McKinley's style is languid and her writing is beautiful. Unfortunately I found it entirely forgettable. It added nothing to the original myth, only lengthened the story far beyond its necessary word count, and the small changes that were made, like the sisters' being nice, actually made it worse because Beauty herself admitted she had no reason to go to the Beast other than a vague sense that she should. Some of the scenes were touching, but it was of more interest in a scholarly way than a story way.

A charming book about octopuses for the casual reader who knows nothing about octopuses. Courage covers their edible history and shares a few recipes, introduces the possibility of their camouflaging being used for military purposes, and their cantankerousness as research subjects. She does not delve too deeply into any one subject so it is a fast read, great for cocktail party conversation starters. She makes some amusing jokes that help keep the book from being monotonous. I would definitely read other nonfiction by her.

I read this entire novel in two hours by the pool, so my sun-inspired happiness was probably the reason I have given it two full stars instead of one. I like epistolary novels so the e-mails didn't bother me. What did bother me was the insipid two main characters whose story had no driving force whatsoever to make me care about the outcome (the pool thing contributed to my finishing it, as I had already finished the other book I was reading at the pool and didn't want to go home yet). What bothered me even more than that was that a solid third of the book was e-mails sent to and from characters who had little or no screen time with the main characters, and whose e-mails served only to expand the page count from an overall boring, plodding story. I did like the theme of loneliness being a common denominator in all people, but it was a little heavy handed in its execution.

The kind of dark and somehow simultaneously uplifting Christmas story you would expect from Lemony Snicket.

Realistic main character who gets to be a warrior and not a victim, asexual best friend to avoid love triangles, twists and turns aplenty to make for a totally original story and a surprising ending? This has it all! I loved that Cassidy, despite trying to save the world, still made time to hang out with her dad and study for school, and I also liked that she actually wore armor and trained hard to be able to fight demons. Would definitely read Ashby's other books.