Mini Reviews

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

“When Alyss Heart, newly orphaned heir to the Wonderland throne, flees through the Pool of Tears to escape her murderous Aunt Redd, she finds herself lost and alone in Victorian London. Befriended by an aspiring author named Lewis Carrol, Alyss tells the violent, heartbreaking story of her young life. Alyss trusts this author to tell the truth so that someone, somewhere will find her and bring her home. But he gets the story all wrong. He even spells her name incorrectly!

Fortunately, Royal Bodyguard Hatter Madigan knows all too well the awful truth of Alyss’ story – and he’s searching every corner of our world to find the lost princess and return her to Wonderland, to battle Redd for her rightful place as the Queen of Hearts.”

I loved the creativity of this retelling of the Alice in Wonderland story. I wasn’t as in love with the overall plot.

In Need of Therapy by Tracie Banister
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

“Lending a sympathetic ear and dispensing sage words of advice is all part of the job for psychologist Pilar Alvarez, and she’s everything a good therapist should be: warm, compassionate, supportive. She listens, she cares, and she has all the answers, but how’s the woman everyone turns to in their hour of need supposed to cope when her own life starts to fall apart?”

I wish Pilar had been a little more professional and a little less damsel in distress.

Timebound by Rysa Walker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

“When Kate Pierce-Keller’s grandmother gives her a strange blue medallion and speaks of time travel, sixteen-year-old Kate assumes the old woman is delusional. But it all becomes horrifyingly real when a murder in the past destroys the foundation of Kate’s present-day life. Suddenly, that medallion is the only thing protecting Kate from blinking out of existence.”

I loved the idea of bad guys going back to time to invent a religion to get people to follow them. Trying to work in time travel and the Chicago World’s Fair and a serial killer was all a bit much though.

Jeweled Fire by Sharon Shinn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

“As one of the four princesses of Welce, Corene always thought she might one day become queen. Only circumstances changed, leaving fiery Corene with nothing to show for a life spent playing the game of court intrigue—until a chance arises to become the ruler of a nearby country.

After stowing away on a ship bound for Malinqua with her loyal bodyguard, Foley, Corene must try to win the throne by making a play to marry one of the empress’s three nephews. But Corene is not the only foreign princess in search of a crown.”

I absolutely love this series but this was my least favorite book. Corrine is a brat and I didn’t find her that interesting. She grows up in this story but I still found the romance unlikely and the story not up to the previous books.

DNF Review

Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly

“New York socialite Caroline Ferriday has her hands full with her post at the French consulate and a new love on the horizon. But Caroline’s world is forever changed when Hitler’s army invades Poland in September 1939—and then sets its sights on France.

An ocean away from Caroline, Kasia Kuzmerick, a Polish teenager, senses her carefree youth disappearing as she is drawn deeper into her role as courier for the underground resistance movement. In a tense atmosphere of watchful eyes and suspecting neighbors, one false move can have dire consequences.

For the ambitious young German doctor, Herta Oberheuser, an ad for a government medical position seems her ticket out of a desolate life. Once hired, though, she finds herself trapped in a male-dominated realm of Nazi secrets and power.”

I didn’t DNF this book because it was bad. The writing is beautiful and draws you into the story. It was the subject matter. The descriptions of Nazi cruelty were so brutal that it was difficult to read much at one sitting. My time ran out at the library. I’m not sure if this is a book I would pick up again.