Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George

From Indiebound:
A tale of twelve princesses doomed to dance until dawn… Galen is a young soldier returning from war; Rose is one of twelve princesses condemned to dance each night for the King Under Stone. Together Galen and Rose will search for a way to break the curse that forces the princesses to dance at the midnight balls. All they need is one invisibility cloak, a black wool chain knit with enchanted silver needles, and that most critical ingredient of all–true love–to conquer their foes in the dark halls below. But malevolent forces are working against them above ground as well, and as cruel as the King Under Stone has seemed, his wrath is mere irritation compared to the evil that awaits Galen and Rose in the brighter world above.

Most of my friends know that I adore fairy tales. Adore as in completely in love with them. They hold a special place in my heart because fairy tales were one of the first things I remember reading as a kid. So when I heard about Jessica Day George’s new fairytale retelling, I had to read it.

The thing that I love most about Jessica Day George’s books is that she keeps the original essence of the fairytale alive. She doesn’t deviate from the tale  but rather brings the story alive with details like how the princesses got curse and why they got cursed.

Rose’s family of twelve sisters is an interesting dynamic. Each one has their own little trait like the musician, the protective one, the twins, the religious one, etc. It was amusing to read of their interactions with Galen, the hero of the story. The way that he charms them all was cute. Speaking of Galen, he is not a typical hero. He’a a soldier and knows how to spy and has all that hero stuff but he knits too! The author provides detailed description of his knitting too, not just a one line thing that says he knits.

Overall, a fun and enjoyable fairytale retelling. And I can’t end this till I comment on that gorgeous cover. It’s beautiful. Even if I was not a fan of fairytales, I’ll probably pick up the book based on the cover alone.

Author Website

Previous Books:
Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow

Waiting on Wednesday (7)

Idea credited to: Breaking the Spine

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Synopsis:

An ancient prophecy divides two sisters-

One good…

One evil…

Who will prevail?

Twin sisters Lia and Alice Milthorpe have just become orphans. They have also become enemies. As they discover their roles in a prophecy that has turned generations of sisters against each other, the girls find themselves entangled in a mystery that involves a tattoo-like mark, their parents’ deaths, a boy, a book, and a lifetime of secrets.

Lia and Alice don’t know whom they can trust.

They just know they can’t trust each other.

Due Out: August 1st.

Into the Wild by Sarah Beth Durst

From Indiebound:
Twelve-year-old Julie has grown up hearing about The Wild, the dangerous world of fairy tales, from which her mother, Rapunzel, had escaped. Now The Wild wants its characters back. Can an ordinary girl defeat the happily-ever-after?

What happens when fairy tale characters meet the real world? Well, Rapunzel is a hair dresser, Cindy drives a orange car and Prince Charming lives in L.A. Years ago, these characters battled The Wild in a big war and contained it to a small tangle of leaves under Julie’s bed. Now, it spends it’s time eating Julie’s shoes. Until one night, someone did something magical and the Wild escaped trapping the characters back into their stories. Sarah Beth Durst original spin on the classic fairy tales is both amusing and sad as well as utterly addicting to read.

Julie is such an adorable character. I just wanted to hug her when she explained about not belonging in either the real world or the fairytale world. And I’m completely envious of her. Why? Because she has a talking cat for a brother. I’ll trade brothers with her if I could. Her bravery against the Wild is commendable, especially since she was practically going in blind.

If you like/love fairytales, you need to read this book. And there’s a sequel! Squee.

Merlin

If you’re wondering about my lack of blog posts, it is because I’m currently obsessed with this show, Merlin, that’s airing on NBC. It’s amazing! Course there’s only five episodes out in the US so I can only get so far in the series. If you want to catch up, the show is available on Hulu. You definitely don’t want to miss this. A new twist on the classic King Arthur myths.

And yes, it’s Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer playing Uther Pendragon. He looks so grouchy here, hehe.

The Ghost Huntress: The Awakening by Marley Gibson

From Indiebound:

When Kendall Moorehead moves from Chicago to the small town of Radisson, Georgia, her psychic abilities awaken. Together with her new BFF, Celia, Kendall forms a ghost hunting team. Now they’re going to clean up Radisson of its less savory spirits.

I generally am a little weary of supernatural stories after Twilight since there seems to so much more of them. However, Marley Gibson’s Ghost Huntress: The Awakening was an exception. While this novel is ultimately supernatural and paranormal, Marley Gibson premise of ghost hunting and the technical knowledge within the story makes it realistic (well, as real as ghosts can get).

The characters of Kendall’s ghost hunting team is quirky and amusing, from the not-so-typical rich girl to the bubbly girl with family problems and the beauty queen turned goth girl. The personality of each character added to the flavor and mystery of the story.

A wonderful start to a series, despite the oh-so-predictable romance, and I’m looking forward to uncovering more secrets about the characters, especially Kendall.