River Readers

This book was nothing like I expected. It was a different telling of the Sea Queen and sirens. Also the prince is a pirate and much happier that way. I found myself rooting for them to find the stone to destroy the evil queen and right many wrongs. I was pleased to find an ending that made sense and wasn't fairy-tale perfect either.

This was a very different take on the Peter Pan story. Tiger Lily was usually a minor character and here she gets her day in the sun. However, she also has a relationship with Tinkerbell that is very different from the one Peter and Tink are always shown having. This was sad, yet strangely satisfying too.

We are introduced to Toby Day, half fae-half human. She's been enchanted as a goldfish for 14 years after a botched investigation for her liege. Initially she tries hard to avoid all things fairy and live in the mundane world. Unfortunately, the death of her sometimes friend Evening Winterrose, pulls her back into the fairy realm.

The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around—and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was five years old he’s been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the person of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever.

Listening to this second book gave me new insights into my favorite series. I keep uncovering things I don't remember reading or have forgotten since watching the movies after reading the book. Jim Dale once again transports the listener back to Hogwarts and makes you feel such a part of the action. I can visualize the characters and the places with ease - even ones I had forgotten about. As always it was fun to rediscover Dobby, the Forbidden Forest and the beginning of Harry and Ginny's love.

This was not exactly what I was expecting. It was a much darker look at the fairy tales I love. While I enjoy a good fractured tale or a remake, this book had me looking at the stories in too much of a literal tunnel. The idea of Snow White being a 7-9 year old girl who "marries" the dwarves or the more pagan/Wiccan rituals that are suggested were not my cup of tea. I know Grimm's stories are much darker than Disney's, but that doesn't mean I enjoy looking at them through the eyes of a pedophile either.

As the hunt for the Star of Ice leads the six guardians to Ireland, Doyle, the immortal, must face his tragic past. Three centuries ago, he closed off his heart, yet his warrior spirit is still drawn to the wild. And there’s no one more familiar with the wild than Riley—and the wolf within her...

To celebrate the rise of their new queen, three goddesses of the moon created three stars, one of fire, one of ice, one of water. But then they fell from the sky, putting the fate of all worlds in danger. And now three women and three men join forces to pick up the pieces.

Mermaid Annika is from the sea, and it is there she must return after her quest to find the stars. New to this world, her purity and beauty are nothing less than breathtaking, along with her graceful athleticism, as her five new friends discovered when they retrieved the fire star.

Sasha Riggs is a reclusive artist, haunted by vivid dreams and nightmares that she turns into extraordinary paintings. Desperate to understand her visions, she finds herself drawn to the Greek island of Corfu.

When a wealthy and sheltered young girl stumbles into a pitched war between two fairy kingdoms, the fate of San Francisco itself hangs in the balance!

The first decade of the twentieth century is coming to a close, and San Francisco is still recovering from the great earthquake of 1906. Isabel watched the destruction safely from her window, sheltered within her high-society world.

Razzle, Dazzle Unicorn is the fourth in the Phoebe and Her Unicorn Adventures and it was just as good as the first three! Phoebe and her imaginary unicorn friend, Marigold Heavenly Nostrils get into all kinds of mischief. It is the perfect mix of adult and kid humor which makes it a wonderful choice for a parent and child to read together.