Jessica Rules the Dark Side Review

Title: Jessica Rules the Dark Side (Jessica #2)
Author: Beth Fantaskey
Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books
Release Date: January 10th 2012
Source: Review copy (Thanks Thomas Allen and Sons)
Rating: 4
Buy:

Summary:

It’s one thing to find out you’re a vampire princess. It’s a whole other thing to actually rule. Newly married Jessica Packwood is having a hard enough time feeling regal with her husband, Lucius, at her side. But when evidence in the murder of a powerful elder points to Lucius, sending him into solitary confinement, Jessica is suddenly on her own. Determined to clear her husband’s name, Jessica launches into a full-scale investigation, but hallucinations and nightmares of betrayal keep getting in her way. Jessica knows that with no blood to drink, Lucius’s time is running out. Can she figure out who the real killer is—and whom she can trust—before it’s too late?

Review:

I really enjoed the sequel to Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side, even though I think it's a bit odd that two teens are married and ruling a kingdom of vampires. I have to say though even though I really enjoyed Jessica Rules the Dark Side, it wasn't a good as the first book.

Jessica really annoyed me in this book, she had a case of the Bella syndrom, she couldn't function without her guy, and was a bit weak. The worst part about this is she knew she was acting this way, and even mentions it a few times during the book. The good thing though is she does try to get stronger so she can save Lucius and show she will be able to rule over the vampires.

I really missed Lucius, he had a fairly large part in the book, but I really would have enjoyed more of his witty humour. The setting change took a while to get used to, but after I while I found myself quite enjoying the Romanian setting. I also loved getting to know Mindy and Raneiro a bit more, but felt I missed out on there background story because I didn't read the short wedding story online. I would love to see a spinoff about these two, they are really adorable.

I found the plot to be really predictable, right from the beginning I knew "who dun it", it really isn't too hatd to figure out. Despite the books flaws I still found myself falling in love with Beth Fantaskey's story, I've read all her books released and have enjoyed them all. I hope to see more from Jessica and Lusius, hopefully get to see them actually, you know ruling the dark side. Because that has yet to really happen. Lucius <3

Enchanted Review

Title: Enchanted
Author: Alethea Kontis
Publisher: Harcourt Childrens Books
Release Date: May 8th 2012
Source: ARC for Review
Buy: Amazon

Summary:

It isn't easy being the rather overlooked and unhappy youngest sibling to sisters named for the other six days of the week. Sunday’s only comfort is writing stories, although what she writes has a terrible tendency to come true.

When Sunday meets an enchanted frog who asks about her stories, the two become friends. Soon that friendship deepens into something magical. One night Sunday kisses her frog goodbye and leaves, not realizing that her love has transformed him back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland—and a man Sunday’s family despises.

The prince returns to his castle, intent on making Sunday fall in love with him as the man he is, not the frog he was. But Sunday is not so easy to woo. How can she feel such a strange, strong attraction for this prince she barely knows? And what twisted secrets lie hidden in his past - and hers?

Review:

Enchanted is a very captivating fairy tale retelling. It really has the feel of your traditional fairy tales, that we all grew up loving. For me it brought back some memories from my childhood. As you can tell from the cover and the summary this is a retelling of the princess and the frog, that's just the tip of the ice berg. There are so many fairy tales incorporated into Enchanted that I couldn't even begin to tell you how many. Some that are pretty well known and others that aren't, or at least I didn't know about them.

Just to name a few: the princess and the frog, Jack and the bean stalk, cinderella, and Repunzel. There are many, many more but I really don't feel like listing them all, you will just have to pick up the book to see what else is in store for you.

Enchanted is beatifully written, reading this book was a really great experience. All the different fairy tales were entertwined very well and made a new fairy tales in its own. I would totally recommend this book to people who love fairy tale retelling and fantasy books, you will really enjoy Enchanted it's a great debut novel.

The only things I can say against Enchanted are that I found it to be a bit too fast paced in the beginning, I would have been fine if it were extended into a few more chapters. I started loving this book in the beginning but towards the end I got a bit detached from the story and characters because there was a lot going on and I got a bit confused with the characters and their background story from a fairy tale.