Tag Archives: sisters

Review: The Princess Who Flew with Dragons by Stephanie Burgis

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The Princess Who Flew with Dragons by Stephanie Burgess

The Princess Who Flew with Dragons (Tales of the Chocolate Heart #3)
Stephanie Burgis
Bloomsbury USA Kids
Published November 5, 2019

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About The Princess Who Flew with Dragons

Princess Sofia of Drachenheim is sick of being used for her older sister’s political gains. At twelve years old, she’s already been a hostage to invading dragons and a promised future fiancé to a wicked fairy. Her only comfort lies in writing letters to her pen pal and best friend–Jasper, a young dragon whom she’s never even met.

When Sofia’s older sister sends her on a diplomatic mission to far-off Villenne, she’s meant to play the part of a charming, smiling princess. But when an accident leads to her exile from the city, Sofia is free to wander as she pleases for the first time in her life. And when Jasper’s food-mage sister Aventurine turns him into a human boy, Sofia thinks life can’t get any better. Until… the legendary ice giants of the north attack, trying to reclaim the territory that they lost centuries ago. With the dragons and royals frozen in ice, can Sofia and Jasper save their families and kingdom?

Another enchanting and strong-hearted fantasy, set in the same world as The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart and The Girl with the Dragon Heart.

My Review

THE PRINCESS WHO FLEW WITH DRAGONS is the third book in the series that began with THE DRAGON WITH A CHOCOLATE HEART. All three have been amazing stories– packed with so many positive messages and heart that I can’t stop recommending them to others.

All three books feature strong heroines who feel isolated from others and face circumstances that force them to learn how to trust others and be a good friend. Some moments are silly and lighthearted, giving the books a sense of fun and keeping them upbeat. Each girl faces high stakes, so the story also packs a great pace and lots of adventure.

I also really like that each girl has a special talent that helps her in sometimes unexpected ways. In book one, Aventurine has a talent for making chocolate. In book two, Silke is a storyteller. Book three’s heroine loves philosophy.

Sofia’s love of philosophy at first seems to set her against her family and be an obstacle she may have to overcome, but Sofia soon realizes that her ability to break things down into philosophical questions gives her an advantage against her enemies.

I feel like I could go on and on about this series. I love these books. I love the excellent blend of fun and adventure coupled with lessons about relationships and having confidence in your talents. I highly recommend all three books.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
The whole story contains a lot of messages about how fear of others and isolationism cause harm and hurt to a lot of people. Over and over characters learn that we need one another, and that differences can be needed assets.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
The story contains fantasy characters (like dragons, goblins, etc.) and the use of magic.

Violent Content
Some brief battle scenes using magic between ice giants and Sofia’s allies. Situations of peril, but nothing gory or graphic.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog. I received a free copy of THE PRINCESS WHO FLEW WITH DRAGONS in exchange for my honest review.

Review: The Never Tilting World by Rin Chupeco

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,

The Never Tilting World
Rin Chupeco
HarperTeen
Published October 15, 2019

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About The Never Tilting World

Frozen meets Mad Max in this epic teen fantasy duology bursting with star-crossed romance, immortal heroines, and elemental magic, perfect for fans of Furyborn.

Generations of twin goddesses have long ruled Aeon. But seventeen years ago, one sister’s betrayal defied an ancient prophecy and split their world in two. The planet ceased to spin, and a Great Abyss now divides two realms: one cloaked in perpetual night, the other scorched by an unrelenting sun.

While one sister rules Aranth—a frozen city surrounded by a storm-wracked sea —her twin inhabits the sand-locked Golden City. Each goddess has raised a daughter, and each keeps her own secrets about her sister’s betrayal.

But when shadowy forces begin to call their daughters, Odessa and Haidee, back to the site of the Breaking, the two young goddesses —along with a powerful healer from Aranth, and a mouthy desert scavenger —set out on separate journeys across treacherous wastelands, desperate to heal their broken world. No matter the sacrifice it demands.

My Review

I started reading this book when I was tired, and that was a mistake on my part. The magic system is unusual, and I found it confusing at first. Once I understood the terminology and the way the gates worked and everything, then I felt more confident about understanding the story.

THE NEVER TILTING WORLD alternates between four different points of view: Tianlan, Odessa, Haidee, and Arjun. It’s actually pretty easy to keep them all straight since they all sound very different from one another. I liked all four characters, though Haidee was probably my favorite. I can’t help identifying with the compliant fixer girl! Ha.

I found the story world to be really imaginative and different. I like that it was unpredictable and unfamiliar, even though it took me some time to acclimate. (I might have figured it out more quickly if I hadn’t been tired when I started reading.)

I think THE NEVER TILTING WORLD would be a good read for fans of THE WAKING LAND or MEMORY OF FIRE by Callie Bates.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Representation
Tianlan and Odessa are lesbians.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Arjun swears, but I think he might be the only character who does. Strong profanity used fairly infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. References to sex. Kissing between two girls and some pretty intense making out.

Spiritual Content
Two goddesses rule the world. Some characters have magic. Sometimes magic comes with a price.

Violent Content
Some graphic descriptions of battle and situations of peril/death.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog. I received a free copy of THE NEVER TILTING WORLD in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Vanishing Girls
Lauren Oliver
HarperCollins
March 10, 2015

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About VANISHING GIRLS

Dara and Nick used to be inseparable, but that was before the accident that left Dara’s beautiful face scarred and the two sisters totally estranged.

When Dara vanishes on her birthday, Nick thinks Dara is just playing around. But another girl, nine-year-old Madeline Snow, has vanished, too, and Nick becomes increasingly convinced that the two disappearances are linked. Now Nick has to find her sister, before it’s too late.

My Review

I read VANISHING GIRLS in the middle of a suspense binge. I like that it blended suspense elements with psychological elements. Nick is a complex character. She wants to be close to her sister, but has a lot of feelings of guilt and resentment toward her.

Weirdly, VANISHING GIRLS is the second suspense book I read this summer where the main character works at a theme park. (The other is TWO CAN KEEP A SECRET in which Ellery works at a horror-themed park.) I had some parts of the plot related to the theme park figured out pretty quickly. Other things took me completely by surprise.

One big twist didn’t make sense to me. It’s one of those moments that turns your whole perception of the story on its head. I love those kinds of moments. I love looking back through the big moments earlier in the book to see how the new information changes what was really happening there. But one moment didn’t seem to fit with the new reality. So I got kind of caught up on that.

On the whole, I think VANISHING GIRLS is an interesting book, and some of the issues it deals with are big issues. I definitely appreciate that and think it’s awesome that this novel addresses an issue that most people don’t want to talk about. I think I like PANIC by Lauren Oliver better, but it ‘s a different kind of story– more community-oriented whereas so much of VANISHING GIRLS is about what’s happening in Nick’s head.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Representation
Characters are white and straight.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used pretty frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
A girl and boy kiss. References to sex. A girl and her boyfriend kiss while both are topless. He asks her to have sex with him, but she refuses.

References to child pornography. Someone finds an image of a teenage girl posing topless.

Spiritual Content
Dara and Nick’s aunt believes in energy and crystals and seances. The girls don’t buy into her beliefs.

Violent Content
Some brief descriptions of a violent car accident. A man threatens a teenage girl.

Drug Content 
Several scenes show teens drinking. Dara has a history of smoking pot and experimenting with other drugs like mushrooms and cocaine.

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Review: Call It What You Want by Brigid Kemmerer

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , ,

Call It What You Want
Brigid Kemmerer
Bloomsbury USA Children’s
Published June 24, 2019

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About CALL IT WHAT YOU WANT

When his dad is caught embezzling funds from half the town, Rob goes from popular lacrosse player to social pariah. Even worse, his father’s failed suicide attempt leaves Rob and his mother responsible for his care.

Everyone thinks of Maegan as a typical overachiever, but she has a secret of her own after the pressure got to her last year. And when her sister comes home from college pregnant, keeping it from her parents might be more than she can handle.

When Rob and Maegan are paired together for a calculus project, they’re both reluctant to let anyone through the walls they’ve built. But when Maegan learns of Rob’s plan to fix the damage caused by his father, it could ruin more than their fragile new friendship…

This captivating, heartfelt novel asks the question: Is it okay to do something wrong for the right reasons?

My Review

Yay for a new Brigid Kemmerer book! I loved both LETTERS TO THE LOST and MORE THAN WE CAN TELL, so as soon as I heard about CALL IT WHAT YOU WANT, I wanted to read it.

I devoured this book in less than 24 hours, which is a pretty rare occurrence for me now that I have both a teenager and a toddler in the house. Falling in love with Rob and Maegan was so easy to do. Brigid Kemmerer is brilliant at creating these scruffy underdog characters with complex layers who are undervalued and underappreciated by the people around them.

CALL IT WHAT YOU WANT has more language and sexual content than I remember her earlier books having, though. See the content section below for more information.

I loved the characters’ journeys through the book. The story tackles a lot of situations where characters have to make really difficult choices. Doing the right thing is always the harder option, which is so true to real life, right?

I also thought it was cool that not all of Rob’s friends felt about him the way he expected them to. As he softened and allowed people to reach out to him, he discovered some people were doing so in ways that he previously didn’t notice or wrote off as sarcastic. That struck me as true to life, too. Sometimes we wall ourselves off from people when we’re afraid they’ll reject us, and then we feel totally abandoned by everyone when that isn’t the real way of things. So I felt like CALL IT WHAT YOU WANT was kind of an important reminder to me not to assume I know what everyone else is thinking.

One other note: the summary from Goodreads makes it sound like Maegan keeps her sister Sam’s pregnancy a secret from her parents. That’s not true. Her parents know about the pregnancy before the story begins. They do not, however, know the identity of the baby’s father and the reasons Sam doesn’t want to tell them.

If you’re a fan of Kemmerer’s other books or of underdog romance, put CALL IT WHAT YOU WANT at the top of your reading list.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Representation
One of the side characters is gay. Rob’s dad tried to die by suicide prior to the story’s beginning. He now lives in a wheelchair and is unable to speak or move.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between a boy and girl. References to sex. In one scene, a boy and girl take off their shirts while kissing.

Maegan’s parents discuss whether Sam should have an abortion so she can continue playing lacrosse and keep her scholarship. It’s clear that they feel very torn about it, and admit that they don’t want her to get an abortion. But they also worry about her future with a baby.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
A couple scenes show teenage boys fighting. References to some abusive behavior, including locking a kid outside overnight during the winter in freezing weather and choking the kid.

As mentioned in the review, Rob’s dad attempted suicide prior the opening of CALL IT WHAT YOU WANT. Rob found him afterward, and there are some brief descriptions of things like blood on the walls, or carpet being removed.

Drug Content 
At a party, teens drink alcohol. Meagan and her sister
(who’s pregnant) drink. Maegan confronts her sister about how dangerous it is for the baby for her to drink alcohol.

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Review: Secret in the Stone by Kamilla Benko

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , , ,

Secret in the Stone (The Unicorn Quest #2)
Kamilla Benko
Bloomsbury Children’s
February 19, 2019

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About SECRET IN THE STONE

Claire Martinson and her sister Sophie have decided to stay in Arden–the magical land they discovered by climbing up a chimney in their great-aunt’s manor. If what they’ve learned is true, the sisters are the last descendants of the royal family, and only a true heir of Arden–with magic in her blood–can awaken the unicorns.

Since Sophie has does not have magic, the land’s last hope rests on Claire. The sisters journey to Stonehaven, a famed Gemmer school high in the mountains of Arden, so Claire can train in the magic of stone. As Claire struggles through classes, Sophie uncovers dangerous secrets about the people they thought they could trust. With Arden on the brink of crumbling, can Claire prove she is the prophesied heir and unlock the magic of the unicorns before it’s too late?

My Review

Sister books are so much fun. Sophie and Claire’s relationship felt super realistic to me. There’s a bit of a competitive edge. Sometimes Claire feels caught in Sophie’s shadow, or like Sophie doesn’t believe in Claire’s ability to be a hero in her own right. And Sophie pressures herself to be the leader and have all the answers because she’s the oldest.

SECRET IN THE STONE took some interesting turns. I don’t want to give things away, but there were two things in particular that I didn’t see coming at all, and they changed the book. I would have been curious to read the next novel in the series, but after those two things happened, I’m super interested to see where the story goes.

I liked that there’s a theme about trying new things and how harmful it can be to make assumptions about other people or hold on to grudges or judgments about others. Generally, each magic group remains separate from other groups in the story. Romances or relationships between people of different types are strictly forbidden. Under this system, magic has started to fade or die, which makes Claire wonder if isolating each type of magic has something to do with its diminishing. I thought that was a cool element to the story and a neat way to start conversation about how valuable it is to have relationships with people who are different than we are.

Overall, I enjoyed reading SECRET IN THE STONE. I liked the sister relationship and the unexpected twists the story took. Click the link to check out my review of THE UNICORN QUEST (book one in the series)

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
None.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
I think all the characters are white/straight.

Romance/Sexual Content
Sophie and a boy like each other and blush and act a bit awkward around each other.

Spiritual Content
A unicorn healed Sophie and saved her life with its magic in the first book in this series, and that moment is referenced in this one, too. Other characters have magical abilities as well. Claire learns to make gems glow with her magic. Other characters can manipulate plants or metals. Deep shadows called wraiths chase the girls and try to overwhelm them.

Violent Content
Some situations of peril. One of Claire’s friends is convicted of a crime, and Claire believes she may be sentenced to death. Some characters seem to be plotting to go to war

Drug Content
None.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links.

Review: Legendary by Stephanie Garber

Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

Legendary (Caraval #2)
Stephanie Garber
Flatiron Books
Published on May 29, 2018

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About Legendary
A heart to protect. A debt to repay. A game to win.

After being swept up in the magical world of Caraval, Donatella Dragna has finally escaped her father and saved her sister, Scarlett, from a disastrous arranged marriage. The girls should be celebrating, but Tella isn’t yet free. She made a desperate bargain with a mysterious criminal, and what Tella owes him no one has ever been able to deliver: Caraval Master Legend’s true name.

The only chance of uncovering Legend’s identity is to win Caraval, so Tella throws herself into the legendary competition once more—and into the path of the murderous heir to the throne, a doomed love story, and a web of secrets…including her sister’s. Caraval has always demanded bravery, cunning, and sacrifice, but now the game is asking for more. If Tella can’t fulfill her bargain and deliver Legend’s name, she’ll lose everything she cares about—maybe even her life. But if she wins, Legend and Caraval will be destroyed forever…

Welcome, welcome to Caraval . . . the games have only just begun.

My Review
I really enjoyed Caraval (see my review), but Tella’s character in that story seemed shallow, and I didn’t like the way she treated her sister, Scarlett. At the end of Caraval, I wasn’t sure if I was going to read Legendary. Then a few people said how much they enjoyed it, and that Tella’s character in Legendary is a lot different than the way she comes across in Caraval, so I decided to give it a try.

And I’m really glad I did. As soon as the story begins and we get to see Tella’s point-of-view, it’s clear there’s a lot more going on in her heart and mind than fun and adventure. She carries some deep wounds from her mother’s disappearance. She’s promised herself never to love because she believes it will only lead to heartbreak. Ultimately, I found her much more compelling in Legendary than I expected.

I also totally got into the way Caraval gets switched up. When Scarlett played the game, everything was magic and make-believe, and she was constantly cautioned not to take the game seriously. This time, over and over, Tella is told that the game is real. There are a lot of layers of intrigue. Tella searches for clues to the identity of the game master and races to find her mother before the game ends. The stakes were high, the plot was fast-paced. It kept me hooked from start to finish.

The last book in the series, Finale comes out later this year, and I’m already eager to read it.

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Cultural Elements
Legendary takes place in a fantasy world which feels like it has a lot of European/Spanish influence. Tella and her sister are fair-skinned. Julian is described more like he’s Spanish.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
At the beginning of Legendary, Tella wakes up after spending the night with a young man in the woods. She’s still dressed, and other than kissing, details about what happened between her and the boy are vague. She has a personal rule for herself never to fall in love and rather to just have fun, only kiss someone once, etc.
Some descriptions of kissing between a girl and boy get pretty intense. At one point, he puts his hand under her top and over her heart.

Spiritual Content
Tella visits a tattooed fortune teller looking for information. She also depends on readings from an oracle card which shows the future.

Violent Content
Masked opponents attack a young woman, critically wounding her.

Drug Content
None.