REVIEW: The Dragon Princess by E.D. Baker

Last week I reviewed The Salamander Spell by E.D. Baker (spoiler alert: I loved it!!). So I immediately dove into the next Frog Princess book, The Dragon Princess. While The Salamander Spell follows Emma's aunt as a young girl, The Dragon Princess follows Emma's daughter, Millie. I love when authors write books like this. I love following children of main characters because there are always references to the adventures of the main characters and getting to spend time with those characters at a different point in their life is so fun for me. Well, let's get into it, shall we?

The Short Story:

As with all of the books so far in E.D. Baker's Frog Princess series, friendship and adventure abound in this book. There are silly characters as well as scary ones, strong relationships and good examples of friends and family ties. The writing is simple, yet still attention-grabbing. If you like magic and fairytales and good lessons, you should try this series.

The Long Story:

In this book, we follow Princess Millie, daughter of Emma and Eadric, who has a very interesting problem in her life. Most of the time, she is a princess, a young girl who has best friends and likes to learn and seeks adventure. However, when something upsets her (and, at her age, anger just happens sometimes... hormones, you know), she turns into a dragon. Yep. This is obviously an issue of convenience but especially an issue of secrecy and fear. People don't generally like dragons and Millie is the only child of Emma and Eadric, therefore their only heir. It doesn't help that Eadric's parents, Millie's grandparents, are wholeheartedly against magical things and creatures of any kind. Millie desperately wants a way to stop this change from happening or at least to gain control over it. With a temper like hers, who knows what can happen! So Millie and her friends set off to find a way to control her anger. And there is magic and craziness along the way.

Like I said in the short story, the writing in this series is so simple. This is a middle grade, and probably young middle grade at that, series, so the writing should not be flouncy and fancy. But it doesn't detract from the story. In fact, it makes it easier to follow and quick to read. 

Millie is awesome. She is such a protective friend and a great mix of her parents. I love the way her dragon magic works: her mother spent too much time as a dragon when she was pregnant with Millie. Zoe is a great friend to Millie as well, and serves as a way to show Millie's compassion. Francis... oh, man, I love this guy. He's Millie's cousin and he is adorkable (note the "k", of course) and determined and encouraging and very sweet. I stinkin' love him. I also love that most "trios" in YA and middle grade are two boys and a girl, but in this book it is two girls and a boy. Just a weird thing I noticed and enjoyed!

Overall: magic, great friends, DRAGONS (I cannot resist a dragon book), more magic, adventure, and self-discovery. Big fan.

5/5 stars.

What is your favorite magical creature to read about??

Happy reading!

REVIEW: The Salamander Spell by E.D. Baker

I mentioned in my 6 Favorite Series of All Time post the Frog Princess series by E.D. Baker. I read the original four-book series in middle school but it has stuck with me until now and I still love it just as much.
I recently found out that there are four more books that are part of this series! Imagine my excitement knowing the magic has yet to end! These books do not follow the same plot and characters are the first four, but instead are prequels and future stories.
The Salamander Spell is the first of these newer books and it is a prequel to the original series. So, if you read this review and feel interested in this book, you can definitely read it before reading the others. And then tell me all about it because I need someone to geek out about it with!

The Short Story:

This book is sweet and charming, magical and delightful. If you like middle grade, fantasy, magic, perfectly innocent romance and friendships, and a little bit of mischief, give this series a try. If you need to get out of a reading slump, this should be your go-to choice!

The Long Story:

This book follows Grassina, the aunt of the main heroine in the original series. Grassina is present in that series as well, but here she is a young girl of 13. Her older sister, Chartreuse, is in training to become queen and the Green Witch. The Green Witch of Greater Greensward is the protector of the entire kingdom, the kindest magic-wielder, and the most powerful witch there is. Unfortunately, Chartreuse has not come into her magic yet and a whole lot of problems are happening in Greater Greensward. Grassina and Chartreuse's mother has been struck by a family curse and not-so-friendly  magical creatures have come to reside in the forest surrounding the kingdom. It starts to appear, to everyone's dismay, as though Grassina is possibly the only one who can fix anything. Along the way of trying to undo the wrongs and defeat the dangers threatening her life and her family, she meets several great friends and learns that love is stronger and friends are true.
Now, doesn't that just sound like the most sugar-sweet little book you've ever heard about? (Answer: YES). And it is such a satisfying read. It moves so quickly without feeling rushed and keeps you interested. The characters are charming and well-crafted. Perhaps they could be more complex, but this is a middle grade story and not a very long one at that. It reads just like a fairytale and is perfect for fans of Disney movies and retellings. 
My one and only thought that isn't entirely positive is that the romance went from zero to one hundred in about three pages. BUT the author justified the insta-love and I was happy with it. 
If you like fantasy middle grade that is light and easy to read, please give this series a try. Start here OR start with The Frog Princess, I don't think it matters and you'll love either one!

5/5 stars.

Happy reading!

REVIEW: Worlds of Ink and Shadow by Lena Coakley

Like many of you, I'm sure, I got to (read: was forced by threat of a failing grade) read novels by the Brontes in high school. To put it nicely, I did not enjoy them. They were hard to read and strange in a way I wasn't sure I could get into. So when I received an OwlCrate box containing a book in which the main characters are the Bronte siblings, I was... less than overjoyed. 
However, I am not one to DNF ("did not finish") a book without even trying! I'm no quitter! Most of the time, anyway. And this attitude meant that I tried the book. The plot sounded interesting, but the characters made me wary. BUT. Guys. This book was actually very good. I'm shocked myself, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading it!

The Short Story:

Three words for this book: atmospheric, mysterious, mystical. I would say magical, but mystical feels more appropriate, if I can create a difference between them. This novel involved between-worlds travel, lack of certain reality, and ghosts... of sorts. If you like darker books or books about writing, you'll probably like this one. Give it a go!

The Long Story:

This book is about the four Bronte siblings: Charlotte, Branwell, Emily, and Anne. They write, of course, and they live their lives as siblings, bickering and still loving each other. The book takes place after the loss of the elder two Bronte daughters: Maria and Elizabeth. The author took historical fact, real true stories from the Bronte house, and then took a whole lot of liberties with it. She merged old folktales and fables with dark moor stories and then added a special magic all her own. 
In this story, Charlotte and Branwell are the real writers of the family. They write constantly about these fantastical world they created and their stories really come to life. But there's a problem with this liveliness: these young authors are able to physically transport themselves into the world about which they write. However, with this apparent gift comes a more apparent curse. Not only are the siblings being driven apart and isolated from one another, but the price to pay for world travel is beginning to be much too high. And then everything gets crazy.
I liked the premise of this story, travelling to created worlds through writing. I love that idea and anytime it's used in a novel, I'm almost guaranteed to read it. And Coakley did it really well! She wrote a magic system that works because it is based in old wives' tales and legend and that system was perfect for the moorish setting of the book. 
The characters... hm. I liked Anne the best, as she was the youngest and made the most sense to me as the book went on. She was sweet and loyal, loving and kind, unlike some other Brontes. I was not so sure about the rest of the siblings. If you like books where you might not be able to trust the narrator at any given time, you should like this style.
As for the style of the world building and storytelling, I was confused in the beginning. I wasn't given all the information up front, nor was I given many details at all about things! But when I realized that was how the book would go, learning as each character learned, I got into it more and I really enjoyed it. It kept me on the edge of my seat because I never knew exactly what was happening; I only knew what the characters decided to tell me then.
Overall, I liked this book. I did not love it, but I did have fun reading it and would recommend it to Bronte fans or darker fantasy fans.

3.5/5 stars.

Have you read this? Let me know your thoughts! Or let me know your favorite classic novel; I'm always looking for good classics :)

Happy reading!

Top 3 Series I NEED To Read

Tell me I'm not alone in this: I am in the middle of approximately one bazillion book series, so I won't let myself start any new ones until I finish some of those. Just me? Oh, okay.
Well, this situation causes problems when I see people reading these books that look SO GOLLY GOSH DARN GOOD and I won't let myself read them because I haven't finished enough of the other series yet! So today I'm going to rank a few of these series I want to read eventually...because maybe it'll help motivate me to chip away at my epic TBR (and that's a post for another day).
So let's go!

3. The Raven Cycle
Ever since The Raven King came out earlier this month, EVERYONE has been reading and raving about this series and it's killing me. I already own the first book. So I could read it. But I haven't because I'm ridiculous and apparently don't want myself to read fun things. *sigh* anywho, this book has an odd synopsis...and that makes me want to read it even more! It's about the daughter of psychics and these mysterious boys from a local school and together they go on some kind of crazy adventure to discover something awesome and they have fun doing it. Somehow, only knowing this much about an entire series REALLY makes me want to read it. Magic + adventure = my kind of story.

2. Falling Kingdoms
I need to read this series. I have no excuse. I know with a weird total certainty that I will love the heck out of this series, and yet I haven't even started it. What is wrong with me?? Ah, well. I'll get there. This one I really know little about, but I know enough to know I'm going to be obsessed: this is a multiple-perspective fantasy series about kingdoms and adventure (there I go again with the adventures...) and love and friendship and all sorts of drama and action. I'm so ridiculously excited to read these books because I've never heard a bad thought about them. They're going to be amazing, I'm absolutely positive.

3. Throne of Glass
I know, I know... I can hear the gasps of unbelief from here. I haven't read a single page of any book by Sarah J. Maas and I scold myself every day because of it! I own Throne of Glass, in the gorgeous white UK cover, no less! And I haven't read it. This is the series I'm most excited to pick up as soon as bookishly possible, which I mentioned on my Instagram (@the.storied.shelf) on Saturday. I actually know a little more about this series! This is about an assassin who is given the opportunity to get out of prison on one condition: she has to compete in a to-the-death tournament against the most dangerous people in the land. And all kinds of fantastic shenanigans ensue from there! Must read. The more I talk about it, the more I want to read this series. Need it in my life.

So those are my top 3 series I haven't read but MUST as soon as I can.

What series are you dying to read?? I'm always on the hunt for more recommendations (even though my TBR pile/list is unbelievable already... Who cares!) :)

Happy reading!