The Book of the Maidservant

The Book of the Maidservant

By Rebecca Barnhouse

Summary:

It's the Middle Ages and young Joanna is growing up in a holy woman's household as her maidservant. Joanna's mistress, Dame Margery Kemp, is divorced and lives alone in Northern England. But one day, Dame Margery says to Joanna that the Lord had spoken to her and that he wants her to go on a pilgrimage to Rome with Joanna. Joanna has no choice, she must go and she must walk all day in bare feet. At the end of each day, she must cook, clean and wait on all of the other ladies and lords on the pilgrimage.

Joanna soon adapts to her new on-the-go life, but when the other pilgrims get fed up with Dame Margery, she decides to abandon the pilgrimage.  Joanna must continue onto Rome with the rest of the pilgrims, one of whom  is very dangerous.

She feels alone.
She feels lost.
She feels betrayed.
She feels scared.

Will she make it to Rome... alive?

Review:

The Book of the Maidservant was an unusual book with lots of interesting characters, but it still seemed to be missing something.

I absolutely adored the fact that this was a historical romance and I loved the way that the author described Joanna's life in the Middle Ages. Even though Joanna had a miserable life throughout her trip to Rome, the author somehow made it seem like it was an incredible adventure.

The plot was well thought-out, and Joanna's life and her travels were very interesting. I liked how on the trip to Rome she got to meet lots of different people and learn more about them.

I felt like I was living in the Middle Ages when I was reading this book. Rebecca Barnhouse, the author, did a very good job at describing what was going on around Joanna and what she saw, her descriptions were very vivid.

I think that what the book was missing, was progression of the story and of events. The whole story and all of its events seemed to be lingering on too much and I thought that if the book that been any longer I would have stopped and never restarted. I wish that the author could have made things happen more quickly.

Recommended for any tween or teen age 12+

Heaven Looks A Lot Like The Mall

Heaven looks A Lot Like The Mall

By Wendy Mass

Summary:

One day, 16 year old Tessa suffers a terrible accident in gym class and she goes into a coma. But in her head she is in heaven, and for her, that means that she is in the mall where her parents worked and where she has, in a way, grown up. That's her heaven.

In the so-called heaven/mall, she meets a boy who has also suffered a traumatic accident. When Tessa asks him why she is in the mall, he tells her she is here to figure out who she is and to try to understand why and how she has changed over the course of her life. Just before he leaves, he gives Tessa a shopping bag and tells her that it contains the most important things that she has ever bought from the mall.

At first Tessa is confused, but soon she lets her memory take over and remembers her old life as it flashes before her eyes once again...

As Tessa remembers the good and decisions that she has made, she also remembers a very different version of herself than who she is today. She regrets choices and actions that she took and she can't help wondering if it is it too late to change?

Review:

Once again, Wendy Mass has done it! This book is brilliant! It is a page-turner that talks about a girl who goes to 'heaven' while she is in a coma. It was a unbelievably fantastic plot with lots of twists and turns.

Tessa is a realistic character who a lot of teens will be able to relate to. I think that a lot of teen girls would like to go to 'heaven' like Tessa and figure out what we did wrong in our lives and see the mistakes that we made without realizing it. Also, none of us are perfect and I think that after reading this book, I feel more comfortable in my own skin and have learnt to accept that everybody makes mistakes, and that that is just part of life and that I wouldn't learn from my mistakes if I didn't have any.  I think that I lot of girls, tween or teen, would benefit from reading about Tessa's trip to 'heaven'.

I loved that when Tessa was in 'heaven' each item that was in the shopping bag that was given to her had its own story and that after reading about every item and its story, I felt like I knew her. Wendy Mass builds the character of Tessa throughout the book.

I also found it very interesting that the entire book was written in verse.  It didn't rhyme, but it was written as if it was a poem. At first I thought that it might have just been the first page or two that was written like that but, but no, the entire book. I am surprising myself by saying this, but I absolutely loved it! It is what made the book such a page turner! In one verse was a bit of her life which suddenly stopped and I just needed to get to the next verse, and then the next, and since the verses are quick and easy to read, the story progresses quickly.

This was the best Wendy Mass that I have ever read and one of the best books ever!

Recommended for all teen girls 14+

Book Countdown Update

Hello Bookworms!

I am just writing a quick little post to let you know how everything is going regarding the book countdown...

It has been going very slowly, unfortunately, mostly because of the stress of packing boxes and cleaning our apartment here before we leave to go to Vancouver. Also, I just got back from a week-long school trip on Friday and had a big dance recital Saturday evening (yesterday), for which I had to prepare all day long!

I had no time to read on my school trip and have been so busy that I am sadly stopping the book countdown 10 days before the deadline. I have just finished The Book of the Maidservant by Rebecca Barnhouse, which leaves me with three books to read in just ten days. Now if they were all quite short books, I might be able to pull it off; but since Inkspell by Cornelia Funke is about 500 pages long and in small print, there is absolutely no way that I will be done the three remaining books in time. Another reason is that there are lots of other books that I want to read and when ever I pick them up, read the back cover and get excited, I have to remind myself that I have other books that I have to read for my book challenge. And I hate that, because I am missing out on a lot of really good books, and that is not at all my intention with my book countdown.

I am going to read the three remaining books, though, just not right now because I am in a different 'book period' in my life and am interested in different books...

Look out for the review of The Book of the Maidservant by Rebecca Barnhouse, coming out this week!

-Gia

P.S.: I almost forgot to mention that I am now a TEEN!!! The name of the blog will still stay the same though!