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 was approved for a book on NetGalley from St. Martin’s Press:
Foul is Fair by Hannah Capin
I was approved for a book on NetGalley from Annick Press:
Rising Star (Cross Ups #3) by Sylv Chiang
I was approved for a book on NetGalley from Simon and Schuster Canada:
Permanent Record by Mary H.K. Choi
Thank you St. Martin’s Press, Annick Press, and Simon and Schuster Canada for these books!
Title: Queen of the Sea Author: Dylan Meconis Genre: Children’s, Graphic Novel Publisher: Candlewick Press Source: Publisher via NetGalley Format: Ebook Release Date: June 25, 2019 Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
Cult graphic novelist Dylan Meconis offers a rich reimagining of history in this hybrid novel loosely based on the exile of Queen Elizabeth I by her sister, Queen Mary.
When her sister seizes the throne, Queen Eleanor of Albion is banished to a tiny island off the coast of her kingdom, where the nuns of the convent spend their days peacefully praying, sewing, and gardening. But the island is also home to Margaret, a mysterious young orphan girl whose life is upturned when the cold, regal stranger arrives. As Margaret grows closer to Eleanor, she grapples with the revelation of the island’s sinister true purpose as well as the truth of her own past. When Eleanor’s life is threatened, Margaret is faced with a perilous choice between helping Eleanor and protecting herself.
Review:
I love reading adaptations of true events. This graphic novel tells an alternative story about Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Mary I. Their names are changed to Eleanor and Catherine, but the premise of the story is the same: that the daughter of the King banished her half-sister from the kingdom so that she couldn’t steal her throne.
I’ve read other books about Queen Elizabeth I, so I know the story of what happened. This book follows Margaret, who is a fictional character. She lives on the convent island, which houses Eleanor (the Elizabeth character) while she hides from her sister. This story includes mysterious shipwrecks, spies, and a hidden cave, which were not part of the true history. These aspects make it an exciting story for a children’s graphic novel.
This is a fun story! I loved it!
Thank you Candlewick Press for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What to read next:
Fables, Vol. 1: Legends in Exile by Bill Willingham
Have you read Queen of the Sea? 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:
“There weren’t a lot of memories, especially good ones. But there was this. ‘Tell me a story,’ I’d say when it was bedtime but I wasn’t at all sleepy. ‘Oh, honey,’ my mom would reply. ‘I’m tired.'”
Do you recognize these first lines?
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And the book is… The Rest of the Story by Sarah Dessen.
Goodreads synopsis:
Emma Saylor doesn’t remember a lot about her mother, who died when she was ten. But she does remember the stories her mom told her about the big lake that went on forever, with cold, clear water and mossy trees at the edges.
Now it’s just Emma and her dad, and life is good, if a little predictable…until Emma is unexpectedly sent to spend the summer with her mother’s family—her grandmother and cousins she hasn’t seen since she was a little girl.
When Emma arrives at North Lake, she realizes there are actually two very different communities there. Her mother grew up in working class North Lake, while her dad spent summers in the wealthier Lake North resort. The more time Emma spends there, the more it starts to feel like she is divided into two people as well. To her father, she is Emma. But to her new family, she is Saylor, the name her mother always called her.
Then there’s Roo, the boy who was her very best friend when she was little. Roo holds the key to her family’s history, and slowly, he helps her put the pieces together about her past. It’s hard not to get caught up in the magic of North Lake—and Saylor finds herself falling under Roo’s spell as well.
For Saylor, it’s like a whole new world is opening up to her. But when it’s time to go back home, which side of her will win out?
Have you read The Rest of the Story? What did you think of it?
Title: Wilder Girls Author: Rory Power Genre: Young Adult, Horror Publisher: Delacorte Press Source: Publisher Format: Paperback Release Date: July 9, 2019 Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
It’s been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine. Since the Tox hit and pulled Hetty’s life out from under her.
It started slow. First the teachers died one by one. Then it began to infect the students, turning their bodies strange and foreign. Now, cut off from the rest of the world and left to fend for themselves on their island home, the girls don’t dare wander outside the school’s fence, where the Tox has made the woods wild and dangerous. They wait for the cure they were promised as the Tox seeps into everything.
But when Byatt goes missing, Hetty will do anything to find her, even if it means breaking quarantine and braving the horrors that lie beyond the fence. And when she does, Hetty learns that there’s more to their story, to their life at Raxter, than she could have ever thought true.
Review:
This story was a rollercoaster ride!
I felt the camaraderie between the girls right away. They were close because they had all been affected by the same disease, called the Tox. It affected everyone differently. Some girls grew gills, another grew a second spine, and other people grew tree branches out of their bodies. Each symptom kept getting creepier than the last, because they were unpredictable.
I liked the way that this story had two different perspectives. Hetty had the Tox, but she was fairly reliable throughout the story. The narratives switches to another girl for a few chapters, and she is very sick with the Tox. This gives an inside look into how it affects the girls when it takes over their bodies.
I really enjoyed this story. It had creepy horror elements that kept me hooked. I would love to see a sequel happen one day!
Thank you Penguin Random House Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What to read next:
The Dark Beneath the Ice by Amelinda Bérubé
Shatter Me (Shatter Me #1) by Tahereh Mafi
Have you read Wilder Girls? What did you think of it?
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 The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding by Jennifer Robson.
Goodreads Synopsis:
From the internationally bestselling author of Somewhere in France comes an enthralling historical novel about one of the most famous wedding dresses of the twentieth century—Queen Elizabeth’s wedding gown—and the fascinating women who made it.
“Millions will welcome this joyous event as a flash of color on the long road we have to travel.”—Sir Winston Churchill on the news of Princess Elizabeth’s forthcoming wedding
London, 1947: Besieged by the harshest winter in living memory, burdened by onerous shortages and rationing, the people of postwar Britain are enduring lives of quiet desperation despite their nation’s recent victory. Among them are Ann Hughes and Miriam Dassin, embroiderers at the famed Mayfair fashion house of Norman Hartnell. Together they forge an unlikely friendship, but their nascent hopes for a brighter future are tested when they are chosen for a once-in-a-lifetime honor: taking part in the creation of Princess Elizabeth’s wedding gown.
Toronto, 2016: More than half a century later, Heather Mackenzie seeks to unravel the mystery of a set of embroidered flowers, a legacy from her late grandmother. How did her beloved Nan, a woman who never spoke of her old life in Britain, come to possess the priceless embroideries that so closely resemble the motifs on the stunning gown worn by Queen Elizabeth II at her wedding almost seventy years before? And what was her Nan’s connection to the celebrated textile artist and holocaust survivor Miriam Dassin?
With The Gown, Jennifer Robson takes us inside the workrooms where one of the most famous wedding gowns in history was created. Balancing behind-the-scenes details with a sweeping portrait of a society left reeling by the calamitous costs of victory, she introduces readers to three unforgettable heroines, their points of view alternating and intersecting throughout its pages, whose lives are woven together by the pain of survival, the bonds of friendship, and the redemptive power of love.
Have you read this book? What did you think of it?
Title: Doctor Who: Dr. Eleventh Author: Adam Hargreaves Genre: Children’s Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Source: Purchased Format: Paperback Release Date: April 25, 2017 Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
The greatest mash-up in the entire Whoniverse is here! Doctor Who meets Roger Hargreaves’ Mr Men in this new series of stories, written and illustrated by Adam Hargreaves.
In Dr. Eleventh, join the Eleventh Doctor and River Song on an amazing new adventure through time and space . . .
Review:
I’ve seen these books for a few years, and I always wondered what they were like. The Eleventh Doctor is my cousin’s favourite one, so I decided to get her this book as a gift. The book is so cute that I’ll have to get the other ones!
In this story, Doctor Who has to go on a trip with River Song to find something he is missing. You don’t find out what it is until the end. Along the way he meets many of the recurring evil creatures that are on the show, such as weeping angels and zygons.
I loved how we get to see so many familiar faces in this book, even if they aren’t necessarily good friends. This book would be great for kids who are fans of the show, but also adults who love it too!
What to read next:
Doctor Who: Dr. Tenth by Adam Hargreaves
Doctor Who: Dr. Twelfth by Adam Hargreaves
Have you read Doctor Who: Dr. Eleventh? 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 Crown of Coral and Pearl by Mara Rutherford. The release date is August 27, 2019.
Goodreads Synopsis:
For generations, the princes of Ilara have married the most beautiful maidens from the ocean village of Varenia. But though every girl longs to be chosen as the next princess, the cost of becoming royalty is higher than any of them could ever imagine…
Nor once dreamed of seeing the wondrous wealth and beauty of Ilara, the kingdom that’s ruled her village for as long as anyone can remember. But when a childhood accident left her with a permanent scar, it became clear that her identical twin sister, Zadie, would likely be chosen to marry the Crown Prince—while Nor remained behind, unable to ever set foot on land.
Then Zadie is gravely injured, and Nor is sent to Ilara in her place. To Nor’s dismay, her future husband, Prince Ceren, is as forbidding and cold as his home—a castle carved into a mountain and devoid of sunlight. And as she grows closer to Ceren’s brother, the charming Prince Talin, Nor uncovers startling truths about a failing royal bloodline, a murdered queen… and a plot to destroy the home she was once so eager to leave.
In order to save her people, Nor must learn to negotiate the treacherous protocols of a court where lies reign and obsession rules. But discovering her own formidable strength may be the one move that costs her everything: the crown, Varenia and Zadie.
Sometimes even destiny needs a little bit of help.
When childhood sweethearts Justine (Sagittarius and serious skeptic) and Nick (Aquarius and true believer) bump into each other as adults, a life-changing love affair seems inevitable. To Justine, anyway. Especially when she learns Nick is an astrological devotee, whose decisions are guided by the stars, and more specifically, by the horoscopes in his favorite magazine. The same magazine Justine happens to write for. As Nick continues to not fall headlong in love with her, Justine decides to take Nick’s horoscope, and Fate itself, into her own hands. But, of course, Nick is not the only Aquarius making important life choices according to what is written in the stars.
Charting the ripple effects of Justine’s astrological meddling, STAR-CROSSED is a delicious, intelligent, and affecting love story about friendship, chance, and how we all navigate the kinds of choices that are hard to face alone.
Review:
This is an amazing new story about crossing paths and destiny.
Justine meets her childhood love Nick again when they’re grown up. She knows he loves reading the horoscopes in the magazine that she works for, so she alters his Aquarius horoscope every month to persuade him to fall in love with her. However, he interprets them differently from how she intends, and decides it means he should get back together with his ex-girlfriend. These misunderstandings were kind of funny, because it all works out in the end.
Interspersed between Justine and Nick’s story were other stories of people who were affected by Justine’s horoscopes. At first, I didn’t understand these parts because I couldn’t see how it related to the main plot. By the end, I loved those stories. Everything ended up being connected, which was amazing. I think you could reread this book and notice new connections every time!
I loved this story. It’s a fun romantic comedy.
Thank you Penguin Random House Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
What to read next:
Don’t You Forget About Me by Mhairi McFarlane
Have you read Star-Crossed? 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 a Character Freebie. I found an old topic which was Characters I Would Dress as for Halloween. Here’s my list:
Title: Stranger Things: The Other Side Author: Jody Houser, Stefano Martino, Keith Champagne Genre: Young Adult, Graphic Novel Publisher: Dark Horse Books Source: Library Format: Ebook Release Date: May 7, 2019 Rating: ★★★
Goodreads Synopsis:
The hit Netflix series from the Duffer Brothers is now a spine-tingling comic that recounts Will Beyers’ harrowing survival in the treacherous Upside Down!
When Will Byers finds himself in the Upside Down, an impossible dark parody of his own world, he’s understandably frightened. But that’s nothing compared with the fear that takes hold when he realizes what’s in that world with him!
Follow Will’s struggle through the season one events of the hit Netflix show Stranger Things! Written by Jody Houser (Mother Panic, Faith) and illustrated by Stefano Martino (Doctor Who, Catwoman)
Review:
I love the show Stranger Things, so I’m excited about the new books about the show that are coming out.
This graphic novel is about Will’s time spent in the Upside Down. It wasn’t a very exciting story, especially if you’ve already watched the show. There were some flashbacks to him playing dungeons and dragons with his friends, but most of the story wasn’t new.
The illustrations could have been more detailed. The characters faces looked flat, without realistic details. I could tell who the characters were just based on their clothes from the show, but they didn’t really look like the real actors.
I was a little disappointed in this graphic novel. I hope the novels about Stranger Things are better.
What to read next:
Stranger Things: Runaway Max by Brenna Yovanoff
How to Survive in a Stranger Things World by Matthew J. Gilbert
Have you read Stranger Things: The Other Side? What did you think of it?
Jill's Book Blog 