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."

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." 

Paper Towns by John Green

Margo always loved mysteries. And in everything that came afterward, I could never stop thinking that maybe she loved mysteries so much that she became one.

I first read Paper Towns last year. I had decided to read John Green's books after already having been a fan of the vlogbrothers for a while. Looking for Alaska had been my first attempt, and while I wasn't much a fan of that particular book, I had recognized his style of writing to be particularly beautiful and something of which I wanted to read more. Paper Towns immediately became a favorite and retains that distinction even now. In fact, my second reading of this fabulous story only cemented that fact.

Quentin Jacobson is your average teenage boy. He's not popular or unpopular, but somewhere in the middle with his two best friends and the other kids he's friends with in the band. Plus he has a huge crush on the most popular girl in school and his next door neighbor, Margo Roth Spiegelman.

So when Margo sticks her head in his window and requests his help on a "mission" of hers, it doesn't take all that much coaxing before he's driving her all around Orlando, aiding her in all manner of odd pranks. She's known for this sort of thing, for being something akin to a force of nature.

Quentin can't help but hope that this late night gallivant means things will change between them, but she doesn't show up at school the next day, or the day after that. No one seems to know where she has gone. This in itself surprises no one, it isn't the first time Margo has run off for a couple of days. But when a couple of days turns into a couple of weeks, Quentin can't help getting worried.

Just like the previous times she's run off, Margo has left clues to her whereabouts. Now it's up to Quentin to decipher them and find her before it's too late . . . if it isn't already too late.

A brilliant work through and through, Paper Towns is the story of Quentin's journey to find Margo and discover himself along the way. It's about friendship and loyalty, but it's mostly about the way we perceive others and how dangerous it is to see others as what you think they ought to be instead of who they are.

Once again, John Green has undeniably proved that he can create memorable characters and a compelling story, all while continuing to wow his readers with his mastery of the English language and his ability to weave it into something beautiful.

Rating: ~ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ~

There are so many people. It is easy to forget how full the world is of people, full to bursting, and each of them imaginable and consistently misimagined.

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

"It is too bad for you that intelligence does not always attend gifts such as yours, and fortunate for me that it is not your intelligence I am interested in, but your skill. If you are as good as you say you are."
I repeated myself. "I can steal anything."
"Except yourself out of the king's prison?" the magus asked, lifting only one eyebrow this time.
I shrugged. I could do that, too, but it would take time.

The Thief is another book I picked up because the author is going to be at LeakyCon this coming week and I wanted to get a good sampling of her writing style. I found it at the library with the rest of the series that I will soon be getting my hands on, because I enjoyed this one immensely and can't wait to see where else Gen's adventures take him.

In The Thief, we are immediately introduced to Gen: our narrator, main character, and current tenant of the king's prison for stealing his seal and then bragging about it to the public. He has been there for quite a few months when the king's advisor, the magus, decides that his skills as a thief could aid him in the recovery of a treasure that could change the fate of their land forever.

Gen, having no other alternative besides going back to prison, joins the magus on this quest. Along with them are Ambiades, the magus's apprentice; Sophos, the son of the duke; and Pol, the captain of the duke's army. On their travels, they must journey through two neighboring countries with whom their own country is not necessarily on good terms, while trying to keep Ambiades and Gen from killing each other.

Gen has more to worry about than Ambiades's snarling, though. He may not be all he seems to be, but even he wonders if he is up to the task of securing a hidden treasure that hundreds of thieves have died trying to attain.

Turner's story is an entertaining fantasy in a land very much of her own making. The Greek influences are heavy, from the pantheon of gods to the very climate of her fictional countries, but it is still clearly a world unlike any other. I am always interested in discovering new worlds in literature and hers fascinated me immensely.

The characters were interesting and well crafted, none of them turning out quite as I had originally pegged them. I love when an author can give me an ending I hadn't anticipated from the beginning (predictability can only go so far in entertainment), and the fact that Turner could do so with both her story and her characters is a feat she ought to be proud of.

This was a fun journey that may not have wrapped me up the way some of my favorite fantasy series' do, but it was enough to leave me wanting more. I definitely suggest reading this book if you're looking for a new series to enjoy. It's quite worth the read.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

[Click here to see my review of book 2: The Queen of Attolia and book 3: The King of Attolia.]

"Do you think," he stammered, "there's some . . . body in the maze with you?"
I wished he hadn't so obviously substituted "somebody" for "something." Not that I thought ghouls and ghosts were real, but they were easier to believe in when standing in a cold, dark, wet hole in the ground.

The Last Little Blue Envelope by Maureen Johnson

I think something is art when it is created with intention -- serious intention. Even crazy intention. And I think something is beautiful if it reveals something about what it means to be alive.


When Maureen Johnson wrote 13 Little Blue Envelopes, this book's predecessor, she hadn't intended to make a sequel. It was going to stand alone the way it was. But the outcry of the fans and Johonson's own creative imagination birthed something else: The Last Little Blue Envelope, its sequel.

The Last Little Blue Envelope starts off at the beginning of Ginny's winter break. She's busy worrying about her future, missing Keith, and reminiscing about her summer when she gets an email from a man named Oliver, who has managed to fine the last letter and all its contents.

Ginny soon finds herself back in Europe and things are as crazy as ever. The last letter has a new mission and another surprise at its end. As she seeks closure for herself in this last adventure, she finds herself battling heartbreak, discovering new loves, and generally dealing outside of her comfort zone. It's going to take a great deal of work to keep her from losing her head this time around. She'll have to work even harder if she wants to keep her heart too.

The conclusion to Ginny's tale was everything I had hoped it would be. I liked the first book, but without the sequel it lacked luster and, most especially, closure. The sequel was a great call for Johnson, because it tied up all the loose ends and everything fell neatly into place the way it should by the time it wrapped up. The first just can't quite stand on its own. The addition of a sequel made it a thousand times better.

Once again Johnson's witty humor emerges from the story with each page turned. She's quite a quirky person and has definitely found her voice when it comes to writing. She does a wonderful job at it. It is her, through and through. I couldn't get enough of this story or Johson's cleverness at molding the written word to be exactly what she demands of it.

I would definitely suggest this to anyone who has read the first and simply needs that closure. Even if you weren't sure how you felt about the first book, this one wraps it all up in a neat little package and commands that you enjoy it. So go ahead, go pick it up.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥


"People always say they can't do things, that they're impossible. They just haven't been creative enough. This pool is a triumph of imagination. That's how you win at life, Gin. You have to imagine your way through. Never say something can't be done. There's always a solution, even if it's weird."

Crusade in Jeans by Thea Beckman

"No," cried Rudolf. "It can't be true! It is a nightmare. Soon I will wake up. A children's crusade! It is just too ridiculous. It is unthinkable. Crusades are for men; for knights on horseback, in coats of armor. Not for children!" 

Crusade in Jeans is a fictional children's book originally written in Dutch by its author, Thea Beckman. After having seen the movie adaptation a few years ago, I found that it was a book and had been translated to English. Of course, I had to get my hands on it.

In her book, Beckman tells the story of a fifteen-year-old boy named Rudolf (Dolf) who convinces two scientist friends of his father to send him back in time with a time travel machine they have created. Dolf lands near the city of Spiers in the kingdom of Germany.

When his return to his own century goes terribly wrong, Dolf is stranded in the thirteenth century and ends up stumbling upon a children's crusade. Eight thousand children from Germany and its neighboring lands are on a march to conquer the Holy Land after a shepherd boy named Nicolas claims he has been told by God that he will part the sea for them and the Seracens will flee before their innocence.

As he watches the procession move by, though, he sees that the children are in terrible shape. They are malnourished and sick, they are literally dropping dead at the back of the procession or falling behind. Some were being picked off by wild animals, others by slavers and kidnappers. Dolf and his new friend, Leonardo, decide they must act and both join the crusade, quickly calling for a reform in the way things are done. They take responsibility for the welfare of the children and quickly rise in the ranks of the assembled.

Clearly these children believe the call to which Nicolas has urged them, but Dolf doubts he will be able to part the sea and suspects the two monks who are also helping to lead the procession are frauds. There  is something that isn't right about this entire ordeal, both Dolf and Leonardo agree, and they are keeping their eyes peeled in order to discover what is actually going on here.

In the meantime, though, they have other worries to attend to. The journey is long and the path is fraught with perils. Wild animals such as wolves and bears lurk in the darkness about them and not all kidnappers are dissuaded by the sheer number of the pilgrims. Then there is food and shelter to worry about. The question is: can they even make it to the sea at all?

This book was so much better than I could have anticipated it. As much as I enjoyed the movie, much like Eragon, I have to say that is a mockery in comparison to the book. I don't think I would be able to watch it again without being sorely disappointed in how far it deviates from the true story. Not to mention, Dolf is so much better in the text. In the movie, he was irritating and not nearly as smart as he is meant to be.

Honestly, the only problem I have with Crusade in Jeans is its opening. I have a very hard time believing any scientist would honestly be so irresponsible and stupid enough to send a fifteen-year-old back in time in their PROTOTYPE material-transmitter. Yes, they've had success in the past, but that is just ridiculous. Also there was the whole bit where Dolf seemed to keep "finding" things in his pockets that later became useful. It only happened about three times, but I still found myself irritated. He would have known from the beginning that he had those things in his pockets. He wouldn't have forgotten about them for a period of weeks when he was wearing the same pair of jeans the entire time.

Beyond that, though, it was excellently crafted and incredibly believable. Beckman had a firm grasp on the trials and issues that would have come up during such a trek and I found myself on the edge of my seat through the entire thing, eager to find out what would happen next. I would definitely suggest this book for a good read.

Though it is technically children's fiction, I would like to add that there are some dark themes in here. I would say it is good for 10+ would be a better age range. There is a good deal of death that might be scary for a small child and some religious themes that they may be too young to grapple with (Medieval Christianity vs. Modern Atheism).

It is historical fiction as well, however, and these are themes that ought to be considered at an older age. Beyond that, I was surprised at how many people I know had no knowledge of the children's crusades and that they were actually a historical event in the thirteenth century. It is a part of history that we ought not forget, as with most of our world's history, for fear of reoccurrence. I thought it was a good choice for Beckman to choose a historical event that ought to have more light shed upon it and use it as the center of her storyline.

All in all, I adored this book and am glad to have it upon my shelf. I bought it on Amazon after not being able to find it anywhere else and I treasure it fondly.

Rating: ~ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ~

"Now you ask me if I believe in miracles. My friend, I am experiencing nothing else."

13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson

"I liked you because you were mad. And you're pretty. And pretty sane for a mad person."


Maureen Johnson was another author I decided to check out because of John Green. (The other was Stephanie Perkins, author of Anna and the French Kiss.) Funnily enough, it isn't the first book I've picked up by her, but it is the first I've finished. That's not to say that she isn't a great author, but the other book, The Name of the Star, was a little too spooky for my taste. I will probably get around to finishing it eventually for the sake of having a review of it up here.

Anyway, because of John Green's recommendation and because she will be at LeakyCon this year, I wanted to give another of her books a go and I'm incredibly glad I did.

13 Little Blue Envelopes is about a girl named Ginny. After her beloved aunt dies, Ginny gets a package from her deceased aunt containing thirteen letters with directions to complete the task on one before proceeding to the next. These directions spur Ginny into the adventure of a lifetime. Her travels take her all over Europe, introduce her to some wonderfully crazy characters, and teach her to experience life to it's fullest.

This book was quite good. The plot had me hooked from the start and nothing about this story is predictable. This fact in and of itself has you feeling like all of this is really happening, like you're really on this adventure with Ginny. It's a wonderful testament to her writing ability and how relatable she makes her characters. It was definitely one worth reading.

Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥


[Click here to see my review of the sequel: The Last Little Blue Envelope]


Sometimes, Gin, life leaves you without directions, without guideposts or signs. When this happens, you just have to pick a direction and run like hell.