Struck By Lightning - Chris Colfer (2012)

 3 stars

There wasn't really much chance that I wouldn't read this as soon as I bought it, and my awe for Chris Colfer is still very much intact. I am quite excited for this movie to see how they do it, also for Lauren Lopez who has a tiny, but still legitimate, part in it.

I don't know whether he wrote the book first then turned it into a script or whether it was the other way round but either way I think this will work a lot better as a movie. Because the book is narrated in first person from Carson's perspective the book  has a natural stopping point where you can't really find out any more details which I was really curious about, I hope in the movie it's better explored. I think my favourite character was Malerie, but that may have been because I was picturing Rebel Wilson acting as her whenever she did anything and my love for Rebel Wilson may have influenced that decision. If it wasn't Malerie, my favourite character was probably Carson, maybe because no other likeable characters were explored enough, but I thought his humour made up for his angst and superiority complex. I would recommend this to anyone that wants an easy read, and likes teenage school drama.

Carson's only goal is to get into Northwestern and become an editor and writer, and this book follows his senior year in high school in his hometown of Clover. He will do anything to get into Northwestern which is why when they tell him to make a literary magazine at his school he blackmails his classmates so that he has submissions. He ends up with hilarious gossip on the whole student council and gets many submissions to the magazine however he doesn't get any letters from Northwestern. At the end of the year his Counsellor calls him in to tell him that because he didn't reply to his acceptance letter and his spot has been taken. He learns that his mum threw out his aceptance letter because "it's useless to dream" and on his way home from school the next day he is struck by lightning and killed.

Reached - Ally Condie (2012)

3.5 stars

I was pretty interested to see how this series was going to end, and although it wasn't what I expected, I found it really hard to put down and ended up reading till 1am finishing it.

I still think the best book in the series was probably Matched, however Crossed and Reached  were both good continuations for the characters, but not as much for the storyline. I think they were more like three serparate stories set in the same universe with the same characters than one big story arc. I really enjoyed reading from Xander's perspective in this book, especially comparing his feelings for Cassia with Ky's. My favourite characters in this book were Anna and Lei, Anna was really nice and an excellent leader figure that wasn't corrupt, she seemed unimportant but I liked how prominent she became. Lei was really lovely, and when I found out who she really was I was completely shocked and didn't see it coming at all. I would recommend this series to any dystopian fans.

The book starts with all three characters being part of the rising and recognizing that the takeover is starting. This means that the plague, which the society can't cure, has become widespread and the rising are the only people with the cure. However after a while the plague mutates and many people are falling into comas and some even dying as they no longer have a cure. The Pilot takes Ky, Xander and Cassia to the stone villages to discover the cure as the people there are immune and on the way Ky falls ill and goes into a coma. Cassia works out the right ingredient and her and Xander save Ky and get the Pilot to administer the cure to everyone once they find enough of the ingredient. The novel ends with Xander and Lei together in the stone villages and Ky and Cassia together and happy and casting their vote for who should be incharge now, Anna, the Rising, or the Society.

Quintana of Charyn - Melina Marchetta (2012)

4.5 stars

I bought this book after reading the past two in the trilogy and needing to know what happened to Phaedra, because I love her.

It has been a long time since I read the first book in this series, Finnikin of the Rock, but I think this book is my favourite in the series. I really liked the world the series is set in, and how the political situation is important to the plot, but not the main storyline of the series. As shown by her other books, Melina Marchetta can write like the best of them, and in this book she makes me interested in the fate of Skulendore and all it's countries and provinces, which probably would have bored and disengaged me if it was written by anyone else. I tried to pick my favourite character in this book but it was too hard, I really loved a lot of the characters and grew to love some of the ones I didn't. A couple of the best ones in my opinion would probably be; Phaedra, who can kick some ass when she needs to, Perri, who developed a really nice sensitive side in this book, Quintana, who also developed her sensitive side, and Finnikin, whose character had a step up in this book compared to the last one which made me remember why the first book in the series is about him. This is an awesome fantasy series that I would reccommend to anyone who likes the magic, curses, kingdoms and rulers drama.

This book starts a couple weeks after Froi was attacked and Quintana hid away with Phaedra and the other girls. Froi is being looked after by Arjuro and soon leaves to go find Garagrin and Lirah, which he does, however when he finds them Finnikin is about to kill Gargarin. Froi convinces them to let him go and explains what has happened to him in Charyn, Finnikin, Trevanion and Perri then leave him to bring the news to Lumatere. De Lancey then approaches Gargarin and tells him they want him to be the King's regent once he's born, but Lirah can't live in the palace so Gargarin gets angry and leaves, but they threaten Arjuro and Froi goes to save him. Once together, Gargarin, Lirah, Froi and Arjuro decide to go to the Lasconian camp to use their army to save Quintana, once there they discover Bestiano's army is camped just across from them keeping watch. Soon the Turlans come to the camp to join forces as they want to help Quintana, and De Lancey and his army, who says that he has another massive army training in Desantos as the plague there is merely a rumour. Lirah then realises that Phaedra died of a plague that never existed, and realizes that Quintana would trust her because Froi did, their army then attacks Nebia's army and Froi goes to kill Bestiano. However Froi decides to hurt Bestiano first and his guards return and try to kill Froi, however Dorcas suffocates Bestiano instead. Meanwhile, Quintana and the girls were betrayed by Ginny, who told her husband Gies where they were and he and Donashe capture them and put them in a cave near the top of the valley. Everyone realizes that Bestiano's order was to kill Quintana once the baby was born so when Quintana goes into labour the girls put a peice of wood in her mouth to keep her form making any sounds to alert the guards. Nebia's army joins forces with the turlans, lasconians and De Lancey's men and they go to save Quintana. Isaboe gives birth to a stillborn boy, but tells everyone that he told her to go down to the valley, so she does and goes into the cave where Quintana's giving birth. They then tell the guards that Isaboe's gone into labour so she can take the little King to safety and Quintana can live till the army arrives. Once the army comes, Froi cries when he sees Quintana and the baby but he is told to stay in Lumatere until Gargarin writes. After six months, Quintana's consort is being chosen by the Provincari and Lord August and Lady Abain present Froi as their son and promise peace with Lumatere as their dowry, Froi is chosen and he and Quintana get to live together with their son.

Across The Nightingale Floor - Lian Hearn (2002)

3 stars

I had to read this book for my english class aand was pleasantly surprised by it.

The book is told from alternate perspectives of Takeo and Kaede, I prefer Takeo's perspective mainly because Kaede is a bit of a wimp for most of the book and Takeo's storyline is more interesting. I found the storyline interesting, but thought it was dragged out too long over the middle couple chapters. My favourite character was probably Shizuka, she was super cute but kick ass when she had to be. I would recommend this book to any fantasy fans, also people that enjoy intricate plot history.

Tomasu's tribe is wiped out by Iida, but before Iida can kill Tomasu he knocks him off his horse and runs away where Shigeru finds him and saves him from Iida's guards. He then changes his name to Takeo and gets adopted by Shigeru who trains him to read and write. He soon discovers that his father was from "the Tribe" so he has inherited many abilities like invisibility and super hearing, Shigeru then uses these abilities to train him to be an assassin. Shigeru is hung from the tower when they discover he was a traitor and Takeo kills him out of mercy then goes to kill Iida only to find that Kaede has already stabbed him in the chest. Takeo then leaves with the Tribe.

The Casual Vacancy - J.K Rowling (2012)

2.5 stars

I bought this book because I think J.K Rowling is an amazing woman and I was super excited to see how she would write a book that wasn't Harry Potter.

Although the writing is excellent, I found this story to be a little boring and it didn't really resolve some of the storylines. I think that may have been what Rowling was trying to do as some problems don't just disappear in life, but I still thought some of the stories could have had more depth and explanation in the end. I did not have a favourite character in this novel because I didn't really like any of the characters in the novel consistently, they all did something to annoy me at some point in the story which once again I think was the point J.K was trying to make, that hardly anyone is consistently good their whole lives. I would recommend this book to older readers who like drama.

Barry Fairbrother, a parish councillor, dies of an aneurism. He was one of the few people on the Pagford council that was fighting for The Fields, a housing development next to Pagford which homed many drug addicts and children of drug addicts, to keep them as part of Pagford and allowed to attend their school. His death causes an election, where Simon Price, abusive father to Andrew, Colin "Cubby" Wall, the school vice principal with OCD and father to Fats, and Miles Mollison, son of Howard and Shirley Mollison, both already on the council and the leaders of the anti-field party, all wish to run for his spot. Andrew learns how to hack in computer class and hacks into Barry's old account on the Parish Council website where he changes the username to The_Ghost_of_Barry_Fairbrother and posts about his father's backdoor deals. Simon then withdraws from the election, after giving his sons and wife a severe beating and losing his job. Sukhvinder then hacks into the website and posts about how her mother, Parminder another supporter of Barry and pro-fields councilmember, was in love with Barry and only voted how he told her. Fats then hacks the website and posts about how his father constantly worries about touching students innapropriatley which causes him to have a psycological breakdown. Miles then wins the election and Andrew teaaches his dad how to hack the website so he posts about how Maureen and Howard were having an affair. Shirley then steals an EpiPen and plans to stab and kill Howard with it, however once she gets home he is having a heart attack, at the same time Krystal and Fats were having sex while Robbie was nearby, however Robbie wandered off and fell into the river. Sukhvinder dived into the river to save him but Robbie drowned anyway. Krystal then felt she had nothing to live for without her brother and kills herself, everyone continuing to hate her in her death, especially Shirley who thought that Howard, who survived, may have gotten to the hospital sooner had two ambulances not needed to come, getting the operator confused.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky

5 stars

I wanted to read this book because I saw the previews for the movie and knew I would want to see it because it has Emma Watson and Ezra Miller in it, both whom I love. I had heard great things about this book, and I wasn't disappointed.

This book is told through letters to an unknown party from the main character, Charlie, I loved how as Charlie's writing got better so did the letters that comprise this book. That, and the fact that the book is written to a "good person" gives the book an aspect of reality that other books don't and made me kind of feel like it was written just for me. I read this book in two days, it was so excellent and really hard to put down especially once you're past part one because although the plot is nothing special, I got really attatched to the main character and his writing and insights on his world were amazing to read. My favourite character was Patrick, he was hilarious and adorable and helped Charlie when he didn't understand what he should do. I would recommend this book to anyone.

This book is written through letters from Charlie, who is starting his first year at high school. At first he has no friends due to his strange behaviour, however he soon makes friends with step siblings Sam and Patrick. This book details their adventures over the year, including Charlie falling in love with Sam, him having his first girlfriend, and learning that he has depression due to his Aunt dying while going to buy him his birthday present and his best friend killing himself when he was in middle school. At the end of the novel before Sam leaves for college she and Charlie are going to have sex however Charlie freezes and has to sleep on their couch, it turns out that his Aunt Helen molested him as a child and he had repressed it until now. The book ends with Charlie getting out of recovery in the hospital and looking forward to his sophmore year.

The Rise of Nine - Pittacus Lore

5 stars

I read the previous two books in this series and really enjoyed them, this book didn't let me down and is my favourite in the series so far.

Much like the second book in the series, The Power of Six, the book is told from different perspectives, except in this book it adds the perspective of Six, to Marina's and John's. I really enjoyed reading from Six's perspective and I really hope to read from Nine's in the next book, if they continue adding a new perspective each book, because I think he is a character that has a lot of hidden depth. I also really enjoy the whole "this is real" pretense of this book, being written by Pittacus Lore and the intro and outro that tell you that the events in the book are real. I liked this book better than the previous because it had a good balance of action, and discovery about Lorien and the other members of the Garde, the previous book didn't have much action till the very end. I also really enjoyed having a realistic bad guy that I could really hate for a change. Setrakus didn't give in to petty insults that work on most villians, my favourite part during the battle was when they were saying he's weak for not fighting fair and he replies with: "You can call me whatever names you want. It's not going to change the fact that you're about to die". My favourite character in this book was Eight, I loved the playfulness he brought to the group that no-one had done yet, and he had really cool legacies. I would recommend this series to any science fiction or action fans of any age.

John and Nine are travelling together and although John doesn't like him at first, him and Nine bond over their commitment to Lorien and after discovering how the tablet that John found in Paradise works, they learn that their ship, and another member of the Garde, Six, is in New Mexico so they head there. Six, Marina and Ella follow Crayton's lead where he thinks another Garde is and they find Eight in India. Eight has the legacy of telporting, so he teleports the group to New Mexico after a battle with the Mogs where Crayton dies. However he wasn't used to teleporting groups of people and while Six gets to New Mexico, Eight, Ella and Marina take a few more tries before they get there. Before they can get to New Mexico, Six gets captured and taken to the FBI base there where they are working with Setrakus Ra and other Mogs. Setrakus then immobilises her in rock and changes shape into her, meanwhile Ella has developed her first legacy to communicate to other members of the Garde and gets her, Eight and Marina to meet up with Nine and John. They fight their way into the base, finding Sarah on the way, however when they find "Six" Eight teleports to her to give her a hug and Setrakus stabs him. Setrakus then takes away the Garde's legacies and they continue a losing battle with him until Ella uses a dart on Setrakus that gives them all their legacies back. Marina then heals Eight and after Sarah and Ella are shot, Four discovers he also has the healing legacy and heals them. Setrakus then disappears when he realizes he is losing and the novel finishes with the Garde almost fully united and ready to fight.

The Killables - Gemma Malley (2012)

3 stars

I bought this book because I absolutely adored The Declaration by Gemma Malley and I thought another dystopian novel by her would be just as good, unfortunately I was underwhelmed.

I thought the idea for this novel was good, although similar to many other dystopian novels I've read. I think because I've read so many dystopian novels it made it hard to read this book without getting bored because I found it predictable. I also found it irritating how there had to be a love triangle, I've had enough of them in popular novels lately and I think in this book it's obvious who she really loves. I liked how this book kept using the same memory, and as her journey progressed the memory grew then at the end she used the same pattern but changed it for the present situation. My favourite character was Lucas, he always knew what he was doing and I never doubted him, I really liked the parts from his perspective as well. I would recommend this book to any big dystopian fans.

Evie lives in the City, where evil doesn't exist because everyone that enters the City must undergo a "new baptism" where their amygdalas are removed so they are incapable of evil. Evie thinks she is evil as she is in love with Raffy, her childhood friend. However when Raffy is going to be labelled a K, for killable, his brother Lucas helps him and Evie to escape because killables are left outside the City to be killed by the "evils". Once they escape together Evie and Raffy are captured by Linus, who tells them that he started the City with the Great Leader and the Brother however he wanted to make it so everyones needs were taken care of by the system, whereas the Great Leader wanted to continue his experiments, which he did and ended up creating the "evils", people who are irreparably brain damaged. With Lucas' help, Linus and his men invade the City and disable the system. The book ends with Lucas and Linus staying in the City to restore order and reassure everyone of the truth about the Brother, and Lucas helping Evie and Raffy to escape after telling Evie he loves her.

The Golden Lily - Richelle Mead (2012)

3.5 stars

I read all the books in the Vampire Academy series and enjoyed most of them, I then read Bloodlines and was interested to see how The Golden Lily would continue from it.

I didn't enjoy this book as much as Bloodlines but I still found it hard to do other things when I could be reading it. It follows the usual style of Mead's books with a lot of build up and sub-plots occurring before the last hundred or so pages when the action and resolution happens. I think the more of her books you read the easier it is to call the twist that she hints at early on, I found with this book I worked it out earlier than I would in most other books, usually stuff like that occurs to me right before it's revealed (or not at all and I startle people around me by exclaiming my surprise). My favourite character was Adrian, I loved him in the Vampire Academy series and in this series he is one of the few prominent characters, and I enjoy watching his character be examined thoughroughly and develop. The end set up for a very interesting next book which I think could be really good, I would recommend this series to anyone who likes paranormal YA fiction.

The book starts with Sydney being interviewed at the alchemists base about Keith, while there she sees a human prisoner who is chained up because he is determined to become strigoi, this reinforces in Sydney why she shouldn't get too close to vampires. She returns to Palm Springs amd talks to Sonya and Adrian about their experiments to try to find something that stops someone turning strigoi, Sonya thinks it would be useful to use some of Sydney's blood since the strigoi couldn't drink it and she complies. Sonya and Sydney are walking the streets together when they are attacked by men who want to decapitate Sonya as they think she's still a strigoi, Dimitri comes and saves them but after a few days Sonya goes missing. Sydney, using the help of Ms. Terwilliger creates a spell to find Sonya and discovers that the rumours of "vampire hunters" were real and that Trey is one of them. He manages to get Sydney into their compound to speak on behalf of Sonya before they execute her, and although her point is completely valid, they refuse to let Sonya go and are about to kill her when Dimitri, Eddie and a heap of other guardians break in to save Sonya. Sydney escapes out a back door and gets lost until Adrian finds her and they escape together, once home Adrian confesses his feelings for Sydney and kisses her. Although she enjoys it (and clearly loves him back) she denies it and tells him that her belief against vampires is too strong.

The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell - Chris Colfer (2012)

3.5 stars

I was really excited for this book because I think Chris Colfer is an amazing person and I was interested to see if he would write a book well. I was happily surprised with how much I liked this book, considering I usually find fairytales a bit boring. I think I would still admire Chris even if this book was bad, considering he wrote this while he was editing his screenplay for his movie that he wrote, and later starred in, at the same time as being on glee tour. Also he's friends with John Green and that makes anyone ten times cooler.

Although this book is for children, I found it had some complex vocabulary and themes in it that made it enjoyable for me as well as other older readers. I think it's a good idea for a plot with the idea of fairytale characters having more to them then their popular story. I thought Chris did a great job when writing the main characters, giving both twins aspects that are familiar at the same time as being original. My favourite character was probably Conner, (I read this a while ago and can't really remember which princesses I liked) I thought he brought much needed lightheartedness to the story and ever since he said that he can't deal with stories where dogs die, I felt that even though he's a fictional character, we share a bond. Although the end was predictable and corny, I thouroughly enjoyed most of this book and would recommend it to anyone that is a fan of fairytales.

Alex and Conner are twins celebrating their 12th birthday, their first birthday after their Dad's death. Their Grandmother comes to visit them for their birthday and she gives them their Dad's old book of fairy tales, The Land of Stories, Alex is overjoyed with excitement as she's loved the book ever since she was a little girl however Conner starts to notice Alex acting strangely. Alex tells Conner that the book glows and absorbs anything she drops into it, Conner then realises that Alex is going to go into the book herself and he gets home just in time to see her going into the book so he follows her. They end up in the Land of Stories in the middle of a forest and are rescued by Froggy, a frog who was once a man but turned into a frog by a witch. He lets them stay the night at his house and gives them a journal which details how to use the wishing spell so they can go home. To complete the spell they must collect items from all over the fairy kingdom, on the way they battle trolls, wolves and must complete the spell before the Evil Queen does as the spell can only be used once more. The Queen captures them before they can complete the spell and tells them her story then uses the spell to bring back her love, but he dies in the process. The twins are then at Cinderella's baby shower when the fairy Godmother requests to see them, she turns out to be their grandmother and has been travelling between the worlds her whole life. She tells them their Dad grew up in the Land of Stories and she took him to their world once and he fell in love with their mother, it turns out it was him that was the one that had used the wishing spell previously so he could return to their mother. Their Grandmother then takes them back to their world with the promise that they would go back again someday.

Rapture - Lauren Kate (2012)

 3 stars

This is the fourth book in the Fallen series by Lauren Kate, and I was underwhelmed by the conclusion to the series.

This book was written from Luce's perspective like the other books, however unlike the other books when both the prologue and epilogue is from Daniel's perspective the epilogue in this book is from the angels and nephilim's perpective (minus Cam). I didn't like this book as much as it's predecessors mainly because I thought it was kind of predictable and although I liked the ending, it didn't really have much action or suspense like the previous books where I felt I had to keep reading. My favourite character was Arianne, she was cute and loveable as always and brought some lightheartedness to the darkness that Lucinda was feeling for most of the novel. I was frustrated by the mystery that surrounded Cam, the question of who he loved, what he was going to do for the rest of eternity, and where he was during the epilogue are things that could have made the book that much more interesting, and I can only assume that Kate was setting up for a spin off series based on him, which would probably be good because I always liked his character. I recommend this series to any paranormal romance fans.

For a plot summary see Mac's previous blog.

A Game of Thrones - George R. R. Martin

5 stars

I watched bits and pieces of this show and liked it, and then I heard some really good reviews of this book so I decided to read it and I wasn't disappointed.

I really enjoyed this book, although I found it incredibly long (which is why I haven't posted a blog in about a month) and it's hard to power through an eight hundred page book when you've seen bits of the tv show and know what's going to happen. This book is very good , and although the television show is a pretty accurate retelling, the book has a lot more detail and makes everything a lot clearer. It is very well written, and describes the battles and deaths in such a way that explains all the details of the wounds without being too gruesome for me. My favourite character was Arya, a well written kick-ass heroine that doesn't annoy me in any way, which is very rare for a heroine in most books I read. I would recommend this book to mature readers who like really intricate fantasy.

Lord Eddard (Ned) Stark is King Robert Baratheon's oldest friend and when Jon Arryn, the King's Hand, dies suddenly Ned is given the job. While serving the King and living at court Ned looks into Jon's death and learns that Robert's children to the Queen are not his but Jaime Lannister's, The Queen's own twin. Cersei learns that Ned knows this and poisons Robert while he's on his hunting trip. When on his deathbed Robert makes Ned write out a new will naming him Protector of the Realm until his "son" Joffrey comes of age and Ned doesn't have the heart to tell him his children aren't his when he's about to die so he changes the will so it says "heir" not son. Once Robert dies Ned tries to tell people that Joffrey doesn't have any right to the title, however Cersei names him a traitor and has him taken to the dungeons. Joffrey is then named King and Stannis Baratheon, Renly Baratheon, and Robb Stark form armies to march against him. Sansa is kept in King's Landing and still betrothed to Joffrey, Arya escapes and takes the guise of a boy going to the wall with Yoren, Catelyn moves with Robb and his army, and Bran is lord of Winterfell and looking after Rickon. Joffrey orders Ned's execution against the advice of everyone on the council, including his mother, and Daenerys, the last true heir to the throne, hatches three dragons, which were long thought to be extinct.

Dreamless - Josephine Angelini (2012)

5 stars

I bought  Starcrossed on a whim after seeing the Lauren Kate reccommendation on the cover, and I am so very glad I picked it up, I really enjoy this series and seem to have trouble putting the books down once I start them.

Once again, Angelini has me frustrated beyond belief that the next book isn't out yet as the book has another cliffhanger ending (oh how I love those *cough*). I enjoyed this book just as much, if not more, than the first. It was written wonderfully, with the short changes in perspective put in excellent spots in the plotline, it informs you of Greek mytholgy without making it seem like your just being funnelled information and it makes me hate certain characters, which I think is a mark of excellent writing. My favourite characters in this book were Zach and Orion. I know I always pick the love interest, but Orion was written so well, with the troubled background and kick ass powers it's very hard not to like him. I also really liked Zach's character because he was very relatable, and his inner struggle was conveyed really well throughout the novel. I would recommend this book to any paranormal fiction fans as well as any Percy Jackson fans.

To save you from reading the whole plot summary to find out, Helen and Lucas still think they're cousins at the end of this book.
This book kicks off a week after the end of Starcrossed and Helen has "descended" every night. When she descends time stops in the real world, but she can be stuck in the underworld for days or weeks, she is getting so tired and lonely that she cries for help and meets Orion. Orion is the Head of the House of Rome and heir to the House of Athens, he's an earthshaker and a son of Aphrodite so he can do weird mumbo jumbo on peoples feelings. He descends with Helen every night and soon they think to talk to Persephone who tells them they must bring the furies water from a river, but Helen can't remember which river. In the midst of a battle caused by Eris and Terror Helen descends and must get water from the river Lethe, which makes people forget, this causes her and Orion a lot of difficulty in knowing what their purpose is when they get to the river. But they work it out together and once the furies drink the water they forget who they are and what their purpose is. The houses can now interact freely without wanting to kill each other and outcasts are no more. However Automedon, a Myrmidon, has been waiting for Helen to complete this task so he can capture her between worlds when she is vulnerable and bring him to his master, Ares, the God of War. Ares plan once he's captured Helen is for both Orion and Lucas to come try to help her so he can spill all their blood and they all become blood brothers, uniting the houses, freeing the Gods and starting the war. His plan works perfectly except Zach changes sides in battle and is stabbed by Automedon, before he dies he tells Helen that Automedon is blood brothers with Achilles, so Helen stabs Automedon in the heel and he finally dies. Helen is then so furious with what Ares has done that she opens a portal to the underworld and curses him to live forever in Tartarus with the souls he's double-crossed. The book ends with Daphne helping them all plan for battle and seeming quite happy with herself.

Graceling - Kristen Cashore (2008)

3.5 stars

My co-bogger lent this to me after she learnt that I hadn't read it yet. I was a little disappointed in it considering it won so many awards, but it was still a good read.

I thought that the plot was really original and a really interesting concept to think about. The book was well written, however I think it had too much travelling, the ratio of travelling to a destination and actually being at that destination and acomplishing something was like 3:1, I found it really frustrating. My favourite character was Bitterblue, I thought she was totally awesome and kick-ass, I know Mac was irritated that Katsa ended up with a man, but she totally missed that Bitterblue is the superhero female in this story. I would be really disappointed if in the last book in the trilogy she ended up all weak and helpless. I would recommend this book to any people that like a good adventure/quest type story.

To read a plot summary see Mac's previous blog.

Lone Wolf - Jodi Picoult (2012)

3.5 stars

I really enjoy Jodi's books and was interested to read this as it didn't seem to have a controversial issue like her books usually do. This book did turn out to have a controversial issue, however she didn't handle it as well as she usually did. I am interested to see how her new book Between the Lines will work and am quite excited as it will be unlike her previous works.

I found this to be one of her less interesting books, and I struggled to want to read it until the trial occurred. Although this is still a good book that deals well with the idea of pulling the plug on a family member, I think it was probably one of her weaker stories, although I found the wolf information really interesting at times. My favourite character was definitely Edward, I think I would have had the same opinion as him and would have made a lot of the same decisions as him if I was in any of those situations. A good read, however I wouldn't recommend it over most of her other books.

For plot summary see Mac's previous blog post.

Insurgent - Veronica Roth (2012)

5 stars

I was so excited for this book because Divergent was probably the best book I read last year. I was not disappointed by the sequel at all.

I enjoyed this book just as much as the first book, it was amazingly well written and went into more depth of the fictional society than the previous novel. Veronica also went into a lot more detail with the other characters in the novel that weren't properly developed in Divergent. My favourite character in this book was once again Four, I'm 100% certain that Veronica wrote the most lovable character in the world and in this book I just love him more and more. I also found it hard to pick a faction in this book, because whenever I favoured a faction, I learned more about them and didn't like them, a clever tactic that is probably leading to the destruction of factions in future novels. I would recommend this and Divergent to anyone, anyone at all, anyone with a soul, anyone that loves anything, because these books are amazing and can be enjoyed by all.

The book starts with Tris and the other Dauntless in Amity, they stay there until Erudite launch an attack and they must leave. Tris and Tobias then meet with the factionless who are led by Tobias' mother, whom he thought to be dead. After leaving the factionless, Tris and Tobias meet up with other Dauntless and Abnegation at Candor headquarters where they are publicly interrogated with truth serum. Erudite then launch another attack, this time on Candor, in which they shoot everyone with long range transmitters so they can put them under simulation whenever they want. The Dauntless then return to Dauntless headquarters and destroy the security cameras, and that night three of the Dauntless that have long range transmitters are controlled by Jeanine and tell Tris that if a Dauntless doesn't surrender to Erudite this will happen every two days. Two of the three people are saved, but Marlene dies and Tris goes to Erudite after promising Tobias that she won't. Tris is then experimented on by Jeanine, who wants to develop a serum that will work on divergents, Tobias also comes to Erudite to be a prisoner with Tris and they both escape with the help of Peter. The Dauntless and factionless then form an alliance to attack the Erudite and destroy their information, however Tris works with Marcus to try to get the information that Jeanine is protecting and her mother died for. Tori kills Jeanine before she can locate the information for Tris and Tris is labelled a traitor for wanting to save Jeanine. The factionless then tell Dauntless that there will be no more factions and that no-one can argue with them because they commandeered all the weapons, Tobias then shows the video Tris was looking for to everyone which shows that they were all separated from society to be protected from human nature itself.

City of Lost Souls - Cassandra Clare (2012)

4 stars

I was pretty excited to read this book after reading the previous books in the series, and it was just as good as the most of the previous books in the series, though not as good as some.

This book follows the plotline that was set up in City of Fallen Angels, which I don't think is as good as the plotline for the first three books but is still very intriguing, if predictable at times. I really enjoy how Cassandra switches between the different characters perspectives all the time as it lets me as a reader understand all the characters and how they are feeling, the only problem with that is when she doesn't write from Magnus' point of view who I think would be one of the most interesting characters to hear from. My favourite character in this book was Sebastian, even though he's evil I thought he was written brilliantly, I was starting to like him when he was good, but I despised him when he was bad. I think he is an excellent character who is really good to read about, especially when you find out that all he really wants is a friend. I would recommend this series to any paranormal fiction fans.

This book picks up two weeks after Simon killed Lillith and Sebastian took Jace. Clary meets with the Seelie Queen to try to get information about Jace and she asks Clary to steal her a set of faerie made rings that allow them to communicate in each others heads. Once Clary steals them, Jace and Sebastian come to her house and try to get her to come with them and they stab Luke with demon metal in the process. Clary then gives a ring to Simon and keeps one for herself so that she can keep in contact with him when she goes with Jace to try to learn Sebastian's plan. Simon summons Raziel and gets the Archangel Michael's sword that will burn the evil out of Sebastian and sever his bond to Jace without killing him as well. Clary learns that Sebastian made a second mortal cup and plans to Raise Lillith and pour her blood into it to make a new race of dark shadowhunters and has forty willing shadowhunters to drink it right away. When he starts his ceremony, the first person to drink from the cup is Amatis, forced to drink by a shadowhunter that stole her away in the night. After all the shadowhunters have been turned, the wolves and shadowhunters show up and stop most of them, however Clary can't get to Sebastian to kill him because she is stopped by Jace who she stabs instead. Jace lives, except now contains the fire of heaven in him.

An Abundance of Katherines - John Green (2006)

3.5 stars

I read this book because it's by John Green, one of our great nerdfighting gods.

I didn't like this book as much as the fault in our stars or paper towns but I still found it easy to read and pretty interesting. I thought it might have too much maths in it for other readers that aren't nerdfighters, although he does put all of it in the footnotes and appendix which he says are optional so don't count, but it is still the one of the main plotpoints of the story.Whenever I read a John Green book I love the nerdfighting references that he slips in (in this book he payed homage to Willy with Katherine XIX having a dog called Fireball Roberts, among other things) that would pass over most people's heads. My favourite character in this book is Hassan, I thought he was a really lovely character and John had written him perfectly to balance how annoying Colin is. I would recommend this book to any teenager that likes teen drama and romance.

Colin Singleton has dated and been dumped by nineteen Katherines. When Katherine XIX breaks up with him he is severly depressed, so his best friend Hassan suggests a road trip. They end up staying in Gutshot, Tennessee with Lindsey Lee Wells. Colin tries to make an equation to predict how relationships will end, which he successfully does that works for all the Katherines. He learns, however that it can't predict the future, only explain the past, and after an eventful two weeks in Gutshot, he starts dating Lindsey.

The Farthest Shore - Ursula Le Guin (1972)

3.5 stars

This is the last book in the series I had to read for english, my teacher says I would enjoy the fourth book so I might read that one later.

I enjoyed this book less than the previous book in the series, but I still thought it was an improvement on the first book in the series. This book had more storyline to it than the first book, which it is quite similar to. It is from a new character's perspective named Arren, who is very similar to a younger Ged except he has Ged as a mentor. My favourite characters in this story were the people of the sea, I thought the concept of a race of people that literally live on the sea is super cool and they brought a nice freshness to the story that broke up the monotony of the journey through the lands.

Arren is a young Prince to one of the lands of Earthsea and is sent to Roke to tell Ged, who is now the Archmage, about how wizards in his land are forgetting the ancient language of magic and can no longer perform any magic. Ged and Arren set out on a journey through the lands to find who has been causing this phenomena all over Earthsea. With the help of some dragons they find Cob, a wizard who has opened the door between life and death and can never die, he lures people to him with the promise of eternal life but then takes their power and they cannot return as he did. Ged manages to close the gap that Cob created but loses his power in doing so, Arren then kills Cob one final time and drags Ged out of the realm of death where he had to go to close the gap. Arren is then crowned King of Earthsea and Ged wandered the mountains of Gont alone.

The Tombs of Atuan - Ursula Le Guin (1972)

 4 stars

I had to read this book for english, however unlike the first book in the series, I found it surprisingly hard to put down.

Each book in this series is from the perspective of a different character, which is a nice change from most series that can get irritating reading the same character's inner monologue all the time. This book is from the perspective of Tenar, a girl who is taken as a child to be a slave to the Gods, I thought she was an amazingly well written character that made the book pretty addictive. My favourite character in this book would be Tenar's young priestess friend that doesn't believe in the Gods (I don't have the book with me and I can't remember her name). I think she was an interesting character that was a clever way to introduce the notion of not believing to Tenar. I would recommend this book to any fantasy fans, also any fans of Froi of the Exiles, you don't have to read the previous book to read this one.

For plot summary see Mac's previous blog.

A Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula Le Guin (1968)

I had to read this book for my english class, I could choose between this and Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings so I chose this, and I'm glad I did.

Although it isn't written as well or as interestingly as other fantasy books I've read I still quite liked the plot of this book. I think a downfall of the plot of this story though it that it drags on a bit too long, after Ged creates the shadow, he spend 100 pages trying to chase it down, which I think is a little overkill especially in the chapters where nothing but travelling happens. My favourite character in this book is Vetch, it's not like there are many characters to choose from, and this is probably the obvious choice but I liked his character without Le Guin needing to go into too many details, which I think is really clever. I would recommend this book to any fantasy fans, especially hardcore ones considering my teacher calls Le Guin the "female Tolkien" of the genre.

Duny is a little boy who learns he can do magic from his aunt, a village witch. When his village is attacked when Duny is twelve he performs great magic beyond his years to save them. Ogion is a sorcerer who takes notice of him and lets him be his apprentice, along with naming him with his true name; Ged. Ged however seems to be too curious to learn from the patient and Yoda-like Ogion so he travels to the island of Roke to learn at the wizard's school. When there he makes an enemy of Jasper and in a competition in which he is determined to beat him, Ged summons the spirit of a dead person, but in doing so he nearly dies and creates a shadow creature who will continue to follow him for the rest of his life and try to take his body. Once Ged graduates from the school of Roke and becomes a wizard, he starts to follow his shadow to try to defeat it, the shadow knows his true name however so Ged cannot perform any magic on it. Instead after travelling and battling with it many times, Ged realizes the shadow is part of him and accepts it as so.

Heaven Sent - Meg Cabot (2005)

This was the best book in the series, even if the idea of time travel seemed like it was a last minute idea. I enjoyed the plot of this book immensly, and I like how there wasn't an evil ghost in this one, as it would've have been a predictable ending, unlike the actual ending which was very surprising. My favourite character in this book was Paul, even though he was "evil" for the majority of it, I found him hilarious and very entertaining to read about.

Paul tells Suze that he can travel back in time and he decides to go back in time to stop Jesse from being murdered in the first place. Suze is outraged and when she complains to Father Dominic he suggests that that might've been why Jesse was still around. Suze follows Paul back in time and decides to save Jesse after seeing him alive, however after Jesse kills Diego there is a fire in the barn and Jesse tries to save Suze. When Jesse is holding on to Suze she shifts back to her normal time and accidently takes Jesse back with her. Once there he is in a coma, and the ghost Jesse comes to talk to Suze and is moved by what she has done for him. He then touches his body and he wakes up with all his memories including the 150 years as a ghost. Suze then takes him to her prom.

Grave Doubts - Meg Cabot (2003)

I don't like this book as much as the previous two, I thought it didn't have very much of a plot and Suze annoyed me in this book, I hate it when the characters are all angsty and whiny. The only ghost in this book is Craig Jankow, and there is like two sentences about him in the whole book, and after reading four of these books I knew he wouldn't leave peacefully so this book was a bit predictable. The thing that makes it interesting is all the new information about what Suze can do.

This book is all about how Suze loves Jesse, but he's been ignoring her since their kiss. It is also about Paul, who loves Suze and wants her to be with him, not Jesse. It ends in a massive fight between Paul and Jesse at a party at Suze's house which ends in Suze taking Craig and Paul to the next plain via shifting. Craig is then forced to move on, and Paul returns with Suze to see Jesse has left since his opponent passed out. Jesse then tells Suze that he loves her and has only been ignoring her because he wants her to be with someone she can grow old with.

Young Blood - Meg Cabot (2001)

Continuing to read the mediator series because I want to know how it ends.

This book is just as good as the last one, with new interesting characters that the book is more focused on than the plot. I like the character of Paul, because he's so mysterious it's hard to tell whether he's good or bad most of the time. My favourite character in this book though was Jack, I thought he was really cute and quite smart for a boy his age, and his character also showed how Suze could have been without her dad.

Suze's stepdad Andy is digging in the backyard to put in a hot tub, and Suze is awoken in her sleep by Maria Diego who wants her to stop the digging or she'll hurt her. Suze doesn't give in and tells Jesse that she thinks his bones are buried there and he tells her that he won't move on to the next plain because his murder is proven. However after the bones are found, Jesse goes missing and it's because Jack, a young mediator Suze has been babysitting exorcized him because Maria told him to. Suze then exorcizes herself to get Jesse's soul and bring him back to earth. She then exorcizes Maria and Diego then Jesse kisses her.

Mean Spirits - Meg Cabot (2001)

Once again reading this series I thought this book was better than the previous one.

I thought the plot in this book was even richer than the last one, actually having her get close to the killer and having to interact with him regularly. My favourite character in this book was Father Dominic, I enjoyed learning about his past, and thought it was really nice how much he's starting to care for Suze.

Suze sees a group of teenage ghosts that drove off a cliff try to kill the person in the crash that survived. The boy is Michael Meducci, a nerd with no friends, who starts dating Suze, who only agreed so she could keep him safe. One afternoon when she is driving somewhere with Michael, Sleepy intervenes and says that she has to ride in his car. Once in the car they have an accident because the brakes aren't working, and Suze realizes that it was Michael who tried to hurt them. He purposely drove the other teenagers off the cliff because they threw the party where his sister fell into a pool and into in a coma, and Brad, her other brother who was in the car was also at the party. Suze tries to stop him from killing again but he tries to kill her, and before he can finish the ghosts show up and start beating him, the cops then arrive and take him to jail for attempted murder of Suze and the murder of the other teenagers.

High Stakes - Meg Cabot (2001)

I continued reading this series and I think this book is better than the first.

I enjoyed this book more than the first one because I thought it had a more interesting plot, with an intriguing plot twist which the first book lacked. My favourite character in this book was probably Jesse, I thought it was good how we started to see more of him and to see his character develop some jealously and love for animals. I would recommend this book to any teenage girl because it encompasses many different genres, you don't have to read previous ones to be able to read any of the books in this series either.

A screaming ghost wakes Suze up in the night because she wants her to tell "Red" that it wasn't his fault and he didn't kill her. Suze thinks she means Red Beaumont, a prominent local businessman who turns out to have a very dark past with all his competitors going missing. When Suze questions Red about this, it turns out he wasn't the one who had been killing the people, it had been his brother Marcus, who intends to kill Suze. Before he can kill her though, Jesse intervenes and then all the ghosts of people Marcus has killed pull him into purgatory. It turns out the woman was Andy's previous wife and David's mum, and Suze was to tell David the message because he felt guilty that they pulled the plug on her.

Love You to Death - Meg Cabot (2000)

I read this book because I've read a lot of other Meg Cabot books and Mac told me these were good.

I thought this book was good, there are better Meg Cabot books than this one, but I still liked it. It was well written, and I thought the plot was pretty interesting. My favourite character was David, I thought he was very cute and I like how someone that has only known her a couple months could figure it out before her mum could.

Suze is a mediator, someone who can see and speak to ghosts. When she moves to a new house in California she finds a ghost named Jesse living in her room. She goes to school to find that her principal is also a mediator, the first one other than herself that she's met and he wants her help to get rid of Heather. Heather is the ghost of a teenage girl who won't move on until she kills the boy who dumped her so Suze is forced to exorcize her.

Paper Towns - John Green (2008)

When looking through dymocks I found another John Green book, I only have one to go now. Although I didn't like this one as much as The Fault in our Stars I still enjoyed it.

When reading John Green's books I always love finding little nerdfighteria references, my parents can't understand why I'm laughing so hard when someone is "editing the blue spotted anglerfish page". Green writes well, if a bit boring in the second part, but it still interested me enough to read it in five days, it would've been faster if I didn't have two tests to study for this week. But it was still an excellent book with a quirky plotline and main character that would interest most people that read the first couple pages. My favourite character was Radar, I thought his character was the perfect combination of funny and sensitive, although I may be biased towards the band geeks in any book, being one myself. I would recommend this to any teen, boy or girl, that likes this genre of book.

Quentin is a month away from graduating high school when his next door neighbour, and most popular girl in school, Margo Roth Spiegelman climbs into his window. She takes him on an adventure to get revenge on her enemies and Quentin has the night of his life and realizes how much he missed hanging out with Margo. When they return home the next morning she tells him that she will miss hanging out with him and then disappears on what everyone thinks is another of her road trips. Every time she leaves on her trips Margo leaves clues for her parents to find her, but they never do. This times she leaves clues for Quentin and he and his friends try to find her. The search ends on graduation day when they have 24 hours to travel to the "paper town" of Agloe to find her. Once they do Margo tells Quentin she's not coming back this time, she's going travelling but will keep in touch. They kiss then he says he'll visit her at the end of summer and she says she'll look forward to it.

The Princess Diaries: Ten Out Of Ten - Meg Cabot (2008)

I never regret reading this series because it always results in me reading this book, probably the best in the series, on par with the second book.

This book has skipped two years since the last book, very similar to the last book in the Mediator series, and Mia's life has developed along the storylines that were set up in the ninth book. This is the longest book in the series, but deservedly so considering it has so much to tell and so much suspense to keep you reading. It is well written like the other books in the series, and I think part of the reason I like this one so much is because the character of Mia has been written like she has matured and it's not as annoying to read as the sixth and seventh. My favourite characters were Michael, Lilly and Boris, Michael was lovely and sweet, Lilly knew just when to butt out and when to state her opinion, and Boris was just extremely cute and nice to Mia.


Michael has returned to Manhattan, Mia has written a romance novel and is trying to get it published, and JP has written a play. Michael flirts with Mia throughout the book and they end up kissing while Mia is still dating JP. Mia's book gets a publishing deal and JP frowns upon it, as well as being unsupportive of her novel, JP's play is actually about him and Mia, although grossly exaggerated on his part. Michael donates a CardioArm to Genovia to help Mia's dad win the election and then saves her on prom night after she breaks up with JP. She learns from Lilly that JP broke up with her because Mia and Michael had broken up and he wanted Mia not Lilly, he also lied to Mia about being a virgin as Lilly told him she had sex with him, and he also had been calling the paparazzi whenever he and Mia went out to get his name in the papers. Michael and Mia reunite, as do Mia and Lilly, and Mia decides to go to Sara Lawrence for college.

The Princess Diaries: To The Nines - Meg Cabot (2007)

When reading this book I always think it might be kind of unnecessary to write the last book because you could end the series with this one, but then I always remember how good the last one is, even though this one has quite a nice ending.

I love the plot twist in this book with the past princess storyline, it makes the book so much more interesting, and is a good way for Mia to accomplish something. I think what the author does in getting rid of Mia's oldest friend and replacing her with her oldest enemy is very clever and is written in a way that makes it seems plausible and seem like you would do the same. My favourite character in this book is definitely Boris, in this and the next book he shows his loyalty for Michael and really looks after Mia without Tina telling him to, I love the last two books partly because of Boris' character becoming more prominent.


Michael replies to Mia's email saying that it's probably best if they date other people and just go back to being friends. This causes Mia to become depressed and her dad forces her to see Dr Knutz, a psychologist, who gets her to try neew things including be friends with Lana considering Lilly won't talk to her after the JP media storm. Michael starts to email Mia occasionally and Mia deletes them because she doesn't think she can reply without begging him to take her back, while this is happening Mia discovers the journal of a past princess who only ruled for twelve days because she died of the plague. It turns out Amelie did accomplished a lot in her twelve days that helped minimize the plague in Genovia as well as constructing a document that made Genovia a democracy rather than a monarchy. Mia reveals this to everyone and then starts to date JP after his persistent efforts to go out with her ever since she broke up with Michael, Boris then tells Mia to reply to Michael so he knows she hasn't forgotten about him and she does.

The Princess Diaries: After Eight - Meg Cabot (2007)

This book marks a bit of a rise for the series coming out of the six and seventh books. It adds a bit of a twist to the storyline to make things more interesting.

This book starts to include samples of Mia's writing as well as her grades from her english teacher which acomplishes two things; it makes you hate Mia's english teacher along with her, and makes you realize how serious she is about writing. This book shows the events leading up to Mia and Michael's break up and in this book I'm sure it's not my future knowledge that makes me hate JP. I probably didn't have a favourite character because they all annoyed me in some way or other so because I just enjoy the little snippets of them I'm going to say Fat Louie and Rocky because they both are so cute and cheer Mia up, also they can't really talk so they can't say anything that will annoy me.


Michael has invented a prototype of a robotic arm that can be used in open heart surgery, he has been invited to Japan to get the actual machine up and running and will be away for a year or more. Mia decides that having sexx with him will make him stay, however the night before he leaves he tells her he isn't a virgin and has slept with Judith Gershner. Mia, of course, freaks out and throws his snowflake necklace at him, symbolising a break up. He comes to school to try to talk about things with her but he comes in when she is hugging JP who convieniently moves his head at the right moment so she kisses him, Michael walked away. She then realizes that she shouldn't have made such a big deal out of the Judith Gershner thing and chases him to the airport but misses him so she sends him an email saying sorry.

The Princess Diaries: Seventh Heaven - Meg Cabot (2006)

Continuing reading this series. I've decided that this is probably the worst in the series.

This book tries to do something different than the last trying to bring all the characters together for a musical of all things, but it doesn't really work as well as the others and I didn't think there was much plot to this book. In this book, Cabot decides to give The Guy That Hates It When They Put Corn In The Chilli a name and character, I don't know if it's because I have read the books and know what he's going to do, but I didn't like JP from the start. My favourite character would have to be Tina, most of the time I find her naivety quite annoying, but in this book she is quite cute and pretty funny.


Mia bankrupts the student council and needs to raise $5000, she tells Grandmere who decides to put on a musical that she has written. She casts Mia as the female lead and JP as her love interest, she also makes them put the musical on in front of all these celebrities she invites for a Genovian benefit. Mia is worried because she'll have to kiss JP in the end but he switches places with Michael at the last minute and he kisses her instead.

The Princess Diaries: Sixsational - Meg Cabot (2004)

I used to think that this was the worst book in the series, but after rereading it now, I have changed my mind and made it second last. The student election plot keeps me pretty interested to keep reading.

This book incorporates school notes and letters in the book that help make it feel more like you actually go to the school. This book and the next are filled with Mia's insecurities about having sex, which get more and more annoying as she reapeats them again and again through the book, the student council election however is very intriguing as it really could go either way which is why this book is still worth a read. My favourite character in this book was probably Lilly, she is very supportive in this book and we also get to see her vulnerability, a rarity for her character, which I quite enjoy.


Lana tells Mia that all college boys expect their girlfriends to "do it" and Mia freaks out without even talking to Michael for the entirety of the book, minus the last ten pages. Lilly also gets Mia to run for student council president because she knows Mia is liked by people even if she doesn't know it, Lana runs against her but Mia's speech about equality wins it for her in the end.

The Princess Diaries: Give Me Five - Meg Cabot (2003)

This book used to be one of my favourites when I was younger and I can see how it's better than a lot of the others in the series, although this is where Mia's behaviour starts to become more and more annoying.

In this book Cabot incorporates the school newspaper into the book, giving the reader an insight into the school environment. This book is better than the last, and has a lot of plotlines on at once, including Helen's pregnancy, Michael's prom, the busboy strike, and Lilly and Boris' break up. My favourite character in this book is probably hormone crazed Helen, I think she is extremely hilarious in this book, and although her mood seems a little exaggerated, it's still believable.


Michael hasn't asked Mia to his senior prom yet and when she breaches the subject with him he says it's lame and he doesn't want to go. Grandmere causes a nation-wide busboy strike, lead by Lilly who falls in lust with Jangbu and dumps Boris. Boris then drops a globe on his head and is saved by Mia and Michael before falling in love with Tina. Mia gets Michael's band to play at the prom so he will go and on the night of the prom her mum gives birth to her brother, Rocky.

The Princess Diaries: Mia Goes Fourth - Meg Cabot (2002)

In continuing reading this series, I remembered how slow it can be at times, and this is a whole book about one date, that's the only plotline in this story, whether Mia will make it to her first date with Michael. Better than some of the later books in my opinion, but still kind of frustrating.

This is the shortest book in the series, although it probably spans a larger time period (three weeks) than most of the other books. I found Mia's inner monologue extremely frustrating in this book, I think it might be because I know she's freaking out for THE ENTIRE BOOK for nothing, but it was still pretty entertaining. My favourite character in this book was probably Michael, mainly because he's so lovely you can't help but love him.


Mia gets back from her first trip to Genovia as princess and is looking forward to her first date with Michael to give him his belated birthday present as well as just spending time with him. However Grandmere wants her to go to a black and white ball on the same night, Mia thinks that by cancelling on Michael he will eternally hate her and break up with her. She goes to the ball, then leaves at eleven and goes over to Michael's where he has set up the movie at his house. She gives him his present, a moon rock, and they enjoy their first date.

The Princess Diaries: Third Time Lucky - Meg Cabot (2001)

I'm continuing reading this series, and originally it was going to be a trilogy so this book has a nice ending that ties up all the loose ends. This is probably one of the best book in the series.

In this book notes are included in the diary so you get to see a little bit of other peoples perspectives. Meg Cabot continues writing tremendously in this diary style and tries to wrap up all the storylines because she was originally only contracted to write three books. My favourite character in this book was Lars, he is usually hilarious whenever he is mentioned, but in this book he is a lot more prominent and included in the story at the perfect times. Anyone that likes the previous books will enjoy this book.


Mia is trying to break up with Kenny because she is in love with Michael and she is getting ready for the non-denominational winter carnival and dance, as well as her introduction to the Genovian people. She sends Michael anonymous love notes and he writes her a computer program, they then go to the dance together.

The Princess Diaries: Take Two - Meg Cabot (2000)

I continued reading this series because I like to at least get to the part where she's with Michael because otherwise I'm sad. This book is better than the first one, and probably my favourite in the series.

This book continues from the day after the last book finished, it was originally the first book in the series I read and I read it because it jumps into the twists of the storyline on the first page. This book contains more random lists and things than the last book which gives it a more journal-like feel, I still think Meg Cabot was in her writing element in this diary style series. My favourite character in this book is Michael, there weren't many other prominent characters in this book that were written as well or were quite as nice. Anyone that enjoyed the first book will enjoy this one as well.


In this book Mia must have an interview for television for which she is stressing about. When asked the vague question "Have you had some exciting news recently?" she tells the world about her mother and algebra teacher having a baby and their pending marriage when the interviewer was simply referring to her algebra grade. This starts Grandmere planning the wedding of a century to which Mia thinks her mother doesn't want, and Mia starts getting anonymous love notes who she hopes are from Michael. Mia's mother and Mr Gianini elope and Mia discovers the love letters are from her biology partner Kenny.

The Princess Diaries - Meg Cabot (2000)

I own all ten of the books in this series and although I've read them at least twice each it always cheers me up to reread some of them. The first one is not the best in the series, but it's probably one of the better ones.

Although these books are written for girls younger than I am, I think because I read them when I was in that age group I will forever love them. They are really funny and written in the quirky diary style that I think really suits the author. I also really like how the main character isn't a popular pretty girl, she's freakishly tall with frizzy hair and large feet, which is probably why I find it so easy to relate to her. My favourite character in this book would have to be Tina, I know she becomes more annoying later on but in this book she is really sweet and just wants a friend. I would recommend this to any girls between the ages of 10-16 (as a general range) who like to read about misfit girls whose inner monologues can be quite hilarious at times.


After her father discovers that he is now sterile and can have no moe children, Mia learns that she is the sole heir to the throne of Genovia. The unpopular 14 year old girl then gets asked out by the most popular guy in school only to be humiliated and used for her public status. Throughout the novel, she makes new friends, develops a crush on her best friend's brother and discovers her mother is dating her algebra teacher.

Angel Arias - Marianne de Pierres (2011)

I bought this book because I enjoyed the first one and was interested to see how the story would progress after leaving Ixion. I enjoyed it just as much as the first one and am quite excited to read the last one in the trilogy.

Even though this book wasn't set in Ixion, it still held the same adventurous feel that the previous book had. I also enjoyed learning more about the Grave and Markes, who I didn't think Naif got to know very well in the previous book. My favourite character was Liam, I thought what happened to him was terrible but De Pierres knew how to write him so that you could understand his scariness at first, but then understand his caring and fighting spirit. I would recommend this series to any fantasy or dystopia fans as Burn Bright was more fantasy, and this book was more dystopian, but with healthy amounts of both genres in both books.


The book starts with Naif on Ruzalia's island and wanting to leave for The Grave to discover why the Ripers have been there. After beads are smuggled onto her island Ruzalia agrees to take Naif and Markes to The Grave for two days. Once there Naif meets Liam, who was once on Ixion and had been removed, but the transformation had gone wrong so he and seven others had been taken to The Grave by Lenoir. Liam helps Naif and Markes get to his friend Emilia and her brother Jarrold who both agree to help them and want to go with them to Sanctus. Naif learns that the elders have made a deal with the Ripers because they have the queen of the uthers and they will keep her safe and deliver more children to Ixion if the Ripers give them a youth elixir that is produced when the night creatures feed on them. Naif, Markes, Emilia, Jarrold and Liam are then picked up by Ruzalia and taken back to Sanctus.