Review: break your glass slippers

Title: break your glass slippers
Author: amanda lovelace
Genre: Poetry
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: March 17, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

“more forgetting time.
more midnight dances with yourself.”

amanda lovelace, the bestselling & award-winning author of the “women are some kind of magic” poetry series, presents a new companion series, “you are your own fairy tale” the first installment, break your glass slippers, is about overcoming those who don’t see your worth, even if that person is sometimes yourself. in the epic tale of your life, you are the most important character while everyone is but a forgotten footnote. even the prince.

Review:

This poetry collection tells a Cinderella story. This Cinderella gets the Prince Charming, but he turns out to be a bad boyfriend. He lies to her, wants her to change, and cheats on her. He is very critical of her. Her fairy godmother speaks words of wisdom, telling her it’s okay to be alone.

This was a great twist on the fairytale of Cinderella. She is often the character girls aspire to be, because she overcomes her faults and gets the prince she wanted. However, this story shows that her “faults” are not what’s wrong with her. They make up who she is, and she shouldn’t try to change for anyone, even her Prince Charming.

I loved the illustrations that went along with some of the poems. They illustrated some of the imagery in the poems, such as a bird cage and a love potion. They reinforced the idea of the modern fairytale, since they are usually children’s books with illustrations.

This is a great poetry book!

Thank you Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

the princess saves herself in this one by amanda lovelace

Pillow Thoughts by Courtney Peppernell

Have you read break your glass slippers? What did you think of it?

Bookish Friday – Faves Freebie: Books With Best in the Title

This is a weekly meme hosted by Laurie Reads and Niffler Reads. Every Friday, they post a list of bookish things based on the prompt they provided. The prompts for Feb to May can be found here.

This week’s prompt is a Faves Freebie. I decided to do books with ‘Best’ in the Title. Here’s my list:

The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks

Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner

My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

Best Day Ever by Kaira Rouda

I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver

The Best Kind of People by Zoe Whittall

The Best Lies by Sarah Lyu

Best Friends (Real Friends #2) by Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham (illustrator)

Best Babysitters Ever by Caroline Cala

The Best of Adam Sharp by Graeme Simsion

(All book covers from Goodreads)

Did you make a list for Bookish Friday?

Review: Twisted Fairy Tales: Little Rude Riding Hood

Title: Twisted Fairy Tales: Little Rude Riding Hood
Author: Jo Franklin, Chris Jevons (illustrator)
Genre: Childrens, Picture Book
Publisher: Arcturus Publishing
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: March 15, 2020
Rating: ★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Once upon a time, a fairy tale went very wrong! This new twist on a traditional children’s story is packed with fun, humour, and energy.

Little Rude is incredibly cheeky to everyone that she meets. She doesn’t even know the meaning of “please” and “thank you!” However, that could all change when she meets a surprisingly polite wolf on her way to Grandma’s house. 

Will Little Rude’s constant insults drive even this newly reformed Big Bad Wolf over the edge? This riotously funny remix on the traditional fairy tale will delight children and adults alike. 

This hilarious tale featuring brand-new full-colour illustrations will be sure to thrill readers aged 6+.

Review:

In this book, Little Red Riding Hood is a very rude girl, so she is called Little Rude Riding Hood. Her parents send her to bring her grandmother a present for her birthday, but Little Rude doesn’t want to. Eventually they convince her to go. Along her way to her grandmother’s house, she meets kind creatures, but she is still rude to them.

This story had a great twist on the original tale. Since Little Rude is so rude to her parents and everyone else, it shows kids that she is behaving badly. She behaves in the opposite way from Little Red Riding Hood, who was very kind and trusting. Another twist is that the characters who usually attack the grandmother, like the wolf and the lumberjack, are actually friends with her grandmother.

This is a fun twist on Little Red Riding Hood!

Thank you Arcturus Publishing for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

Twisted Fairy Tales: The Ninjabread Man by Stewart Ross, Chris Jevons (illustrator)

Twisted Fairy Tales: The Three Little Narwhals by Stewart Ross, Chris Jevons (illustrator)

Other Books in the Series:

Have you read Little Rude Riding Hood? What did you think of it?

TBR Thursday – March 19

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 What If It’s Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera.

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Arthur is only in New York for the summer, but if Broadway has taught him anything, it’s that the universe can deliver a showstopping romance when you least expect it.

Ben thinks the universe needs to mind its business. If the universe had his back, he wouldn’t be on his way to the post office carrying a box of his ex-boyfriend’s things.

But when Arthur and Ben meet-cute at the post office, what exactly does the universe have in store for them?

Maybe nothing. After all, they get separated.

Maybe everything. After all, they get reunited.

But what if they can’t quite nail a first date . . . or a second first date . . . or a third?

What if Arthur tries too hard to make it work . . . and Ben doesn’t try hard enough?

What if life really isn’t like a Broadway play?

But what if it is?

Have you read this book? What did you think of it?

Review: My Plain Jane (The Lady Janies #2)

Title: My Plain Jane (The Lady Janies #2)
Author: Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Historical
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Owlcrate, Litjoy
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: June 26, 2018
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

You may think you know the story. After a miserable childhood, penniless orphan Jane Eyre embarks on a new life as a governess at Thornfield Hall. There, she meets one dark, brooding Mr. Rochester. Despite their significant age gap (!) and his uneven temper (!!), they fall in love—and, Reader, she marries him. (!!!)

Or does she?

Prepare for an adventure of Gothic proportions, in which all is not as it seems, a certain gentleman is hiding more than skeletons in his closets, and one orphan Jane Eyre, aspiring author Charlotte Brontë, and supernatural investigator Alexander Blackwood are about to be drawn together on the most epic ghost hunt this side of Wuthering Heights.

Review:

This is another fabulous book by the Lady Janies!

This story is an adaptation of Jane Eyre. The three perspectives are Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë, and Alexander Blackwood. Charlotte attends Lowood school with Jane. However, Jane can see ghosts. She is recruited by Alexander to join a special ghost catching society, but she refuses so she can follow her dream of being a governess. Charlotte joins Alexander and her brother Branwell to try and convince Jane to use her unique powers to catch ghosts.

This story mostly followed the plot of Jane Eyre. Some of the strange plot points in the story were explained by ghosts appearing in this story. Other odd plot points were altered to make better sense in the story, like Jane’s sudden discovery of new cousins at the end of the original book.

Jane’s friend Helen, who died as a girl at school, is in this story as a ghost who follows Jane everywhere. I loved Helen’s commentary on the story. She commented on how ridiculous things were, such as the way that Jane insisted on being a governess when she could have had much more money in the ghost society.

I laughed out loud so many times while reading this book! I love Jane Eyre, so I really enjoyed the jokes about the novel. There were also loads of references to 19th century novels, such as Pride and Prejudice, which I also really enjoyed!

I can’t wait to read the next book in the Lady Janies series!

What to read next:

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue (Montague Siblings #1) by Mackenzi Lee

Stalking Jack the Ripper (Stalking Jack the Ripper #1) by Kerri Maniscalco

Other Books in the Series:

Have you read My Plain Jane? What did you think of it?

‘Waiting on’ Wednesday – March 18

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 Rules for Being a Girl by Candace Bushnell and Katie Cotugno. The expected publication date is April 7, 2020.

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Goodreads Synopsis:

It starts before you can even remember: You learn the rules for being a girl. . . .

Marin has always been good at navigating these unspoken guidelines. A star student and editor of the school paper, she dreams of getting into Brown University. Marin’s future seems bright―and her young, charismatic English teacher, Mr. Beckett, is always quick to admire her writing and talk books with her.

But when “Bex” takes things too far and comes on to Marin, she’s shocked and horrified. Had she somehow led him on? Was it her fault?

When Marin works up the courage to tell the administration what happened, no one believes her. She’s forced to face Bex in class every day. Except now, he has an ax to grind.

But Marin isn’t about to back down. She uses the school newspaper to fight back and she starts a feminist book club at school. She finds allies in the most unexpected people, like “slutty” Gray Kendall, who she’d always dismissed as just another lacrosse bro. As things heat up at school and in her personal life, Marin must figure out how to take back the power and write her own rules.

What books are you waiting on this week?

Review: Fight Like a Girl

Title: Fight Like a Girl
Author: Sheena Kamal
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: Penguin Random House Canada
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: March 10, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

The Beauty of the Moment meets Exit, Pursued by a Bear. Award-winning thriller writer Sheena Kamal delivers a kick-ass debut YA novel that will have fans crying out for more.

Love and violence. In some families they’re bound up together, dysfunctional and poisonous, passed from generation to generation like eye color or a quirk of smile. Trisha’s trying to break the chain, channeling her violent impulses into Muay Thai kickboxing, an unlikely sport for a slightly built girl of Trinidadian descent. Her father comes and goes as he pleases, his presence adding a layer of tension to Toronto’s east-end townhouse Trisha and her mom call home, every punch he lands on her mother carving itself indelibly into Trisha’s mind. Until the night he wanders out drunk in front of the car Trisha is driving, practicing on her learner’s permit, her mother in the passenger seat. Her father is killed, and her mother seems strangely at peace. Lighter, somehow. Trisha doesn’t know exactly what happened that night, but she’s afraid it’s going to happen again. Her mom has a new man in her life and the patterns, they are repeating.

Review:

Trisha is a fighter. She practices Muay Thai kickboxing. She is of Trinidadian descent, and she lives with her mother in Toronto. Her dad comes to visit from Trinidad, and is killed when she accidentally hits him with her car. However, she suspects that there is more to his death. She throws herself into her fighting to distract her from her suspicions about her father’s death and her mother’s new boyfriend.

This was such an original story. There were unexpected twists. There was also lots of tension when it came to Trisha’s kickboxing. She went through a lot of pain and suffering, both mentally and physically, which was difficult to read at times.

I loved that this book was set in my hometown of Toronto. I could imagine where Trisha lived and the things she would do in the city, like taking the subway to her kickboxing class. I had friends when I was growing up who were from Trinidad, so Tricia reminded me of them.

This is a great story!

Thank you Penguin Random House Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

The Lost Ones (Nora Watts #1) by Sheena Kamal

Iphigenia Murphy by Sara Hosey

Have you read Fight Like a Girl? What did you think of it?

Top Ten Tuesday – Spring 2020 TBR

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 Spring 2020 TBR. Here’s my list:

1. Ruthless Gods (Something Dark and Holy #2) by Emily A. Duncan

2. Rules for Being a Girl by Candace Bushnell and Katie Cotugno

3. Truths I Never Told You by Kelly Rimmer

4. We Didn’t Ask for This by Avi Alsaid

5. Once Upon an Eid: Stories of Hope and Joy by 15 Muslim Voices by S.K. Ali and Aisha Saeed

6. To Have and to Hoax by Martha Water

7. My Summer of Love and Misfortune by Lindsay Wong

8. More Than Maybe by Erin Hahn

9. Say Yes Summer by Lindsey Roth Culli

10. Date Me, Bryson Keller by Kevin van Whye

(All photos taken from Goodreads)

What’s your list of books on your Top Ten Tuesday?

Happy Pub Day – March 17

Happy Pub day to all of these new books!

The Elephant by Peter Carnavas

Darling Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel

A Conspiracy of Bones (Temperance Brennan #19) by Kathy Reichs

Trouble with Treasure (Undersea Mystery Club #2) by Courtney Carbone, Melanie Demmer (illustrator)

break your glass slippers by Amanda Lovelace

All the Pretty Things by Emily Arsenault

The Electric Heir (Feverwake #2) by Victoria Lee

What books are you most excited for this week?

Blog Tour Review: The Grace Kelly Dress

Title: The Grace Kelly Dress
Author: Brenda Janowitz
Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance
Publisher: Graydon House Books
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: March 3, 2020
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Paris, 1958: Rose, a seamstress at a fashionable atelier, has been entrusted with sewing a Grace Kelly-lookalike gown for a wealthy bride-to-be. But when, against better judgment, she finds herself falling in love with the bride’s handsome brother, Rose must make an impossible choice—one that could put all she’s worked for at risk: love, security, and of course, the dress.

Sixty years later, tech CEO Rachel, who goes by the childhood nickname “Rocky,” has inherited the dress for her upcoming wedding in New York City. But there’s just one problem: Rocky doesn’t want to wear it. A family heirloom dating back to the 1950s, the dress just isn’t her. Rocky knows this admission will break her mother Joan’s heart. But what she doesn’t know is why Joan insists on the dress—or the heartbreaking secret that changed her mother’s life decades before, as she herself prepared to wear it.

As the lives of these three women come together in surprising ways, the revelation of the dress’s history collides with long-buried family heartaches. And in the lead-up to Rocky’s wedding, they’ll have to confront the past before they can embrace the beautiful possibilities of the future.

Review:

This story follows three perspectives. The first is a bride in 2020. She has been given the wedding dress that her mother and grandmother wore, but she doesn’t want to wear it. The second perspective is the bride’s mother in the 80s when she was going to get married. Her own mother had give her her own wedding dress, but she has some uncertainties about getting married. The third perspective is a seamstress in Paris in the 50s. She suddenly has to take over the designer’s studio when she dies, and she has to secretly design a special wedding dress under the designer’s name.

This story had a lot more tension than I expected. There were cliffhangers at the end of many chapters, so I had a hard time putting the book down. There were some shocking twists that I didn’t expect.

I loved the way the wedding dress was woven throughout three generations, yet it had very different meanings to each woman. The original dress was inspired by Grace Kelly’s famous dress, but I expected Grace Kelly to have a much bigger part of the story. The theme of marriage and the meaning behind the dress was prevalent throughout the story.

This was a great story!

Thank you Graydon House Books for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding by Jennifer Robson

The Whispers of War by Julia Kelly

Author Info:

Brenda Janowitz is the author of five novels, including The Dinner Party and Recipe for a Happy Life. She is the Books Correspondent for PopSugar. Brenda’s work has also appeared in The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, Salon, Redbook, and the New York Post. She lives in New York.

Have you read The Grace Kelly Dress? What did you think of it?