By Gail Carson Levine
Read: Repeatedly since 1997. Most recently, April 2010
Rating: J’adore
Some books are like old friends. It doesn’t matter where you left off, or how long it’s been, you fall right back into friendship as soon as you meet up. Ella Enchanted is one of my favorite books. I can still remember sighting it [...]

By Sharon Shinn
Read: Again and again, starting in 2002, now April 2010
Rating: LOVE
I love, love, love this book. It is one of the first Shinn books I ever read, and it was serendipitous the way I found it. We were on vacation in California, and the only redeeming quality of the crappy little town we [...]

By Wendy Mass
Read: April 2010
Rating: Sweet
This is a really cute book, best for younger readers. Disney’s new Rapunzel movie, Tangled, is coming out in a year or so, making this a timely choice. It’s told in diary form, which allows the kids to speak like kids.
Rapunzel has grown up with her loving parents, who make [...]

By Shannon Hale
Read: April 2010
Rating: Really sweet
I’ve been wanting to read this for a long while, but never enough to get around to buying it. Luckily, my bestie had a copy she let me borrow. Very, very glad I got to read it at last.
Miri lives with her family on top of a mountain, where [...]

By Laurell K Hamiltom
Read: April 2010
Rating: Phwoar
I tried really hard not to let them all run together, but they did. Rather than try to pull the last three books apart, I’m just going to shove ‘em in one post and mention what lasting impressions I have.
A Lick of Frost
I was all ready for this [...]

By Laurell K. Hamilton
Read: March 2010
Rating: Slam
First, I would have to declare that Mistral is not terribly important to this volume. Let it be known that the titles are farking arbitrary. (Just to spite me, Lick of Frost is going to be ALL ABOUT FROST, I just know it.)
Anyway, Goddess and God screw with [...]

By Laurell K. Hamilton
Read: March 2010
Rating: Whirlwind
Time moves differently in the sithen. Merry says, “I wish we had more time!” and suddenly they do. Time is moving glacially outside the hill, giving them all they need… to catch a killer.
The book begins with a press conference, sometime in the afternoon (I think). Shortly after it [...]

By Laurell K. Hamilton
Read: March 2010
Rating: Engrossing
First, let me just say that that cover is a total plot-tease. It shows a woman’s belly, with a nice little round to it, and her hand just so… The series is about a woman trying to get pregnant. You are plot-teasing me, you stupid cover art! Bonus, nothing [...]

By Laurell K. Hamilton
Read: March 2010
Rating: Engrossing

To be perfectly honest, I’m going to speed through this review, and #3, Seduced by Moonlight. These books slam into each other and it gets hard to pull them apart.
Anyway, we now know the plot arc for the whole series. Merry’s aunt, Queen Andais, wants her bloodline to continue on [...]

By Laurell K. Hamilton
Read: March 2010
Rating: Wham
My mummy picked up one of the books in this series, and must have liked what she saw. She didn’t read it, she went and ordered all eight books. Mummy hates starting a series that she can’t finish, or at least be able to read a big ol’ chunk [...]

By Holly Black
Read: February 2010
Rating: REAL
As someone who tends toward fantasy, I’ve heard over and over again that in order to make the fantastic seem believable, you have to ground it in the real. I never expected to find a book, any book, that would seem to mimic my own life so closely.
Kaye is a [...]

Once upon a time, I discovered a wonderful, wonderful book. Gail Carson Levine’s Ella Enchanted is immerses you in Ella’s world, giving you a best friend as well as an adventure.
Then Hollywood got their hands on it. And THEY RAPED IT.
Below is an off-the-cuff rant I wrote in 2004, before the movie was even released. [...]

By Nancy Werlin
Read: June 2009
Rating: Excellent
There must have been some great turnover in the AuthorSphere. Newer YA writers–ie., books published after I stopped reading them (around age… 13?)–are clearly onto something. I mean, really, really onto something. It’s not just The Disreputable History. It’s How I Live Now and Libba Bray and Impossible. Cuz this [...]

By Ariana Franklin
Read: Feb 2009
Rating: AWESOME.
I go down on bended knee to my friend V for recommending this. The cover and its text make this sound like a pretty dark murder mystery that happens to be set in medieval Europe. That was pretty cool, but I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it so much. It’s FUNNY. [...]

Welcome to another edition of “Mini-Reviews Clumped Together Because I Was Too Lazy To Dedicate a Full Page to Each One.” This one covers books read between July and December 2006. (#22-51 of the 50 Book Challenge)
Included:

The Invisible Ring (Anne Bishop, Black Jewels spin-off)
The Seven Daughters of Eve (Non-Fiction)
Rebel Angels (Libba Bray)
Thoroughly Kissed (Romance, Fairy [...]

By Kristine Grayson
Read: October 2006
Rating: Fun
Not the best written book of all time, but it was enjoyable. Whatever you do, do NOT read the back cover. It’s crap and has NOTHING to do with the rest of the story. That Dear Diary crap? It’s not in the character’s voice and she doesn’t keep one. Lets [...]

By Donna Jo Napoli
Read: August 2006
Rating: Charming
I love retellings of fairy tales. My mother built me a collection of really gorgeously illustrated books when I was very young, and my edition of Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorites. Of course I had to read this rendition by Donna Jo Napoli, which begins [...]

By Patricia C. Wrede
Read: When I was but a lass… and July 2006.
Rating: Fun
These were my very first proper fantasy novels. I’d recently made the graduation from the low paperback shelves to the (seemingly) giant big kids’ shelves, and had only been able to find books like Mrs. PigglyWiggly and brush up on the American [...]

By Peter David
How apropos… Amazon.com
Rating: YOSH!
Read: Fall 05, April/May 2006
The tale of Sir Apropos of Nothing is not a particularly joyful one, but it is very amusing and insightful. Definately one of my faves.
Apropos is indeed the fellow’s name, and he is the most cynical, pessimistic, jaded young anti-hero ever. I mean EVARR. Apropos sees [...]

By Ikuko Itoh
Rating: Meh
Read: March/April 2006
Maybe it’s just meant for younger kids, but I found it boring and predictable. I guess most shoujo romance/magical whatnot is predictable, but this was lamentably so.
Ahiru (whose names means duck) goes to an arts high school where the focus is ballet. She loves it but is clumsy, and is [...]

By Diana Wynne Jones
Rating: Fantastic!
Read: June 2005

I’m a fan of Studio Ghibli, famous for the films Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. Their latest creation is an adaption of Howl’s Moving Castle. I got a copy at the library and now I’m even MORE psyched to go see the movie.