Quickie :)

Hi guys - I just wanted to let you know that I probably won't be posting at all these next couple of weeks, because summer's nearly over and I want to take advantage of the last couple of weeks before school starts back again by swimming, and going out etc. :) Sorry! But I'll be reviewing lots in September hopefully :D Bye everyone and enjoy the rest of your summer!

Going away for a bit...

Hi evertyone! Just a quick post to say I'll be gone away til next Tuesday - sorry, I forgot to schedule posts, so there won't be any til then :L Anyway, see you then!

REVIEW: A Most Improper Magick by Stephanie Burgis

At twelve years old, any proper young lady in Regency England should be sitting quietly at home, practising her embroidery and keeping her opinions to herself. But Kat Stephenson is no ordinary young lady. Kat's father may be a respectable vicar, but her late mother was a notorious witch and Kat herself is the newest target of an ancient magical Order. In the first thrilling instalment of The Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson, there are highwaymen to foil, sinister aristocrats to defeat and true loves to capture for Kat's two older sisters. 


I jusknew I was going to love 'A Most Improper Magick' - it's just my kind of book! I had high expectations, and I was not disappointed! Kat was a brilliant character, and I loved her sisters as well. Angeline was probably my favourite character after Kat -  she was clever and funny, and very entertaining to read about! Kat's other sister Elissa was more serious, but I liked her too. I loved their sisterly relationship, they bickered and fought at times (of course!) but they were ultimately loyal and kind towards each other, and I thought that was great. I really like great literature sisters, but you don't get it much in books theses days, so it was a lovely change to have it in this book.

Kat was just amazing! She was all that I love in a person (or character), rebellious, adventurous, fiercely loyal and funny! She was fiery and loveable and I loved reading the book from her point of view. 

There was a wondeful cast of supporting characters - to name a few, Elissa and Angeline's love interests, who were romantic and lovely, the girls' father, and their stepmother whom, towards the end, I sort of started to...like? Am I supposed to start liking her? Because she seemed a lot nicer near the end of the book :) Charles seemed like a really fun character with a lot of potential - I was disappointed we didn't see more of him, and I hope he will be in the next book more!

Stephanie Burgis is a fantastic writer - her descriptions are exact and made it easy for me to imagine what people, clothes, and rooms looked like. She also has a brilliant way with words - she phrases things and uses words in a way that I never would have even thought of doing! She is just an amazing writer and I am dying to read more of her work. Reading A Most Improper Magick just made me feel so happy - it's definitely a feel good read!

The only thing I have to complain about is the magic in this book - I didn't get the whole Guardian-magic thing. What they did wasn't really explained at all, and that annoyed me! I liked reading about the witchcraft magic though - that was explained a lot better, and was quite enjoyable to read about!

A Most Improper Magick is one of the best books I've read this year - middle grade 1800's fantasy is my new favourite genre! ;) I must admit, I love reading books from this era - I would recommend this to fans of Cora Harrison's 'Jane Austen' series. This amazing book is written beautifully, has an unstoppable, extremely likeable heroine, and deserves to be read by everybody! I am absolutely dying to read A Tangle of Magicks. If you haven't already, add A Most Improper Magick to your to-read lists now - it's a must-read!

Source: For Review - a massive thanks to the publisher for sending me this in exchange for an honest review.

Format: Paperback
Pages: 256

Age group: 9+

Official Publication Date:1st August 2010
Publisher: Templar Publishing

Letterbox Love #6

Letterbox Love is a weekly meme, hosted by Narratively Speaking. It's a great way of sharing what books you receive every week, and I'm delighted to be taking part! 


This is my IMM for the past three weeks - I got loads of awesome books, and I can't wait to read them! 

Bought

Black Heart Blue by Louisa Reid

I read a brilliant review of this on The Book Addicted Girl a while ago, and have been dying to read i ever since - it sounds really intriguing, I hope I'll like it :)

Adorkable by Sarra Manning

I've heard mixed reviewes for this, some super-positive and some super-negative - hopefully I'll be on the super positive side! It sounds awesome and the cover is so cute - I think the tagline is very fitting!

(by the way, although the three for two stickers are on the books, I didn't get three books - my dad got a book for himself, and I got these two :D)

Kitty Kitty by Michele Jaffe

Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin

My charity shop buys! I haven't heard much about any of these books before (except for a little bit about Teenage Amnesiac) but they all look great!

Library

I Was Jane Austen's Best Friend by Cora Harrison

I liked 'Jane Austen Stole My Boyfriend' and I know I'll love this too :) Will hopefully be reading this soon.

Just In Case by Meg Rosoff

I've heard Meg Rosoff is brilliant and I hope I'll have time to read this before it has to go back to the library! 

Baby Blue by Julia Green

I've never heard of this before, I've only heard of the author, but it looks amazing!! I'll definitely be reading this ASAP!

What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell

I've never read a book like this before, but it sounds very sophisticated and cool :D 

The Princess Diaries: Mia Goes Fourth by Meg Cabot

I love this series, and I'm currently reading this - to be honest, I don't like it! I'm finding it quite boring and repetitive :/ 

For review
My Dating Disasters Diary (not pictured - I, eh, temporarily misplaced it ;) )
My Desperate Love Diary 
My Rocky Romance Diary
My Now or Never Diary by Liz Rettig
Thanks so much to Harriet at Random House for these! I've already read, loved and reviewed the first book and am dying to read more! 


Muddle and Win: The Battle for Sally Jones by John Dickinson (Proof copy)
I read a little bit of this and it's really cute,I'm looking forward to reading more :) Thanks Random House for this too!


I had a great week this week, I got some awesome-looking books :) Leave me a link to your LL in the comments and I'll drop by and have a look!


What did you get in your letterbox? 

REVIEW: My Dating Disasters Diary by Liz Rettig

Tomboy Kelly Ann loves football and computer games and has no interest in stupid romantic stuff and boy crushes. Her best mate is Chris, the boy next door, and he’s not into that stuff either, is he? Kelly Ann’s hilarious diary explores the crazy world of love.

Kelly Ann is fourteen and a tomboy - she's never had a boyfriend, and she's never wanted one! But when her best friend Liz convinces her she needs to get one soon or everyone will think she's 'sad', Kelly Ann sets out to find one, with disastrous and cringeworthy consequences! 

After finishing My Dating Disasters Diary, I have realised that despite only reading two books in this series, it's already one of my all-time favourites! This book is just brilliant. It's hilarious and addictive and I didn't want it to end! I read this in under a day, and would have read it in one sitting if I had had the time. It's easy and fun to read, and I flew through it.

I  (of course) loved Kelly Ann (who wouldn't?), maybe even more than I did in My Scorching Summer Diary! She is closer to my age in this book, so I found her and different situations she was in more relatable. Kelly Ann is one of the best and funniest characters I have ever come across in fiction and is incredibly likeable! As are her best friends Liz and Stephanie. I mentioned in my review of My Scorching Summer Diary that I thought that if I got to 'know' them a bit better I would like them more  - and I absolutely did! They were just fantastic! Liz was hilarious, physchoanalysing Kelly Ann all the time, and dumping her boyfriend because he was too boring (according to Liz) because he had no childhood traumas, phobias, and was too normally sane! Stephanie was great too, but unfortunately we didn't get to see a whole lot of her because she only came into the book over halfway through - she was still fab though, and I really liked her. How I would love to be friends with these three! Chris was lovely, although he didn't feel as real to me as the rest of the characters. Kelly Ann's Mum and Dad were really fun to read about - very embarrassing! 


I couldn't put 'My Dating Disasters Diary' down! Rettig writes brilliantly, and grips her readers in to Kelly Ann's world. I was totally hooked from the first page till the very last. I love books written in diary format, and most of Kelly Ann's diary entries were quite short, which I think is a very clever thing to do in books, because its not too long and boring, and makes people think - I'll just read one more bit! -  but then the entries are so short that you just can't stop! 


There is so many hilarious scenes in this book, and it's hard to choose favourites, but one was definitely when Prince Charles visited Kelly Ann's school, and she was allowed to meet and greet him. I won't say what happens, I'll let you find that out for yourself, but I will say it's  absolutely genius of the author to come up with something like that! Or another of my favourites was Kelly-Ann's 'date' with a boy called William - what a disaster! You really have to read this book - I can't recommend it enough!


The Kelly Ann series is totally underrated - it deserves far more recognition and a place on the bestseller lists! It reminds me of the Georgia Nicholson series - fans of Louise Rennison will fall in love with Kelly Ann and her outlandish adventures. Every teenage girl (and everyone else actually!) should read this book!

Rating: 5/5

Source: For Review - a massive thanks to the publisher for sending me this in exchange for an honest review.

Format: Paperback
Pages: 368

Age group: 12+

Official Publication Date: 7th May 2009
Publisher: Corgi, an imprint of Random House