Icefall

Hey guys! Here is my next review on the book Icefall by Matthew J. Kirby! I read this book a couple of weeks ago after having it on my shelf for years. I finally picked it up after my English teacher put it on the summer reading list for this year. So I decided to pull it off my shelf and crack it open. 

So to start off, let's give you a summary. Princess Solveig, her beautiful sister, Asa, and her brother the heir to the throne, Harold. They have been sent to a hidden fortress for protection while their father fights in war. They are trapped there because the fjord has frozen. As winter drags on, it becomes clear that there is a traitor in their midst. No one is safe from accusation, except for the perfect villains... How long can the traitor stay hidden before they are found out?

I really enjoyed this book. It was well written and the characters were developed well. The only thing I didn't particularly like about Solveig was how she was so insecure about herself, and it seemed like all the other characters needed to mollycoddle her. But after she overcomes this, she is a very strong character who tries her very hardest in every task she takes on. 

I also really like the character of Hake. He takes care of Solveig and her siblings like they were his own; in a guard type of way though. He would do anything for them, because he has nothing left to care about. He never had a wife or kids, and never talks about his family. He's very sweet, but is not afraid to put his foot down on some matter he deems will have bad or unsatisfactory results. He is by far my favorite character. 

I have always loved reading stories about Greek and Roman mythology, but this is my first heavy Norse story. I know a little bit about the Norse gods from Marvel movies and a presentation I did on a story about Loki and Baulder, but after that I don't know much. This helped me get familiar with some of the legends and myths before Rick Riordan's Norse mythology series comes out next year. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this! I really appreciate it! If you already read this book and liked the author's writing style, then check out another one of his books, The Clockwork Three! Please R&R! 

~Carly 

P.S My admin should have her next post up soon! Be on the lookout for that! 

The Rules for Disappearing

The Rules for Disappearing By Ashley Elston was an amazing book that I loved so much. It is a story  about a girl who was stuck in the Witness Protection Program. Don't let the cover fool you, she didn't run away by herself. 

"My eyes are larger, the angles are stronger, my face looks too thin. The woman was right-no one from my former life would ever recognize me. I am truly gone." 

Meg Rose Jones is always changing every month, eye color, hair color, style. I can't imagine bing in her shoes. Ethan, dreamy farm boy, had tried to help her, even if he didn't know her secret. He wanted to be her friend. Meg knows not to let anybody in, but can she help it? 

This book is full of suspense to keep you guys on the edge of your seats. The end is truly fascinating, and I enjoyed it, and it made me think how sad it is to be in the Witness Protection Program. I could never leave my friends behind. All in all, I really liked this book and I highly recommend it. Thanks for reading! 

Hi!

Hello people!
I'm a new admin at this blog for Carly! I am her best friend and she wanted me to help her do this. My name is Giselle and I love fantasy and mystery books. The scarier, the better. :) I love recommending books and reading them more. I hope you guys enjoy the books I recommend! Thank you guys so much, and thank you Carly for letting me do this! 

The Montmaray Journals

Hey guys! So this is a post that should have come out a while ago, but I haven't gotten around to it with school and volleyball etc. But I have been really busy reading books! My English teacher requires us to read for at least twenty minutes each night, so I've read four or five pretty long books to do reviews on! The first of which is the Montmaray by Michelle Cooper!

This series takes place before and in the middle of World War II. It is the diary of Princess Sophia FitzOsborne of the island of Montmaray. She is the middle child; her older brother Tobias (Toby) is away at school in London and her younger sister Henrietta (Henry) is refusing to grow up and become a proper lady. They live with their smart older cousin, Veronica, the old housekeeper Rebecca, and their faithful dog. Life is simple, and money is tight. The king of Montmaray is mad after traumatic incidents in the first Great War where almost all of the male citizens of Montmaray were killed. Simon Chester also pops into the island from time to time. The trilogy follows the family from living happily on Montmaray, to being forced into exile after Germans raid the island, to fighting in World War II.

I really enjoyed this series! It was heart breaking for sure, with unexpected plot twists and deaths, but I was able to rejoice and be happy along with Sophie and her family! There is a cast of funny and quirky characters, and there are a lot of real people from history in here as well!   Some examples are the Kennedy family, Winston Churchill, and Neville Chamberlain to just name a few. Cooper captures the emotions of our second World War and the historical hardships of the upper class in a way that I've only seen Downton Abbey accomplish.

My favorite book in the series was probably the second  book. It follows the events of the family being exiled to London and living with their aunt. They go to parties, partake in clubs, and get presented at court. I think the reason I like it so much is because I can relate Downton Abbey's characters and themes. Except while Downton Abbey focuses on both the upper and lower class, while the Montmaray Journals just captures the events of the upper class.

I really loved this series, and I recommend it to everyone who likes history and is in middle school and high school. I learned a whole lot about World War II and the politics involving it. The cast of characters taught me that no matter where you come from, you shouldn't let anyone get in the way of loving someone.

Please R&R my latest post! Have you read this series? What did you think of it? Tell me in the comments! Thanks for reading! The next post will be up later today or tomorrow!

The Red Necklace

Hey all! This next review is on a book I'm not quite done reading yet, but I'm going to give it my best shot. It's on The Red Necklace by Sally Gardner. This book takes place in France, 1789, right before the French Revolution.

To start off, let me just give a quick summary of the story. Yann Morgoza is young Gypsy boy with the gift of reading people's minds and being able to throw his voice. His gifts are put into action while working with a rather foolish magician. This chapter of his life is over when the magician dies. But on the magician's night of death, this is where Yann meets Sido, a shy heiress whose father only cares about himself and strongly dislikes her. A short conversation between these two will influence both their paths. And while a revolution is brewing in France, Sido is being used as a pawn by her father to try to repay his debt to the fearful Count Kalliovski who is not all he appears to be. Yann will be the only one to oppose him, but what change of fate will this bring our young hero?

So, hopefully that gives you all an idea of what the book is about. As I mentioned before, I'm not done with the book yet, but I'm 148 pages in and loving it! So far my favorite character is Sido. But if you choose to read this book: BEWARE OF FEELS! I'm not going to spoil anything, but wow, there's a lot of death! Also, BEWARE OF GORE! I mean, from what I've read, it doesn't go into too much detail, but if you get sick to your stomach easily, I wouldn't suggest reading it. And, as this book takes place in the French Revolution, you ought to know that aristocrats were beheaded, so I'm guessing that is going to appear in the book. Just a warning!

So let me now talk about the author's way of writing. Gardner writes like she was there, at that moment in time! It is so descriptive! Let me just give you the first sentence of the book. "This is Paris: here the winds of change are blowing, whispering their discontent into the very hearts of her citizens."  Wow! That just described the entirety of the years leading up to the French Revolution! Now here is Gardner describing Yann: "Yann had a sharp, intelligent face, olive skin, a mop of jet black hair, and eyes as dark as midnight, with two star shining in them. He was a solitary boy who enjoyed nothing better than being left alone to explore whatever city or town he was in, until it felt to him a second skin." Gardner makes us feel like she really does know him in real life. She sure made me feel like I wanted to be friends with him!

To conclude, I want to thank TheGuardian.com for giving me some inspiration on where to start this rewiew, and to you, the readers of my blog! You're amazing! Please R&R (read and review) my latest post! Thanks!
-Carly

Shiver!

Hey all! So this is my first review in a while, but here it goes!
The book, Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater is a wonderful tale about family, love, and the supernatural. It shares common traits with Stephenie Meyer's Twilight, such as the romance between a werewolf and a human girl, and the fact that it even has werewolves in it, but that's where the similarities end. It is a lot more violent than the Twilight series, and revolves around only werewolves; no vampires included! This kind of wolf is bitten, and can change between human and wolf for about fifteen times each.

The story starts in the small town of Mercy Falls, Minnesota. Our heroine, seventeen year old Grace Brisbane is the perfect child. She has good grades, cooks for her parents, and tries not to get into trouble. But all is not well in her small town. One of the local boys, Jack Culpeper, has been recently killed by one of the wolves in the area. Everyone is in a state of panic, scared of the wolves. Everyone but Grace. She knows the wolves aren't bad, especially her wolf. The one with the yellow eyes that is always looking at her.

But the rest of the townspeople think the wolves are bad, and want to kill them, including Grace's father. After her father and the rest of his arranged hunting party shoots one of the wolves, she finds Sam, naked and alone in the middle of the woods bleeding. He has the same yellow eyes as her wolf! She brings him to the hospital where she discovers his unnatural healing abilities. Grace soon finds out that he is a werewolf, and they start a relationship.

 But their happy relationship is tested when winter comes. You see, Sam's kind of wolves only shift into their human forms in the summer, while in the winter, they revert back to their wolf forms. Sam's winter is especially hard. He wants to stay with Grace, but the wolf inside him is slowly creeping out. When Sam finally does shift, he knows he can never be human again. Sam is different. For some reason, Sam has fewer changes than a regular wolf.

Shiver is a simple, but powerful love story of two ordinary teenagers who have become extraordinary. I love this story because it is a taste of what is to come for me when I read Twilight next year. Be sure to catch the breath-taking sequels!

 

Thank you to Common Sense Media and Seacoast Blog!

Update!

Hey all! Sorry for the super long wait. I've pretty busy this past year! So look out for new posts!