Louisiana's Way Home by Kate KiCamillo

Summary from Goodreads:

From two-time Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo comes a story of discovering who you are — and deciding who you want to be.

When Louisiana Elefante’s granny wakes her up in the middle of the night to tell her that the day of reckoning has arrived and they have to leave home immediately, Louisiana isn’t overly worried. After all, Granny has many middle-of-the-night ideas. But this time, things are different. This time, Granny intends for them never to return. Separated from her best friends, Raymie and Beverly, Louisiana struggles to oppose the winds of fate (and Granny) and find a way home. But as Louisiana’s life becomes entwined with the lives of the people of a small Georgia town — including a surly motel owner, a walrus-like minister, and a mysterious boy with a crow on his shoulder — she starts to worry that she is destined only for good-byes. (Which could be due to the curse on Louisiana’s and Granny’s heads. But that is a story for another time.)

Called “one of DiCamillo’s most singular and arresting creations” by The New York Times Book Review, the heartbreakingly irresistible Louisiana Elefante was introduced to readers in Raymie Nightingale — and now, with humor and tenderness, Kate DiCamillo returns to tell her story.

Review:

Reading a book by Kate DiCamillo is like returning to childhood for a few hours. She writes children with such finesse and ease. Her characters think like children. And I know all children in books should think like children. But, usually they don’t. Usually, that pesky thing called adulthood ruins the juvenile lenses at least a little bit. How does this author continue to write the child’s perspective without any adulthood fog smearing it all up?

Also, I love Louisiana Elefante. I loved her in Raymie Nightingale, and I love her even more now. I think part of the appeal of this book for me, at least initially, was the idea of learning what was really true for Louisiana. Her character had so many amazing stories and spoke them so genuinely. And as a reader, I had to know if she believed in her stories or if she was intentionally making them up. I had to know. There I was letting my foggy adulthood fog up my childish lenses. I should have known that Louisiana believed everything she said.

I liked learning Louisiana’s story as she learned it. Learning her history as she read a letter to herself made everything feel so much more authentic. That letter also brought on the waterworks. I knew what was coming from it before Louisiana did, and again, my older person wisdom kicked in…allowing me to fully grasp what this author excels in –writing from the perspective of a child. Seriously, no one does this better.

I loved the new characters. There was a mixed bag of good people and not-so-good people. I loved what the good people say to help Louisiana find her way. I love that she found friends amidst her sadness. The neighborhood of the motel felt almost like a character also. The setting was so spot-on that it truly felt like I was hanging out in Georgia for a while.

I love how much Louisiana grows up. So much happens to her in a short period of time, yet she is so hopeful, so forgiving, and so endearing. She never loses her magical charisma, not ever. My favorite passage is this, “And so it came to pass that I found myself sitting at the end of a long driveway in front of a pink house that smelled like cake, thinking about forgiveness and who I wanted to be in this world” (200).

I both loved and hated how everything wraps up so perfectly. It was the only not-so believable element of the story for me. On the other hand, it gives the book a sort of fairytale feel. And I want everyone to have a happy ending so badly, particularly Louisiana. I give this a 9/10.

The Other Side of the Sky by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

Summary from Goodreads:

New York Times bestselling author duo Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner have crafted a gripping tale of magic and logic, fate and choice, and a deadly love. Perfect for fans of Laini Taylor and Brandon Sanderson.

Prince North’s home is in the sky, in a gleaming city held aloft by intricate engines, powered by technology. Nimh is the living goddess of her people on the Surface, responsible for providing answers, direction—hope.

North’s and Nimh’s lives are entwined—though their hearts can never be. Linked by a terrifying prophecy and caught between duty and fate, they must choose between saving their people or succumbing to the bond that is forbidden between them.

Review:

I was super excited to get an ARC of this book. For starters, look at the gorgeousness of this cover! Also, I love these authors and I’ve been super impressed with them in the past. I practically hugged the book when I got it and almost dropped all the other books I was reading.

Sadly, I was a little disappointed. As I mentioned on Goodreads, …There were some stand out elements here, particularly the in-depth world building and the cat that saved the day on multiple occasions. The writing was excellent. However, there were so many YA tropes and plot arcs I’ve seen over and over again. I was hoping for something fresher.

I’ve read stories with a top world and bottom world already. I’ve also read stories now with rather religious characters. I’ve read a lot of YA chosen one stories. I’ve read so many stories where the two points of view characters fall in love. And I’ve read more than enough stories where the two love interests are not allowed to be together. And I guess the point I’m slowly coming to is, did they have to write soooooo many tropes in one? Like couldn’t they have just stuck with 1 or 2? Or I guess, if you’re going to write a book with so many well known plots, please make something in there more unique.

As I mentioned, the writing was beautiful. The world building was top-notch. However, I have seen absolutely everything done before, many, many times. I was hoping for more. And because of this lack of originality, it took me a long time to read. I had to make myself finish the book. I almost stopped a few times. I’m glad I finished it overall. I really loved the cat. And I really got lost in the setting. I wanted more from the characters. And I certainly needed more from the plot –thought it picks up a lot towards the end.

All in all, I give this a 6.5/10.

Fairy Tale Giveaway Hop

I haven’t done one of these hops in a very long time. How could I miss out on a fairy tale one though? Thank you: I Am A Reader, Not AWriter, The Book Rat, and A Backwards Story for hosting such a fantastic giveaway hop!

To see the rest of the blogs participating in the hope (aka: for more chances to win free books), scroll down to the bottom of the post.

I absolutely love fairy tales! And because I love fairy tales so much I am giving away two of the books listed below!

My standard rules: The winner will get an email from me as soon as one is randomly selected on Raffle Copter. My giveaway is open both to US and international followers (as long as either Barnes and Noble or The Book Depository can deliver to you). You will have 48 hours to respond to my winning notification email, and if I don’t hear from you by then, I will have to randomly select a different winner.

What’s up for grabs: your choice of any two of these fairytale books below:

Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan
Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier
Entwined by Heather Dixon
Beastly by Alex Flinn
Cloaked by Alex Flinn
Enchanted by Alethea Kontis
Wisdom’s Kiss by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
East by Edit Pattou
The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer
Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for stopping by! And, good luck!

Entwined by Heather Dixon

This book made it to my post about the best YA book covers. And it also budged two books in line in my To-Read pile. Was it all that it was cracked up to be?

I enjoyed it. And, I want to be a children’s or YA librarian, so I guess it makes sense that I have a soft spot for fairy tales. And this book is made after a fairy tale I adore that does not get all that much attention: The Twelve Dancing Princesses.

The book is about Azalea, the oldest of the twelve princesses. Like another fairy tale I love, Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine, the book begins with the death of the main character’s mother. Azalea makes a promise to look after her younger sisters. And she does. The girls are required to endure a year of mourning for their mother, where they are not allowed to leave the castle (which is actually pretty bad considering their economic situation). They also have to cover all the windows, stop all clocks at the time of their mother’s death, and have no real contact with the outside world except for R.B (Royal Business), which is mostly the priority of the king. And oh, the king/their father leaves for war almost immediately after the funeral.

Azalea has to decide if mourning is more important than the livelihood of all her sisters. The book is layered with different types of dancing. The mother loved dancing. The girls all love dancing, and for them to all be denied dancing for a whole year is pretty tough. They come across a secret passageway that leads them to a magical place, where they all can dance as if in a ball. The place is monitored by a man named Keeper, who of course is not who he appears to be. There’s romance, there’s dancing, there’s magic tea sets, secret passage ways, and all sorts of other elements thrown in to make this story read like a classic fairy tale.

However, there is a “but” coming. It was magical, but it took me a long time to get into. It’s one of those stories where the main character is almost too good. She puts her sisters before herself. She doesn’t want to let anyone down. She listens to her parents. And I didn’t much care for her unrealistic “goodness.” Eventually, she stands up against her father. And I think that was the moment where I actually grew to like her character. She questions what she does later, but I don’t care. She stood up for what she believed in, and that’s when the story took off!

She fights to the death for her sisters. She stands up to Keeper and even manages to save her kingdom. The characters who never did manage to impress me: most of her sisters. I kind of got to know the second two oldest girls (Bramble and Clover) through their differences in character and romantic interests. But the other sisters were merely just names, like the names of the Lost Boys in Peter Pan. And I know I have said this about other books too, but why am I supposed to care so much about all these girls if I don’t even know them? I mean why should I support all of Azalea’s sacrifices if I don’t really know who is benefitting from them? And okay, I get that it is hard to make 12 different princesses each have their own distinct personality –12 is a lot. But then maybe, change the tale from 12 sisters to 4?  And if that is stretching it too much, at least try to get me to care for the younger a little bit more.

The only other telling of this tale that I loved to pieces and that I definitely think was more successful in detailing all the princesses was Juiliet Marillier’s Wildwood Dancing. However, this book definitely has the prettier cover.

I know I complained about Azalea’s goodness earlier, but I guess this goodness also worked as a positive impact on the piece as a whole because it did make the book seem more like a classic fairy tale then say, Levine’s Ella Enchanted, which had more modern views about women and cultures. This book really felt like it could have been told along a campfire a century or so ago.

All in all, I give it an 8/10. Once I came to like the main character more, it read rather quickly. I especially recommend it to anyone interested in ballroom dancing and anyone in need of a little fairy tale magic.

My Favorite YA book Covers

I am not going to lie; one of the biggest appeals to me of any book is the cover. And YA books have some amazing covers. A pretty cover is what draws me in originally, though of course it usually takes more than a cover to persuade me to read something. And yes, there are some really ugly book covers for some really amazing books. For instance, until the last few years, author: Tamora Pierce (one of my top five favorite authors of all time), has had some really ugly/cartoon-like covers for her amazing books. And for some reason, they never seem capable of producing a nice looking cover for Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game in all of its many publications.  And vise versa, not all pretty books have amazing stories to go along with them. Not all of the books I’m about to list (bottom-up) are my favorites; they’re just my favorites to look at.

Number 10: Beautiful Creatures by Kimi Garcia and Margaret Stohl

The cover is kind of simple, but there’s something about the way the font of the letters combine with the tree in the background that just works so well. It promises something dark and gothic. Sometimes simplicity is beautiful. For me, the book did not disappoint either. I love this book and I will probably talk about it again later this year when the third in the series comes out. 

Number 9: Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty

 

I first picked up this book the summer before I entered high school. And it’s one of those books that even after reading and purchasing, I still was drawn to at bookstores. The colors appealed to me, I guess. But looking at all of the books in this series (that only recently ended) all along my bookshelf, I know the publisher was on to something. They are all so anesthetically pleasing to look at, without any real obvious reason. None of the photos on the covers are spectacular, but they all have a bright background for the title. And they all screamed to be picked up by me (especially when I was a teen).

Number 8: Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

So…all of her covers are pretty to look at. They all feature an attractive teen main character with a certain city that’s hazy in the background. I think this one is my favorite because of the obvious time period of the character’s dress, and also the city is London. I love urban fantasy. I really love any fantasy in NYC, but there’s just something magical about the history of England.

Number 7: Impossible by Nancy Werlin

This one just has a beautiful photograph. And there’s something about the wind blowing a girl’s hair all over the place that I can just relate to. 

Number 6: Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

 

The cover of this book looks best when on a shelf next to all the other books in the series. Why? Because the cool thing about these covers is that they extend past the front of the book, past the spine, and go slightly on to the back. And this first book, splices up the girl’s face so half is on the cover, nose and mouth are on the spine, and most of the other half is on the back. Also, the photo is great (and kind of simple again), and it’s even greater having read the books because it’s amazing to see the main character before any of the changes she goes through throughout the series.

Number 5: Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

So, this cover looks a little Davinci Code-like, but still, I love it. The book is all about two girls, one in today’s time and one from the past. So, I guess the thing I love most about this cover is that it really does a wonderful job of representing the book because as I will talk about for number 4, not all covers and titles adequately show and explain what the book will be about. 

Number 4: A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

I absolutely adore this book. When I first read it, as a teen, I felt that the author specifically wrote it just for me, because it had everything I loved about books in it. However, as I mentioned previously, this cover has very little to do with what the book is about. And years later, I still don’t fully get why it is titled what it is. A great and terrible beauty is how I would describe one of the girls in this book, but certainly not the main character and certainly not one of the most relevant/important characters. It could represent what the girls in this book are capable of doing, and ever more broadly all women at this time period, but still…it always kind of bothered me. Any way, I loved the book, and I really loved the cover. I remember the day I bough it in the store because people saw it in my hands and looked at it. Two different people at Barnes and Noble even asked me where I found it in the store, so they could go look at it themselves.

Number 3: Bloody Valentine: a Blue Bloods book by Melissa De La Cruz

This book is the latest in the Blue Bloods series. Between the giant flower, the mini drops of blood, and the lacy framework at the bottom, I can’t stop staring at this book. I also waited impatiently for this one to come out because it involved a certain wedding I was really looking forward to and whenever I look at this book now, I can almost feel that anticipation again.

Number 2: Entwined by Heather Dixon

 I actually haven’t read this one yet. It is two or three books away on my To-Read pile. I just can’t help looking at. The Beautiful gown that turns into the silver vines at the bottom is gorgeous! And there’s a blurry image of a castle toward the top, and so much green for the girl to run through. The vines and the castle also make their way around to the back of the book as well. What girl in her right mind would look at this cover and not want to at least pick it up to read the side-flap summary? It screams of fairy tale! I am really excited to read this, so excited (by how pretty it is) that I might make it budge a book or in two in line. 

Number 1: Darkest Mercy by Melissa Marr

All of the books in Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely series have beautiful covers. This is the final book in the series and the first book to show Donia (one of my favorite characters) on the cover. I am sort of seeing a pattern here of silver vines on YA books, but apparently silver vines are a good idea because they made it on to 3 titles on my list…Also, flowers are big on this list too…Why is this cover my favorite of them all? It’s got more to it than the vines and the flower. It’s about frost and magic, and finality. And it’s one of the covers that I think does a good job of representing the story (even though it’s not all about Donia).