant killer fairy - and it's invisible to everyone but her! If Emma has any chance of stopping this evil fairy, she's going to need help. Unfortunately, the only person who can help is Curtis. And now, not only has he stolen her dragon-slayer spot, but maybe her heart as well! Why does she think it's going to be a fairy bad day?

My Thoughts:  I thought this was a pretty mediocre read, unfortunately.  I think I’ll start with the things I did like about this book.  For one, the plot was very interesting, and there was a cool twist near the end that I loved.  There were a few plot holes that bothered me, which I can’t REALLY talk about without ruining the book, but there it is.  A lot of things happened that were a little to convenient for my liking, and the convenience wasn’t really explained.  Still the plot did keep me interested and I loved how the story resolved itself.  I liked Emma’s best friends Loni and Tyler very much.  They were such interesting characters!  Loni’s love of horoscopes was just so fun.  I also liked Curtis a lot, he was just such a sweet person and he had an interesting back story.  And I loved the fairies!  They were such goofs!  But I think the thing that bugged me the most about the book was the fact that I didn’t really like Emma, mostly because her character didn’t seem very developed to me.  She was spunky, which I generally like, but that was pretty much all there was to her personality that I could see.  Honestly, I felt like I knew the others listed above better than her, and I was in her head reading the book!  I don’t know, I just didn’t connect with her.  Also, I was a little bothered by the way the author used italics.  When I was reading it was like the characters were emphasising entire sentences, or that they were making sure that we the readers knew what was important.  That nitpicky, but it bothered me.  All in all, this book is still worth the read though it isn’t the first book I’d recommend.

Book Recommendations: This will now only happen if I actually think of a book that reminds me of the book reviewed.  That said, I’d recommend  Hex Hall By: Rachel Hawkins

Angel Burn

Angel Burn By: L. A. Weatherly

Rating: Great

Age Group: 13+

Summary (from Amazon.com):  Willow knows she’s different from other girls, and not just because she loves tinkering with cars. Willow has a gift. She can look into the future and know people’s dreams and hopes, their sorrows and regrets, just by touching them. She has no idea where this power comes from. But the assassin, Alex, does. Gorgeous, mysterious Alex knows more about Willow than Willow herself. He knows that her powers link to dark and dangerous forces, and that he’s one of the few humans left who can fight them. When Alex finds himself falling in love with his sworn enemy, he discovers that nothing is as it seems, least of all good and evil. In the first book in an action-packed, romantic trilogy, L..A. Weatherly sends readers on a thrill-ride of a road trip - and depicts the human race at the brink of a future as catastrophic as it is deceptively beautiful.

They’re out for your soul . . . and they don’t have heaven in mind.

My Thoughts:  This book was pretty dang amazing!  I thought that Alex and Willow were really well developed characters and I loved both of them.  They both had strong, clear voices and they were both interesting.  I liked how Mrs. Weatherly switched from first to third person when she switched from Willow’s to Alex’s point of view, mostly just because it was interesting and because it helped to show that Willow was the main voice of the story.  And I loved their relationship!  I thought that it was very sweet.  It did bother me how much Willow dwelt on the fact that she’s part angel, though for the most part I can understand were she’s coming from.  I just thought it was unnecessary how much she brought it up and dwelt on it.  But that’s one of my pet peeves, so take that opinion with a grain of salt.  It’s a long book that takes it’s time developing the plot, however the plot starts going early in the book so I didn’t mind the time spent on it.  The only thing that bothers me with waiting for the plot to develop is the time before hand when the characters aren’t necessarily doing anything except build their character, but as long as things are actually happening I don’t mind.  The plot really is interesting enough that it could be so long, and I really liked the twist on angel’s natures.  It has so much potential and I can’t wait to see where this series goes! 

Book Recommendations: Halo By: Alexandra Adornetto, The Host By: Stephenie Meyer,  Coffee House Angel By: Suzanne Selfors

Jane Jones: Worst. Vampire. Ever.

Jane Jones: Worst. Vampire. Ever.  By: Caissie St. Onge

Rating: Really Good

Age Group: 12+

Summary (from Amazon.com): For Jane Jones, being a vampire is nothing like you read about in books. In fact, it kind of sucks. She's not beautiful, she's not rich, and she doesn't "sparkle." She's just an average, slightly nerdy girl from an ordinary suburban family (who happens to be vampires.) Jane's from the wrong side of the tracks (not to mention stuck in the world's longest awkward phase), so she doesn't fit in with the cool vampire kids at school or with the humans kids. To top it all off, she's battling an overprotective mom, a clique of high school mean girls (the kind who really do have fangs), and the most embarrassing allergy in the history of the undead, she's blood intolerant. So no one's more surprised than Jane when for the first time in her life, things start to heat up (as much as they can for a walking corpse, anyway) with not one, but two boys. Eli's a geeky, but cute real-live boy in her history class, and Timothy is a beautiful, brooding bloodsucker, who might just hold the key to a possible "cure" for vampirism. Facing an eternity of high school pressure, fumbling first dates, or a mere lifetime together with Timothy, what's a 90-something year-old teen vampire to do?

My Thoughts:  I’ll admit I didn’t really have high hopes for this book.  I sort of thought that it would be a lighthearted, fluffy sort of read.  Basically I was just expecting a full on chick flick type book, but I was pleasantly surprised.  It was not only hilarious but also had a good plot.  I loved Jane and her family and they way they interacted with each other and the other vampires.  I liked both Eli and Timothy so much that I had a hard time deciding who I wanted to root for.  There was a plot twist that I wasn’t expecting, and I LOVED that!  I thought I had the book more or less figured out, and it seemed for a long time that I was right, when out of nowhere the unexpected happened!  I am a little disappointed with the ending, though I think the author is setting things up for a sequel (though I could be wrong about that).  It was a sweet, funny read with an interesting plot and I’d recommend it.

Book Recommendations: Haven By: Kristi Cook , Hex Hall By: Rachel Hawkins

My Unfair Godmother

My Unfair Godmother  By: Janette Rallison

Sequel to My Fair Godmother

Rating: Great

Age Group: 12+

Summary (from Amazon.com): Tansy Miller has always felt that her divorced father has never had enough time for her. But mistakenly getting caught on the wrong side of the law wasn't exactly how she wanted to get his attention. Enter Chrysanthemum "Chrissy" Everstar, Tansy's fairy in shining, er, high heels. Chrissy is only a fair godmother, of course, so Tansy's three wishes don't exactly go according to plan. And if bringing Robin Hood to the twenty-first century isn't bad enough for Tansy, being transported back to the Middle Ages to deal with Rumpelstiltskin certainly is. She'll need the help of her blended family, her wits, and especially the cute police chief 's son to stop the gold-spinning story from spinning wildly out of control.

My Thoughts:  This is one of my more favorite series, probably because I love fairytale retellings and fairies so much.  For this series you don’t NECESSARILY have to read the first book to understand Tansy’s story, however it would be helpful if you want to know Chrissy’s story and the books inside jokes.  Which brings me to one of my favorite things about this book:  it is SO funny!  Tansy doesn’t have the greatest life at the moment, and things just seem to keep going downhill.  So the book deals with lots of tough and very real problems, but it still manages to crack jokes.  Also, I thought Tansy’s relationship with Hudson was very cute and I loved their banter.  Like the last book, I love how the story was resolved.  Contrary to what the characters may say, Chrissy DID help Tansy live happily ever after.  All of the characters were full and realistic.   I even liked Chrissy, though I wouldn’t want her as my fairy godmother.  She’s just such a fun character, and even though I read someone say that Chrissy hadn’t grown as a character I don’t agree.  She is still herself, but she did learn from her last assignment and I think that in the next book she’ll do very well.  And really, like I said, both of the girls lived happily ever after because of what they learned from their ordeals.  Tansy learns a lot about her family and herself, things she might have missed if not for Chrissy eccentric wish granting methods.   Anyhoo, this was a good light hearted read that had a good plot and was very funny.  I highly recommend it!

Recommended Reading: Beastly By: Alex Flinn, The Wide Awake Princess By: E. D. Baker, Half Upon a Time By: James Riley, Ella Enchanted By: Gail Carson Levine

The Vampire Stalker

The Vampire Stalker

By: Allison Van Diepen

Rating: Incredibly AWESOME

Age Group: 12+

Summary (from Amazon.com): What if the characters in a vampire novel left their world--and came into yours?

Amy is in love with someone who doesn't exist: Alexander Banks, the dashing hero in a popular series of vampire novels. Then one night, Amy meets a boy who bears an eerie resemblance to Alexander. In fact, he IS Alexander, who has escaped from the pages of the book and is in hot pursuit of a wicked vampire named Vigo. Together, Amy and Alexander set out to track Vigo and learn how and why Alexander crossed over. But when she and Alexander begin to fall for each other, Amy wonders if she even wants him to ever return to the realm of fiction.

My Thoughts: So I loved this book.  I liked the double meaning in the title, too.  This book just sucked me in and I couldn’t put it down!   The writing was very clear without being flowery, and the plot was strong.  All of the characters seemed so real and I liked most of them (Amy’s sister was just awful).  The relationships developed believably and the characters themselves developed believably as well.  And the romance in this novel?  SO CUTE!  I fell in love with Alexander right along with 8021 other ladies, and I’m sure that number is just going to keep going up.  But the thing I liked most about this book was that Amy didn’t dwell too much on anything.  For example, her parents are separated and it’s because her father left them for another woman.  We are told what she thinks about this and you can tell that she hasn’t really forgiven her father, but we aren’t told over and over again about it.  In a lot of books, characters will dwell on such things and reflect on them a great deal even if it’s not necessary for the books plot, which can get annoying.   All in all, I just loved everything about this book and I’ll definitely be rereading it when I get the chance. 

Books with similar themes:  The Wizard, the Witch, and Two Girls for Jersey By: Lisa Papademetriou, Inkheart By: Cornelia Funke , My Fair Godmother By: Janette Rallison

Mostly a test, sort of an introduction

Well, ok, so!  Lets see how this goes.  So in this first post I'll just say what kind of books I read so people know.  I prefer fantasy or other fiction, and I read mostly young adult and middle grade books.  My favorite books in general are fairytale retellings.  So, yup.  Once I figure this thing out, and if my reviews get any traffic, I'll put a clickable somewhere with a list of my favorite books and why I liked them so much so that people can decide if my tastes match theirs.  So for now that'll do for my first post thing.  :)