Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

I picked up this book based on its cover, which I am including with a link to Goodreads. Hopefully this is ok to do, because I could not find anything about the legality of this.


However it took me just a page or two to get into the story. Sunday is the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, so she knows she will have an interesting life and because of her name she is expected to have a happy life. Each of the sisters is gifted in some way, because of their fae blood. Sunday is cursed by the fact that anything she writes will come true, so she limits herself to writing down what has already happened, believing her life is not interesting. One day as she is writing in her journal, a frog comes along and speaks to her. She shares her story with him and eventually falls in love with him. After her fae brother Twix, sells their cow for a handful of beans, Grumble the frog gives her a gold ball to make up for the cow's loss. Sunday kisses Grumble and leaves, not realizing he turns into Rumbold, the prince her family hates and blames for her brother's death. Complications ensue as the two fall in love again as humans and as her family realizes they have an important destiny to play.

Favorite Character: I loved each of the sisters and their unique powers. Friday is kind and a wonderful seamstress, Monday is a princess trapped in her marriage, but still strong, Thursday is a pirate queen, Saturday is strong and fearless, Wednesday knows the future and hides herself because of her power, and Sunday is Sunday. She has powers, but still doubts herself. She loves her family and Rumbold and is willing to forsake her own happiness for other. However she does know she will have a happy ending, because of her curse, yet she seems to fear it.

Favorite Quote: "It can't be "true" love without the truth, Rumbold." "Child, no one is ever ready for anything. I would never doom you to that. What sort of adventureless life would that be?"

I enjoyed her twists on all of the fairy tales. Even though she includes almost every common fairy tale, it does not become confusing or over the top. I love twists on fairy tales and this is one of the best. The characters are wonderful and well-developed. I hope she does a sequel or sequels with the other sisters, because they were very interesting. Definitely a five bars of chocolate book!

Progress Post

So I was having trouble actually finishing a book, but I did finally finish one this month. I read The Perks of Being a Wallflower and now I am having trouble reviewing it. I have mixed feelings on it. Parts of it I thought were great, like the "we are infinite," scene, but for the most part I did not enjoy it. I don't know if it was because I was told this was the best book ever by several people and so I had extremely high expectations or what my problem was. I will review it soon, but I am going to think about it a little more before I decide a rating. I am starting to get into a few books now. Doing the challenges helps! I am halfway through my Random Read, The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom and it is pretty funny at times. I have started Enshadowed, Caught, and City of Lost Souls for the sequels challenge and I am enjoying those. I love the secondary romances in CoLS,  but not so much Jace and Clary right now, but I am not quite halfway through it. I have read a few pages in the Unwanteds sequel and it is interesting so far. I am also reading off stack with Enchanted by Alethea Kontis and I love the way she twists several fairy tales into one. Hopefully one of these will grab my full attention soon!

September is for Sequels Challenge

I saw this on Jessi at Auntie Spinelli Reads blog and thought it looked like fun. It is hosted by Lisa at Lisa Loves Literature. The goal is to read at least 4 sequel book from the beginning of September to the end of September. For a complete list of rules see Lisa's blog here. I think I know the four I am going to try to tackle.
1. Enshadowed by Kelly Creagh (#2 in the Nevermore series)
2. Unwanteds: Island of Silence by Lisa McMann (#2 in the Unwanteds series)
3. Caught by Margaret Peterson Haddix (#5 in the Missing series)
4. City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare (#5 in the Mortal Instruments series)

There are so many more I would love to add, but I am not reading very quickly right now. So far nothing I have tried to read this month has been able to keep my attention for more than a couple of pages. Hopefully revisiting some of these series will help!

Princess Academy Palace of Stone by Shannon Hale

I received this as an e-galley from Netgalley. I received no other compensation other than the free e-galley.

I love twists on fairy tales or stories that read like fairy tales and Shannon Hale's stories are some of my favorites. Princess Academy: Palace of Stone is as good if not better than the first one. This story takes place after Britta is chosen as princess and some of the other girls are on their way to Asland to visit her and take part in the wedding. Miri will also be going to the Queen's Castle to study to become a teacher for Mount Eskel and Peder will be going to learn more about stone cutting. Miri is still waiting for Peder to ask her to be his betrothed, but so far nothing. When the group arrives in Asland, things are not as great as they believed. Miri's beloved Mount Eskel faces horrible tributes that will take away all that she won from the traders and Steffan is very distant to poor Britta. The royal family does not seem as impressive to Miri and the girls. Also many in the lowlands are upset with their king, because of the high tributes and revolution is on many lips. Miri does enjoy Queen's Castle and meets Timon who introduces her to the salons, where revolution and new ideas are discussed. Events escalate and Miri must decide if she is Mountain or Lowland and if friendship or change is more important. Can she triumph and be both?

Shannon Hale brings back the charming cast of characters from the first book and you can't help cheering for Miri and the Mount Eskel girls.

Favorite Character: Miri is one of my favorite characters of all time. She is loyal, stubborn, opinionated, and forthright. She always speaks her mind for better or for worse. She is small in stature but huge in heart.

Favorite Quote: "We choose who we are... You are your own person...You can be who you will."

"Words were slippery and alive, words wrestled out of her grip and became something new. Words were dangerous."

 "We study, Miss Miri, we read and ponder and examine every side, so when it comes time to make a choice we have hop of a good one."

I loved this book! This is definitely one of my favorites for the year. Miri is a great and strong heroine as are most of the girls in this story. Definitely 5 bars of chocolate!

Random Read-September

I was able to finish Tiger Lily for my August read and have already recommended it to someone else to read! This is a meme hosted by Sarah at www.imlovingbooks.com. You can create a list or use your Goodreads To Be Read feature to choose a book. After deciding on your list, then go to random.org and type in the number of books on your list and see what you get for the month. My Random Read this month is The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy, which was number 18 on my list. I love the idea of what happens next in fairytales and I also think it will be funny to see the Princes Charming give their sides of the story. We never really hear about the Princes Charming, so it will be good to see their personalities and to give them names rather than their exaggerated surnames. Let me know what you are reading and hope you enjoy!

Review Copy Cleanup Results

Well I was only able to finish Holding on to Zoe this month. However I am 3/4ths of the way through Princess Academy: Palace of Stone, which I hope to finish and review this long weekend. Thanks to Nyx Book Reviews and Books, Biscuits, and Tea for hosting this event.

Reading Stack #20

I was able to finish one book while on my trip to Missouri to go to my cousin's wedding. Tiger Lily is done and reviewed, so the only book left for my challenges this month is Princess Academy: Palace of Stone. I decided The Perks of Being a Wallflower would be my next read for the Dusty Book shelf challenge. I also plan on starting For Darkness Shows the Stars very soon, so that I can finish the Classics challenge while Persuasion is fresh in my mind. Enshadowed comes out on Tuesday, so that is another book I would like to read very soon, but probably the library will not get a copy until the first part of September. For now I will try to stick with the first three and add others as time allows.