Exile

The story of Aurelia and Robert continues in Exile. After Aurelia’s younger half-sister Melony tried to have her killed and their father refused to hold Melony accountable for her treachery, Aurelia flees both to escape assassins and to see the rest of the country she still hopes to rule someday. I enjoyed this book and […]

Dancing Queen

In Dancing Queen, Liv—who just finished her junior year of high school in Ann Arbor, Michigan—spends her summer working as an intern with Music Mix in London, where she’ll be wrangling celebrities and helping plan concerts, all in the name of hopefully getting a future job in the entertainment industry. She’s living in a flat […]

My Sister the Vampire, Books 1-7

Honestly, I can’t remember what happened in each individual My Sister the Vampire book and it’s hardly worth writing individual reviews. They’re relatively short and should ideally be read in order—each one picks up where the last left off. They’re cute and sweet and my daughter loves them. My only complaint is that they’re so […]

Fairy Wings

Fairy Wings: A Fairy Tale is the story of Tamisin, a girl who doesn’t fit in; eventually she learns it’s because she’s actually half fairy. She befriends Jak, another halfling—he’s half cat goblin—and they end up having adventures in the land of the Fey. The story’s take on goblins is interesting—they’re all affiliated with different […]

Love on Cue

I’ve been looking for age appropriate romantic stories for my 11 year old. Simon Pulse has put out an entire line of them, and Love on Cue is the first one I checked out. I suppose it’s harmless enough, but I was really hoping for a better story and a main character I really cared […]

Mockingjay

Mockingjay, the final book in the trilogy (see my reviews of The Hunger Games and Catching Fire), brings Katniss’ story to its brutal but overall logical end. Katniss becomes the face of the rebellion—the Mockingjay—a tool of politicians on both sides of the conflict. Finally she violently takes things into her own hands and fights […]

Lily Dale

Although this series is made up of four books—Awakening, Believing, Connecting, and Discovering—they’re really better considered a complete novel split into four parts. In fact, they’re probably best read back to back. (I only figured out the A, B, C, D naming convention as I started the fourth novel.) The series follows high school senior […]

Catching Fire

Catching Fire is the sequel to The Hunger Games. It continues pretty much where the last book left off, and having survived the Hunger Games hasn’t actually solved any of Katniss’ problems. She needs to set off on the victory tour—the publicity stunt the government uses to keep the Hunger Games fresh in everyone’s mind. […]

Aurelia

Aurelia feels like a logical stepping stone between the princess stories of Gail Carson Levine and adult novels of romance and intrigue. In many ways, Aurelia is a typical princess from stories like this—she chafes against authority, she thinks she’s less beautiful than her golden younger sister, the common people love her, and she’s smarter […]

Why I Won’t Let My Kid Read the Twilight series

There’s plenty written about Twilight and its sequels, and many strong opinions about their worth. Many people have legitimate and well supported issues with the books, and I have no intention of getting into any of those arguments here. Personally, I enjoyed them. If you want to know why I liked them, I’ve discussed it here. […]