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

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

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