The Grand Tour

Review written by Jocelyn Koehler The Grand Tour is a real-world-with-magic novel set in the Regency period during the Napoleonic Wars. There are two main protagonists, Cecily and Kate, who are fashionable young English ladies each about 18 years old who have just been married. Cecily is married to James, and Kate is married to […]

The Adventurers Guild

Disclosure: Disney-Hyperion sent me a copy of the book in exchange for a fair and honest review. The Adventurers Guild is the first book in a new series about a group of teenagers who—not necessarily by choice—end up in the guild that protects their town from the Dangers that threaten to destroy it. Walled and […]

H.P. Lovecraft’s The Call of Cthulhu for Beginning Readers

H.P. Lovecraft’s The Call of Cthulhu for Beginning Readers looks like a children’s easy reader book, but it’s definitely not one! Written, illustrated, and bound in the style of Dr. Seuss, it tells the basics of the Cthulhu mythos. I wouldn’t use it as bedtime reading for your 5 year old, but my teenagers and […]

Drink, Slay, Love

Review written by Jonathan Lavallee In Drink, Slay, Love, Pearl is a sixteen year old vampire, doing traditionally vampire things. Learning how to navigate a strict and totalitarian vampire society. How to fight, and how to hunt. She was born to be important, because her family is important, but she was never meant to be […]

The Princess in Black

The Princess in Black is a cute chapter book for new readers. It’s the first book in a series about Princess Magnolia whose secret identity is a monster fighting princess in black. But a princess doesn’t wear black, so this is the perfect disguise! It’s basically a superhero story with princesses and unicorns. This sweet […]

As Old as Time

As Old as Time: A Twisted Tale is the Beauty and the Beast entry in the A Twisted Tale series from Disney Press. Like A Whole New World, this retelling pretty quickly veers off from the familiar plot of both movies, reimagining characters and adding lots of new characters and plot twists. If you’re familiar […]

The Sleeper and the Spindle

The Sleeper and the Spindle, written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Chris Riddell, is a picture book inspired by Sleeping Beauty and some other fairy tales. But don’t let the picture book format make you think this isn’t a wonderful book for older readers. In fact, I think it’s probably best for older readers, including […]

Pennyroyal Academy

Pennyroyal Academy is a story of a young girl who joins a military academy where girls study to become princesses who can fight witches while boys study to become knights who can fight dragons. You just have to accept the terms princess and knight—they’re titles conferred upon completion of the course (But they’re not parallel […]

Lumberjanes

Lumberjanes is a comic book series about a summer camp for “hardcore lady-types.” Volume 1: Beware the Kitten Holy is a collection of the first 4 issues, which introduces the characters and gets them started on their adventures—it certainly doesn’t bring a story arc to a close, so expect your young reader to start asking for […]

The Door in the Hedge

Review written by Jonathan Lavallee.  The Door in the Hedge came on my radar as I was trolling through the Toronto Public Library ebook website. It was part of the Big Library Read program where the company that handles ebooks for the library, Overdrive, decided to let everyone borrow this book and even provided points […]