The Princess Academy Series

Whenever the heir to the throne comes of age, the priests divine what providence the next princess will come from. A Princess Academy is then set up to teach and prepare the noble girls to meet the prince at the Academy Princess Ball. After the ball, the prince will then decide what Princess Academy graduate will be the next princess. When the priests divine that Mount Eskel is where the next princess is from, many in the kingdom are outraged. Mount Eskel is not even a providence,  just a territory. It is a small town full of uneducated, and very poor people, without any nobles. When the people of Mount Eskel learn that their daughters will be taken away from them for one year, fear grips their hearts. They barely have enough to eat, how will they survive through the winter without so many workers in the quarry, their only source of income. Miri is scared to go to the academy too, she has never been away from her family before. However, once at that academy, Miri is taught to read and she discovers a love of books she never knew she had. She loves learning, and learning opens up secrets that she never knew, and may actually save her village in the end. 

I first fell in love with The Princess Academy over a decade ago. I am thrilled that the third and last book has finally been published, it has been a long time coming! If you know me at all you know I have an obsession with Shannon Hale and all of her novels, and these three books definitely did not disappoint. I devoured them and lost many, many hours of sleep over them. They are brilliantly written and can be enjoyed by people of all ages. 

Ever After High: The Unfairest of Them All

I just finished the second book in the 'Ever After High' series by Shannon Hale and honestly, I loved it just as much as the first book. You can read my review of the first book here.

The Actor and the Housewife

'The Actor and the Housewife' by Shannon Hale is a book that has been on my 'to read' list for ages but I have avoided reading. It is written by my favorite author, so of course I was going to read it, but I despise, DESPISE, anything to do with infidelity in books and movies, especially when that betrayal is portrayed as a positive. I started reading this book with full belief that that was exactly what I was getting myself into.

I was wrong.

It is actually a Mormon fiction book, something that I did not know going into it. I don't read a lot of Mormon fiction, unless it is historical fiction, because my small tasting of it (Annita Stansfield and Jack Weyland... ugh) has been dripping with cheese and a side of corny. This has both cheese and corniness, but the witty banter and hearty emotions kind of band aid that up for me. There were times I literally laughed out loud. There were moments where I had tears running down my cheeks with sadness. I may have even let out a little sigh of contentment once in a while. Any story that can make me feel that kind of emotion, is worth reading in my book. (No pun intended)

So here is the plot line. Becky Jack is a Mormon, wife, mother of four, and a screenwriter that has just sold her first script. When she is in LA signing the contract, she runs into her all time favorite heart throb actor, Felix Callahan. Through some misfortunes on Becky's part, Felix ends up driving her back to her hotel and buying her dinner. They dance, they laugh, and it is the beginning of a beautiful friendship, one that her husband is fully aware of and approves of I might add. There are unexpected twists and turns along the way, some I predicted from the beginning (Mormon fiction remember?) and some that were completely unexpected.

I liked it. I don't know if I would necessarily own it, or even read it again, but it is a good one time kind of novel that leaves your heart happy at the end of it. And yes, I would recommend it.

Dangerous

Shannon Hale's new book 'Dangerous' has just been released a few weeks ago, and let me tell ya, it was amazing! (As all of her books are) This was not like anything she has ever written before though. To me it was 'The Fantastic Four' meets 'Ender's Game' meets 'The Host'. It was very sci-fi with some action/adventure and a love story on the side. It was a page turner for me, a book that I had a hard time putting down. She really is such an amazing author, oh wait, have I said that before? ;)

'Dangerous' is the story of Maisie Brown who is home-schooled by her scientist parents because she was bullied at school for only having one arm. Maisie has an obsession with outer space and dreams of one day becoming an astronaut. Her parents worry that this dream is unrealistic because of her missing limb, but when Maisie wins a free trip to space camp for kids they are supportive and let her go. However, space camp wasn't exactly what Maisie signed up for. Things happen that she could have never predicted and she meets people who will change her life forever.

Ever After High: The Storybook of Legends

Oh hey guess what?! My favorite author, Shannon Hale has done it again! Her latest and greatest book is called, 'Ever After High: the Storybook of Legends'. This book is written for younger authors, and yes, you can tell, but it is still so cute and I enjoyed it immensely! In this book all of the famous story character's children are attending high school together. There is Raven, daughter of the evil queen. Apple, daughter of Snow White. Maddie, daughter of the Mad Hatter. Daring and Dexter, sons of Prince Charming, and many many more. In their second year of high school the children have to follow in their parent's footsteps and sign the storybook of legends, vowing to fulfill their destinies and live the exact same stories that their parents lived. If they do not sign the book, not only will the story cease to exist, but they will no longer exist either.

Everyone is excited to fulfill their destines and live out the stories of their parents, I mean, who wouldn't want a guaranteed happily every after? Everyone is looking forward to Legacy Day when they can sign the book, everyone that is, except Raven. Raven isn't so sure about following in her mother's footsteps and becoming the evil queen, one of the most hated characters of all time. Raven has a desperate desire to be good, but if she chooses to not be evil, she could make herself and everyone in her story vanish forever. Can she really be that selfish?

Honestly, I know this book is meant for younger readers, but I loved it. It is a story of choice, friendship, adventure, and good vs. evil. It is captivating and exciting, witty and funny. I fell in love with the characters and I know you will too. If you need something light and fluffy, a feel good fantasy, than this is the book for you!

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

Austenland

I know it has been a while since I wrote a book recommendation post but I can assure you that I never stopped reading.  I have been reading two separate series and wanted to finish all of the books in each series before posting about them. The first series that I finished is the ‘Austenland’ series by Shannon Hale, who is one of my very favorite authors in case you didn’t know. There are only two books in this series; ‘Austenland’ and ‘Midnight in Austenland’.  

These books are about a home in England that you can pay to stay at for two weeks where you are completely immersed in the era of Jane Austen.  Everything is authentic to the time period including the clothes, food, speech, and social rules of etiquette.  At Pembrook Manor guests have all of their electronics taken away from them and literally have to pretend like they are living in one of Jane Austen’s novels. Actors are hired to court the women and at the end of their stay there is a grand ball. It is a perfect retreat for all Austen enthusiasts and a place where anything can happen.

Being a Jane Austen fan myself I found these novels very intriguing and entertaining to read. Having said that however, I do not necessarily feel that ‘Austenland’ quite held up to Shannon Hale’s usual standard of writing. It’s almost like you can tell that this is Hale’s first attempt at writing a novel for adults and she doesn’t really know how to navigate herself in this particular genre.  The same cannot be said for ‘Midnight in Austenland’ however. From the very beginning the second book in this series had me completely captivated and guessing until the very end. You can literally see Hale grow as an author as she tries her hand at writing for an adult audience. The first novel was just “okay” literature for me, but the second novel is when I really remembered why Shannon Hale is in my top 5 of favorite authors.  So do me a favor, if you haven’t read Shannon Hale before, don’t judge her just based off from this series. She is an amazing author I assure you.

As for the second series that I have been reading I am on the third and final book in the series so that post should be coming very soon. Stay tuned.