Tag Archives: romance

Book Review: Blackmoore: A Proper Romance, by Julianne Donaldson

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blackmoore_coverI recieved an advance readers edition of this book at 4:00 pm and finished it before I fell asleep! It had me hooked from the very first to the very last page.

From the author of Edenbrooke (which I also reviewed), Julianne Donaldson, Blackmoore is a gorgeous book full of love and conflict, tragedy and humor, heart vs. brain, and Miss Kate Worthington’s heart’s desire. This book has it all: an embarrassing mother, a forbidden love, a childhood romance, a beautiful estate, a dreamy love interest, and a heroine that can’t wait to get out of her mother’s house.

Katherine Worthington’s lifelong dream is to go to India. She wants to be out of her childhood home and away from her mother’s flirtatious behavior and sister’s scandals. She wants to be nothing like the rest of the females in her family. And she is so terrified of love after seeing her mother and fathers botched marriage, she swears to her neighbors that she will never get married. Her mother, however, is ready to see her second daughter married off and is ready to beg, barter, and steal to make an advantageous match happen. Finally, Kate and her mother strike a deal: Kate will be able to go to India as long as she turns down three proposals of marriage at the estate she is visiting for the summer, Blackmoore. Desperate, Kate agrees, never dreaming how painful, confusing, and alienating this bargain will make her.

I was turning pages frantically to try to finish the book, but once I was done I felt a bit out of sorts. Kind of as if I had lost a friend. It was a heartwrenching book with such gorgeous writing and amazing plot development. I was never bored. However, I have to remind you all again that I am an Austenite- I live for the scenes when its 4:00 in the morning, Mr. Darcy is coming to right the wrongs his cruel aunt has inflicted on his beloved, the sunlight is streaming in the background, and he proposes to miss Elizabeth Bennett, the love of his life.

So if you are not that kind of person (I haven’t met many of them), the love scenes might get you bored. If you are my kind of person, get ready! This book is a glorious emotional rollercoaster, and you want to ride it out until the very end!

Blackmoore will be published on September 28, 2013. Thank you to Shadow Mountain Publishing for the advance readers edition for this review!

-Becka O., 9th grade

Book Review: Edenbrooke was Eden

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edenbrooke_coverHello. Austenite here.

I am a HUGE fan of Jane Austen, and for all you people who had to read Emma in high school and are SO over it, think again. I am reviewing an amazing, spectacular book called Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson.

Edenbrooke is a Regency novel about a 19-year-old girl who is sent to live with her grandmother after her mother is killed. Because Marianne hates it there so much, her grandmother sends her to Edenbrooke, hoping that Marianne and the young man there will fall in love.

It is an intense plot with a reading level about 8th grade and up. The language is period-based, yet easy to understand and the plot has so many twists and turns you will hardly be able to keep it straight.

The characters include a highway man, a handsome man, a twin sister, an annoying twin sister’s BFF, and a main character who has a slight affinity for twirling (with her eyes closed). This book was a masterpiece of a Regency novel and one should sit on every home’s bookshelf. I think this one is definitely more for girls though. Sorry, guys. One day I will review a book for you. Probably.

-Becka O., 8th grade

Book Review: The Missing Manuscript of Jane Austen, by Syrie James

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missing_manuscript_jane_austen_coverThis is an awesome book about a 25 year old woman who is in England and visits a mansion. In this mansion the caretaker (a cute guy her age; too bad she has a boyfriend!) helps her find a manuscript that might have been written by Jane Austen.

This book is amazing! It’s like two books at once. Syrie James wrote an amazing book with a modern story and a regency novel together. There is humor, good writing, and there’s quite a bit of romance. If you have ever read a Jane Austen novel, it almost lives up to the name.

The regency novel part is amazing with lots of twisted romance, a villian who you think was a friend, and a scandal. The modern part has a jealous boyfriend, a handsome (and unpleasant) man, and a funny heroine that seems like she would be an awesome best friend.

I loved this book, which isn’t very well known. Everyone who likes Jane Austen or modern books will love this cool combo. (If you like this book, also check out Edenbrooke by an awesome author named Julianne Donaldson.)

-Becka O., 8th grade

Book Review: Fifteen Love, by Robert Corbet

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15love_coverThis book review is part of series of reviews written by students at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School for their 7th grade English classes.

My review on this book is not a good one. I did not enjoy this book literally at all; it was very anti-climactic despite all of the problems that occurred in the story. The writing really did not make me excited. The author Robert Corbet failed to interest me in any way. This story fell flat for me from the anti-climactic problems like this one, “Will Holland is a Mystery” (10). Well, this mystery was easily solved considering that Will Holland is one of the main characters. The reason I didn’t enjoy this book may be that I don’t enjoy love stories very much and I wanted to try something new. My opinion of this book is very bad.

Will Holland; this is one of the three main characters in this story. Will Holland is helplessly in love with a girl named Mia Foley one of the other main characters. The problem is that Mia isn’t in love with Will at all. In fact in the beginning she is repulsed with him. Will always second guesses himself and is so self-conscious that he doesn’t talk to her. This plot is just like any other love story- it is all too predictable. Will was my favorite character because he played tennis, which was the passion I chose. I thought it was interesting how he connected real life problems to tennis. He analyzed everything he did in such depth and I could really relate to him because I also over analyze things. This story is integrated with his tennis and his love life. I really enjoyed the tennis aspect of the story but the main lovey-dovey part of the story did not interest me at all. Will has a brother who is disabled and he has to deal with him every single day. In the story the way he handles all of his brother’s problems is very unrealistic and actually quite sad. He treats his brother like garbage- it makes made me very uncomfortable and I didn’t really like that aspect of this story. Overall Will Holland is the reason why I continued to read this book. His life just seemed so relatable to mine.

Mia Folly in the end falls in love with Will Holland and just like almost every single love story ever this made the whole thing very boring. Mia Folly is just like every single stereotypical girl in a love story: popular, pretty, and very vain. The whole entire story she is saying, “I’m ugly I’m fat oh my gosh.” I really did not enjoy this character. All she did was complain. She and her friend got in a fight and she acted like the whole entire world was going to end. She was a very frustrating character and I didn’t like her presence in the story. She also showed some selfless acts throughout the story she would talk to Will and she would actually do some very kind things in the story. One thing that I liked about the authors writing was how he demonstrated how she started to like will more and more as the story came to an end. Mia was a very self-centered character but the story needed her drama.

Vanessa is the last main character in the story. She was Mia’s best friend until they started fighting. She is a very confident, boastful girl she thinks that she is better than everybody. She is a very annoying character and whenever they even mention her name in the story I cringe. “Oh yeah by the way Raneeta left already” (97). The way she says this is just so obtuse, I cant believe that this is the way that she would give Mia the news that her friend had left her. The way she acts is evil- she feels like a lethal poison being injected into my veins. Whenever she speaks I just get frustrated. I really do not enjoy her presence in the story. She ruins everything in the story– she makes Molly depressed, she starts to date Will just to spite Molly, she is a huge pessimist and I really do not like her presence in this story. Just right when you think Will and Mia are going to go out, she always messes everything up she was by far my least favorite character.

Fifteen Love was filled with cheap thrills and a bad plot. Every page I read became more painful. From the characters to the plotline, it was not the best writing. You may think that I am being too negative but honestly this is what I think about this book. I would not recommend this book to any reader of my age group. I thought it was poorly written and filled with uninteresting events that always fell flat. In other words, I did not love the book Fifteen Love.

-Caden S., 7th grade

Book Review: Shatter Me, by Tahereh Mafi

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shatter_me_coverI had mixed feelings about this dystopian novel about a girl with a deadly touch. Incarcerated for her terrible power, the government of her futuristic society wants to use her as a weapon– but she has other plans. I loved the writing, but I didn’t particularly enjoy the direction that the plot went in. The romantic relationship was too overbearing and the protagonist, Juliette, experienced little to no character development.

My least favorite thing about this book was the love triangle. When I began reading the book, I was excited to read a book about a girl who couldn’t touch anyone, but as I continued reading, I realized that the story was truly about a strange, domineering relationship. Every time that Juliette and her love interest, Adam, are together, they are either kissing or touching. As the romance becomes the center of the novel, the internal dilemma that Juliette faces (coming to terms with her past) and the external pressure she encounters (deciding if she will help the government) becomes the subplot.

One of the things that I enjoyed about this book was Tahereh’s writing. Although it was slightly exaggerated at certain points, there were definitely passages that stuck out.  Mafi is an incredible writer with an immense amount of talent. The novel reads like poetry, it is lyrical and rhythmic, and though I enjoyed the repetition, the use of strikethroughs were a little distracting and some of the metaphors used were farfetched. I would’ve preferred it if Mafi wrote in a more conventional style for this novel and saved her skills for future projects.

Overall, this book wasn’t the right book for me. Instead of being the action-packed dystopian novel I anticipated, the plot increasingly focused on the romance between Juliette and Adam. If that’s what your looking for, then this book just may be the book for you.

Favorite quote:

I spent my life folded between the pages of books.

In the absence of human relationships I formed bonds with paper characters.  I lived and loss through stories threaded in history; I experienced adolescence by association.  My world is one interwoven web of words, stringing limb to limb, thoughts and images all together.  I am a being comprised of letters, a character created by sentences, a figment of imagination formed through fiction. (p. 70)

-Mariah W., 11th grade

Book Review: Love’s Image, by Debby Mayne

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loves_image_coverThis is a great love story with some very powerful messages:

  • Beauty is not only skin deep.
  • What’s on the outside of someone is not as important as what’s  on the inside.
  • Have faith and never ever give up.

My great-aunt read it and thought I would like it. She was right.

Model Shannon McNab has been in a terrible car accident that wounded her face. Left with a long scar as a reminder, she knows that her career as a model is shot and her self-confidence has flown out the window. Her boyfriend leaves her because he no longer finds her attractive.

When one of her friends takes her to a singles group at church, Shannon is apprehensive about going at first. It is there that she meets Judd Manning, a kind, funny school teacher who makes Shannon smile once again. He makes her believe that she might be able to find someone who doesn’t judge her by her scar and will love her the way she is. She begins to feel better about herself again and falls in love with Judd.

As her scar fades over time, her love for Judd and God grows. She is confident again and finally happy, having found the true meaning of her life and believing that everything does happen for a reason.

This novel is definitely a favorite of mine and a real feel-good story. It shows how to have faith in God, other people, and yourself.

-Lauren B., 12th grade

Book Review: The Host, by Stephenie Meyer

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host_coverThe Host, written by Stephenie Meyer, is a science fiction and romance novel. This is an excellent read for teenagers because it involves compelling mystery and thrill. This book is about a different species, alien to any in our Earth. The species is called a Host. A Host is a framework for a soul on the planet Earth. They remain in human bodies and serve as a structure for the soul that is assigned to them. One of the last humans alive, Melanie Stryder fights for the lives of herself and her brother, Jamie. She then meets Jared, another remaining human being, and falls deeply in love with him. Chased by souls looking for mischief humans, Melanie avoids getting captured by jumping down an elevator shaft.

The soul named Wanderer is inserted into Melanie’s body after this tragic incident. The souls do this in order to look into Melanie’s mind and look for more humans that might still be alive. Forming a symbolic connection with Wanderer, Melanie leads her soul into the desert in hope of finding Jamie and Jared. Dehydrated and starved, Wanderer is found in the desert by Melanie’s uncle Jeb. Disregarding the fact that his niece is now stuck in a soul, Jeb takes care of Wanderer and leads her into the last of the human’s hideout. Wanderer recognizes Jamie and Jared as soon as she sees them in the hideout, causing Melanie to jump for joy inside her head.

Soon, the group of humans that live in caves accepts Wanderer and they start to nickname her Wanda. But can an alien being ever be truly accepted among humans?

-Nirmeet B., 9th grade

Book Review: As YOU Like It

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as_you_like_itShakespeare was great. No contest.

But in my opinion, his best comedy is As You Like It. It is an amazing play, where all the characters end up falling in love and getting married because of one person: a teenage girl named Rosalind. She wants to find out if the guy she likes really loves her, so she dresses up like a guy and offers to give her crush love lessons.

In this play there are two jesters, two shepherds, two peasant girls, two rich cousins, two brothers, and two dukes. It is an amazing play. No one in the play seems to want to do much with court life. Half of them are banished to the forest of Arden (Robin Hood’s supposed forest) and they spend their time having fun. It is thought Shakespeare pretty much wrote this play to show off, because it has no real morals. The entire point of the play is to give people love advice and show them how stupid lovers can be. One of my favorite quotes that Rosalind says is, “Love is merely a madness, and I tell you, deserves as well a dark house and whip as madmen do; and the reason why they are not so punish’d and cur’d is, that the lunacy is so ordinary that the whippers are in love too.” 3:2

I know a lot of you are probably thinking “Shakespeare… Romeo and Juliet… Olden sounding words like thee and whilst… Dead chicks like Ophelia and Juliet. Not fun.” But if you enjoy rom-coms, this is just an olden day version. You can even look up the SparkNotes summary before you read it, just in case. But please, don’t knock it ’til you try it.

-Becka O., 8th grade

Book Review: Little Blog on the Prairie, by Cathleen Davitt Bell

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little_blog_prairie_coverIf you have ever experienced a power outage, or had your phone, laptop, or tablet die on you with no place to recharge, you are familiar with the excruciating torture of being disconnected from technology. How would you cope without smart phones, fridges, microwaves, or flushing toilets?

Meet Gen, an average teenager, who intends to spend her summer relaxing at Club Med and preparing for soccer team try outs in the Fall. Gen, who has been begging to have a cell phone for years, finally convinces her parents to allow her to have one, but there’s a catch. She must join the family at Camp Frontier, a historically themed ten-week “vacation” in the wilderness of Wyoming that promises the ultimate experience of living as an American pioneer of the late 1800s. Gen deals with the harsh reality of wearing petticoats, squatting in uncivilized outhouses, and must find ways to save her sanity in her new life on the prairie. Things may turn out to be OK after all when she manages to sneak in her cell phone to secretly update her friends on the horror stories of living on this (as the book states it) “Little Hell on the Prairie.”

Things continue to look up with the introduction of the cute guy named Caleb, who lives in the next clearing over. Her friends, who she has been regaling with stories through text, have been posting her stories in a highly popular blog on the Internet, gaining her an audience of huge proportions. However, Gen has more important things to worry about like churning butter, pulling weeds, or milking her cow.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, although the plot and character development seemed shallow. It was an easy read with a bit of romance between Gen and Caleb and moments that will leave you giggling. The story is good for a tween and teen girl audience, but more advanced readers may be frustrated. The idea of Camp Frontier seems far-fetched. What family would embark on a ten-week pioneer experience in the middle of nowhere? Also, it’s hard for me to accept how the short texts provided between of the narrative could fill up a whole blog that attracts lots of dedicated followers. The texts provided were amusing, but they didn’t paint the whole picture of pioneer life to the blog audience. I didn’t dislike the book, but many parts of the plot were not credible.

If you read Little Blog on the Prairie without thinking deeply, you’ll find it an entertaining light read. Although Gen may seem shallow at times, her reactions are very amusing and easy to relate to. The book’s content and language level suits readers 11 years old and up. I recommend this book specifically for tweens and teens.

– Sophia U., 10th grade