Happy New Years!

Happy New Years everyone!  Hope 2012 was great and 2013 is even better.

Follow Friday (31)

Feature and Follow Friday is hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee

Q:  What book do you think everyone should read? If you could gift the entire population with one book?

So far I've read three FF's and all have agreed with me:  The  Harry Potter Series.  Now, my personal favorite of the series is The Prisoner of Azkhaban, but if I could only give one book to the world I wuld give the first, so that they can start at the amazing beginning.

Still, there are so many amazing books out there. 

What about you?  Leave links.

Princess of the Silver Woods by Jessica Day George

When Petunia, the youngest of King Gregor's twelve dancing daughters, is invited to visit an elderly friend in the neighboring country of Westfalin, she welcomes the change of scenery. But in order to reach Westfalin, Petunia must pass through a forest where strange two-legged wolves are rumored to exist. Wolves intent on redistributing the wealth of the noble citizens who have entered their territory. But the bandit-wolves prove more rakishly handsome than truly dangerous, and it's not until Petunia reaches her destination that she realizes the kindly grandmother she has been summoned to visit is really an enemy bent on restoring an age-old curse. The stories of Red Riding Hood and Robin Hood get a twist as Petunia and her many sisters take on bandits, grannies, and the new King Under Stone to end their family curse once and for all.


The first book I ever read by Jessica Day George was Princess of the Midnight Ball, which I received for Christmas many years ago.  From that moment on I loved her books.  From the Dragon Series to East of the Sun, West of the Moon, I couldn't put her books down.  Still, the Princess series, of which Princess of the Silver Woods is the final, have always been my favorite.  And the last installment in the trilogy is no disappointment. 

Princess of the Silver Woods follows Princess Petunia, the youngest of twelve princesses once cursed to dance every night for the evil King Under Stone.  Nine years later, and six years after Poppy's story in Princess of Glass (my personal favorite of the installments), the new King Under Stone, Rionin, and his brothers are once again after "their" brides.

The story starts off with the accidental kidnapping of Petunia by Oliver, the forgotten Earl of a torn apart estate.  When he returns Petunia to her destination - A Grand Duchesses estate that just happened to be the one that once belonged to Oliver's family - he sees shadows on the estates grounds.  Shadows with substance.

The story launches into a tale filled with old fables and red cloaks.

One of my favorite things about the book was the continuity.  The book had all of the princesses in it, including major appearances of Galen, Heinrich, and minor ones by Christian and other of the Princesses present and future husbands.  They also continued the mythologies of King Under Stone and the Nine Princesses who fathered his sons. 

However, I did have a few complaints, ones I've seen talked about in other reviews also.  One of those being the fact that the princes and the new King Under Stone fell for many of the same tricks as they did in the first book.  Another being the rushed and short scene that was the only thing besides Petunia's red cloak that linked the story to Little Red Riding Hood.  The last being the fact that many things were repeated beyond necessary amounts of time.

Still, even with those faults, the book was amazing, and definitely a worthy end to one of my favorite trilogies.  You should definitely read this book, but I would recommend at least reading Princess of the Midnight Ball first.

Rating:  5/5

Language:  Mild
Violence:  Mild
Sensuality:  Mild

Merry Christmas!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but now that I have a whole new armada of books you should see some reviews!

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

From Maggie Stiefvater, the bestselling and acclaimed author of the Shiver trilogy and The Scorpio Races, comes a spellbinding new series where the inevitability of death and the nature of love lead us to a place we’ve never been before.

I picked up this book not expecting much. Of course, I knew that Maggie Stiefvater was an acclaimed author, but I have picked up several of her other books many times, and never likes them enough to read past the first page. This book though - this book was amazing. Beautiful, and creepy, and lyrical, I could hardly put it down.

The book follows a wide cast of characters, the main being Blue and the Raven Boys, Gansey, Ronan, Adam, and Noah. Every person in the book, from the major to the minor, was amazing, my favorite being Gansey. Each character had their own story that perfectly weaved itself in to the main story.

Blue has always been told that when she kisses her true love, he will die. So when she sees, for the first time, the spirit of a soon-to-be-dead on the corpse road, and her Aunt tells her that she has killed the boy, or that she was his true love, or both, she knows that her life has changed.

That boy is Gansey - that's all there is - and when she unknowingly meets him a few days later, she immediately doesn't like him - but she does like his friend Adam, a scholarship student at the prestigious, and snobby, boarding school that marks the boys as Ravens, Aglionby.

The story unfolds along over time as the five friends quest to unlock the secrets of the ley lines - the Corpse Road, the Spirit Road - that run through the world, and awake the legend Glendower.


The romance plot is subtle and barely there, but there were many hints towards Blue and both Gansey and Adam. I admire the way the romance took a backseat to the story but also was very substantial to it.

The story is full if deceit, mystery, murder, romance, and magic, and held me in the beautifully written world Mrs. Stiefvater crafted. The lyrical writing style was entirely unique and wonderful and only added to the story.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for an amazing read. I am waiting impatiently for the next installment of this series!

Rating: 5/5

Market: YA
Sensuality: mild
Violence: moderate
Language: not a lot, but when there pretty bad words