The Iron King Review

Title: The Iron King
Author: Julie Kagawa
Publication Date: February 1 2010

Are you a believer? Do you see figures out of the corner of your eye and wonder if somethings there of if you imagined it? If you love the unknown and mystical world of fae then this is definitely the book for you.

What you need to know about the book:

 

Meghan Chase has a secret destiny; one she could never have imagined.

Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school or at home.

When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change.

But she could never have guessed the truth - that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil, no faery creature dare face; and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

After hearing people talk about this series for so long I finally decided to give it a shot. I've been stuck on a 'fae' kick ever since I read the Fever Series that I talked about in a previous post and have been dying to get my hands on something fresh and different then all the other 'fae' stories out there. At first it seemed like so many other stories surrounding the seele and unseal courts. But after sitting down to give it a shot I really started to fall for the characters especially our heroic prince Ash! The lead character, Meghan a half fae princess is thrown into a world of unknown when she discovers her brother has been kidnapped by fae and she has to travel to their world to rescue him.

I'll admit it took me a while to like Meghan's character. She seemed like a great heroine who was willing to sacrifice everything to rescue her four year old brother but I was a little (or a lot) annoyed by how much time she spent in tears crying on boys shoulders and feeling sorry for herself. She did start to get a backbone around the middle of the book when she stood by her beliefs and refused to let her companions kill each other in a fae duel... that was probably one of my favorite parts of this book.

Julie Kagawa took a novel that at first glance seems like so many others and turned it into a whirlwind adventure filled with action, drama, and a bit of romance. I can't wait to see what happens to Meghan, Ash, and Puck in the next book!

Have you read this story yet? If you have, let me know what your thoughts were. Who's your favorite male fae... Ash or Puck?

Review by: Meredith

Death's Academy Review

Title: Death's Academy
Author: Michael Bast
Pages:247
Publication date: January 14 2104












Summary: The Death’s Academy entrance exam for Midnight Smith is quickly approaching. There’s just one problem: Midnight is the worst exam taker the academy has ever seen. If Midnight wants to ever step foot inside the school, he’ll have to join forces with the hated Guardian Angels, and together face the deadliest creatures in the world—the dreaded Unicorns. Becoming a Grim Reaper has never been more hilarious!


Review:

I don’t usually read or review middle grade novels but when I was asked to review this book I couldn’t say no. The summary sounded different and I wanted to give it a try.

Death’s academy was fast paced and has such a different take on the good vs. evil that we are accustomed too.

This book is about a boy named midnight who wants to get into Death’s Academy, which is a school that when you turn 12 you can take an exam and continue schooling their and learn how to be a grim reaper. Midnight knows he is going to fail his exams and from the very beginning he slacks off and goes against the rules to train to get in. And then the adventure begins.

At first I wasn’t too sure about this book, I’m usually read books with more mature characters that I can relate too and I had a difficult time connecting with any of the characters because they were so young. But as the pages turned I got more and more into the story.

This book had such a different twists on characters, like grim reapers aren’t evil beings, and angels aren’t perfect. But what I loved most about this book was the unicorns. They were the evil characters in the story and you would never think of having unicorns as evil creatures. But Michael Bast did a good job of twisting the plot.

While I only gave this book 3 stars. I really did love this book, the beginning was a little slow but once you got past that the real adventure began and you were trapped in a thrilling adventure of midnight and his friends.

3/5 stars

Changes are coming!!!

   Everybody meet Meredith, a new addition to the blog. She's going to put up reviews, and add some new content for us :)

Here's a  blurb about her:

My name is Meredith and I’ve been in love with books since my fourth grade teacher gave me a copy of Prisoner of Azkaban, the third installment in the Harry Potter series. Until that moment I had no idea how much laughter, adventure, and love could be found in books… I haven’t been able to put them down since.

For the longest time I was a lurker, I’d visit other Book Bloggers site but I wouldn’t say a word. Recently I discovered Goodreads where a whole new world seem to exist where I could find people just like me… people obsessed with books and dying to share their thoughts and love for everything book related. Goodreads has allowed me to make some really great friends and the opportunity to chat with some of my favorite Romance authors.

I figured since I’ve finally got the courage to start posting reviews that I’d share those thoughts about the books I love with everyone, that’s where this website comes in. This site is designed for all of us to share our favorite novels, book series, and authors and hopefully discover some new ones along the way.

She does have a blog of her own and a tumblr account where she also has book update. You can check them out below:

 

Blog: meredithsramblesandbabbles
Tumblr: meredithsramblesandbabblestumblr

Amazon gift card giveaway

Rules to win: ( US only)
1) Make sure your a GFC follower
2) +1 entry for tweeting this link
3) leave your email in the comments below .


Giveaway ends February 12 :)

good luck and enjoy!

FanGirl Review

Title: FanGirl
Author Rainbow Rowell
Publication Date: September 10th 2013
Pages:433












Summary:
In Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl, Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.
Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

A New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of 2013


Review:

I actually haven’t heard of this book until I saw it on the bookshelf at the bookstore. The cover was so cute and it jumped out at me. I was glad I picked it up because I absolutely adore this book. The synopsis sounded promising and when I looked at other people’s reviews and the first thing I saw was how everybody loved Levi.

I actually have to disagree with them. Levi seemed geeky and awkward from the beginning of the book. I couldn’t quite get the description of him in my head. Too me he was a greasy haired lanky boy who worked at Starbucks and who occasionally hooked up with other girls. I’m not saying I didn’t like his character, he was just a little too perfect for me with his goofy smiles all the time and him never being in a bad mood. I was just hoping that Levi had some inner turmoil that he was dealing with or some past that he was hiding from Cath.

After completely ripping on Levi’s character, I did actually love this book, I thought about coming home and reading it all the time. It was the only thing I did in my spare time. I did like how cute and awkward Cath and Levi’s relationship was. Cath was a twin and she was the shy quiet one who stayed in her room and wrote fanfiction for a huge fan base, while her twin was portrayed as the wild partying girl who hooked up with random guys.

I could actually relate with the main character, I don’t write fanfiction, but I do love to write and somehow her shy awkward personality related to me. I’m glad I got to hide in the world of “FanGirl” for a few hours. I only wish it was longer! I can’t wait to read “Eleanor and Park”.

 

4/5 stars