Tag Archives: fiction

reviews

the princess spy by melanie dickerson

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Whoooaaa, baby, this was good. I can say one thing for sure: I’ve never been disappointed with Melanie Dickerson’s books. They’re action-packed and exciting, and I look forward to every one. The Princess Spy was no different. I found it at my Christian Family Book store for $10, and was so excited because it was the only copy they had! I now have the whole series!

emily

Click here to see what it’s all about! When I first started this book, I thought it was a little bit slow. Princess Margaretha had this mysterious suitor trying to woe her, and I knew next to nothing about him. (Although the descriptions of his silly hats and clothes were very funny to imagine!) Then Colin, an injured foreigner appeared, and suddenly I was flipping every page!

I finished the book late at night (my mom said, “Finish one chapter and then turn out the light.” Needless to say, I was not a pleasure to eat breakfast with in the morning.) But every time I flipped the page, I just had to know what was going to happen! One thing I will say about the book is that it’s a medieval-time fairy tale, and the plot line is an evil, unwanted suitor to the princess, is trying to take over the kingdom. (Killing the king.) There is some violence {mentioned}, such as stepping over bodies, the guard went to “take care of” Claybrook’s men, etc., but other than that, I loved the book!

emily

I really love that although Melanie Dickerson’s books are romantic and sweet, they always portray strong, confident young women finding their own worth and knowing that they don’t need a knight in shining armor or anyone to make them feel confident or beautiful. At the same time, they’re romantic fairy tales and I love to follow the characters as they fall for their prince or princess.

Overall, I truly LOVED this book, and totally see myself reading it again.

emily emily emily emily

 

 

That’s a total of four stars!

Have any of you read The Princess Spy, or any of Melanie Dickerson’s books? What was your impression? =)

xx, Emily

blog segments

top ten tuesday // book recommendations

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Hi, everybody!  Top Ten Tuesday is an original book meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Today’s TTT is Top Ten Books I’d Give To Readers Who Have Never Read X (examples: Young Adult novels, historical fiction, a certain author, books about a certain topic, etc), and I decided to go with historical fiction and middle grade/young adult – five for each. I’m going to start with historical fiction books I’d recommend to someone who’s never read any historical fiction.

Number the Stars is a fantastic book. I actually just read it several months ago, but I’m going to have to read it again this year for more required reading. I was hanging on to every word, and sat in my room all day to finish it. This would be the first book I’d give to someone.

Oh. My. Flying. Flapjacks. What an incredible book. I read this one two years ago and my copy is very loved. Set in Little Rock, Arkansas, during the integration of schools in 1958, the Main Character creates a bond with a new girl, Liz… then Liz is caught “passing” for white and her family is shunned and disrespected. I loved, loved, loved this book and wish I could go back in time so I could read it like it was the first time again!

Of course, if you’re a regular subscriber on my blog, you had to know this would be in this list. Awesome book; so many tears. I really have no more words. I’d just shove this down someone’s throat. In fact, I have. And she loved it. (Right, Kareena?!)

I read Hattie Big Sky for the first time about a year ago, in September, and loved it. I was hooked the whole time, and there’s even a second book (though I liked the first one a lot better).

What can I say about this? Honestly. It was… oh my word, it was… eye-opening. Heck, I’m tearing up just talking about it. This would, without a doubt, be on a list of books to give someone who’s never read any historical fiction. Though, I’m not sure it would actually qualify. Since, you know, it’s not fiction. But I’m putting it on the list anyway.

Now for my top middle grade/young adult recommendations.

Okay, so this is my favorite middle grade genre series. There’s a seventh book coming out soon, which I cannot wait for. I’ll be one of the first to buy it, I’m telling ya. I’ve read the series dozens of times (and that’s not an exaggeration!), plus own two autographed copies. (One of which a friend gave to me that she found in a used bookstore – whaaat?! Who would give away a signed copy?!), especially by Heather Vogel Frederick. Speaking of, on Thursday, Heather will be answering some questions in an interview I made – which is super awesome!

Ann M. Martin is another favorite of mine – I especially love The Main Street series. Whenever I read these books, I get sort of a… cozy feel. It’s just one of those make-you-feel-good-books, which I think I may have mentioned in a previous post. (Either that, or a draft of a post.) Oh well. This is to say – go get these books! They’re awesome.

Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson is pretty darn amazing. I’ll admit, when I first bought it on my Kindle, I began it and then didn’t finish it, but DON’T JUDGE MY LAZINESS. I did not stop because it was bad. In fact, when I started it again, I loved it. (Check out my review here.) To re-use a GIF from my review for it…

(Okay, sorry this is italicized. Dunno why WordPress won’t let me fix that…) The Selection series by Kiera Cass was (I’m tempted to use the word ‘awesome’ again), but to steal a word from the Notebook Sisters, frabjous. I was holed up in my room for hours with lots of comfort food (chocolate, popcorn, popsicles, pretzels… that’s a lot of ‘p’ word foods. Anyway!), and finished all three books in two days. (Actually, reading The One was postponed, because my parents refused to enter the password on my Kindle and buy it for me… plus I was kinda-sorta broke.) Luckily, UnlockTheOne.com saved my life, and I was able to read the first ten chapters for free. 
 
Sorry, guys, I’m only doing nine today since WordPress is acting funny today; it won’t let me align anything or make it non italicized. :-/ it’s really annoying. In the meantime, hope you liked this TTT! Hopefully by Thursday it will be better, so I can post again 🙂 Thanks for reading!
 
Emily