Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Princess of the Silver Woods, by Jessica Day George (Princess #3)

In the final book about the Twelve Dancing Princesses, the main character is the youngest sister, Petunia. Petunia is on her way to visit an old duchess from Russaka (Russia's equivalent in the alternate universe) when her carriage is overtaken by the Wolves of the Westfalin Woods (or something alliterative like that). When Petunia turns out not to be as docile as expected, Oliver, the leader of the wolves, unintentionally kidnaps her. Feeling bad for what he's done, Oliver brings Petunia to her destination, and while there, he discovers that Petunia is in danger. The new King Under Stone is determined to have his twelve brides, and will do anything to get them in his clutches once and for all. Will the sisters' fight against the evil king finally end, almost fifteen years after it started?

The first book in this series, Princess of the Midnight Ball, was about Rose, the oldest of the 12 sisters. The second book, Princess of Glass, was about Poppy, one of the many middle sisters. This is the last book, and it is about Petunia, the youngest of them all. I liked how there was time between the 1st and 2nd, and 2nd and 3rd of the novels because it shows more development in the characters. The 2nd book didn't take place in the Westfalin castle so there was barely any interaction between the sisters, but I liked how in the 3rd book I could compare the sisters as they are now to how they were almost ten years earlier in the 1st book. It was also fun to see a continuation of all the little nuances in each of the sister's characters. Each one had a distinct character trait in the first book (there are too many sisters for each one to have a fully developed character) and they still had in this book, just all grown up. I just realized that what I wrote is a long chain of babbling. I hope it makes sense.

This book got a lot darker than I expected it too, but the ending was adorable. The dark and twisty parts didn't stray too much from the overall cuteness, but it did give the story more validity.

One last thing before I go: I realized while reading this book that the only other books with the names Pansy and Petunia in them are the Harry Potter books. And they weren't exactly pleasant characters there either. Just something to think about :)


4.6 stars.
Before reading the publisher's summary, I want to warn any prospective readers that it contains some information that may be classified as spoilers. (I consider any information not discovered until halfway or through or not blatantly obvious to be a spoiler.)

Princess of the Silver Woods (Princess, #3) 
When Petunia, the youngest of King Gregor's twelve dancing daughters, is invited to visit an elderly friend in the neighboring country of Westfalin, she welcomes the change of scenery. But in order to reach Westfalin, Petunia must pass through a forest where strange two-legged wolves are rumored to exist. Wolves intent on redistributing the wealth of the noble citizens who have entered their territory. But the bandit-wolves prove more rakishly handsome than truly dangerous, and it's not until Petunia reaches her destination that she realizes the kindly grandmother she has been summoned to visit is really an enemy bent on restoring an age-old curse. The stories of Red Riding Hood and Robin Hood get a twist as Petunia and her many sisters take on bandits, grannies, and the new King Under Stone to end their family curse once and for all.

Rites of Spring (Break), by Diana Peterfreund (Secret Society Girl #3)

Links to my reviews of the previous Secret Society Girl books:
Secret Society Girl
Under the Rose

Life is never quite for a Digger, especially Amy Haskel. Amy, or Bugaboo, as her brothers call her is up to her usually antics, getting in trouble with guys and being the new target for the pranks of a rival secret society. When spring break comes around, Amy is ecstatic to escape from Eli campus and go to a private island off the coast of Florida occupied only by fellow Diggers and their families. However, life does not calm down in the slightest when she arrives on Cavador Key. Instead it gets more excited as unaccidental accidents keep happening and once again, Amy is the target. Put this together with what may be a new romance with a guy Amy had always hated until she didn't (though I totally predicted it-just look at my review of Under the Rose) and this vacation is bound to be Amy's most exciting adventure yet.

This book was INCREDIBLE!!!! You know a series is good when the middle books are just as good as the first and last books (like Harry Potter or Percy Jackson) and strangely enough, Secret Society Girl is like that too. I loved this book so much that I ordered Tap and Gown a second after I finished it because my library doesn't have it. Just thinking about this book is getting my thoughts to give little girlish squeaks.


Spoilers Ahead- skip to the italics on bottom for the publisher's summary



I was very surprised that Darren was the one causing all the trouble. If there's one thing I've learned from the SSG books it's that you never know what will happen and when Darren started getting all violent then I was shocked. It made sense afterwards, and because he's just a kid the author was able to get him out without being labeled a psycho, but it still caught me off guard.

I thought the whole Brandon thing at the beginning was unnecessary. Yes, it helped with plot, but it also split the book into two stories-before spring break and after spring break. It also seemed pointless to me because once they were on the boat for Cavador Key Amy only thought about him when people mentioned that she was going through a hard time. If no one mentioned it she was perfectly fine. Only when the topic of guys came up did she feel bad about what had happened. Her romance with Poe could have happened without the Brandon prelude.

Because there is only one book left in the series, I am going to make a few predictions before I read book 4 to see if they will come true:
1. George + Clarissa are totally going to happen. I don't know why I think that but I did sense something there.
2. Malcolm should get a society boyfriend. There has to be someone around who's secretly gay, and whoever he is will end up with Malcolm.
3. The Diggers are going to do something so great that everyone will take them seriously again. This isn't so much a prediction as much as a hope, but I put it on this list anyway.


4.8 stars.

Rites of Spring (Break) (Secret Society Girl, #3) A week of R&R on her Rose & Grave’s private island should be all fun in the sun—and an escape from an on-campus feud with a rival society that’s turned disturbingly personal. But Amy is bringing a suitcase full of issues to Florida. Graduation from Eli University looms, not to mention unfinished business with a former flame and the confusing transformation of a mysterious Rose & Grave patriarch from sheer evil to dead sexy.

Just when Amy thinks Spring Break can’t get any less relaxing, a distressing accident puts everyone on edge. And that’s only the beginning. It seems that someone has infiltrated the island. There are major Rose & Grave secrets at stake—secrets which could take down one of America’s most loathsome figureheads—but this party crasher is serious about one thing: making sure Amy doesn’t get back to Eli alive.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Mad Love, by Suzanne Selfors

Alice is in trouble. Her mother, a romance author crowned the Queen of Romance, is in a psychiatric facility getting treatment for bipolar disorder, and if she doesn't write another book in the next few weeks then they are going to be utterly and completely broke. The only solution Alice can think of is to write the book herself under her mother's name-but what should she write about? Enter Eros, the crazy guy who thinks he's Cupid. Eros keeps bothering Alice and begging her to write his story, about his tragic love with Psyche. Alice has only a few weeks to put together her novel while taking care of her mother and trying not to alienate the cute guy who she's been crushing on for months who she finally met. Can she do it?

This book is a lot more serious than I expected, which is why I included more in my summary than the publishers did in theirs. From the summary I expected a happy-go-lucky love story about a girl biting off more than she can chew, but instead this book was rife with sicknesses of the body and the mind, serious financial problems, and personal blackmail. It was sort of like taking a bite of what you think is cotton candy and getting a bite of chicken instead. You still enjoy the chicken, but you're confused as to what happened to the cotton candy. (I just realized how stupid that sounds, but if you read the book you'd understand what I was talking about.) This also prepared me for the cheesiness of the romance because even though the book was a lot grittier than I thought it would be, Alice and Tony's romance was just as bubbly and superficial as I had predicted. However, this didn't annoy me nearly as much as it usually would, just because I knew it would be like that.

I thought it was really cool to read about bipolar disorder because I had just learned about it in my abnormal psychology class before reading the book. When Alice described her mother's symptoms and actions I was able to reference my notes in my head and see how they matched up, which they did perfectly.

The main reason why I would recommend this book to anyone is because of how original it is. There are many takes on the Cupid and Psyche romance, but this one was different than the others because the main character was not Cupid or Psyche but someone else totally. 


4.7 stars

Mad Love When you're the daughter of the bestselling Queen of Romance, life should be pretty good. But 16-year-old Alice Amorous has been living a lie ever since her mother was secretly hospitalized for mental illness. After putting on a brave front for months, time is running out. The next book is overdue, and the Queen can't write it. Alice needs a story for her mother-and she needs one fast.

That's when she meets Errol, a strange boy who claims to be Cupid, who insists that Alice write about the greatest love story in history: his tragic relationship with Psyche. As Alice begins to hear Errol's voice in her head and see things she can't explain, she must face the truth-that she's either inherited her mother's madness, or Errol is for real.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Sweet Shadows, by Tera Lynn Childs (Medusa Girls #2)

Gretchen, Grace, and Greer are finally united and determined to fight the monsters heading their way while they attempt to face their destiny. This requires finding out what their destiny is, as all they know is that they are the Key Generation. The people who do know, Eurydale and Sthenno, have been kidnapped and taken to either the Abyss or the dungeons of Olympus, two equally dangerous places. The girls need to rescue their mentors while dealing with their own increasingly messy lives. Greer is trying to keep up with her rich, high-society peers and plan some elaborate tea while keeping her monster-killing hobby a secret. Grace is excited because her crush, Milo, likes her back, but how can she start a relationship when she's got a secret life she's keeping from her family? Grace is also getting increasingly worried about her (adopted) brother Thane who ran away from home without explanation. Meanwhile, Gretchen, the only sister who isn't leading a double life, has her own troubles in the form of Nick, the cute guy who called her in the last moments of Sweet Venom and saved the sisters' life by warning them about the house blowing up. Gretchen knows Nick is hiding something, but can she let her guard down a little and let him in?

This was a fantastic sequel. I said in my review of Sweet Venom that it felt more like an prologue to a novel than an actual novel, and Sweet Shadows was good enough that it made the first book worth the time, if only to get to book 2. Again, I was not a fan of the Greek stuff and I think the novel would have worked just fine without being based on mythology, but it was so far off from the Greek mythology usually incorporated into teen novels that it was easy to forget the connection at times. The story moved pretty fast, which was good because if it hadn't then I would have given up pretty fast. My patience was worn through after completing Sweet Venom, and if Sweet Shadows had continued at the same slow pace then that would have been it for me.

I don't remember if I wrote this in Sweet Venom's review, but the characters, especially the triplets, all seemed flat and one-sided. Each of the girls had a stereotype, and each stuck to her stereotype throughout. Although one could argue that Gretchen softened a bit, which went against who she was supposed to be, I think the whole point of having a character so tough and closed-off is to later open her up. She let everyone in too quickly, much quicker than a real person with that personality would, which made her seem even more one-sided in my opinion. My favorite character was Greer, because she even when she does feel gooey and emotional, she puts on a stoic face and says sarcastic things. Greer is the most real, despite her cliche rich girl attitude.


 
I remember having a conversation with some friends a few years ago about seeing full faces of characters on the covers of books. Seeing their faces had always helped my imagination along, but my friends claimed that seeing the entire face ruined the possibilities of who the heroine could be and what she could look like. I never really agreed with that opinion until now. When I look at the cover, I know that the girl represents either one or all of the girls, but since they all dress so differently, it makes me wonder which sister it is, or whether she is supposed to represent all of them. Any ideas?

 
Spoilers Ahead*******************************


My favorite scene in the novel was the one in the Abyss where Gretchen discovers that not only monsters live there, and that not all monsters are evil. It was especially cool because it messed with Gretchen's head and made her rethink everything she's done for the past four years. It also complicated the girls' non-plan, because it made them realize that there is no way to save the good guys without saving the bad guys, and no way to kill the bad guys without killing the good guys.

Is it just me, or was there something between Greer and Thane at the end? Not quite love at first sight, but definitely something at first sight. Which is really nauseating when you realize that Greer looks exactly like Grace, who is Thane's little sister. Thane was definitely shocked to see Greer because of her resemblance to Grace, but Greer definitely has a bit of a crush on her sister's brother. The incestuousness here is a tad uncomfortable, but since they technically aren't related, I guess it's okay? I think the only element of this that makes it disturbing is how Greer and Grace look alike, so if Greer and Thane were to get together, he'd be dating a girl who is the spitting image of his sister. Another reason for not wanting Thane and Greer to hook up is that as of now, Greer is the only single sister. The point of a novel such as this is that the author wants you to believe that this is happening in your universe, or in an alternate one, but in no universe does every person end up with a great boyfriend at the end. For Greer and Thane to end up together, one of the other couples would have to break up/die, which strangely doesn't bother me and I find myself inclined to wish Milo or Nick dead. What's happening to me? Where's the sweet girl who wants happy endings??????


4.1 stars.
 
Sweet Shadows (Medusa Girls, #2)
Gretchen may have known she was a descendant of Medusa long before her sisters--after all, she's spent her life fighting the monsters that escape the abyss--but that doesn't mean it will be easy to teach the other girls the ropes. Can she rely on Grace and Greer, or even trust herself to keep them safe?Greer has pressing social commitments on her plate and precious little time to train in her newfound powers. But that wretched second sight won't leave her alone, and her fabled heritage seems to be creeping into her fashionable life.

Grace has worries closer to home--like why her brother, Thane, has disappeared. He's hiding something. Could it possibly be related to the secret heritage the triplets share?

With the warring factions among the gods of Olympus coming for them, the creatures of the abyss pushing into their world, and the boys in their lives keeping secrets at every turn, the three girls must figure out where their fate will take them and how to embrace the shadows of their legacy.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

The Fire Rose, by Mercedes Lackey (Elemental Masters #1)

After her father loses all of their money in a Ponzi-like scheme and dies shortly after, Rose is left completely destitute with nowhere to go. So when Jason Cameron, a railroad baron and secret sorcerer, offers her a position as a governess, she has no choice but to accept. Upon arrival in his manor, she discovers that her students are not two precocious children, as she was first informed, but her new boss himself. Due to a magical mistake, Jason is half-wolf, and he has hired Rose to help him with his research. However, every powerful man has enemies, and Jason's enemy, who already has the creepy steward on his side, wants to win Rose over to aid in Jason's downfall. However, Rose is nothing like the demure insipid woman the two sexists imagine her to be and are faced with a lot more than they bargained for when Rose starts training to become an elemental master in her own right.

I found this modern telling of Beauty and the Beast a tad disturbing. The romance and plot was cute, but the fact that he was still a wolf at the end made my stomach churn a bit. I understand the whole concept of looking at the inside and not the outside, but I think this book took it a little too far.

I haven't read many of Mercedes Lackey's books, but from what I've noticed, every heroine is strong, confident, entirely too sensible, and exactly the same. They all manage to be so sure of themselves that it comes off as cocky. They all think straight in completely crazy situations that make any normal person go nuts. But what I dislike the most about them, is that they seem to split people into two categories: people they like and people they don't. This wouldn't even bother me so much if it weren't for the qualifications that they use to judge, because it seems like they deem someone unworthy if they aren't as smart or sensible as the heroine herself, and she is always very smart and very sensible. They also give me the impression that they think they're better than everyone else, and that they are the only sane people around, save for one or two specific people. Maybe I'm magnifying my own slight observations and extending them to all the other heroines, but even their most staunch supporters have to admit that these girls are a bit judgy.


3.8 stars.
 

The Fire Rose (Elemental Masters, #1)San Francisco, 1905: Rosalind, a medieval scholar, is hired by Jason, a powerful sorcerer. Jason's enemy offers to restore Rosalind's family fortune if she will betray Jason. And then the earthquake strikes. . . .