The Garden Intrigue by Lauren Willig



Title: The Garden Intrigue
Authour: Lauren Willig
Genre: Adult Historical Fiction
Rating: 5


Lauren Willig is one of my favorite authors and I always get super excited when a new Pink Carnation comes out because I am never disappointed.  This book was no exception. Someday I will make it to one of her book signings even if I have to take a plane to get to there :)

Review:
The Garden Intrigue takes place in France and centers around the relatable Emma Delagardie and the poet/spy Augustus Whittlesby.  Emma is a flirtatious widow who knows a lot more than she lets on; even possibly about the secret machine Bonaparte is waiting for to use against England.  Augustus, on the other hand, is a seemingly superfluous spy ;) whose feelings about Emma may lead him astray from the task at hand; discovering out about Bonaparte's secret machine. 

Overall, the  characters are wonderful and funny and the plot races along so fast you can't put the book down. I recommend this series to people all the time and will continue to with this book.

“Why was it that cheering expressions were invariably so infuriating?”

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones and the Movie Adaption Directed by Hayao Miyazaki



Title: Howl's Moving Castle
Author: Diana Wynne Jones
Genre: Junior Fiction
Rating: 4.5



 I found the book Howl’s Moving Castle at a local used book store and had to have it.  I remembered hearing about it before and it had a cool looking cover so I was in.  It was a lovely junior fiction story I would recommend to kids who want something "fun" to read or anyone else who likes a good story. 

Review:

Howl's Moving Castle is a really fast and fun, feel-good story. It is set within a magical land full of witches, wizards, curses and enchantments, royalty, and all kinds of different creatures (including a mischievous fire demon stuck in a hearth). If you like stories packed full of adventure, humor, and magic, this book is for you!

Title: Howl's Moving Caslte
Director:  Hayao Miyazaki
Rating Based on Book: 2
Rating Independent of Book: 4



   

The Movie Counterpart:

I had never seen an anime movie before watching Howl’s Moving Castle and I'm having mixed feelings about it.  I love the book so this may have prejudiced me against the movie as the movie took a lot of liberty on the plot.  This is the type of movie adaption I’m not a fan of; taking a perfectly good storyline and changing it for no apparent reason (at least no reason I could divine). Sometimes, yes changing the plot a bit is necessary because of time constraints or the ease of portraying a certain ‘feeling’ important to the book, however, this was not the case in this movie.  

I found myself asking (out loud) “What?” and “Why?” a lot through the movie and explaining to my fiancé what should be happening according to the book. (I mean no one was afraid of the scarecrow?)   Sophie’s whole family dilemma didn’t come off accurately, the Witch of the Waste was not what I expected, and Howl’s curse?! I don’t even know what that was about.

Overall, if you’re looking for a good movie representation of a wonderful book, you’ll probably be disappointed.  However, if you want to watch an animated movie (not compared to the book), it’s actually not that bad. 

Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares

Title: Sisterhood Everlasting
Author: Ann Brashares
Genre: Adult Fiction
Rating: 5

I was so excited when I ran across this book while shelving at the library.  Another book about the Sisterhood girls I grew up with through highschool? Wow! It was an unexpected, but totally welcome surprise and I wasn't disappointed.

Review:
A book you won't be able to put down. The four best friends from the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series are now almost thirty and still as interesting as ever. This time you find them all living in different places and dealing with all sorts of problems. From being a semi-famous actress, to a teacher who spends too much time alone waiting for her life to begin. However, an unexpected tragedy hits and the women are sent scrambling to cope with their loss and sort out their quickly unraveling lives. What paths will these ladies finally choose and will they all pick the right road?


Sisterhood Everlasting was also filled with some amazing quotes which are too good not to share :)


“You get older and you learn there is one sentence just four worlds long and if you can say it to yourself it offers more comfort than almost any other. It goes like this… Ready ”
 “Ready.”
 “At least I tried.”

“Maybe you think you’ll be entitled to more happiness later by forgoing all of it now, but it doesn’t work that way. Happiness takes as much practice as unhappiness does. It’s by living that you live more. By waiting you wait more. Every waiting day makes your life a little less. Every lonely day makes you a little smaller. Every day you put off your life makes you less capable of living it.”

“She loved her mother and depended on her mother, and yet every single word her mother said annoyed her.” (This one made me laugh out loud, waking up my fiance from his nap next to me, because it is so true sometimes.)

Wildwood by Colin Meloy

Title: Wildwood
Author: Colin Meloy
Genre: Junior Fiction
Rating: 2

I saw this book while processing at the library and the cover is what immediately caught my attention, however this story fell a bit flat for me despite talking animals and a magical, mysterious forest. It was not particularly engrossing and was far too political and advanced for being a junior fiction novel. The idea of the novel, having a secret magical land hidden inside the local forest, is fantastic and I expected a lot more than what I got out of it. The characters didn't blow me away and the plot felt a bit thin. I felt like there was too much talk of politics and not enough actual story to keep me wanting to read more.

The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai

Title: The Borrower
Author: Rebecca Makkai
Genre: Adult Fiction
Rating: 3

An OK read. It was pretty far-fetched (an inadvertent kidnapping?) and the main character didn't have much common sense (an inadvertent kidnapping!) which got fairly annoying after a while. And it was kind of irritating how stereotyped the librarians in the novel seemed to be (maybe that is just because I work in a library myself). However, there were some redeeming elements which made me continue reading like the occasional literary humor and issues dealing with gays. I'm glad I read it, but I would definitely not re-read it.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Title: The Night Circus
Author: Erin Morgenstern
Genre: Adult Fiction/Fantasy
Rating: 5

A lovely story to get swept away with magic, romance, and always an air of mystery. The Night Circus is filled with characters you wish you could meet, along with a couple you hope you never run into.
Celia Bowen and Marco are bound together by a mysterious and magical challenge at a young age and the Night Circus is the heart of their dangerous game. However, the longer the challenge goes on, the more other people get intertwined and the more threatening it becomes. Numerous plot lines are beautifully interwoven to give the reader a truly satisfying story.

“The finest of pleasures are always the unexpected ones.”

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Title: The Help

Author: Kathryn Stockett

Genre: Adult Fiction
Rating: 5

Wonderful read. Powerfully written from the point of view of three extraordinary women who are ready for a change in the segregated city of Jackson, Mississippi 40 years ago. Skeeter, a white female who wishes to become an author, dares to write a book telling the stories of black maids working for white women. Aibileen and Minny, two of the black maids within the story and who are two of the narrators in the book, share their stories, both the good and the bad about working for white families. Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter's thoughts, actions, and emotions are portrayed throughout the book giving the book added depth and allowing the reader to see how each person was affected by writing the book. Overall, a great book that will make you stop and think.
"You is kind. You is smart. You is important.”

The Apothecary by Maile Meloy



Title: The Apothecary

Author: Maile Meloy

Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Library Thing Early Reviewer
Rating: 4



A highly enjoyable and fun read. The Apothecary provides a great mix of history combined with magic and adventure. Janie, the main character, is forced to move to London from L.A. with her parents during the Cold War which she is not happy about. However, she ends up meeting a boy named Benjamin in London and together they embark on a dangerous mission to stop the testing of an atomic bomb.  They are helped out with the aid of magic, adding a welcome fantasy element to this story.  I would definitely recommend this book to others who enjoy stories with adventure and magic like Harry Potter and others in that genre.