Stepsister

Stepsister is a story of what happens after Cinderella and her prince glide away to their castle and "live happily ever after."

Isabelle cut off her toes to try and fit into that slipper, her sister Octavia cut off her heel. Now they are known as the ugly stepsisters and are somehow supposed to still function in their village society. Not only do they have those repercussions, but there is now a war going on that is infiltrating their part of France and Fate and Chance are fighting for her life, and on top of it all, Isabelle wants to change. She wants to be better and the whole world is literally crashing down on her. Can Ella's fairy godmother help even an ugly stepsister like her?

This is a big time "girl power" book. For people who like Tamora Pierce, you will like this. This book contains many themes and morals to the story all trying to empower women and empower self in general. Finding yourself and being okay with yourself, especially when it may go against what tradition or society dictates. I'm sure many young women and young adults enjoy this book and can feel motivated to do more by reading it.

I very much enjoyed the characters and how different they developed. Though, now that I think of it, it seems like the only people who really changed except for Isabelle... So that was lacking a little. But over all they were fun characters to read about. Chance is probably one of my favorites. Jennifer Donnelly could have a lot of fun with the Grimm Fairy Tales with Chance and the Fates. And because of how well this one was written, I'd read them too.

I thought it was well done. Read well. I don't have really any problems with it, except that some might think that it was too preachy to the "girl power" side. But because it had basic self-empowerment, I can let it slide and happily enjoy the book.

Bloodline

This has been the first time in a long time that I've read anything by Covenant Publishing. It is an publishing company associated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It is a publishing company that focuses on producing clean, engaging stories that are pretty much PG-13. It keep profanity, bedroom scenes, and gore to non-existent which can be nice when readers are wanting simple clean stories.

Bloodlines is about a girl named Skye who, upon arriving home from her flight attendant job--where she got saved by an attractive Scotsman from nearly getting run over, finds that her aunt has gone missing. She receives mysterious notes, emails, and calls to go to a safety deposit box and find the "other two missing pages" otherwise her aunt is going to die. She's gets to the deposit box and finds this ancient piece of paper with Old Latin words that she can't decipher. Over the course of the next hour she gets guns pointed at her, is practically kidnapped herself, and is saved again and again by this Scotsman who often appears out of no where. Upon getting help from an elderly professor, the Scotsman, Professor, and Skye head to France to find one of the "other pages" to help save her aunt. Why are so many people after her? They are all from different organization, so why do they want her? Can she trust this Scotsman who obviously isn't telling the truth to many things and knows more than he's telling? What does she have to do with Robert the Bruce and a King from France?

There were a few things I things that I rather enjoyed about this story. The plot, for the most part, was pretty good. It moved quickly and I did want to see what was going to happen next. There were parts that were very predictable and others that were very dry, but it caught me enough that I continued reading.

I love the cover art. It is beautiful and very eye catching. Cover artist... *two thumbs up* Good job.

I did have some problems with this story though, so much so that my husband told me that all I did was complain and I should pick up a new book. The writing style had much to be desired. I felt like it was something I could have done in high school. It was extremely telling and very little showing. I often felt like I in the story, just watching it from a foggy distance. I mean, we are in Paris and traveling through castles in Scotland! There is so much mood that can be developed here. Skye and Jack's feelings could have bloomed more/less depending on where they were at by using the setting as a trigger, but it wasn't. Just the fact that they were walking through cathedrals and tombs and we got so little descriptions. They could have been floating through space for as much description was given with an occasional table or buttress that was flying around (Pun intended). Ms. Peterson missed a lot of opportunities to really develop the story.

I also had a really hard time with Skye in general. For a good 3/4 of the story her internal monologue was how she doesn't know if she can trust Jack for falling for his dreamy eyes. She couldn't make up her mind, like a pubescent teenager. So intense and so angry, but then she'd turn around and check out his jaw or eyes or something that it gave me a bit of whiplash. Jack almost seemed like a MarySue  where he was good at pretty much everything or knew everyone and was still the kind, compassionate, hot hunk of man meat. I don't know, there didn't seem to be much to him aside from the MarySue skills he could provide. The romance that was supposed to be blooming between them didn't strike me at all. It seemed like Ms. Peterson tried too hard to get them to work, but there was no real chemistry. Like a Florence Nightingale affect because he saved her over and over again. It was rather obnoxious.

For being a historical suspense I was rather upset that there wasn't more flashbacks to history, which is what the cover kind of told me would happen. Instead there was a lot of historical info-dump. It was bad. Important information to the story, but it was dry. I was very disappointed.

The ending was kind of a let down for me too. Not by much, but I still wanted more. She wrapped it up very quickly when I feel like a epilogue wold have been helpful because we don't know what would really happen after. There was a maybe we could do something, but *shrugs* who really knows? I'd like to have a confirmed "this is what happens."

Ugh, I don't know. I don't think I'd read this again. I don't even know if I'd read anything else Ms Peterson is writing. It's just really strange to me that she has written more books, that this isn't her debut novel because that's what this definitely feels like.

Take the Key and Lock Her Up

The last book in the Embassy Row series by Ally Carter. This is one that I needed to pick up quickly to figure out what happened. Though the ending of the last one (See How They Run) ended rather abruptly but it just kept coming to mind and it was in at the library so I quickly snatched it up and put it on a higher que than the other books on my nightstand.

Grace, Jamie, Alexie, and Dominic are all running. Someone tried to kill Jamie. They don't know who and they aren't for sure why. They are constantly on the run until another secret about her mother is unfolded and Grace runs away from the boys to keep them safe, have the bad guys chase her instead of Jamie who is still injured and Alexie who is still wanted for a murder he didn't commit. She goes to the Society but finds no friends there, same with the palace. With the help of her Embassy Row friend and a little bit of espionage she breaks an insane woman out of a penitentiary and yet still finds herself in her mother's country trapped in a corner and no way out. Also, she supposedly the Lost Princess which she doesn't want to be. She just wants to be left alone to live her own life. How is she going to get that?

I do like how Grace has developed of these three books. She still has the mentality of "get out of my way or don't and get run over" while also still trying to deal with her PTSD. Any fire, any smoke triggers her and she's starting to learn to cope. She's starting to learn whom she can really lean on while finding out the hard way whom she can't. Some people might not like her, but I'm glad Ally Condie took this step in giving us a main character who really needs help and might not have been likable (on the verge of annoying) at the start. What Grace does is true growth, not just getting over a boy/crush. She gave us an unreliable narrator who knows she's unreliable and more than a bit crazy.

I really enjoyed the ending of this. It was complete. It also came full circle where Grace is able to face fears and is able to take steps forward. She wouldn't have been able to accomplish the things she did at the beginning of the story without turning into a pile of ash or rocking back and forth in a corner or running away from everything. She's willing to go down dark tunnels and tell secret societies to stuff it, which is pretty awesome.

While Alexie is pretty cool and Jamie has been an awesome brother since he clocked his friends, but I really like Thomas. I get that Grace is not princess material. She is not one to do benefits or worry matching handbags or knowing how far to bow to a countess and that's cool I so wouldn't be able to do that. But Thomas... he took things in stride. He was willing to follow her down those tunnels and willing to let her run after another boy. He was such a real person that it makes me want to have more of him. I'm glad him and Rosy are friends, but more screen time would have been cool. I don't know how Ally Carter would have done it, but it's what I want.

The title was also rather ingenious. Very fitting. :)

I don't know how Ally Carter would be able to extend this to another story (one that included my happy Prince, of course), but I would happily read another Embassy Row series. It was very good with intriguing characters and a very interesting world that I want to dive more into.

Drop of Night

I tried. I tried really hard to get through this book, but it took forever to get going anywhere.

A Drop of Night is about a group of supposedly super smart teens being whisked away to France so they can explore this super amazing house and the untouched underground labyrinth under it.

They spend a lot of time getting there and introducing characters. But what really dragged for me, which had the potential of being done awesomely, was that it jumped between "present day" time and "French Revolution" time. The house's labyrinth was built to keep away the revolutionaries and keep the nobles safe. Makes sense, yes? But why ask teens to go down first? Why the mystery and cloak/dagger-ness of their host? (These questions are addressed in the beginning, but not expounded upon.)

Suddenly their host goes berserk, they wake up in the labyrinth under the house, and one of them gets insta-killed. Why? Because... They run away from their host and his associates further in the maze and almost get beheaded like they do in the movie Ghost Ship--all wires moving really fast. Then suddenly there is a zombie/ghost dude walking about and mention-ish of a demon thing that took over the original owners mind... or something. I don't even know. Or really care.

Supposed to be good, but I couldn't find the wanting to keep reading. 100 pages before getting down there and another 50 of jumping times was annoying. The shifting between times gave no real tension. It was all super high tension and no relief to let us breath. It reminded me of the book series  Maximum Ride by James Patterson. SO much jumping. Too much jumping with chapters sometimes not even two pages long. That's okay if there are longer chapters for most of the book, but when most of them are maybe three pages... It feels like all I'm doing is turning pages, not actually reading anything.

Overall, I didn't care for it. Characters were wanting. All the boys were pretty much the same personality from what I could gather or they were stereotypes. I didn't care for them at all. I'd probably read it to see who died in it, but not much more than that. I'm not going to be picking it up again. Sorry, but blah.

Les Miserables (Manga)

 Les Miserables but for now I recommend this wonderful Manga. The pictures inside are marvelous!
I am working my way up to the true

This book is based off the original, unabridged novel by Victor Hugo (not the musical), but because it is a single manga and not fifty or so it did have to get edited down.

I was happily surprised by the additions that weren't in the musical (the only other way I've seen this story presented) though I feel like some of the artistry in the people and scenes was influenced by the movie with Hugh Jackman from 2012. Like how Eponine and Marius meet and her family's little influences (though end up being big) progress the story.

Again the artist's work here was amazing and breathtaking. For those who need a quick read of this for school *wink wink* or those who are intimidated by the approximate 1100 page unabridged book, this is a good one to start out with.

I thoroughly enjoyed this manga.

Scarlet

UPDATE: In honor of finishing the book Winter, by Marissa Meyer, I am posting up my reviews of two of the previous novels that I'd read a while ago. The first book in the Lunar Chronicles is Cinder, which I've reviewed previously and is a great read. If follows Cinder in a futuristic Cinderella story. However at the end of the book, she finds herself in prison instead of with her prince charming, a drastic change of events, right?

In the sequel, Scarlet, we follow Little Red Riding Hood in her attempt to find her grandmother who has disappeared. Scarlet lives on her farm in France and meets up with this burly, odd man who has never eaten a tomato in his life.  Wolf *hint hint* insists on joining her while she goes to Paris to find her grandma. They end up hitting it off and she starts falling for him until things turn for the worst. Wolf ends up belonging to a Pack of Lunar Special Agents who are sent to massacre millions as well as get information about Cinder from Scarlet's grandmother.

Cinder, having just found out she's the Lunar Princess Selene, needs to find out more. With the help of a thief, pilot, extraordinaire, Carswell Thorne, who helped her escape from prison in New Beijing, they fly in his stolen spaceship to France to investigate Cinder's past that she can't remember. Scarlet's grandmother is the best one to ask as she was a military pilot who has something to do with her escape, however, she's missing.

I think this was better the second time through. The relationship between Wolf and Scarlet was originally obnoxious and weird with him being Alpha of his pack and she has an Alpha personality... However, this I like the way the wolf is side of things is presented, "she snarled" and other such things slid into her personality descriptions that mimic him and help them come together as a couple.

Scarlet is a strong, and resourceful woman who doesn't take nonsense from anyone. She has her vulnerable moments where she can get beat around by real bad guys and where she gets taken in by mind manipulations. But she is a very determined and willing to stand up for the people whom she loves. Wolf, I know, can have a personality that can be domineering and can be manipulative. Reasons are given as to why he is still a good guy and not just one of the Big Bad Wolves. He's different than the rest of the canine toothed, rip-your-throats-out-as-soon-as-sniff-you kind of guys. He's different because he loves her. Somewhat cliche and originally why I listed this as my least favorite of the Lunar Chronicles. But I'm mostly able to look past it. Mostly.

I also really enjoy Cinder's side of things and the development she went through. Still very much moving and progressing individually while having her own challenges of finding out who she really is.

But much like Cinder, Scarlet is well written and captivating. Her descriptions are well done and it flowed really well even when jumping from different characters points of view. This is a book you can easily get sucked in and not want to come out.

Belle

Eh, I have read other Retellings of Beauty and the Beast that I've enjoyed much more. This one had many things lacking for my taste.

This story is similar to the "Belle et la Bete" (the original French story) in that it gives more background to the characters that are there, but Cameron Dokey spends more than half of the book in background and setting up for the venture to the castle of the "monster" than Belle does in the castle with the "monster."

There is a lot more discussion as to what is Beauty vs. beauty in the beginning (that's what takes so much of the space in this small book). Belle, or Annabelle Evangeline, is the most un-beautiful of the three daughters--or so she thinks. Her sisters, Celeste and April, have opposite features are are still considered two of the most beautiful girls in the book. But aside from one being bossy and the other in love with one of her father's sailors there isn't much of a difference in the girls.

Dokey tried to make Belle different from the two sisters in giving her brown hair and she likes to carve wood (very unlike any of the other retellings I've read). For the character of Belle, yes she is headstrong and caring, but she acted like a lady of her age. This Annabelle doesn't seem much like the character I've come to love and that has made me dislike this book more than I would otherwise.

Also, I don't necessarily care for the way that it was written. The tone seemed very childish to me at many parts of the beginning, then when her father was retelling his story of the first encounter with the "monster at the heart of the Woods" the tone shifted to "this is an old story and I'm going to speak to you in an old language" kind of way. For example at the beginning she is describing her oldest sister Celeste by saying "As I'm sure I don't need to point out, Celestial Heavens  is quite a mouthful. "This doesn't fit the era of the novel at all and like I said seems very childish. Not to mention, very telling instead of showing--which is what most writers are trying to do. Then during the shift of tone: "'That settles that,' I thought. Forward I went, and I did not look back again." Who says "forward I went"? First we were going for modern, hip/youthful language, then we are back in old England speaking with Shakespeare or something. These are the types of shifts that I didn't care for throughout the story.

There were some scenes that I thought were good and that I was drawn into, but others that seemed very childish. It was almost like she didn't trust her reader to get it and make connections. Dialogue was choppy at parts that really drew me out of the story. Specifically dialogue between the sisters, which was a lot of the book actually.

So, yeah, this won't be a reread but I may try another of Dokey's books just to make sure it's the narrator's voice that is what I don't care for instead of the author.

UPDATE:
I tried to read Wild Orchid by Dokey and I only got 60 pages in. It seemed to have many of the same qualities that Belle did. A big similarity between the retelling of the Epic of Mulan and the retelling of Beauty and the Beast was that these girls were extremely unlady like especially for their time and place. I will give this to Mulan to a point. She was in a war and mascarading as a boy. But that doesn't mean being a girl is bad.

 There is this feeling I get from this Mulan retelling that being a girl is all hard work, boring work at that, and that boys get all the fun. The only way to have fun is by being a boy. I think this is very false. Dokey give very little to no reason why being feminine is okay. Both Belle and Mulan prefer the masculan arts over anything feminine and that really bugs me.

Like I said, I only got 60 pages in because it took forever to get anywhere in these stories. Most of the book is all preface to everything that is actually in the original story.

In my opinion, Dokey has much to be wanting in these retellings. I don't plan on reading anymore of her books.