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Today we are pleased to have joining us Marissa Meyer, author of Cinder, a futuristic retelling of Cinderella. Guys! Be excited! Cinder is a 2012 debut, and a little birdie on the inside tells me (Misty) it's fabulous! Make sure to stop back on Friday for a guest post from Marissa!

Now let's get down to business. "Serious" Questions:
~Can you tell us a little bit about Cinder and the series?Gladly! CINDER is a young adult futuristic retelling of Cinderella. In it, Cinder, a 16-year-old cyborg mechanic, must piece together her mysterious past in order to protect her country from an impending war. It's the first in a four-book series, each of which revolves around a different fairy-tale-inspired heroine (Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White), as they join forces to save the world and find their happily-ever-afters. CINDER is scheduled to release in early 2012.

~Why fairy tales? What is it that calls to you, personally, as a writer, and why do you think readers connect to them the way they do?
I’ve always loved fairy tales. When I was growing up, I loved them for the romance, the magical kisses, the dresses, the princes in their fancy castles. Now I’m drawn to them for their timelessness—these are story archetypes that have been retold and recycled in 8 billion different ways, yet authors and artists and movie directors are still coming up with new ways to tell them. And because they still relate to issues that every society deals with, whether it’s childhood neglect a la Hansel and Gretel or just wanting to improve your social status a la Cinderella—these stories hold as much meaning for us now as they did in the time of the Grimm Brothers.

~What’s your favorite scene you’ve ever written? EVER ever? Gosh, that’s a lot of scenes. Can I say every single kiss? I’m a big fan of kissing scenes. The fun part of writing a four-book series with four different heroines who have four different romances is that there’s lot of opportunity for great kissing! Book 2: SCARLET (Little Red Riding Hood) will have some particularly smoldering ones.

Quickfire, Silly and Random stuff:
~Rapunzel is named after lettuce; what odd thing would you be named after if you were in a fairy tale? I love this question, because I was tempted at one point to call my Rapunzel character “Arugula”! I ended up settling on “Cress” though, which is also a type of lettuce. If I were in a fairy tale, I think my odd name would be something geeky and literary, like maybe Pencil or Comma.

~ Using that name, give us a line from your life as a fairy tale: The fairy godmother waved her magic wand and Pencil found herself with this a real live book deal—a dream come true! She was about to retire to Hawaii and do nothing but lie on the beach and drink fruity cocktails for the rest of her happily ever after... when it occurred to her that she still had to write the rest of the books. And back to work the princess went.

~Best fairy tale villain and why? I’m partial to Rumpelstiltskin. He’s sly, crafty, can actually spin straw into gold (quite the feat!), and goes after what he wants. I also love that the story leaves open a big mystery: why does he want the queen’s firstborn at all? It could be very cruel and awful (maybe he plans to eat it!) or more sympathetic (maybe he just wants a family).

~Favorite tale from childhood? Favorite tale as an adult? Least favorites? I always loved The Little Mermaid—it was my favorite Disney movie as a kid, and I only fell in love with it more once I read the Hans Christian Andersen version and learned how truly tragic the story was. It has so much depth to it (pun kind of intended). As for now... it’s so hard to choose! Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty are probably neck and neck for my all-time favs. As for least favorite... I don’t know that I really have one, although something about the end of Hansel & Gretel always bugged me. I felt like the dad got off way too easy in that tale!

~If you could be any fairy tale character, or live through any fairy tale "happening," who/what would it be? Cinderella’s ball! I love big beautiful dresses and dancing and food!

~Would you rather:
- — live under a bridge with a troll, or all alone in a high tower? Tower, definitely! Just think how much reading you’d get done.

- — ride everywhere in a pumpkin carriage (messy) or walk everywhere in glass shoes (uncomfortable)? I’ll take the carriage, with hopes that the fairy godmother had the sense to scrape all the guts out of it.

- — have a fairy godmother or a Prince Charming? Between getting engaged and getting my book deal for CINDER both in the past few months, I think I already have both!

Thanks so much for the fun interview, Ashley and Misty! Oh course! We were happy to have you, and can't wait for Cinder! Thanks for stopping by! So who else is super excited for Cinder? *raises hand* Stop back on Friday for a special guest post from Marissa Meyer. And don't forget to leave her some love in the comments!

Today is my first actual Memory Monday post, and I'm pretty excited about it! If you missed what Memory Monday is all about, you can read this post here for a more detailed explanation.

I thought for a while about which book I want to start with, but couldn't really settle on one book. Two of the books I read this week happened to be fairy tale retellings, and I have quite a few (a lot) more on my read and to-read lists, so I decided I would start my Memory Monday postings with the reason I love fairy tales so much. And that reason is:

Grimm's Fairy Tales as written and collected by The Brother's Grimm!

Have any of you read their collection of fairy tales?! It's wonderful!

I first read this when I was 10 years old. We were spending a week or so visiting my grandparents, and I was bored. I love my grandparents very much, but at 10 years old, just being in the same house is usually enough. I'm sure you can all relate...

Always having been a reader, I was looking for a book. They had a few picture books, a lot of plays (my grandfather and that whole side of my family is very big into theater), and a bunch of non-fiction — biographies and the link. When you are ten, all of that equals one big BLAH.

I can't tell you how much time I spent searching their shelves just hoping that something interesting would appear and give me something to read. There are only so many times you can play "River Wild" in the hammock. (That's another long story...) Ahem...

As I was searching the shelves, my grandpa pulled an old copy of Grimm's Fairy Tales from the bookcase and told me to give it a try. I was skeptical at first but soon because deeply fascinated by these dark and often morbid tales. Disney never told me that Cinderella's bird friends pecked out her evil-stepsister's eyes, or that Snow White 'dies' two or three times before finally eating the apple, and that it's the dwarf's who save her the first times. There were so many more tales that I had never heard of before and they were all so fascinating. Not all of the heroines are helpless, waiting for their prince to come. A lot of them are ultimately the ones who save their princes and even the tales that have a happy ending are not nearly as peaceful getting their as the current tales would have you believe.

I overheard my grandpa remarking how impressed he was with me to my parents because of my reading. I was sitting on the couch while my brothers were watching cartoons when my grandpa walked through the room. He assumed we were all watching TV, but was impressed and pleased to find me tuning out the TV and little brother noises to focus on my book. I was, as my grandma says, tickled pink. I remember that day, and I remember that book. I loved the stories so much that my parents got me my own copy that Christmas which I promptly sat down and read again, and would use night after night to read bed time stories to my younger brothers. I have such fond memories of these stories, and I love reading them in their original form and retold in new and unique ways.

Because of this book, I also read The Complete Tales of Hans Christian Anderson, and although there were a few favorites there (namely The Little Match Girl and Thumbina) the stories of the Brother's Grimm are most definitely the favorites. (Do you know that HCA has a fairy tale (no lie) about a dung beetle? Ya, I thought it was weird too).

The Brother's Grimm had a very definite impact on me early reading, and what interests me today. Do you have any old favorites? I'd love to hear about them! Leave me a comment telling me about your childhood favorites, or linking me to your blog post, or telling me about your experiences with Grimm's Fairy Tales! I'd love to hear from you!

So, Princess Bookie is hosting a contest craze full of books and prizes and challenges and all that good stuff. I don't normally post about stuff like this, and I haven't, as yet, participated in any of the Waiting on book memes or things like that, so I figured that I'd add my comments this time.

She is asking for us to name our Top 5 books of 2011. I've run across enough 2011 releases lately that I'm willing to add what I'm waiting for. It should be fun. So, the top books I'm waiting for are:

1. Where She Went by Gayle Forman. The sequel to If I Stay, one of my favorite 2010 reads, this will be released in April and after the blog teaser tour a few weeks ago, I'm going crazy waiting to read this book.

2. Delirium by Lauren Oliver. I read Before I Fall this year and I loved it. When I realized Oliver was coming out with a second book, and a dystopian one at that, I was thrilled! It comes out in February.

3. Bitterblue by Krisin Cashore. I just finished reading Graceling and Fire and I loved them. Cashore is a great writer, and I've loved the world she's created. It's tentatively planned for April, but I'm not sure if that's official yet.

4. Cloakedby Alex Finn. I love fairy tale retellings, and I've enjoyed Finn's other modern retellings (Beastlyand A Kiss in Time) There aren't a lot of retellings about the Frog Prince, and I'm pretty excited to read this one.

5. Entwined by Heather Dixon. As I mentioned, I love fairy tales and their retellings and The Twelve Dancing Princesses has been my favorite as long as I can remember. Plus, if you look on Goodreads, the cover for this one is beautiful.

So, at the moment, these are my 5 most highly anticipated releases of 2011. What are yours?

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is a book I've been meaning to read 'for real' since my senior year in high school. It is the one of only two books I have ever been assigned and not read completely. (The other is A Diary of Anne Frank and I feel horribly guilty over that one)

So, I started Heart of Darkness for my AP English class, like I was supposed to, and then got bogged down in Conrad's endless description. So, I skimmed the rest, asked my English teacher for 'help' because I, 'didn't understand' the message, wrote my thesis paper, and got an A.:) No one ever knew.

But, I always felt like I hadn't been fair to Mr. Conrad's book. I owned my AP copy, it's not even 80 pages, and I figured I could just read it and mark it off my slate of unfinished (shameful) reads. I even hoped that if I gave it another chance I wouldn't hate it so much the second time.

Although it will never be one of my favorite books, I will say that Heart of Darkness was improved the second time around. I liked it much more this time (although that isn't saying much, since I loathed it the first). One of my earliest concerns with this book is the narrative voice. The narrator and the storyteller are two different people. People are sitting around a fire, listening to a man tell a story about his trip through the heart of the African Congo, and one of the men around the fire is telling it to us. It's weird, and it makes the descriptions and language that much stranger, because really... Even back then, who talks like that around a campfire?! I don't really see the point, and I thought it made the story more stilted than it needed to be.

I also felt that a lot of the book was superfluous, which in a 78 page book is a problem. Nothing really happens until the end of the book. Now, I'm perfectly willing to admit my part in this. I know that I read this book faster than I should have, and that I missed some of the important parts to the story. But, I don't care. I still found a lot of it dull, meandering and pointless.

There is a surprising amount of depth to this story. I missed it entirely the first time, because I was intentionally blocking out any meaning to the story, and I think I barely touched it this time, but I was impressed by what Conrad is able to convey in just 80 or so pages (closer to 40 or 50 if you consider that I felt the first half mostly irrelevant). But, once Kurtz becomes an important and active part of the story, I think you can learn a lot. Although I didn't love this book, and I doubt I ever will, I'd like to read it at least once more to try and glean more because I think there is more that this book could teach me.

Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce was utterly wonderful. I've always love fairy tale retellings, but my especial favorites are the stories that take a familiar tale and make it entirely their own. Sisters Red does this marvelously.

The writing itself was captivating. It's told in chapters narrated alternately by Scarlett and Rosie. I loved that we got to listen to each sister. Their outlook on life is so different, their views so varied that their voices didn't need much help being unique. It was easy to tell which sister was thinking or talking. I also loved both the prologue and epilogue which were written as fairy tales. It's such a small detail that definitely makes a big difference. (Big smile).

Jackson Pearce is not the first author to take the tale of Little Red Riding Hood and turn the sinister wolf in the forest into a werewolf. It's been done before, but never have I read it done like this. Pearce is brilliant and I'll definitely be signing up to read any and all fairy tale retellings she writes up in the future. Scarlett is mauled while trying to protect her younger sister Rosie from the werewolf (Fenris) that killed her grandmother. She loses her eye and gains an intense hatred for the Fenris and a passion for hunting them down. And, she's good at it. It drives her life and often blinds her to anything else. This is her mission, her role. She needs to protect others and remove as many of these horrid monsters as possible, with the help, of course, of her lovely sister Rosie and their childhood friend Silas. (Side note to say thank you for not making the werewolf the love interest... Ahem... Very big thank you.)

Oh ya, and the red cloak — it's a lure. I just can't get over how much I loved that detail. Red is the color of passion, lust, desire and blood and the Fenris just can't resist the lure. It made me happy.

Anyway... I will admit that I saw the twist coming from a long way off. I can't remember actually being surprised at anything that happened, although I know we were supposed to. But, I'm okay with that. Pearce writes in such a way that I didn't mind figuring everything out long before the characters. It just felt like I was in on the secret. And, I'm much, much more lenient with fairy tales being predictable than I am with the average book. Fairy tales are supposed to be familiar. And, the great writing, and realistic characters more than made up for that. And, it was great writing. It's one of those stories that just pulls you in and holds you close until you finish the last page metaphorically gasping because you just can't handle it anymore.

And can I just add that I love when authors combine more than one fairy tale?! It makes me so happy! And before I go into that, understand that this may very well be me reading more into it than the author intended... Maybe she's not actually familiar with the tale Snow White and Rose Red, and I may have seen the slight correlations because I wanted to, but I wanted to. So there... It's really subtle and I noticed it more in the personalities of the girls and their relationship to each other than the actual story line, but the faint hint of this tale was there, almost like a perfume that lingers long after the woman has left.

If you haven't read this yet, and you have any enjoyment at all for fairy tales, strong heroines, dashing young men, exciting fight scenes and stellar writing, I suggest you locate a copy now, and read it. I finished it a week ago, and already I'm wanting to read it again.

*Disclaimer: I received this book through We Love YA Tours.

* Disclaimer: I read this book through 1 ARC Tours.

Extraordinary by Nancy Werlin is the first book I think I've read where fairies play a predominant role. At least it's the first book that I can remember. So, I was pretty open minded about this one, the cover is attractive (I am especially fond of the way her hair looks, although it's harder to see online) and I'd heard some good things about the author and the book. So, I was excited for the chance to read this one. All in all though, I can't say I was thrilled with what I got.

This book is about Phoebe Rothschild and her unfortunate run ins with the Fey. The book begins with an aura of secrecy. In the beginning, all we know is that the fairies have sent someone to pretend to be human in order to gain contact with Phoebe, but their intention, although sinister in tone, is, as yet, unknown.

Phoebe ends up befriending Mallory, the fairy in disguise. (That makes me want to sing Elvis... You're the devil in disguise, oh yes you are...) And, I don't think Elvis is too far off. Although Mallory does seem to genuinely like Phoebe, it's obvious that ultimately, whatever evil plot the fey have cooked up with triumph.

I liked the idea of this book and the writing was stunning. There is no doubt that Werlin is a great writer. Emotions are clearly conveyed from the characters to the reader, and Werlin is able to give a great deal of insight into the motivation of characters with just a few words. I will be reading more by Werlin because I loved the clarity and beauty of her writing.

However, I felt that the words ordinary and extraordinary were incredibly overused. After a while, I felt like I was being beaten with extraordinary. Nothing like beating a dead horse. Seriously. No one I've ever met uses those words to describe themselves in everyday conversation, especially not like these characters do. I know people with incredibly high self esteem, over-inflated egos etc and none of them call themselves extraordinary, or talk about how awful it would be to be ordinary. They say things like amazing, awesome, cool, better than you, etc. I understand the significance of the word, because I've read the book, and there's no doubt it's important, but I feel like they could have arrived at exactly the same place by occasionally substituting ordinary with other words or phrases. Constantly reading about being ordinary vs. extraordinary was awkward and unnatural.

I also had a hard time relating to Phoebe. Part of it was this obsession with whether or not she is ordinary or could maybe be extraordinary, but most of it came from her interactions with Ryland; her secret boyfriend and Mallory's brother (fey and human.) He is the epitome of an abusive boyfriend and although he wasn't doing it because he is a crazy psycho, he was doing it deliberately to emotionally destroy Phoebe, which I kind of think is worse. Each scene involving the two of them made me incredulous that someone with so many loving relationships would allow herself to be locked into such an abusive relationship (although it does explain that she doesn't really have a choice, them being magic and all...) but they also made me sick to my stomach. No one should have to endure what Phoebe does and it severely limited my enjoyment of the story.

I can easily see where and why this book could become a favorite, but it wasn't one for me. I enjoyed it, loved the writing and will definitely be reading more by Werlin, but I didn't love the story itself.

everyone! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving, or if you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, a rockin' Thursday.

It's Friday again, and I'm hopping again. So, thanks to all the newcomers, for stopping by my blog! I hope you like what you see, and I'd love for you to leave a comment telling me what you enjoyed! (or not, if such is the case.: () If you are visiting, leave me a comment, and I'll be sure to return the favor, and stop by your blog as well!!

So, this blog hopping goodness is hosted in two separate locations, Parajunkee at Parajunkee's View and Jen over at Crazy For Books.

Jen asked us this week about our favorite book covers. I don't think there is room enough for me to answer this question, because there are tons of books that I think have stunningly beautiful/eye-catching covers.

Although, I have noticed that YA (especially recent YA) seems to do a better job at creating attractive covers than most adult fiction. I intend to write up a whole post talking about that in the near future, and why I think that might be so, and I'd love to have you stop by again to let me know what you think about that.

Anyway, some covers (just a few, just real fast) that I find I really loved and to help myself narrow it down a little, I'm picking simple covers that just really hit me:

Cloaked is another modern fairy tale retelling by Alex Flinn, the woman who wrote the ever popular Beastly (Beauty and the Beast) and the recently released A Kiss in Time (Sleeping Beauty).

I've made no secret about the fact that I absolutely adore fairy tale retellings, and I very much enjoyed Flinn's first two tales. Cloaked was just as much fun to read as the first two stories, but I actually liked this one even better.

Before I get into the story itself, I need to mention one of my most favorite parts of the book. In the beginning of each chapter, Flinn included a quote from one of the Grimm's Fairy Tales she took inspiration from and included it under each chapter numbering as a sort of foreshadowing for what was to come. I love the original fairy tales, and have read them many times, so it was beyond delightful to see them quoted within the story.

Cloaked is the story of Johnny, a young boy trying to help his mother pay their bills by spending all his free time working in their family shoe repair shop, located in a large Florida hotel. Johnny has big dreams, but is realistic enough to know that all they will ever be are day dreams. He works in the shop, but his real passion is design. He has notebooks filled with designs for high end, beautiful shoes. He's even managed to save enough scraps and materials to make up a prototype, and he knows they are a good design. But alas, he needs to stay behind to help his mother, and their is no way they will be able to afford college or trade school to further this dream. Although he wishes and hopes that there was some way something might be different, he has resigned himself to his fate.

But, in the way of all fairy tales, fate decides there is something more in store for our unassuming hero, and when a foreign princess (think Paris Hilton with a crown) comes to stay at their hotel, Johnny's life will change forever. Because real magic exists in the country out fair princess comes from, and her brother has been turned into a frog in a wicked attempt for the witch to steal their throne for herself and her evil oaf of a son. The princess is desperate for assistance, and promises Johnny money and marriage if he successfully saves the prince. In need of money, desperately hoping for something more out of life, and afraid to offend the princess, Johnny agrees to look into the disappearance of her brother.

It takes Johnny some time to admit and accept that magic really exists, but once he does, he finds himself in the middle of an impossible adventure, giving assistance to talking geese, taking aide from rats and foxes and searching every where for a missing toad all while being chased by magical crazy folk. By his side, ready and willing to offer whatever assistance she can is Meg, Johnny's longtime best friend who helps her family run the coffee shop also located in the hotel.

I adored the mash up of fairy tales included within Cloaked. We see elements of The Six Swans, The Elves and the Shoemaker, The Valiant Tailor, The Golden Bird, and of course, The Frog Prince. Almost all of these tales come from my favorites of the Brother's Grimm. Being so familiar with fairy tales in general, and these fairy tales in particular did mean that I was able to predict a lot of what was about to happen, but there was enough that surprised even me that I was not left feeling like this was another predictable retelling.

This was a wonderfully fun story, filled with mischief and mayhem, love and loss, and the hope for brighter days. Johnny was a great character, well rounded and fully written. There are times when he is your typical 17 year old boy, but he is so much more than that. He's loyal and loving, willing to put others before himself and he truly wants to do the right thing. He is sacrificing his dreams to protect and assist his mother. Meg was also a wonderfully written character. Although we don't see as much personal development in her as a character, a lot of the growth we see in Johnny is a direct result of Meg's influence and company.

All in all, this was a wonderfully enjoyable book. It's the perfect combination of reality and myth, fact and fiction, and is full of all the elements which make a wonderfully perfect fairy tale. This is a story that I very highly recommend to any and all whole love a good fairy tale.

*Disclaimer: I received this book through Star Book Tours.

I thought about doing a book review today, or something else but decided that because it is almost Christmas, I am instead going to post a video of my favorite version of my favorite Christmas Song.

I love Carol of the Bells (instrumental only) and The TransSiberian Orchestra is awesome. So, I hope you enjoy listening to Christmas Eve in Sarjaevo. And really — how cool are those lights?! Although — I'd hate to live there.

The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Anderson and The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry are two of my very favorite Christmas stories. Both of these stories are able to instantly bring to mind clear memories of past Christmases, and times spent with my family. Click the titles if you would like to read the stories online. They are both definitely worth the time it takes to read.

As I mentioned in a previous Memory Monday, my family is a bit... dramatic. My dad's parents started a home town theater in West Yellowstone, Montana and my grandfather was a drama professor for years. Acting, orating, speaking and dramatic readings are one of the most clear and vivid pictures I have of my grandfather, and certain milestones in my life are remembered by which story Grandpa was telling.

These two stories were stories that he told over and over again. Both stories are bittersweet, although the ending to The Gift of the Magi is most definitely happier than that of The Little Match Girl but both embody something inherent to the spirit of Christmas.

In O. Henry's story, the husband and wife are willing to sacrifice their most prized and valued possessions to purchase something nice for the other. Their desire to show the love they have for each other is stronger than the desire to maintain their possessions, and learning this is a greater gift than any trinket or bobble, no matter how nice, could be.

Anderson's story appears far more tragic, and it took me a while as a child to appreciate and understand why the story was told at Christmas time. The story leaves us with the idea and the hope of a better place. Our little match girl is alone, cold, and unloved. When she begins striking the matches she is supposed to be selling in a vain attempt to keep warm, she sees a glorious image of food, warmth and love, directed and given to her. Desperate to maintain that vision, she strikes all of the matches and is found in the morning frozen, with a wide smile upon her face. I admit that I don't have an easy line or idea about what this story means about Christmas. I have a much stronger reaction to this story when I listening to a recitation of it, or reading it on my own. But, I have a gut reaction to this story, that makes it feel like Christmas and love.

I know that this is largely due to my grandfather, because of his love for the tale, but regardless, this is a story that resonates with me, that leaves me questioning, thinking and wondering about the true meaning of Christmas.

Both of these are stories that I strongly recommend you seek out if you are unfamiliar with them. What Christmas stories do you hear every year? What memories do those bring?

I think this needs to be the last challenge I commit myself to for next year... Pretty soon, I'm going to get overwhelmed!:)

Among the Muses is having a Fairy Tale reading challenge for 2011. And I absolutely love retold fairy tales. It's one of my favorite genres, and one I consistently read and enjoy. So, I was really excited to hear about a challenge designed around them!

I've decided to go for the Magical level, which is 4-6 fairy tales, but it's very possible I'll end up reading more than that. This is just the number I'm committing myself to. We'll see how I do!:)

Just Listen is my second attempt at a Sarah Dessen book. (Read my review for This Lullaby) I liked This Lullaby okay, but wasn't wowed by it the way so many people seemed to be. But, I did enjoy it.

Just Listen was better. I felt more of a connection with these characters, and I can most definitely see myself reading more by Sarah Dessen in the near future.

Owen was a great character. The boy has got a lot of bottled up anger, but he's got a huge capacity for love as well. Watching him open up was wonderful. I think he was my favorite character in this story.

Annabel was also a great character, and it was painful watching her struggle. You have a pretty good idea the whole time why she's struggling so much, but that doesn't make it any easier to read about. She is hurting, and distrusting, but she slowly begins to open up to Owen, and allow him a place in her life. I thought they were great together, and I really wanted for things to work out.

This book really reminded me of Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, and I think that is a weakness of this story. Not because Just Listen isn't powerful or important, but because I believe Speak to be more so, and I read it first. That being said, I do honestly believe that Just Listen is an important story, one that needed to be told, and one that will touch just as many people as Speak has. Speak is powerful in its simplicity and sparseness, but Just Listen offers us a deeper look into the characters and their relationships with each other, not just focusing on the main character.

Music plays a hugely important role in Owen's life, and as they grow closer, it begins to change Annabel as well. This is a story that will reach certain people and that makes me truly happy, because people need to know that life gets better, that there can be an end to pain, that sometimes, all you have to do is be willing to listen.

The King of Attolia is the third book in The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner. (Read my reviews of The Thief and The Queen of Attolia here) Eugenides is back again, although the bulk of this book is not narrated by him, but by a young member of the Queen's guard, Costis.

The Attolians are having a very hard time dealing with Gen as their new king. They distrust him because he is an outsider, the people we meet in the book know that he stole the Queen to force the marriage before her escape, and no one believes them truly in love, because of a certain event at the beginning of Queen. Costis loses his temper, and strikes the new King. Rather than have him killed, Eugenides makes him a member of his guard (ish) which is why so much of the story is narrated by him.

I was a little worried at first, when I learned that Eugenides was not our main narrator, because I love his character, completely. I think he's wonderful. (In fact, I think I'm making myself a little giddy, just thinking about it...) But, Turner handles it brilliantly. We are able to see Eugenides through new eyes, and the eyes of someone who strongly dislikes him. We all know how clever Gen is, and he knows how clever Gen is, but Costis does not. So, when we see these small pieces of the Gen we know and love pop through his image of boredom and weakness, we rejoice and cheer and laugh at how silly the people of his new court are, because they can't seem to pick up on his genius.

The scene where Costis finally realizes just how brilliant his new King is still makes me happy. (This is what I was referring to, as still being able to make me a little giddy...) . I won't give away any spoilers, because that would be criminal, but I will hint that it's the scene when the Queen (Irene) is discussing the difference between ninety-eight days and six months with Gen.

I think this is my favorite so far (there is a fourth already out, and I believe a fifth in progress) and it's my favorite because it combines the best elements of the first two. It contains the wonderful characterization of The Thief and the intrigues and intricacies of The Queen. Turner writes wonderfully. She builds up a huge tower of cards, and you can't possibly understand how she supports it all when BAM, you realize she was never using cards at all, and that it has always been completely stable. Brilliance!

Even though, as outsiders, we know that Gen just has to have something up his sleeve, it still hurts watching the way the people treat him. It has to be incredibly hard, knowing that everyone hates you and suffering through their constant belittlements. But Gen handles it well and when he finally begins to show his true colors, and turn the tables? It's perfection in a book. I love what he says on page 356, "You can always change the perceptions of fools."

I can't wait to see where the fourth book takes me! Sophos is back (a fairly important character in The Thief who in barely mentioned in The Queen and who has gone missing in The King.)

Today's Memory Monday takes me back — way back. I remember each of these picture books from early grade school. These are books that I first heard when my teacher read them to the class. I loved them so much I read them later on my own, but then I forgot all about them. Something reminded me of them, and I searched for both of them for a long time before I finally found them.

The first was the easiest to find — The Mitten by Jan Brett. A little boy loses his mitten in the woods, and various animals in the forest use it for shelter. I believe this book was my first real experience with the suspension of disbelief. I distinctly remember thinking to myself that what was happening simply wasn't possible. There was no way these animals could all fit inside this mitten, especially when they all start cramming in there together. But then I remember making the conscious decision to like the book anyway, and just pretend for a moment that it was possible, and I was then able to enjoy the story. What can I say, I tend to over think things.

The next book took a lot longer to find, because I didn't remember anything about the title, I just knew it was about a Christmas tree that kept getting its top chopped off over and over, because each piece was just a tiny bit to big for its new home. I was beyond thrilled when I finally found the title again. Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree by Robert Barry. I used to examine the tops of our Christmas trees every year after I read this book, looking for that bend in the top that meant we would need to clip it off. I never got to though, and I'm pretty sure I was awfully disappointed about it...

Do any of you have a favorite winter or Christmas picture book? Or a favorite winter read now? I'd love to hear about them!

I started thinking about the books I'm talking about today because of a 2011 challenge I'm participating in, the 80s and 90s YA Challenge over at The Book Vixen. I was looking at possible books to read, and I realized that Midnight in the Dollhouse and When the Dolls Woke by Marjorie Stover were both published in the 80s, and I could re-read them for the challenge.

It made me start remembering what I loved about those books. I don't remember much about the two books themselves, but I remember reading them over and over. I would check them out of my elementary school library every few months. I remember automatically heading over to the section of the library they were shelved in, and sitting in front of the shelf as I skimmed through the book again and again.

I read them several times, but my memory of the story itself wasn't very good. A few years ago, I was feeling nostalgic, and I wanted to look up these books and maybe reread them. But I had no idea what they were called, or who they were written by. All I remembered was that there were two books, one was pink, and they were about dolls who came alive and that the maid was from the Caribbean, and practiced voodoo. It's not an awful lot to go on, but I searched for them. Someone in a forum on Amazon mentioned these two books, and I immediately looked them up. Turns out, they also include people. Who knew?!:)

Although I don't remember much about the books, I do remember that I liked them enough to want to read them again and again. I would like to read them again someday, but I'm also afraid to. I've reread a few childhood favorites now that I'm an adult, and some of them hold up well, but others really do not. I'm afraid that rereading these books will ruin the memory of them.

The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting was a wonderful read. One of the things I most enjoyed was it's simplicity and originality.

I'm not gonna lie, I've gotten a little tired of the seemingly formulaic YA books that have been released and super hyped recently, especially the paranormal types. I get tired of the predictable love triangles, instantly falling deeply in love with supernatural beings, repetitious and overly predictable plot lines etc. I do enjoy them sometimes, but I can't read too many too close together. I end up spending the whole time rolling my eyes because I can't get over it's absurdities long enough to really enjoy the story.

I was more than happy to discover that The Body Finder had none of these elements. Violet is a great character. She is strong and independent with a definite sense of self, even though she is still questioning certain parts of that self. I love knowing that Violet is aware she still has places to grow, even though she is okay with who she is. I also loved Jay and their relationship. Jay is a great friend to Violet, and really wants what's best for her. And, it's nice to read about a love story that has a real foundation in friendship before growing into love.

We also get to experiences several chapters from the POV of the killer. That is another awesome example of Derting's great characterization skills. I've always been fascinated by serial killers, and (I probably shouldn't admit this,) but I know a lot about them and how they think (ish). And I have to say, I believed in this guy. He really creeped me out, and I found myself with a mild case of the shivers when he popped up.

My favorite genre in my teenage years was murder mysteries and I especially loved Mary Higgins Clark. Can I just say that I loved that the major plot arc here was a murder mystery!? I still love a good murder mystery, so I truly enjoyed stepping back into those familiar reading shoes.

I was also very intrigued by the idea of Violet's power and the echoes death creates. That would be a horrifying ability to posses, especially for a young girl. I've never come across anything like it before and I found myself deliciously intrigued, and morbidly wondering what type of echo I would leave behind.

And, I must also speak about Derting's writing, and her ability to manipulate the mind of the reader and direct them where she will. I really enjoyed her writing style and found myself pushed and prodded into thinking what she wanted me to know at that point that I didn't even notice the pushes until something new came up and exposed them, which is something that does not often happen to me while reading mysteries. It definitely tossed me for a loop or two. Even when I knew without a doubt that she was throwing out a red herring, I still found my heart racing a little faster, because the writing was just that good.

I found that this story contained a believable plot with great characters that I was excited to root for and plausible/realistic situations. I am definitely in eager anticipation of the sequel, Desires of the Dead.

The Other Side of Dark by Sarah Smith is a book I was not expecting. I started the book pretty much knowing only that it was about two characters, one of whom saw ghosts. There are a lot of place that an author can go with that as a guideline, so I wasn't totally sure what to expect.

It's told in perspectives alternating between Katie, the girl who sees ghosts, and Law, a teenager struggling to meet the expectations of his parents — a white mom from a well to do family, and the black father who is THE name in black reparations — what you owe to the black man.

I like multicultural fiction, and have lately been making it a priority to read it more often. But, I didn't pick up this book knowing that, not only were our narrators of different races, but that race was a huge factor into the story as a whole. When I started noticing how focused Law's dad was on what it is the white man owes to the black man, I was a little worried. I don't enjoy reading books that are political agendas lightly disguised as fiction, no matter what the agenda. However, I believe that Smith handled the topic beautifully. She met at the perfect median, where I understood Law, and to a lesser degree, his father, but I never once felt bludgeoned by one view point or another. The ideas of race and reparations are vital, not only to this particular story, but also to the growth and maturation of Law.

I found it interesting that both Katie and Law seemed to find themselves torn between two worlds. Katie's is obvious. She has contact with the dead that alienates people, make them think she's simply crazy. She lives in our world, but must also learn to deal with those from the other side who want her help. Law's struggle is different. He has a white mother and a black father and he feels torn between two races. He isn't black enough to claim what his father has, but isn't really white enough either. He's stuck somewhere in the middle, and he spends the larger part of the book trying to figure out just where and what that is.

Law was my favorite narrator. Although I really liked Katie, and thought her voice was strong and well defined, the passages narrated by Law resonated with me more, and I felt more of a connection to law than to Katie. I think part of this is because everyone knows what it's like to feel like you don't fit in, with family or friends, but not many (if any) people have legitimate contact with ghosts. Although, I must say, Smith's imagery is amazingly vivid. I found myself shivering and looking over my shoulder more than a few times while reading this book, and was awed by the scenes she crafted.

I've already admitted that this book isn't what I expected, but I definitely think it was better. There is a strong sense of history within this novel, and it places a strong importance on the value of the past, our families and discovering who we are, and who we might become. This is a book I am happy to recommend.

*Disclaimer: I received this book through Star Book Tours.

I have to say, that December is my very favorite month. It's Christmas time, which is excellent for lots of reasons. I love Christmas because I get presents (duh, and I think all of us lie if/when we leave this off) I get to give presents, which now that I'm older is just as exciting as getting them, and people just seem to be nicer.

Also, December is the best time to have snow. I love having a white Christmas, and snow has a certain novelty to it that always makes the first snow fall of the year exciting, even if you kind of hate it. But, December is the best time to have snow, and since I live in Idaho, where winter lasts longer than all the other seasons put together (almost) it's a good thing that I'm able to tolerate snow, at least for a little while.

And the best part about December?! It's my birthday, which means it just has to be awesome!:) I'm not a diva about it or anything, but I am definitely of the mindset that on my birthday, I am the most important person. I think I'd be a little like this no matter what, but the fact that my birthday is two days after Christmas means it has a tendency to be lumped into Christmas celebrations. Let me tell you, the absolute worst gift you could possibly give me is anything with 'Merry Christmas/Happy Birthday' attached to it. It definitely gives the gift a negative color, and makes me want to talk to my friends with birthdays in June and do the same.:) My birthday means it's about me, right?! It's great just having a day to celebrate my own awesomeness!:)

What do you love about December?!

Before I get started on what books I want to remember today, and the memories themselves, I need to give you a little background on my family and my childhood. Bear with me here. If you actually end up reading the whole story below... It's pretty funny, and totally true. (Welcome to my life... ;) )

So, my dad grew up in a theater family. His father owned a 'local summer theater' up in West Yellowstone, Montana (The Playmill, for anyone who's been out that direction) and my dad (the youngest of 7 kids) began performing in the Playmill when he was 6 or 7. I'm not kidding or exaggerating when I say it's in his blood, which very likely means it's in mine as well (even though I haven't done much in the way of acting) which may explain why I have a tendency to be a little over the top.

Anyway, rather than divulge more family history, I'm going to tell you a story, that will segue nicely into my Memory, for Memory Monday.

As I believe I mentioned, or hinted, I tend to be dramatic, and I can get pretty intense, especially when I was a kid. One day, as the family was getting ready to go somewhere nice (I was in a dress) my father did something that upset me, and I decided that I was tired of it. So, I informed the family that I was leaving, and they could just go on/be happy without me, and I walked out of the house. I don't think I really intended to run away, it was (as it so often is with nine year olds) more of a punishment for my parents. We had a very long driveway/road (about 3 other houses along the road) and I walked to the end of the driveway, and then turned to watch, expecting my dad to be right behind me, waiting to drag me back into the house. Apparently, it took them a while to notice I was gone, so it was a few minutes before my dad came after me. But, by then I was so mad! I couldn't believe that they had waited that long before coming to get me! So, I decided to run away for real, which meant I definitely needed to get a move on.

As I mentioned before, I was a nine year old wearing a dress that had previously been worn in my aunt's wedding... Stiff fabric and a long, straight skirt. So, I didn't move very fast. My dad caught up with my just around the corner, in the libraries parking lot (fitting, I suppose) and dragged me back to the car. He made me get in, we started driving. My dad asked me if I knew what happened to young girls who tried to run away from home. He sounded quite ominous, and he spent the next 15 — 20 minutes explaining to me what exactly happened to nine year old runaways... In a nut shell, I could look forward to being picked up by a pimp and turned into a crack whore. (Did I mention that I was nine, and that I'm not making this up?!)

My mom was horrified, my older sister completely scandalized, my little brothers oblivious, and me? I was belligerent. Every bad thing my dad mentioned — some guy will grab you and force you to be a prostitute/he'll take all your money/he'll make you take drugs/you will have no choices etc and etc and etc was met with a very sincere, well, I won't let him do that. I was a little afraid, because what nine year old want to believe that her possible future includes hooking for some greasy, smelly old guy while completely high on some toxic mixture of meth, crack and heroine?! But, I refused to let my dad know he was upsetting me, and I honestly remained convinced that I would be able to get away, or overcome said greasy, smelly old guy. I believed that they same way I believed, when my mom would tell me never to open the door to strangers when my parents weren't home, that I could just 'shut the door really fast if they were bad' and there would be no problems. I could handle it.

My mom and I were talking about this a while ago (well, she was actually kind of mocking me) and it got me thinking about why I was so convinced I would be able to handle the world's bad guys as some fairly scrawny 9/10 year old kid. I was looking through some of my old favorite books, when I had an epiphany. I had discovered why I was convinced I could take anything those evil nasties threw at me: Willo Davis Roberts. (GR profile)

I read Roberts voraciously. Some of her books were 'issue' books (Sugar isn't Everything about a girl who is diagnosed with diabetes, Don't Hurt Laurie about child abuse etc) but most of her books are more in the vein of The View from the Cherry Tree, Scared Stiff, Twisted Summer, Baby-Sitting is a Dangerous Job, and Meghan's Island. That is to say — a mystery where the young (generally 8-13ish) protagonist(s) ends up matching wits with the sinister bad guy, and the kids always win! True, there are usually adults involved on the periphery, but there role is generally relegated to calling the police, or offering a small amount of moral support while their world collapses. It's always the kids who ultimately save the day, not only figuring out who the bad guys are, but also managing to subdue them until the police arrive, while also caring for the injured adult family member.

I read every single book by Roberts I could get my hands on. And a vast majority of the books I picked up involved a young kid outsmarting the adult criminal. So I ask you... What else was I supposed to think?! How could I not have believed I'd be able to 'take them down?' What we read often reflects on our realities, so in my reality, kids were definitely the heroes, and there was no doubt in my mind that I would be able to bring those suckers down. Those criminals had no idea who they would be messing with, and I was just itching to prove all these great abilities gleaned from Roberts wisdom.

Wanna know the craziest part? I went back and reread a few of my favorite Roberts' stories a few months ago and I can still believe what those kids get involved with! Her stories are just barely plausible enough to work, and if you don't think about it too hard, those kids really could have done everything she professes them capable of. While it's unlikely that they would be so lucky, by just the right combination of brains, luck, boredom and skill, it's a possible scenario!

Today's 'Memory Monday' is going to be a little different than normal. Instead of talking about a specific memory reading a specific book, I'm going to talk about 3 authors that instantly come to mind when people talk about 'definitive reader moments'. (Okay, so I just made that name up, but I'm sure you all know what I'm actually talking about...) Some of these books will pop up later, probably in an actual review, or I might give them a more in depth 'Memory Monday', but today is less about the books, and more about the authors themselves.

When I was 12, I remember complaining to my mom that I had nothing to read and I was so bored! I think it was mostly an excuse to whine, but I was in a definite slump and nothing really caught my attention. My house has always been full of books, and so my mom took me to the bookshelves to find me something to read. Katherine Kurtz (link to GR profile) has written a series of high fantasy books set in a world she calls Deryni.

There are (I think) somewhere between 18 and 21 books now in the series, mostly grouped into trilogies. My mom cautioned me about them, letting me I might not like them, but there were a lot of them, and I just know my mom just hoped I'd like them because that many books, of which we owned them all would keep me occupied for a long time. But, alas... I did not like them. At all. Looking back, I realize, more than anything, this is probably because the books are high fantasy written for adults, and I was a 12 year old who had most recently grown bored reading R.L. Stine... It wasn't the right for me to read them, but my 12 year old brain took this to mean that all fantasy was BAD. I decided that all fantasy was boring, lame, and definitely beneath me.

So, back to mom I went. My mom, probably desperate to get me to leave her alone, because I am nothing if not persistent when I want something I think you can give me, handed me her copy of Pretend You Don't See Her by Mary Higgins Clark (GR profile). I never gave it back. That book changed my reading life. I LOVED it. I immediately went to my mom, begging for more books to read, but she didn't own any. For the next few years, that was what I read. I read every mystery she produced (I still read them, but I'm 2 behind...) and in my narrow world, mysteries were the only way to go. I read all the Kinsey Milhone ABC mysteries by Sue Grafton, tried my hand at a few Agatha Christies and devoured Joan Lowry Nixon.

Then, in 8th grade, I met a girl who made it her goal to make me understand that other genres had value too. I scoffed, but she insisted and finally bribed me into reading a book of her choice. She picked The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley (GR profile), and I was horrified. She expected ME to read fantasy?! The nerve. But, she insisted, and seeing as I had already accepted the 'bribe' I caved. Surprisingly, I loved the book. I was completely enthralled, blown away and amazed. Who knew that so much greatness could reside in one book?! I brought the book back a few days later and gave it back to her. She was mad, because she thought I had given up, until I started positively gushing about how wonderful that book was. She did the expected, I told you so, and then demanded that I read The Blue Sword, the companion novel to Hero, but I resisted. She finally convinced me to read it. I took it home, and was bored. The beginning dragged on and on, and it took me about a month to get through the first 3 chapters, which I took to mean that fantasy was definitely not for me, and Hero must have been a weird fluke. This girl finally got mad at me about it, because another of my friends was waiting for the book so she could read it. So I begrudgingly agreed to go home and try to get through another chapter. What a chore. But, I went home and picked up the book like I'd promised, expecting to work through another chapter, maybe two if I was feeling particularly masochistic. I brought the book back the next day, done. And I couldn't shut up about how great it was, and how I totally wished I could have been as cool as Harry or Aerin.

I gobbled up Robin McKinley in much the same way I inhaled Mary Higgins Clark, and I ran to this girl for book suggestions over and over. She is the one who introduced me to historical fiction and Ann Rinaldi by convincing me to read Time Enough for Drums (click title for my review). Because of my experiences with this girl, I stopped judging a genre based on a single book, and I opened my mind to new possibilities in reading.

I still haven't gone back to try reading Kurtz's Deryni books again. I'm a little afraid, and I still shy away from those epic fantasy series with books in the double digits, but I'm working up to it. I would like to revisit those books, now that I'm an adult, because I know my perception will be a lot different. My mom and dad both love them, my sister has read them all, and she really enjoyed them, and one of my really good friends began reading them after we had this conversation, and she loves them too. I do plan to read at least some of this series sometime in the future, but I still need to work up to it a little. Have any of you read them? What do you think?

Who are your favorite authors? And what are your 'definitive reading moments'?