Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

"Fear tastes quite different when you're not just reading about it, Meggie, and playing hero wasn't half as much fun as I'd expected.

After absolutely falling in love with the movie adaptation of this novel (and having it practically memorized), I figured it was about time to read this book. I was absolutely certain I would fall in love with it immediately, and that's probably why it took me so long to finally put it off of my "to be read" shelf and finally read it. I even made sure I had all three books in the trilogy before starting the first, because I was certain I would enjoy the first so much that I wouldn't have much patience for tracking down the sequels.

I wasn't wrong.

When Meggie spots a stranger outside her window in the middle of the night, her first instinct is to run to her father for security, but she soon finds herself realizing that he's keeping something from her. When the stranger warns of a man named Capricorn and they rush to the south of Italy to take refuge with her aunt, Meggie soon realizes that the world is a much more dangerous place than she could have ever imagined. And the secrets her father has kept from her have the power to change her world forever.

It's not long before she learns what he's been keeping from her. It seems that Mo, Meggie's father, has a special gift--the unique power to draw items and even characters from the pages of a book simply by reading aloud. However, he cannot control this gift. He cannot choose who or what comes or even goes. This makes his power dangerous, far more dangerous than it's worth, and that is the reason Meggie's father never read to her. It was far too risky.

Despite this, Mo has been hunted by Capricorn and Basta, two of the thugs he drew out of a book called Inkheart when Meggie was a child along with a third character named Dustfinger. Mo has also tried to evade Dustfinger, but with much less luck and it is he whom Meggie sees standing outside her window when the book begins. Now Capricorn is closer than ever before and he'll stop at nothing to capture Mo and get his hands on the the last copy of Inkheart, which Mo has, until now, kept safely hidden.

This book was absolutely wonderful. I cannot get over how much I deeply enjoyed it. Throughout its pages, books are celebrated and the three main characters (Meggie, Mo, and Meggie's Aunt Elinor) have a deep love for them that I can entirely identify with. Each chapter even begins with a quote from a book that fits what occurs in the chapter (and ended up causing me to add quite a few books to my "to be read" list).

The storytelling and the plot are extremely well-written and the book itself is rich with fantasy and beauty. Experiencing Mo's gift, Dustfinger's despair, and Capricorn's evil alongside the characters was captivating and the vivid way in which Cornelia Funke describes her characters and their emotions can't help but draw you in.

I would highly suggest this to anyone, young or old. It's a fantastic story . . . one that should be read widely and often. I can already tell that this series could easily be one of the gateway sort for those who aren't really fans of reading just yet. Much like J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, this one will draw you in and show the reader exactly why reading is so absolutely imperative--that stories have a power all their own.

Rating: ~ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ~

[Click here to see my review of book 2: Inkspell]

"Is there anything in the world better than words on the page? Magic signs, the voices of the dead, building blocks to make wonderful worlds better than this one, comforters, companions in loneliness. Keepers of secrets, speakers of truth . . . all those glorious words."

Bitter End by Jennifer Brown

He let go of my neck and I crumpled to the floor, holding my face and sobbing. Too afraid to run. Too surprised to stand. Too hurt to be brave or indignant or anything other than broken.

I picked up Bitter End at the Barnes & Noble next to my brother's college, the one I always seem to find myself at when I go visit him, and knew I had to get it. It looked both interesting and heartbreaking and exactly the type of book I would want to read. The kind that would affect me. The kind that would make me think. One of the things I love most about reading is getting the chance to be someone else and see through their eyes for a while. And getting the chance to see how someone could fall into and stay in an abusive relationship was something I was very interested in understanding.

When Cole, a gorgeous transfer from a nearby school, makes his way into Alex Bedford's life, she immediately falls head over heels for his charming manner and his sweet ways. Cole is the perfect boyfriend, always ready to assure her of his love and affection, giving her that tenderness she's always wanted . . . until she makes him angry one day and he gives her the first bruise.

Apologizing profusely, Cole makes it up to her, promising to be a better person. He swears it will never happen again, but already Alex is cautious around him. If she can just keep herself from setting him off, everything will go back to normal. But even during this time of tentative peace, she is pulling away from the friends and family that once meant so much from her. Her friends' dislike of her new boyfriend isolates her from them and she quickly finds herself unable to speak and unsure if she even ought to.

Bitter End is a realistic look at the problem of abuse and how easy it is to find oneself in a place where there seems to be no way out. Love truly is blind and the heart is deceptive. It's easy to follow your heart in one direction even when your mind is screaming for you to run in the opposite direction.

Brown does a wonderful job in portraying the mindset of someone going through this very ordeal in a manner that is entirely realistic and heartbreaking. In particular, I love the way she creates the dynamic between Alex and her best friends slowly shift and decay even as they grow more and more concerned about her, creating the very distance between them that makes our protagonist feel even more alone and confused.

I really enjoyed this book and it is absolutely worth picking up next time you're in the bookstore. It is the perfect read for young adults who don't necessarily understand the complexities of abuse and anyone who wants to further comprehend what it's like to be on the receiving end of abuse and why they can't always "just get out of it."

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

"Yeah. But he's going to kill somebody someday, and if I can stop it from happening to you, then maybe I didn't live through the most horrible time of my life for nothing."

The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour

We all want to feel something, we want to be someone to one another.

When I read Nina LaCour's debut novel, Hold Still, I immediately fell in love with her writing and her ability to capture the complex emotions that make up humanity. After hearing about the fact that her second novel was due out soon, I kept my eyes peeled and finally spotted The Disenchantments at my library.

The Disenchantments is told from the perspective of Colby, a newly graduated teenager in love with his best friend and overwhelmingly excited about the opportunity to go traveling around Europe with her in only a few weeks.

You see, Colby and Bev have had a plan prepared for years now. They made a pact that when they graduated, they would take that first year off and go traveling together in Europe. Graduation finally rolls around and now they're going to go on a quick tour with Bev's band, then set off for Paris.

But when Bev throws a wrench in Colby's plans on the first day of the tour by telling him she's changed her mind, he feels like everything has shattered. Apparently, Bev has been accepted to an art school on the east coast, which means she has been intending to bail on him for months now, but just now decided to tell him.

Because the band is on such a tight schedule and because one part of the trip is taking Meg (the bassist) to college, Colby can't back out of it, though he is incredibly angry and hurt by his best friend keeping this secret from him. Instead, he joins them on the tour through small towns where their gigs are set, the types of places that will book a band that's really not very good but has incredible stage presence and passion in spite of it.

The Disenchantments is, in its essence, a book about growing up and dealing with the heartbreaks and disappointments that come with that. It's about being disenchanted with life and realizing that sometimes it's okay if everything doesn't go as planned. And sometimes the hurt is worth the lesson you learn from it.

Written just as beautifully as her first book, LaCour does a fabulous job at creating memorable characters as well as a book that makes you feel like you can accomplish anything when you finish it. It's one of those stories that, when you walk away from it, you can still feel its encouragement and it brings back that excitement about life and what's in store for you in the future.

I would definitely suggest this one to any and all. It's a wonderful book and definitely a new favorite of mine. I will be shoving this into the hands of every one of my friends as soon as I have the funds to purchase it.

Rating: ~ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ~
"It's incredible," she says, "how much damage everyone does to everybody else."
I don't really know where she's going with this, but then she says, "I didn't ever want to break anyone's heart."
I look away from her hands. I focus on keeping my own still.
"I don't ever want to be accountable to anyone for anything again," she says. "I will never make another pact and I will never get married and I will never let anyone think that I am theirs forever." 

Sweetly by Jackson Pearce

She dared to glance back. 

Yellow, sick-looking eyes found hers. 

She turned forward and sped up, faster than the others, driven by the yellow eyes that overpowered the sharp aches in her chest, her legs begging for rest. There was light ahead, shapes that weren't trees. Their house, their house was close--the candy trail had worked. She couldn't feel her feet anymore, her lungs were bursting, eyes watering, cheeks scratched, but there was the house.

They burst from the woods onto their cool lawn. Get inside, get inside. Ansel flung the back door open and they stumbled in, slamming the door shut. Their father and mother ran down the stairs, saw their children sweaty and panting and quivering, and asked in panicky, perfect unison:

"Where's your sister?"

[Click here for my review of book 1: Sisters Red]

The sequel to Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce, Sweetly is the story of Gretchen and Ansel,  a brother and sister duo who leave their home in Washington to find a new one where they no longer live under the shadow of the sister they lost, Gretchen's twin. Still feeling the ache of her disappearance and the deaths of their parents, they are driven out by their surviving stepmother and drive straight to North Carolina. Gretchen hopes to escape the fear of vanishing the way her sister did by going to live on the beach, far away from the trees and forests that have surrounded her since she was a child, a constant reminder of what she lost and how she lost her to the witch in the woods.

Before they can make it to the beach, though, their car breaks down  and they are forced to seek help in the the small town of Live Oak. They take refuge in the home of Sofia Kelly, a chocolatier living just outside town. The twins and Sofia hit it off immediately, but most people in Live Oak hate Sofia just as much as they hate strangers, if not more. Most are either convinced she's an angel or a devil in disguise. Immediately, Gretchen and Ansel stand beside Sofia's claim of innocence in the part of the girls who have gone missing in from the town, both knowing first-hand what it's like to be blamed for the disappearance of another. But when Gretchen meets Samuel, she begins to question Sofia's side of the story as well as the secrets that seem to surround her.

As she learns more about the town's past and the witch who took her sister, Gretchen learns that the witch is back . . . and this time, it's after her.

I didn't think it was possible for Pearce to make a book that was just as good as the first in the Fairytale Retellings series, but she has definitely managed to pull that off without a hitch. Sweetly is filled with just as memorable characters and strong bonds as the first book and a plot that keeps you guessing until the end. As I've mentioned before, I'm a major sucker for loyalty and relationships where every person would be willing to lay down their life fore the next at a moment's notice and this book had both of those; not to mention, incredible fight scenes. All that, and the more intense scenes still had me biting my nails and even actually yelling during one particularly frightening bit.

This series is looking like it will turn out to be an all-time favorite of mine and I can't wait to see where it goes next, as well as where it will culminate in the end. It's going to be an epic collection and you absolutely don't want to miss it. I suggest you get started reading it right away. In the meantime, I'll be scouring the internet for book three.

Rating: ~ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ~

"Poor Sophia," Ansel says, shaking his head. I can hear it in his voice--he wants to save Sophia. That's how Ansel works. Someone is in pain, and he wants to save her--he ran back into the woods after our sister, he became my rock. He didn't give up on our father, even when Dad became someone Ansel and I barely knew--it wasn't long after Mom's death that he started drinking, and once he remarried it got worse. He couldn't escape the guilt--over my sister, over my mother. . . Guilt ate him through the mouth of the bottle.