Saturday, August 27, 2016

A True Princess

A True Princess
Diane Zahler

A True Princess

Genre: Chapter Book

Summary (from Goodreads): Twelve-year-old Lilia is not a very good servant. In fact, she's terrible! She daydreams, she breaks dishes, and her cooking is awful. Still, she hardly deserves to be sold off to the mean-spirited miller and his family. Refusing to accept that dreadful fate, she decides to flee. With her best friend, Kai, and his sister, Karina, beside her, Lilia heads north to find the family she's never known. But danger awaits. . . .

As their quest leads the threesome through the mysterious and sinister Bitra Forest, they suddenly realize they are lost in the elves' domain. To Lilia's horror, Kai falls under an enchantment cast by the Elf King's beautiful daughter. The only way for Lilia to break the spell and save Kai is to find a jewel of ancient power that lies somewhere in the North Kingdoms. Yet the jewel will not be easy to find. The castle where it is hidden has been overrun with princess hopefuls trying to pass a magical test that will determine the prince's new bride. Lilia has only a few days to search every inch of the castle and find the jewel—or Kai will be lost to her forever.


Review: I liked this book a lot; it reminded me of the story of the Princess and the Pea.  It is about a girl names Lilia who is a servant and runs away because she is going to be sent to a mean family.  Her friends Kai and Karina go along with her, but Kai becomes enchanted by the Elf King's daughter.  Lilia has to find Odin's clasp so that the Elf Princess will let Kai go.  I like this book because everything turns out fine in the end.  I liked Lilia because she was brave and kind.  It's the kind of book that I like to read because most of the characters are nice, the characters go on adventures, and it was a kind of mystery.  Oh, and because it was about a girl.

Rating: 5 stars

Thursday, August 4, 2016

The Good Dream

The Good Dream
by Donna VanLiere


Genre: Historical Fiction

Synopsis:  Tennessee, 1950: Still single and in her early thirties, Ivorie Walker is considered an old maid-a label she takes with good humor and a grain of salt.  But when her mother dies, leaving her to live alone in the house she grew up in, to work the farm she was raised to take care of, she finds herself lost in a kind of loneliness she hadn't expected.

After years of rebuffing the advances of imperfect yet eligible bachelors from hers mall town, Ivorie is without companionship, but with more love in her heart and time on her hands than she knows what to do with.  Her life soon changes, however, when a feral, dirty-faced boy who has been sneaking onto her land to steal from her garden comes into her life.  Even though he runs back into the hills as quickly as he arrives, she's determined to find out who is because something about the young boy haunts her.  What would make him desperate enough to steal and eat from her garden?  But what she can't imagine is what the boy faces, each day and night, in the filthy lean-to hut miles up in the hills,  Who is he?  How did he come to live in the hills?  Where did he come from?  And, more important, can she save him?  As Ivorie steps out of her comfort zone to uncover the answers, she unleashes a firestorm in the town-a community that would rather let secrets stay secret.
from the book jacket

Review:  This book has an ease to the writing style that is simple and sweet.  I am squeamish about child molestation so there was a time where I thought I would abandon the book as I just can't stomach hearing about sexual abuse in a crude way but I stuck with the book and the story definitely improved.  The story is told in alternating perspectives, Ivorie's and the boy's.  Later in the book there are chapters told from Ivorie's brother, Henry's perspective.  At first I didn't understand why his voice was added but he does uncover a very important piece of the puzzle about who the boy is.  The story is one of hope and love.

Rating: 3.5 stars