Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

The women of the Waverley family -- whether they like it or not -- are heirs to an unusual legacy, one that grows in a fenced plot behind their Queen Anne home on Pendland Street in Bascom, North Carolina. There, an apple tree bearing fruit of magical properties looms over a garden filled with herbs and edible flowers that possess the power to affect in curious ways anyone who eats them. For nearly a decade, 34-year-old Claire Waverley, at peace with her family inheritance, has lived in the house alone, embracing the spirit of the grandmother who raised her, ruing her mother's unfortunate destiny and seemingly unconcerned about the fate of her rebellious sister, Sydney, who freed herself long ago from their small town's constraints. Using her grandmother's mystical culinary traditions, Claire has built a successful catering business -- and a carefully controlled, utterly predictable life -- upon the family's peculiar gift for making life-altering delicacies: lilac jelly to engender humility, for instance, or rose geranium wine to call up fond memories. Garden Spells reveals what happens when Sydney returns to Bascom with her young daughter, turning Claire's routine existence upside down. With Sydney's homecoming, the magic that the quiet caterer has measured into recipes to shape the thoughts and moods of others begins to influence Claire's own emotions in terrifying and delightful ways. As the sisters reconnect and learn to support one another, each finds romance where she least expects it, while Sydney's child, Bay, discovers both the safe home she has longed for and her own surprising gifts. With the help of their elderly cousin Evanelle, endowed with her own uncanny skills, the Waverley women redeem the past, embrace the present, and take a joyful leap into the future.

An agent who I really wanted to work with when I was sending query letters said in her profile see wanted to see more novels like this coming into her submission pile (tip to querying authors, check out the books agents say they would like to see more of, it will also give an insight to their particular taste). I saw the sub-genre was magical realism and I am an avid fan of books dealing with magical realism so I decided it was time I read it. The book has a blossoming romance, and was such a light, delightful read. I liked the imagery Allen puts onto the pages. The way she describes the garden you feel like you are actually in the garden. I am looking forward to reading more of Allen's work very soon.

The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot

The Princess Diaries

Timed just right to anticipate the August feature-film release from Walt Disney Pictures, with new cover art from the movie With wry, observant wit, Mia chronicles her rocky first month of high school. First she finds out she's the crown princess of a European principality, then there's a first kiss from her big crush, an empowering ice-cream-cone shove into the sweater of her nemesis, and a meltdown in the ladies' room of Manhattan's Plaza Hotel.

The book series revolves around a New Yorker named Mia, who finds out that her father is the prince of a small country called Genovia. Mia has to deal with all of this news while still failing Algebra, deal with her controlling best friend Lily, and try to control her crush over Lily's brother Michael. Later on in the book series, Mia does start going out with her best friend's brother Michael, and they fall in love. Then their relationship hits a rock bottom. In the last book in the series, Mia and Michael do get back together which made me happy, but it took ten books? Unfortunately as much as I like the books an author needs to be careful about how many books they put in a series because the reader can get bore with the series and eventually stop reading that series, but this series was the exception for me. Mia was a fun character and it was very entertaining to be in her head. 

 This is one of my favorite series growing up. These books by Meg Cabot hold a special place in my heart because it's one of the first series I read that made me fall in love with a character so much. Sadly the movie wasn't the same as book one in the series, but I do love Anne Hathaway. These are really quirky books that deal with everyday teenage problems all while being prepared to rule a country. This is such a fun series for teens to read and I urge you to read them, you won't be disappointed. The movie was quite similar to the book, but it was really clear what parts were changed in the movie and the book.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Around the world, black hand prints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky. In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grows dangerously low. And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal other wordly war. Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages—not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out. When one of the strangers—beautiful, haunted Akiva—fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?



I found myself drawn by the cover on the book. I had heard positive things about the book from other reviewers so I thought I would give it a shot. I really enjoyed the book, especially when the romance begins in the book, but the romance wasn't written that well. The book had such an addicting plot it makes me upset I have to wait for months until the next installment, which is why I wait for the whole series to be out before reading books. I also felt like the ending of the book was a bit too abrupt, almost like it just needed to end to keep it going as a series the author has anticipated. I am very curious about what's going to happen in the rest of the series. 

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children. When Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can’t bring herself to hate him as much as she’d like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband’s strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement. Her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next, and Rhine is desperate to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive. Will Rhine be able to escape--before her time runs out? Together with one of Linden's servants, Gabriel, Rhine attempts to escape just before her seventeenth birthday. But in a world that continues to spiral into anarchy, is there any hope for freedom?

Do you remember when you would go to the bookstore and spend hours browsing through the isles looking for a perfect book? Then you find yourself curious about the book and then you you read the summary and it gets you eager to begin reading the book. Once you finally read the book you find yourself not as impressed. I felt that way reading Wither. The book has sex, death, pregnancy and evil intentions. Rhine lives in a society where girls die at 20, and boys die at 25 and scientist fail to find a cure for this virus. People have become accustomed to living in this society either putting their children into an orphanage or selling them into prostitution. Out of what happens to the girls in the novel Rhine was lucky to be with Linden. Rhine doesn't trust anyone. Being inside of the main character Rhine's head just annoyed me, I felt like I was in Bella's head all over again. I had a real hard time trying to like the person who's There are parts in the book that tend to be really bland and needed some tightening up, and also needed a little something extra to spice up the dialogue between the characters. Apart from my issues with the main character, it had some good world building.  Maybe the book would have been better off in written in third person. I didn't find myself drawn to the main character.