Tag: Fairytale

Protagonist Bound by Geanna Culbertson

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Rating: 4 out of 5.

What I Loved:

I love a fairytale fantasy and that’s SO what I got with Protagonist Bound! I loved the world the author created for this story! I’ll go into that in detail below, but it was so much fun!

My Synopsis:

Crisanta Knight is the daughter of Cinderella, and with that royal heritage comes a heavy responsibility to be the perfect princess and live a fairytale life. Except Crisanta isn’t interested in that. She doesn’t want to be saved by a prince, sing with the birds, or learn the importance of high heels.

Crisanta lives in Book, a realm where the stories of people’s lives are written by the Author. Protagonists are determined by the author, and once your Book appears, your life is in the hands of the Author.

So, as royalty, Crisanta has been a protagonist since birth. She has two years left at Lady Agnue’s School for Princesses & Other Female Protagonists and her Prologue could appear at any time. When it finally does, she wants nothing to do with it and sets out on a dangerous journey with her friends to find out how to change it.

How I Felt:

The world Geanna Culbertson has created is so well described, I could envision everything, and I loved that! She provided detail that allowed me to truly see the buildings and people. She did an excellent job, and it has set up a world that people will continue to love throughout the series. The “Author” that decides who is a protagonist and what each character’s story will be was an interesting concept. I’m really excited to see what happens in book two as Crisanta tries to change her “Prologue”.

The characters were wonderful. Crisanta Knight, the main character, is absolutely fabulous. Her attitude is a bit sassy and so determined that you can’t help but love her. She addresses the reader directly like she’s telling them the story, and I really enjoyed that writing choice. Crisanta provides side comments, and goes on diatribes at times, even in the middle of a fight.

Continue reading “Protagonist Bound by Geanna Culbertson” →
Book cover foggy city with castle

Nameless Queen by Rebecca McLaughlin

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Rating: 4 out of 5.

What I Loved:

I really enjoyed all of the secrets that this story held! It felt like peeling back an onion and layer upon layer created new views and new realizations.

How I Felt:

The writing was able to take the story and make it come to life. The world Nameless Queen resides in is a fantasy world, which means the author has to describe everything so that the reader understands the setting. I could really see the streets and alleys the nameless wander down, the vivid colors of the royals, and the vast corridors of the castle. It was well-done and created an interesting, different world for me to read about.

Continue reading “Nameless Queen by Rebecca McLaughlin” →

Fish Out of Water by Jennifer Sommersby

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Rating: 5 out of 5.

Fish Out of Water was so real. I loved that this teenager felt like a real teenager. She had problems and sadness and unattainable expectations from her father. It was written so well and captured such a real-feel. The writing was beautiful.

The Plot in Fish Out of water was heartbreaking, but wonderful at the same time. I was cheering for Marina to go for her dreams and not live the life her father wants her to live. I loved watching her struggle to be able to do what she wanted to do (sing).

The Characters were so, heart-crushingly well built. Marina’s dad makes me so angry. The author’s ability to draw that anger out of a reader is fantastic. I just wanted to shake him and be like “Let her live her own life!” Marina felt like a real teen and I appreciated that character building. She was just a normal girl trying to navigate the frustrations of a normal life.

Overall, this was a fun book filled with interesting characters, solid writing, and an enjoyable story.

To Read or Not To Read:

If you enjoy YA novels with a real-feel to the story, this would be a book you would enjoy.

Where To Find This Book:
Bookshop.org | Goodreads | Kindle | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Kobo | Book Depository
Amazon Canada | Amazon India

Brought to you by the hugely popular YouTube series, The Girl Without A Phone, from the Young Actors Project, in collaboration with YA novelist Jennifer Sommersby, Fish Out of Water is a timeless, heartwarming tale inspired by the beloved Little Mermaid. Join Marina—alongside friends Lily and Sierra—in this fresh new adventure meant to inspire the reader to find their own song.

Be who you were born to be …

Marina Andersen’s structured life is ruled by the Three S’s: Swim. Study. Succeed. But all this routine and order leaves little time for what she really wants to do: SING. Try telling that to her overbearing father, a former rock legend whose personal demons keep Marina’s extraordinary musical talents behind closed doors.

After a chance performance at school drops a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—and a gorgeous young rocker—at Marina’s feet, she’ll have to decide what lengths she’s willing to go to in pursuit of the one thing that reminds her heart to beat.

While navigating the rough seas of managing her father’s expectations and finding her own voice, will Marina summon the courage to show her dad who she really is inside before their family is dashed like a galleon in a storm?

  • Fish Out of Water by Jennifer Sommersby
  • Subtitle: A Little Mermaid story
  • Series: The Girl Without a Phone, Book 1
  • Page Count: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Young Actors Project (YAP)
  • Pub Date: December 6, 2019

Jennifer Sommersby is a writer, copy/line editor, bibliophile, and mom of four living in the Great White North. She is represented by Victoria Doherty Munro at Writers House. Jennifer is also an author of romantic comedies under Eliza Gordon.

I was provided an advanced reader’s copy of this book for free. I am leaving my honest, unbiased review voluntarily.

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A Shark Tooth Fairy Tale by Erica Morgan

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Rating: 5 out of 5.

My Thoughts:

What I Loved: There is actually so much that I loved about this book. So, you are getting a list today!

  1. The illustrations in this book are so very fun! The little details were really thought through on this making each page its own experience. The human tooth fairy’s home was my daughter’s favorite (and mine)! The thought that went into making these illustrations was amazing. The curtains are tied with tooth-shaped curtain ties. The mailbox is tooth shaped. It’s adorable and perfect for a child.
  2. There is a seek and find on each page! A shark tooth has been hidden on each page for a child to find. They weren’t so easy and obvious that it wasn’t fun and it wasn’t so hard that my daughter ever gave up. It was perfect.
  3. The writing is excellent for a pre-school through middle elementary child to enjoy. I really loved that it was a rhyming book because I find those fun, but the sentences were longer, making a full story with each page.
  4. Finally, this book was written by 17 year old Erica Morgan. I am so impressed in her work and want to support her in this adventure!
Example of the Seek and Find on each page. This one is on the cover so I’m not spoiling any of the fun inside.

How I Felt: I immediately knew that my daughter would like this. It’s about tooth fairies and mermaids and sharks. And she did love it. She wanted to savor each page, looking at all the art and listening to my words. There are some “big-kid” words in there too, so she would interrupt every once in a while to ask what this word or that word meant. *A “big kid” word example would be “brief” as in to be quick. So the words aren’t so big that they make the book difficult, but it introduced new vocabulary. As I was reading, I kept thinking that it would be a fun book to do a Parent Reading to my child’s classroom. Overall, we just loved this book!

To Read or Not To Read: I can’t think of a single child that should not read this book. It is fun, well-written, and perfectly illustrated for the story!

What’s This Book About Anyway?

The shark tooth fairy , Mrs. Chompers, is sick and asks the human tooth fairy, Mrs. Pearly White, if she can cover for Mrs. Chompers for the night. Mrs. Pearly White uses magic to turn into a mermaid so she can travel the ocean making sure all the little sharks of the ocean get their treat in exchange for their newly lost tooth.

Image from A Shark Tooth Fairy Tale by Erica Morgan

Where to Buy This Book:

Author Erica Morgan’s website!

Amazon

Mascot Books

Footnotes:

This book was provided to me by Mascot Books in exchange for my honest review.

#shejustlovesbooks #shejustlovesbooksforkids #kidslit #toothfairy #kidsbook #kidsbookreview #bookreview #asharktoothfairytale #ericamorgan #bookblog

Flobella and the Creative Path by A.T. Waverly

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Rating: 4 out of 5.

What I Loved:

I am always a sucker for a re-telling or a re-imagining of a fairytale. Flobella and the Creative Path is that plus so much more. The book could be considered a re-imagining of The Wizard of Oz, but there were also some aspects that made me think of Alice in Wonderland. There is a cat that duplicates and begins to look like an accordion, and I greatly enjoyed that scene. I loved that this book also stands on its own as a creative story, giving the reader new ways to think of their own creative strengths.

How I Felt:

The story is perfect for young readers. It is quick moving and not too long. The characters are fun and different, and completely grab your interest as soon as you meet them. The dimension is described in a way that makes you really see what the author wanted you to see. There is a part where the field of flowers turns to a fabric with sewn flowers, and I could truly visualize the change and I very much appreciated the authors ability to describe that scene.

The world Flobella is drawn into is called the Creative Idea Dimension (CID), and I would have liked it to be called something just a bit less “on the mark” so to say. All of the creatures and names were so creative in this book, and I would have liked the dimension’s name to match. That’s my only downside to this book, and it was not a draw back to reading the story, it was truly a very small downside.

To Read or Not To Read:

I think Flobella and the Creative Path should be in school libraries. It is a great story about how creative each, individual person can be. It is written using a fun, engaging story for children that will make them inspired to be creative themselves. I think this book is suitable for 3rd-6th graders.

Where to Find This Book:

Flobella and the Creative Path by A.T. Waverly is available at these sites.

Amazon Kindle | Amazon | Goodreads 

Flobella has lived with her very mean Aunt and Uncle since she was 4 when she became an orphan. At 12, she now spends her time painting and dreaming of a woman who might be her mother. As she is painting, her brushstrokes start to swirl and lift off the page taking her up with them. A tiny fairy, Mumu appears and takes Flobella with her through the spiral to the Creative Idea Dimension (CID). She must only stay one hour and then she must get back home to keep from causing all kinds of inter-dimensional problems.

She misses her opportunity to get home, however, and now the only way back is to take the Creative Path to the Gold Door. She must find Evo the wise man beyond the door, as he is the only one who can help her. Her path is filled with fantastic, creative beings, who want to help her, but there is one who will stop at nothing to keep her from finishing her journey. . .

I was provided an advanced reader’s copy of this book for free. I am leaving my review voluntarily.

Cinderella Rex (Once Before Time Book 1) by Christy Webster

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Rating: 4 out of 5.

This book will publish on November 12, 2019. I was provided this book by NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing in exchange for my honest opinion.

Our Thoughts:

What My Kids Loved: The beautiful illustrations were full of glitters and little sparkle spots that just made for a lovely book. My daughter was asking me not to turn the page yet so that she could look a little longer! She loved that the story was a Cinderella version, because Disney is everything right now! Finally, she liked that Cinderella loved to dance, because she does too!

What I Loved: I also enjoyed the illustrations, they really were just beautiful. I liked the story because it was a take on Cinderella, but it wasn’t a romance-love story, it was a love of dance story. That was a nice change to the traditional story. I also enjoyed that the characters were dinosaurs; that was just cute.

What’s This Book About Anyway?

Cinderella Rex just loves to dance. She lives with her very mean “stomp”mother and “stomp” sisters. A ball is being held at the castle, but Cinderella Rex is not allowed to go! Then, her fairy Triceratops arrives and provides her with her dress and carriage. She’s going to be able to dance at the ball! Of course, the story has her losing her shoe and her midnight curfew. The slight changes in how the prince finds her so she can teach him to dance were just perfect.

Footnotes:

#cinderellarex #christyweber #shejustlovesbooks #shejustlovesbooksforkids #childrensbooks #childrenslit #netgalley #andrewmcmeelpublishing #CinderellaRexOnceBeforeTimeBook1