There are some books that take a few days to read. But then there are some that feel like a quick episode of your favorite TV show: a book you can enjoy with a box of chocolates or some ice cream. I’ve spoken of many books of that kind on this blog, but I cannot … Continue reading Just One Wish, by Janette Rallison →

Sisters Red comes with an interesting personal story. It was a Top 16 Reading List book my senior year of high school, and the author, Jackson Pearce, was invited to my school’s library to talk about it. Apparently, I read the book just in time, because I scrambled to get my teachers’ permission to skip … Continue reading Sisters Red, by Jackson Pearce →

Pan’s Labyrinth is almost always among the best-ranked fantasy stories of the past hundred years. Somehow, it always remains relevant to whatever time it is read in, striking the right balance of real-life horror and thrilling fantasy. I myself have only seen the movie a handful of times, but when I noticed that there was … Continue reading Pan’s Labyrinth, by Guillermo del Toro and Cornelia Funke →

Willa Cather’s My Ántonia was a title I first learned in grad school, when I was learning how to teach. My mentor taught a few works of Willa Cather, and while My Ántonia was not among the discussed classroom titles, it was one he spoke of quite fondly. I never thought of reading it, as … Continue reading My Ántonia, by Willa Cather →

Maybe I’m beginning a reading trend now: one that involves raw and cutting voices, horrifying living situations, and dreams of escaping into a better life. Except unlike my previous review, this book is much more positive, and not at all supernatural. In fact, the true-to-life rawness is what makes it so particularly beautiful. In 1987 … Continue reading Push, by Sapphire →

It’s safe to say that we all wish for miracles during times of crisis. And when those miracles don’t come fast enough, we dream of times where magic and miracles happen every day—even if sometimes it’s just on the Hallmark Channel. It might be early May, but I did, in fact, curl up with a … Continue reading Let It Snow, by Maureen Johnson, John Green, and Lauren Myracle →

Thanks to Fiction Flock for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Sword-wielding heroines are everywhere now, setting a new standard for “strong” female protagonists. While the concept of a young medieval woman challenging gender norms and saving the day with a sword is appealing, it teeters on the … Continue reading Not Every Girl, by Jane McGarry →

Every young adult fantasy reader has a favorite: vampires, werewolves, zombies, etc. My personal favorite? Fairies. Seelie, unseelie, tricksters, changelings, forbidden love, blood contracts—fairy lore has it all! Young adult fantasy hardly ever shies from fairy lore’s darker elements, but I like it when there’s a symbiotic relationship between humans and fairies. In the case … Continue reading An Enchantment of Ravens, by Margaret Rogerson →

Sleeping Beauty is as ripe for retellings as they come. A majority of the story—the Grimms’ version, anyway—mostly details what happens when the princess falls asleep: what happens to the castle, the peasants, even the flies in the stables. The evil fairy’s spell, the rescue, the famous kiss of true love—all that is a footnote … Continue reading Spindle Fire, by Lexa Hillyer →

For whatever reason besides fluff and escapism would I pick up a romance novel? With nothing better to do but sit and read these days, it makes sense to read something that will remove me from all the anxiety and uncertainty. And what is more escapist than a title that has the word “princess” in … Continue reading My Fair Princess (The Improper Princesses #1), by Vanessa Kelly →