[BOOK REVIEW] Caraval by Stephanie Garber

Title:  Caraval

Author:  Stephanie Garber

Genre: Fantasy

Year Published: 2017

Number of Pages: 407 pages

Date Read: 10/11/2017

Series: Caraval #1

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 15+ (Themes of Child Abuse and Deaths)

Trigger Warnings:  Child Abuse

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

“Every person has the power to change their fate if they are brave enough to fight for what they desire more than anything.” 

2017 is the year of new releases that are full of books that contain adventure, romance, horror and excitement and I happened to stumble upon a new release for this year called “Caraval” by Stephanie Garber and I was seriously blown away by this book!

Scarlett Dragna has lived on a tiny island for most of her life, along with her little sister Donatella Dragna and her cruel and powerful father Governor Dragna.  One day, Scarlett’s father has decided to arrange a marriage between Scarlett and a Lord that she does not know and even though Scarlett believes that this would be the only way to escape her miserable life on the island and her abusive father, Scarlett still thinks that something is missing from her life.  It wasn’t until that very day that Scarlett meets a roguish and mysterious sailor named Julian who offered Scarlet the chance to visit the place of Scarlett’s deepest dreams:  CARAVAL!  Even though Scarlett was unsure about going to Caraval because she feared that her father will punish her severely for her disobedience, Scarlett decided to leave the island once she finds out that her sister Donatella had suddenly vanished from the island.  So, Scarlett and Julian set out to the mysterious island of Caraval to find Donatella; but once Scarlet gets to Caraval, she will soon discover that her sister Donatella is a part of some sort of sadistic game where whoever finds Donatella will be able to receive a wish from the legendary magician Legend himself!  So, Scarlett and Julian try to compete in the game in order to find Donatella before it is too late!

Wow!  Stephanie Garber has truly woven a truly magical and intense story about the importance of sibling love while also exploring the importance of true love!  Stephanie Garber has done a brilliant job at detailing the magical world of Caraval as the concept of this world is that everyone is doing a performance for the people and you have to decide what is real and what is not real in order to survive the game!  I loved the fact that this book focuses on a carnival theme as it is rare for me to read a young adult book that involves carnivals and games as a major plot of the story.  I loved the way that Stephanie Garber focused on the sisterly relationship between Scarlett and Donatella as it is also rare that I had read young adult books that focuses mostly on the relationship between siblings and I loved the fact that Scarlett truly does care about her sister Donatella and is willing to put her life on the line in order to protect Donatella from any kind of danger in the world of Caraval.  But what I loved the most in this book was the relationship shared between Julian and Scarlett!  When I went into this book, I actually thought that this book was just going to be about the sisterly relationship between Scarlett and Donatella and while that was a major part of the plot, it was Julian and Scarlett’s relationship with each other that really sold me!  I loved the fact that Julian and Scarlett both brought out the positive aspects in each other, such as Julian bringing out the bravery in Scarlett that she has held back due to her father instilling fear in her and Scarlett bringing out a softer side to Julian who was introduced as being aloof and not caring about who he hurts to get what he wants until he met Scarlett.  Even though their romantic bantering was downplayed in this book, it was still interesting seeing how different these two are from each other and yet, they become quite a compatible pair!

 

For anyone who does not like some language in this book, there is some language in this book, although it is not as strong as some other young adult books.  Also, this book deals with the subject of child abuse as both Scarlett and Donatella are beaten up by their father for various reasons and that might be uncomfortable for some readers to handle.

***SPOILER WARNING!!!***

This is a bit of a small nitpick for me, but the fact that it turned out that Donatella put her own sister through the game and tricking her into thinking that she died to prove Scarlett’s love for her kind of rubbed me the wrong way.  This made me see Donatella as being a bit manipulative towards Scarlett in making a deal with Legend without telling Scarlett and it made me question about whether or not Donatella actually cared about Scarlett’s feelings during the whole ordeal.

***SPOILER WARNING!!!***

Overall, “Caraval” is a wonderful book about the importance of sisterly love and anyone who loves reading books about siblings will surely enjoy this book!  I will definitely be checking out the second book as soon as it is released!

You might also like: 

• The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

• Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

• Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

[ARC REVIEW] The Frog Prince by Mike Klaassen (@bookunleashed, @BookBaby)

Title:  The Frog Prince

Author:  Mike Klaassen

Genre: Fairy Tale Retelling / Historical Romance

Year Published: 2016

Number of Pages:  114 pages

Date Read: 9/24/2017

Publisher:  Bookbaby

Source:  eARC (Book Unleashed)

Content Rating:  Ages 8+ (Some Intense Moments and Rude Behavior)

Buy or Add on:  Amazon  //  Goodreads

I would like to thank Book Unleashed and Bookbaby for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Now, I have been reading the Brothers Grimm fairy tale classics for many years and I have seen many retellings of their fairy tales such as “Rumpelstiltskin,” “The Bremen Town Musicians” and “Snow White.”  But, I had never read a retelling of the “Frog Prince” before and when Book Unleashed gave me a free copy of Mike Klaassen’s retelling of “The Frog Prince,” I just had to check this book out and man was I blown away by this interesting retelling of the classic story!

Young Prince Gerit was out playing around the bog near his father’s kingdom when suddenly, he falls into the bog and could not get out of the water.  Then, an old woman named Wibke came along and noticed that Gerit was in trouble.  Gerit desperately asks the old woman to help him out of the water and Wibke promised that she will help the prince if the prince promises her that he will take care of her for the rest of his life.  Of course, Gerit does not want to take care of the woman, but he agreed to the bargain anyway and Wibke helped Gerit out of the water.  Then Gerit tried to break his promise to Wibke by running off to the castle, until Wibke transformed Gerit into a frog and she states that the only way that Gerit will turn back into a prince again is if a princess comes along and kisses him three times.  So, Gerit goes on a long journey to find a princess who is willing to kiss him three times and Gerit stumbles upon a kingdom that is ruled by his father, King Egon’s enemy, King Torsten and he finds out that King Torsten has a daughter named Anneliese.  Now, Gerit tries to make an effort to get Princess Anneliese to kiss him three times or else, he will remain a frog forever!

Wow…just wow…I never would have thought that I would read a retelling of “The Frog Prince” with so much energy and emotion!  Mike Klaassen has done a fantastic job at retelling this classic fairy tale as he gives a more contemporary and in-depth spin to the story.  I loved the fact that the story is told from the point of view of the Frog Prince himself and this made Gerit into an extremely interesting character as we get to see how he was like before he turned into a frog and we also get to see his struggles in becoming a frog and trying to find a way to change himself back into a prince.  I also loved the character development that both Prince Gerit and Anneliese go through as they both started off as royal brats who only thought about themselves and believe that they will get anything they want because they are of royalty.  However, the events of the story caused the characters to grow and understand the harsh situations that they are thrown into, such as the fact that their kingdoms are being involved in a war and how both Gerit and Anneliese may have to sacrifice their happiness in order to save their kingdoms.  I loved the way that Mike Klaassen developed Gerit and Anneliese’s relationship with each other as I enjoyed the interactions that the two had with each other, such as playing ball together and talking about their favorite books.  I also felt that Gerit and Anneliese’s growing relationship with each other was developed in a natural way and it felt more real than in the original fairy tale as the two did not love each other at first, but started developing feelings for each other over the course of the story, which I found to be pretty refreshing!

The only problem I had with this book was that the ending felt a bit rushed.  It felt like they wanted to quickly skip to the ending of the original fairy tale and did not developed the resolution of the story a bit further to see how the actions of the characters would affect the overall scheme of the story.

Overall, “The Frog Prince” is a brilliant retelling of the original fairy tale and anyone who is a huge fan of the “Frog Prince” will easily enjoy this book!

 You might also like:

• Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen

• Cinder by Marissa Meyer
• Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

[BOOK REVIEW] Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig

Title:  Sylvester and the Magic Pebble

Author:  William Steig

Genre: Family / Drama / Magic / Animals

Year Published: 1969

Year Read:  2008

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 5+ (Discussions about loss of a child)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

“Sylvester and the Magic Pebble” is one of William Steig’s earlier books and has proven to be the most emotional and heartwarming of all of his books. Also, this was William Steig’s first controversial book due to the image of the police being portrayed as pigs, even though I do not think that it is an issue because all the characters are animals, but it depends on how you view this issue. Anyway, William Steig’s dramatic storyline and illustrations has won this book a Caldecott Book Award and will surely be a treat to read.

William Steig has done an excellent job at beautifully detailing a young donkey’s attempts to change back to normal after a wish goes awry. Both children and adults will feel for Sylvester’s great sadness at not being able to tell his parents that he is still alive and his parents’ misery as they thought that their darling son was dead. William Steig’s illustrations are beautiful and detailed as he vividly draws the sad and happy emotions on Sylvester’s parents’ faces when they worried about their son, Sylvester. Also, the illustrations of the flowers and the trees and even the snow during the winter scene are memorizing as they provide a calm background the images.

***Small Rant:***

Alright, so everyone who has been browsing through various banned books knows that the reason why this book was banned was because of the image of the policemen being portrayed as pigs. First of all, I have an issue with this book being banned because of that reason.  I mean, this is a book about TALKING ANIMALS, so what is wrong with the police being portrayed as pigs in a book about talking animals?  Also, the main character is a DONKEY! So, that means that if the characters were switched and the main character was a pig and the policemen were donkeys, would that still be an issue?  There were a couple of banned books where I do not agree with the reasons of it being banned (although, I never agree with any book being banned), but this was one of those books where I think the reason for it being banned was COMPLETELY unjustified.

***Rant Ended***

Also, the scenes where Sylvester's parents worry about Sylvester's whereabouts might worry smaller children who might worry about whether or not Sylvester will ever transform back into himself again.  Parents should reassure their children about the importance of staying safe if they wonder out into an unknown area.

“Sylvester and the Magic Pebble” is William Steig’s milestone children’s book as it discusses the love that Mr. and Mrs. Duncan have for their child, Sylvester, when he turns up missing and how the spell of the magic pebble is broken when Mr. and Mrs. Duncan wished for their child’s return. This book will be a cult favorite for both children and adults and is suitable for children ages five and up, even though it discusses the loss of a child.

* 1970 Caldecott Medal

* 1970 National Book Award Finalist for Children's Books

* 1978 Lewis Carroll Shelf Award

You might also like: 

• The Amazing Bone by William Steig

• Doctor DeSoto by William Steig

• Caleb and Kate by William Steig

 REASON FOR BEING BANNED: For having illustrations that portrayed police characters as pigs.

[ARC REVIEW] Wicked Intentions by Elizabeth Hoyt

Title:  Wicked Intentions

Author:  Elizabeth Hoyt

Genre: Historical Romance

Year Published: 2010

Number of Pages: 531 pages

Date Read: 2/18/2017   

Publisher:  Gale Cengage Learning (Large Print)

Series: Maiden Lane #1

Source: eARC (NetGalley) / Library

Content Rating:  Ages 18+ (Gory Violence and Sex Scenes)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

I would like to thank NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

“Every word you have ever uttered, is engraved upon my heart.” 

Hoo boy! It has been a while since I had last read a historical romance novel and what better way to start off the new year than to read a historical romance novel by a new author?  When NetGalley offered me a new historical romance book online, I was tempted to try this novel “Wicked Intentions” by Elizabeth Hoyt out, since I had never read a romance novel by Elizabeth Hoyt before, despite hearing her name pop up in many romance discussions.  After reading this book, I was so blown away by the raw and real romance shown in this novel!

Lazarus Huntington, Lord Caire, was known throughout London as being a notorious rake who would pleasure himself with any woman he came across.  However, his main goal in this story is to find the person who murdered his former mistress Marie and he ends up enlisting the help of Temperance Dews, who was a widowed woman running a foundling home that her family established.  Unfortunately, Temperance and her family were having a hard time trying to maintain the home since they did not have enough money to support the home.  So, Lord Caire decided that he will introduce Temperance to high society so that way she can find a benefactor who could support the foundling home.  But in exchange for that, Temperance must help Lord Caire find Marie’s killer in the dangerous streets of St. Giles and even though Temperance and Lord Caire did not get along with each other at first, they both soon realize that their feelings for each other might grow into a passion that might consume them both!

Wow! I must admit that this was a pretty awesome read for my first novel by Elizabeth Hoyt!  I was amazed by the dangerous yet sensuous world that Elizabeth Hoyt had crafted and how the characters all try to survive in this type of world without being corrupted themselves.  Elizabeth Hoyt has done a fantastic job at intertwining the murder mystery plot of Marie’s murder into the romantic plot line between Temperance and Lord Caire as it was interesting in not only trying to discover who Marie’s murderer is, but it was great seeing the growing romantic relationship between Temperance and Lord Caire!  But what I loved the best about this book was how Elizabeth Hoyt wrote each character, especially Temperance and Lord Caire!  I loved the fact that both Lord Caire and Temperance are shown as both having flaws (Lord Caire is a rake, while Temperance has a dark past that she has trouble telling people about) and I loved the fact that Lord Caire was trying to get Temperance to open up about her past and Temperance was trying to show Lord Caire what true love is all about.  Although, the only nitpick I have about the characters was that I wish we knew more about Temperance’s family members like her brothers Winter, Concord and Asa and especially her sister Silence who has her own side story in this book.  Also, I have to say something about the…. SEX SCENES.  I must say that this novel probably has the most graphic yet sensual depiction of sex scenes I have ever read in any romance novel and it was quite an unusual yet mesmerizing experience to behold!

For anyone who does not like strong violence and sex scenes, this novel has plenty of violence and sex scenes that might make some readers squirm a bit.  Regarding the strong violence, there are scenes where the victims of the murders have their stomachs torn open by the murderer and it is described in graphic detail.  The same goes for the sex scenes are they are described much more graphically in this novel than in any other romance novel.

Overall, “Wicked Intentions” is a fantastic read if you are into historical romances that manage to combine murder mystery into the plot line and I definitely cannot wait to read more stories from the rest of the characters in this story!

* 2011 All About Romance (AAR) Annual Reader Poll for Best Love Scenes

[BOOK REVIEW] Miss Nelson is Missing! by Harry Allard

Title:  Miss Nelson is Missing!

Author:  Harry Allard

Artist:  James Marshall

Genre:  Trickery / Manners / School / Mystery / Humor

Year Published: 1977

Year Read:  1994

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company

Series: Miss Nelson #1

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 4+  (Some Mischievous Behavior) 

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

“Miss Nelson is Missing!” is a children’s book written by Harry Allard along with illustrations by James Marshall and is about how the school’s sweetest teacher suddenly disappears and is replaced by a vicious teacher who tortures the students in room 207.  This book is surely a joy to read for children who love good humor and a good mystery to solve.

The book begins with the kids in room 207 misbehaving, especially since they got the reputation of being the worst-behaved class in the entire school.  Miss Nelson, their teacher, tried everything to calm them down, but nothing worked, so Miss Nelson decides that something has to be done to keep the kids under control.  The next day, Miss Nelson did not show up at school and the kids took this opportunity to misbehave even more.  Suddenly, a scary looking woman in an ugly black dress came into the classroom and yelled at the kids to be quiet and do their homework.  It turns out that the new and cruel teacher is none other than Miss Viola Swamp and the longer Miss Swamp stayed at the school, the more miserable the kids got as Miss Swamp forced the students to do so much hard work.  The kids then wondered what happened to Miss Nelson and whether she will come back or not.

Will Miss Nelson return back to school?

Read this book to find out!

Harry Allard has written a clever story about how the kids of room 207 learned the hard way about behaving when they are nearly stuck with a cruel teacher when their sweet teacher suddenly disappears from school.  I think it was clever about the way that the children suddenly started behaving towards the end of the book when they realized that Miss Nelson was a better teacher than Miss Swamp after they started taking advantage of her good nature.  James Marshall’s illustrations are cute as the characters have black dotted eyes and pudgy cheeks.  The illustration that truly stood out was the illustration of Miss Viola Swamp herself as she looked like a real witch with her long chin, her black dress and her striped stockings and she always had a scowl on her face everytime she looks at the children.

“Miss Nelson is Missing!” is a great and clever children’s book about what could happen if one does not behave properly and the importance of trying to obey authority at all times.  I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since I do not find anything unsuitable for the smaller children in this book.

* 1978 Edgar Award Nominee for Best Juvenile

* 1981 Grand Canyon Reader Award