Icefall

Icefall
by Matthew J. Kirby



Genre: Adventure, Mystery, Young Readers

Rating: Clean

Content: Mild violence

Summary: Trapped in a hidden fortress tucked between towering mountains and a frozen sea, Solveig, along with her brother the crown prince, their older sister, and an army of restless warriors, anxiously awaits news of her father's victory at battle. But as winter stretches on, and the unending ice refuses to break, terrible acts of treachery soon make it clear that a traitor lurks in their midst. A malevolent air begins to seep through the fortress walls, and a smothering claustrophobia slowly turns these prisoners of winter against one another.

Those charged with protecting the king's children are all suspect, and the siblings must choose their allies wisely. But who can be trusted so far from their father's watchful eye? Can Solveig and her siblings survive the long winter months and expose the traitor before he succeeds in destroying a kingdom?\

Personal Review:

This book was very well written. I actually really enjoyed this read. There is great imagery in the setting, and I did not find the story predictable. It is a great book for young readers and those young at heart (like me.)

-Curry

The Thirteenth Princess

The Thirteenth Princess
by Diane Zahler



Genre: Fantasy, Fractured Fairytales

Rating: Clean

Summary:

Zita is not an ordinary servant girl—she's the thirteenth daughter of a king who wanted only sons. When she was born, Zita's father banished her to the servants' quarters to work in the kitchens, where she can only communicate with her royal sisters in secret.

A classic fairy tale with a bold twist, The Thirteenth Princess tells the unforgettable story of a magical castle, true love, spellbound princesses—and the young girl determined to save them all.

Personal Review:

I saw this book on sale in one of my favorite book stores and decided to give it a try. I was very pleasantly surprised. I had just had a super busy week and I wanted a quick and fun read. This book fully satisfied me. It was simple and sweet which is one reason why I love children's and young adult novels. Though this novel is targeted at young readers, it was well written which is a must for me! Good writing and a cute or interesting story makes a book appropriate for all ages to me (but sometimes I am a kid at heart.) I would recommend this book.

-Curry

If you liked this you may also like:

The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine
Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier
The Wide Awake Princess by E.D. Baker

The Hourglass Door

Review by Curry

The Hourglass Door
by: Lisa Mangum



Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance

Rating: Y

Content: Clean

Summary:

His past. Her future. Can love bring them together in time?Abby's senior year of high school is textbook perfect: She has a handsome and attentive boyfriend, good friends, good grades, and plans to attend college next year. But when she meets Dante Alexander, a foreign-exchange student from Italy, her life suddenly takes a different turn. He's mysterious, and interesting, and unlike anyone she's ever met before. Abby can't deny the growing attraction she feels for him. Nor can she deny the unusual things that seem to happen when Dante is around. 

Review:

This book was an interesting one for me. In some ways it kind of reminded me of the first Twilight book, only without all of the things that I really hated about Twilight (and no vampires.) The story line was interesting and the writing was done well. Sometimes the romance could be a little too lovey dovey to me but overall it was pretty good. There were also some things that would have been more believable if there had been an explanation behind it, but overall a good clean book. There are three books in this series.

-Curry

If you liked this you may also like:

The Golden Spiral (Hourglass Book 2) by Lisa Mangum
Erasing Time by C.J. Hill
Ruby Red Trilogy by Kerstin Gier

Book of a Thousand Days

Review by Felicity

Book of a Thousand Days

by: Shannon Hale

Genre: Fantasy/ Fractured Fairytales

Rating: Y

Content: 3 different references to nudity (however there is nothing crude or graphic about it just a statement, I still consider the book clean)  

Summary:  (back of book)

When Dashti, a maid, and Lady Saren, her mistress, are shut in a tower for seven years because of Saren’s refusal to marry a man she despises, the two prepare for a very long and dark imprisonment.

As food runs low and the days go from broiling hot to freezing cold, it is all Dashti can do to keep them fed and comfortable. With the arrival outside the tower of Saren’s two suitors—one welcome, the other decidedly less so—the girls are confronted with both hope and great danger, and Dashti must make the desperate choices of a girl whose life is worth more than she knows.

With Shannon Hale’s lyrical language, this little-known classic fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm is reimagined and reset in a land inspired by the Asian steppes; it is a completely unique retelling filled with adventure and romance, drama and disguise.

Personal Review:

I really enjoyed reading this book. It is well written. There is romance yet the book is about much more than any handsome prince. This is the kind of book I would encourage young girls to read because it is fun, fantasy, and thought provoking all at the same time. Plus the main character is strong and has many qualities to be admired.

- Felicity

If you like this you may also like:

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

Princess of Glass by Jessica Day George

The Kiss of Deception

Review by heyes

The Kiss of Deception

by Mary E. Pearson

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Rating: Y

Content: Clean

Summary:

Lia is doesn’t want to marry a Prince she has never met just top form an alliance with a neighboring Kingdom so she runs away. She lives a normal and simple life. Two men show up simultaneously and Lia is attracted to both in different ways. She has no idea that one is the Prince she spurned and the other, an assassin sent to kill her.

Personal Review:

Warning this book just came out July 8th 2014, if you are not good at waiting for sequels maybe you should not start this book till the next one is out.

I rate this book clean but just so you know: One side character has a child out of wedlock and one of the main characters is an assassin. I still rate it clean because I don’t think any of the violence or intenseness is worse than that of The Chronicles of Pyrdain which is a book series suitable for elementary age kids. I really enjoyed this book. I thought what the author did with trying to confuse the reader as to who was the Assassin and who was the Prince was a cool idea. .But I am curious to read it again now that I know who is who. This is the first book in a series. I’m excited to see where the author goes from here. Also, I like that Lia does realize that maybe she should have thought a little more about consequences of her actions. I like her growth and that she learns that the words duty and tradition have been spouted to her her whole life for a reason.

-heyes

If you liked this you may also enjoy

-The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen

-Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne

-Aurelia by Anne Osterlund

Eragon

Review by heyes

Eragon
by Christopher Paolini




Genre: Fantasy

Personal Rating: Y-12

Content Review: Violence: some scenes may be too descriptive.

Summary: 15 year old farm boy, Eragon, has his life turned up side down when he finds a dragon egg. With the help of unexpected friends, he is able to learn more about his dragon and the abilities and responsibilities of being a dragon rider. He must choose if he is going to fight with the rebellion against tyrant King Galbatorix.

Personal Review: I think this book is very well written and I would recommend it. Although the content does become more mature in the following books. (Much like the Harry Potter Series)


If you like this you might also enjoy:
Eldest by Christopher Paolini
Brisingr by Christopher Paolini
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Lord of the Rings by J. R. Tolken 

Cybele's Secret

Review by Curry

Cybele's Secret 
By Juliet Marillier



Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Adventure

Rating: Y

Content: Clean

Summary:

Scholarly eighteen year old Paula and her merchant father journey from Transylvania to Istanbul to buy an ancient pagan artifact rumored to be charmed, but others, including a handsome Portuguese pirate and an envoy from the magical Wildwood, want to acquire the item as well.

Personal Review:

Cyblele's Secret is a companion book to one of my favorite books, Wildwood Dancing.  I strongly recommend reading Wildwood Dancing before reading Cybele's Secret because there will be some spoilers in this book if you read them out of order. Cybele's Secret tells the story of Paula, Who is the sister of Jenica the main character in Wildwood Dancing. It takes place several years after the first book. Cybele's secret was a good and entertaining book however, because I loved the first book so much, this one fell a little short for me. That being said, it is still a good book and I know others that liked it more than the first. There were some things that were a little predictable but I can often look past that easily. My biggest disappointment with Cybele's Secret was purely a matter of a opinion. Overall, I would definitely recommend this book. It's fun and exciting.
(you can see my review for Wildwood Dancing here.)
P.s. isn't the cover of this book gorgeous! I love it. hehe

- Curry

If you liked this you might also like:

To Catch a Pirate by Jade Parker
Bewitching Season by Marissa Doyle
The Amaranth Enchantment by Julie Berry

My Fair Godmother

Review by heyes

My Fair Godmother

by Janette Rallison

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Romance, Fractured Fairy-tale

Rating: Y

Content: Clean

Summary:

We have all heard it before. Jane is a nerd and no guys notice her, but wait actually she’s pretty and gets the guy she’s been in love with for forever. Fast forward… this story isn’t about Jane it is actually about Savannah; beautiful, popular, and couldn’t care less about school, Savannah. She’s just been dumped and humiliated. Enter Chrysanthemum Everstar. She’s Savannah’s Fair Godmother. Fair because she takes a page from Savannah’s book when it comes to school work. Now Savannah’s miserable life is Chrissy’s extra credit assignment. Savannah gets three wishes to turn her pathetic life into something more. The problem is when a broken-hearted teenager that has no idea what she actually wants makes wishes granted by a fairy who didn’t pay attention in school and a disgruntled leprechaun, Savannah doesn’t get Prince Charming. She gets an evil step mother, ugly step sisters, and the middle ages.

Personal Review:

My book club just read this book for book club and everyone loved it. This book is written so cute and cleverly and all the characters are great. The author is so talented when it comes to making you like characters that are likable and ones that you normally root for. The romance is cute and clean. The morals made in this story are good morals that I want my kids to learn. i.e. “Well if you wanted a guy that is smart why haven’t you been developing that attribute in yourself” (Very paraphrased) This is a book that will have you turning pages all night and wishing for more. Which is great since there is a second one out and a third currently being written. But honestly if you like this book you don’t need to wait for the third. You can’t go wrong with anything Janette Rallison writes.

-heyes

If you liked this you may also enjoy

-My Unfair Godmother by Janette Rallison

-Unenchanted by Chanda Hahn

-Erasing Time by C.J. Hill

The Lightning Thief

Review by Felicity

The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #1)

by: Rick Riordan

Genre: Fantasy/Young Readers

Rating: Y

Content: Greek gods (children born out of wedlock)

Summary:  (from goodreads)

Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school... again. And that's the least of his troubles. Lately, mythological monsters and the gods of Mount Olympus seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy's Greek mythology textbook and into his life. And worse, he's angered a few of them. Zeus' master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect.

Now Percy and his friends have just ten days to find and return Zeus' stolen property and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. But to succeed on his quest, Percy will have to do more than catch the true thief: he must come to terms with the father who abandoned him; solve the riddle of the Oracle, which warns him of betrayal by a friend; and unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves.

Personal Review:

I loved the Percy Jackson movies that have recently came out so I decided to check out the books. I had a rough time getting through this 1st book, I think mostly because I had already seen the movie and I knew what was coming. I think this book is great for preteens, and I plan on reading some of the books that haven’t been made into movies yet because it is a fun fantasy story. However this is a case where I prefer the movie to the book.

- Felicity

If you like this you may also like:

The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #2) by Rick Riordan

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter #1) by J.K. Rowling
Leven Thumps and The Gateway to Foo by Obert Skye

Crown of Midnight

Review by heyes

Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2)

by Sarah Maas

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult

Rating: N

Content: Murder, Violence, Prostitution, Homosexuality of side character, Sex of main characters, Language (D,H,A,S,B,Bd)

Summary: Caelena is now the King’s Champion. She has fought hard to get to this point and doesn’t want to lose it. but when the king orders her to kill an old friend, when she discovers a rebel group, when her friends are all pushing her to follow her inherent hate of the King and Adarlan. What will she choose her hard earned position and life of ease? or a truth so long pushed away, she doesn’t even know if she believes it anymore?

Personal Review: Well this was a huge disappointment because I loved the first book, loved the characters and loved the plot line. I still have a hard time not thinking about what will happen in the third book. The murder doesn’t really bother me in this book, it is out of revenge or self defense and somewhat gruesome but hey it’s a book about an assassin so you expect some gruesome violence. A character and old friend of Caelena’s is the prostitute and he was enslaved to become one so it is definitely looked on as a bad thing. The homosexuality is involved with this friend who is male and has many male clients. It is not looked at as a bad thing(other than by it’s association with the enslaved prostitute thing) but it’s not looked as a good thing either, more like just normal. Still, it grossed me out. The sex is not descriptive but it was enough to make me permanently dislike one of the characters and if I didn’t have amazing blocking out abilities I probably would have hated Caelena too. I usually am more lenient about immorality in fantasy books, I’m not sure why but I am. This book was hard to be lenient about it though for a few reasons.

1) I am usually lenient because it is not the main story line, romance is usually secondary in fantasy so it doesn’t seem  as influential. But this book, although it has another story line focuses a lot on the romance.

2) It is discussed with friends lightly. I think that sex is a sacred act of love and I think that discussing with friends about how you couldn’t wait so you did it in a broom closet is not only extremely immature, but inappropriate as well.

3) I really liked the book and story line and it was huge let down when they had sex. I just wish authors realized how much less romantic romance is after you make people fornicate, but whatever.

Now all of that being said I seriously doubt that there will be more sex in the third book. The circumstances of the characters does not allow them to marry. The sex is in like the first 100 pages and not in the rest of the book. So if you want to justify it away you can but I would not recommend this book.

-heyes

An Unfortunate Fairy Tale Series

Review by heyes

An Unfortunate Fairy tales Series

Unenchanted

Fairest

Fable

by Chanda Hahn

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fractured Fairy Tales

Rating: Y

Content: Clean

Summary: Mina has always tried to fit in. Being accident prone, fitting in just seemed like a good idea. But when she saves her long time crush’s life and weird stuff starts happening, Mina wonders if her life is becoming like a fairy tale or a nightmare. Her mom finally opens up to her and tells her that because she is a descendant of the Grimm Brothers she is cursed to live the fairy tales that they became famous for; a curse that has killed many Grimms, including Mina’s father. Can she finish the 200 tales before they finish her?

Personal Review: This series was a fun read and a great book for your sons or daughters. It is the first three of I assume four. The fourth does not come out until later this year I believe. The main character is really easy to like and although she has her faults, I admire her. There is literally nothing that I feel like my kids couldn’t handle in this book and I seriously doubt that any future books are going to have any bad content either. This is just a fun cute read and the books aren’t too long. Great books to give to kids or to read on a rainy day with a blanket.

-heyes


If you liked this you might also enjoy:

Beauty Sleep by Cameron Dokey
My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison

Throne of Glass

Review by heyes

Throne of Glass  

by Sarah Maas

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult

Rating: Y-13 **** changed to N due to content in the rest of the trilogy See Updated below****

Content: Murder, Violence: Some intense scenes, Language (D, B, H, Bd, S, A)

Summary: After being held in a slave camp for a year, Adarlan’s most feared assassin has a chance for freedom. The king has issued a challenge and his council members are each sponsoring a champion. The winner will become the king’s champion and be given a life of ease. Celeana jumps at the chance offered her by the King’s son, but when the champions start getting brutally murdered, Celeana wonders whether freedom might better be attained a different way.

Personal Review: This book was a fun read and a great book for your sons or daughters. It is the first of a trilogy and I haven’t read the other two so I can only judge this book by itself. Celeana was a character that I felt was well rounded and I could actually like her(surprising because usually when you are inside a girl’s head you don’t like them) There is a little bit of a love triangle going that I thought was not too gaggy but enough for the romantic fans. I do worry a little bit about how far the romance will go in later books due to some indicators, but this book is clean. The above mentioned violence is ripped apart bodies missing their organs. Pretty gross but a mature preteen could handle it. I liked the Rebellion story line this book is setting up and am excited to read the second book. And in case you wanted to know. I’m team Chaol thus far, which is very uncharacteristic for me because I love the blue eyes usually and Chaol's eyes are brown.

**** UPDATE: The second book of this series has sex, homosexuality, and prostitution. For this reason I do not recommend this book anymore because of the content of the trilogy. Why learn to like the characters in the first book when you know you don't want to read the second? See the review of the second book here

-heyes

If you like this, You may enjoy:

The False Prince by Jenifer Nielsen

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne

Grave Mercy

Review by heyes

Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassin #1)

by Robin LaFevers

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult

Rating: N

Content: Fornication, Murder, Worship of Death

Summary: Ismae, a daughter of death, escapes the brutality of her father and an arranged marriage by becoming a handmaiden of death. In an abbey, she is trained in the many ways to kill a man. When her training is completed she is assigned to observe the high court of Brittany, where she is overwhelmed by her inexperience and even begins questioning the purity of the abbey. Will she follow them blindly or follow her heart instead?

Personal Review: So I actually really like this book. It was well written, the story was intriguing, and even though I normally am uncomfortable with other gods in our own world it didn’t bother me in this book. So why did I give it a N rating? Apart from Ismae’s somewhat sadistic desire to kill people; the last 30 pages. Literally the entire book is about her being an assassin and trying to figure out who is plotting against her beloved duchess, and then she realizes that if she just sleeps with the guy that’s been poisoned, she’ll be able to save him from death. Okay what? First of all it makes no sense. Second, I don’t want my daughters to read books where the solution is sex. On the other hand, I did enjoy it and the the sex scene is not descriptive so if my daughters want to read it as adults I won’t judge but they’ll have to get it from the library because I’m not buying it.

-heyes

Try Instead:

Throne of Glass by Sarah Maas

The Wide-Awake Princess

Review by Curry

The Wide-Awake Princess

by: E.D. Baker

Genre: Fantasy, Fractured Fairy Tale, Young Readers

Rating: Y

Content: Clean

Summary:

This book is about princess Anna, Who is the younger sister of Gwen (sleeping beauty.)  When princess Anna was born she was blessed that no magic could touch her. On her sixteenth birthday, Anna’s sister pricks her finger on a spinning wheel thus falling into eternal sleep along with the entire castle and court as well… except Anna. Knowing that she is the only one that can save her sister, Anna sets out on a journey to find a prince to wake up her sister. However Anna runs into many exciting and terrifying bumps along the way.

Personal Review:

This book was really cute. The story-line and ideas are very original especially for being based off of such a well known fairy tale.The writing is very simple and does not go as deep as some older readers would like but because of the sweetness of the story I think that most people will like it. Overall an enjoyable read especially for young readers.

- Curry

If you liked this you may also like:

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

Beauty Sleep by Cameron Dokey