Fathomless by Jackson Pearce

Maybe you have to know about your past to look to your future, to make a decision about it.

[Click here to see my review of book 1: Sisters Red and book 2: Sweetly.]

After absolutely falling in love with the first two books in Jackson Pearce's Fairytale Retellings series, I was admittedly a little scared to read the third. What if I didn't like it? What if it didn't live up to the greatness of the first two? I had the utmost faith in the fact that she could make this one just as good as her first two, but what if she hadn't?

Well, my fears were totally unfounded. Fathomless turned out to be just as beautifully written and compelling as its counterparts. I'm already itching to get my hands on Cold Spell, the fourth book, which doesn't come out until November of this year. How will I ever manage to wait that long?

Celia, Anne, and Jane Reynolds are a set of triplets with surprising powers. Anne can see the future, Jane can see the present, and Celia sees only the past. The youngest in their family, they were sent off to boarding school after the death of their mother. Since then, they've really only had each other, having lost contact with each of their brothers and the father who no longer remembers them (due to his Alzheimer's). They've always known that they're stronger together, but lately Celia has been feeling more and more like she is the odd one out. It's Jane and Anne who are the identical ones. She's just the one that somehow got thrown into the mix to complete the set. She believes that her power is useless, that her siblings received the ones that they could do something with whiles she only gets memories, but that's before she meets Lo.

Lo is an ocean girl. She used to be human, but now she lives under the water with her sisters, other ocean girls who have forgotten their pasts and bide their time until the day the angels who brought them here pluck them out of the sea and take them away to be with them. When they first arrive, though, many of the girls just want to go back. They want to be human again. According to the legends of the old ones, there's only one way to do that: they must get a human to love them and then drown them, taking the human's soul for their own.

When Jude, a hapless musician falls into the ocean one night, Lo decides that she doesn't want him to drown. She has tried drowning a boy to restore her soul and knows it won't work. Instead, she fights her sisters to save him, bringing him back to the shore with Celia's help. Celia touches Lo and discovers her real name, the one she forgot. This awakens a longing within Lo to remember what she was before she was an ocean girl.

Celia agrees to help her recover her memories and suddenly feels like her power has a purpose--that it can finally help someone. But this tentative friendship she's made is fraught with dangers and Jude may not be the only one in danger of drowning now.

In Fathomless, Pearce once again proves that she has an imagination of gold. And she has certainly struck gold with this series of retellings. I cannot express enough how much I adore this beautiful series and everything in it. Filled to the brim with the same strong bonds I have admired in the beginning, as well as another great dose of the magical and mythical beings we've seen in the first two novels, these books are positively addicting and the kind you'll want to pester everyone you know to read so they can enjoy it just as much as you did.

What are you waiting for? Go get this book immediately! Get the whole series! And pray the Jackson Pearce never ever stops writing.

Rating: ~ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ~

"Because there's nothing there. There's no future between you and the girl--the water girl. Naida. Whatever she is."
"We stop being friends-" 
"You're not listening," Anne snaps, and there's so much worry in her voice that I feel cold. "There's nothing there, Celia. There's no future because there's no 'you and her.' It's blank."
"What does that mean?" 
Anne sighs, shakes her head. "What have you gotten yourself into?" she mutters before looking me in the eye. "It means," she says, voice serious, "either she dies or you do." 

Little Red Riding Hood and Other Classic French Tales by Jack Zipes

"But, Mother," Lirette pursued, "why does this beautiful flower that pleases me so much have so many thorns?"
"To show you that we must distrust the greater part of those things that please our eyes, and that most pleasant objects hide snares that may be most deadly to us."

I picked up this lovely little book at Half Price Books a few weeks ago when I spotted it in the fairytale section. I'm a huge sucker for fairytales and even more so for books with covers as lovely as this one. I set it on my "to be read" shelf and waited a bit, since some others took priority, but figured it was necessary that I read it while I'm in Paris visiting my family, seeing as it's a collection of French fairytales.

Packed with lovely little stories filled with fairies, magic, forbidden loves, and little lessons to be gleaned from each tale, I was quite happy with this book upon finishing it. It not only told different versions of classic fairytales I had heard as a child, but bore plenty more that I thoroughly enjoyed as well.

Overall, this book was a lovely read and I'm glad to have acquired it. I know I'll be reading it to my children one day, filling their heads with visions of magical creatures and exciting adventures in the same way they filled my mind upon reading this.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Alas for those girls who've refused the truth:
The sweetest tongue has the sharpest tooth.

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. 

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

There was once a kindly old wizard who used his magic generously and wisely for the benefit of his neighbors. Rather than reveal the true source of his power, he pretended that his potions, charms, and antidotes sprang ready-made from the little cauldron he called his lucky cooking pot. From miles around, people came to him with their troubles and the wizard was please to give his pot a stir, and put things right.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard was written by J.K. Rowling as a supplement to the final book in her Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. This collection of fairy tales, and the final story "The Tale of Three Brothers," is cited in the book as an important key to discovering the meaning of the Deathly Hallows and ultimately defeating Lord Voldemort.

Already a huge fan of fairytales as well as their retellings, I was immediately excited when I found out J.K. Rowling had created the very set of tales she had mentioned in her book.

The set up of the book is incredibly well-done. It claims to have been translated from ancient runes by Hermione Granger and includes notes from Albus Dumbledore on each tale and its meaning. Rowling writes as herself in forming the introduction and adding footnotes for Muggle readers. Beyond that, she is also the artist who created the gorgeous illustrations contained within.

Each tale is unique and interesting, written in the fairytale fashion as if for the wizarding community. Dumbledore's notes are just as interesting as the tales themselves and include extra tidbits from the world of Harry Potter that make a fangirl quite gleeful. Though a short read, it's definitely a worthwhile one.

I can especially imagine it being quite fun for a parent whose children are a bit too young for Harry Potter just yet to read it to their children. That way, they'll be familiar with a few of the characters and the tales themselves and will make the books seem even more real to them when they come of age.

All in all, it was a lovely read and a must for every Harry Potter fan. It takes less than an hour to read straight through, so ideal for a bit of light reading. I know I'll definitely read this one more than a few times.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

In Muggle fairy tales, magic tends to lie at the root of the hero or heroine's troubles -- the wicked witch has poisoned the apple, or put the princess into a hundred-year's sleep, or turned the prince into a hideous beast. In The Tales of Beedle the Bard on the other hand, we meet heroes and heroines who can perform magic themselves, and yet find it just as hard to solve their problems as we do. Beedle's stories have helped generations of Wizarding parents to explain this painful fact of life to their young children: that magic causes as much trouble as it cures.

As You Wish by Jackson Pearce

All I've learned in Shakespeare class is: Sometimes you fall in love with the wrong person just so you can find the right person. A more useful lesson would've been: Sometimes the right person doesn't love you back. Or sometimes the right person is gay. Or sometimes you just aren't the right person.
Thanks for nothing, Shakespeare.

After falling in love with Jackson Pearce's sophomore novel, Sisters Red, she became one of those authors whose section in the library I check nearly every time I visit. Thus I found her debut novel a few weeks ago and immediately checked it out. I just now managed to get around to reading it, but I am immensely glad I did. I read it all on one sitting that lasted about five or six hours. My day off couldn't have been better spent.

Viola Cohen's whole world felt like it had been ripped apart when her best friend and boyfriend, Lawrence, admitted to her that he was gay. Months later, they're still best friends, but Viola feels invisible and alone, as if a part of her has been broken.

Her greatest desire is to feel like she's a part of something again, the way she felt when she was with Lawrence. She doesn't want to feel invisible anymore. She wants to love someone and know that they love her too. It's the strength of this inner wish that summons the jinn.

When the jinn appears, he informs her that she has been granted three wishes. He expects it to be a routine venture to the world of humans, but Viola isn't like any of the other masters he's come in contact with up to this point. She speaks to him like a person, not just a wish-granter, and she evokes something in him that he's never experienced before--a longing for the friendship both she and Lawrence extend to him and, even more consuming, a longing for her. These are unprecedented and entirely unusual for a jinn. They aren't meant to get attached. They're meant to grant their wishes and go, but Jinn's not so sure he wants to go home anymore.

Viola gets three wishes. Three wishes and Jinn will be gone from her life forever. She won't remember him and he'll go back to his world, Caliban, until he is summoned by another human with a wish. It's not until after she has made her first wish that they begin to realize that they're feelings toward each other are more than anything they could have expected. Will Jinn help heal the brokenness in Viola's heart, only to have it broken once more and break his own heart in the process?

Once again, Jackson Pearce has created a fantastic story based on a classic fairytale. Technically, it isn't a part of her series of fairytale adaptations, but I still think it fits in that category regardless. I don't think I've ever read an adaptation of any stories involving genies before. In fact, it took me a few pages to get the image of the Aladdin genie voiced by Robin Williams out of my head. But it wasn't that difficult. After all, Jinn is a whole other species of genie than the crazy blue one I'm thinking of.

I particularly liked her description of Jinn's home world of Caliban, where the jinn have been banished. It's a beautiful place filled with beautiful people, but because of its lack of flaws is subpar in a way that makes complete sense, yet is kind of mind-blowing. It's our flaws and differences that make the human race so different and, eventually, so appealing to Jinn.

One of the things I really enjoyed about Pearce's other book was the creation of characters that were believable, well-rounded, and that carried strong emotional bonds for each other. Though these relationships were inherently quite different than the ones portrayed in Sisters Red, they still bore that essential loyalty to the people that were most important in the main characters' lives. Each cared deeply for the others and wanted most of all for the ones they loved to be truly happy. They wanted them to be happy being themselves, not trying to be copies of anyone else or copying what others were doing. Being happy with oneself and being happy with that was a major theme throughout the book that I deeply appreciated.

Jackson Pearce is clearly a fabulous storyteller. I cannot wait to read more of her work and it certainly won't be long before I'm scrambling for the next of her books I can get my hands on.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I'm . . . jealous.
Wait. No. I can't be jealous. My fingers tense and I can feel my pulse throbbing under my skin. My heart pounds in my chest and my mind races. The image of Viola and Aaron collides with the realization that I'm jealous. Jealousy is a mortal emotion. One that means I have something to lose--something that, if gone, will tear away a part of me. Jealousy is not for my kind. And yet there it is: I'm jealous.

Valiant by Holly Black

"Did you think you were a hero?" [Spoiler] asked, her voice full of mock pity, pitched loud enough for the crowd.
"No," Val said. "I think you're a villain." 

[Click here to read my review of book 1: Tithe.]

After reading Tithe a few weeks ago, I was eagerly looking forward to reading the next in the series. I really appreciate Holly Black's fantastical imagination and the way she creates faerie worlds, so I was clearly excited when I snagged this book and started reading it. It didn't disappoint.

Valiant is the story of Val, a seventeen year-old girl who has just discovered that her boyfriend is sleeping with her mother. How's that for a shocking way to get the reader hooked? Distraught and angry that she could have allowed herself to be so blatantly lied to, she runs away and meets Lolli, Dave, and Luis, three teenagers living on the streets and making deliveries for faeries.

At first, Val assumes that her new friends are either crazy or creating an elaborate lie just to see if she'll believe them. But it isn't long before things start happening that Val can't just wave away. The shadows dance of their own volition, people with strange features and eerie warnings start cropping up, andVal begins sticking her nose into things that are better left alone. When Val finds herself forced into the service of a troll named Ravus, she can no longer deny the existence of faeries; but as soon as she has discovered this new reality, she is thrust into a new problem. Someone is poisoning members of the faerie community and Ravus has been implicated, putting she and her friends in grave danger as well.

This enchanting sequel to Tithe was every bit as good as I expected it to be. The characters were all interesting and well-rounded; the romance was sweet and progressed at a slow but steady pace. I was a little disappointed that we only caught a glimpse of Kaye (the heroine from the first book), but the story and it's fabulous journey was worth it.

Val is an interesting and very well-written heroine. Black really went out of her way in making Val as believable a character as possible by showing the reader her struggles and the reasons behind her actions and, most especially, her mistakes.

A dark fantasy that pulls you in from page one, Valiant was a wonderful addition to a great series written by an author whose great imagination has captured the hearts and minds of readers from the day her first book was published. I greatly look forward to reading the third and final book in this series. If the past two books have been any indication, it's going to be one hell of a good ride.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

"I know you're very brave," he said
"Or stupid." 
"And stupid. Brave and stupid." Ravus smiled, but then his smile sagged. "But nothing can stop you from being terrible once you've learned how." 

Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce

The wolf opened his wide, long jaws, rows of teeth and bloodstained tongue stretching for her. A thought locked itself in Scarlett's mind, and she repeated it over and over until it became a chant, a prayer: I am the only one left to fight, so now I must kill you.

I picked up Sisters Red after hearing a pretty great review of it on another book reviewing blog. I bought it a few weeks ago and just now got around to reading it. My reaction? I love almost everything about this book.

You'll often hear avid readers getting "book hangovers," meaning basically that after they've finished the book, they have trouble starting a new one or thinking about anything besides the book they have just finished because they're still in that world. As many good books as I read, I don't usually experience that as much anymore. I still often find my mind going back to a good story or book that I really enjoyed, but I don't often have trouble breaking away from thinking only about a particular story for a day or two after I've finished it. But I definitely experienced that with Sisters Red. Long after I'd finished it, I was still poring over the tale and everything that had happened within it.

Sisters Red is the shared story of Rosie and Scarlett March. When they were children a werewolf (or Fenris, as they're called by those who are familiar with them) attacked them, killing the grandmother who raised them as well as taking Scarlett's eye and leaving scars all over her body. To save herself and her sister, Scarlett killed the beast; and ever since, she has had an all-consuming passion to hunt Fenris so that no one else has to suffer the way she and her sister have.

When a good friend of the sisters and an excellent woodsman and Fenris hunter, Silas, returns from a long family visit in California, things start changing. Not only does Rosie suddenly find herself drawn to the woodsman, she also begins to guiltily dream of a life where she isn't constantly fighting Fenris. But, more immediately, something is changing about the Fenris. They're getting bolder and more numerous, drifting into territory they had long abandoned. As more and more lives come in contact with the murderous creatures, the three are going to have to come up with a plan to take them on and fast. Otherwise, they could lose a lot more than they already have.

A modern and incredibly well-done spin on the old Red Riding Hood tale, Sisters Red was a compelling read from the very start. Not once did I lose interest or feel the tale was moving either too slow or too fast. Pearce did a fantastic job at pacing her story just right, as well as creating characters that the reader can identify and empathize with.

In particular, the relationships Pearce portrays really struck a cord with me. The loyalty between Rosie, Scarlett, and Silas was beautiful and the fierce love that each portrayed for the others was absolutely stunning. Their love for each other was probably the thing I loved most about this book. No matter how much fighting there was or how high the tension got, you never once doubted that each would do anything to protect the others and I cannot say enough how beautiful that is to me.

I would definitely suggest this to everyone, particularly lovers of fairy tales. It was an all-around wonderful book and I will definitely be snatching up the next Jackson Pearce novel I see. I'm thinking her Hansel and Gretel retelling looks like just the right book to be the next addition to my bookshelf.

Rating: ~ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ~

[Click here for my review of book 2: Sweetly]

The plan forms in my mind slowly, more like a tide coming in than a wave crashing over me. I am confident, I am capable, and I will not wait to be rescued by a woodsman or a hunter. I will escape.

Once Upon a Time by Max Lüthi

The fairy tale takes its heroes from the remotest branches of society: the prince and the young swine herd, the despised youngest son or the clumsy boy; and the girl who watches the hearth or tends the geese and the princess. The fairy tale is also fond of other extremes and contrasts: dreadful punishments and splendid rewards, giants and dwarfs, mangy skull and golden hair, good and evil, handsome and ugly, black and white. Thus the fairy tale portrays a clearly and neatly fashioned world.

I went up to Texas Tech to visit my brother this weekend and one of the first places we stopped was the library (of course). Texas Tech has a rather large library, which was quite exciting for me. I immediately grabbed about six books off the shelves, but this was the one I begged my brother to check out for me. He did and I managed to finish it before the end of the weekend.

Once Upon a Time: On the Nature of Fairy Tales was quite an interesting read. Published in the early seventies, it is a lovely text concerning what constitutes a fairy tale and why they are so important to us now.

Each chapter takes aside one or more fairy tales with similar thematic content and analyzes what sets it apart from other stories, such as local legend and saints' stories. This book covered everything from Sleeping Beauty to Repunzel, including plenty of stories I hadn't heard of before and even uncovering alternate versions that surfaces before the Grimm brothers or others like them.

I found every bit of this book fascinating. I will definitely be adding my brother's collection of Grimm fairy tales to my list of books to read and can hardly wait to get my hands on it. Fairy tales are timeless and classic. I would suggest this book to anyone who would like to see a little bit more into the creation of a fairy tale and the lessons we can learn through these stories.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

But what, one may ask, does a child learn from being told such fairy tales? Should one really fill their minds with stories about witches? Yes, indeed, one must. The witches, devils, and villains of fairy tales are for children symbols of evil, and the child experiences through them the danger of evil but also learns that evil can be conquered or perhaps even transformed.

Snow by Tracy Lynn

Snow said nothing, tears streaking down her face. He was partially right, and treated her tragedy so easily . . . like it was a common story in the city. What kind of people--or monsters--are these? What would they do to her?
"That's enough, the two of you. She's alone, she's lost--and she's seen us. There is only one thing to do. We have to take her to Chauncey."

I picked up Snow at my local library after having seen it out of the corner of my eye and realizing it was a retelling of Snow White. And who doesn't love a fairytale princess retelling, after all? I snatched it up and expected it to be mildly entertaining, enjoyable at best. I didn't expect it to be nearly as good as it really was.

Granted, I've never read a retelling of Snow White. However, I have just recently seen Snow White and the Huntsman with Kristen Steward and Chris Hemsworth for the second time and, while I did enjoy it, this was immensely better.

The Dutchess Jessica was born to a mother who died shortly after her birth and a father who couldn't love her because of it. For most of her childhood, therefore, she is allowed free reign of the estate she lives in. The servants become her family and she learns to clean and cook from them. She develops a fondness for animals and grows into a tender yet wild girl.

Then her father, needing an heir since women cannot inherit, remarries. At first, Jessica is quite fond of her new stepmother, though she is strict and vain. But as Jessica grows and comes of age, she realizes there is something that isn't quite right about the woman. She is cold and has a strange hold on Alan, Jessica's friend, that worries her.

When Alan warns her that her stepmother has hired someone to kill her, Jessica makes her escape to London, where she hopes to hide and make a living somehow. There, she makes friends with a group of thieves that have their own secrets that keep them hidden from the outside world. Can she figure out how to survive on the unforgiving streets? And when her stepmother suddenly shows up, begging for forgiveness and claiming to be cured of her madness, will Jessica make the right choice in accepting or rejecting her advances?  Her life, and the lives of those she cares about, may hang in the balance.

Snow was quite an interesting take on the story of Snow White and I really enjoyed finding out how each new bit correlated with the classic story. The character of Jessica (or Snow, as she is later called) was both relatable and endearing, as were Alan and Raven, as well as many of the other characters. I found myself wishing for a sequel as the pages drew to a close, if only to revisit some of the characters I had become acquainted with in the last few hundred pages.

Tracy Lynn (or Celia Thomson--her other pseudonym) has created a captivating tale weaving together these compelling characters and an interesting plot to give an exciting new spin on an old tale. I enjoyed this immensely and look forward to reading other retellings in the "Once Upon a Time" series (which is a set of retellings of princess stories by different authors, it seems).  If you get the chance, I definitely recommend picking up this book.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

"Did you help her escape?" The duchess came nearer, rounding on him. "Did you have something to do with this?"
"I am unable to speak of anything you do not wish me to, My Lady. You know that."
She narrowed her eyes, displeased by his evasive answer. "Did--you--help--her?"

Tithe by Holly Black

"When you do magic, there are two stages: focus and surrender. Surrender is the part that so many do not understand.
"To do magic, you must focus on what it is you want to do, then let go of the energy and trust it to do your bidding."

Not only is the cover of Tithe deliciously creepy (I got quite a kick out of showing it to people just to see their reactions),  but the story is quite unlike anything I've read yet. This is probably more a result of the fact that faeries creep me out and I tend to avoid media about them. Still, the book is intriguing from start to finish.

Tithe is the story of sixteen-year-old Kaye. Kaye has always been considered strange, particularly for the fact that her best friends growing up were three faeries that visited her often and she was always eager to share about the things the four of them did together. When she moves away, the faeries stop visiting her and Kaye does her best to forget.

Then, after her mother is nearly stabbed by her boyfriend, the two move back to Kaye's childhood home. At first, everything seems normal. Perhaps she had imagined the otherworldly beings. When she is finally contacted by the faeries, things are different than her childhood years.

Kaye learns she is a pixie, a changeling exchanged for a human child when she was a baby, and now she has been asked to perform a task that could put her own life in danger, as well as everyone she has come to care about. As she is put to the test, she must discover what her strengths are and whether she's strong enough to save everyone.

Holly Black, author of the Spiderwick Chronicles (for which she is most well-known), has created a tale that draws the reader in and compels them to explore a world that is both terrible and beautiful, intriguing and revolting.

I found the story to be well-written and original. I found myself eagerly looking forward to finding out what happens next. I appreciate unpredictable plot lines that still manage to be entirely plausible and this was one of those stories.

I would recommend this to any lover of fantasy that wants a good series to start up. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what happens to Kaye next.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥

You can break a thing, but you can't always guide it afterward into the shape you want.

Top Ten Tuesday: Vivid Worlds

Over at The Broke and the Bookish, they have this thing called Top Ten Tuesday. Each Tuesday they give other bloggers a chance to participate in making a top ten list with them. This week the topic is "Most Vivid Worlds/Settings in Books". 

So here are mine: 

1. Narnia
-I've been a huge Narnia fan since I was a kid and my dad read the books to my brother and I as bedtime stories that I eagerly clung to. Narnia meant Aslan, it meant a magical world where animals could talk and children could win battles. It holds a very special place in my heart and still hasn't stopped taking hold of my imagination.

2. The Magical Version of our World Seen in Harry Potter
-I'm a latecomer to the "Potterhead" grouping, only having discovered the wonder of this universe in the last few years, but I'm hooked. I love everything about the way J.K. Rowling integrated magic into our world and hid it behind closed doors so that when you're reading it, you can almost believe that it's all true. Then again, that would mean I was a Muggle in a magical world, so that's a downside . . .

3. Middle Earth
-Granted, I've only read The Hobbit, but I loved every bit of the world Tolkien created there. Also, I've seen the Lord of the Rings movies so many times I can practically quote the majority of it. Altogether, Middle Earth gets my thumbs-up for being wonderful, yet dangerous; majestic, yet scary. Everything about it simply urges you to find out more.

4. The World in Robin Wasserman's Skinned Trilogy
-This isn't the type of world I would love to be a part of (like the first three), but it's one I found myself engulfed in. It's very believable and realistic, drawing you in and making you ask questions that most novels wouldn't dream of diving into. The way she has formed each dilemma, each evolution of the way our world turned out, is something you can almost see happening. And it's quite a scary thing to observe.

5. Panem
-Despite my dislike of Suzanne Collins' writing style, she did manage to create a rather vivid picture of the futuristic world her book is set in. It's another believable, yet scary place to live. I wouldn't want to set foot in it, but I could most assuredly believe it.

6. Alagaesia
-In Christopher Paolini's fantastically crafted world, I managed to lose myself in a book that took me longer than most to read. Where I tend to get impatient with books that I can't tackle in a few days (which are few, because I read pretty quickly), these ones were a pleasure straight through. Paolini etched every bit of his world in clear contrast and made every bit as real and defined as the world we live in.

7. Amara
-It's been a while since I've read Donita K. Paul's DragonKeeper Chronicles, but I enjoyed them immensely. The different creatures Paul created were interesting and original, her dragons were varied and interesting, the story wonderful. It was entirely well done. 

8. The World in the Dragons in Our Midst Series
-Bryan Davis created an incredibly imaginative and interesting world in his series' detailing the lives of Billy Bannister and Bonnie Silver. There are actually three series within this series, of which I've only read the first two and that was probably four or five years ago. Still, the details and intricacies of the world he created stand out in their excellence.

9. The Worlds in Howl's Moving Castle
-This book is a wonderful journey and one I intend to reread as often as possible in the future. A large part of this is due to the worlds within it (yes there are more than one, but they're all connected). They are worlds of magic and war, of impossible contracts and things that shouldn't come to life but do. It draws you in and invites you to stay for as long as you should choose to remain.

10. Faerie
-I'll finish off with a world I'm not sure whether I would want to live in or away from, but one that takes one's imagination and soars with it. There are so many things I loved about the world Neil Gaiman created in Stardust and I would definitely cite it as a vivid world that I am quite fond of.

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

"To die will be an awfully big adventure."

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie is an incredibly familiar story. The tale of the boy who will never grow up is one that has fascinated us since we were children. It was about time I got around to reading the actual story and I'm quite glad I did.

For those who are unfamiliar with the tale (though I assume there are few who fall under this category), this book is about a group of siblings who have the good fortune to meet a boy named Peter Pan, but it is mostly the tale of Peter Pan himself.

Leader of the lost boys and an adventurer to the core, Peter leaves his home on Neverland to hear the stories Wendy Darling tells her brothers every night so as to relay him to his lost boys. But one day he loses his shadow in their home, which leads to the introduction of Wendy to Peter, whom she and her brothers have only known in their dreams. When he offers to bring she and her brothers back to Neverland, it is an offer they couldn't refuse even if they wanted to.

Though a magical land beyond their wildest dreams, even Neverland has its share of dangers. Otherwise, there would be no adventures and Peter would lose interest. Captain Hook and his crew are out to kill Peter and they'll do whatever it takes to accomplish that feat, even if that means playing dirty.

Peter Pan is every bit the tale that captured our imaginations as children and continues to do so in adulthood. Barrie proves a master in the way he crafts this tale and the imagery he uses to send your imagination reeling. I was hooked from the beginning, no matter how many times I had heard the tale.

I would suggest this to parents and children alike. There is much to be learned within its pages and plenty of room for anyone's imagination, young or old, to soar. All you need is a little fairy dust.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥

Not the pain of this but its unfairness was what dazed Peter. It made him quite helpless. He could only stare, horrified. Every child is affected thus the first time he is treated unfairly. All he thinks he has a right to when he comes to you to be yours is fairness. After you have been unfair to him he will love you again, but he will never afterward be quite the same boy. No one ever gets over the first unfairness; no one except Peter.