Winterspell by Claire Legrand

Winterspell by Claire Legrand
Simon Schuster books for Young Readers, 2014 
Owned in personal collection

In 2014 a Librarian friend, Kim, and I attended the Boston Teen Author Festival. It was a wonderful event that I’ve been dying to go back to and haven’t successfully managed since then... anyway, in 2014 I got to hear Claire Legrand speak about her twist on the “Nutcracker” story and I decided I was desperate to read it! I love fairy tale retellings. Generally, the darker and twistier the better. I purchased the gorgeous hardcover on he spot, then promptly buried it on my bookshelves when I got home and apparently neglected it for almost four years!

When I decided to challenge myself to read MY OWN books this was one of the first ones that sprang to mind. Plus last week it was about 10 degrees out every day (if we were lucky!) and it just felt like a good time to read this snowy, Christmas-y twisted tale.

This is a book that will be continuing to live in my personal collection.  It's beautifully written, both conceptually and practically (her word choices and the way the story flowed were stellar).  Legrand has created an intruiging new mythos where fairies utilize technology in all the worst ways.  Though Clara comes from our world in 1899, she ends up in the alternate world of Cane... a land where mechanical spies haunt the population and their Queen keeps them loyal through the introduction of a horrifically addictive drug to ALL of society.  I was fascinated through the entirety of the story and found myself unable to put this book down as Clara went from a downtrodden society debutante trying to survive in a world where she had no power, into a girl who realized that she could defy everyone and claim her own destiny.

This book is a standalone and though oftentimes I enjoy trilogies and series because I want more character development than standalone books generally provide, this book stands alone as strongly as Maggie Stiefvater's The Scorpio Races.  There was no need for a sequel, though I'd be happy to visit this world again in short story form...

Highly recommended to those that like twisted fairy tales.

Heist Society

Heist Society
by Ally Carter

When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her on a trip to the Louvre...to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie traveled to Austria...to steal the crown jewels. When Kat turned fifteen, she planned a con of her own--scamming her way into the best boarding school in the country, determined to leave the family business behind. Unfortunately, leaving "the life" for a normal life proves harder than she'd expected.

Soon, Kat's friend and former co-conspirator, Hale, appears out of nowhere to bring her back into the world she tried so hard to escape. But he has good reason: a powerful mobster has been robbed of his priceless art collection and wants to retrieve it. Only a master thief could have pulled this job, and Kat's father isn't just on the suspect list, he is the list. Caught between Interpol and a far more deadly enemy, Kat's dad needs her help. For Kat there is only one solution: track down the paintings and steal them back. So what if it's a spectacularly impossible job? She's got two weeks, a teenage crew, and hopefully just enough talent to pull off the biggest heist in history--or at least her family's (very crooked) history.

This was a fun, fun, fun book! I loved it. Katarina, a.k.a. Kat, Kitty Cat, Kitty, is a great character. I loved how she wanted to go straight to do something different...to be different...by being "normal" for a while. I also loved how she stepped up and took charge when her family was in trouble. She has tons of spunk!!

I also really loved the relationships she had with all the characters around her. Hale, especially! It was somewhat refreshing to see a boy who obviously loved a girl to the umpteenth degree, but didn't pressure her about it...at all!! He was supportive and let her make her own decisions. Yay Hale!

I was totally bemused by the brothers Hamish and Angus. They were funny and sweet. Kat's cousin Gabrielle was a great example of how to combat stereotypical characters. She was hot, but by no means vapid! Simon was funny...especially when he finally noticed Kat was a girl.

All that gushing being said...I cannot wait to see what caper these characters get up to next!! A must read!

Monthly Roundup - February 2010

Here's what I read in February 2010:

Shiver - Maggie Stiefvater
Eragon's Guide to Alagaesia - Christopher Paolini
When You Reach Me - Rebecca Stead
Sea Glass - Maria V. Snyder
The Last Dragon - Silvana De Mari
Firespell - Chloe Neill
Melody's Dream - Kate Barrington
The Betrayal of the Blood Lily - Lauren Willig
The Virgin Queen's Daughter - Ella March Chase
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Ultimate Guide - Rick Riordan
The Viper's Nest - Peter Lerangis
Darklight - Lesley Livingston
The Magykal Papers - Angie Sage
Pandora Gets Heart - Carolyn Hennesey
Mistwood - Leah Cypess
Flirt - Laurell K. Hamilton
Hush, Hush - Becca Fitzpatrick
Fantasy in Death - J.D. Robb
Carter Finally Gets It - Brett Crawford
The Dragon Games - P.W. Catanese

Total: 20 books

February 2010 Favorites:

Mistwood - One of the best fantasies I've read in the last six months. Full of adventure, intrigue, character growth, mystery, and a hint of romance.
Carter Finally Gets It - Laugh out loud funny...full of heart and raunchy teen boy humor.
When You Reach Me - An excellent mystery. Wonderful characters. Heartwarming.
The Virgin Queen's Daughter - Fantastically plausible, gut-wrenching alternate Tudor history.
The Dragon Games - A great continuation to the "Books of Umber" series. Love the adventure, mystery and creativity of the author!

My Fave Books of 2009!

Wow. 2009 seemed to be a really busy reading year for everyone!

Well, my official books read total was 205. I thought that I had read more, but the official "Books Read" monthly notebook does not lie. That total is books I read for fun, ones I reviewed for SLJ, and ones that I listened to in audiobook format.

Here is a list of some of my favorite books from this past year, broken into my own "genre" categories (or stolen from yabooknerd's fantastic year end list). Not all of these books were published in 2009. I tried really hard this past year to read books that were recommended to me over and over, some of them being much older!

In no particular order:

Best Endings of Great Series
The Last Olympian - Rick Riordan



Silvertongue - Charlie Fletcher



Best Follow Up Book
Everwild - Neal Shusterman



Best Fantasy Books
Eon: Dragoneye Reborn - Alison Goodman



The Books of Umber: Happenstance Found - P.W. Catanese


Quick and Fun Paranormal Romance
Moonlight - Rachel Hawthorne



Best Ghost Story
The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman



Best Realistic Fiction
The Summer I Turned Pretty - Jenny Han



Best Science Fiction AND Flat Out Romance Triangle (Quadrangle?)
The Host - Stephenie Meyer


Best Steampunk
Leviathan - Scott Westerfeld



Best Dystopia Novels
The Maze Runner - James Dashner



Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins



Best Mythology Book
Radiant Darkness - Emily Whitman



Best Mystery
Death by Bikini - Linda Gerber



Best New "Got Me Hooked" Series
Chicagoland Vampires - Chloe Neill



Best Tween Book
Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life - Wendy Mass


Best Adventure
Bloody Jack - L.A. Meyer



Best Fairy Tale Retellings
Hush: An Irish Princess' Tale - Donna Jo Napoli



Princess Ben - Catherine Gilbert Murdock



Best "New to Me" Author
Maria V. Snyder - Poison Trilogy, Glass Trilogy


Utterly Shocking, Yet Compelling
Living Dead Girl - Elizabeth Scott



Book That Had Me Bawling
Before I Die - Jenny Downham



Best Use of Librarians in Story
Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians - Brian Sanderson



Historical Fiction
Samurai Shortstop - Alan Gratz



Killer Unicorns, Need I Say More?
Rampant - Diana Peterfreund