This is another modern retelling of a fairytale we all know, Sleeping Beauty. The author is Alex Flinn, who wrote Beastly. When you were younger, did you ever wonder why a man would kiss a sleeping woman? To be honest it seems a little creepy! I know that in the version I read Beauty and her kingdom were asleep for 100 years. How would her kingdom adapt after such a time? Well, those are some of the questions asked and answered in this book.
Alex Flinn does an amazing job bringing this young innocent girl into the 21 century. She is completely surprised at how people have changed.
I WANT TO BUY A KISS IN TIME
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Shiver was suggested to me by a very good friend. Since she enjoys the same type of books I do, I decided to do a search to find the author. It really only took me a few minutes on her site www.maggiestiefvater.com/shiver to decide to go to the bookstore to look at the book. The cover is really pretty, done in a silvery blue. I opened the book, and this is really what made me purchase right there and then. The pages are a soft white color and the print is the same color as the blue on the cover. It made for a pleasant reading experience, very pretty and easy on the eyes.
Many of the books I have read in the past month have been enjoyable, and this one tops the list for me.
I WANT TO BUY SHIVER
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Unlike most of the stories that we read and review this story is not fantasy or really even science fiction. It is a fictional story following 16-year-old Miranda. She has 2 best friends who recently buried one of their other best friends. She wishes that she could ice skate professionally, and that she had a date to prom. During the spring of her senior year an asteroid is projected to hit the moon. No one expected what would happen next, of the moon moving into orbit closer to the earth. The world as Miranda knows it.
One thing that I do not like about the style of this book is that it is written as a journal.
I want to buy Life As We Knew It
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Fallen takes place in the deep south, in reformed prep school. This prep school is old and decrepit, with an old chapel and a cemetery on the grounds. When I say reformed, I mean the students that attend there required to be there, typically from a judgment. Something about me; I spent the majority of my teenage years living in Georgia. There is just something about the humid lush green-ness that I love and miss now living in Utah. Lauren Kate does an incredible job with describing the grounds to really make me feel like I was back in the south.
The main character in this story is another troubled young girl. She has been able to see these dark shadows that seem to stalk her. This has caused her to be on medication more often not during the last few years, forced by her fearful parents.
I WAN T TO BUY FALLEN
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This is the second book in the Need series by Carrie Jones. In this book Zara has dealt with most of her issues from the previous book. Though, now she has a whole new set of issues.
Her real father is a pixie king, a ruthless being who, without his queen, has to drink the blood of teenage boys. Zara traps him in the middle of his forest, without realizing that this will create the perfect opportunity for another king to try to come and take over the void left over by his imprisonment.
I really enjoyed the first book, with the imagination it takes to weave a tale of the pixies and were-animals.
I WANT TO BUY CAPTIVATE
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I was at the local bookstore, looking for another good young adult fantasy book to read. I usually start by reading the first hundred pages or so before I will purchase a book. I always want to make sure that I want to finish the book before I buy it.
Well this book first caught my attention from the cover, the gold lips. Then when I started reading it I was captivated by Zara’s apparent broken spirit. I usually like my main characters a little more self sufficient, but Zara doesn’t lack self-sufficiency. Her stepfather, the only father she has ever known, has thrown her into a deep depression. She is currently on her way to live with his mother; with the hope it will pull her back into the land of the living.
At the beginning of the book I don’t love Zara, I mistake her depression for weakness. I am surprised at her; she seems to care more about other people than herself, especially when she is in such a depression.
I NEED TO BUY NEED
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In previous series’ Tamora would write 4 books, but after the Harry Potter series came out and she realized the younger readers can and will read longer books, she changed her style. This would have been the beginning of the third book if she kept up with the previous style.
In this story Ali is faced with a looming war. She has found the new queen to take over the conquered country, but taking the country over and getting the peoples faith still needs to happen for them to be successful. The war scenes can be difficult, as the characters have become my friends. I like them and hope the best for them. It is difficult for me if one of them dies, as I know people do in wars.
I WANT TO BUY TRICKSTER’S QUEEN
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Tamora Pierce, who has written a total of 5 young adult fantasy series using the same base of characters, wrote these 2 books. Her focus is on a different female main character in each series. This series focuses on Alianna, who is the daughter of Alanna- the main character of the Lioness series. They all take place in a kingdom where there are classes, and the nobility lives in castles and some keep slaves. There are also all types of mystical creatures such as dragons, unicorns, griffins, and ogres. Oh, and then there are Gods and Goddess’s who mark humans to help them in their eternal battles.
Alianna is the daughter of the first female knight in over 200 years, and the king of the thieves. Her mother is strong willed and is willing to fight anyone and anything face to face. Her father was cunning and made a deal with the devil (the God of Tricks).
I WANT TO BUY TRICKSTER’S CHOICE!
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If I told you there was a post-apocalyptic world that existed in a scientific world where cosmetic surgery was normal to make everyone in society become beautiful, what would you imagine? Now imagine that there are people who don’t agree with the way that beauty has taken control and don’t want to get the mandatory surgery. What do you imagine now? Some runaways right?
This young adult science fiction story by Scott Westerfeld, is fabulous for the younger generation. Because of my previous reasons, where I felt I already knew the plot, I had a tough time getting into it. I had the plot nailed, or so I thought. To be fair, it’s a little predictable to start, and I didn’t feel a strong pull to the main character, Tally, so it took me a long time to finish. I actually read several books in between sections of this book. There are supporting characters though that I found myself extremely interested in, and this made me speed read through the last half of the book.
I WANT TO BUY UGLIES
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My first thought is, pleasant. Bree Tanner is a quick read, an interesting read, and somehow a light-hearted addition to the 4 main books of the Twilight Series.
Bree Tanner is an interesting character whom I would have liked to know more about. The story could definitely have been longer and perhaps included more of her life before she was turned. This would have increased my connection to her. As it was I wasn’t heart-broken that she died in the end, but it might be that since I’d read Eclipse, I already knew the ending. What’s fascinating is that Stephenie Meyers wrote a book, that I thoroughly enjoyed, of which I already knew the ending; well done Stephenie Meyer.
There are some interesting twists of which I never realized by reading Eclipse alone.
I WANT TO BUY THE SHORT SECOND LIFE OF BREE TANNER NOW!
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Late last summer I was watching the CW, I am a little old for it, I know. Anyways, I got caught up in the first episode of Vampire Diaries. It reminded me of something, but I couldn’t remember. So I checked online and saw a lot of posts about how this series was a rip off of Twilight. I then looked further, and realized that I knew this series. Turns out I read the books in high school, back in the late 90′s. These books have been out for almost 20 years, as they were published in 1991. To be honest, I was pretty annoyed that people even cared. Things can be similar without being rip offs of each other. Anyways, I get off my high horse. So, since it had been a long time, I decided to reread the series.
I didn’t follow the show, so while I don’t know much about it, there were some things that stood out. The biggest is in regards to the characters. Elena’s character in the show is very wholesome, and almost innocent. In the book she is not, she is willing to do whatever it takes to get what she wants. Especially in regards to boys. She revels in the game of getting them, but is quickly bored by them.
I WANT TO BUY VAMPIRE DIARIES!
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Fragile Eternity is the third book of a young adult fantasy series including, Wicked Lovely and The Ink Exchange. It takes us back to the Summer Court. Aislinn is front and center with her boyfriend Seth, who is human. The Dark and Winter Courts are in this novel, but take a backseat while the 4th court is introduced. The fourth court is the High Court, ruled by the High Queen Sorcha.
Sorcha is Bananachs sister. Bananach is the embodiment of war, and Sorcha is her opposite. Sorcha exists to keep the balance of the world, both faery and human. As the embodiment of war, Bananach will try anything to start a war with all Faeries. She thinks that Seth is the key and tries to use him.
I WANT TO BUY FRAGILE ETERNITY!
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This young adult book following Wicked Lovely continues to involve the faerie courts, Aislinn and Keenan. But it also involves Leslie, a school friend of Aislinn, and Gabriel, a trusted advisor to Keenan.
Leslie is a troubled girl. She deals with issues that no one should deal with, much less a teenage girl. This is difficult to bear, it is overwhelming and scary, and I am just the reader.
This story also focuses on the Dark court, where the previous was the Summer court. Dark faeries feed off of fear, and they have chosen Leslie to help feed them. This brings a new struggle to the story. While I know that they have chosen Leslie, it is not explained very well what the implications are on her long term.
I WANT TO BUY INK EXCHANGE
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Usually Faerie brings to mind Tinkerbell, small winged women to care for children. Not powerful, cruel, and dangerous being tied to the land and seasons. Wicked Lovely is of the second nature. Aislinn is our main character, another strong willed teenage girl. She is faerie sighted, which is not a good thing. The biggest rule she lives by is to not ever to let the faeries know she can see them, or know they exist.
You not only follow this scared teen, who is caught up in a world she is afraid of, and one she doesn’t understand. You also follow Keenan, a faerie prince fighting for his throne. And Donia, who was human, but is now just a frozen shell of her formal self. This is the stage set for us when Kennan chooses Aislinn to be his queen. Read the rest of this entry »
Now this was a different take on the story we know and love! This is Beauty and the Beast from Beast’s point of view. This begs the questions of: who was the beast before he was cursed? How had he offended the witch so much? Why did she feel the need to teach him a lesson?
This story tells us the whole story to who the Beast is/was, and why he turns into the Beast. It also explains his desire to make Beauty happy, which is what he wants, more than making her love him. I hate who Beast was before he was cursed, he is such and egotistical jerk! I feel like the transformation is completely justified. This is no different from the other retellings. What is different is his transformation. The first is his love for his roses. Listening in his own head why he loves his roses is unexpected and really sweet.
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