At birth, Ella is cursed with the gift of obedience by a well-meaning, but foolish fairy. She is doomed to fulfil any command given to her. For the first fourteen years of her life, her mother and Mandy, the cook, manage to keep her safe from anyone who might use the curse against her. But as Ella’s fifteenth birthday approaches, her mother falls ill and dies, prompting Ella’s often-absent father to return.

Thrust into a new world of finishing schools, where anyone could stumble across her secret, Ella becomes determined to break the curse by any means.

Having heard great things about Gail Carson Levine, I’ve been meaning to read Ella Enchanted for years now. I was recently given a copy, which seemed as good an opportunity as any. The novel is probably aimed at a slightly younger age group than I usually read—early teens, rather than late teens—but it is every bit as enchanting as I had been promised.

I had doubts about a book that focuses on a girl who has to be physically obedient; after all, I’m not overfond of female characters being obedient when they don’t have to be. But, while Ella is cursed to obey, she has room for defiance and makes the most of it. Despite her affliction, she’s witty, playful, and exuberantly confident, which makes it a pleasure to be in her head.

The world Ella inhabits is a charming, magical adventure of a place. Inhabited by gnomes, elves, centaurs, and ogres, Ella’s journey is a colourful one. Based loosely on the Cinderella fairy-tale, Ella Enchanted is full of wicked step-sisters, balls, indifferent fathers, fairy godmothers, and the handsome prince— all with a little more depth than the original. Prince Char is especially well-characterised. Far from the empty trophy of the traditional Cinderella story, he is nuanced and feels real. His personality is not as vivacious as Ella’s, but he suits her. Their senses of humour match and both are able to switch between playful and serious with ease.

Despite Ella Enchanted being for a younger group, it touches on some moral themes that are complicated enough to keep older readers engaged. Sacrifice, love, and determination are all recurring threads that hold the story together.

Ella Enchanted – Gail Carson Levine

HarperCollins (1997)

ISBN: 9780006755487

Across the Universe pulled me in with nothing but its beautiful cover and the amazing synopsis! Who would have thought that the human race would travel for 300 years to find another planet that was habitable?!

When I read it, I loved it! Not only did the story live up to the synopsis that sucked me in, but I also couldn’t get enough of Elder and Amy together! I liked that they weren’t too mushy, but instead realistic.

I am so happy that I had A Million Suns already sitting on my bookshelf before I even finished Across the Universe, or else I would have had to run out to Walmart in the middle of the night to see if they had a copy! I finished Across the Universe at two a.m. and started reading A Million Suns that same night … morning?

Because I read them back to back, I didn’t need a summary of the first book. I was ready to get into the good stuff and that’s exactly what Beth Revis did! SHE ROCKS!

Things aren’t the same on Godspeed anymore; Eldest is gone, and it’s Elders turn to take charge and lead Godspeed as well as its inhabitants. With the decision not to use phydus in the water sources, being leader is a lot harder than Elder ever thought it would be.

But no matter how tough things get, Elder is determined not to drug his people like Eldest did. While Godspeed seemed to be on track, Elder was just informed that it isn’t. Instead, it might behind by a hundred or so years. Godspeed isn’t as simple as Elder, Amy, or anyone else who’s living on it, thought.

Besides these problems, dead bodies are being scattered throughout the ship, each with a phydus patch on their body and a note that says “Follow the Leader”. This has never happened before and Elder has no idea who is doing it. Not everyone has the ability to get their hands on phydus patches, which only leaves a few people as suspects.

Amy is dealing with her own problems as well. She may never see her parents again, especially if Godspeed is that far behind schedule. Orion has left clues behind for her, telling her that she doesn’t know about everything going on Godspeed. Unsure if she should tell Elder, Amy takes off on her own to do some searching.

Supplies are running low, people aren’t doing their jobs, bodies with patches are being found with increasing frequency, and one of Elder’s supposed friends is trying to take over and rule Godspeed. Things aren’t the same without the phydus patches that made people do and believe whatever Eldest said. But Elder isn’t giving up.

Things may seem bad, but the solution to all these problems is a lot closer than Elder or Amy thought!

With the massive amount of love I had for Across the Universe, I was worried that A Million Suns wouldn’t live up to my expectations. But now, looking back, I have no idea why I was so worried. If I had to pick between them, I wouldn’t be able to. Both books were amazing!

There wasn’t a slow moment in A Million Suns, which I found necessary as not much can happen on a ship like Godspeed. With the clues, the bodies being found, and with the one guy trying to overthrow Elder, my mind was racing! I was trying to figure out what Amy and Elder were overlooking when they were trying to figure out clues, or discover who was killing these people!

Amy has finally accepted that Elder isn’t her only option, but instead the option she has chosen. (If you’ve read the first book, you might remember when she told Elder this.) The two couldn’t be more different, or more perfect for one another!

My mind is officially mush, because it was blown so many times! The only thing I regret is not buying the third book right away! UGH! Now I have to wait!

I absolutely love these covers! They’re so detailed and intricate and truly represent the story. They’re beautiful and really pull in the readers.

This book was released almost three years. I remember the day it came out and how excited I was to read it. And then it took me three entire years to finally get to it!

When it was first released, you couldn’t hear enough amazing things about the story, but over the years reviews started to outline a few negative points. I still went into reading Wither excited and with very high hopes!

Wither takes place in a world where men are dying at the age of 25 and women at the age of 20. After World War 3, a cure was found to heal any and all diseases that threaten lives. The people who received this cure had a much longer life span. While this seemed to be a step forward for the human race, things change when the first of the next generation dies and no one knows why or how to stop it.

Now  society fears that the entire human race is dying. Upper-class men are paying to have girls kidnapped to marry them and have children. Rhine has known about this for a while, and has taken precautions to stay safe.

Before she was kidnapped, Rhine was living with her twin brother in poverty, hiding and keeping watch at night. When she is abducted and dragged into a van, she sees that she is with many other girls. Rhine is then sorted and realizes that she is a chosen one when the other group of girls are taken away and shot.

Rhine (16) and two others—Jenna (18) and Cecily (13)—are chosen to wed a man named Linden. Wither mainly revolves around Rhine’s stay at Linden’s house and her constant attempts to remind herself that she is a prisoner and that she needs to escape.

I found the characters in Wither to be pretty interesting. Rhine is smart and doesn’t make any dumb or quick decisions. Instead of trying to escape, she’s trying to gain Linden’s trust to improve her chances of getting out.

The only thing that truly bothered me was that Linden was so absolutely clueless. Did he really think that these young girls came here on their free will to marry him, please him, and have his children? Come on! Open your eyes!

Jenna, the oldest of the three girls, is mysterious and has already been through so much that living with Linden seems to be better than whatever she was dealing with before. Cecily, on the other hand, is too young to understand what’s going on. She just wants to please Linden and make him happy like she’s been told to do. She doesn’t understand all the wrongs going on around her.

I did feel that it was strange that, in the one year that Rhine is with him, Linden never forced her to bear his child.

I also do have to say that I felt there was something missing. There are so many heavy topics in this book (polygamy, kidnapping, child marriage, rape etc.), but DeStefano only glances over them. I felt that the topics were major elements and that the story could have been much more interesting, and had more substance, if she had dealt with them in more detail.

Overall, I really enjoyed the story. I feel that though there were some things missing in this first instalment, they could well be included in the second book. To be honest, I’ve already bought the second and the third book!

Before I begin my review for Ink, I just wanted to let you know that I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I began this book. I had no idea how amazing the storyline or the characters would be! I had no clue just how big a decision Katie would have to make by the end of the story and what she finally decides to do.

Katie Green has recently lost her mother and, with it only weeks behind her, she is still dealing with the loss in every single aspect of her life. Many changes occur with the death of a parent, but with the death of Katie’s single mother, Katie’s life is completely shattered. Not only did she lose her mum, but also her closest friend. And as if things aren’t bad enough, Katie isn’t allowed to move in with her grandparents because of her grandfather’s health, and is instead shipped to live with her aunt in Japan.

Katie has never felt this uncomfortable. Japan is an entirely different world and Katie has been thrown right into the middle of it. She doesn’t speak the language, she doesn’t know how to eat with chopsticks, and she doesn’t like the food. At the beginning of the book, Katie is eating lunches of bento boxes stuffed with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Forgetting to take off her school slippers when leaving one day, Katie decides to head back into the building and change her shoes. Being warned that there is arguing and fighting going on in the hallway, Katie ignores the advice and goes in anyway, embarrassed to have left school with her indoor slippers on. On her way back in, Katie bumps into a couple arguing and tries her best to hide behind her locker, but it’s no use; Tomohiro has already seen her.

Katie can’t make out too much of what the two are arguing about, except that Tomohiro is a huge jerk who has gotten another girl pregnant. Knowing she should keep her distance from Tomohiro, Katie is intrigued by him and finds herself following him and always looking for him in the crowd.

He isn’t the usual bad boy type, but instead he’s completely strange. There’s something about him that Katie needs to figure out, but isn’t sure why. When she catches him standing in the doorway of her classroom, the drawings on her paper start to dance and the pen in her hand explodes. She knows she has to figure Tomo out, and she needs to do it now.

Tomo is somehow connected to the Kami, a group of gods who have the power of the ink, and it runs through their veins. Katie is somehow connected to the ink, but neither of the two know why or how. But is Katie willing to risk her life? Is she willing to stay in Japan, instead of moving in with her grandparents? All for this boy?

If you haven’t seen this cover in person, you need to check it out next time you’re in a book store. It’s magnificent and truly a piece of art!

One of my favorite things about Ink was that the Japanese language was incorporated into the story. I love books that do that! I have so much fun writing down and looking up what all these different words mean and how they are used. It makes the book feel authentic to me, as if I were there with Katie in Japan.

At the start of the book, I was a bit disappointed in the main character and worried that I wouldn’t like her very much. I didn’t understand what triggered her to follow Tomo’s every move, and even stalk him to see where he was going in his free time. All I could think is “This chick is crazy! She’s completely intoxicated by this guy who just cheated on his girlfriend, got another girl pregnant, and is known for getting into trouble. Why would she even bother?”

But her obsession was justified; Tomohiro wasn’t just any random “bad boy” and Katie wasn’t just any girl crushing on him. They were connected through the ink, and needed to find out why.

But once Katie overcame her lust or infatuation with Tomo, I saw a different side of her that I really liked, just as I did with Tomo too. He was known as a bad boy, but after truly getting to know him, it’s not true. He cares a lot about Katie, and is willing to push people away to keep them safe.

Not only did I begin to love Katie and Tomo, especially together, but also Katie’s two best friends, as well as her aunt. I felt that these three brought a bit of humour into the story, and that Katie’s aunt brought her down to earth and back to what’s going on in life: the death of her mother and the grief.

The only thing I thought was missing was her parent’s back story. What happened to her mum? Where is her dad? But I have high hopes that those questions will be answered in the second book.

Overall, Ink is beautifully written and filled with the Japanese language! This story made me laugh, made me cry, and made it almost impossible for me to lay the book down until I was finished…and even then it was hard!

If you get the chance to pick up Ink, I totally recommend it! The second book, Rain, is hitting the stores June 24.

Leslie is used to nothing. She is used to getting nothing from her father, who has never even been a part of her life, from her mother, who is part of her life but doesn’t seem satisfied with anything Leslie does, and not even from her boyfriend who is supposed to cherish and adore her.

Leslie isn’t in the popular group; she doesn’t even have many friends. She spends most of her time cleaning and taking care of the household, and spending time with Keith and his friends. But when she gets up, angry, and leaves the lunch table, just to come back and realize that Keith never even noticed she was gone, it bothers her.

Getting up to leave and go outside, Leslie runs into a guy smoking behind the school. Besides the fact that his name is Dennis, she doesn’t know much about him. But he seems to always be around and by himself. While he seems like a loner and a bit of an outcast, Leslie soon welcomes his friendship and the small conversations they have with one another.

Leslie, Keith, Cain (his best friend), and Meredith (Cain’s girlfriend) all go out on a date together. Leslie sees Cain and Meredith sitting close, sharing a menu, kissing, and whispering to each other. Leslie looks at herself with Keith and realizes how little she feels, sitting next to him on the bench, looking at her own menu.

She sees how Cain treats his girlfriend and questions if she has feelings for Cain. She knows it’s not right, especially since she’s still with Keith. But what would happen if she caught Keith doing something he shouldn’t; doing something that could put their relationship on the line? Would she change her mind? Would her growing friendship with Meredith play a role in her decision?

I wasn’t very sure, at first, if I wanted to read this book. I read the synopsis and discovered that the main character was having feelings for another guy (while she has a boyfriend, and he a girlfriend). I don’t usually like that kind of girl. But there were some other things in the synopsis that pulled me in anyway; the relationship Leslie has with her mother and with Dennis.

Accidents & Incidents was beautifully written and filled with heartache, friendship, and family!

Leslie isn’t like any most teenagers. Yes, she deals with some of the main problems, but her family isn’t perfect and neither is her life. Her mom is strict and never thanks Leslie for anything she does. She doesn’t know who her dad is. She becomes friends with a guy who has his own issues, including smoking, and is struggling to keep her relationship with Keith.

Keith is Leslie’s comfort zone, Cain is the romance and attention she’s dying to have, and Dennis is the true friend she’s never had. But who is she going to pick? Is she staying with Keith because she’s in a relationship with him? Is she going after Cain because he would give her the adoration she wants? Or Dennis who couldn’t be more different from her?

Why stay with Keith if he isn’t making her happy? Why go after Cain when his girlfriend, Meredith, is becoming such a close friend? And why not Dennis?

I enjoyed watching Leslie’s relationships with Keith, Cain, Dennis, her mother, and Meredith develop and change. I liked that she thought of other people’s feelings and thought of the consequences of doing things and that she might regret later. Leslie wasn’t dumb, she thought for herself, and was down to earth.

Accidents & Incidents was beautiful. It was filled with family, love, and romance. My heart was shattered in the first few pages, and slowly mended back together by the end. Such a good read!