The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

Fiction

David is a twelve year old boy that's just lost his mom. David's father eventually moves on with a new woman, Rose, and they have a child together. David feels left out and forgotten. He turns to books to pass his time, and finds that they whisper to him from their shelves. Slowly the characters start to come out of the books and David in to them. Eventually David finds himself within one of his books and needs to find the King to figure out how to get back home.

This is a coming of age story, mixed with fairy tales that don't end up the way we all think they do. David learns that "happily ever after" actually means "eaten quickly". David finds out he's a very brave boy and learns what is really important to him.

This book was a bit slow to get in to because it started off very cliche. A boy who hates his step-mother, how many times have we read stories like that? But once David got in to the book, I was much more interested in the story and really enjoyed the different takes on fairy tales. Snow white was a good one. This was a fun read, with a lot of extra (and unnecessary) bits at the end about the fairy tales used.

First Line: "Once upon a time - for that is how all fairy tales should begin - there was a boy who lost his mother."

Rating:
(4/5)

The Mermaid's Daughter by Ann Claycomb

Fiction

In a modern day, tragic re-telling of the Little Mermaid, Kathleen comes from a long history of women that have a strong affinity to the sea. Kathleen isn't fully aware of her history, but she does know that her mom walked in to the sea one day when she was a baby with rocks in her pockets. She suffers from the same stabbing pain in her feet and mouth that her mom did and wonders if she is bound to the same fate. Thankfully, she has two things to help her get through this pain: her girlfriend Harry and music.

Harry and Kathleen vacation in Ireland to learn more about Kathleen's family history and find out that the tragedy extends back many generations. To help Kathleen cope with this, Harry and Kathleen's father set out to compose an opera specifically for her. They wonder if they can reverse the curse in Kathleen's family and save her with music.

I really enjoyed the Disney movie The Little Mermaid but had never read Hans Christian Andersen’s tale, so I only know the child-friendly version of this story. We know that the Disney movie is a musical and it suits the story very well that this re-telling also involves music. The most enjoyable part of this book for me was when Katheleen's dad and Harry were creating the opera for her. There was underlying tension of Kathleen possibly getting worse, combined with the stress of creating and producing on an opera.

Unfortunately, compared to Arial, Kathleen was a completely selfish, annoying character. This is called out by herself and Harry throughout the novel, but it doesn't help me connect with her. By the mid point of the book I was rather fed up. I understand that she's in a lot of pain but she treats her partner like garbage when all Harry wants to do is help. I feel like this could have been toned down a bit to allow me to feel more sympathy for Kathleen rather than hating her.

Still, Harry and Kathleen's father more than make up for the dislike I had for Kathleen. That combined with the interesting story make this a worthy read.

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for letting me be a part of this tour! If you're interested in picking this book up, you can get it here.

First Line: "'Kathleen,' she says, 'you are going to go mad.'"

Rating:
(4/5)

About the Author Ann Claycomb’s fiction has been published in American Short Fiction, Zahir, Fiction Weekly, Brevity, Hot Metal Bridge, The Evansville Review, Title Goes Here, and other publications. She has twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has an MFA in fiction from West Virginia University. Find her on Harper Collins' bio page.

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

Children's

When Ella was a baby, she was "gifted" with obedience. When someone gives Ella an order, she must obey it. As a teenager, this becomes a big problem as people boss her around and make her do things that suit them rather than her. Ella looks to find the person that gave her this curse and see if she can get it reversed.

This is a different take on the Cinderella fairy tale, though you really only get in to the Cinderella part at the very end of the book. The first part of the book was imaginative and fun but swinging in to the Cinderella story line at the end of the book seemed like a bit of a cop out to me.

However, since this book is for kids, I don't think kids would care when they read this. It's still a fun story about a girl who overcomes her curse and everything ends happily ever after!

First Line: "That fool of a fairy Lucinda did not intend to lay a curse on me."

Rating:
(3.5/5)