Once Upon A Marigold

       Well to begin with, I wasn't too big of a fan of this book. I'm not sure why because I normally really like fairy-tales. In my opinion, I felt like this book took too long  to get to the climax. Others may disagree, but that's how I felt this book went. It was an OK book, but not one that I would re-read in the near future. This book was written by: Jean Ferris, she truly is a great author! She did a very nice job at creating a different kind of fairy-tale. 

       This fairy-tale was about a boy named Christian. When Christian was little, he went and hid in the forest until his family stopped searching for him. Christian was a prince and hated the way he had to act in his castle and how there were so many rules. One day he came across a troll named Ed. Ed lived in the forest in a cave. When Christian met him, he told Ed that he wanted to live with him, and that if he didn't let him, then he would go back to his castle and tell everybody that Ed kidnapped him! So as the years went on and Christian and Ed lived in the forest as a family, Ed started watching another castle through his telescope. He saw 4 beautiful princesses and a queen and a king. He watched them while they grew up and became fine young women! Then, Christian started p-mailing one princess named Marigold. After a while Christian and Ed decided it be best that Christian should live on his own and leave the cave. So, Christian went and got a job at the castle, where he could be closer to Marigold...Will they ever truly meet each other? Will everything turn out right and go as planned?
       Because I didn't like this book that much, I don't think that it's going to be a memorable one for me. Although, the story did have a good moral. I think that the book was trying to tell us that no matter if you are a "prince" or a "princess" or if you have everything, or nothing. You are just as capable of living your dream as any other person in the world. Whether they are rich, poor, happy, sad, loving, rude, it doesn't matter. just shoot for the stars and odds are, you'll be able to pick one for yourself at some point. I would give this book a B-.

Entwined

Entwined

Written by : Heather Dixon

       When  Azalea's mother, the queen, dies, she is left with the responsibility of caring for her 11 younger sisters. With her father rejecting them and attending to Royal Business all the time, Azalea's and her sisters have to fight for themselves. First of all, the sisters all love to dance, and all have a special talent for it. But while in mourning, the girls can't dance, can't know the time, and have to wear all black. Before their mother died, she taught them  many dances and made sure they mastered all of them. Just before the queen died she gave Azalea a handkerchief with silver embellished initials. Azalea doesn't know what to think, but she is grateful for the gift.  

         The king leaves on Royal Business for a year, leaving the princesses in the care of the castle staff. These princesses are very depressed. They can't go outside and they can't do the thing that they love most, dance.When Azalea presses the silver handkerchief to the D'Eathe mark, a secret passageway appears. Now I know what your thinking, "Oh wow, another cheesy story with princesses and secret passages." NO! This book is not cheesy at all. The passageway leads to a forest. They hear music, and see people dancing under a huge pavilion. They want to join so bad, but decided they should have an invitation first. Just as they were about to leave, a very handsome and mysterious man appears. His name is Keeper, and he asks them to stay. They accept, and dance the night away. When they return the next morning to their room, they are all exhausted, but that doesn't stop them from going back the next night, or the next. They continue to go to the pavilion for a long time. But one night, Keeper asks them to look for a magical object. He tells the sisters that if they destroy this object then he will be set free, and can go above ground. Azalea accepts, and begins looking immediately.

          The book continues to tell of their struggles to find this magicked object, but they cannot find it. Azalea becomes desperate, and eventually the Keeper becomes mean, and forces them to look harder. He begins taking their things and keeping them, hence the name Keeper. A huge battle takes place in which many of the men that the girls love fight Keeper. The book has a quirky twist at the end, you wouldn't expect some people to fall in love with some people. I really did enjoy reading this though.  It was different enough from the average twelve dancing princesses books that it kept me involved and excited. It was very entertaining, and will stay up there in my favorite books list.

          I loved this book. It was really great and really entertaining. This book brought up some themes. One of the biggest ones, in my opinion, was to never give up fighting on what you believe is most important. Azalea and her sisters always do what they think is best, or always try to right their wrongs in whichever way possible.

         All in all, this book was amazing. I would suggest Entwined for 13-17 year-olds. There is nothing inappropriate, and there really isn't any intense violence either. Entwined was beautifully written, and gets and A for sure!

Rapunzel... Untangled? By: Cindy C. Bennett

      This book was a VERY good read! It definitely will be one that I will have my kids read when they are of age! This book is not like any other Repunzel book you have ever read! I mean, there is facebook, cell phones, and the whole package! It's no "Repunzel let down your hair" This author took the original Repunzel story and made it so modern! It's a book that you won't want to put down until you are finished! Now, boys, just because this book is called Repunzel Untangled, doesn't mean that it is a girl book! This is a must read for everybody! It really isn't gender specific! I promise!!  

      Now, lets get down to the dirty work! Repunzel is a girl that lives in a tower (duh). Her "mother" Gothel kidnapped Repunzel when she was just a little girl. She didn't kidnap her because she had magic hair or anything of the sort. She kidnapped her because of a man named Vedmak. Vedmak is a person that has powers, powers so great that he made Gothel believe that he could make her real daughter come back to life and use Repunsels body to do so. He said that he could "Kill" Repunzel and bring her back to life with the same body but somebody else's soul, who would be Gothel's real daughter that had died in the previous years. So Gothel home-schooled her and NEVER let her leave the tower. Now you have to understand that Repunzel's tower was like the size of a house. She had a bathroom and a bedroom, a sitting room. a kitchen and an exercise room. Gothel had Repunzel fooled that the reason why she had to be locked up was because Repunzel had this disease called SCID's which was a disease that if you EVER got sick which included colds, the flue, a fever, just anything that she would die. So, one day while doing her homework on her laptop, she was looking something up on Google and accidentally came across Facebook. Repunzel had absolutely no idea how to work Facebook. When she was skimming through people, she found an awesome looking dude! His name was Fane and he went to high school and was 17 years old. So she friended him! Well, he would sneak into her castle and so on and so forth. Till, Repunzel started to figure out that her "mother" wasn't really her "mother." Vedmak had used Gothel and told her that she could regain her own daughter when he was really trying to get him more power and gaining her real daughter was impossible.... Will Repunzel be able to get out before she is murdered for selfish reasons? Will she be able to be with Fane for forever and always? Most importantly, will there be a "Happily Ever After?" Read it and find out! 

    This book had a greater meaning to me than I think was actually intended for it to have. This book taught me that there is going to be hardships in life, whether they are big ones or small ones. In a way, you are being locked in a tower in your life right now, waiting for your prince charming to come and whisk you away. But, I think that this tower that you are locked in is full of happiness, wonderful blessings, and learning opportunities. Hopefully, one day all of us Princesses will have learned all that we could, and go be with the prince of our dreams and hopefully he will be everything that we could hope for, so that we can fight the dragons together as one. Likewise with the princes, in hopes that they will find their own princesses. I hope that we can all have our own Happily Ever After. Every girl deserves to feel like a princess! I know I do, thanks to my awesome prince! 

 I will definitely never throw this book away! I loved it so much!! I would gladly give this book an A+ 

Hope Was Here - Joan Bauer

     Hope Was Here, was a great book. The genre was contemporary fiction. Contemporary fiction mean, that the book was written between the 1960's and now. As the way I see its really easy to relate to and trust me when book are like that, they are so much more enjoyable. The books main theme or idea, revolves around the restaurant business. Although, it has many other focuses in it.
     During this book, the reader will be introduced to many different characters. The main characters of the beginning of the book are Addie and Hope, but once the first half of the book gets over you get introduced to Flo, Lou Ellen, G.T. and last but not least Braverman. Addie and Hope are two people with an incredible bond, although Addie seems like Hope's mom shes not, but never less she loves Hope more than anything, during the book you will find out what happened to Hope's mom and how Addie is related. Addie is a(n) amazing cook, and Hope is an outstanding waitress. During the book you will travel along with Addie and Hope, while they find they're final place that they want to settle down at, although you have to travel through many obstacles and hurdles with them. If you have the slightest idea that this whole thing is easy for them, you must be joking. In order for them to complete their quest they have to have a ton of love and "hope" in each other.
      I personally loved this book, although at the beginning it took me a few pages for the information to settle in. This book truly could be made into a million dollar movie, because its so intriguing and just a fun read. Only one thing.. The end of the book made me cry, but it was a happy cry. If that makes any sense to you? The book brings up the issue of, if someone is ill with cancer should they be able to hold a seat in the government. Throughout the end of the book it will talk about this and in the end prove that people that are kind are good and always success. All in all, this was a amazing book and I highly suggest that you give it a chance and read it.

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You (By: Ally Carter)

I’d Tell You I Love You,
But Then I’d Have To Kill You

By: Ally Carter

“I’d Tell You I Love You, but Then I’d have To Kill You”, is an adventurous, fictional young adult book about how a less than ordinary teenage girl found impossible love, and the sacrifices she would have to make in the future.

To the average person The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Woman is a high class, rich kid school. To the outside world this all girl school has a high performance average, and is just a school for geniuses. Though what the average person doesn’t know is that it’s really a school for spies in training. They teach high end Martial Arts in GYM class., and give out extra credit for cracking special CIA database codes. So truly they’re not your usual school.

Cammie Morgan is one of the exceptional girls that go to The Gallagher Academy. She is just starting her sophomore year and is ready to go. Cammie and her two friends, Liz and Bex are ready to start their spy training. This will be the year where they start Cove Ops (covert operations) and they will see how true of a spy they really are. This is where their spy training really kicks in the they gain true field experience.

Cammie is a natural when it comes to hacking international databases, hand to hand martial arts, or even killing someone with a dry piece of spaghetti. But when it comes to love, nothing in all her years of training could have prepared her for this unexpected adventure.

As Cammie and her friends embark on this challenging adventure, she goes undercover for a special assignment where they are tested to their limits. They soon realize what dangers and responsibilities follow with being a field agent; not only to them, but to everyone around.

This book is really great, and fun. It’s so entertaining the way Ally Carter incorporated the thoughts of a teenage girl and a highly trained spy into the same person. Throughout the book you are always on edge and you never loose interest. This book is really a Romeo and Juliet tale, with forbidden love, and all the trouble it brings. Also it shows how worked up teenagers get over “love” and how much it changes them.

I think it would be intriguing to be a spy and know 14 languages when you’re only in 10th grade. I also wonder if Alley Carter's portrayal of a spy’s life is genuine, and if they really have to give up love for the job. 

Overall this book was just so great and fun. It was enjoyable to read a book that wasn’t predictable. The best part was that it is really hard to put down and it’s always amusing. I think a lot of people would enjoy it.