Review: The Princess in Black Takes a Vacation (The Princess in Black #4)

Title: The Princess in Black Takes a Vacation (The Princess in Black #4)
Author: Shannon Hale, Dean Hale, LeUyen Pham
Genre: Children’s
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Source: Library
Format: Ebook
Release Date: November 8, 2016
Rating: ★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Even monster-battling princesses get tired sometimes! But a peaceful time away is hard to find as the humorous New York Times best-selling series continues.

After battling monsters all night, a sleepy Princess in Black decides that she needs a vacation. After all, the Goat Avenger, a new hero who looks oddly familiar, has offered to protect the goats while she takes a much needed break. The very next day Princess Magnolia rides her bicycle to the seaside, where the air is salty, the sun is shiny, and the sea is as blue as monster fur. But just as Princess Magnolia is about to take a nap on her hammock, she hears a “ROAR!” Seriously? A monster? On the perfect beach? Impossible! Could a sea monster really ruin this vacation for the Princess in Black? 

Review:

I love this series! The Princess in Black is an adorable character.

Princess Magnolia is exhausted at the beginning of this story, so she decides to take a vacation. However, she still couldn’t escape the monsters. She met her friend Princess Sneezewort just before a sea monster came up onto shore and attacked. Meanwhile, the Goat Avenger was defeating monsters who tried to attack his goats.

I didn’t really like the dual stories in this book. The Princess in Black and the Goat Avenger had to fight the monsters separately, instead of together. I like it much better when the Princess can fight the monsters with her friends.

I still really enjoyed this book!

What to read next:

The Princess in Black and the Mysterious Playdate (The Princess in Black #5) by Shannon Hale, Dean Hale, LeUyen Pham

Have you read The Princess in Black Takes a Vacation? What did you think of it?

TBR Thursday – July 25

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 Dear Evan Hansen by Val Emmich, Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.

Goodreads Synopsis:

From the show’s creators comes the groundbreaking novel inspired by the Broadway smash hit Dear Evan Hansen.

Dear Evan Hansen,

Today’s going to be an amazing day and here’s why…

When a letter that was never meant to be seen by anyone draws high school senior Evan Hansen into a family’s grief over the loss of their son, he is given the chance of a lifetime: to belong. He just has to stick to a lie he never meant to tell, that the notoriously troubled Connor Murphy was his secret best friend.

Suddenly, Evan isn’t invisible anymore–even to the girl of his dreams. And Connor Murphy’s parents, with their beautiful home on the other side of town, have taken him in like he was their own, desperate to know more about their enigmatic son from his closest friend. As Evan gets pulled deeper into their swirl of anger, regret, and confusion, he knows that what he’s doing can’t be right, but if he’s helping people, how wrong can it be?

No longer tangled in his once-incapacitating anxiety, this new Evan has a purpose. And a website. He’s confident. He’s a viral phenomenon. Every day is amazing. Until everything is in danger of unraveling and he comes face to face with his greatest obstacle: himself.

A simple lie leads to complicated truths in this big-hearted coming-of-age story of grief, authenticity and the struggle to belong in an age of instant connectivity and profound isolation.

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

Review: The Wise and the Wicked

Title: The Wise and the Wicked
Author: Rebecca Podos
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Source: Publisher
Format: Paperback
Release Date: May 28, 2019
Rating: ★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

Ruby Chernyavsky has been told the stories since she was a child: The women in her family, once possessed of great magical abilities to remake lives and stave off death itself, were forced to flee their Russian home for America in order to escape the fearful men who sought to destroy them. Such has it always been, Ruby’s been told, for powerful women. Today, these stories seem no more real to Ruby than folktales, except for the smallest bit of power left in their blood: when each of them comes of age, she will have a vision of who she will be when she dies—a destiny as inescapable as it is inevitable. Ruby is no exception, and neither is her mother, although she ran from her fate years ago, abandoning Ruby and her sisters. It’s a fool’s errand, because they all know the truth: there is no escaping one’s Time.

Until Ruby’s great-aunt Polina passes away, and, for the first time, a Chernyavsky’s death does not match her vision. Suddenly, things Ruby never thought she’d be allowed to hope for—life, love, time—seem possible. But as she and her cousin Cece begin to dig into the family’s history to find out whether they, too, can change their fates, they learn that nothing comes without a cost. Especially not hope. 

Review:

This story reminded me of The Raven Cycle. Ruby’s family is a little like Blue’s family in that series. They both have some mystical powers. The women in Ruby’s family see their death when they get to a certain age. It’s called their Time. They had to flee their original home in Russia generations before because their family was being hunted by a man. This old battle was reopened in this story.

I liked this story but I found some parts confusing and unclear. There are some queer characters, which was great representation. One character was transgender. I thought that the character magically changed gender in some way, so it was only later that I realized they were living as a transgender person.

I also found the multiple generations of the family confusing. There hadn’t been that much time since the family moved from Russia, but they made it sound like it was many generations ago rather than two. A family tree could have helped me keep everything straight.

This is a good story.

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

What to read next:

The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Stiefvater

Love and Other Curses by Michael Thomas Ford

Have you read The Wise and the Wicked? What did you think of it?

‘Waiting on’ Wednesday – July 24

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 Hello Girls by Brittany Cavallaro and Emily Henry. The expected publication date is August 6, 2019.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Best friends are forged by fire. For Winona Olsen and Lucille Pryce, that fire happened the night they met outside the police station—both deciding whether to turn their families in.

Winona has been starving for life in the seemingly perfect home that she shares with her seemingly perfect father, celebrity weatherman Stormy Olsen. No one knows that he locks the pantry door to control her eating and leaves bruises where no one can see them.

Lucille has been suffocating beneath the needs of her mother and her drug-dealing brother, wondering if there’s more out there for her than disappearing waitress tips and generations of barely getting by.

One harrowing night, Winona and Lucille realize they can’t wait until graduation to start their new lives. They need out. Now. All they need is three grand, fast. And really, a stolen convertible to take them from Michigan to Las Vegas can’t hurt.

What books are you waiting on this week?

Review: Sugar and Spice (Whatever After #10)

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Title: Sugar and Spice (Whatever After #10)
Author: Sarah Mlynowski
Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Source: Library
Format: Ebook
Release Date: November 29, 2016
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

That’s the way the cookie crumbles!

Yum! Our magic mirror has dropped me and my brother, Jonah, into the story of Hansel and Gretel. If we’re lucky, we may even get to taste the cake-house…

But we didn’t count on accidentally getting trapped. The real Hansel and Gretel are on the run, and Jonah and I have taken their place. And the witch is making a kid casserole for dinner… 

Now we have to:

– Avoid being eaten 

– Pretend our dog is a cat

– Learn to make kale smoothies

– Befriend a talking duck 

Or we may never make it back to our home sweet home!

Review:

This story had different twists from the other books in the series. When Abby and Jonah arrive in the fairytale of Hansel and Gretel, they discover that they look exactly like them! That becomes a problem when Hansel and Gretel use the portal to get back home, leaving Abby and Jonah in the fairytale.

I loved these twists! They made the story exciting and fresh. It can get boring if every book in a series follows the same plot. I love how every book in the Whatever After series is completely different!

This is a great book and a great series!

What to read next:

Abby in Wonderland (Whatever After #10.5) by Sarah Mlynowski

Have you read Sugar and Spice? What did you think of it?

Top Ten Tuesday – Settings I’d Like to See More Of

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 Settings I’d Like to See More Of. Some of these are popular settings, but I love them so much that I’d like to see even more. Here’s my list:

1. Boarding Schools

2. The Beach

3. Castles

4. Tudor England

5. The Forest

6. Small Towns

7. England

8. Ancient Greece

9. Trains

10. Space

Did you write a Top Ten Tuesday list? What is your list of Settings You’d Like to See More Of?

Review: Wherever She Goes

Title: Wherever She Goes
Author: K.L. Armstrong
Genre: Fiction, Thriller
Publisher: Doubleday Canada
Source: Publisher
Format: Paperback
Release Date: June 25, 2019
Rating: ★★★★★

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Goodreads Synopsis:

When it’s your word against everyone else’s–what do you do?

Bree Finch has fallen on some troubled times: her marriage has ended, she’s separated from her young daughter, Charlotte, and she’s haunted by a past she can’t escape. Routine helps, and every afternoon, during her lunch break, Bree goes for a jog in the park near her office. It’s the same every day: the same route, the same mothers with their children, the same people walking their dogs.

One day, during her jog, she spots a young boy a bit older than Charlotte, a boy she saw just the day before with his mother. But his mother is nowhere to be seen now. Nervous, Bree watches the boy as he wanders into the parking lot. And then she watches as a man grabs the boy, forcing him into an SVU. She watches as the boy cries and screams for his mother. She watches as the man slams the door shut, revs the engine and takes off. 

She runs after them into traffic, and tries to take a photo, but can’t. The SVU is gone.

Bree can’t deny what she’s seen, and she can’t get the little boy or his screams out of her head. But, she’s the only one who believes that she witnessed the kidnapping of a child. No one else at the park saw the boy or someone snatching him, and she can’t give a detailed description of the child. The police don’t believe her, nor does her estranged husband, with whom she has a tense and complicated relationship. Instead, they begin asking Bree the questions: Why is she always alone in the park? Why does she spend so much time there? Does she realize that she makes the other mothers nervous, with the way she watches them and their children?

Then, days later, a woman is murdered–and Bree is the first person the police talk to. 

Not because they think she may have witnessed something. 

Not because they believe her about the kidnapped boy. 

Because she’s their main suspect. 

Review:

This was an amazing new thriller!

I was glued to this book. I read it in one day because I couldn’t put it down. It was fast-paced and unpredictable.

Bree was an unreliable narrator, which added to the plot. Even when she would talk about seeing things, I couldn’t really trust her. I was still unsure about some things she said right until the end.

I usually don’t like books that don’t give you enough clues to solve the mystery. I don’t think there was a way to figure out this mystery before the end, but I loved it. It was an exciting story because I was so surprised at the ending.

I highly recommend this gripping thriller.

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

What to read next:

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

Have you read Wherever She Goes? What did you think of it?

It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? – July 22

This blog meme is hosted by Book Date. It is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week.  It’s a great post to organize yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment, and er… add to that ever growing TBR pile!

What I just finished:

This weekend I finished Wherever She Goes by K.L. Armstrong.

What I’m currently reading:

I’m currently reading The Wise and the Wicked by Rebecca Podos.

What I’m reading next:

Next I will be reading Titans (Titans #1) by Kate O’Hearn.

What are you guys reading this week? Have you read any of these books?

Jill’s Weekly Wrap-Up – July 21

Here are my reviews for the week with my ratings:

I did 9 weekly blogging memes:

How was your week? What did you guys read?

Sundays in Bed With… The Wise and the Wicked

The meme that dares to ask what book has been in your bed this morning? Come share what book you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed, or which book you wish you had time to read today! This meme is hosted by Midnight Book Girl.

This Sunday I’m reading The Wise and the Wicked by Rebecca Podos.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Ruby Chernyavsky has been told the stories since she was a child: The women in her family, once possessed of great magical abilities to remake lives and stave off death itself, were forced to flee their Russian home for America in order to escape the fearful men who sought to destroy them. Such has it always been, Ruby’s been told, for powerful women. Today, these stories seem no more real to Ruby than folktales, except for the smallest bit of power left in their blood: when each of them comes of age, she will have a vision of who she will be when she dies—a destiny as inescapable as it is inevitable. Ruby is no exception, and neither is her mother, although she ran from her fate years ago, abandoning Ruby and her sisters. It’s a fool’s errand, because they all know the truth: there is no escaping one’s Time.

Until Ruby’s great-aunt Polina passes away, and, for the first time, a Chernyavsky’s death does not match her vision. Suddenly, things Ruby never thought she’d be allowed to hope for—life, love, time—seem possible. But as she and her cousin Cece begin to dig into the family’s history to find out whether they, too, can change their fates, they learn that nothing comes without a cost. Especially not hope. 

What book are you in bed with today?