Fun Fiction Friday - August 10th, 2018

Fun Fiction Friday
August 10th, 2018

Welcome back to Fun Fiction Friday.

In my Fun Fiction Friday I share the books the older girls and I are reading, and a short review of a Young Adult or Juvenile book I have finished, if applicable. I will also ask the girls to tell me something they would like to share about at least one of the books they are currently reading.

Tabitha is currently reading the following books.

She finished the first Keeper of the Lost Cities book and really enjoyed it, as do I. Between last week and this week she also read the first book of The Land of Stories series, titled The Wishing Spell, which I read and wrote a review of last summer. (You can check out my review here.) I wasn't aware she was reading it last Friday, so it didn't get included in last week's Fun Fiction Friday. 

Keeper of the Lost Cities:Exile by Shannon Messenger is the second book in this series. We are both reading it and having a hard time putting the books down. In fact, we are fighting each other to have our turn to read it. Though there was a time in the dentist's office last week when we shared. 

As I have mentioned in previous Fun Fiction Friday posts, this is a wonderful series full of adventure and unexpected twists and turns. This second book starts shortly after the first one ends, a year after Sophie ended up in the elven world. She is learning more about her world, helping her adoptive family, and discovering new powers and secrets. I hope to share my review of this book next week.

The Land of Stories: The Enchantress Returns by Chris Colfer takes place a year after the first book ended. I have not yet read this book, even though I had it out of the library last summer. I ended up returning it as I became obsessed with the I Am Number Four series by Pittacus Lore. Tabitha can't tell me too much right now, except that they do return to the Land of Stories. I have every intention of reading it so I can share about the book. 

Amelia is now reading three books.

She decided all those books sounded interested, so is attempting them all. We'll see how this goes. She is a little ways into all three books.

As a family, we are still reading A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond  as it goes along with our review of the literature study of Paddington from Branch Out World.

A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond was a book I loved when I was a child. I have been wanting Tabitha to read it for a while, but she has so many books in her TBR pile she hasn't gotten to it yet. So, we are now making it a family read-aloud.

We are also on the third book of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series titled, The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan.

I am still reading House of Dark Shadows by Robert Liparulo, though if I write a review it will be posted over on my book blog (Me, Myself, I Read (and Write)) as I am trying to keep Fun Fiction Friday for juvenile books.

I have sort of set it aside to reread the Keeper of the Lost Cities series.

Fun Fiction Friday

Book Review

Yes, I actually finished the Keeper of the Lost Cities series, and decided to read it again. Yes, I enjoy it that much! I am very much emotionally attached to these characters.

In this series Sophie, who was brought up by a family of humans until she was 12 year old, suddenly finds out she is an elf, and part of a magical world that keeps itself separated from the human world. She also finds out she has a very important role to play and has more powers than most elves, though all have different skills, and the majority have at least one special ability.

In this first book Sophie is found by an elf who tells her they've been looking for her for 12 years. Of course, she doesn't believe him at first, not until he takes her to the elven world. She finally understands why she has been able to hear people's thoughts since she was five years old, though that is even abnormal in the elven world. She ends up having to leave her family and completely integrate into this world she knows nothing of.

She makes friends, and foes as she begins school at Foxfire, while having to keep the secret that she is a Telepath. She struggles with having to unlearn things she learned as fact in the human world, which makes some of her classes quite the challenge. Which is really weird for her seeing as she was a child prodigy in the human world, a 12 year old high school senior.

In addition to struggling in school, she is also struggling trying to find her place in her "foster" family, a couple who lost their daughter years earlier and were convinced to take Sophie in. She's not sure if she really belongs, and when dangerous events take place, she finds herself unsure of her future with them. Which then leads to a perilous predicament involving a friend and black hooded figures.

The book does a wonderful job introducing the reader to this mythical world, a world where all the creatures you thought were fairy tales actually live, along with all the animals we think are extinct. Though most are nothing like humans think they are. The author is so imaginative, and wonderful at describing this world. And as I have already mentioned, she does a wonderful job with character building. I am very much emotionally attached to Sophie and her friends. There is at least one scene in each book were I have found myself in tears, this first book included.

I definitely recommend this series for lovers of the fantasy genre.