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Ranking Gallagher Girls
1. Out of Sight, Out of Time: One of the things I most admire about this series is that it allows Cammie and the other characters grow, maturing with the plots growing increasingly dark as they grow. This would be one of those instances as Cammie has gone on the run from the terrorist organization, The Circle. The summer is over and Cammie doesn’t remember any of it, she has amnesia. And a good tip has it that she’s been in the Circle’s control during her blackout, she may have killed for them or against them. It’s a lot o trauma and questions for Cammie ontop of an old frenemy coming back from the dead and more secrets of The Circle’s endgame being revealed. It’s just an awesome book.
2. Don’t Judge a Girl by Her Cover: I’d this is when the stakes begin to really amp up for the series as Cammie’s friend, Macey is kidnapped and retrieved but spies are still after her. Questions surrounding the Circle begin to get investigated and the Academy continues to deal with the aftermath of betrayal and when that turncoat returns, whether or not to trust them. Not to mention, we see more of Cammie’s family and the return of Zach whose role in this whole drama is subtly froshadowed.
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Ranking Finishing School
1. Etiquette & Espionage: Now I’ll admit maybe this series would have been more enjoyable to me if I had read the Parasoul Protectorate first, I mean I was a bit confused that this was steampunk London and vampires/werewolves exist? It was all a surprise but that’s why the first book in the series gets number one spot as the premise of Sophronia being the new girl at Finishing School allows for more exposition and explanation for novices. Plus it’s just fun as it combines feminine and Victorian spy methods which are based on historical fact! Not to mention the wit and the hilairty of the final battle was definately my favorite part.
2. Curtsies & Conspiracies: C&C does get first place because I really enjoyed the lesson here. Sophronia is signaled out as the best agent with like a 99% at a test, leading to high tensions and jealousy from her fellow classmates. Sophronia correctly deduces that this ostracism is another test to see how she can handle the heat but it doesn’t make it any easier. It also has an exciting plot of turncoats, coinciding with mean girl Monique’s debut ball. The same Monique who is suspected at being in the forefront of the Hive, Pickleman, etc. double-crossing. I found this a great blend of spy action and Victorian small-society drama.
3. Manners & Mutinies: I’ll admit the final book had a lot to live up to and since I was still very muddled by this steampunk world the Pickleman Revolt, machanimal hacking and the intricacies of vampire courts and werewolf pack alliances all came about in one big confusion to me. However, it is still a satisfying conclusion revealing Headmistress Geraldine’s true nature, Monique’s true alliances, and Sophronia getting to save the world and her school in one epic blast.
4. Waistcoats & Weaponry: This one gets last place because as much as I enjoy Sidagh and Captain Niall as characters the vampire/werewolf politics felt at once confusing and cliche and I just lost interest compared to the higher stakes of the other books. -
Top 5 Bella Sara
1. Nike’s Great Race: This one gets number one because I just love pegasuses. Pegusi? Either way, they’re just so cool and I love the flowy scarfs and such that’s decorated on Nike too. Really, I love the cover illustration. As for the plot, I do enjoy Marta’s story as she defends her family home against rich snobs, showing that determination and hard work is the best way to reach for success even if you’re just a “cattle farmer.”
2. Coral and the Pearl Diver: I love how these books expand on the world of North of North and make each place distinct with its own cultures and traditions. Just like this, the islands of Awdi Salaca which make up Miki’s home and their mainsource of income, pearl diving. But Miki’s community are losing their main source of revenue as well as food with the coral and plant life dying out. It has a good message about pollution and just like with Nike, sea horses are just so cool and beautiful.
Shamal’s Secret: Once again, the varied lands are a source of fascination for me as Shamal’s Treasure brings readers to Autumn Sands, a desert-based land of magic run by the mysterious Desiree. A cult of wolf-riders that are highly revered and hate horses and their Valkyries. Amber is thrilled to be chosen to join their ranks until she meets Shamal and is inexplicable drawn to him. She thinks he’s hypnotizing her as Desiree propganda would suggest but then she finds out all she’s ever known about life was wrong. Now Amber has a choice, Shamal and becoming an enemy to the fierce Desiree cult or staying it safe and delivering Shamal to a certain death.
Harmony’s Journey: What can I say, I love music so a music-inspired story like harmony’s wass always going to make it to the top ten. Plus it has an interesting mystery as the villainous Maestro’s hypnosis music has robbed Lorelei of her memory and her sister. It adds suspense and danger to the story as she doesn’t quite know where she’s going much less how to avoid the shape-shifting crow-man especially when she has such a powerful ally in Harmony who the Maestro is determined to use against her.
Valkrist’s Flight: This was one of the first books that made me cry when I was little. Emma’s lonliness and isolation with her aunt and uncle is palpable as she feels pushed out of her own family’s horse stables whose business is growing more dire. Worse is when she’s blamed for the fire. But this is North of North and magic is present in the air, so it is an exciting adventure as Emma learns more of the Valkyrie lore and the bond between the goddess Sara and her horse, Bella.
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Ranking Fairygodmother Academy
1. Kerka’s Book. Kerka is the latest in the line of her family to undergo the journey to Aventurine and wield the Kalis sticks. She’s thrilled as it is a family honor but that adventure is dimmed by the recent loss of her mother and the distance between her and her sisters. In fact, her mission is to recover her younger sister’s voice or else, she may never recover her grief. As always, I love stories with family relationships at the center and Bozarath does a compelling job combining the fairy adventure involving animal spirtis, and tying it with the emotional core, sisters and their different ways people deal with grief and the family bonds that sustain us.
2. Sumi’s Book: Unlike Kerka, Sumi is intially skeptical of her mother’s revalation that she comes from a line of fairy godmothers. But when she ends up in Aventurine, she has to accept that its true and use her newly gifted shape-shifting powers to redeem an evil queen. Sumi was interesting as she’s a bit more flawed than previous protagonists, being dismissive of tradition and focus on superficialities and looking good rather than doing good. That’s why it was so fufilling to see Sumi undergo her character growth by the end of the mission. Plus having shape-shifting powers was an awesome way of challenging her as she’s forced to take on some slimy and ugly creatures but comes to enjoy the freedom and their usefulness in each different animal skill-set.
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Top 5 Twitches
1. Double Jeopardy: This was such a big change in the status quo. The girls meet their mother for the first time which I appreciate how the authors made it realistic in that it is not all happy and easy. The gils are uneasy with her and actually are more focused on their foster family as Dylan has gone missing. The high speed chase and surprising assistance of Thantos leaves them off balanced. Just as Ileana is with the truth of her father. It is filled with emotional renosance and with Karsh’s death. . . a true tragic, emotional end that changes the game for them forever.
2. Don’t Think Twice: This could be considered a part 1 to the above as it focuses on Cam and Alex’s mission to find their mother. This is where the overarching drama really starts as the allies and anatgonists are more clear to the wins and they knoew a bit more about their past. It also has the trial of the century where Ileana finds out about her own parentage which was a shocking revelation to her though the forshadowing was there all along for a good payoff. Yes, it is a little PSA-esque with its dangers of anorexia but the aformentioned lore and the cliffhanger is worth it.
3. Split Decision: I almost consider this the real ending while book 10 was like an epilogue of sorts. This is because Split Decision deals with the more weighty flaws and challenges the girls have been facing. Alex deals with her continued loss of Sara as well as processing how much she has changed from just a year ago. Camryn also deals with bio family woes and connecting with heritage as well as her romantic troubles that coincide with her eternal struggle between being a witch and being a normal girl. Additionally, Miranda, Thantos and Ileana finally have the big confrontation with their tangled histories and feelings and other minor antagonists are sorted out too. So it feels very full circle, wrapping up these big threads. Plus it has the Coventry Guide which I always find fun to read.
4. Power of Two: This was an excellent first book to a series, cementing the two leads and their different personalities, creating a shocking flip of a dime situation where they meet for the first time and a compelling mystery. Not just the one they’re trying to solve of the mystery of bubblegum pop singer, Marleigh Cooper but the girl’s heritage as things are very shadowy in the first book. Maybe it’s nostalgia, maybe it’s my sentimentality, but reading it is always like reading it for the first time. Full of newness and potential and excitment.
5. Seeing is Believing: One of the first nascent adventures of the girls as they take more control of their powers, this one got to the top five because of its relative importance. Not only does it cement the girl’s do-gooding tendency and the running theme of juggling normal problems like Cam’s BFF issues with Beth and magical danger but it introduces reoccuring antagonist hottie, Shane, hinting to the girls that fighting their whack uncle won’t be easy as they think as his supporters lurk to undermine them.
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Ranking The Hollywood Sisters
1. Backstage Pass: Again maybe it’s nostalgia, maybe it’s the rose-tinted glasses but whenever I read this, I fall in love with it all over again so this gets the number one spot. The wit, the fun, the inadverted celebrity jinx Jessica brings to all the guest stars. This was as an excellent introduction into Jessica’s world and how Wilcox cements the shy girl persona of Jessica who cannot get through a conversation without stammering yet she’ll run over George Cloony with a golf cart if that meant helping her sister against an incriminting tabloid rag. Additionally, the burgeoning relationship between Jessica and Jeremy is done well as Jessica subtly increases in confidence when interacting with him, becoming a slightly more confident hot mess around him. But best of all, the mystery is well-done, built up with clues that move it along if you’re observant enough to notice them.
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Notable Author: Erin Hunter
Though I suppose I should authors since Erin Hunter is the nom de plume of several different authors. But honestly this post isn’t about them. I decide to go on a binge and reread these series. Well reread the first series, the rest are entirely new to me and see if they still hold up.
I haven’t gotten to them all since there’s almost 50 (I think) and my library has this messed up system of not having the first book in the series or the last. And I mean they don’t have it. No one checked it out because it’s not in the catalogue. So this was a slow going hunt but I’ll update this post once I get to the other series. Or maybe make individual ones later on for a more in-depth review.
Warrriors
Remember when everyone was obssessed with these books? Well my phase was way back when in fourth grade and this has been the first time in years since I read it. I was amazed how well it holds up (probably because I forgot a lot of it).
It’s exciting and intricate in its world-building with the different clans, ranking and family trees. Rusty’s journey to becoming a leader was actually very poignant as he deals with betrayal, and loss for the first time during the precarious existance of the clans in the midst of a great prophecy.
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Queer Romance
Paris Daillencourt Is About To Crumble is the second book in Hall’s Winner Bakes All series and is delivers just enough of the Bake Expectations to satisfy Great British Baking Show fans while also creating a sweet albeit difficult romance between Paris and Tariq.
Paris has issues, primarily crippling anxiety though he doesn’t get diagnosed until the end of the book. He just assumes it is the way he is, and is constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. For people to realize he’s nothing, to get kicked off the show, for his bakes to fail, for Tariq to dump him. Paris’ mind is exhausting. It’s amazing how everything is a disaster or a slight on him, even the most innocent comment, he is worried will be misconstrued as him being ignorant or racist or worst. Which is only compounded by being on national television with almost 2.11 million viewers.
I’m much more of a go with the flow person and people who constantly put themselves down are. . . I’m sorry to say, they annoy me. And Paris annoyed me a lot during the course of this book. While I understand it’s a mental illness and chemical imbalance etc. his narrative was exhausting to read after the first 100 pages but that is the point. Hall does a great job in depicting the misery of Paris’ day to day life with the way his thoughts hound him and twist everything to a catostrophe, and how it negatively affects his relationships with others. Although Tariq did have his share of blame for the way he handled it, it’s an eequal thing as Paris really did need to accept the idea and work to get better first. It’s realistic though I still personally feel Tariq had the patience of a saint to put up with it for five weeks and to think it was endearing somehow.
Nonetheless, while Paris isn’t someone I’d want to hang out, Hall’s realistic depiction of his persona and the progression of their accidental meet-up (Paris slams a fridge in Tariq’s fridge), their banter, communication, fall out and make-up kept me engaged. Tariq was a particularly delight, confident, self starter with enough vulnerability that he didn’t seem too perfect. Plus Hall’s dry sense of humor added lightness to the proceedings like a fellow contestant’s bum cakes. Can’t wait for the next season/book.
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Cat’s Cradle Review
After all the world-travelling Cat has been doing, she’s glad to be back home in good ol’ England even if the sight of Drury Lane in rubble still hurts. Better yet, she has finally cured Billy of his affections for her (a months long ship voyage and rambling carriage rides in close quarters can do that and Cat made herself as irritating as possible. What a relief to that story) and is ready to settle down. Even so, she can’t quite imagine herself as finding a conventional life which is what Syd offers her. But she can’t muster past her sisterly affection towards the boxing butcher and the fact that she constantly finds herself in trouble doesn’t lend itself to a quiet home with a gaggle of children.
However, all those questions have to wait when her former guardians comes with big news. He has potential information on her birth mother!
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Black Heart of Jamaica Review
After wandering about the New World and resting from her ordeals with Lizzie, Johnny and her new goddaughter, cat is ready to get back out in the world and find an occupation. After all, she can’t rely on others forever and she dearly misses the paint and organized chaos of Drury Lane. So she and Pedro, the inseperable duo wows the strict theatre manager, Mrs. Peabody and join her troupe for their Carribean tour.
Their first stop is Santo Domingo. . actually no. The island is near a powder keg as the rebel leader and former slave, Touissant gathers slaves, mulettos and others to fight against the white plantation owners for freedom and right. Bloodshed will occur soon so the theatre company moves on but it lights a spark in Pedro. He has been happy but the news of the rebellion has sparked an epiphany that he should do more with his freedom than just show his talents on stage. He wants to help his race. A noble goal but Cat fears for his safety and dearly hopes their time in Jamaica will quell these fires.
As you can guess, when they land in Jamaica, trouble finds her first in a variety of manners from the return of Billy Shepard to Master Hawkins to maleria and her own recklessness.
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Rachel Reads & Reviews 