Note: Do NOT read this review if you have not read Princess Academy!



Coming down from the mountain to a new life in the city seems a thrill beyond imagining. When Miri and her friends from Mount Eskel set off to help the future princess Britta prepare for her royal wedding, she is happy about her chance to attend school in the capital city. There, Miri befriends students who seem so sophisticated and exciting . . . until she learns that they have some frightening plans. They think that Miri will help them, that she "should "help them. Soon Miri finds herself torn between loyalty to the princess and her new friends' ideas, between an old love and a new crush, and between her small mountain home and the bustling city. (Yes, that is the Goodreads summary.) The novel picks up two years after Britta is chosen as the princess from Mount Eskel’s princess academy.
This sequel to Princess Academy is everything I wanted it to be, and more. I think that this is probably my favorite novel by Shannon Hale, and one of her best works yet. Every character that we met in the previous novel grows and changes in this book, mostly for the better. We were thoroughly enveloped in the culture of Mount Eskel in Princess Academy, and in this novel we got thrown into the turmoil that has taken over the capital of Danland, Asland.
The unsettled nature of Asland was strongly reminiscent the French Revolution era. (1789 -1799) There was direct reference to the guillotine and the queen of a nearby country (Rilamark) who was dragged from her palace and beheaded as her country cheered, like it was a show, similar to Marie Antoinette’s death, although that was claimed to be an assassination in this fictional world of Danland.
Once again, each chapter begins with a snippet of song, something that I always loved in Princess Academy. I’d actually LOVE to hear the actual songs. Any sign of a cd on its way? She added a letter at the end of each chapter, as well. It’s a great insight into exactly what Miri’s thinking, and how highly she thinks of her family, that she writes without fail, even knowing that she won’t be able to send the letters for almost a full season. It ends up being sort of like a diary, and helps to show the progression of time throughout the novel.
I loved seeing all of the changes, but particularly those in Miri. In Princess Academy, all that Miri wanted was to fit in – she wanted to work in the quarry, to earn her fathers love, and then to help the village, to show she was worthwhile. In Palace of Stone, she had many more burdens. She realized that she couldn’t trust everyone, even when she was only trying to help her friends, and those who were unable to speak for themselves at the court of a king who really wasn’t a great ruler, helped to be a tyrant by a sour-faced Lord Gummonth. I also love that she finally had the sense to ask Peder why he hadn’t asked her to marry him yet. I mean, I know it’s unconventional for a girl to ask, but go for it!
Queen Sabet impressed me. Lady Sisela described her as a “pretty, dull-witted doll”, and perhaps she was, but, like in the time of the French Revolution, noble women were trained to be like that. By the end of the novel, the queen stands up to her stupid husband, and it was fantastic. The council also impressed me with their decision at the end of the novel. The other minor character I enjoyed was Master Fiippus, who tried to make Miri think even though she only wanted advice. I am always a sucker for the master scholars - having all of that knowledge, and still wanting to teach others and help them learn. It’s just awesome. He was pretty cool.
I think the only thing that I didn’t like about this book was the cover art. I adore the painted style of the Princess Academy cover, but this one was just blah. It made it look like every other mass-marketed female-oriented YA book on the market. I generally pick books up with cool covers, or titles. If I hadn’t already loved Shannon Hale, this book would not have been one that I picked up because of the cover art.

Note: Received as an ARC from Netgalley.


From a rising literary star Abigail Tarttelin comes an unforgettable novel about a boy, a secret, and the single traumatizing event that sends his seemingly charmed life into tailspin.
Max Walker is a golden boy. Attractive, intelligent, and athletic, he’s the perfect son, the perfect friend, and a perfect crush for the girls in his school. He’s even really nice to his little brother, Daniel, a decidedly imperfect ten-year-old. Karen Walker is a beautiful, highly successful criminal lawyer, who works hard to maintain the facade of effortless excellence she has constructed over the years. Now that the boys are getting older, now that she won’t have as much control, she worries that the facade might soon begin to crumble. Steve Walker is also a successful prosecutor, so much so that he is running for election to Parliament. The spotlight of the media is about to encircle their lives.
But the Walkers have a secret. Max was born with forty-six XX chromosomes and forty-six XY chromosomes, which makes him intersex. He identifies as a boy and so has been raised lovingly that way. When an enigmatic childhood friend named Hunter steps out of Max’s past and abuses his trust in the worst possible way, Max is forced to consider the nature of his well-kept secret. Why won’t his parents talk about it? Will his friends accept him if he is no longer the Golden Boy? Who is Max and who will he be in the years ahead?
While Max and his family face life-changing questions, revelations, and the ever-present threat that Hunter presents, Max falls in love. He might be flawed, but could he be the perfectly imperfect boyfriend for misfit Sylvie Clark, the oddball loner in his class?
Told in first person narratives alternating between Max, Daniel, Karen, Sylvie, Steve, and Archie, the physician who attempts to guide Max through this pivotal moment in his life, Golden Boy is at once a riveting novel of a family in crisis, a fascinating exploration of identity, and a coming-of-age story like no other.
Okay, so I was unsure about whether I’d like this book or not, but this book was absolutely amazing. Abigail Tarttelin used first person point of views from a few of her main characters, and that is very rarely done well, but she did it in a way that made perfect sense, and you got to see how the issues that affect Max also affect the rest of his family and friends.
I think that my favorite point of view was Max’s ten-year-old brother, Daniel, because you could read how he was trying to understand what was going on with his brother. I also loved the relationship between Daniel and Max.
One thing that I particularly love about this book is that as you read, you’re doing the journey along with Max, you get to learn about what intersexuality is and what its like to live with it, which is amazing. It makes you think about what you would have done in his situation, how you would have reacted.
I also really began to hate his mother, for reasons that you’ll discover throughout the book, and I fell entirely in love with the relationship that grew within the boys of the family

after Karen left

. This book did not sugarcoat much of anything, and that’s a fantastic thing. Not to mention, the cover ties into the ending of the book perfectly and that gets it brownie points from me.

Book: The Diviners by Libba Bray
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Evie O'Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City--and she is pos-i-tut-ely thrilled. New York is the city of speakeasies, shopping, and movie palaces! Soon enough, Evie is running with glamorous Ziegfield girls and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is Evie has to live with her Uncle Will, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult--also known as "The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies."

When a rash of occult-based murders comes to light, Evie and her uncle are right in the thick of the investigation. And through it all, Evie has a secret: a mysterious power that could help catch the killer--if he doesn't catch her first.

I’ve read other Libba Bray novels before (I read the first Gemma Doyle book, and half of the second about a year ago) but I couldn’t get into them. This book, however, I loved from the beginning. I went into this with no foreknowledge of the book, just recommendations from my sister and a friend, so for those of you who haven’t read the book, it’s all the glitz and glamour of the 1920’s in New York City with the dark tones of Supernatural, and an imperfect, sassy main character named Evangeline “Evie” O’Neill.

I was not expecting this novel to be as creepy as it was, and in a lesser writer, this story wouldn’t have worked. Come on – serial killer who came back from the dead who also eats parts of people based on super creepy cult sacrifices, caught by a girl and her friends who are just learning about their secret powers? I’ve read that gone really badly several times before, but Bray rocked it! Her use of 1920’s slang made it really feel like we were in the 1920’s, though I did have to look up what ‘moxie’ meant when Sam used it. Her description of the places she went and the people that Evie met were absolutely stunning and generally very realistic.

The mystery and murder aspect of it was absolutely thrilling. Naughty John was super creepy, and it definitely kept me turning the pages, even after I really should have been asleep.

Her characters were mostly pretty well fleshed out. I felt like some of the characters, like Addie and the cat thing at the end, were only included so that she didn’t have to introduce them in the next novel, where I hope they become important. This book had a huge cast of characters, and not all of them were entirely necessary. I loved Memphis and Theta, but my favorite character was ‘Unc’ Will Fitzgerald. I can’t wait to get more in depth with his character, and maybe a few chapters from his point of view in the next book? Sam was pretty cool, too, and I’d like to find out who the girl is that he’s looking for. I loved Memphis and Theta’s relationship, and Henry seems to be someone that could turn out to be really interesting.

One thing that I didn’t like was the love aspect of the ending

with Jericho? Evie had absolutely no interest in him for 90% of the book, aside from getting Mabel with him, and then he kisses her, and she finds out his secret, and she needs his kisses to distract her? Alcohol could have distracted her just as well, and we all knew she liked that. Pretty sure even back then, taking a man that your best friend was interested in wasn’t okay.

The ending in general was a little confusing, which is why my rating came down to four and a half stars.

All in all, though, I really enjoyed the book, and I hope that you did/do, too!

review to come.

No, YOU'RE sitting at work with tears in your eyes about this book. (Kidding. That definitely describes me.)
This book is amazing, and there will be a full gushing review soon.

Read my full review here!

I liked this book, but there were several things that really bothered me about it.
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One of the things I love about twitter is that you can yell at your authors for making you sad, and for the books being great. I have done this. And now.... now I have to review this. Somehow.
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This story is poignant, and heartbreaking. It also has the clearest voice I think I've ever read. Full review to come.
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DNF'd at 15 percent because what the fuck is Alexandra.
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