Review: Princess of Thorns

Title: Princess of Thorns
Author: Stacey Jay
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 400
Release Date: December 9, 2014
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Summary: Game of Thrones meets the Grimm's fairy tales in this twisted, fast-paced romantic fantasy-adventure about Sleeping Beauty's daughter, a warrior princess who must fight to reclaim her throne. Though she looks like a mere mortal, Princess Aurora is a fairy blessed with enhanced strength, bravery, and mercy yet cursed to destroy the free will of any male who kisses her. Disguised as a boy, she enlists the help of the handsome but also cursed Prince Niklaas to fight legions of evil and free her brother from the ogre queen who stole Aurora's throne ten years ago. Will Aurora triumph over evil and reach her brother before it's too late? Can Aurora and Niklaas break the curses that will otherwise forever keep them from finding their one true love? (via Goodreads)

My Rating:

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The Princess of all fairy tale retelling stories! This book was astounding from cover to cover! This is everything I want in a book! Excitement, action, romance -but not too much- bravery, flaws, loyalty! I absolutely love it! Did you love Arya in Game of Thrones? How about the Alana series? Fairy tales? Then you will love this book!

The main character is a young girl who disguises as her brother in order to rescue him - and her kingdom! She teams up with Niklaas, the eleventh son of a king to help her. Stacey Jay writes a beautiful romance for them that feels so natural you can't help but love it!

I will say, I was a little bit resistant to it at first because of how much I loved their relationship as friends! Every character was beautifully written, and the story never lets up! Each new adventure follows right behind the previous!

I particularly enjoyed that this was not a typical retelling story. This was about Princess Aurora's (Sleeping Beauty) children, although that took a moment for me to figure out because in this story Sleeping Beauty's name is actually Rose. Bit confusing, but once you get that down it's fascinating. 

This is a stand alone book with no sequel, and although I am disappointed because I would love to keep reading about theses wonderful characters, I thing I am actually glad. So often anymore, we have authors pumping out trilogies, and 7 book series there are very few stand alone books in fantasy anymore (or at least that I can find!). I did notice while poking around Goodreads that Stacey Jay has written about 14 books to date and one of them is called Of Beast and Beauty so I think I know what I'm looking into next!

Basically I have nothing whatsoever to complain about for this amazing piece of literature and everyone ever should pick this book up! Do it yesterday because you need to read this book!

What is your favorite retelling story?

Review: The Ice Dragon

The Ice Dragon by George R.R. Martin

George R.R. Martin's take on a children's book! Guaranteed to ensure your child never sleeps alone again! This book is listed as a children's novel by Martin set in the same world as his A Song of Ice and Fire series. So naturally I had to read it, and I was not disappointed.

This book is about a small girl and her love winter, and the great ice dragon that it brings. It is set in a time when the seasons seem to work more like our own, and there is, as always, a great war between nations. Although the language and style were written on a much lower reading level than the main books, this was far from a children's book. Be it descriptions of men lit on fire, or a young girl stepping on a nail and it going the whole way through her foot, the content is not what I would call child friendly. Bur for fans of the A Song of Ice and Fire series, this was excellent!

the pages were beautifully covered with illustrations by Luis Royo that brought this book to life. This book will most likely be incorporated into the series in some way, much like the Dunk & Egg series of short stories. 

I highly recommend that anyone who has enjoyed the A Song of Ice and Fire series, or the Game of Thrones television show pick up this book. It raises many questions, and leaves room for quite a lot of speculation, as well as several theories!

This book is published in beautiful hardback, so go pick your copy up immediately!

The Ice Dragon on Goodreads

My Review on Goodreads 

Review: Queen of Tomorrow

Queen of Tomorrow by Sherry D. Ficklin

I received this as an advanced reading copy from Clean Teen Publishing through NetGalley and before I say anything about the book a huge thank you to them, as well as to Sherry D. Ficklin! I can't tell you how many times I refreshed my NetGalley page (not so) patiently waiting to see if I was approved! 

This is the second book in the Stolen Empire series. I have been waiting for this book to come out since I received an advanced reading copy of the first book Queen of Someday, and May I be the first to say that this book was every bit as good as the first!

From the absolutely stunning cover to the wonderful way the author has crafted this compelling story from the genius of her imagination and the dramas of history, I could not put this book down! Unfortunately my boss does not accept that as a reason not to show up at work so it did take me 3 sittings to finish. 

Queen of Tomorrow continues to follow the life of Catherine the Great as she maneuvers through the excitement, dangers, and politics of being a woman in the Russian court. This second book is a little big darker than the first in my opinion, touching on topics of loss, abuse and even rape, while continuing the themes of jealousy, assassination plots, and deception from the first book. 

Ficklin's beautiful writing style has a way of holding you captive to Catherine's thoughts and feelings, while maintaining a quick pace that can easily dissolve into binge reading! You will experience right along side Catherine shock, loss, grief, joy, and outrage. You know that sinking feeling you get when you realize everything just fell apart? Prepare yourself!

This novel shows our Catherine growing into her place at court in ways I could never have imagined of the young Sophie of Queen of Someday, but somehow feels like a perfectly natural character development. 

This is a must read for all fans of Queen of Someday and anyone who has not picked up this series should do so immediately!

Queen of Tomorrow was scheduled to be released July 14th 2015, but as a surprise from author Sherry Ficklin it was released TODAY! (Sherry Ficklin's blog post)(July 4, 2015) so put down the corn on the cob and go pick up your copy right now!

Queen of Tomorrow on Goodreads

My review on Goodreads

Review: Lily of the Nile

Lily of the Nile by Stephanie Dray

I read this book several years ago, but it is one of my favorites and I wanted to post my review to this blog. 

I absolutely loved this book! I really liked the historical aspect of it and how it stuck very closely to real events- or at least as far as I can tell. This book was a beautifully written, realistic novel about a fascinating historical character! I felt like I was being dragged along the streets of Rome right with Selene! I loved how realistic her thoughts and feelings were especially regarding her mother and father. I feel like I was able to share in her thoughts because they were so well laid out. 

I also liked the religious/spiritual undertone/theme and how in the story Isis says she is all goddesses which touches on pluralism. The writing was complex but understandable, and took more effort than you would expect to read, but it was a mental workout that and not unpleasant at all! I feel like this should be on everyone's reading list and would recommend it to almost anyone! I can not wait to read the sequel!

Lily of the Nile on Goodreads
My review on Goodreads

Review: Frozen

Frozen - by Melissa De La Cruz and Michael Johnston

I recently got this book as an ebook Advanced Reading Copy from NetGalley.

An adventure right from page one, this book was fast paced and engaging from the get go. I felt like a kid on their first trip to the aquarium, wide eyed and staring around at every new and exciting detail! From the beautiful and creatively crafted world, to the mysterious twists that urge you to turn the page! I couldn't put this book down! I also really like the way the book is broken into sections and chapters because it was really hard to put this book down and the sections offered a good breaking point for necessities like eating and sleeping.

The characters are interesting, and incredibly likable, and there was just enough mystery to turn up the excitement for book two!
The only issue I had was that it was a little difficult to figure out the world at first, but in the end, piecing it together added to the experience and only made it better. 

I recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy and dystopian books and I can not wait for the second book to come out!

Frozen on Goodreads
My review on Goodreads

Review: Queen of Someday

Queen of Someday by Sherry D. Ficklin
I received this as an advanced reading copy from Clean Teen Publishing  through NetGalley, so first of all I'd like to say a big thank you so much to them!

Did you love season one of Reign? Are you itching for a historical fiction about a younger historical figure? Allow me to introduce Queen of Someday.

I was initially drawn in by the beautiful cover of this book, and the interesting summary. This book follows the life of Catherine the Great before she was Catherine the Great, so obviously it's a historical fiction. Who is Catherine the Great you say? Well in this book, she is the young Sophie, who has been invited with her mother as a guest of the empress Elizabeth in Russia.

It sounds so cliche but I could not put this book down. I expected to take a week and read this book and it ended up taking me two days. Fast paced, and full of twists, I found myself  one-more-chapter-ing all night until I realized that I had no more chapters. I already can not wait for the next book in this series (Stolen Empire). I actually know very little about historical Russia, Catherine the Great, or most of history for that matter, but even I found a few references that I understood. There is an author's note about historical accuracy and creative liberties, and I'm not sure how a history buff would feel, but with my casual knowledge level I enjoyed this book very much.

One of the things that I really enjoyed about this book was the way that the romance aspect played out. It did not feel rushed, or forced, but it was also not drawn out or exaggerated. Sophie's love life felt natural, and of course passionate! Something that I felt was not quite as natural feeling was Sophie's mother. I wasn't sure if I was just frustrated with her, or if it seemed like a skewed point of view.
I would have to say that my favorite part was the beautiful way the author gave the feeling of time drifting past our dear Sophie in the way that she went from a day to day description, to a faster week by week chapter. Well done!

This book comes out on October 7th 2014, and I will most definitely be getting my copy!

Queen of Someday on Goodreads
My review on Goodreads