Review: The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Title: The False Prince 

Author: Jennifer A. Nielsen
Publisher:  Scholastic
Publishing Date:  April 1st 2012

Pages: 342
Genre:  YA High Fantasy

Series: The Ascendance Trilogy #1
Source: Audio

  

        

THE FALSE PRINCE is the thrilling first book in a brand-new trilogy filled with danger and deceit and hidden identities that will have readers rushing breathlessly to the end.

In a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king's long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner's motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword's point -- he must be chosen to play the prince or he will certainly be killed. But Sage's rivals have their own agendas as well.

As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Conner's sumptuous palace, layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold, until finally, a truth is revealed that, in the end, may very well prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken together.

An extraordinary adventure filled with danger and action, lies and deadly truths that will have readers clinging to the edge of their seats.

I have had this book on my TBR for a very long time. It was one of those books I wasn’t sure if I would like. It has so many booming reviews I was afraid it may be overrated.. It’s also high fantasy. I love high fantasy but I am very picky over my high fantasy. It’s also categorized as Middle School, I only read and enjoy a handful of MS books and they are usually realistic fiction or humor. I was really scared going into this book but I decided to take the plunge and I can’t believe I waited so long to start this book. I absolutely positively loved this book. It was totally surpassed my expectations. I didn’t want to stop the book, I didn’t want to take a break. I just wanted to keep listening. It was so thrilling. It was a little predictable for me but it only satisfied me when I was right. I knew there was a chance I could be wrong so it was okay that I expected things to go down a certain way. The story was amazing, the writing was so beautiful. It was tear jerking and humorous sometimes in the same breath. 

The book was filled with friendship, loyalty, love, bravery, courage, adventure, and so much more.

Sage is an orphan boy that steals for himself and the other orphans. He does not think about his parents, or talk about his parents. He ran away 4 years ago and the street life is now his life. 

Conner is nobleman that wants to find a doppelganger for the long dead prince of his country. He searches the streets and finds three boys that fit the build and look good enough. Sage is one of them. 

Conner takes these three boys and teaches then schooling, fighting, palace etiquette,  the country's history, and anything else needed to fool the country into believing Conner has found the long lost prince. As Sage learns to be a Prince he must make the decision if it is what he wants. The prize for being the prince... riches, power, a kingdom... the prize for not choosing to be the Prince... death.  

Conner isn't the only one who is hiding something. There are secrets living all around them, betrayal, treachery, and most definitely danger.

There are so many thoughts going through my head right now. This book was just wow for me. I get giddy thinking about it and talking about. The story was the perfect concoction of action, mystery, and humor. The story was just so amazing. I loved the plot line. This story revolves around treachery, betrayal, and loyalty and I love those kind of stories. The story is about a boy and his journey to find his purpose, his place, and come to terms about who he was and who he is. The journey that Sage takes is a tremendous one and although there were lots of fun moments, intense moments, and “just make me smile” moments, the story really was about Sage’s journey.

The main character, Sage, was just amazing. It takes a great author to build a male main character just right by my standards. Sage was the perfect boy for this story. He was only 15 but was all grown. He was sharp tongued and witty… loved it. He was strong and brave. He was caring and gentle. He was forgiving and unforgiving. He was a gentleman and a not such a gentleman. He did what it the moment took with careful thought. There were times he was quick to respond but when it mattered he was very calculated without anyone noticing. He was an awesome hero. Sage had so many layers and they all ran into each so smoothly it was hard to see where one ended and the next started. Sage really was two people inside his head. There was the Sage he wanted to be and the Sage he really was. He knew this to be true but he didn’t know how to decide who he should be, not knowing how they were already so very connected. He grew so much from the beginning to the end, although I am not sure I would call it growing more as understanding, accepting, and then surrendering. Sage was a very strong willed character and very intelligent which made him very witty and boy did he have mouth on him he didn’t know when to shut. I was amazed in the end when I realized how much he actually did keep to himself. One of my favorite characters this year! 

Sage wasn’t the only awesome character. There were so many. Even the bad guys weren’t just bad guys. Each character’s character was built so carefully and fully that they each stood out and blended in to fit perfectly in a story of lies, betrayal, deceit, friendship, loyalty, and bravery. It was amazing how well they all fit together to make the most amazing cast. The story would not be as wonderful if even one of the characters were missing. Everyone had a part to play and it was played so well. My favorite… well besides Sage was Mott. I He was awesome. His loyalty was amazing and it was always placed where it needed to be placed. He was a hard man, did what he had to do but it was always known he was not happy with his position or the part he had to play. His care of Sage just blew me away. In the beginning I wasn’t sure where his allegiance would lie and how far he would go… but in the end he proved himself worthy of my love!

There were so many others, it would take me forever to go through them all. Just know that they were all loved, they were all important, and they were all wonderfully written!

The writing was just supreme in this book. I will read anything and I mean anything by this author. She could right the detail of her doggies business and I would read it. She was that amazing. I forgot myself so many times during my listen because I was completely held captive by this story. The pacing was excellent, the plot was well built and executed without flaw. The action scenes kept my attention where it needed to be. (this is a huge feat, I generally skip action scenes.) The emotions just ran off the pages and into my heart with every word. It’s just that awesome. I remember every time I was taking a break (which I didn’t like to do) I kept telling my hubby “really read this book ASAP it is so awesome, I am in love” so yes READ THIS BOOK!

I pretty sure I have said this but if you missed it…. THIS BOOK ROCKS BIG SO READ IT LIKE NOW!!!!!

Review: Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

Title: Enchanted 

Author: Alethea Kontis
Publisher:  Harcourt Children's Books
Publishing Date: May 8th 2012

Pages: 305
Genre:  YA Fairy Tale Retelling

Series: Woodcutter Sisters #1
Source: Audio

  

        

It isn't easy being the rather overlooked and unhappy youngest sibling to sisters named for the other six days of the week. Sunday’s only comfort is writing stories, although what she writes has a terrible tendency to come true.

When Sunday meets an enchanted frog who asks about her stories, the two become friends. Soon that friendship deepens into something magical. One night Sunday kisses her frog goodbye and leaves, not realizing that her love has transformed him back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland—and a man Sunday’s family despises.

The prince returns to his castle, intent on making Sunday fall in love with him as the man he is, not the frog he was. But Sunday is not so easy to woo. How can she feel such a strange, strong attraction for this prince she barely knows? And what twisted secrets lie hidden in his past - and hers?

Another book that has been on my tbr list for a very long time but have not had the chance to get to. This book first caught my eye because of the beautiful and broken cover. It knew it would be a book I wanted to read. I love the cover. I also love fairy tales and retellings. It’s always so much fun and so dreamy to live in a fantastical new or redone world. This book had both, a new and redone world that was pretty fantastical. I enjoyed the story very much and the characters were a hoot. The writing was genius when it came to make believe but the pacing did lack some for me. I was easily bored or distracted in few parts then I would be absolutely glued to the story, hanging on every word. I wished I would have read the book instead of listening to it too, the narrator just lacked some for me. If it wasn’t for the pacing and the narrator I think that this would have been an awesome read, as it stands I enjoyed it but not in a rush for the second book.

Sunday knows that she is the seventh daughter of the seventh daughter. She knows she is too hold powerful magic... but she believes that is just a fairy tale.  Sunday believes her life to be mundane, boring, nothing spectacular... her only escape is the stories she writes about her family. One day while in the woods, Sunday comes across a talking frog and finds that he has been transformed from a man to a frog.  This particular frog loves to listen to the stories that Sunday writes and after a while they become friends and fall in love. After secrets are reveled and a storm sweeps through the forest, Sunday loses her frog... Sunday believes her life is over but in reality it is just beginning. With the family secrets comes danger... luckily Sunday has a Prince in shining armor... she just doesn't know it. 

There is so much to say about this book. There were so many wonderful things about it and even though the bad pacing really took away from things I still feel that there were loads of good things in this book.

The story was so original so creative and filled with real depth. The story was built so well and came together perfectly. When I first started the book, I had no idea what I was in for. Every detail was important because eventually it all came together woven so nicely to be one complete tale. It truly was a work of genius. I think just about every fairy tale I know of was woven into this story. I can name a few… The Princess and the Pea, Sleeping Beauty, Rumpelstiltskin, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Frog Prince and so on…. It really was amazing and it was what first caught my attention to the story.

The world building truly was spectacular too. Somewhere between medieval and renaissance but it felt timeless. The author did an amazing job with the details and it was all beautiful. I was able to picture it all in my head and escape for just a bit. It was fun, fresh, and well built. Fairies, princesses, giants, talking frogs, pirates… everything a fairy tale should have and more.

The characters were just wonderful. I loved the main character, Sunday. She was a very wispy character, fun, sparkly, I would have been her friend in the story for sure. She was in her own world most of the time and she liked it there.. She loved her family and she loved her writing. The only time I felt a little bit agitated, when she did get a bit stubborn…. When she realized who her family was and who the prince really was. At this point I wanted to smack her and say..  "hey quit being a baby and see what a great thing this is." Other than that she was a great character.

All her sisters, her brother, the prince, they were all great too. I really did love how each sister were so very different in personality. It made for a very interesting family. They ranged from smart, to caring, to fierce…. The prince was just so princely (in a good way.) He was brave, considerate, caring, and for the most part honest… except when it really matter. Just like any other guy when he should have opened his mouth he didn’t.

The relationships were excellent. I loved how closer her family was and remained even after tragedy and separation. The parents had a sturdy marriage and the siblings were very close. They family and friends. 

The love story was sweet, fairy taleish and gooey. I loved it. It had the classic fairy   tale feel with all the right ingredients for a great story. It was sweet, everlasting, powerful, and of course true. I loved how it started, how it developed, and how it ended. The only thing I didn’t like, it was over too quickly. In the end I wanted to know more of the story between Sunday and her prince.

The writing was beautiful and wonderful for most of the book. I just didn’t like the pacing. When the details mattered, it kept my attention. The story telling part of the writing was just right but the interaction among characters that were not the main characters tended to drag on. For instance there was a moment at the ball between the prince and his cousins that I totally spaced in and had to listen to again. I tried the second time to really listen and still spaced off some. So I may have missed something but it didn’t seem like it in the end. There were a few other parts like this too. When Sunday was involved the dialog ran smoothly and the story flowed and I was involved. When Sunday was not involved it did drag at times and lost me. I don’t think I lost anything important but I can’t help but wonder. It may have been the narrator and the writing though… so it’s hard to say.

The Narrator didn't fit the story for me.  Her voice was too old for the part and her reading at times seemed to have brought the characters down in age. I think I would have enjoyed the book more if I had not of listened. I will read on in this series, and it will be reading not listening.

I will continue on in this series… Simply for the world and the story. It kept me interested and entertained enough that I can’t let it lie….. The beginning was superb, the middle was slow, the end was spectacular!

Delightful Discoveries #24

Delightful Discoveries are books that I have discovered during the week... old, new, just released... from blogs, goodreads, libraries, friends, or bookstores. 

So this week I found these goodies...

Alice in Everville by S.C. Langgle

  

        

A poem can seem like a labyrinth, a maze of words you can lose yourself in. The key is to find a thread to hold on to, to guide you in your reading, to lead you into and out of a labyrinth of words… 

Alice Little thinks she’s read every word the world-famous poet Sylvie Plate published before her untimely death…until she discovers a coded message hidden in Sylvie’s final collection of poems--a message that may explain the poet’s mysterious demise.

All she has to do is decipher the code and she knows she can convince her beloved English teacher, Miss A, that Sylvie’s message is real. Unfortunately, she only has one manic day at Everville Mall to do it. And between keeping track of her fountain-splashing, havoc-wreaking sister, finding a new copy of Sylvie’s poems, and…oh yeah…dealing with the blue-eyed, guitar-playing, majorly swoon-worthy Jaden Briar, who keeps popping up everywhere she goes, Alice wonders if she will ever finish deciphering in time.

The Boy on the Bridge by Natalie Standiford

  

        

A new breathtaking novel from Natalie Standiford about love and trust during the Cold War.

Laura Reid goes to Leningrad for a semester abroad as Cold War paranoia is peaking in 1982. She meets a young Russian artist named Alexei and soon, with Alexei as her guide, Laura immerses herself in the real Russia--a crazy world of wild parties, black-market books and music, and smuggled letters to dissidents. She must keep the relationship secret; associating with Americans is dangerous for Alexei, and if caught, Laura could be sent home and Alexei put under surveillance or worse. At the same time, she's been warned that Soviets often latch onto Americans in hopes of marrying them and thus escaping to the United States. But she knows Alexei loves her. Right?

As June approaches--when Laura must return to the United States--Alexei asks Laura to marry him. She's only nineteen and doesn't think she's ready to settle down. But what if Alexei is the love of her life? How can she leave him behind? If she has a chance to change his life, to rescue him from misery, shouldn't she take it?

Goodbye, Rebel Blue by Shelley Coriell

        

A young adult novel about bucket lists and boys, death and destiny.

Rebecca "Rebel" Blue, a loner rebel and budding artist, reluctantly completes the bucket list of Kennedy Green, an over-committed do-gooder classmate who dies in a car accident following a stint in detention where both girls were forced to consider their morality and write bucket lists. In this hilarious and life-changing journey, Rebel meets up with a nice boy, a gimpy dolphin, and a past she's tried to forget as this bad girl tries to do good.

If I Ever Get Out of Here by Eric Gansworth

  

        

"A heart-healing, mocs-on-the-ground story of music, family and friendship." -- Cynthia Leitich Smith, author of TANTALIZE and RAIN IS NOT MY INDIAN NAME

Lewis "Shoe" Blake is used to the joys and difficulties of life on the Tuscarora Indian reservation in 1975: the joking, the Fireball games, the snow blowing through his roof. What he's not used to is white people being nice to him -- people like George Haddonfield, whose family recently moved to town with the Air Force. As the boys connect through their mutual passion for music, especially the Beatles, Lewis has to lie more and more to hide the reality of his family's poverty from George. He also has to deal with the vicious Evan Reininger, who makes Lewis the special target of his wrath. But when everyone else is on Evan's side, how can he be defeated? And if George finds out the truth about Lewis's home -- will he still be his friend?

Acclaimed adult author Eric Gansworth makes his YA debut with this wry and powerful novel about friendship, memory, and the joy of rock 'n' roll.

Dead Girls Don't Lie by Jennifer Shaw Wolf 

  

        

Rachel died at two a.m . . . Three hours after Skyler kissed me for the first time. Forty-five minutes after she sent me her last text.
Jaycee and Rachel were best friends. But that was before. . .before that terrible night at the old house. Before Rachel shut Jaycee out. Before Jaycee chose Skyler over Rachel. Then Rachel is found dead. The police blame a growing gang problem in their small town, but Jaycee is sure it has to do with that night at the old house. Rachel’s text is the first clue—starting Jaycee on a search that leads to a shocking secret. Rachel’s death was no random crime, and Jaycee must figure out who to trust before she can expose the truth.
In the follow-up to her powerful debut, Jennifer Shaw Wolf keeps readers on their toes in another dark, romantic story of murder and secrets

Waiting on Wednesday #64 and W.W.W. Wednesday #54

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Tandem by Anna Jarzab

October 8th 2013

          
Everything repeats.
You. Your best friend. Every person you know.
Many worlds. Many lives--infinite possibilities.
Welcome to the multiverse.

Sixteen-year-old Sasha Lawson has only ever known one small, ordinary life. When she was young, she loved her grandfather's stories of parallel worlds inhabited by girls who looked like her but led totally different lives. Sasha never believed such worlds were real--until now, when she finds herself thrust into one against her will.

To prevent imminent war, Sasha must slip into the life of an alternate version of herself, a princess who has vanished on the eve of her arranged marriage. If Sasha succeeds in fooling everyone, she will be returned home; if she fails, she'll be trapped in another girl's life forever. As time runs out, Sasha finds herself torn between two worlds, two lives, and two young men vying for her love--one who knows her secret, and one who thinks she's someone she's not.

The first book in the Many-Worlds Trilogy, Tandem is a riveting saga of love and betrayal set in parallel universes in which nothing--and no one--is what it seems.

Perfect Ruin by Lauren Destefano 

October 1st 2013

On Internment, the floating island in the clouds where 16-year-old Morgan Stockhour lives, getting too close to the edge can lead to madness. Even though Morgan's older brother, Lex, was a Jumper, Morgan vows never to end up like him. She tries her best not to mind that her life is orderly and boring, and if she ever wonders about the ground, and why it is forbidden, she takes solace in best friend Pen and her betrothed, Basil.

Then a murder, the first in a generation, rocks the city. With whispers swirling and fear on the wind, Morgan can no longer stop herself from investigating, especially when she meets Judas. He is the boy being blamed for the murder — betrothed to the victim — but Morgan is convinced of his innocence. Secrets lay at the heart of Internment, but nothing can prepare Morgan for what she will find — or who she will lose.

W...W...W.. Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading.... I wold love to hear What you are currently reading, what did you just finish and what are you reading next...

What Are Currently Reading: 

What Did You Recently Finish Reading?

What Do You Think You Will Read Next?