Ella Enchanted

If you are ever looking for a very fast, fun, entertaining read than my suggestion would be ‘Ella Enchanted’ by Gail Carson Levine. This is a romance, fairytale, adventure and coming of age story at its finest. It is very short and you can definitely read it in less than 24 hours.

When Ella was born, a misguided fairy “blessed” her with the gift of obedience. Now Ella has to do what she is told, whatever she is told. If someone tells her to clean her room or jump off a cliff, she has no choice but to obey. Ella’s mother and housekeeper are always concerned for Ella’s life. If someone were to discover her secret she could be in great danger. When her mother dies from illness Ella’s father begins to have a stronger influence in her life more than ever. Her father is trying to control her life for his own benefits and now it’s more important than ever for Ella to find a way to break the curse that was placed on her so long ago.

This is by far one of my very favorite books. It is simple but I love it. Sometimes you just need a really quick read that doesn’t require any thinking ya know? However, don’t even waste your time on the movie. I don’t know what Disney was thinking when the created that monstrosity, but I get angry just thinking about it. It’s not even close to how the book is and I just hope that the movie hasn’t kept people from reading the book. I have heard that some ‘Ella Enchanted’ fans have to think of the movie as a completely different story than the movie so if you can separate the two than more power to ya!

The Scarlet Pimpernel

'The Scarlet Pimpernel' by Baroness Emmuska Orczy is another one of my very favorite books. It is the story of Sir Percy Blakeney, an English gentleman, who sneaks into France and rescues the French royals from their fate with madame guillotine during the French Revolution. Although this book's setting is a dark and dreary one, the author manages to throw humor and romance into this story that leaves the reader completely captivated. Everyone should read this novel at least once in their lifetime, so put it on your list.

Also, this just happens to be one of my very favorite movies as well, but if you watch it you need to watch the 1982 version with Anthony Andrews and Jane Seymour. They are amazing together. Ah! I just love, love, love this story!

The Books of Bayern

I was recently perusing my book blog and realized that my very favorite series, well the one that is the closest in competition with Harry Potter anyway, is missing from this blog. Oops. I have  mostly been writing about my current readings, which means that many of my favorite books prior to this blog are not on here. So hopefully every so often I will be able to write about an "oldy but a goody", while continuing to keep up on what I am currently reading.

The series that I am referring to is called 'The Books of Bayern' by Shannon Hale. My best friend in high school gave me 'The Goose Girl' as a birthday present. I fell in love with the book and read it over and over and over again. I actually did not even read the rest of the books until I got to college. 'The Goose Girl' is by far my favorite book in the series and you can read it without reading the others if you wanted to.

This story is about Princess Anidori. After her father dies her mother decides that she is going to send Ani to Bayern, a neighboring kingdom, to marry the prince and hopefully smooth out the rocky relationship the two kingdoms have. Although Ani knows that this is an attempt to prevent war, she is hurt by her mother's utter disregard to her feelings. The trip to Bayern is very long and dangerous, and Ani has mixed emotions about what no only awaits her on the trip, but what her new life will be like in Bayern as well. During the trip something tragic happens, and Ani realizes that she no longer knows who to trust and is left completely on her own, having for the first time in her life, to defend for herself. And for a girl who has never even had to dress herself, this can be quite the challenge. This is a story of bravery, friendship, romance, and the journey to self discovery. It is a story that has found a place forever in my heart and one that I return to almost yearly.
In order:
The Goose Girl
Enna Burning
River Secrets
Forest Born

Catching Fire

Are you excited? Cause I sure am!

Shatter Me

I recently have read an amazing series by Tahereh Mafi, well the books in the series that have been written anyway. I am anxiously awaiting for the next book to be written, but the first two are called 'Shatter Me' and 'Unravel Me'. It is a story about a girl who has a lethal touch, literally. If her skin comes into contact with another human being, she could kill them. Not really sure what to do with her after a tragic accident, society throws her in a mental institution where she has absolutely no human contact for hundreds of days. All she has to keep her sane is a little notebook that she can write her thoughts in, and a very small window in her cell that she can get a glimpse of the sky. Her world is then turned upside down yet again when all of a sudden, they give her a cell mate.


This was a very interesting read for me. The authors style of writing is unlike anything I have seen before. I thoroughly enjoyed these books and would highly recommend them. However, there are some adult scenes that are probably not appropriate for younger readers. These are categorized as Young Adult, but I would probably not recommend them to anyone younger than high school age.