review: Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

pub date: May 8, 2012
publisher: Harcourt Children's Books
pages: 305
appeals: fairy tale retelling, romance, fantasy
content: clean

thoughts:
I have a stack of ARCs and I picked this one up because it was short. But the moment I read those first few pages, it grabbed my attention. It had a fun, light tone and there was a talking frog. How great! However, my attention was soon lost. In three words: I got bored.

The premise of the book is fun. In Sunday's (that's our main protag) world, fairy tales are reality. She and her family take part in a whole slew of different tales, most importantly the Princess and the Frog. It was interesting to see how everything connected, and there was a lot of original story involved, too, notably at the end.  Yet however fun and original the story concept...it just didn't work for me. It was too cluttered, too much going on and not enough character development.

Like I mentioned earlier, I got bored. I didn't care much for the characters. I didn't feel invested in their stories and how those stories would end. Mostly, I didn't like the love interest, Prince Rumbold. I found him bland and weak and boring. Which made it hard for me to care if Sunday would get a kiss at the end of the book.

I made myself pick this book up on numerous occasions even when I didn't want to. Not sure why. I should have left it unfinished, but I guess I cared enough to want to know how it ended. FYI--It was happy.

summary:
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?

review: A Long Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan

pub date: August 9, 2011
publisher: Candlewick
pages: 342
format: audio
reader: Angela Dawe
appeals: future, fairy tale retelling, romance, sorta scientific
content: a few swear words--maybe ten?

thoughts:
I needed an audio book, but I wasn't sure what to listen to. So I went browsing at the library and picked this one up because the title sounded familiar. I'm sure I read something about it somewhere. Besides, I like fairy tale retellings, so I thought I'd give it a try.

The the story follows Rose, who is awoken by a boy (hehe) after 62 years hibernating in a stasis tube. Her parents are dead, and the world around her has changed quite a bit while she's been "sleeping." So she has the present she woke up in, but a long ago past that still haunts her.  

The audio was really good, too. I liked the Angela Dawe as the reader, a lot. I thought she did a good job with the male voices.

Here were my thoughts as I listened:


discs 1: This is a really interesting world that the author has created. I love well built worlds, and I think this one is well built. Very intriguing. However, where is this story going? If I had the book, I'd probably skip to the back and read the last few pages just to find out, because even after reading the summary on the jacket three times, I'm still confused on what the point of this story is.

disc 2: The plot is a little slow. Rose's present is broken up a bit by her memories from her past. It's still interesting, but a tad slow. And I still don't know where the story is going.

disc 3: Rose is a wimp. She is so spineless she's practically an amoeba. As her past unfolds, I understand why she never stands up for herself and accepts everything everyone tells/told her (especially her dead parents), but the book is a third through, when is she going to grow up? I want her to take a stand. Grow a spine.

disc 4: I am really enjoying the future technology Sheehan created for this book. It is so creative. And interesting. And very cool.


disc 5: I am so angry at the people that surround Rose and how they manipulate her, past and present. I am so angry at them! I want Rose to feel the same anger! Yet, she's still in the amoeba stage of her development. When? When will Rose break free?!!!!!


discs 6: YES!! FINALLY! Rose gets ANGRY!!!! It was long in coming, but very satisfying. I sit in my car for 30 minutes because I want to know what is going to happen. It isn't slow anymore! The pace has definitely picked up. I make myself get out of my car when the disc ends.

disc 7: Oh no! Is this the first book in the series? I had no idea it was a series! But I can see how Sheehan is setting it up for another book if she does continue it. And it's all so exciting! I like Rose when she has some bone structure. Yay Rose!

disc 8: The dreaded two words: Love. Triangle. Ack! Not in this book, but I think Sheehan is setting it up for one in the next book. And now I'm going to have to read it. I'm hooked!

summary:
Rosalinda Fitzroy has been asleep for sixty-two years when she is woken by a kiss. Locked away in the chemically induced slumber of a stasis tube in a forgotten subbasement, sixteen-year-old Rose slept straight through the Dark Times that killed millions and utterly changed the world she knew. Now, her parents and her first love are long gone, and Rose— hailed upon her awakening as the long-lost heir to an interplanetary empire— is thrust alone into a future in which she is viewed as either a freak or a threat. Desperate to put the past behind her and adapt to her new world, Rose finds herself drawn to the boy who kissed her awake, hoping that he can help her to start fresh. But when a deadly danger jeopardizes her fragile new existence, Rose must face the ghosts of her past with open eyes— or be left without any future at all.

review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

pub date: January 3, 2012
publisher: Feiwel and Friends
pages: 387
source: NetGalley
appeals: scifi, fairy tale retelling, Cinderella, future, romance, techy stuff
content: nothing that could be offensive

thoughts:
I enjoyed this book a lot. It is supposedly a retelling of Cinderella, but only loosely. The world and characters and plot were so original and exciting and fun, that if I hadn't known it was supposed to be Cinderella, I don't know if I would've thought so just by reading it. But since I did know it was Cinderella, it was fun to pick out the similarities (I especially loved the foot), and I LOVED how it was scifi. Lots of fairy tale fantasys, but this is the only fairy tale science fiction that I know about. So cool!

I really liked this world that Meyer created. There was such depth, so much that was going on outside of the Cinderella-ish plot thread. It was done really well.

I am a sap for romance in my books, and this one did not disappoint. I really enjoyed the romance between Cinder, the cyborg, and Kai, the emperor of New Beijing's son.

And Cinder herself is a very sympathetic character. She's brave and humble and compassionate and strong and a dreamer. I could empathize with her plight and hated her step-mom.

A really enjoyable read.

However, I am noticing a trend in YA, and it's liable to drive me crazy. What is with not finishing a story?!?!? I get that it's a series, but please, give me an ending! Tie off some of the plot threads! It's like Meyer wrote a novel that was 1600 pages long (goodreads says there will be four books in the series) and randomly chopped it where it felt like a nice break in the ongoing plot. Lots of authors are doing this, and it's infuriating. I expect a conclusion when I begin a book and feel cheated when I don't get one. Especially if I won't ever get one until the fourth book comes out. Arg.

summary:
Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

review: Reckless by Cornelia Funke

pub date: September 14, 2010
publisher: Little Brown Books 
pages:391
appeals: fairy tales, adventure, family
content: some violence and a lot of harsh stuff happens to the protagonists

thoughts:
I listened to this book immediately after reading Cloaked by Alex Flinn. Both books have many fairy tales meshed into one story. Both have contemporary characters dealing with fantasy creatures that they didn't know existed. And yet these two books were completely different in their execution. I just found the juxstiposion interesting in reading them back to back.

Anyway, I enjoyed this book. I picked it up for the first time last summer (I had an ARC from ALA), but didn't get past the second chapter. At the time, I just wasn't interested. I decided to give it another shot and I'm really glad I did because it was so interesting!

Funke is great at creating these alternate worlds where her everyday, modern characters escape to or have to deal with. The Mirrorworld is so cool! I loved how she revealed things about the world as the story went along. The characters are so original and interesting. The adventure is very exciting.

However...

Funke is not a very happy writer. There is always great loss to the main character, horrible sacrifice, and her endings don't end very happy. This book had a somewhat happy ending, the ties were mostly all tied, but it was still somber and sad in several instances. I cannot pick up the next in the series because I know that though the situation these characters are left in isn't the best, it will only get worse in the next installment. And I would rather leave them where they are now then have to watch them go through worse.

summary:
For years, Jacob Reckless has enjoyed the Mirrorworld’s secrets and treasures.


Not anymore.

His younger brother has followed him.

Now dark magic will turn the boy to beast, break the heart of the girl he loves, and destroy everything Jacob holds most dear. . . .

Unless he can find a way to stop it.

review: Cloaked by Alex Flinn

pub date: February 8, 2011
publisher: HarperCollins
pages: 342
source: library
appeals: fairy tale retelling, contemporary, romance, male protagonist,
content: none that I remember

thoughts:
This is only the second book I've ready by Alex Flinn, the first being Beastly, and that was many years ago. I remember enjoying Beastly, so I had hopes for this one. Hopes that were not realized.

I think Flinn does a good job of taking fairy tales and updating them to our modern times. It's great world building and entertaining. In Cloaked, I thought all of the fairy tales she brought in to this one story were fun and I enjoyed how they all entertwined.


However, I kind of thought seventeen-year-old Johnny was an idiot. Sorry, kind of harsh, but I really started to dislike him A LOT by the middle of the book. He lied, he stole, he was extremely dim-witted, and not a hero at all. He did such stupid things and got in such lame situations because of stupid decisions, that I had a hard time liking him, or even rooting for him to come out on top. I saw the consequences of his choices LOOOOONG before he did, as well as how to get out of situations he got himself into when he didn't, and it was annoying. I kept thinking, "this is who the princess chose to help her? She's just as dumb as he is." He was also extremely shallow.

At the end when they were praising how honest and upright Johnny was, I had to laugh. If that is the definition of honest and upright then the world is in a lot of trouble.

Overall, not a recommend.

summary:
I'm not your average hero. I actually wasn't your average anything. Just a poor guy working an after-school job at a South Beach shoe repair shop to help his mom make ends meet. But a little magic changed it all.

It all started with a curse. And a frognapping. And one hot-looking princess, who asked me to lead a rescue mission.

There wasn't a fairy godmother or any of that. And even though I fell in love along the way, what happened to me is unlike any fairy tale I've ever heard. Before I knew it, I was spying with a flock of enchanted swans, talking (yes, talking!) to a fox named Todd, and nearly trampled by giants in the Everglades.

Don't believe me? I didn't believe it either. But you'll see. Because I knew it all was true, the second I got cloaked.

review: Prom and Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg

pub date: January 1, 2011
publisher: Point
pages: 288
appeals: Jane Austen, boarding school, romance, retelling
content: clean

thoughts:
What a darling story. I loved it!

I enjoyed how the story followed the original story of Pride and Prejudice, but was also very original with it's own personality. Set in a modern day boarding for rich snobs, it was really fun to see rich Will Darcy take to poor (by rich standards) Lizzie Bennet.

All the characters were spot on: Jane, Charlotte, Colin, Darcy, Bingley, and Lydia. They were all so great.

I really liked how Darcy's family played into the plot. My favorite part of this book is also my favorite in the original: when Lizzie gets to meet Darcy on his turf, away from Miss Bingley, and when he, in turn, meets Lizzie on her own turf. *Sigh* So sweet.

This book is for fans of the original as well those who aren't. Such a fun romance.

summary:
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single girl of high standing at Longbourn Academy must be in want of a prom date.

After winter break, the girls at very prestigious, girls-only Longbourn Academy are obsessed with the prom, which they share with the equally elitist, all-boys Pemberly school. Lizzie Bennett, who attends Longbourn on scholarship, isn't interested in designer dresses and expensive shoes, but her best friend, Jane, might be - especially now that Charles Bingley is back from a semester in London.

review: Entwined by Heather Dixon

pub date: March 29, 2011
publisher: Greenwillow Books
pages: 480
source: audiobook from library
appeals: fairy tale retelling, princess,
content: clean

thoughts:
I went on a road trip to southern Utah a few weekends ago with my friend Jaye, and we listened to this book on the drive. I'm not sure if we would've kept listening after the first disk if we'd had a backup audiobook, but we didn't. So we stuck it out with this one.

It wasn't that we didn't enjoy the book, because we did. It was just a slower novel and would've been a great one to read, not so great to listen to (for my tastes). If I'd read it at my own pace and not the audio reader's pace, I would've enjoyed it a lot more.

I loved the world building. Azalea's world and the history of her castle and kingdom were very well described and created and developed. It was a well developed plot. Dixon's language was absolutely beautiful. I have no complaints with the writing of the story.  It really is gorgeous story telling. I enjoy fairy tale retellings. I love when an author builds on the original, but infuses it with originality, and that is exactly what Dixon did.

With so many sisters I found it extremely helpful how the princesses were named: after flowers, in alphabetical order. So very helpful. They each had their own personality and habits and were definitly individuals.

The 12 princesses did, at times, really get on my nerves. They made dumb decisions that were irritating and that I didn't understand. Especially at the end. And they were mean to their dad. Poor man. I got that they were disappointed in him after the death of their mother, but he was mourning in his own way and the daughters were just plain mean. Urg. I felt bad for the king and angry at the princesses.

Probably more a 3.5 star book, I'll round up to 4. Solid world building, interesting and original plot.

summary:
Azalea is trapped. Just when she should feel that everything is before her . . . beautiful gowns, dashing suitors, balls filled with dancing . . . it's taken away. All of it.


The Keeper understands. He's trapped, too, held for centuries within the walls of the palace. And so he extends an invitation.

Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest.

But there is a cost.

The Keeper likes to keep things.


Azalea may not realize how tangled she is in his web until it is too late.