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.)
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. . . .
