Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

January 26, 2018 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I didn’t ask for any of this. I didn’t ask to be some kind of hero.

But when your whole life gets swept up by a tornado – taking you with it – you have no choice but to go along, you know?

Sure, I’ve read the books. I’ve seen the movies. I know the song about the rainbow and the happy little bluebirds. But I never expected Oz to look like this. To be a place where Good Witches can’t be trusted, Wicked Witches may just be the good guys, and winged monkeys can be executed for acts of rebellion. There’s still a yellow brick road – but even that’s crumbling.

What happened? Dorothy.

They say she found a way to come back to Oz. They say she seized power and the power went to her head. And now no one is safe.

My name is Amy Gumm – and I’m the other girl from Kansas.

I’ve been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked.

I’ve been trained to fight.

“I hate to break it to you, but just because someone has pretty hair and a good skin tone and a crown instead of a pointy hat doesn’t mean she’s not the baddest bitch this side of the emerald city.”

Forget everything you know about Dorothy Gale and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Forget the movie, forget the book. This is not the same thing at all.

This is an all out disaster, in such a good way.

It turns out that Dorothy wasn’t going to be the only girl from Kansas to be swept away in a tornado and land in the world of Oz. Meet Amy Gumm, another girl from Kansas who also lives in a trailer. Unlike Dorothy, she’s a sarcastic and scrappy girl, who isn’t deemed beautiful or liked by anyone in her world. Not even her mother, who leaves her to deal with the tornado alone. Some kind of love, right?

So Amy and her mom’s pet rat almost die when they get to Oz, only to be rescued by some mystery person. When she looks around, she realizes that she’s definitely not in Kansas anymore, and this isn’t the same land of Oz that she remembers from the movie. This place has been pretty much destroyed, and nobody is happy here. If they are, it’s probably a fake smile to show face to the ruler of Oz.

Who’s that ruler, you ask? Why, none other than Dorothy of course.

Ding, dong. This bitch isn’t dead.

The entire world of Oz is a death zone, with munchkins and flying monkeys getting punished with pain or death. The friendly companions of Dorothy – the Lion, the Tinman and the Scarecrow – are evil and cruel. Just like their good pal Dorothy Gale, who definitely grew up and is not a sweet girl anymore. In this world, the good have turned wicked, and the Wicked may actually be the good guys. If Amy decides to trust any of them.

“Be brave. Be angry. Don’t trust anyone.”

So there’s only one thing that she has to do, after witnessing some terrible, horrible acts of violence.

She’s gotta kill Dorothy. And she needs to learn how to do it fast or risk dying herself.

Amy is not your typical superhero protagonist. She doesn’t come into some magical powers without realizing it. She isn’t the strongest person to come to Oz. She doesn’t even know how magic really works! But she’ll have to learn, and that’s what matters. She deals with everything in her typical sarcastic way, and she reminds all of us that Kansas girls aren’t to be messed with.

I actually enjoyed this book and thought that this new take on the beloved story I’ve come to know and love was a refreshing take. I may not have liked everything that happened in this book, but I definitely need to know what happens next.

Looking for the buddy read discussion? Stay tuned! It will be in a future post.

Author Spotlight

Courtesy of Goodreads

Twitter: daniellempaige

Goodreads Member Since: September 2008

Danielle lives in NY. Before turning to YA, she worked in television & was nominated for several Daytime Emmy’s. Dorothy Must Die is her first novel.

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

January 24, 2018 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight—she’s a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king’s thug.

When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change. She never expects to become Po’s friend. She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace—or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away… a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone.

Book Overview:

Author: Kristin Cashore | Series: Graceling Realm | Format: Audiobook | Narrated by: David Baker and the Full Cast Family | Length: 12 hours, 30 mins | Publish Date: June 30, 2009 | Literary Awards: Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature (2009), William C. Morris YA Debut Award Nominee (2009), Rhode Island Teen Book Award Nominee (2011), Milwaukee County Teen Book Award Nominee (2010), Sakura Medal Nominee for High School Book (2010), Florida Teens Read Nominee (2010), Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award (ALAN/NCTE) Nominee (2009), Iowa High School Book Award Nominee (2011), Lincoln Award Nominee (2011), Cybils Award Nominee for Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction (2008), Green Mountain Book Award (2011), Missouri Gateway Readers Award Nominee (2011) | Rating: ★ ★ ★ | Recommend: Maybe

“How absurd it was that in all seven kingdoms, the weakest and most vulnerable of people – girls, women – went unarmed and were taught nothing of fighting, while the strong were trained to the highest reaches of their skill.”

So I have heard of this book before, and I was always told that I should read it right away. I received a lot of recommendations for this book throughout the years and I only now got to reading it. I must be one of the ones that weren’t completely blown away by this book, unfortunate for me because I really wanted to love it.

I would say that to me, the book moved too slow for me. I appreciate the action scenes and I can appreciate that there needed to be some story building, but to me, there were portions that took way too long to happen. A huge part of the book was Katsa, the main Graceling, and a little princess named Bitterblue traveling from one kingdom to the other. Since the distance between these two kingdoms is pretty big – at least, that’s the image I got reading it with how long it took them – I feel like those scenes could have gone much faster. What I thought was the climax of the story, the “showdown” if you will, was barely a blip compared to the journey. Was that the point, and maybe I just didn’t understand it? I’m not sure.

I apologize that this review is short. Other than the pacing, I wouldn’t say there was anything particularly wrong with this book. I enjoyed the premise, and I’m glad that Katsa was able to grow as a character, but there were times where I just wish I could have skipped some chapters to get on with the story.

Author Spotlight

Courtesy of Goodreads

Born: The United States

Website: http://kristincashore.blogspot.com/

Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Young Adult, Ebooks

So, here’s the short tale of me: I grew up in the countryside of northeastern Pennsylvania in a village with cows and barns and beautiful views from the top of the hill and all that good stuff. I lived in a rickety old house with my parents, three sisters, and a scattering of cats, and I READ READ READ READ READ. I read while brushing my teeth, I read while chopping parsley, the first thing I reached for when I woke up in the morning was my book; the only two places I didn’t read were in the car and in bed. What did I do then? The one thing I liked even more than reading: I daydreamed.

And so, without knowing it, I was planting the seeds. Reading and daydreaming = perfect preparation for writing.

At 18 I went off to college– thank you, Williams College, for the financial aid that made this possible– and it almost killed me. College is hard, man, and the Berkshires are cloudy. A (phenomenal) year studying abroad in sunny Sydney revived me. After college I developed a compulsive moving problem: New York City, Boston, Cambridge, Austin, Pennsylvania, Italy, and even a short stint in London, where my showerhead hung from the cutest little stand that was exactly like the cradle of an old-fashioned telephone. The best phone calls are the pretend phone calls made from your telephone tub.

During my stint in Boston, I got an M.A. at the Center for the Study of Children’s Literature at Simmons College. (Thank you, Simmons, for the scholarship that made this possible!) Grad school almost killed me, but I felt a lot more alive than when I was almost being killed in college. The Simmons program is stupendous. It got me thinking and breathing YA books. It got me writing.

Am I getting boring?

Since Simmons, I haven’t stopped writing, not once. I’ve developed a compulsive writing problem that makes my moving problem look like a charming personality quirk. I can’t stop! But it’s okay, because I don’t want to stop. I’ve been writing full-time– well, more than full-time, really– for about 4 years now, first doing educational writing for the K-6 market and now working on my novels. It’s a dream job, which is another way of saying that when I shop for work clothes, I go straight to the pajamas section.

Should I say a little bit about what I’m like? I’m fiercely independent. I am sometimes a hermit, but never for very long. I am in search of the perfect cat. I’m a recovering Catholic. I meditate, and when I do, Prince Harry appears in my subconscious and meditates with me. It’s a little strange but I don’t think there’s anything I can do about it. Sometimes he’s not the only one; the other day it was me, Prince Harry, the Dalai Lama, Mr. Rogers, Coco the gorilla, and George Clooney. We were all floating above the earth looking down at the continents as they passed. George Clooney suggested I visit Providence, Rhode Island. The Dalai Lama sighed deeply and said he’d really like to visit Tibet.

Poor Dalai Lama.

I recently moved from Jacksonville, Florida, to Cambridge, Massachusetts, trading the St. Johns River for the Charles River and pelicans for geese. As a native northerner, it’s nice to be back in the land of four seasons. I feel as if I’ve come home. :o)

And that’s my story.

Stars by Colleen Oakes

January 23, 2018 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Wendy Darling has a perfectly agreeable life with her parents and brothers in wealthy London, as well as a budding romance with Booth, the neighborhood bookseller’s son. But while their parents are at a ball, the charmingly beautiful Peter Pan comes to the Darling children’s nursery and—dazzled by this flying boy with god-like powers—they follow him out of the window and straight on to morning, to Neverland, an intoxicating island of feral freedom.

As time passes in Neverland, Wendy realizes that this Lost Boys’ paradise of turquoise seas, mermaids, and pirates holds terrible secrets rooted in blood and greed. As Peter’s grasp on her heart tightens, she struggles to remember where she came from—and begins to suspect that this island of dreams, and the boy who desires her, have the potential to transform into an everlasting nightmare.

Book Overview:

Author: Colleen Oakes | Series: Wendy Darling Series | Format: Paperback | Length: 317 pages | Publish Date: October 13, 2015 | Genre: YA Fantasy/Retelling | Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ | Recommend: Maybe

“If the stars above saw what I felt for you, they would pour out their wonders…”

Almost every single Peter Pan movie out there is about Peter. I guess it makes sense since those movies are often called “Peter Pan”. But what about the Darlings? What about Wendy Darling, the only human girl to ever set foot in Neverland and become a mother figure to all the Lost Boys that live there? What was it about her that made Peter Pan come into her nursery and take not only her, but her two younger brothers on the adventure of their lives?

This story talks all about it, and it’s not pretty.

Forget everything you know about Peter Pan, or even Wendy herself. This book turns the knowledge we have of the Disney version of this story and makes Neverland a much more formidable and dangerous place to be. It’s not a happily ever after kind of place, filled with violence and death and secrets.

Think of Peter in the Disney version. He’s a nice guy for the most part, maybe. He is just a boy that won’t grow up, so he has the tendency to be immature. We think that he’s not always as smart as he should be, but boy, are we wrong. Peter Pan is so much smarter than we give him credit for, and it makes him an extremely dangerous “god-boy” as Wendy likes to call him. He has the power to control all of the Lost Boys with his charisma alone, and at times it can be downright scary. These Lost Boys are willing to lay down their lives for him, all for the sake of an adventure.

“I knew I was bound for something different. Something better. I was meant to rule the stars, not gaze at them from under our poverty.”

I will say that Peter is not a good guy in this book whatsoever… but to avoid the risk of spoilers, that’s all I will say about that.

Wendy on the other hand… poor Wendy. All she wanted was to love a boy below her station. It’s not her fault that she lives in London’s past, where you risk losing everything if you fall in love with someone that doesn’t come from a rich enough family. It sucks, and it’s not fair to her when this boy actually makes her feel something. She loves him, he loves her, and he wants her to be brave and let their parents know. But before she can really, truly be brave, Peter shows up.

She has so much growing up to do, and she’s forced to do it in such a strange world with no adults except for the ones that want to kill her and the rest of the Lost Boys. Mostly the pirates, I mean. Can she survive here? Will she ever go home, or will the thrall of Neverland keep her here forever? Will Peter Pan win her heart, even though she is in love with a boy back home?

I’ll make a note here and say that there is violence and some gore in this book, so please be aware of that if that’s something you don’t like reading. There is also some form of abuse (I won’t say to avoid spoilers) so be wary of that as well.

Author Spotlight

Courtesy of Goodreads

Born: in Denver, The United States

Website: http://www.colleenoakes.net

Twitter: ColleenBlooms

Genre: Young Adult, Fiction, Fantasy

Goodreads Member Since: September 2007

Colleen Oakes is the author of books for both teens and adults, including YA fantasy retellings The Queen of Hearts Saga and The Wendy Darling Saga, and the Elly in Bloom series which is women’s fiction. She lives in North Denver with her husband and son and surrounds herself with the most lovely family and friends imaginable. When not writing or plotting new books, Colleen can be found swimming, traveling and totally immersing herself in nerdy pop culture. She currently at work on another YA fantasy series and a stand-alone YA novel.

You can visit her webpage at: www.colleenoakes.net