Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Local Bookstore

So I've been going through a reading slump, and this book was the root of it. I've been meaning to read it ever since it came out, but it wasn't until my friend Christine begged me to read it that I finally eventually did. I know, I know, a movie is in the works and all that. I knew I'd get around to it, but there's so many other books I wanted to read and... sigh, okay. My heart wasn't in it. But why? This seems like everything I could possibly want in a book! Creepy Victorian children? Check. Weird vintage photography? Check. (I have a folder dedicated to them on my desk top, and a Pinterest board too) So why was I resistant?
Okay, I loved the idea for this - a guy has a collection of weird old pictures so he makes up stories about them? That's pretty cool. But the story... Well, let's start the review.
I'm a completionist. I have the rest of the series sitting on my bookshelf right now, so I have to finish the whole thing. Even if... I wasn't particularly feeling it. I thought the book moved far too slowly for my taste, but luckily there are two books I haven't read. This, too me, feels like a set-up. A trap. Even worse because this book ends with a cliff-hanger. Can I even tell you want this was even about? It took incredibly long for us to learn that it might be best if I don't. Screw it. So this kid from Florida, Jacob, watches helplessly as a monster kills his beloved grandfather. But no one believes him because he is a dirt-bag teen and teens suck obviously monsters aren't real and it was probably wolves or something. But Jacob is adamant and he's sent to a therapist who convinces him to research some of the stories his grandfather told him growing up, you know, to prove to himself that he hadn't seen an actual monster kill his grandfather.
Jacob's research sends him to a tiny fishing island off the coast of Wales. After a lot of bullshit (no one likes this American Dirt-Bag Teen in Wales. No One.) Jacob finds the actual children his grandfather grew up with before WWII - the Peculiar children who have unique abilities.
Jacob is alright, but Emma, the girl who once loved his grandfather and now is falling for him, a bit of a fire brand (literally), irritates me to no end. She's some embodiment of a male fantasy that in real life no man could deal with for very long.
In the end that may be the thing that urks me most about this book - the subtle pretentiousness of a hip, edgy male author and his Gary-Sue hero.

Palace of Mirrors by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Library Copy

Palace of Mirrors is a sequel to a retelling of Cinderella called Just Ella, which I read at some point in either early high school or middle school. I remember loving Just Ella enough that I went through a serious "fairy tale retelling" phase for a while. That feels like another lifetime to me now, though of course I still love revisionist fairy tales.
I had a few very personal problems with this book from the get go. I remember Just Ella ending in a satisfying way, though I have very little memory of what actually happened in the book at all (it's been 13 years since I've read it at least). I feel like a sequel was completely unnecessary. Not only because the first book was fine alone, but the sequel is more enjoyable (though not crucial) if you read Just Ella first - as Ella has a cameo role that's actually somewhat important. Now the part that really chaffs me: Palace of Mirrors (2008) was published 9 years after Just Ella (1999). I was in the intended age bracket for Just Ella when it was published, and in college when Palace of Mirrors was published. That's not uncommon in the publishing world, I know, but I find it annoying. This makes me wonder who the intended audience for Palace of Mirrors would have been for. Of course there have to have been children in that almost-decade window of time who grew to love the first book - least we overlook the fact that when I read it I was on the latter end of the intended age group. But for the original fans and younger fans, I think the end result didn't leave much for us to meet in the middle over. I've found that even young reviewers were a little wise for the book - I saw some complaints that Cecilia was dumb for someone who was supposed to be so smart. The kids are wrong, of course, Cecilia is naive, not dumb - there's a difference.

Palace of Mirrors is about a young girl (named Cecilia, as I mentioned) who was raised in obscurity, but was trained to be a princess. When it becomes too dangerous keep herself hidden, she and her friend Harper (a harpist - get it?) flee to the capitol city so that Cecilia can take her rightful place as the princess. But as Cecilia well knows, that place isn't exactly vacant. And the current princess won't just give up her seat - to Cecilia's, uh, surprise. Right. You can see where the kids reading this book are ready to take to the streets and start a riot, right? But it's actually a bit more complicated than that. But I'm not going to give that away!

I didn't actually think the book it's self was terrible. I kind of liked it as an original work, and there is a third book that ties more closely to this one than this tied to Just Ella - so I may be reading that one at some point soon. Unfortunately, I think it was a bit too young for me. If you know someone young enough to devour the entire series without having to wait so long to do it, I recommend it.

Dune by Frank Herbert: An Impression

I don't write reviews for books that are considered classics by a remarkable group of the reading population. But there's so many books in the world, we can't always read them hot off the presses, and sometimes we get to them late. In my case, 50 years late.
Yes, I finally got around to reading the cult classic Dune. This isn't going to be a real review, obviously, because I'm not qualified. But does it stand up to the test of time? You know, I've always had pockets of friends who were a little bit, more or less, obsessed fanboys of this series. Suddenly, now that I've read the book and I'm so excited about it I can't seem to find any of them. Obviously the hype is gone, but jeebus. So that's the predicament I'm in right now. I'm overflowing with opinions and discussion questions about this book, but I can't seem to find anyone to talk about it with me! I expect if I reread this novel at another time, I'll notice more things than I had this time. This book is mammoth & daunting. I guess this is what they call a "space opera." A great deal of drama over friends and foes and secret friends being secret foes and foes being secretly friends. And some fictional politics - which kind of lost me because why do I want to talk about made-up politics that aren't going to effect me when the real deal is so depressing and not going to go away when I shut the book?
So it was a great, epic novel that was daunting at first, but I feel I breezed easily through to my own surprise. I'd always felt intimidated by it's length, but I read it fairly quickly. I'll eventually get around to reading the other books in the series, but I do want to put some breaks on reading digitally. It's all fine and dandy, but not as pleasurable and satisfying as reading real books.

Saint Mazie by Jami Attenberg

Library Copy

Over on Tumblr, there's a great little blog called The Reblog Book Club - a kind of reading group where they discuss up-and-coming books. For the better part of the summer, the Book Du Jour was Saint Mazie by Jami Attenberg. I'm not a huge participant in reading groups (I'm not organized enough for it) but I really wanted to read this book. To my luck, I found it at my new library on my very first visit!

Saint Mazie, is a novel inspired by the real life of Mazie Phillips - a buxom, raspy-voiced, bottle blonde from the Prohibition (I'm personally very interested in de-glamorized POV from this time period) who referred to herself as a "good time gal" but took the bums on the street under her wing. She's brassy, she's tough, she is exactly what you'd think of when you hear someone talking about "Old Broads." If I knew Mazie irl, I might actually be a little afraid of her. She's intimidating, but that's her shtick. You can be an intimidating woman and still be capable of goodness, you know? She's a really complicated - and interesting - character. Though this fictionalized version of her is inspired by a real person, there's still not a whole lot known about her. However, since the real woman only died about 50 years ago, there's still a lot of people who did know her and could have shared some first hand accounts of her. But try to keep them separate in your mind!

an "artsy" picture of my new library's entrance

Anyway. The book. I typically find books with multiple points of view frustrating to read. I don't know why this device is really common in most things I read lately. Someone who works in publishing might be able to explain this trend. But this time around, my personal preferences aside, I think it was successful and worked out well. The meat of the novel is told through Mazie's diary, starting from her childhood on through her middle-aged adulthood. She lives with her sisters and brother-in-law in New York. Her brother-in-law, a businessman, owns several businesses including a movie theater - Mazie spends several decades working in the ticket booth. At first unwillingly, she soon sees it as home, her clientele become family.

The diary entries are broken up between very frank interviews with people who knew her or about the era she lived in. VERY frank. And though Mazie called herself a "good time gal" and often beat herself up about being "no good," here's the thing about saints (from a practicing Catholic) - the saints weren't even saints. They were human and some of them did some pretty rotten stuff - they were sinners, not just because they broke some societal, morally incorrect rule, but because sinning actually means to do something unloving to God. Saints are our proof that you can be a good person even when you might not think you are. Mazie Was a good person. Rough around the edges, scandalous, tougher than hippie bread, but she fought to help those that couldn't help themselves.

Also interesting about Mazie (as the book character) is that though there was pressure to get married and become a mother, she doesn't. Not because she doesn't always want to (she desperately wants to be loved) but because she chooses not to. Sometimes fate helps her make that choice. But it makes her stand out even more. This is the sort of book that, now that I'm done, I won't be able to forget for a long time.

Keeping the Castle by Patrice Kindl

Kindle

This book kept popping up in book review blogs I follow over and over again, and every time I read a review I thought "This book is perfect for me." Here's how to hook me: Regencies, YA, humor, character growth. This book has all of this, but I still had my qualms since I find that when something comes highly recommended, it tends to fall short of my expectations. Not so this time!
One day I just decided to buy it on my Kindle since I had no luck finding it in any of my local bookstores or libraries, but it was still (well, this isn't unusual for me, after all) several months before I actually read it. This little novel is a bit of an homage to I Capture the Castle (which I haven't yet read, but after this I don't plan on wasting another moment) and Jane Austen, obviously.
At 17, Althea is responsible for an entire household of women (besides herself, she lives with her mother and two step-sisters), her baby brother, and the servants who work for the decaying household, built to look like a faux Castle. Anyone familiar enough with Regencies and Jane Austen know why - women where completely at the mercy of male heirs and their husbands. As there were no grown men alive to support the family, it fell on the beautiful Althea to land a rich husband. Here's the thing, Althea is what my Mom would call "sassy." Then a wealthy, unattached baron and the moves in with the usual company and things get pretty interesting from there.
Right from the very first paragraph, I knew this book was not going to let me down. When I tell you "this doesn't happen," this doesn't happen. It's very unusual for me to become hooked within a few sentences, but here we are! I'm very glad that I gave this book it's due attention, and I recently found out that a companion has lately been published. It's not very often anymore that I find a book with quiet this much magic in it. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in Regencies, Jane Austen (it doesn't mimic Austen in style very much, though Althea does behave a bit like Emma at times). or novels on manners.

Good Girls Don't by Victoria Dahl

Library eBook

I heard of this book (and it's series) after listening to the Smart Bitches Trashy Books podcast in which they discussed "Strong Female Characters" and how there's some inherent sexism in that role - something I very much agree with, think about a great deal, and am on the constant look-out for. The author Sarah is interviewing, Jaye Wells, suggested these books as an alternative to a mass-murdering, misogynist hunting warrior woman heroine. I was very curious to see my pet theory in action, so I immediately checked it out. (I'd rather not explain on this post what I believe a "strong female" should be like, but suffice to say that I find the idea in vogue to be flat-out scary. I would instead direct you to the link above where they can explain to you much better than I can, if you have an hour to spare.)

I actually was fairly impressed with the characters in this book! No one was impossibly sweet and perfect to the point where I wanted to bludgeon them over the head! This is my #1 problem in Romancelandia*. Sure, it wasn't perfect. In fact it was pretty trite, with it's cheesy dialogue (both internal and spoken) and a pretty mundane plot. But what kept it from being truly terrible is that it was realistic. Though the dialogue wasn't impressive, it was common enough. The author obviously had human interactions, which is problem #2 I typically have with Romancelandia - the fact that the author doesn't understand when it's appropriate for heroes and heroines to be angry with each other and when it isn't okay (example: romanticizing rape).

This is the first book in a series about 3 siblings who run a family brewery in Colorado. In this book, their little sister Tessa; sweet, perky, seemingly-innocent Tessa, falls for a misunderstood bad-boy detective. Her very protective brothers do not approve. But let's bring it back to the beginning (sorry, my brother is watching Parks & Rec in the next room and it's really distracting). So the brewery gets robbed early on, which is how we're introduced to Detective Luke and his Very Pregnant Partner, Simone. (Note - I love pregnant cops, they're literally my favorite things ever.) On one hand, one of Tessa's brothers (I really can't keep any of Tessa's brother's names straight - their names are very generic) f*cked up (literally) their chances of breaking into a huge business deal. So now Tessa is hard at work trying to fix the problem without letting their other brother find out.

It was entertaining. Not what I typically like to read, but it was as promised in the podcast. There was a reliably "strong female" who does what she must to get work done. She's not all "brains and beauty" who eventually proves to just be beauty with nothing else to back up the first claim. And she's strong without being frightening, and she's flawed because that happens! Women Men People are complicated and a whole mess of good and bad things! Sometimes the good can actually be bad; it depends on the situation! So story wise, it passed the time, but I wasn't enthralled. However, it gets high marks from me because it was still really well done and refreshing. Also, because it's a Romance novel, I should say that there was some nasteh goin' on, and it gets high points from me, too.


*Romancelandia - blanket term covering all of the Romance genre, including YA romance & Chick-Lit, but focusing on cheap paper backs, the kind one might find on a great aunt's bed side table, or yellowed and dusty in used book store shelves.

Book Lottery

Here's a quickie blog post - one long, bored afternoon I decided to write out on tiny slips of paper the title of every book that I own and haven't read yet, folded them up into minuscule squares, and filled up a small jar with it. This way, whenever I'm completely stumped and don't know what to read next, all I have to do is give the jar a good shake and pick a slip of paper with a book title on it. I'll have no choice but to read it! (That's the agreement I have with myself.)

here it is! My Owl Jar on my bookshelf.

I was worried when I started this project that it would have interesting and mixed results. For instance, what if I picked a book within a series? I solved that issue by only putting the most recently unread title into the jar. When that one is finished, I'll put in the next unread title in the series into the jar until I eventually get to it. Of course, I won't put in titles that I've already read, and will throw out the slips of paper out once they're done.
But there's another problem that I was worried about. So, I'm nearly done with a bunch of library books and other titles I borrowed from friends, and I decided it was finally time to work out my system.
I took down the owl jar, gave it a shake, and pulled out my next book.

I bought this book on a bargain bin - it was on sale because the spin is
printed upside own from the rest of the book ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The title I ended up pulling was a huge biography on Catherine the Great - obviously left unread because it's, well, sort of intimidating. It isn't that I'm uninterested in Catherine the Great. I'm totally game! Otherwise I wouldn't own it at all, right? It's just not exactly light, beach reading. I knew, of course, that this would be an experimental arrangement. I didn't expect to get something so dense right out of the gate. All of my history books are for research-y things. Needless to say, I'm intimidated!

574 pages in this book ⊙﹏⊙ ulp!

Third Daughter: First book of the Dharian Affairs Trilogy

Kindle (free!)

I have to admit, I read a review for this book on SBTB that simply raved about it. Those girls don't put up with much bull, so when they rave about something you know it's legit. It's a steampunk trilogy set in a proto-India - Not England or America? How refreshing! If I wasn't sold yet, I was when I learned that the first book is free on the Kindle (or any e-reader device, including smart phones.) You really can't say no to something like that!
Okay, it took me a good deal longer to read this than I'd have liked. (I guess I'm still adjusting to reading on my replacement Kindle) But you guys might not have ever known that if I hadn't said anything.
Third Daughter is about Princess Anari, who is as the title implys, the Queen's 3rd daughter which means that she isn't as special as the first or second daughter. But it does mean that, unlike her sisters, after she reaches a certain age she's allowed to marry whomever she chooses. But this is only after she reaches a certain age. Before that her mother could very easily make her marry whoever she chooses. Anari's birthday is in a few weeks and she knows exactly who she'll choose - a handsome courtesan. But, it just happens that her mom wants to introduce her to the prince of a foreign province which is known for it's supposed barbarism, a prince who her mother wants her to marry. There are conditions: Anari can say no outright, and she really wants to, but she shouldn't because her mother (who has often with-held a lot of affection for her daughter) promises that she can still marry who she chooses by her birthday, provided she says yes now and acts as a spy for their country. Rumor has it the prince has a secret flying machine that could be used as a weapon. Anari is a very head strong fire-brand. Maybe she doesn't always make the smart decisions - sometimes she let's her heart lead when she should really let her (actually, very sound) head do the talking. I don't always like characters like her, but then again she didn't make me want to throw things either. I like a character that knows when to shut up and butt out, which. Head strong fire-brands do not have a concept of this at all. I'm not saying it has to be a defining trait, just that, you know, sometimes it isn't always appropriate to jump down your body guard's throat for being straight up with you, even if he is unpleasant about it. That's all. But i'm getting ahead of myself.
Clearly, this is a good sci-fi with a tough female lead, romance, espionage and daring-do. It's smart and well versed. The world building is unique and really exciting, to me anyway. Anari is a bit exasperating, but she develops by the end of the book. It's a great start to the triology, which being that you're able to read the first book for free, it does entice me to pay for the next two books. Sometimes that kind of tactic doesn't always work, but it did this time. But if you'd rather not read any further it's okay too. The book has a satisfactory ending (with a small cliff-hanger). I have been advised, however, that the series does not end with "him putting a million babies inside her," which for a romance reader could be a problem.

The Finishing School Series

Have you been wondering where I've been, dear readers? Wonder no more. This Christmas season I received from my bestie the entire (at press date) Finishing School series by Gail Carriger (of Parasol Protectorate fame) - and under peer pressure I read the entire thing (as quickly as my work schedule allowed). I debated on reviewing them each individually, but because I moved on from one to the next so quickly I didn't give myself time. Instead, I'm just going to review it as a whole - as I have the rare opportunity to.

Christmas Gifts from Jenee G.

Looking back at my reviews of the Parasol Protectorate books I'm a little horrified to see that I didn't love them as much as I remembered enjoying them. I guess the two feelings can mutually exclusive? I think of that series as a prototype for this one, however. I feel like Gail toyed around with some of the same ideas that she brought back in these books - and now honed them to perfection.

The Finishing School series is basically about a Victorian girls charm school, which sounds so quaint doesn't it? Well, they're also training to become assassins and spies. Picture it! Using handkerchiefs and sewing scissors for lethal weapons? Sounds pretty perfect to me. It has a beautifully droll sense of humor, which is more than enough to hook me, a series of badass girls and "evil genius" boys, foppish vampires, genteel werewolves, eccentric professors, cross-dressing, and a few more of my favorite things.
I absolutely don't want to give too much away, so at this point I just want to talk about my impressions. There aren't many characters in this series, which is fine (because once you read something like Game of Thrones you start to appreciate that) but one thing that I didn't like is that the minor characters didn't get a whole lot of chances to develop sooner. This series is going to be 4 books long and so far we have three, so that is something that stresses me out a bit. Naturally, the important characters do by the 3rd book, so that's what's important. Hopefully Carriger revisits some of them in later books. Failing that, this is ripe territory for fanfic writers - which I very much encourage. Part of the reason for this review is that this series has a very small fandom and that, to me, is so ridiculous. Please read this books and make lots of fanart and fanfics, everyone! Make all of the things, make it blow up. I want all the movies, video games, a TV series - I want this thing to never die, ya heard?
This series shares the same world (and sprinkling of some of the same characters) as the Parasol Protectorate books, but dated a few decades earlier. Like in Protectorate a lot of the names are nearly unpronounceable - something my friends and I have been debating back and fourth on. However, one of the beautiful things about Carriger's steam-punk world is that it isn't idealized and floofy like some proto-Victorian writers. One of the reasons I've been obsessed with the Victorians for most of my life is that they weren't always as genteel as we now seem to think. They were actually kind of horrifying sometimes. They may have been sexually repressed, but they compensated for it through other avenues - like a healthy obsession with what we today would consider outright macabre. These books don't include examples of this, at least nothing that high school librarians would picket against, but Carriger is aware of it. These books are anything but cutesy-poo.
Ah, now for the "shipping-wars." I'll reveal nothing of my own alignment on here, but you'll be tempted to pick sides and let me just say neither are bad choices. I made it very well known that I wasn't going to share my ships with my friends (because I didn't have one, really. It could go either way for me.) but the 3rd book ends in such a way, that... ugh... #1 whoever you choose, you'll be conflicted no matter what and #2 the 4th book isn't coming out until next November. All this tension and unresolved feelings has me like:

(too late)

Thankfully, Gail will be releasing a new book for a new series this March which I can't fuggin wait for. Maybe that will tide me over until then.

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating

Library

This morning, on my way out of the house for work, I noticed (to my despair) a crushed snail on my path. It was probably crushed under my father's heavy work shoes earlier that morning on his way to work. I don't know about you, but stepping on snails is very distressing to me - not just because of the squick factor, but because I really love the little guys.

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating was my re-introduction to one of my favorite genres as a child - the natural sciences. This book might even have been something I would have read as a child (if it had been published back then). It was part memoir, part natural history.
It's a very short and sweet story at first about an ill, bedridden woman. Doctors are perplexed and unable to give her a clear diagnosis as the mysterious illness takes it's toll on her body. She is transplanted from the hubbub of her daily life to a lonely and quiet horizontal life in bed. Well, lonely until a friend brings her a pot of wild violets. And in this pot of violets is a tiny friend - a forest snail. This little bedside table companion proves to be just the company she needed. Her daily observations and studies of her little friend led her to a singular breakthrough - no one before had so closely observed a snail for so long. Perhaps no one had such a, well, human connection with a snail before. A humble and simple creature, certainly - nothing tremendous. But who are we to say it isn't as valuable a life?

I read this book very quickly (over a short weekend) and while it may fall far back in my memory after some time, it was a relaxing and enlightening little book.

The Supernatural Enhancements

Local Bookseller

I have to thank my local Barnes & Nobel retailer for being so helpful as to recommend this book, The Supernatural Enhancements (by Spanish cartoonist Edgar Cantero), to me.

It was, indeed, a "fun read," as I was promised. Not perfect, but fun. I'll try not to emphasize the author's background as a cartoonist too much, because a lot of the critique I have with the book is that it seemed a little comic-booky - but more on that later.
It is about a young man named simply A. who has just randomly inherited a mansion and fortune from a relative he didn't know existed, meaning that he would have to move from whatever European country he is from to America in order to claim it. He is accompanied by Niamh, a mute 14-year old punk girl - imagine a Doctor & Companion relationship here (Niamh clearly has feelings for A and is sometimes much smarter and aware than he is - has done far more heroic feats than A has, but she has been demoted to some kind of Cutesy-poo Sidekick.) The previous owner of the mansion and fortune died by committing suicide the same way and at the same age as his own father before him. Clearly there is some nefarious mystery to be solved!
Through a series of puzzles, weird dreams, and interviews with locals, A and Niamh (and their dog, alas, not named Scooby-Doo, but far more cleverly, "Help") try to figure out the secrets of the house and it's late inhabitant. The Supernatural Enhancements is a novel told almost entirely through transcriptions of surveillance videos, letters, diary entries and the like. Your brain adjusts to it after a while - I had trouble deciding if the narrator was reliable or not at first as I was hoping that this book was going to be like House of Leaves, but different. Maybe Cantero was inspired by House of Leaves, but there weren't very many similarities.
I'm sure the author was trying a lot of neat new tricks while writing this novel, because it's format doesn't seem conventional - unless you've read a graphic novel script. I don't think it was entirely successful - it took the entire first half of the book for anything to fall into place and make any kind of sense. It just seemed like two bored kids trying to be spooked about living in a haunted house. See, even though there's a ghost, it's really more of a scape-ghost: she doesn't actually do anything. The sad thing about it is that Cantero can write some beautiful prose when he puts his mind to it and you can read all of the dream sequences in the book as proof of that. He does it in such a way that only an artist can. Not many writers can successfully pull off writing a dream that you can see, feel, taste and smell without questioning their sobriety.

It was all very fun. The 90's pop culture references were fun. As mentioned, A. and Niamh were like the Scooby Gang, but unimpressed, and that was fun. The concept and format was fun. World building was fun. The story was tedious, but then Things Got Real, and that was fun.
So on a scale of one star to five stars, it was a grand sum of fun stars.

Jane the Fox & Me

Amazon (used)

You know, guys, I've been pretty lucky to have been able to befriend one of my idols in the year since I've graduated college. As an adult, it's nice to find someone as passionate about children's books and illustrations (someone who gets as sucked in by the pretty pictures as everything else) as I tend to be. Last week, Denise G. sent me a text saying that I had to read this book - and I immediately set out for it.

Not only, as you can see, is the book beautifully illustrated, but the story was a very personal one for me.
Helene is a little girl at that terrible, awkward age who is being bullied at school. What most people forget about bullying is that middle school bullies aren't necessarily pugnacious juveniles who steal lunch money and throw spit balls at the back of your head in class. Nor or they rich-bitches a la "Mean Girls." They are, more often then not, kids who come from "good" families, who your mother allowed to have for sleep-overs. Though I was never out-right bullied in school, not to the point where they made my life unbearable, I do remember the time I was targeted. Incidentally, that was around the age I discovered the book that would eventually become my all time favorite - Jane Eyre.
Jane Eyre helps Helene cope with her belittling ex-friends as well. I will save the discussion of why I love Jane Eyre, why she makes an excellent role model for girls and women of all ages, why that book is so perfect and amazing and every time I re-read it I gain some new insight into my soul. Or rather, I will save you from the discussion. Because there are only 24 precious hours in a day and you probably have important things to do. The important thing is that Helene gets it. Maybe that means she's my kindred spirit in that way, hopefully you are too.

This was a brief, but bittersweet read. Buy it, read it, and share it with any little girls (or heck even boys - why not??) you might know around this age that's struggling with school bullies. (hopefully they'll become curious and try to read Jane Eyre as well! *fingers crossed!*)

Here's a bonus page to look at - it's one of my favorites: