This is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews and Reading Reality. Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!
I received book from Pajama Press:
Thank you Pajama Press for this book!
What books did you get this week?
Title: From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess
Author: Meg Cabot
Genre: Middle Grade
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Source: Library
Format: Ebook
Release Date: May 19, 2015
Rating: ★★★
Olivia Grace Clarisse Harrison has always known she was different. Brought up by her aunt’s family in New Jersey, book-and-music-loving Olivia feels out of place in their life of high fashion and fancy cars. But she never could have imagined how out of place she really was until Mia Thermopolis, Princess of Genovia, pops into her school and announces that Olivia is her long-lost sister. Olivia is a princess. A dream come true, right? But princesses have problems too.
In FROM THE NOTEBOOKS OF A MIDDLE SCHOOL PRINCESS a new middle grade series, readers will see Genovia, this time through the illustrated diaries of a spunky new heroine, 12 year old Olivia Grace, who happens to be the long lost half-sister of Princess Mia Thermopolis.
I was curious about this series because it is about the sister of Mia from The Princess Diaries. In this story, Olivia is the daughter of Mia’s father. She is in middle school, and lives with her aunt and uncle. Her mother died when she was a baby, so her aunt had to look after her. However, her mother didn’t want Olivia to be raised as a princess, so it was kept a secret.
Some parts of this book were quite uncomfortable. It made Olivia and Mia’s father look horrible, because he had kept his daughter a secret for all these years. Her aunt and uncle were portrayed in a negative light because they didn’t give Olivia many things. For example, their other children were given new toys and clothes, but Olivia wasn’t given anything. It focused more on material items. They reminded me of the Dursley’s from Harry Potter, but not as obviously abusive.
I think the story would have been better if the main character wasn’t Mia’s sister, but maybe a cousin or perhaps her own daughter. Otherwise, I enjoyed the premise of the story. I liked where it ended, so I will still continue to read the rest of the series.
Have you read From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess? What did you think of it?
This is a weekly meme hosted by Wandering Words, where you give the first few lines of a book to hook your readers before introducing the book.
Here are my first lines:
“I offered my hand to the fire. Sparks leaped from the hearth and settled onto my fingers, heat drawn to heat, and glittered like molten gems against my skin. With my free hand, I pulled a bucket of melting snow closer and edged forward on my knees, ready to douse myself if the sparks flared into something much larger.”
Do you recognize these first lines?
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And the book is… Frostblood (Frostblood Saga #1) by Elly Blake.
Seventeen-year-old Ruby is a Fireblood who has concealed her powers of heat and flame from the cruel Frostblood ruling class her entire life. But when her mother is killed trying to protect her, and rebel Frostbloods demand her help to overthrow their bloodthirsty king, she agrees to come out of hiding, desperate to have her revenge.
Despite her unpredictable abilities, Ruby trains with the rebels and the infuriating – yet irresistible – Arcus, who seems to think of her as nothing more than a weapon. But before they can take action, Ruby is captured and forced to compete in the king’s tournaments that pit Fireblood prisoners against Frostblood champions. Now she has only one chance to destroy the maniacal ruler who has taken everything from her – and from the icy young man she has come to love.
Have you read Frostblood? What did you think of it?
Title: White Stag
Author: Kara Barbieri
Genre: Young Adult, Middle Grade
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: January 8, 2019
Rating: ★★★★
The first book in a brutally stunning series where a young girl finds herself becoming more monster than human and must uncover dangerous truths about who she is and the place that has become her home.
As the last child in a family of daughters, seventeen-year-old Janneke was raised to be the male heir. While her sisters were becoming wives and mothers, she was taught to hunt, track, and fight. On the day her village was burned to the ground, Janneke—as the only survivor—was taken captive by the malicious Lydian and eventually sent to work for his nephew Soren.
Janneke’s survival in the court of merciless monsters has come at the cost of her connection to the human world. And when the Goblin King’s death ignites an ancient hunt for the next king, Soren senses an opportunity for her to finally fully accept the ways of the brutal Permafrost. But every action he takes to bring her deeper into his world only shows him that a little humanity isn’t bad—especially when it comes to those you care about.
Through every battle they survive, Janneke’s loyalty to Soren deepens. After dangerous truths are revealed, Janneke must choose between holding on or letting go of her last connections to a world she no longer belongs to. She must make the right choice to save the only thing keeping both worlds from crumbling.
This story was a little slow to start, but once I got into it, I flew through it. I found the goblins to be very unusual creatures in this book. I always think of them as ugly little creatures, but they were more human-like and beautiful in this story. They were more like how elves and vampires are usually described.
The hunt was very exciting in the story. The goblins must compete in the hunt to kill the white stag, making the one who kills it the next Goblin King. There are two main competitors, who are the two most powerful goblins. Janneke and Soren had to battle some other strange creatures throughout the hunt.
I loved the ending, which had a little twist that I suspected was going to happen. I can’t wait to see what happens in the rest of the series!
Kara Barbieri is a writer living in the tiny town of Hayward, Wisconsin. An avid fantasy fan, she began writing White Stag at eighteen and posting it to Wattpad soon after under the name of ‘Pandean’. When she’s not writing, you can find her marathoning Buffy the Vampire Slayer, reviving gothic fashion, and jamming to synthpop.
Follow Kara:
Twitter – @PandeanPanic
Buy the book – http://wednesdaybooks.com/galaxies-and-kingdom/white-stag/
Thank you to Wednesday Books for letting me participate in this blog tour.
TBR Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly Faye Reads, where you post a title from your shelf or e-reader and find out what others think about it.
My pick this week is Pride by Ibi Zoboi.
Pride and Prejudice gets remixed in this smart, funny, gorgeous retelling of the classic, starring all characters of color, from Ibi Zoboi, National Book Award finalist and author of American Street.
Zuri Benitez has pride. Brooklyn pride, family pride, and pride in her Afro-Latino roots. But pride might not be enough to save her rapidly gentrifying neighborhood from becoming unrecognizable.
When the wealthy Darcy family moves in across the street, Zuri wants nothing to do with their two teenage sons, even as her older sister, Janae, starts to fall for the charming Ainsley. She especially can’t stand the judgmental and arrogant Darius. Yet as Zuri and Darius are forced to find common ground, their initial dislike shifts into an unexpected understanding.
But with four wild sisters pulling her in different directions, cute boy Warren vying for her attention, and college applications hovering on the horizon, Zuri fights to find her place in Bushwick’s changing landscape, or lose it all.
In a timely update of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, critically acclaimed author Ibi Zoboi skillfully balances cultural identity, class, and gentrification against the heady magic of first love in her vibrant reimagining of this beloved classic.
Have you read this book? What did you think of it?
Title: All’s Faire in Middle School
Author: Victoria Jamieson
Genre: Middle Grade, Graphic Novel
Publisher: Dial Books
Source: Library
Format: Ebook
Release Date: September 5, 2017
Rating: ★★★★
The author of Roller Girl is back with a graphic novel about starting middle school, surviving your embarrassing family, and the Renaissance Faire.
Eleven-year-old Imogene (Impy) has grown up with two parents working at the Renaissance Faire, and she’s eager to begin her own training as a squire. First, though, she’ll need to prove her bravery. Luckily Impy has just the quest in mind–she’ll go to public school after a life of being homeschooled! But it’s not easy to act like a noble knight-in-training in middle school. Impy falls in with a group of girls who seem really nice (until they don’t) and starts to be embarrassed of her thrift shop apparel, her family’s unusual lifestyle, and their small, messy apartment. Impy has always thought of herself as a heroic knight, but when she does something really mean in order to fit in, she begins to wonder whether she might be more of a dragon after all.
This is a great story about fitting in.
It can be difficult to find your place in middle school, but it’s even harder when you’ve been homeschooled all of your life. Imogene grew up at the renaissance fair where her family works, but she decides she wants go to public school for middle school. She faces problems that she has never encountered before.
Imogene wants to fit in with the other kids in her class, but she has a very different family life from theirs. The popular girls won’t let her associate with the one other student who goes to the renaissance fair. Imogene has to deal with all of the typical problems of peer pressure and pressure to get good grades, while hiding the truth about her family’s background.
The renaissance fair looks like so much fun! This is a great story with a medieval twist.
Have you read All’s Faire in Middle School? What did you think of it?
This is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine. In this post we highlight a book that’s highly anticipated.
The book that I’m waiting on this Wednesday is An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen. The release date is January 8, 2019.
Seeking women ages 18–32 to participate in a study on ethics and morality. Generous compensation. Anonymity guaranteed.
When Jessica Farris signs up for a psychology study conducted by the mysterious Dr. Shields, she thinks all she’ll have to do is answer a few questions, collect her money, and leave. But as the questions grow more and more intense and invasive and the sessions become outings where Jess is told what to wear and how to act, she begins to feel as though Dr. Shields may know what she’s thinking…and what she’s hiding. As Jess’s paranoia grows, it becomes clear that she can no longer trust what in her life is real, and what is one of Dr. Shields’ manipulative experiments. Caught in a web of deceit and jealousy, Jess quickly learns that some obsessions can be deadly.
What books are you waiting on this week?
This meme is hosted by Lainey from Thoughts on Tomes. The Goodreads Group for Top 5 Wednesday can be found here.
This week’s prompt is Hyped 2019 Releases You Don’t Care About, but I couldn’t think of any. I looked at some lists of 2019 books for ideas, but I ended up finding MORE I wanted to read, so I had to change the prompt to New 2019 Series I’m Hyped About:
What new series are you hyped for in 2019?
Title: The Field Guide to the North American Teenager
Author: Ben Philippe
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Source: Publisher
Format: Paperback
Release Date: January 8, 2018
Rating: ★★★★★
Norris Kaplan is clever, cynical, and quite possibly too smart for his own good. A black French Canadian, he knows from watching American sitcoms that those three things don’t bode well when you are moving to Austin, Texas. Plunked into a new high school and sweating a ridiculous amount from the oppressive Texas heat, Norris finds himself cataloging everyone he meets: the Cheerleaders, the Jocks, the Loners, and even the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Making a ton of friends has never been a priority for him, and this way he can at least amuse himself until it’s time to go back to Canada, where he belongs.
Yet, against all odds, those labels soon become actual people to Norris. Be it loner Liam, who makes it his mission to befriend Norris, or Madison the beta cheerleader, who is so nice that it has to be a trap. Not to mention Aarti the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, who might, in fact, be a real love interest in the making. He even starts playing actual hockey with these Texans.
But the night of the prom, Norris screws everything up royally. As he tries to pick up the pieces, he realizes it might be time to stop hiding behind his snarky opinions and start living his life—along with the people who have found their way into his heart.
I really enjoyed this book! It was funny and entertaining.
I was laughing within the first couple of pages of the story. There were lots of references to pop culture, such as Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and Friends, which were subtle but so funny! They weren’t always explained, which made them more exciting when I discovered one, because it was like an inside joke with the book.
I could totally relate to Norris’s experience as a Canadian going to a warm climate and having trouble adjusting to the hot temperatures. Montreal is even colder than Toronto, and though I haven’t ever been to Texas, I can imagine how hot it would be. I love the heat, so I don’t think I would mind, but I wouldn’t like sweating through multiple shirts a day.
Though the story was a lot of fun, it became quite serious towards the end, including a run-in with the police. I would love to see what happens with these characters in a sequel!
Have you read The Field Guide to the North American Teenager? What did you think of it?
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and it is now hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s theme is Most Anticipated Books for the First Half of 2019. This book is quite similar to my Winter TBR from last week. Here’s my list:
(All photos taken from Goodreads)
Jill's Book Blog 