Grounded: The Adventures of Rapunzel by Megan Morrison

(Tyme #1)
5 stars
YF- emotionally complex, so maybe err on the side of older elementary

Wow.

That. Was. So. Weird.

(Seriously... I know I said Woman in the Wall was weird [it totally was] and Big Bad Fox.... but dang.)

But.  Weird does not equal bad.

And I couldn't actually find a reason not to give it 5 stars.

It is seriously emotionally complex... in a Stockholm Syndrome "dang people need therapy" kind of a way... but it's so well handled in the text.

(It's actually totally got a Star Wars arc going on-- naive hero, brooding bad guy, "maybe there is some good in you after all"....)

I'm shocked and impressed that this is a debut novel.

This is a retelling of Rapunzel, but it's not like any other retelling you've read.

(At least it's not like any I've read... if you find that it IS like one you've read, give me that title.)

Overall.  Read it.

While Beauty Slept by Elizabeth Blackwell

5 stars
r- 2? (honestly... I can't remember, lol.)
Reader's Choice (Feb-May 2015)

I need to own this one.

To say I loved it is possibly an understatement.

It was dark.  It was haunting.  It was lyrical.  It was beautiful.

And in stripping the fantasy out of the fairy tale, Blackwell actually created a story that was all the more powerful.

There is power in the ordinary.

Really the only other thing I can say about this book is GO READ IT.

The Runaway Princess by Kate Coombs

5 stars
JF

An absolutely delightful story about a princess who refuses to "behave" and instead decides to not only disrupt but win the competition to win her own hand. :)

From deciding to warn the witch to taking in a baby dragon... to being mistaken for the witch!  What a wild ride.

I love this tale of the disobedient Meg and her loyal friends.  

Naturally she saves the kingdom as well as herself.

Must read for anyone who loves turning the "damsel in distress" tales on their heads.

Cinder and Ella by Melissa Lemon

2.5 stars
YF
VERY dark
(Local author)

I wanted to love this book.  I love Cinderella retellings.

But I struggled with the first half or so... I found the characters difficult to like and the plot poorly developed.  It was compelling enough, but if I stopped to think about any of it, it started falling apart.  Nothing held up under closer scrutiny.

And then, a little past half-way or so, the symbolism reached right out of the book and smacked me upside the head.

Once you see it as a strictly symbolic tale, I guess it's not as bad.  At least a lot about it makes more sense.

Assuming you like that kind of thing.

Which I don't.

So really, it didn't get better for me.  Possibly it even got worse.  Realizing that the characters are meant as types rather than actual people didn't help me like them more.  It didn't make their relationships work any better.  It explained why they were written that way, but that didn't help.

Now, I'm making a lot of assumptions about the author's intent here.  Everything I'm saying seems crazy in-your-face obvious to me, but literature is subjective.  So maybe it's just me.

Either way, be aware that this is a very dark tale.  I don't intend to have Boo even try it.  I think it actually should possibly be classified as YA instead of YF.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go read something nice and fluffy...

Princess of the Silver Woods by Jessica Day George

5 stars
Sequel to Princess of the Midnight Ball and Princess of Glass

The 12 sisters are back, but this time it's Petunia's story.

An interesting combination of tales.... part Little Red Riding Hood, but also part Robin Hood.

I wasn't sure I was as interested in Petunia... she's so young in the first book, but I liked her a lot.

I love these books.  All three of them really need to go on my "To own" list.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

5 stars
R- 0
YA

A very interesting, enjoyable book.

Predictable, but not in a bad way.

A sci-fi almost post-apocalyptic retelling of Cinderella.  (I want to call in steampunk, but it's really not.)

Definitely recommended.  Can't wait to read the sequel!

Copy received for review.

The Council of Mirrors by Michael Buckley

5 stars
JF
The Sisters Grimm book 9

So now friends, we have come to the end.

A highly satisfactory conclusion, I must say.

Not only is the conflict with the Scarlet Hand finished up, we get a couple of fun glimpses of the future.

You MUST read the other books first.  Nothing will make sense otherwise.

Definitely recommended.  Boo read the first one and then decided they were too scary, so depending on the child, they might want to wait until age 9 or 10.

ALSO- A Very Grimm Guide is an AWESOME companion book.  However, if read before the first 8 books there are some serious spoilers, so consider it book 8.5. :)

Princess of Glass by Jessica Day George

5 stars
YF
Sequel to Princess of the Midnight Ball

Loved this sequel!

Poppy is highly entertaining-- I kind of wish this weren't the only book specifically about her.

A very interesting twist on Cinderella.

Read the first one first, but don't miss this one.

:)

Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George

5 stars
yf
Beehive nominee
Local author

The Twelve Dancing Princesses is not actually a fairy tale I'm very familiar with, but I loved this treatment of it.

I can't believe it's taken me this long to read it.

Extra bonus, the cover is gorgeous.  As are the covers of the other two-- Princess of Glass and Princess of the Silver Woods (due out later this year! Hooray!)

Overall, totally recommended.  Highly enjoyed.  Stayed up too late reading it. :D

Tales of Beedle the Bard by JK Rowling

3 stars

I just really didn't love this. 

The stories are good, but the commentary didn't always make sense to me.  Didn't seem in character.

Could be that I haven't read any of the Harry Potters in quite a while, but whatever.

Just kind of blah.

:)

The Wide Awake Princess by ED Baker

5 stars

Okay, so I actually read this retelling of Sleeping Beauty before I read the Frog Princess books, but my reviews are all out of order lately as I play catch up.

LOVED LOVED LOVED LOVED this book.  Really actually liked it so much better than the Frog Princess books.

I would give this book like 9 stars if I could, lol.

Possibly one of the best retellings I have read... ever.

And no, it's not actually about Sleeping Beauty, but about her little sister. :)

SO recommended.

The Princess Test (and others) by Gail Carson Levine

The Princess Test
Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep
The Fairy's Return
For Biddle's Sake
The Fairy's Mistake

I love these books.

Quick and quirky, these are fairy tales as they were meant to be.

Totally recommended for anyone and everyone.

(Please note that Levine has others in this collection as well, these are just the ones I read recently.)

The Frog Princess (series) by E D Baker

*Note-- sorry about the lack of pictures lately... Blogger hates me.*

E D Baker's Frog Princess series consists of 8 books, which divide into three categories:

The Frog Princess Books

These are the first 4 books in the series: The Frog Princess, Dragon's Breath, Once Upon A Curse and No Place for Magic.  They are the books actually about the frog princess (Emma) and prince (Eadric).

I enjoyed them-- 4 stars each, but the upper end of 4 stars, you know?

They're fun, light adventures.

Lots of kissing, though, lol.  After spending so much time as a frog searching for a princess to kiss him, Eadric has a bad habit of asking for a kiss all the time.

I think Once Upon A Curse was my favorite of the four, but you do want to read them in order.

The Prequel

Salamander Spell is a prequel to the series, but not the kind of prequel you want to read first.  It make more sense if you read it after the first four.

The book follows Emma's mother and aunt when they were young, but mostly the aunt.

I enjoyed this one a whole lot more than I expected.  I was initially disappointed that it wasn't about Emma and Eadric and wasn't sure I cared about Grassina's story all that much, but it was fun.

Again- 4 stars.

The Dragon Princess books

The final three books in the series are also not about Emma and Eadric, but about their daughter, Millie.  Obviously they take place years later.

Dragon Princess, Dragon Kiss and A Prince Among Frogs are still fun and on Goodreads I still put 4 stars, but I rounded up.  More like 3.5 stars each.

I simply did not like Millie.

Dragon Kiss was the one I liked the best-- mostly because Millie wasn't in it much.  Terrible thing to say, but the girl drove me nuts.



Overall, it's a fun series and totally worth the read.  Boo read a little bit of one of them, but I think she'll be more interested in a year or two.  I really liked the first half of the series better, though.

Boo Review: Cinderellis and the Glass Hill by Gail Carson Levine

The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant

5 stars
R-0

Really really enjoyed this book.  I felt it was quite well-written.

Loved the setting and the sprinkles of German-- trotted out my rusty high school German. lol

There are loose ends and unanswered questions at the end, but since the narrator is a young woman relating what happened several years earlier when she was a child, it works.  You don't feel like things were missed, it's just that the narrator doesn't have the answers.

A warning, though, it is a bit darker than I expected.  Maybe I just didn't read the summary closely, but I expected a lighter book.

Overall, it feels a lot like a modern fairy tale.  Definitely recommended.

(This is a Reader's Choice book!)

Red Hood's Revenge by Jim C Hines

4 Stars
R- 3

Another fun adventure in the world of "if the Grimm fairy tales met Charlie's Angels".

The "angels" in this case being Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. :)

Favorite line:
"You're telling me Little Red Riding Hood wants to kill me?"

And, of course, the answer is yes, since the Lady of the Red Hood is an assassin.

(Okay, technically Cinderella says that and she's not really the target, but still.)

LOTS of Sleeping Beauty in this one.  We get to learn a lot more about Talia's backstory.

All in all, a good fun read.

Read the others first, though, because the characters are really well-established by this point.

Counts for the Support Your Local Library Challenge!!

Sisters Red Discussion

Here's my response to the questions NotNessie posed about Sisters Red (my answers in purple).  This q/a has some MAJOR SERIOUS SPOILERS so stop reading now if you don't want to know!

-Was the book scarier than you were expecting?  No, in fact after hearing people say it was really dark and graphic, it ended not being as bad as I was expecting.


-Which of the two sisters did you relate to more? Why?  I'm not really sure I relate to either of them.  I think everyone feels on the outside sometimes and, let's face it, all women have something about their physical appearance that they'd like to change, but both of them seemed to take feelings to extremes a bit.

-What did you think of the relationship dynamics between Scarlett and Rosie?  Believable, if somewhat dysfunctional.  At some point, Scarlett really had to let go.  Something was bound to pull Rosie away sooner or later, since she wasn't as obsessed as her sister.

-Obviously this wasn't a straight up fairy tale retelling, but what did you think of the way the bits of Red Riding Hood were worked in?  I liked it.  The basket of cookies in the woods stuff was kind of fun. 

-What was your favorite moment in the story?  I liked Rosie's origami class.  The sudden blissful feeling of "this is what it is to be normal" and the chipping away with each fold of paper.... I really liked the way that was written.

-Was there anything about the book you really didn't like?  Scarlett got on my nerves.  Rosie too, sometimes, but not as much as Scarlett.  And the romance was a little lame, but that's alright.  I also found bits really predictable (like the romance) and other bits just not explained well at all.  (WHY does Oma March know all about the Fenris?  Somehow I doubt Pa Reynolds mentioned it in casual conversation....)

-Did you see the ending coming, or was it a surprise?  The thing with Silas?  Nah, I'd already thought of it.  I really wasn't surprised.  And his whole getting bitten and then "oh wait, it's after 11:41", kind of lame.  And I'd already figured out that if the fight was long enough the wolves would run out of time before biting him.  Does anyone else find it really weird that the moon phase ended at precisely 11:41?  Or was it just me?

ETA- I kind of thought Scarlett was going to die in the end.  Of course, that's before I realized there will likely be a sequel, which you couldn't do without Scarlett.

-Did you like the ending?  Um.... yes and no.  The stuff with Silas and the final fight and all was fine, but the epilogue thing with Scarlett back in the dingy apartment and Silas and Rosie traveling the world, I didn't love that.  It was interestingly written (though confusing at 1 in the morning...) but I had issues with a) Rosie's only 16, people! b) why did Scarlett leave the cottage? Did they just leave the cottage empty? and c) what exactly are they living on? They don't get paid to hunt and the money from Silas' house is only going to get you so far traveling the world.

What are your thoughts?  Did YOU like the ending?  Tell me what you think in the comments and find more discussion over at Today's Adventure!

ETA (again)-- WHAT IF Silas HAD been bitten and become a Fenris???  It may have been a more interesting ending if they had to find a way to save his soul......
What do you think?

Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce

3.5 Stars
R- 1

First of all, let's talk about the cover.  Slightly creepy, which totally fits the book, and totally stinkin' AWESOME!!  Gorgeous.

Now the story.  A dark, contemporary retelling of Red Riding Hood, this book focuses on the March sisters, their woodsman friend Silas, and the Fenris they hunt.

Fenris is an awkward word.

Scarlett is the older sister.  Scarred from an attach when they were children, she is obsessed with hunting and continuing to protect Rosie.

Rosie is younger and beautiful.  She barely remembers the attack that changed their lives and hunts out of obligation to her sister more than because she loves it.

Silas is the son of a woodsman, but actually finished high school rather than dropping out for a woodsman apprentice.  Which is half of why his siblings won't speak to him.  Which, as far as I'm concerned, means his siblings are idiots.

I really really wish I loved this book.  I wanted to, but Scarlett bugged me, Rosie was mildly annoying, Silas felt less solid as a character (though that's probably more just because nothing is from his point of view.  The narration trades off between the sisters.), and I wish there had been some more explanations about why they know about the Fenris to begin with.

The romance was a bit predictable and a little lame, as were parts of the major fight at the end.  And I really didn't love the epilogue.

It wasn't terrible and maybe I'm overthinking it, but it just didn't quite click for me.

Stay-tuned for a discussion (here and across other participating blogs) on Thursday!

(Counts for the Support Your Local Library challenge)

Seriously Silly Stories!! by Laurence Anholt

Wow, I'm posting late today!!  These silly story reviews are part of the fabulous Once Upon A Week!



Shampoozel by Laurence Anholt
Illustrated by Arthur Robins

Oh my word!  This retelling of Rapunzel is HILARIOUS!!

Filled with drawings reminiscent of a Roald Dahl book and some seriously BAD hair puns, it is nothing short of hysterical.  I haven't gotten a chance to read it to my kids yet, but I know for certain that Boo is going to crack up.

I know I did!





Ghostyshocks and the Three Scares by Laurence Anholt

Illustrated by Arthur Robins

Again, HYSTERICAL!  Oh my gosh!

Love the bears and LOVE LOVE LOVE the resolution at the end.  This has to be the best retelling of Goldilocks EVER.

Seriously.  You really must go read this one.



HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend both of these, especially for kids ages.... oh, 3-99.  :)

Find more great Once Upon A Week posts by visiting Today's Adventure!!

Once Upon a Week!! Woohoo!!

Welcome to Once Upon a Week!!

This awesome week devoted to all things Fairy Tale is hosted by NotNessie at Today's Adventure!

Stay tuned all week for Fairy Tale reviews and discussions, including everyone's take on our group read Sisters Red.

You can see lots of links to participants over at Today's Adventure, along with other fun stuff!

(BTW, isn't that gorgeous?!!  Not sure who did the banner/button thingy this year, but serious major kudos!!)

So, I will have a review tomorrow on some awesome silly fairy tale rewrites!!  Plus other reviews and such all week!