wandering the streets of Seattle, when she sees a sticker slapped in a corner window - a figure with a gold crown, pink dress, red Chucks and a long katana sword... Princess X? Suddenly, May sees the princess everywhere: stickers, patches, graffiti - an entire underground world built around a webcomic at IAmPrincessX.com. The more May explores the comic, the more she sees disturbing similarities between Libby's story and Princess X online. And that means only one person could have started this phenomenon - her best friend, Libby, who lives. My Thoughts: Wow. Just wow. Okay, so I haven't read a book in a while (for school or for pleasure), and I decided to read this one. I had gotten this book from my library's summer program and I was really excited to read it. So when I started it, I was hooked. But it didn't exactly draw me back. Don't get me wrong, the beginning was a hooker, and the writing was lively, but I might've just been out of it or something, but I wasn't thinking about, "Hey, I really want to read that book. I should go and do that." Since that was the case, I didn't really read it at the beginning. Only while I was on the bus one day, reading the book because my iPod needed to be charged, did I give my full attention to this absolute masterpiece. I instantly loved May, our main character. She had such a unique personality. She wasn't that girl who'd just sit around doing nothing (though that was a portion of her summer before she found that Princess X sticker), but she wasn't that girl who was super crazy defiant who'd go and wreck havoc across the town. She was a girl who missed her best friend and defended her even when she was dead. She's got such a strong will, but when her friend died it broke. I don't really know how to explain it, but she was kind of in this limbo state with her life. I super loved Patrick. He. Was. Great. Though his book description didn't match with what I was thinking, it didn't matter! His personality fit and that's what mattered. He was such a troublemaker, but not, if that makes any sense. He did the wrong thing for.. the wrong.. reaso- OKAY. WELP. He's just a troublemaker! We're just going to stick with that But he was a good one. 'Cause he was a hacker. I already loved hackers (because of their skill, not what they do with that skill), and he wasn't the best hacker, but MAN! Was he serious about it and that was nice! There was a fabulous cast that were engaging, real, and had their own voice, which is really important to me. I like to be able to identify who is who and that book did it perfectly. There are other characters I'd like to spotlight, but that might be WAAAY too much of a spoiler because the guy in question doesn't come in until later. But when he does come in, that's where some of the young adult themes are presented. Nothing bad, at all! He's just queer and likes guys. It's kind of a statement that is there, is slightly referred back to and that's it. There is also some cursing and bad language, which is a slight turn off for me. They didn't curse a lot, maybe a max of 4 or 5 times throughout the whole book. There isn't much I have to say about the setting. They were in Seattle. I might've thought it was a bit too bright, but that's my mind's own fault. There were something that I didn't know about Seattle, like the Underground, which is, after googling it, is some tour about old Seattle...? I don't know, but you don't particularly need to know about it. I read it just fine. The antagonist is whHOOOAA!! H-He's something, he really is. He's smart, which I really, really, really appreciate. That is the one thing that I want from all antagonists. They need to be smart and ALWAYS 1 to 2 steps ahead of the protagonist. (And I also want them to be good looking with a good and innocent back story so that I can sympathize more, but that's not exactly a requirement...) And when he said he was going to do something, HE DID IT. LIKE WHO DOES THAT! IT'S PERFECT!!! I-I mean, that's not particularly good, but it's been a while since I've read someone committed to doing something and that commitment is so strong that their willing to TOW DOWN THE WHOLE WORLD to get what they want. So yeah. Good job for all dedicated antagonists. (That should be a celebrated day and featured on Google or something...) The plot was intense, I didn't know what was going to happen and because I didn't know, I was stressing, but that's good because that means the book has successfully sucked me in. After those few chapters on the bus, I was entranced. I wanted to finish so badly! And when I did, it was perfect. It ended wonderfully. Not exactly the way I had wanted (because I wanted Patrick and May to be a thing, but they're okay as friends), but it was fabulous nonetheless. It was fulfilling and wrapped it all up. All-in-all, this was a wonderful read. I would reread this book in a heartbeat! So I give this book 4 and 1/2 stars! Have you read this book? If so, did you like it? If you didn't read the book, would you want to? Tell me in the comments! 
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And that is what I got. The first sentence is generally where many of the authors captivate their readers into the unique world in which they are about to present and share. Ben not only did that, but he decided to add more emotion and heart into this single sentence. When I read this sentence, I looked up to Charisma and said, "What even is this sentence?? I am so moved?". I was incredibly surprised because my heart began to pound with such anticipation and yearning for the next few sentence and I've never felt this before. But he didn't stop. He kept going, slowly adding more and more feeling to each word he chose with care. At the beginning of the story, we have officially met two characters: Prince Hadrian and his mother. Oh. My. Goodness. Who. Are. These. People. Who. Have. Stolen. My. Heart. I was impressed with the way he delicately wrote about Prince Hadrian's mother. She sounded graceful as the season Spring, she was portrayed as a delicate woman, and yet, her actions showed that she was fierce and strong. I have read plenty of stories where this type of woman existed but they always fell into two categories: they either became way too delicate or way too OP. There just wasn't a good balance of the two. Yet here I am, applauding Ben, as he was able to make her perfect. She was able to stay in the middle of being a delicately strong warrior whose attitude was brave, though soft. Prince Hadrian was also brilliant. We begin to know him about being interested in his mother's beauty, how her voice sounds like bells, and how she lights the world with her aura. He wants to be with her all the time and the time that he sends with her, he cherishes every. single. moment. The story was in his perspective and I felt as though I could easily relate to all that he's gone through. In terms of description of the world, there wasn't much. But his word choice was so powerful that it made up for it. He used such descriptively beautiful words that not only was I able to picture the castle and the rooms within, but I was able to have room to create my own version of what everything looked like. I always appreciate that type of freedom when reading. The plot definitely had the intentions of setting up for the first book, which was nice, but what was better was the fact that we got the prequel in the eyes of the other main character. I was happily surprised. The secondary characters, especially the good friend to Prince Hadrian, were full of life and each of them had such important parts to play in the story. But, as with all books, there was one part of this book that I didn't like. This was the scene where Prince Hadrian was met with his father. From the way he narrated the story too when he actually spoke to his father (and it's only his father that he speaks this way, no one else), it was a drastic change. When narrating and talking to his good friend, he sounds like a gentleman that carried pride and honor. Now, when he speaks with his father, he seems almost childish. Of course, there are parts of the conversation where he resumes his 'gentlemen narrative voice', but that was close to the end of the conversation. It was just a bit disappointing. Now, with all of that being said, my overall rating for this book would be a 4 ½ out of 5. 
But now a prophecy has come to light. Someone from Aileen’s island will gather a man from each of the three islands, bring down the magical barrier, and unite them with the fourth island again. And according to the king, that someone is Aileen’s Aunt – who insists on dragging Aileen along. AND the boy Aileen is sure she’ll marry (one day); the local boy with more brawn then brain. Someone seems to want to stop them too… someone with an interest in keeping the Islands apart. But still, with magic on their side, nothing can go wrong. Right? My Review: Beautiful. Absolutely stunning. **PROS:** - The characters were absolutely magnificent. They were three-dimensional, they had human emotions, and they said the thoughts that I was thinking. Ivar, the son of the King of Skarr, was a snobby, arrogant child. But his transformation was beyond satisfying. Aileen, the daughter of Garth of Gallis, was quick to self-depreciation and criticism, but she turned out to be a very smart, capable individual with the ability to lead. Ogo, a Logran, seemed to be very stupid at the beginning of the story, but I found out that he was only misunderstood and that was actually incredibly observant and caringly blunt. Aunt Beck, the aunt to Aileen, was very... strange in my opinion. She was extremely blunt and was very rude every time she spoke, so I didn't like her as much as I wanted too. Every other character in this story just added color and spirit to the beautiful plot! - The plot was full of twists and magic, both of which I love. 1) The antagonist was so smart. I was in complete shock when the full plan of the villain surfaced to life. 2) The story got started immediately. Even though the first sentence sounds irrelevant, it was an instant reading hook. - The map. The hardcover that I got had a map in the book before the actual story began, and this was so helpful. With as many cities and islands they traveled through, I lost a sense of direction. But it was nice to see a physical image of where there were traveling. - Page 342. The story ends page 350. I have 8 more pages and this story is nowhere near being resolved. In fact, the intense fight scene hadn't begun yet! As the author slowly puts this story to a close, the characters are in such a dire predicament, my heart is pounding. As I continued reading, I found myself losing track of the page number and realized that the story ended perfectly, as well as with a perfect pace. - The love in this was brimming with fluff. It was absolutely beautiful. At the beginning, there was one pairing, but I didn't like it at all, but it soon changed towards the end of the middle. It was right there when two couples were formed and then two more. So, in all, there were four couples and my heart was bursting with satisfaction and happiness. It was so nice to see so many lovers in such a story! **CONS:** - There were many parts of the book that had grammatical errors. Usually, I'm one to skip over those, but these errors were in such important areas. - In the very beginning, they introduced two characters that weren't even talked about until the middle of chapter two and the other the middle of chapter three! I shouldn't have to wait that long to understand a single sentence in the first chapter. - For some parts of the book, I definitely felt as though the book hadn't gone past the first draft phase. That was partially disappointing to me as I realized that part of the plot, even though it was already amazing, could have been fleshed out more. - Closer to the end of the book, you could subtly tell that the writing style changed. It wasn't a bad change, not at all. But the fact that I had familiarized myself with Ms. Diana's writing style and it just changed to Ms. Ursula's was very surprising, still though, it wasn't bad. All in all, I would definitely recommend this book to others! I rate this book a 4 out of 5. 
of books), and when I found out I started cheering (for like 15 seconds because I started reading immediately). The book has a few pictures, it has a really nice 'Contents' page and the book has five parts. The story itself, in my opinion, was kind of slow at the beginning. It was just the main character explaining what happened to him and his group that he was with. Then the story begins to pick up pace at the third chapter (which is the beginning of part 2). This is where we meet more of the main characters and this is where the story begins to see some originality and uniqueness. The MC becomes more developed and he becomes torn between to families: the one in America and the one he left behind in Japan. I don't believe there was any cursing and there was no inappropriate scenes. All in all I give this book a four and half stars.
only uses a sword once in the whole book! (That's because she changed her weapon to something else, but I'm not going to say what.) Anyways, when I read the beginning, I was so confused. I was wondering how it all tied into the Cinderella story and why they were all going through that type of servitude. It all unfolds slowly, but it all makes sense at the end. I loved what they did with all the characters. This book was separated into 3 parts. The first part was when Pin was in servitude. The second part is where the Cinderella story actually starts. The third part is where they all are trying to escape from Story (< - - That reference only makes sense if you read the book). The story itself was beautiful and timeless. The concept and idea was something I would have never thought to put together. I was completely dumb struck at the way it was executed and the beauty of the writing. To me, all the characters were developed quite beautifully. My favorite character was Shoe. Hands down, no question. Shoe was so perfect and wonderful and amazing and stubborn, but he was doing everything he did with the right intentions. That's just some of the things of what I like about him. I give this story 5 stars!
Have you read Ash and Bramble? If so, did you like it? If not, would you read it? Tell me in the comments!
Charisma
So you all might not know, but I can't for the life of me read or watch embarrassing moments. They really just won't work. This book, however, has none of those unbearable moments! It was great! Anyway, this book sparked my interest when I was going through the library the day before (yeah, I think so) we went on Thanksgiving vacation. I saw the cover and loved, so I picked it up and went on my way. I was not expecting all the things in side of this book. The characters were wonderfully developed. All the characters captured you from the very beginning when they're introduced in the story. My favorite characters were Lucy (obviously) and Walter (who you will all meet later in the book). The writing was superb. This book was set in the Victorian-era, so the language is everything that it would be back then. Because of this, some parts of the language isn't the greatest. It's not that horrible, but just telling you all. If you're sensitive to some types of speech, then you might not want to read this book. The iffy language disappears after the 1st chapter and after that it is spread across the book, only popping up once or twice in that one chapter, then 5 (maybe even 6) chapters later, there is another character saying that stuff. The story was quite vivid and captured you when the first sentence is read. The characters, mystery and magic help move the story along. The ending is so wonderfully satisfying that you could just end there, but not every answer was answered in this book. I loved reading the book. It's absolutely wonderful! I'm so glad this book is a trilogy and that all the books have been published. My rating is 5 stars!
Have you read the Voyage of Lucy P. Simmons? If so, did you like it? If not, would you read it? Tell me in the comments!
Charisma
points. Or in the least startled. The Setting: Just like before, it was imaginative and creative as ever. You saw every landscape so vividly and clearly. Because Seraphina traveled into more lands and experienced different things than the first book, you actually get to see their lands in a beautiful way. This was one of the best parts about the book. The Characters: Because Seraphina is gathering her other half-dragons, you get to meet a lot of new characters then you did in the last book. Most of them are quite refreshing while others... others you just want them to completely disappear from the book and live a happy life with the other characters. Here were my favorites: Princess Glisselda! She was a magical wonderful person in this book. She was a very determined young girl, she knows how to lead a whole kingdom, and she... she's just great. Abdo and Orma are always going to hold such an awesome place in my heart. Though they have quite tragic stories in this book... :( And I really do not like Jannoula. She is probably the worst character in this whole book. No... she is the worst character in this book. She fools you every single time, and you think she's good, then she does something horrible and you go back to thinking she's evil. -_- I really just don't like her. Also, I wanted to tell you all this. Close to the end, Jannoula says her background and it is very... inappropriate. There was something small like this in Seraphina, but it wasn't like this. So please don't start this book and expect it to be all okay, because this isn't. That is my review! I give this book.... *drum roll* 4 stars!
Have you read Shadow Scale? If so, did you like it? If not, would you read it? Tell me in the comments!
Charisma
created every detail and painted a picture in your mind in which you could get swept away. It was great! The Characters: Wow. Just wow. Well, we'll start with Seraphina. I liked her, but on some parts, I was saying to myself, "WHY DID YOU JUST DO THAT!?!?" She's a nice person, who has to keep this life-threatening secret (which I will not spill for those people reading this before they get the book). She is a very skilled musician, so-much-so that she's the court composer's assistant. She pretty great overall. Prince Lucian was just great. So great! Gaah! He's so amazing! In the book, he's the guy who will be offended for that moment, then the next day, he'll be like, "Oh, yeah. That thing. I thought we had put that aside a long time ago." IT'S SO WONDERFUL!!!! *Clears throat* Anyways... There is lovely Orma. My goodness, he's amazing. Just as awesome, if not more awesome then Prince Lucian up there. He is Seraphina's mentor and he... he has a very calm-like personality. I didn't expect that at first, but later on, I kind got used to it. :) And finally not to ruin anything else, there is Abdo! Abdo is one of the best people I have ever read in a book. He's caring, he's reckless... there's just not a lot of words to describe how amazing he is. Okay, now that we've gotten that out of the way, we can continue: My rating for this is 4 1/2 out of 5 stars.
Also, Alexa from Verbosity did a review on this book. Here's the link:
Seraphina by Rachel Hartman - Verbosity Book Review I completely agree with her for the Writing Style and Dialogue for this book. It was absolutely amazing! Have you read Seraphina? What were some things that you like about if you did? If you haven't read Seraphina, are you looking forward to reading it? Tell us in the comments! Charisma
Carolyn Keene, but unfortunately, I have to give this book a three star. The reason why is because you found out who the crook was in, what, the first chapter? That made the whole book like, 'Yeah, I know who did this!' but it was very unsatisfying because I am always excited to find out at the end who the crook was, not at the very beginning. Also, I felt like the whole entire mystery was figured out and that the only thing the characters did in the story was elaborate on the so called 'mystery'. Honestly, I was just very disappointed. Don't get me wrong, it's a great book and other people might adore it, but it just didn't flow for me. ~Bianca
      
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