Dearest Book Review

Dearest
Alethea Kontis

Rating (out of 5): 5
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy/Fairy Tale
Release Date: February 3, 2015
Series: The Woodcutter Sisters
Series Volume: 3
Profanity: Very Mild
Violence: Mild
Sexual Content: None
Age Recommendation: 8+
Author Website: Alethea Kontis

Summary:

“A fabulous fairy-tale mashup that deserves hordes of avid readers. Absolutely delectable.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review of award-winning series debut Enchanted

Readers met the Woodcutter sisters (named after the days of the week) in Enchanted and Hero. In this delightful third book, Alethea Kontis weaves together some fine-feathered fairy tales to focus on Friday Woodcutter, the kind and loving seamstress. When Friday stumbles upon seven sleeping brothers in her sister Sunday’s palace, she takes one look at Tristan and knows he’s her future. But the brothers are cursed to be swans by day. Can Friday’s unique magic somehow break the spell?

Review:

Alethea Kontis gets better with every book she writes. I fell in love with the Woodcutter sisters in Enchanted, fell in deeper with Hero, and have completely lost myself in Dearest. Friday’s story was endearing and wonderful. It doesn’t hurt that the story focused on some of my favorite fairy tales as well: The Wild Swans and The Goose Girl.

The story picks up just before Saturday broke the world and we get to see what the rest of her family was doing while she was away. In the wake of the disaster Friday takes it upon herself to care for all of the children in the families who’ve been misplaced by the giant ocean. Eventually she stumbles upon Tristan and his brothers sleeping in the castle’s tower, there is an immediate connection between the two and Friday sets out to help break their curse. This sets in motion a chain of events that will take Friday further than she’d ever imagined, and teaches her more about herself and love than she ever would have staying at home.

Friday’s story is my favorite of the Woodcutter Sisters series so far. Her adventure is exciting and delightful and also very funny. It was wonderful to see her blossom from the quiet character I’d seen her as in previous books to a confident woman who was willing to go to great lengths to save those she cared about.

It’s often difficult to juggle multiple characters but Alethea does it with great ease. Tristan along with each of his siblings were all wonderful characters, each with their own personalities. The other characters included in this book were all enjoyable as well, I found myself particularly drawn to Conrad and Friday’s darlings, Michael, John, and Wendy (yes like in Peter Pan). I also was delighted to see more of Sunday, Rumbold, Monday, and many of the other characters I’ve come to love in the previous books.

As with all of the books in her Woodcutters series Alethea Kontis weaves together a multitude of different fairy tales and stories creating one that both delights and surprises. I’m well versed in the original versions of The Wild Swans and The Goose Girl and I still found myself surprised by each and every cleaver twist in the story.

Dearest will make you laugh and it will make you cry. It is a love story and an adventure. For those who’ve already read the first two books in this series I highly recommend that you get Dearest as soon as you can. For those who haven’t read the series and found this review at all intriguing please start with Enchanted (book 1) or this one won’t make very much sense. But read Dearest (or Enchanted) if you like romance, adventure, magic, fairy tales, or just a really good read. You won’t regret it.

Note: I reccieved an electronic copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my fair and honest opinion which I have stated above.

~Dawn

Big News!

Hello all! I wanted to let you know that I will be moving all of my posts on this blog to my new website Matina's Bookcase.

This website will be much the same as the blogger just with a different name. I will still be posting book reviews, writing stuff, and other fun tidbits so don't think I'm going anywhere.

For the time being I will still post reviews here as well, but all of my reviews will also be posted there. Most links will redirect you to Matina's Bookcase as well.

Thanks for sticking with me through all of the moves and changes going on lately!

~Dawn

The Book of Ivy Announcment and Giveaway!

The Book of Ivy by Amy Engel 

Releasing November 11, 2014

This post is to make you all aware of a really interesting book that will be coming out in November of this year (yep just a few weeks away guys). It's called The Book of Ivy by Amy Engel and I can't tell you how excited I am for this book to come out.

I've had my eye on it a while and am planning on putting up a review as soon as I get my hands on a copy, but until then I wanted to make sure as many people knew about it as possible before it comes out. So without further ado here is all the information you need to know about The Book of Ivy, and if you haven't already scroll back up and watch the awesome book trailer.



Book synopsis:


After a brutal nuclear war, the United States was left decimated. A small group of survivors eventually banded together, but only after more conflict over which family would govern the new nation. The Westfalls lost. Fifty years later, peace and control are maintained by marrying the daughters of the losing side to the sons of the winning group in a yearly ritual.


This year, it is my turn.


My name is Ivy Westfall, and my mission is simple: to kill the president’s son—my soon-to-be husband—and return the Westfall family to power.


But Bishop Lattimer is either a very skilled actor or he’s not the cruel, heartless boy my family warned me to expect. He might even be the one person in this world who truly understands me. But there is no escape from my fate. I am the only one who can restore the Westfall legacy.


Because Bishop must die. And I must be the one to kill him…


You can purchase a copy of the book here:

• Amazon: http://amzn.to/1mj5PXZ
• B&N: http://bit.ly/BoIBN
•  iTunes: http://bit.ly/BoIiTunes
• Kobo: http://bit.ly/BoIKobo 

And read some great reviews here:

Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20640755-the-book-of-ivy?ac=1


About Amy Engel:


Amy Engel was born in Kansas and after a childhood spent bouncing between countries (Iran, Taiwan) and states (Kansas, California, Missouri, Washington, D.C.), she settled in Kansas City, Missouri where she lives with her husband and two kids. Before devoting herself full time to motherhood and writing, she was a criminal defense attorney, which is not quite as exciting as it looks on TV. When she has a free moment, she can usually be found reading, running, or shoe shopping.


Find Amy online:

• Website: http://amyengel.net 
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/aengelwrites

And that's all! I hope by now you guys are as excited for this book as I am! It comes out on November 11, but if you want a free copy before then follow this link to enter to win a free copy of the book:

   

    Goodreads Book Giveaway  

           

     

          The Book of Ivy      

          by Amy Engel      

         
            Giveaway ends November 04, 2014.          
         
            See the giveaway details             at Goodreads.          
     

Enter to win

~Dawn

My first book

Everyone! 

I am excited to announce to you all that I will shortly be self publishing a book of my own! It's a collection of short stories that I've been working on over the years. I've finally got enough to compile into something that I can share with others and that is what I have decided to do!

The short stories are all fairy tale retellings and continuations of classic favorites including Snow White, The Little Mermaid, The Wild Swans, and last but certainly not least The Goose Girl. I am excited about this and I hope you all are as well.

As things get closer to completion I will keep you all updated with things like book covers, titles, and a sure to be exciting summary. In anticipation of all of that I wanted to share a short excerpt from my Little Mermaid continuation entitled A Mermaid's Tale:

Shades of Milk and Honey Book Review

Shades of Milk and Honey

Mary Robinette Kowal

Rating (out of 5): 5

Genre: Fantasy

Release Date: August 3, 2010

Series: Glamourist Histories
Series Number: 1

Profanity: None

Violence: None

Sexual Content: None 

Age Recommendation: 14 +

Author Website: http://maryrobinettekowal.com/





Summary:

The fantasy novel you’ve always wished Jane Austen had written

Shades of Milk and Honey is exactly what we could expect from Jane Austen if she had been a fantasy writer: Pride and Prejudice meets Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. It is an intimate portrait of a woman, Jane, and her quest for love in a world where the manipulation of glamour is considered an essential skill for a lady of quality.

Jane and her sister Melody vie for the attentions of eligible men, and while Jane’s skill with glamour is remarkable, it is her sister who is fair of face. When Jane realizes that one of Melody’s suitors is set on taking advantage of her sister for the sake of her dowry, she pushes her skills to the limit of what her body can withstand in order to set things right—and, in the process, accidentally wanders into a love story of her own.

Review:

Initially Shades of Milk and Honey caught my attention with it's beautiful cover and curious blurb, 'The fantasy novel you've always wished Jane Austen had written'? As a Jane Austen fan I knew I had to read it. And after starting the book it didn't take me very long to realize how true that statement had been. 

Shades of Milk and Honey reads, feels, and is every inch something I could see Jane Austen herself penning if she'd ever had the inkling to write a fantasy. Mary Robert Kowal does a great job of capturing the time period and language of of the late 18th and early 19th century. Her writing is beautiful and the story flows in the general shape of an Austen novel. One of the things that the author does in this book is keep it very clean there is little to no profanity and absolutely no explicit content of any kind. This makes it a safe read for the young, old, and anyone in between.

The story itself was very well written. I tend to really enjoy books written in this time period so it's no wonder that I loved each of the little secrets that were revealed and I enjoyed getting to see each of the characters grow and change through the story as well. Mary Robert Kowal's pacing kept me interested even in places where the story could have stalled or at least grown stale. And by the end it had picked up to such a pace that I felt like I was reading as fast as Jane was riding to catch up to her family.

All of Kowal's characters shine in their own way and for different reasons. She does an excellent job of really making each character feel fleshed out even if they have very little time in the story. Jane and her sister Melody stood out to me in the way their relationship played out. It wasn't the perfect relationship I sometimes come across in books, and it wasn't a constantly stormy one like I encounter in others. It had it's ups and it's downs like any sisters would. Jane herself stood out to me because she had flaws and readily stated that she did, she also often acted out of jealously and love. Her character felt the truest to me of all of the wonderful characters populating Shades of Milk and Honey. Vincent however came off a little odd to me, he just didn't pull my attention like many male leads do. That's not to say I didn't enjoy his character, I did. I just felt like he could have been a little more in the story, but I believe that will be rectified in later books. 

Kowal's incorporation of glamour into the story is done in such a way that I felt like I'd always lived life with people around me able to manipulate glamour. She didn't waste time explaining it or trying to get readers to understand exactly how it worked she simply wove it into the story naturally.  While glamour played a large part in the story I don't think it did it in such a way that would alienate readers who are either not familiar with fantasy or don't care for it.

Shades of Milk and Honey turned out to be a wonderful find for me, and I am eager to read the rest of this sure to be astounding series. I'd recommended it to Jane Austen fans and fantasy fans alike. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did.

~Dawn  

Blackout Poetry

I’ve heard of turning books into clocks and using them to make lamps, but I’ve never seen them recycled in such a creative way as I’ve recently discovered. I was scrolling through my Instagram feed late one night and ran across an image that made me pause. Three words stood out surrounded by black marker: You. Are. Loved. 

What about this simple sentence stopped me? Well first it was the marker, and then I noticed that the words weren’t lined up as they should be, they were scattered across the image as if they’d been picked off a page at random. 

 

It turns out that’s exactly what happened. I had stumbled upon a quickly growing art from known as Blackout Poetry. This art form takes recycling a book to the next level by using a previously written piece of text and turning it into a poem all its own. Blackout poetry is being popularized by two individuals, Austin Kleon and John Carroll. These two artists have really made blackout poetry popular and their websites are worth a look, I’ll post links at the end of this post if you’d like to see what they are up to.

What I love about blackout poetry is the message that these two individuals are trying to share through it, messages of hope and of creativity. That’s not to say you can’t use it to create something funny or serious. I wholeheartedly recommend you do whatever you want with it, just have fun. 

Another thing I love about it is that it is simple for anyone to do, all you need is an old book, newspaper, or magazine and a sharpie. Once you’ve got your supplies all you have to do is open up the book (newspaper, ect.) and scan it for words or lines of text that pop out to you on the page. All that’s left to do is outline those words and black out the rest of the text. What you’re left with is a poem done in one of the most creative ways I’ve seen. 

Now I know that there are people out there who don’t like to write poetry, maybe it’s difficult for you to write or you can never think of a good idea, I know for me it’s both of those. Blackout poetry makes creating poetry fun. I say creating because you’re not really writing it, you are creating it based on words that have already been written. 

 

I had my writing group do this as an in group activity the other day and even the few that were steadfastly against poetry had a blast with this project. One even ended up creating more blackout poems than the rest of us. So just because poetry ‘isn’t your thing’ don’t discount the fun of making blackout poetry. Give it a try and tell me what you thought of it.

~ Dawn

Austin Kleon’s website: http://austinkleon.com/

 

John Carroll’s website: http://www.makeblackoutpoetry.com/

Doctor Who The Crawling Terror Review

Doctor Who: The Crawling Terror

Mike Tucker

Rating (out of 5): 5

Genre: Science Fiction

Release Date: September 9, 2014

Series: Doctor Who 

Profanity:Mild

Violence: Mild

Sexual Content: None 

Age Recommendation: 15 +

Author Information:
http://www.themodelunit.co.uk/
and
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Mike_Tucker


 Summary:

"Well, I doubt you'll ever see a bigger insect."
Gabby Nichols is putting her son to bed when she hears her daughter cry out. 'Mummy there's a daddy longlegs in my room!' Then the screaming starts... Alan Travers is heading home from the pub when something rushes his face - a  spider's web. Then something huge and deadly lumbers from the shadows... Kevin Alperton is on his way to school when he is attacked by a mosquito. A big one. Then things get dangerous.

But it isn't the dead man cocooned inside a huge mass of web that worries the Doctor. It isn't the swarming, mutated insects that make him nervous. It isn't an old man's garbled memories of past dangers that intrigue him.

With the village cut off from the outside world, and the insects becoming more and more dangerous, the Doctor knows that no one is safe. Not unless he can decode the strange symbols engraved on an ancient stone circle, and unravel a mystery dating back to the Second World War.

Review:

The Crawling Terror is the first Doctor Who book I've read featuring the 12th Doctor as portrayed by Peter Capaldi. This book did a great job of highlighting some of the new Doctor's personality traits and using them to really fuel the story. It follows a basic Who plot line, with the Doctor and Clara getting involved in a situation that is far larger than they first realized. The story starts fast paced and never lets up pulling readers along on an adventure that takes them from a tiny town to far off planets and back in time to WWII.

Despite the basic plot the story really takes off and deals with some of the more interesting qualities of the new Doctor. Mainly his aversion to/ irritation with soldiers.Soldiers play a key role in the entire plot of The Crawling Terror and it's wonderful to see how the Doctor reacts to each new situation with them. Clara's relationship with the Doctor is also explored briefly. For a lot of the book I felt like Clara wasn't getting as much time seen as she could, but by the end she really got her chance to shine and I felt like it made up for the lack of her in the beginning.

This story takes place sometime after the second episode of the new series of Doctor Who. I began reading it shortly after watching the first episode and I was a little confused on a few points because there are a few things mentioned that take place in Into the Dalek. I would recommend watching at least the first two episodes before diving into this book and not using it as an introduction to Capaldi's doctor.

I really liked the fact that the Doctor did use the TARDIS to go back in time in this book. It's the first time I've seen him do that in one of the DW novels and I really enjoyed getting to see it utilized for more than just the opening and closing of a book. Not to say that the TARDIS doesn't play key roles in other Doctor Who novels, I just really liked the way it was used here.

Overall The Crawling Terror was a great addition to the Doctor Who franchise. I really enjoyed it and would read it again. I was introduced to the Doctor Who novels with Mike Tucker's earlier DW book The Nightmare of Black Island and I'm glad to have had my first 12th Doctor book experience from the same talented author.

I would recommended this book to any Doctor Who fan, just as long as you've seen a few episodes of the new season. It truly has the feel of Doctor Who.

Note: I received an electronic copy of this book from Netgalley for my fair and honest review which I have stated above.

~Dawn

The Diamond Thief Review

The Diamond Thief

Sharon Gosling

Rating (out of 5):5

Genre:Young Adult

Release Date: October 1, 2014

Series: Diamond Thief

Series Volume: 1

Profanity: Very Mild

Violence:Very Mild

Sexual Content:Very Mild

Age Recommendation: 14+

Author Website: http://sharongosling.wordpress.com/





Summary: 

No one performs on the circus trapeze like 16-year-old Rémy Brunel. But Rémy also leads another life, prowling through the backstreets of Victorian London as a jewel thief. When she is forced to steal one of the world’s most valuable diamonds, she uncovers a world of treachery and fiendish plots.

Meanwhile, young detective Thaddeus Rec is determined to find the jewel and clear his name. Will Thaddeus manage to rescue the jewel? Or is it really Rémy that he needs to save?

Review:

I've said before that I have a weakness for a good thief story and so it comes as no surprise that I was immediately attracted to The Diamond Thief. The fact that it was also set in Victorian London with a steam punk/fantasy twist had me hooked almost before I began reading it. And after I finished it I loved it even more.

I really enjoyed the story, it could have gone many different ways and still been wonderful, but I like the direction Sharon Gosling took it in. I really enjoyed the sprinkle of both steam punk and a little bit of fantasy into the story. There were so many mysteries dotted through the story I had fun wondering which would tie into what and how everything would turn out. There were a few moments where I wondered why a character was brought in so suddenly or how someone could have possibly survived a few of the more crazy situations but overall I really enjoyed the story.

The characters were all very fun to get to know as well. I really enjoyed Rémy's fiery attitude and Thaddeus was absolutely charming with his always do the right thing attitude. I also really enjoyed the other characters especially J and Desai. J was endearing while Desai had a mysterious charm to him that I'd love to see more of in the next book. The only character who really bothered me was the Professor, his personality seemed to shift a little too often for me.

Another thing I loved about this book was the dialog and syntax. Many times when I'm reading everyone sounds the same when they speak. This was not the case in the Diamond Thief. The cast of characters were from many different places and walks of life and the way they spoke reflected that. This aspect of the book was one of the charms that really made me like it.

There were a few plot holes and many things that seemed too easy or coincidental through this book. Despite that I really enjoyed reading this book and I am eager to see the next one. I hope that the holes in this book will be fixed in the next book and I am eager to read The Ruby Airship. I see a lot of potential in Sharon Gosling and I hope to see more from her. 

I would recommend this book to teens about 14+. mostly because there is a little coarse language in the book but it is infrequent and very mild when used. Anyone looking for a light read, a steam punk adventure, a Victorian era book, or even a little romance should take a look at The Diamond Thief.


Note: I received an electronic copy of this book from Netgalley for my fair and honest review which I have stated above.

~Dawn

Princess of the Silver Woods Book Review

Princess of the Silver Woods

Jessica Day George 

Rating (out of 5): 5

Genre: Fantasy 

Release Date: December 11, 2012

Series: Twelve Dancing Princesses 

Series Volume: 3

Profanity: Very Mild (if any)

Violence: Mild

Sexual Content: None 

Age Recommendation: 12 +

Author Website: http://www.jessicadaygeorge.com/

Summary (found on Author's website):

Princess Petunia has been kidnapped! Except...it was really more like an accident. Oliver, the leader of a band of thieves known as the Wolves of the Westfalin Woods, didn't mean to do it. And now he must make things right. He will confess to the king and deliver the princess to the grand duchess's estate.

But Petunia's safety is far from secured. As children, she and her eleven sisters had been cursed to dance endlessly at the midnight ball of the fearsome King Under Stone. Troubling dreams of the ball are once again haunting Petunia, and she can't be sure they are mere nightmares. When she and her sisters fall into a carefully laid trap, who but a handsome woodsman can save the day?

Jessica Day George's romantic and adventurous new tale is part Little Red Riding Hood, part Twelve Dancing Princesses, and wholly enchanting.

Review:

Princess of the Silver Woods is the third installment of Jessica Day George’s fantastic Princess of the Midnight Ball series. This book focuses on the youngest of the 12 sisters, Petunia. When she first appeared in Princesses of the Midnight Ball she was very young so I was excited to see how she’d progressed. We also get to see more of her other sisters and get a glimpse into their lives and what’s been going on since the events of the previous two books. 

Petunia has grown up to be quite loveable. She is dead set on making it on her own and can be deadly with her pistol when needed, but she’s not quite as tough as Poppy. When the story starts she is on her way to meet old friends.  Her plans run awry when her carriage is attacked by a pack of wolves, or rather a pack of thieves calling themselves the Westfalin wolves. Things are further thrown into disarray when she finds out the reason they are robbing carriages and meets their handsome leader, Oliver. Her spunk seems to fade a little bit as the book progresses, but she never loses her charm. 

Oliver as a character is your pretty basic ‘prince’ and while others may see him as bland I thought he was perfect for Petunia. This story was more about action and unraveling the mystery behind the Palace Under Stone and I thought Oliver fell into place very well with how late he’d been pulled into the girl’s predicament.

As with the other two books in this series Jessica Day George paints a beautiful story filled with romance, adventure, mystery, and suspense.

Princess of the Silver Woods is a perfect finish to this series. In this book we finally get to find out more about the origins of the King Under Stone and his sons as well as unravel more of the mystery behind the curse the sisters have been fighting against since the first book. I was very excited to see the big reveal and it wasn’t anywhere near a disappointment.  

Princess of the Silver Woods was a great wrap up for this whole series. I really enjoyed seeing all of the princesses back, and loved getting to know Petunia more. I’d recommend this series to any fan of Fairy tale retellings or just good princess stories.

 

~Dawn