Genre: Fairy Tales Legends & Mythology

Bite-Sized Reviews of Cybils Nominees: Unsettled, Amber & Clay, Legacy, and Hello, Earth!

As my regular readers know, I’m a round-one judge for the Cybils Awards in the Poetry category. Because of that, I’ve been reading tons of verse lately! I’m not allowed to share any details about our process for choosing the finalists, but I am allowed (and encouraged) to review the books as I read, so I figured I’d share four of them with you today. I hope these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed […]

Posted November 17, 2021 in Cybils, Reviews / 10 Comments

Things I Learned About Fairy Tales By Reading the Grimm’s Versions

I have a collection of Grimm’s Fairy Tales that I’ve owned for as long as I can remember, possibly even since birth. It was published in 1973, a year before I was born, and it seems like the type of book my eccentric dad or one of his eccentric friends would have thought was really funny to gift to a baby due to all the cannibalism and cutting off of body parts, etc. Anyway, I’m fairly […]

Posted January 8, 2019 in Let's Discuss / 52 Comments

No Good Deed by Kara Connolly: A Fun Time-Travel Take on Robin Hood!

This book takes us on a lighthearted romp through time and lands us straight in Nottingham—where we get to spend time with a certain band of merry men. I hate to overuse the word “fun,” but that’s exactly how I’d describe the book. It twists the tale of Robin Hood quite nicely and never takes itself too seriously. There are lots of elements of the book that I don’t want to give away, so I’m going […]

Posted July 21, 2017 in Coyer, Reviews / 17 Comments

Bite-Sized Audiobook Reviews–Momotaro: Xander and the Lost Island of Monsters & Abducted: Escape From Kraile

These are two audiobooks that I received for review and listened to with my two older kids. It takes us a little while to get through these because I can only listen when the three of us are in the car together (or suffer their wrath), but these were both well worth the wait! Hopefully these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! Xander and the Lost Island of Monsters by […]

Posted October 20, 2016 in Reviews / 4 Comments

Bite-Sized Middle Grade Reviews – Nocturnals Books 1 & 2, Towers Falling, Egg & Spoon

A few quick reviews of some of the middle grade books I’ve read (or listened to) recently. Hopefully these bite-sized reviews will be enough to feed your fiction addiction! The Mysterious Abductions by Tracy Hecht Series: The Nocturnals #1 Published by Fabled Films Press on 4/19/16 Genres: Middle Grade, Mystery Pages: 232 Source: BEA My content rating: MG (Nothing particularly scary or inappropriate) ***These books can be read by Middle Graders, but are also appropriate for much younger kids, especially if […]

Posted September 21, 2016 in Middle Grade, Reviews / 4 Comments

Once Upon a Dream by Liz Braswell – Review

The first book in this series of standalones honestly didn’t thrill me. In fact, I’m not even quite sure why I decided to read this one, but I wanted to give the author and the concept another chance, and I’m really glad I did because this one was much more enjoyable for me than the Aladdin book. This book turns Sleeping Beauty’s story on its ear. It starts up right before where the Disney movie ended – […]

Posted April 5, 2016 in Reviews / 5 Comments

Spelled by Betsy Schow – Review & Giveaway

This book is a really cute, fun, whimsical fairy tale retelling with a lot of appeal! The story follows Dorthea, who’s lived a sequestered life, just in case she is the Emerald Princess who has been foretold to burn the world down. Dorthea wants to escape her boring life, so she makes a wish – one that backfires and turns the entire fairy tale realm upside down. In order to put things right, she has […]

Posted May 28, 2015 in Giveaways (Ended), Reviews / 16 Comments

Cress by Marissa Meyer – Review

***NOTE: This review is for the third book in a series and may contain spoilers for Cinder or Scarlet, the first book. Click here to read my review of Cinder or here to read my review of Scarlet.*** After reading Scarlet, I had to jump right into Cress because I was so excited about the story. Well, I was not disappointed at all!! What I LOVED: Cress. Cress’s story is probably my favorite of the series so far. I just loved […]

Posted April 27, 2015 in Reviews / 18 Comments

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer – Review

***NOTE: This review is for the second book in a series and may contain spoilers for Cinder, the first book. Click here to read my review of Cinder.*** I really enjoyed Cinder, but for some reason I wasn’t all that desperate to read the second book in this series. I don’t exactly know why except that I think I wasn’t crazy about the idea that Scarlet would focus on different characters (and a different fairy tale). Well, […]

Posted April 7, 2015 in Reviews / 45 Comments

ARC Review – The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

This was my first Holly Black book, and I’m starting to see what all the fuss is about. Black has an amazing ability to create a fantastical world and tie it into our own – I loved how the fae world collided with the “real” world in this book! What I LOVED: The small town feel mixed with magic. I loved how Black managed to take this realistic-feeling small town and turn it into something extraordinary. Fairfold […]

Posted January 7, 2015 in Reviews / 21 Comments