The Princess in Black

From Goodreads:    Who says princesses don’t wear black? When trouble raises its blue monster head, Princess Magnolia ditches her flouncy dresses and becomes the Princess in Black!

Princess Magnolia is having hot chocolate and scones with Duchess Wigtower when . . . Brring! Brring! The monster alarm! A big blue monster is threatening the goats! Stopping monsters is no job for dainty Princess Magnolia. But luckily Princess Magnolia has a secret —she’s also the Princess in Black, and stopping monsters is the perfect job for her! Can the princess sneak away, transform into her alter ego, and defeat the monster before the nosy duchess discovers her secret? From award-winning writing team of Shannon and Dean Hale and illustrator LeUyen Pham, here is the first in a humorous and action-packed chapter book series for young readers who like their princesses not only prim and perfect, but also dressed in black.

My Thoughts:

-    Gnome and I both thought this book was just eh. It was a little too fluffy for Gnome. 

-    I feel like the author accomplished the opposite of what she wanted. Why don't princesses wear black? Can I get an explanation? Lots of princesses wear black. 

-    The illustrations were really cute.

-    Luckily this was short, so it went by quickly. We won't be continuing the series.

The Storybook of Legends

Goodreads Says:    At Ever After High, an enchanting boarding school, the children of fairytale legends prepare themselves to fulfill their destinies as the next generation of Snow Whites, Prince Charmings and Evil Queens...whether they want to or not. Each year on Legacy Day, students sign the Storybook of Legends to seal their scripted fates. For generations, the Village of Book End has whispered that refusing to sign means The End-both for a story and for a life.

As the daughter of the Evil Queen, Raven Queen's destiny is to follow in her mother's wicked footsteps, but evil is so not Raven's style. She's starting to wonder, what if she rewrote her own story? The royal Apple White, daughter of the Fairest of Them All, has a happy ever after planned for herself, but it depends upon Raven feeding her a poison apple in their future.

What if Raven doesn't sign the Storybook of Legends? It could mean a happily never after for them both. 

My Thoughts:

-    My daughter found and started watching the Ever After High Netflix series, and I KNEW that I had scene this somewhere else before. I checked it out on Goodreads, and there it is! Shannon Hale wrote Ever After High books. The characters looked weird. My husband even said they looked like Bratz dolls. I went searching, and I found out that the company that made Bratz also make Ever After High dolls, and to market the dolls, they hired Shannon to write some books, and Netflix made a show. Wow! I couldn't resist, I had to at least read the first book.

-    The book is pretty different from the Netflix show, but that is to be expected.

-    I really liked the whole concept of these characters, and I loved their creative names, but I just couldn't get into it. The idea of these stories based on dolls and what the manufacturer wanted was bugging me. I also think I'm just too old for these stories. 

-    My daughter loves the Netflix show. She watched all the episodes twice. She'll probably be interested in reading the books in the future. They just weren't for me. I got bored.

Calamity Jack

Goodreads Synopsis:    Jack likes to think of himself as a criminal mastermind…with an unfortunate amount of bad luck. A schemer, plotter, planner, trickster, swindler...maybe even thief? One fine day Jack picks a target a little more giant than the usual, and one little bean turns into a great big building-destroying beanstalk.

With help from Rapunzel (and her trusty braids), a pixie from Jack’s past, and a man with inventions from the future, they just might out-swindle the evil giants and put his beloved city back in the hands of good people ....while catapulting themselves and readers into another fantastical adventure.

My Thoughts:

-    Like I've said before, triple Hale = triple the fun!

-    I love this retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk! It is kinda steampunky! 

-    I think it is kinda weird that Rapunzel still carries her cut off braids around for lassos. Couldn't she get a rope now?

-    I like how the giants ran the city and were causing havoc. It was a cool twist to the original giants.

-    Poor Jack is not the confident schemer he was in Rapunzel's Revenge. He has some self doubt, and I like that he has to find his courage.

-    The Illustrations are great, of course. 

-    I liked the new members of the gang. I liked the inventor guy (I can't remember his name), but he was fun. I really liked the pixies, and I loved the crazy beasts guarding the tower.

-    I read this to my daughter, and she loved it! Gnome kept expressing concern for Jack, and she really wanted those giants to go down! This is a great read for kids and their parents.

Rapunzel's Revenge

Goodreads Bit:    Once upon a time, in a land you only think you know, lived a little girl and her mother . . . or the woman she thought was her mother.

Every day, when the little girl played in her pretty garden, she grew more curious about what lay on the other side of the garden wall . . . a rather enormous garden wall.

And every year, as she grew older, things seemed weirder and weirder, until the day she finally climbed to the top of the wall and looked over into the mines and desert beyond.

Newbery Honor-winning author Shannon Hale teams up with husband Dean Hale and brilliant artist Nathan Hale (no relation) to bring readers a swashbuckling and hilarious twist on the classic story as you've never seen it before. Watch as Rapunzel and her amazing hair team up with Jack (of beanstalk fame) to gallop around the wild and western landscape, changing lives, righting wrongs, and bringing joy to every soul they encounter.

My Thoughts:

-    A triple Hale book. There was no way for this book to not be good!

-    The illustrations are, of course, beautiful and amazing.

-    I feel like Disney used this book in a lot of their planning for Tangled. 

-    I liked the duo of Jack and Rapunzel. They are funny together. Rapunzel is spunky and fearless, and Jack is funny and clever. 

-    I love the charm and humor that Shannon brings to this story.

-    I read this to my 3 year old, and she loved it! It was really fun and cute, and I love that it entertained me and her.

-    I didn't even realize who Jack was until the end! I felt dumb! 

-    I like how other fairy tales made there way into Rapunzel's story.

-    Overall, this is a fun fun fun book! Read it!

Book of a Thousand Days

Goodreads Description:    When Dashti, a maid, and Lady Saren, her mistress, are shut in a tower for seven years for 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 boiling hot to freezing cold, it is all Dashti can do to keep them fed and comfortable. 

But the arrival outside the tower of Saren's two suitors—one welcome, and the other decidedly less so—brings 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 forgotten but classic fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm is reimagined and reset on the central Asian steppes; it is a completely unique retelling filled with adventure and romance, drama and disguise.

My Thoughts:

-    This was good, but it wasn't my favorite of Shannon's. I found it a little dry.

-    I wanted to be more emotionally involved in the story. The book was a journal of Dashti and her experiences, and I felt like I was just being told a story. I like stories where I feel like I'm right there with the character.

-    I loved Dashti's sketches in the book. They were fun.

-    I liked Dashti from day 1. She was so kind and had a good heart, but I wasn't really attached to her. I didn't feel for her as much as I wanted to. I didn't feel for any of the characters really. 

-    Dashti put up with A LOT! I would not have been so kind to Saren for that long.

-    I enjoyed the war with Khaser. It added intensity to the book.

Palace of Stone

Goodreads Synopsis:    Coming down from the mountain to a new life in the city seems a thrill beyond imagining. When Miri and her friends from Mount Eskel set off to help the future princess Britta prepare for her royal wedding, she is happy about her chance to attend school in the capital city. There, Miri befriends students who seem so sophisticated and exciting . . . until she learns that they have some frightening plans. They think that Miri will help them, that she "should "help them. Soon Miri finds herself torn between loyalty to the princess and her new friends' ideas, between an old love and a new crush, and between her small mountain home and the bustling city. Picking up where "Princess Academy "left off, this incredible stand-alone story celebrates the joys of friendship, the delight of romance, and the fate of a beloved fairy tale kingdom.

My Thoughts:

-    I really liked the letters Miri wrote to Marda.  It gave the reader more insight on what Mirri was thinking and her emotions at the time.  

-    I loved the author's letter at the beginning.  After finishing the book, I completely agree!  Miri's story and personality was just screaming for revolution! 

-    I didn't like the love triangle.  I felt like Timon was bad news from the beginning, but I can see why he was necessary.  Miri struggled with choices this whole book.  She was torn between feelings on several things.  I am happy with what she eventually chose.

-    I really admire Miri's character.  I still want her to be my friend.  I want to be a Mount Eskel girl.  They have such a kinship, and I want to be a part of it. 

-    I liked the atmosphere of this book.  It was such a great contrast from the first one.  We got to see Miri in the mountains and in the big city.  It was cool to see the contrast in scenery.  

-    The book focuses mostly on the beginning and ideas of revolution, and I love how the author handled this!  It was like reading out of a history book.  I kinda makes me want to read A Tale of Two Cities.

-    Overall, this was a delightful read!  Another home run for Shannon Hale!

Princess Academy

Goodreads Description:    Miri lives on a mountain where, for generations, her ancestors have quarried stone and lived a simple life. Then word comes that the king's priests have divined her small village the home of the future princess. In a year's time, the prince himself will come and choose his bride from among the girls of the village. The king's ministers set up an academy on the mountain, and every teenage girl must attend and learn how to become a princess.

Miri soon finds herself confronted with a harsh academy mistress, bitter competition among the girls, and her own conflicting desires to be chosen and win the heart of her childhood best friend. But when bandits seek out the academy to kidnap the future princess, Miri must rally the girls together and use a power unique to the mountain dwellers to save herself and her classmates.


My Thoughts:

-    Miri is a good person.  I loved her character.  She was wise, spunky, studied hard, stood up for herself, etc.  I want to be her friend! 

-    This book had a lot of the same elements as the Bayern books.  The feel was the same, and it had a "speech" in it.  It could almost be part of the same series.

-    I loved the ending!  From the bandits til the end is so great!!  The beginning is a tad slow, but the ending is awesome!!

-    I loved that Miri wanted to share her love for reading with everyone!  She wanted to teach the whole village to read!  I admire that.

-    I think any girl can relate to this book.  There is something in here for everyone.

-    It was a really fun read.  It was a typical Shannon Hale book, so you know it will be good, and it will make you feel happy.  

The Actor and the Housewife

Goodreads Synopsis:    What if you were to meet the number-one person on your laminated list—you know, that list you joke about with your significant other about which five celebrities you’d be allowed to run off with if ever given the chance? And of course since it’ll never happen it doesn’t matter…Mormon housewife Becky Jack is seven months pregnant with her fourth child when she meets celebrity hearththrob Felix Callahan. Twelve hours, one elevator ride, and one alcohol-free dinner later, something has happened…though nothing has happened. It isn’t sexual. It isn’t even quite love. But a month later Felix shows up in Salt Lake City to visit and before they know what’s hit them, Felix and Becky are best friends. Really. Becky’s husband is pretty cool about it. H er children roll their eyes. Her neighbors gossip endlessly. But Felix and Becky have something special…something unusual, something completely impossible to sustain. Or is it? A magical story, The Actor and the Housewifeexplores what could happen when your not-so-secret celebrity crush walks right into real life and changes everything.

My Thoughts:

-    There is a lot of controversy surrounding this book, so naturally, I wanted to read it.

-    I understand why there is a lot of controversy about this book.  I am torn about it.  Can a man and woman be best friends while they are happily married to other people?  I believe so!  I am friends with a guy I met in college.  I met him the same time I met my husband.  My friend became my co-worker.  We went to lunch together, got drinks together, hung out together at work, and it was totally innocent.  There was nothing wrong with us being together as friends.  However, I believe this is a delicate line.  It depends on your circumstances.  I think Becky and Felix got a little too close to that fine line.  

-    The Exclusive magazine description of Becky made me laugh!

-    I love that Becky punched Felix in the jaw!

-    I don't get giddy over my friends.  I don't understand the giddiness.  The only people I've been excited and giddy to get a text or phone call from are guys I've been interested in.  

-    Dang it Shannon Hale!!!  You made me cry...ok...I was weeping....for like 3...maybe 4 chapters.   I don't want to spoil anything, so all I can say is that I feel the same way about my husband as Becky feels about Mike.   I've had nightmares about my hubby leaving me, cheating on me, dying, etc.  They happen often, and I always wake up sobbing and clinging to my poor confused hubby.  He has gotten used to me waking up crying in the middle of the night though, and he is so nice to just hold me and know what happened.  

-    I thought I had predicted the ending...but I didn't.  It was a shocker ending for me.  I'm not sure I liked where this story went.  I not sure if I liked this story period!  I'm internally debating about it. 

-    I didn't like how LDS people were portrayed as...well...a little nuts.   Although this book is highly accurate about of a lot of LDS people,  I just want to say all of us aren't that stereotypical.   For example, me!

-    Honestly, it is hard to put into words exactly how I feel about this book.  It was fun, but terrible.  It was good, but terrible.  It made me cry, and that was terrible.  I just don't know what to think about all of this.

-    I need a really long hug from my hubby right now.