Book Review: The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw by Christopher Healy + Giveaway (US)

Release Date: April 29, 2014
Publisher: Walden Pond Press 
Pages: 516
Received: ARC from publisher
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars, Special Shelf

Crossing my fingers

After being burned by so many disappointing series enders, I was starting to fear even Christopher Healy would let me down. Thankfully, The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw delivered and I got (almost) everything I wanted.

I read a little bit each night, trying to spread it out over the longest possible amount of time. But that didn't work very well. Mostly I just went to sleep later than I intended each night. But happy, because this book is a downright joy to read. 

For those who haven't started the series yet

You have no more excuses. The final book is out, it's fantastic, and the entire series is well worth reading. Also, you need to read these books in order.

Here's what you can expect:

• Humor! Nearly every sentence is funny. Seriously.
• Memorable characters. Not just the main characters, or even the secondary characters. EVERYONE. If someone is present, they're memorable.
• Conversations with fellow readers that go something like, "And that scene?! Gah, too funny!" "But wait, that OTHER scene! Even better!" "And what about when they..."
• Don't even try to engage in a "Who is your favorite character" conversation unless you have a few days to spare, comfortable seating arrangements, and snacks. This could take a while.
• Totally fractured fairy tales
• Sweet romances
• Disaster, mayhem, and unexpected consequences
• Adventure
• Non-stop action. Sure they're long books, but they're easy to fly through. Also, there's pictures. 
• Camaraderie and relationships that are totally aw-inducing
• Grudges, feuds, magical objects, and tongue twisters
• Puns

Also, there's my reviews for The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom (book 1) and The Hero's Guide to Storming the Castle (book 2). 

For those who have started the series

Here's what you can expect: 

• A resolution to the romance questions (I'm almost 100% on board. There is one romantic pair I wish was handled differently)
• Appearances made by every single character ever from the previous books
• New characters, including a genie (wishes!!) and a cadre of colorful bounty hunters
• Pirates and high seas adventuring (also, marooning)
• A questionably-stylish hat
• Quests, chases, escapades, and escapes
• Coup d'etats, battle, torture, and rousing speeches in every kingdom
• Bards

Bottom line

Basically:

• Christopher Healy is an auto-buy author and his books are a must-have staple in any library
• I need to find a way to bribe, convince, cajole or otherwise make him write more books in this series because I'm so not ready for this to be over
• I don't even have words to explain how much I loved the end of the Stumpy Boarhound scene. And the bard scene. And the...
• Franchise this. I'm talking movies, action figures, sticker books, theme parks. Let's make it happen.

Explanation of rating system: Star Rating Key 



Info for the giveaway:

• What you can win: An autographed (!) hardcover of The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw by Christopher Healy
• As always, you do NOT have to be a follower
• This giveaway is US only
• You must be 13 years of age or older
• One entry per person
• I will contact the winner through email and the winner will have 24 hours to reply before a new winner is chosen 
• This giveaway closes on June 14th  

Click here to enter the giveaway!

Do you have any questions about The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw that I haven't addressed?
Feel free to ask in the comments!

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Book Review: Death Sworn by Leah Cypess

#1 of the Death Sworn duology
Release Date: March 4, 2014
Publisher: Greenwillow 
Pages: 352
Received: Library
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars 

Goodreads

I will always compare

Mistwood was one of those middle of the road books for me that didn't quite cut it in a lot of ways, but still managed to linger in my mind years later.

So, I was curious to see what Leah Cypess would do next, and when I discovered that what she was doing next involved assassins and magic, well, I was pretty much convinced I needed to read this.

Fair or not, I couldn't help but compare Death Sworn to Mistwood, but lucky for Death Sworn, the comparisons were definitely weighted in its favor. Mistwood was very much a debut book with its exciting premise but shaky execution. Death Sworn feels a lot more polished, with the richness and depth I sensed Leah Cypess could deliver, but didn't quite manage in Mistwood.

I don't know if we could be friends, but I'm sending the invite

Like Mistwood, Death Sworn features a main character who is hard to like. Ileni is cold, distant, and keeps herself to herself. Luckily, this is a first person book, so I got to spend a ton of time in Ileni's head getting to know all her thoughts and feelings.

Ileni was handed a bag of total suckage she right before the book started. Her magic, the thing she had defined herself by her entire life, was fading and, oh yeah, she was going to be exiled as a result. Friends, family, teachers, boyfriend, they were all, "Here's your bag. See ya." Nice, right?

Ileni is justifiably ticked off, confused, frustrated, and despairing. But she does it with steel and grit and a pissed off determination. I liked that she chose to embrace a simmering anger (though her feelings of loss were also so heart-rendering), because I was fuming on her behalf. Some characters take a little while for me to warm up to, but not Ileni. I was ready to fiercely back her up from page one.

Thankfully, instead of moping she channels all those feelings into a devil-may-care approach to life and volunteers to train a bunch of assassins, because what does it matter if they kill her?

Assassins!

The assassins Ileni meets aren't nice fluffy assassins. They're not even allies. Ileni's teaching them is part of some tensely grudging pact made between the two groups and no amount of gritting teeth and playing nice hides the fact that they don't like or trust one another.

I loved that Leah Cypess took this approach. Sure, I'm a reader who likes the whole "let's get along" rag-tag friendship thing, but that's also pretty been-there-done-that. The tension, distrust, and prejudice Leah Cypess had her characters maintain throughout the whole book was refreshing and realistic. I totally bought into these characters because their actions and thoughts made sense, which in turn added depth and realism to the world she created. 

Plus, those were some SCARY assassins! I know I was looking at them through Ileni's definitely not trusting eyes, but, yikes. It was fascinating reading about them and their skills are believably assassin-grade, but I can't say I like or trust them.

Readers who have trouble getting cozy with assassins because they kill people might appreciate Death Sworn. There's no tip-toeing around what they are, that they kill on command, and that their way of thinking is not comprehensible to someone who is not an assassin. To Ileni (and me) they seemed like the kind of people where you'd tap your head and mouth "They're not quite right" (except of course you wouldn't actually do that because they'd freaking kill you).  

Romance

Of course there's romance!

Think of it more like the season six Buffy/Spike romance where she's with him for all the wrong reasons. She's broken and hurting and he's serving a purpose, but somewhere along the way numbing escape leads to healing.

It's not the rainbows and That Kiss kind of romance. In a lot of ways, it's not satisfying. It's messy and a little uncomfortable, and I'm still not convinced I can trust him.

There's a lot of back and forth and uncertainty in their relationship, but that makes sense. When are emotions ever logical and consistent? Especially when they're unexpected emotions that go against everything you've ever been taught in life. It might have been less confusing and unsettling had they just went with their feelings and declared their love cultural teachings be damned, but that's what we call insta-love.

So, the romantic in me is still holding out hope, but I'm glad they haven't eloped just yet. Both of these characters are still developing and this is only the beginning of their story. Their relationship so far was less a romance and more an important part of their growth as individuals—a growth that is not yet complete, and in that regard it was written very well.

Mystery! Politics! Intrigue!

I'm a character girl, so watching all the character nuances unfold and shift probably would have been enough to sustain my interest. But, there's also the mystery, which was more than enough to hook me.

Ileni's driving force and the only thing she really cares to live for is solving the mystery of who killed the previous two teachers...and who therefore might be trying to kill her (and as much as Ileni doesn't really care about living, she also doesn't actually want to die).

What at first seems like a simple murder unravels into something MUCH more. I can't give details, but the reveals totally satisfied my political intrigue loving heart. Each layer Ileni uncovers leads to greater peril, ups the ante, and exposes things about her world. I cannot wait until the next book comes out to see how this is all going to unfold.

Also about that world—it's beautifully written. Ileni starts her story entering the dark, claustrophobic, labyrinthine caves the assassin's call home. It's foreign and stifling and made the world seem extremely small.

But, slowly (mirroring Ileni's internal re-birth), as the story unfolds and Ileni learns more, the world opens itself up and my pin-prick focus dilated to reveal a richly developed world with political structures, cultures, and history of which I feel I have only scratched the surface but definitely want to learn more.

Bottom line

This wasn't the easiest book in a lot of ways because of how alien the assassins feel and how terrified and angry Ileni is throughout pretty much the whole book. But it was fascinating. I could not get enough of it. Death Sworn gripped me and would not let me do anything but read until I had finished the book, and then it left me desperate for the sequel.

Explanation of rating system: Star Rating Key 

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Book Review: The Queen of Last Hopes by Susan Higginbotham

Release Date: January 28, 2011
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark 
Pages: 345
Received: Library
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars 

Goodreads

The War of the Roses seems to be The Next Big Thing for historical fiction fans who are all Tudor-ed out. And with good reason! While Henry VIII might be known for his many wives and religious turmoil, the War of the Roses is a period of, well, WAR.

And I love a good war.

With all the feuding sides, crownings and dethrownings, intrigue, and romance, the War of the Roses is definitely worth checking out. But where to begin?

I've started my fictional foray with Susan Higginbotham's The Queen of Last Hopes, a book I've long pined for (mostly because of the cover, which I apparently didn't even look at all that closely because what is with that flower?!). Starting here was an excellent choice.

The Queen of Last Hopes follows Margaret of Anjou's perspective, though it dives off here and there to look through the eyes of several men when Margaret wasn't present for the action. Normally I hate this willy nilly narrative style, but I hate missing battle scenes even more, so I was more okay than not with the author's choice.

Margaret makes a good narrator, but it's also her voice that made me knock off half a star. I don't know what it was, but something kept me from truly connecting with her and becoming invested in her, despite being totally invested in the events surrounding her. While there were some aspects of her I felt I knew very well, I couldn't shake the feeling that a part of her was hidden from me and I didn't fully know her. She was more of a C. W. Gortner's Isabella for me than a Juliet Grey's Marie Antoinette. Still, that's pretty high praise.

But those events, oh my gosh those events! This is a crazy war and Margaret's story follows major battles, desperate flights to safety, bargaining with the enemy, and so many coup d'etats my head was spinning. I never felt like I was reading a dry history lesson.

Though I almost wish I did feel that a little more. The peripheral details could have been more prominent, though I'm the kind of reader who wants to be lectured on stuff like the type of material used to make flatware during the time period. This lack made me feel a little less "living and breathing" in the actual time period, so that's the other reason for a half a star off.

But I can live with that. This is more a people and events kind of book, and Susan Higginbotham excels in those areas. While Margaret felt a little reserved, she wasn't a total blank slate. I was totally invested in her relationship with her husband and the way she grappled with his madness and frailties and her feelings for him. I have to admit, I sobbed a few times.

Her relationships with other characters were also emotional, but I had a harder time getting involved with them. This was partially because they were less developed (except for one, which, yeah, I was definitely into that one), but also partly because half of them went by the same name. When one died, his heir inherited his titled and thenceforth was referred to by the title.

So, you'd have the Duke of Somerset, until he died, and then we follow his heir...the Duke of Somerset! It got a little confusing and I guess names matter, because I think this carrying on of the same name made me have a harder time connecting with the different men.

Major players on both sides make an appearance and, while it could be because this is my first fictional taste of these people, I liked Susan Higginbotham's take on them very much. Margaret was given a fair shake (unlike the she-devil interpretations that seem to abound) and though this is obviously a Team Lancaster book, I thought the author's portrayals of the Big Bads of the House of York were balanced.

The author does take artistic license in a few instances, but they do derive from historical rumor at least and she has a very nice author's note at the end clarifying fact from fiction. I'm usually a huge stickler for REAL OR GO HOME, but these changes didn't bother me much because they could have happened.

Bottom line: I went out and bought two more of her books soon after finishing The Queen of Last Hopes, so there you go. I'm a fan. 

FYI, this is an adult book. Margaret has relations and there's a boatload of violence (which, obviously! This is a War of the Roses book!)

Explanation of rating system: Star Rating Key 

________________________________

Have you read any sympathetic books about the House of Lancaster?

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Book Review: The Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan + Giveaway (US/CA)

#2 in the Memoir by Lady Trent series 
Release Date: March 4, 2014
Publisher: Tor 
Pages: 331
Received: Finished copy from publisher
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars, Special Shelf
Goodreads

I was lost in the depths of despair

I've been having a serious streak of bad luck when it comes to books this year. I haven't even reviewed all of them because I've just felt so meh and disappointed about them.

But that all ends now with the latest installment in the Memoir by Lady Trent series.

Until I found a bosom friend in Lady Trent

I was shocked last year at how much I adored the first book A Natural History of Dragons, and while it ended just fine as a standalone, I desperately hoped it would not remain so.

Thankfully, there's a sequel (and now a third book announced!), and I think Tropic of Serpents might be even better than the first.

Isabella is a significant part of why I can't get enough of this series. She's a character trope for sure, but I love this type of character, so I don't mind at all.

Think of her as a dragon-loving Amelia Peabody or a grown up Theodosia. She has an insatiable thirst for knowledge and she isn't afraid to take risks if it means satisfying her curiosity.

But she isn't just a character of action, as so many Strong Female Characters tend to be. Nor is she damaged, thank goodness, which seems to be the other prevailing feature of insufferable SFCs.

Isabella examines her own motives and feelings with the same studious eye she applies to dragon anatomy, and while she finds this thoroughly uncomfortable, she forces herself to confront them anyway. She totally earned my admiration with her fortitude and courage.

Like the Strong Female Character trope, we also have the Strong Feminist, and I guess you could put Isabella into that category too because she thoroughly bucks society's expectations of what is proper behavior for a woman. But, she doesn't do it for a Cause, again, thankfully! because I'm sorry to say but I find that so tiresome.

She does it because it is what she must do. Isabella knows what makes her happy in life, and she doesn't let anyone or any expectation stand in her way. This doesn't come easy, though, and I appreciated that Marie Brennan took the time to examine the conflict Isabella inevitably feels between following her duty and giving in to her desire.

She grew a lot over the course of this book and I was absolutely cheering her by the end!    

If only she'd break her slate over his head

If you've read the first book, then you know what happens in the end. So you know, the door is open for, let's say, possibilities.

(Also, if you've been keeping track of the names, Trent is neither Isabella's maiden name nor Jacob's surname. Just saying.)

(And, yeah, I know it's also NOT the last name of a certain combative other character who appeared in the first book and plays an even larger role Tropic of Serpents, but that did not in any way stop me from wishing for something more).

But, all the parentheticals aside, this is not a kissing book. There isn't any romance (despite society's gossip and my desire to believe it) and, honestly, given the events of the previous book and all the growth Isabella needed to accomplish I (grudgingly) guess that's ok.

Still, they make for a very entertaining and mutually respectful friendship. And, as a woman and a man of low birth, I have high hopes that I will get to see them take down society's stodgy Rules for who can and who cannot conduct scientific research.

"Because if you are imagining, you might as well imagine something worth while"

Isabella is half the reason I love these books, but her adventures make up the other half.

While the world is a totally fictional place made up of overly-complicated yet typically fantasyish names, it is basically our world circa 1800s-ish. Scriland is England, and Eriga (the setting of this installment) is Africa.

If I didn't enjoy saying Scriland so much (it really rolls off the tongue) I'd say my one complaint is that I wish Marie Brennan had just made this a historical fantasy series and set everything in our own real countries. I mean, who are we fooling here?

(Then again, had she done that I'd probably complain about her changing history, which is something I usually take issue with.)

But, the only part where I really started to zone out and lose interest was when Isabella started talking about the politics between the various countries. Now, you know me, I LIVE for fictional politics! Especially when there's shady dealings and imminent war, which was the case here (between not just two, but THREE nations!)

So why wasn't I stoked? Because I had a hard time keeping track of the nations. Between the weird pronunciations and the This-fictional-country-is-really-That-real-country mental match ups I spent more time puzzling out the Who when I should have been indulging my penchant for political intrigue focusing on the What. I got it all sorted, but the way it was presented really pulled me out of the story.

But that was the only time that happened, because Marie Brennan NAILS it when it comes to immersion. After a fun jaunt across the (basically) African savannah where I got to indulge all my childhood Nature-watching dreams and go on a safari hunt (!!!), we trekked through a place called the Green Hell, and oh my gosh, a place was never named more appropriately.

The Green Hell was miserable, which is to say, it was AWESOME! I felt like I was right there with Isabella with the humidity and the bugs and the diseases and the wonderland of natural and cultural discoveries! There's also a Secret To Unravel relating to the dragons living there and the answer was totally unexpected yet fit very nicely.

Bottom line

I can't rave about the Memoir by Lady Trent series enough! I haven't read anything quite like it, and when I'm not reading this series a part of my brain is always wishing I had the next book in my hands. I can't wait to follow Isabella on her next adventure.

Perhaps the best compliment I can give is that I got so completely sucked into Tropic of Serpents that it felt like I was living and breathing the experiences right next to Isabella, who I'm half convinced is actually a real live person living off in in the world somewhere (along with Sherlock Holmes).

Explanation of rating system: Star Rating Key 

Do you have any questions about Tropic of Serpents that I haven't addressed?
Feel free to ask in the comments!


Do you know any other books like this?

Giveaway!

Info for the giveaway:

• What you can win: Three winners will each get a  finished copy of Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan
• As always, you do NOT have to be a follower
• This giveaway is for US/CA addresses only
• You must be 13 years of age or older
• One entry per person
• I will contact the winner through email and the winner will have 24 hours to reply before a new winner is chosen 
• This giveaway closes on May 31st 

Click here to enter the giveaway!

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DNF Explanation: A Breath of Frost by Alyxandra Harvey

DNF Explanation

Read: 177 of 496
Received: ARC from publisher, via NetGalley
Released: January 7, 2014
Goodreads

First impressions

 My immediate impressions were that I loved it. It had that bright, fun feeling of Bewitching Season and I LOVE those kinds of light historicals (even while I'm always slightly disappointed that they're usually not all that deeply historical). But still, they usually have adorably intrepid main characters, sweet and ever so slightly sizzling romances and a bouncing mystery to keep the plot rollicking.

And then. At first I wasn't exactly sure what the problem was, but even early on I was feeling like this was going to be no more than a 3.5 star read. One of those "nice" but largely forgettable books.

Who are these people?!

Here's my problem, which I think is exacerbated even more by the ever-shifting POVs and absolutely gigantic cast of characters: I didn't connect with any of the characters and I had an extremely hard time distinguishing any of them.

Whenever someone spoke I had to keep mentally reminding myself, "Oh, she's the one with the bottle" or "she's the one with the ring" or so on. And I was only ever mildly certain that I was even matching them properly.

By the 130 page mark, I still hadn't entirely figured out who was who (nor cared much to try), which is a ridiculous amount of page time to still be wondering, "Wait, who is speaking?" They're very much "types" but even with that authorial crutch, they're very ill-defined. Even worse, there are are few types used twice (Cormac's three sisters are nearly identical to the three main girls).

Still, I liked all of them, I think, because I like the overall "type" of character they are. Put a character in period-dresses, make them speak in that girlishly proper way, and then add a dash of "game for escapades" and I'm usually good to go.

Take thee to an editor!

I feel like a whole lot of stuff got left on the cutting room floor. This whole book feels like it's suffering from something that seems to be happening to a lot of YA books lately: It feels thrown together. A rush job. A SLOPPY rush job.

I'm all for jumping right into the action. That's great and I don't think that's necessarily the problem. I think it's more that no time has been spent on actually developing things properly. The rules, the characters, the basic framework of the plot. It's all just thrown together with a haphazard "oh they'll figure it out" feel.

Let's take the page count, for example. 496? Ok, that means either a TON of things are happening, or there's a lot of filler (and in A Breath of Frost's case, it's a mix of filler and extensive, yet vague and haphazard, set up). Either way, the book shouldn't be suffering from fuzzy characterizations and an overall feeling of "I'm missing something."

There is a serious amount of editing and re-writing that needs to go on to tighten up this narrative and better ground the world, plot, and characters. I know I read an ARC, but it felt extremely unpolished and I have little faith that the finished version will miraculously fix these things.

It's historically WRONG

Look, I'm not expecting exacting period detail here (and I've made peace with that), but some ground rules still must be followed if I'm going to have any kind of historical immersion.

For example, a minor slip of anachronistic fashion is fine, but the girls couldn't go walking around in pants without reprisal. Likewise, I'm all for Emma breaking some social norms of propriety and cornering Cormac in an unchaperoned corner of the ballroom to demand some answers (as she well should!), but she doesn't do that.

What she did instead (and the character reactions surrounding it) was SO historically unbelievable I nearly gagged. Not only that, but in not paying attention to the particulars of her historical setting, the author inadvertently damned her character to TSTL status and at that point I was really starting to lose interest.

But the magic IS fun

I like the idea of animal familiars, and they did seem to have interesting potential. But, potential. Because, like everything else, I didn't fully understand this magic system. I'm sure it's explained more later on, but I feel like I should have a better grounding than I had after reading over 177 pages.

He did WHAT?!

The love interest engaged in some actions that landed him on my Unforgivable list, which is a terrible place for a romantic hero to be. How am I supposed to swoon at a man who does that?

I thought maybe, just maybe there was the tiniest chance he could be redeemed, but then read a spoiler for something he (and the heroine, gah!) does toward the end of the book and, nope, he's firmly persona non grata. That was the last straw for me and I DNF-ed then and there.

Bottom line

There was a lot of potential, and I really, really wish it had been realized. Just a little more editing to pull things together, even out the narrative, flesh out the characters (and remove the awful things they do) and I could have loved this book!

Sadly, DNF.

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DNF Explanation: Killer Frost by Jennifer Estep

Read 188 out of 354

Received: ARC via NetGalley

Goodreads 

This is a review for the final book in a series. DO NOT read this review if you haven't read the series

Haven't read the series yet? 
Check out my review for the first book Touch of Frost. 

What is it with me and series enders this year?

Mythos Academy is yet another series I've been following for years, another series I've enjoyed overall, and, devastatingly, another series I'm DNF-ing on the final installment.

Full disclosure? I knew the Mythos Academy series wasn't the strongest out there. The plots have always been on the weaker side (and steadily getting weaker), narrator Gwen tends to get really (really, really) repetitive, and ever since book three, Mythos Academy has had a serious case of series stretching.

But that's ok. Why? Because I'm a character girl.

Gwen was dorky and shy, Daphne was brash and totally unexpected, Vic is a bloodthirsty talking sword! Plus, all the other characters, creatures, and mythological little details MORE than made up for the series' weaknesses.

Except, bit by bit, book by book, the things I loved about the series were slowly whittled away. Daphne had less page time, Carson practically disappeared. Instead, I got to spend time with new characters, and I don't like them (I loathe Gwen's cousin. She is the Mallory of this Babysitters' Club. The flat-footed Skipper to Daphne's pink sparkly Barbie).

Worst of all is Gwen. I LOVED Gwen. BFF charms, sleepover party invites, a permanent seat at my lunch table. I was that serious. 

But no more. Gwen went from an awkward wallflower who I could totally bond with to The Chosen One, complete with sulky "no one gets it like I do!" specialness and Mary Sue Amazingness.

Which would be fine, I guess, if Gwen were actually smarter than everyone. But she's not. She spent almost all of the 188 pages I read lone-wolfing it on the dumbest kick EVER (honey, there were, like, FIFTY other options to your problem! ALL of them better than your half-baked plan!) all while grumbling about how everyone else was wrong *foot stomp*

I just cannot abide that sort of thing.

Bottom line

It was nice while it lasted and I'm happy for the time I did spend with these people in this world. I think I'll just mentally pretend books 5-6 never happened. 

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Book Review: Grimmtastic Girls 1 & 2 by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams

Series: #1 and 2 in the Grimmtastic Girls series
Release Date: March 25, 2014
Publisher: Scholastic
Pages:192
Received: Review copy from publisher
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I'm a huge fan of the Goddess Girls series by authors Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams, so when I heard they were not only writing yet another series for late-elementary school readers, but it was a FAIRY TALE RETELLING series (my favorite!) I'm pretty sure the noises I made could most accurately be described as "squeals of joy."

After reading the first two installments, its official: I'm hooked. I'm also half tempted to fly back to NY just so I can see the expressions of pure elation on my little library girls' faces because they are going to LOVE this series.

I'm feeling kinda listy, so here's what you can expect from the Grimmtastic Girls:

1. Four main characters, with each book focusing on a different girl from the core group. The girls all have different personalities and lite issues (dealing with step-siblings, stage fright, etc) so most readers should find at least one character they click with. I think Rapunzel might be the Grimmtastic Girl I connect with the most (honey, I don't like heights either!).

2. Adorable secondary characters! Though they're not the main focus, just enough is disclosed about them to make the world feel like it has depth and life outside of the core characters. I hope the series grows like Goddess Girls did so we get to read about these secondary characters. I definitely want to read Mermily's story (the little mermaid!).

3. The world is fabulous and filled with "I wish that was real!" inventions. My favorite is (surprise, surprise) the library. Imagine a cross between the library in The Grimm Legacy and Hogwart's Room of Hidden Things. And in addition to all the cool fairy tale stuff, it also has sparkly ball gowns made to order! AAAhh I was in heaven!

I also loved the school book. You press a button on the cover, recite a spell, and tell it what text you want to appear inside. And then it does! So it's one book, but it can be any book you want. I know e-readers basically do the same thing, but it seems so much cooler when it's a paperbound book and there are magical incantations involved.

4. Fairy tale retellings. Obviously. There isn't as much meat to fairy tales compared to the Greek gods and goddesses (they got into all sorts of adventures), and that is definitely a limitation. One of my favorite things about the Goddess Girls series were all of the little retelling references scattered throughout each book. The Grimmtastic Girls books have a lot less of that, which is totally understandable, but also a little disappointing.

(Though probably only disappointing to ME, an adult reader. I don't think the intended audience would care at all—I know my library girls weren't even aware of half of the original stories referenced in Goddess Girls, especially if they didn't appear in Percy Jackson).

5. To make up for this, Joan Holub an Suzanne Williams packed in more original material and it is awesome. There's a villain society wrapped up in a mystery (several mysteries!) and missing treasure! So lots of sleuthing, which is always a plus in my book.

6. Did I mention princes (and non-prince crushes)? These are fairy tale retellings, so of course there are boys! And, it's adorable.

7. But, because of the sleuthing and such, unlike Goddess Girls, I highly recommend reading this series in order. The mysteries carry over from book to book with progress made along the way and new questions opening up. While each book focuses on an individual girl and while her fairy tale is mostly wrapped up in her own book, the overarching storyline definitely is not.

8. The vocabulary is surprisingly advanced. 

9. "Collect the whole set" events. There are a few recurring things that I found myself looking forward to discovering how it would play out for each character. In this world there are magical objects that are basically trying to find a Grimmtastic Girl who "fits" them. I really got into trying to figure out which magical object would bond with each girl and discovering what magical properties it would bring to the table.

10. It takes place in a boarding school. Do I need to elaborate on why that's pure win? 

Bottom line

When it comes to young middle grade girls, Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams RULE. Whether it's Goddess Girls or Grimmtastic Girls, you can count on them to deliver age-appropriate stories with inventive worlds, nifty objects, creative spins on classic stories, and characters that feel real. 

If you have a Goddess Girl fan in your life, buy her Grimmtastic Girls and she will love you forever. 

Explanation of rating system: Star Rating Key 

Do you have any questions about Grimmtastic Girls that I haven't addressed?

Feel free to ask in the comments!

Looking for another book like this? 

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