Tag Archives: reviews

GG 1 x 8: Love And Snow And War

Posted in Season One, The Gilmore Girls Project by

Love & Snow & War originally aired on December 14, 2000.  It was written by Joan Binder Weiss and was directed by Alan Myerson.

In Love & Snow & War, the first snowfall of the year happens.  Lorelei has her first date with Max while Rory spends the night at her grandparents.  Lane slightly complicates Lorelei’s night with Max.

Opening Scene: The first of many town meetings.  I love these town meetings…and yet again, I totally want to live in a place like Stars Hollow, where everything is run by town meetings and full of really fun things like the Autumn Festival.  We meet Andrew, the owner of the bookstore, and the mayor of Stars Hollow.  Oddly, he doesn’t seem to be around much…and Taylor pretty much takes over that role.  But anyway, Luke doesn’t want to hear the story about the anniversary of the Battle Of Stars Hollow and the reenactment.

Lorelei’s excited about the first snowfall.  She has the uncanny ability to smell snow.  And she listens to a message from Max Medina over and over in the middle of the night.  She loves the snow because that’s when good things happen.  I prefer sunshine, 70 degree weather, and the ability to wear flip-flops year-round myself, but whatever.

Lorelei’s definitely excited about the different activities the guests at the inn can do, but Michel isn’t.  Lane is telling Rory about her crush on Rich Bloomenfeld is, and Rory is too distracted to listen.

Dean shows up at the bus stop, and Rory is excited that Dean seems to like Jane Austen.  He tells her she needs to read Hunter Thompson.  This is one reason why I don’t like Rory and Dean.  She loves reading and school and learning.  And that seems pretty opposite of Dean.  Opposites attract and all, but they just seem too different to really be a good match.

Lorelei skips Friday night dinner because of the weather, so Rory spends the night at Emily and Richard’s.

While taking a walk in the snow, she runs into Max, and they have dinner and a movie.  Lane runs her hand through Rich Bloomenfeld’s hair, and runs off as her band-mates laugh.

At Richard and Emily’s, Emily has no idea what to do for dinner, because the cook can’t get to the house, and they can’t go out to a restaurant.  Rory promises to whip up a frozen pizza.  It’s a pretty funny scene, and it really is interesting how much Richard and Emily depend on their servants.  Must be nice.

Rory looks around her grandparent’s house, and comes across a photo album that belonged to Lorelei.  She finds a picture of her parents, and puts it in her pocket.  Don’t worry, we’ll meet her dad.  Lane calls her, and is feeling jealous of Rory’s life.  Lane just needed her best friend, and Rory wasn’t there.  While they’re talking, the power goes out and they can’t finish their conversation.

Emily is freaking out about the oven timer, and can’t turn it off because she doesn’t know how.  Emily seems pretty sheltered though.  They do enjoy the pizza more than they expected- and Richard even hopes to have it again.

Lorelei invites Max in, because he really doesn’t have anywhere else to go.  But you can tell it’s hard for her, because she keeps her love life very separate from her life at home with Rory.  Admirable but Max brings up a good point when he says that at some point, a guy will be important enough to bring home, and Rory’s just going to have to deal with it.

Lane and Lorelei talk about touching Rich’s hair, and she spends the night at Lorelei’s house.  It definitely changes the night that Max and Lorelei were going to have.

Rory finds Max sleeping on the couch, she and Lane work things out, and the episode ends as Rory looks at the picture of her parents.

Pop culture References: American Revolution, USSR, Sergeant Pepper, Star Trek, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Hunter Thompson, Judy Blume

Favorite Lines/Scenes: From Taylor: “There is no use for a lava lamp, unless you’re on drugs.”

From Richard: “Rory, are you in any way malnourished or in need of a relief organization to recruit a celebrity to raise money on your account?”

Final Thoughts: Cool episode.  I liked but it doesn’t really stand out.  I can’t rememer when her dad shows up, but I think it’ll be a while before we do.  It gets 2 out of 5 mugs.

My Soul To Save

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Book: My Soul To Save by Rachel Vincent

Published by Harlequin Teen

Purchased for my Nook (280 pages)

Genre: YA: Paranormal

Find out more: Goodreads~Barnes And Noble~Amazon~Rachel Vincent

Goodreads Summary: The last thing Kaylee needs right now is to be skipping school, breaking her dad’s ironclad curfew and putting her boyfriend’s loyalty to the test. But starry-eyed teens are trading their souls for a flickering lifetime of fame and fortune in exchange for an eternity in the Netherworld—a consequence they can’t possibly understand. Kaylee can’t let that happen, even if trying to save their souls means putting her own at risk….

My Soul To Save is the 2nd book in the Soul Screamers series, and I really liked it.  I really love how she uses Reapers and banshees, and I just love how she keeps introducing new things.  Like trading your soul to have a lifetime of fame and fortune.  And how they’re tortured for all eternity by a demon.

Kaylee’s not the type to go looking for trouble…well, she sort of is.  But she wants to help people, even if it means she could die.  She’s learning how to control her abilities, and I can’t wait to see what she can do with them.

Nash and Kaylee- I just love them together, and the fact that they need to work together is seriously cool.  Plus, they really are in this together, and it’s partly because they need each other to do their job, but also because they really do care about each other.  As for Nash’s brother, Tod, I love how he just loves to get on Nash’s nerves.

While they don’t save Addie, I get why she did what she did.  She was annoying at times, but she really did redeem herself at the end.  I loved the descriptions of the Netherworld and how dangerous it is.  It’s a place I think we’ll be seeing more of, especially if Tod sticks around.  And the corporation that Addie’s with?  It kind of reminded me of Disney, and how they get a lot of their stars when they’re 12 or 13 and how they kind of fade away once they hit 17 or 18.  I’m not sure if it was intentional or not, but that’s what came to mind.

I’m really starting to love this series, and I’m not at all bored reading it.  I can’t wait to see what happens next.  My Soul To Save gets a 4 out of 5.  

Queen Of Fashion

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Book: Queen Of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore To The Revolution by Caroline Weber

Published by Henry Holt And Co.

Purchased for my Nook (432 pages)

Genre: Non-fiction: History/Fashion

Find out more: Goodreads~Barnes And Noble~Amazon~Caroline Weber

Goodreads Summary: In this dazzling new vision of the ever-fascinating queen, a dynamic young historian reveals how Marie Antoinette’s bold attempts to reshape royal fashion changed the future of France

Marie Antoinette has always stood as an icon of supreme style, but surprisingly none of her biographers have paid sustained attention to her clothes. In Queen of Fashion, Caroline Weber shows how Marie Antoinette developed her reputation for fashionable excess, and explains through lively, illuminating new research the political controversies that her clothing provoked. Weber surveys Marie Antoinette’s “Revolution in Dress,” covering each phase of the queen’s tumultuous life, beginning with the young girl, struggling to survive Versailles’s rigid traditions of royal glamour (twelve-foot-wide hoopskirts, whalebone corsets that crushed her organs). As queen, Marie Antoinette used stunning, often extreme costumes to project an image of power and wage war against her enemies. Gradually, however, she began to lose her hold on the French when she started to adopt “unqueenly” outfits (the provocative chemise) that, surprisingly, would be adopted by the revolutionaries who executed her.

Weber’s queen is sublime, human, and surprising: a sometimes courageous monarch unwilling to allow others to determine her destiny. The paradox of her tragic story, according to Weber, is that fashion–the vehicle she used to secure her triumphs–was also the means of her undoing. Weber’s book is not only a stylish and original addition to Marie Antoinette scholarship, but also a moving, revelatory reinterpretation of one of history’s most controversial figures.

Queen Of Fashion was a really interesting read.  I don’t remember much about Marie Antoinette, other than a few details from a podcast the History Chicks did on her.  And her dying, of course.  There aren’t a lot of details about her childhood, and the book mainly focuses on her life in France.

I loved the focus on clothes and how her style really changed things.  One thing that stood out was the corset reserved for princesses and other high-ranking royalty.  Marie had to wear it on a regular basis, while the everyone else only wore it on certain occassions.  It was definitely more restrictive than the standard corset, and it was much more restrictive than the corsets Marie used to wear in Austria.  Even pregnancy didn’t exempt you from wearing it, and they felt the effects of it more than anyone else.  Fainting, heart palpitations and asthma were among the symptoms.

Appearnce and clothes were really important over in France, and it really signified a lot.  Etiquette and ritual was also important, but clothes really signified the structure of society in France.  Certain people wore certain things, and if you deviated from that…it was not good.

I was surprised to learn that there were people who didn’t like Marie from the very beginning.  I knew that people really didn’t like her towards the end, but when she first arrived- that was definitely surprising.

I did like the descriptions of the clothes she wore, although it did become tiresome by the end of the book.  People definitely copied her fashions for a while, but what once earned her respect would soon work against her.  It seemed like she didn’t get what her clothing represented to her subjects.

It was interesting to see Marie through the clothes she wore, especially since I never associated her with clothes for some reason.

One thing I thought was a little odd was how Weber referenced Antonia Fraser’s work several times.  I did enjoy the one book I read by Fraser, and it’s clear that Fraser’s work was very important to Weber’s book.  But in comparison to other authors mentioned, it was almost as if Weber didn’t use any other sources.

I will say that it is pretty well-paced, and it has a lot of details without getting bogged down with them.  It’s also pretty straight-foward and fairly easy to read.

Queen Of Fashion gets a 4 out of 5.

The Princess Diaries

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Book: The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot

Published by HarperCollins

Purchased for my Nook (256 pages)

Genre: YA: Contemporary

Find out more: Goodreads~Barnes And Noble~Amazon~Meg Cabot

Goodreads Summary: What? A princess??

Me??? Yeah, right.

Mia Thermopolis is pretty sure there’s nothing worse than being a five-foot-nine, flat-chested freshman, who also happens to be flunking Algebra.

Is she ever in for a surprise.

First Mom announces that she’s dating Mia’s Algebra teacher. Then Dad has to go and reveal that he is the crown prince of Genovia. And guess who still doesn’t have a date for the Cultural Diversity Dance?

I completely forgot how much I loved The Princess Diaries until I read it for the first time since high school.

I love how it’s told in diary form, which fits Mia so well.  I just love Mia and how awkward she is.  I can relate to unruly hair and not doing well in math and a crush on a really cute guy.  Her reaction to finding out she’s a princess and her dealing with everyone finding out was interesting to read.  It’s very her, but it’s hard not to smile (or laugh) at her thoughts about what’s going on.

This was so fun to read, and I was worried that it wouldn’t live up to my memories of it.  But it did, and it’s nice to know that it holds up really well.  I feel like we get to know Mia really well, and I love her relationship with her mom.  There is a bit of role reversal, in that Mia’s making sure that everything’s okay.  But it’s nice to see that her parents are involved in her life.

Lilly is a little overbearing, but at least Mia made a new friend in Tina.  I definitely liked how Mia realized that Tina wasn’t as weird as she thought.

While I didn’t absolutely love The Princess Diaries, I still really enjoyed it.  It gets a 4 out of 5 for being funny, honest and real.

Masquerade

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Book: Masquerade by Cambia Hebert

Published by Otherworld Publications

Purchased for my Nook (392 pages)

Genre: YA: Paranormal

Find out more: Goodreads~Barnes And Noble~Amazon~Cambria Hebert

Goodreads Summary: Before. Everything was so much better Before. I wasn’t haunted by nightmares, my place at school was secure and my face was flawless. Now, I’m a freak and everything has changed. The worst part is that I can’t remember the night I was sentenced to the shadows. The memory has been stolen from me and I just can’t shake the feeling that someone, something is out there -watching.

Just when I think I have my life handled, Sam, with his intimidating golden stare and shiver inducing voice, makes me realize that I don’t know anything. He makes me see that my scars don’t matter. That they never mattered. I can’t help but fall for him, completely unknowing that he knows exactly how I got this way. Not knowing he was involved.

Heven has no idea how closely death stalks her. She has no idea what I have done to keep her alive. I fear the day she learns my secrets, finds out what I really am. But even then I cannot stop, I vow to make things right. Finally her hunter will be hunted, Heaven and Hell, faith and sin will battle, and we will be victorious. But first, Heven must learn to be what she never imagined. I know her strength is there – I feel it. If we are to overcome all odds, she must push past her flaws – her frailties – to become much more.

I really liked Masquerade.  There’s a sense of mystery for most of the book, and I really liked that.  We know that Heven has an accident, which left her with some pretty nasty scars, but what no one knows is what happened.  Until the end, of course, when we learn about who attacked and why they did it.

I loved the chapters where we see “the hate” and “the hope.”  You know they’re the one’s who know about what happened to Cambria, and while the hope, who turns out to be Sam, is totally obvious, it worked really well.

One of the things I loved was that Sam is a hellhound.  Definitely cool, and I liked that Heven is a Supernatural Treasure.  Of course, Sam has to protect her, and they are given a mission that they’ll complete in the books to come, which isn’t a big surprise.  But it’s also a pretty original idea, and I can’t wait to see if they complete the task that’s been given to them.

I wish we had more glimpses of Heven’s life before.  It’s referred to, but we don’t actually see it.  Still, we do get just enough to see how things play out.

I thought the characters were interesting, although I don’t particularly care for Heven’s mom or her friend Kimbra.  Her grandma is pretty awesome.  As for Sam and Cole’s dislike of each other…I think there’s more to this, and I’m not sure why.

No story is complete without romance, and I really liked it.  More than I expected, considering that it was fairly predictable.  But I still really liked it, and they are cute together.

Masquerade gets a 4 out of 5.  It is predictable but I really enjoyed it because I loved Sam as a hellhound and Heven as a Supernatural Treasure.

GG 1 x 7: Kiss And Tell

Posted in Season One, The Gilmore Girls Project by

Kiss And Tell originally aired November 11, 2000.  It was written by Jenji Kohan and was directed by Rodman Flender.

In Kiss And Tell, Rory and Dean kiss in Doose’s Market.  Everyone in town seems to know, except for one person: Lorelei.  Lorelei is weirded out because Rory didn’t tell her.

Opening Scene: They talk about laundry, and we learn Rory did some laundry.  And that Lorelei isn’t wearing any underwear.  Taylor and Luke are talking about Autumn decorations in the diner.  Lorelei and Rory want coffee and muffins, and even Lorelei’s lack of underwear doesn’t get their attention.  So she goes behind the counter and serves her and Rory.

Next, Rory goes into Doose’s Market (owned by Taylor), and sees Dean, who offers her a free soda.  He kisses her as she picks out a soda hidden behind his back.  She thanks him, runs out of the market with the cornstarch she was looking at, and runs over to Lane’s.  They talk about the kiss on aisle 3 (which is a good aisle, apparently).

It is so Rory to run away after saying thank you.  But it’s not her to decide she doesn’t want to tell Lorelei.  So she doesn’t tell her.  We also find Lorelei trying to get someone to come fix her fridge because it’s making a weird noise.  I’m sure she’s just getting passed around that office so they can laugh at her making the noise.  I don’t blame them at all.

So Lorelei finds out from Mrs. Kim that Rory and Dean kissed.  I just love Mrs. Kim.  She cracks me up.  Seriously.  And of course, Lane is living vicariously through Rory.  And gives Rory the gossip on Dean.

Lorelei tries to get Rory to talk about the kiss at the diner, but Rory has to get back to the table in the town square because they’re a pilgrim short.  We really don’t see enough of the town events.  Lorelei spies on Dean at Doose’s but Luke manages to get her to leave.  And she starts wondering why Rory didn’t tell her.

Lorelei finally brings up the kiss and is being supportive of Rory finally growing up.  They go into Doose’s to load up on food while they watch Willy Wonka.  Rory’s nervous because it’s too weird, but they go in and everything is fine.  Lorelei goes a little crazy with the candy (not surprising).  Dean likes Willy Wonka…and they clearly do this often, because the cashier totally knew that they were having a movie night.  It’s cool when you go to a place so often they know you.

Lorelei invites Dean over to watch Willy Wonka, and Rory is not happy.  Who would, if their mom invited the guy they like over to watch a movie?  Lorelei apologizes, even though she was just trying to help.  Rory is not sure what to wear, and wishes she could be more like Lorelei, in terms of the whole “guy thing.”  I found that pretty relatable.

He’s late because Babette started talking to him.  And Sookie comes over to meet him…under the guise of bringing over dessert.  Everyone’s curious about the guy that kissed Rory.  Movie night commences, and Lorelei gives him the “hurt my daughter and there is no safe place for you anywhere near Stars Hollow talk.”  It goes fine, and eventually Lorelei hangs out in the kitchen…until Rory wants her to watch the movie with them.  Because Dean is being all perfect and Lorelei isn’t being a good enough chaperone.

The episode ends with Rory telling Lorelei about the kiss.

Pop Culture References: Freud, Willy Wonka, Prince Charming, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, The Way We Were, Boogie Nights

Favorite lines/scenes: Anytime Emily Kuroda (who plays Mrs. Kim) is on screen.

Lorelei: “Stop saying mother like that.”  Rory: “Like what?”  Lorelei: “Like there’s supposed to be another word after it.”

Final Thoughts: We see the start of what is Rory’s first relationship.  It’s never said outright (I think) but it’s definitely implied.  I’m not a fan of the Dean-Rory relationship…which I’m sure I’ll talk about while they’re together.  It’s a pretty average episode.  It’s big in the fact that the Dean-Rory relationship progresses, but other than that, nothing spectacular happens.

Kiss And Tell gets 3 mugs out of 5.

Incarnate

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Book: Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

Published by Katherine Tegen Books

Purchased for my Nook (234 pages)

Genre: YA: Fantasy/Paranormal

Find out more: Goodreads~Barnes And Noble~Amazon~Jodi Meadows

Goodreads Summary: New soul

Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.

No soul

Even Ana’s own mother thinks she’s a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she’ll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?

Heart

Sam believes Ana’s new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana’s enemies—human and creature alike—let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else’s life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?

Incarnate is really interesting.  I love the idea of everyone being reincarnated, except for Ana.  Ana, interestingly enough, took the place of Ciana, and no one knows how or why this happened.  Everyone is suspicious of her, because she took Ciana’s place, and she’s seen (by some) as a bad omen.

It really is an interesting idea, and I loved seeing Ana comes to terms with who she is.  She struggles with being different, but by the end, she’s more okay with it.  I didn’t like her mother, who kept her from society.  I also didn’t care for her father, who makes a surprise appearance before dying.  The characters, in general, were really interesting, and you have a whole cast of them.  Everyone has thousands of stories to tell, because they’ve been around for so long, and I wished we heard more of those stories.

I also loved the setting.  For some reason, I was picturing Asia as the setting the whole time.  It sounds like such a pretty, interesting place, and the details were described really well.

I thought the society was interesting, and I loved what Meadows did with reincarnation.  There are so many possibilities with this society, and it will be interesting to see what Meadows does with Heart in the next book.

And of course, I have to mention the romance!  I just love Sam and Ana together.  They are just so cute together, and I’m glad they finally got together in the end.

Incarnate gets a 4 out of 5.  I didn’t love it, but I still really liked it.  It’s so creative, and I like that it so many different genres.  It didn’t feel like one cliche after another.

Bad Girls Don’t Die

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Book: Bad Girls Don’t Die by Katie Alender

Published by Disney Book Group

Borrowed from the library as an e-book (346 pages)

Genre: YA: Paranormal- Ghosts

Find out more: Goodreads~Barnes And Noble~Amazon~Kate Alender

Goodreads Summary: When Alexis’s little sister Kasey becomes obsessed with an antique doll, Alexis thinks nothing of it. Kasey is a weird kid. Period. Alexis is considered weird, too, by the kids in her high school, by her parents, even by her own Goth friends. Things get weirder, though, when the old house they live in starts changing. Doors open and close by themselves; water boils on the unlit stove; and an unplugged air conditioner turns the house cold enough to see their breath in. Kasey is changing, too. Her blue eyes go green and she speaks in old-fashioned language, then forgets chunks of time.

Most disturbing of all is the dangerous new chip on Kasey’s shoulder. The formerly gentle, doll-loving child is gone, and the new Kasey is angry. Alexis is the only one who can stop her sister — but what if that green-eyed girl isn’t even Kasey anymore?

I enjoyed Bad Girls Don’t Die.  I haven’t read too many books featuring ghosts, but I think this one is my favorite.  Lexi’s sister is possessed by a ghost hell-bent on revenge, which is definitely interesting but not all that unusual for a ghost story.  I like how there’s something weird going on, but you’re not completely sure what it is until later in the book.  It’s definitely creepy, so it all comes together for this really interesting atmosphere.

There is a little bit of everything- romance, mystery and friendship are all in there, but it could have had a little more paranormal activity.  In all honesty, there’s too much going on in this book, so it really felt like Alender couldn’t make up her mind about what she wanted to include.  There are also some things that aren’t resolved in this book that will probably be resolved in one of the other books in the series.

It was definitely predictable, but it seems like there is a lot more to what’s going on.  I have a feeling there’s more to come, and other things will pop up.  The characters are also predictable, and what I expected, but it was still fun to see their reactions to what was going on.  I did like that it was a normal family going through something paranormal.

It started off slow, but once things got going, it was more enjoyable.

I give it a 3 out of 5.  I liked it, and it was a fun yet creepy read.

Daughter Of The Forest

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Book: Daughter Of The Forest by Juliet Marillier

Published by Tom Doherty Associates

Purchased for my Nook (384 pages)

Genre: YA: Historical Fiction/Fantasy

Find out more: Goodreads~Barnes And Noble~Amazon~Juliet Marillier

Goodreads Summary: Lord Colum of Sevenwaters is blessed with six sons: Liam, a natural leader; Diarmid, with his passion for adventure; twins Cormack and Conor, each with a different calling; rebellious Finbar, grown old before his time by his gift of the Sight; and the young, compassionate Padriac.

But it is Sorcha, the seventh child and only daughter, who alone is destined to defend her family and protect her land from the Britons and the clan known as Northwoods. For her father has been bewitched, and her brothers bound by a spell that only Sorcha can lift.

To reclaim the lives of her brothers, Sorcha leaves the only safe place she has ever known, and embarks on a journey filled with pain, loss, and terror.

When she is kidnapped by enemy forces and taken to a foreign land, it seems that there will be no way for her to break the spell that condemns all that she loves. But magic knows no boundaries, and Sorcha will have to choose between the life she has always known and a love that comes only once.

Daughter Of The Forest…it’s okay.  Marillier is so good at describing things, and I loved the setting.  It was so cool to see ancient Ireland and pieces of the conflict with Britain.

Let’s start with the characters.  I didn’t like Sorcha.  I appreciate what she did for her brothers and the sacrifice she made for them but I just couldn’t connect with her.  And the romance!  It is yet another boring and obvious romance.  Speaking of romance, I think one reason why I didn’t like Sorcha was because she didn’t want to get married.  Understandable, but given she’s the only girl in the family, and her dad wants to make things safe, her getting married was bound to happen.  Plus, it just didn’t seem to fit with the time period.

There were times when we got a lot of info, but also times when we didn’t get all that much.  Then there’s the fact that Oonagh is only around long enough to turn Sorcha’s brothers into swans, only to disappear and never be heard from again.

Plus, she was way too calm.  I know she wanted to save her brothers, and couldn’t make a sound for years, but you’d think she’d show more of a reaction when coming across obstacles.

Overall, I give it a 2 out of 5.  Interesting setting and time period but I didn’t particularly care for Sorcha or Red.

The Faerie Path

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Book: The Faerie Path by Frewin Jones

Published by HarperTeen

Purchased for my Nook (336 pages)

Genre: YA: Paranormal- Fairies

Find out more: Goodreads~Barnes And Noble~Amazon~Frewin Jones

Goodreads Summary: Swept away into a court of magic and beauty, she discovers she is Tania, the lost princess of Faerie: the youngest daughter of Oberon and Titania. Since Tania’s mysterious disappearance on the eve of her wedding five hundred years before, Faerie has been sunk in darkness and gloom. The courtly Lord Gabriel Drake, who Tania was once to marry, has found her and brought her back.

With Tania’s return, Faerie comes alive again as a land of winged children, glittering balls, and fantastic delights. But Tania can’t forget Anita’s world, or the boy she loved there.

Torn between two loves and between two worlds, Tania slowly comes to discover why she disappeared so long ago. She possesses a singular magical ability and she must use it to stop a sinister plan that threatens the entire world of Faerie.

I love Faerie novels but this one didn’t work for me.  The idea was interesting and I liked that she’s a long lost faerie princess but I just couldn’t connect with Tania.

I loved the world Jones created, and how Faerie plunged into darkness after she disappeared and after Titania died.  And how the darkness disappeared after she came back to Faerie.  I loved the descriptions- they’re very vivid, and I could picture everything perfectly.  I also loved how Faerie coexisted with the mortal world and how there were places where you can go between the two was cool.

The idea of a faerie princess disappearing into the mortal world is interesting- and even more interesting was the fact that it was for 500 years.  What I didn’t particularly like was how we don’t know what happened to Tania for those 5o0 years.  It would have been nice to know what happened but it’s apparently too hard to get that info from her memories.  Plus, I felt like we didn’t get a good glimpse of who she was as a person.  I get why didn’t get a sense of who she was as a faerie princess, because she doesn’t remember that life.  But we also didn’t get a good sense of who she was…in general.  It was just hard to connect with her.

It definitely focused on her getting back to the mortal world, and how she was impressed by her faerie princess background but also didn’t want to leave her old life behind.  It’s a strange combination of wanting to accept Faerie but also wanting to live in the mortal world because it’s all she’s known.  She just went back and forth so many times that it was more annoying than anything else.  I wanted to like her, but I couldn’t.

The romance was boring.  Actually, it was pretty standard, and not a surprise at all.  I didn’t really care about either guy.  As for the other characters, there were a lot, and they just randomly showed up for a few scenes and then disappeared, only to randomly show up again.

It gets a 2 out of 5.  It was just okay for me, but it’s an interesting idea.