The Unrivalled Spangles

The Unrivalled Spangles

By Karen Wallace 

Summary:

In the Victorian era, not far from London, the two Spangle sisters, Ellen and Lucy, are living and working in their family circus. Ellen and her younger sister Lucy perform an act called the Incredible Scarletta Sisters. It is a dangerous act: it involves standing on horses, doing somersaults, and jumping off a horse to land on another. In their act Ellen is a sensational perfectionist.  Lucy is a daredevil and is always trying new tricks. Ellen and her sister have a good friendship and are the best performers in the circus, but Ellen hates being a circus girl. She doesn't want her future to lie in the circus because she knows  there is more to discover.   She also knows there is a world of experiences waiting for her outside of the circus.

After years and years at the circus, Ellen decides to take tutoring under a false name, behind her parents' backs, so that she might one day leave the circus and become a teacher.  Soon, however, she finds herself in love and must balance her new love and studying with preparations for the the end-of-season performance. Lucy is aware of her sister's lessons and her boyfriend but doesn't mind because it gives her more time to practice dangerous tricks on her horse.  Soon, however, Lucy finds herself in love -- but with the wrong person -- Joe Morgan, of a rival circus.

With Joe, Lucy becomes more reckless in her training and begins training for a backwards somersault on a moving horse -- the most dangerous trick ever known.  The trick could cost Lucy her life. When Ellen becomes aware of this, she knows that she must stop her sister at all costs.

Review: As you may know from my last review, I didn't enjoy the last book I read. When my mum showed me this book, I thought 'circus -- boring.'  And I felt that my bad book rut was going to continue.  However, The Unrivalled Spangles was great! It was a good book to put my reading interests back on track. It had a great story, cliff-hangers and was not boring! I haven't really read a lot of books about the circus, and that is because I am not a big fan of circuses. However, The Unrivalled Spangles made circus life interesting. I enjoyed reading about how people prepared their tricks for their acts, and I enjoyed reading about the life of people living in a circus.  It is a very different lifestyle.  Everyone is always practicing and performing new and difficult tricks -- even some you might not be able to imagine!  This book was also very appealing to me because I love horses and when Ellen and Lucy do their acts on their horses it is even better! I think that Ellen is a character that a lot of young girls (ages 9-14) could relate to. Ellen is a great role model because she is someone who always wants to learn about the world and help others, even when her parents forbid her. Ellen is also someone that girls could find inspirational because she is a very caring and loving older sister. Ellen always wants to protect and help Lucy and the two sisters are like best friends in the book. I think that a lot of girls who are older sisters (or even younger sisters) and are fighting with their sister (or brother) could maybe think of their sibling in a different, more kind, more supporting way after they read The Unrivalled Spangles. This book shows that your sibling could also be your best friend. 217 pages

The Pimpernelles, Book 1: The Pale Assassin

The Pimpernelles Book 1: The Pale Assassin

By Patricia Elliott

Summary:

The Pale Assassin tells the story of Eugénie de Boncoeur, a young aristocrat living in Paris in 1789 as the French Revolution begins.  Her mother and father are dead, and she and her brother are under the care their guardian.  With the help of Hortense, her governess, Eugenie lives the life of an aristocrat.

As the French revolution takes hold, aristocrats are being put the guillotine, and many are leaving the city.  When Eugénie's family home in Chauvais is destroyed and her guardian flees Paris, she is forced to leave her governess and live in a convent. Eugénie is safe there, or so she thinks. But she is being watched by the Pale Assassin, nicknamed Le Fantôme, meaning 'the ghost.'

Le Fantôme is a sinister, but very rich man who is involved in the revolution.  He has a team of people helping him keep the revolution going and also killing all of his enemies, one of his biggest enemies being the De Boncoeur family, because of their riches and his desire for revenge. He has no particular reason for revenge but he disliked Eugénie's father very much.  Unknown to Eugénie, her guardian betrothed her to Le Fantôme and she must marry him when she turns 16.

In the story, Eugénie tries to survive in an increasingly hostile city but also protect her brother Armand who is a aristocratic royalist. Armand is planning to help the Queen, King, Dauphin and Dauphine escape the Guillotine. Eugénie is urged by her brother to leave Paris and to go and stay with one of their English relatives in the English countryside. Eugénie will not go without her brother but Armand refuses to leave his beloved country.

Can Eugénie escape to England? Can she escape from Le Fantôme and his group of murderers?  Most importantly, can she survive?

Review:

I almost didn't write this review because I almost couldn't get through this book. I started it twice but the second time I got through the entire book. It was hard to read for 2 reasons:

#1 I didn't find the story very interesting and there were no cliff hangers.
#2 I found that there were a lot of typos.

This book was a hard book to read, but I thought that it was important for me to write a review for it. Here goes:

I have to admit that The Pale Assassin is not the best book I have ever read. As I said as above I didn't find the story very interesting or engaging.  Also Eugénie, I think, is not a character that you would want for a role model.  She always gets into trouble (that's normal for a teenager) but the worst thing is that she never gets herself out of trouble, it's always somebody else. So it is as if she doesn't try to help herself and sometimes doesn't think. She is a character who is smart but does not use her intelligence  at the right times. She doesn't pay attention to the important things in life,  just fashion and parties.

Also I found that the story starts fast but bit by bit it starts to slow down. Those are my only complaints.

On the positive side, I found the timeline (historical) really interesting, because I like reading about the French revolution. It is an interesting revolution because the people are fighting against the Royalists and that is not a common type of revolution.  The book had all the right historical facts and the dates in the right order.

Perhaps the author's other books are better and I hope to read another some day so that I can give them an other try . (In fact this is the first of three books in the Pimpernelles series).  I think that my choice fell on the wrong book this time.

Please note that this book is recommended for ages 12 and up.

424 pages

Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy

Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy 

By Ally Carter

Summary:

Cammie Morgan is back at the Gallagher Academy, ready for a peaceful semester. Cammie can't wait to settle into her dormitory in the left wing of the school, but that is no longer a possibility.  Apparently the left wing is being 'renovated'.  When Cammie is in her mum's office (her mom is the school's head mistress) and sees a file labeled 'Blackthorne,' Cammie is very suspicious.  She and her friends are usually the girls in the school who know all the secrets and fresh news. She wonders why she doesn't know what 'Blackthorne' is.

Cammie tries to focus on her studies but she is distracted by the image of the 'Blackthorne' file in her mom's office which is stuck in her head. She thinks that it might have something to do with the 'renovating' in the left wing because she saw a 'TBI' sign on the door to the left wing dormitories. Cammie thinks that she has figured out the 'TBI' sign. She thinks that she has decoded the first two letters: The Blackthorne ...

While Cammie and her friends do all the research on the mysterious  'Blackthorne' something is going on the left wing, and it is not being 'renovated'.  

Review:

Cross my heart... is the second book in the Gallagher Girls series.  While the first book was an  introduction to the series, the second book is where all the adventures really begin.  Cammie is prepared for an adventure but at the same time she isn't ready for what's coming. The Gallagher Girls series is my all-time favorite, the first book was good but the second is even better.

I love Cammie, she is a character that all tween girls would love because she is an amazing heroine and a really cool character.  She has all theses cool, new spy gadgets. I find that her feelings are very well described, you can tell when she is about to solve something or when she is scared. Her friends (who are also sidekicks) make the story even more enjoyable because they bring in funny jokes into the mysteries and also make you feel like they are your very own, new friends.  

The Gallagher Girls books are not the longest books in the world, nor are they the shortest, but they are fast, funny and mysterious reads, but most importantly, they are enjoyable books to read. Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy is Ally Carter's (the author) best book yet (out of the ones that I have read)!

This book is recommended to any tween. The 5th best book that I have read!

236 pages

Sovay

Sovay

By Celia Rees

Summary

Sovay Middelton is a young girl living in England in 1794.  She is living all by herself in a large house in the English countryside while her brother, Hugh, is away studying and her father is mysteriously lost. She amuses herself by disguising herself as a highwayman (someone who robs people on the highways). Everyday she goes and waits at a highway for a carriage to pass by, then she starts her acting. One day Sovay steels a wallet, she does not realize how important it is. She had just stolen the wallet of one of the most important but also dangerous people in England.

Sovay continues using her pass-time as a highwayman not thinking about taxes, rent or expenses. But one day when Sovay returns from the stables she finds that a "trusted" friend, Sir Royston, had come on a government mission to arrest her and destroy her house. Sovay wouldn't let it happen because Sir Royston had no papers to approve the arrest--she had stolen them just hours before!

Sovay is worried and wants to do what is best for herself and her family so, she sets off to her family home in London. She saddles up her horse and sets off as fast as possible. On the way she meets a handsom young man, Captain Jack, who is also a highwayman heading to London. The two of them ride together all the way to London, where Sovay goes to her house and to her surprise, finds one of her old friends, Gabriel Stanhope the son of the Middelton's stewart.

Sovay and Gabriel work together to figure out the mystery of Sovay's lost father their friendship becomes even more important and Sovay finds herself in love.

All this time, they are being watched...by one of the best spy masters ever known. His name being Sir Dysart. He is determined to get rid of the Middeltons. He had received news that the youngest Middelton, Sovay, had escaped from her French home and was now in London, where he was. This was his perfect opportunity. Sir Dysart has plans to always have Sovay near him, but also near his new purchase, a guillotine, from France.

Can Sovay escape Sir Dysart's presence and his guillotine but also find her father?

This is not just any adventure, but a story of a young girl, a mystery, an adventure and a romance all-in-one.

Review

I absolutely adored Sovay, I love historical books and have read a lot of them, but never, ever, have I read a historical novel as attaching, exiting and dramatic as Sovay. At the end of every chapter there is a cliff hanger. In every chapter Sovay solves a mystery, but there is always another mystery to solve. Celia Rees (author) has a very unique writing technique. That is to say that, for example, she will write a sentence with an romance side of it and a mysterious side of it. She twists different reading genres into one sentence. In this book Sovay has a mystery to solve but also an adventure (which turns into a romantic adventure) that she has to handle, that she has to go through, along the way.  I like the way that the author has added a bit of an 'introduction to English society' for Sovay. Sovay and Gabriel explore London together and I think is a very romantic thing to do. I find that the plot is bit unrealistic at some points (and it would make a great Hollywood movie!) but is still very enjoyable.  Celia Rees is an author who needs to be reconsigned for her amazing work.

I have nothing more to say than: brilliant. That is the only word that you can really describe this book as. Just brilliant.

Strongly recommended for ages 11-12 and up.

404 pages

Inkheart

Inkheart

By Cornelia Funke

Summary:

Meggie is a 12 year old girl with no mother and only her father to love and confide in. Meggie calls her father Mo, just the way her mother did. Mo knows all Meggie's secrets and Meggie knows all his secrets, at least she thinks she does. On one sunny morning some strange visitor stops by who's name is Dustfinger. When Mo tells Meggie that he and Dustfinger must leave at once she wants more than ever to go with him.

Meggie is hoping that Mo will take her and Dustfinger on an some incredible adventure, but she is disappointed when this 'adventure' turns into a trip to her aunt's house. Meggie's aunt ADORES books. She has a mansion full of them. In every single room there are books stacked to the ceiling. But when Meggie find's Mo hiding a book she is determined to figure out what the book is and why he is hiding it from her. 

On one dark night, a dozen men break into Meggie's aunt's mansion and take her father, threaten to kill him and take the hidden book. Meggie is in shock and want's to find Mo and the mysterious book.

When Meggie sets off to find Mo and to have an adventure of her own she figures out that behind that book, lies a whole other world.

Review:

Inkheart is the first book in a trilogy written by Cornelia Funke. Inkheart is a book full of magical characters. A lot of the characters are ones that will make you laugh. Note this is completely different from Harry Potter.  Cornelia Funke has an extremely view of magic from J.K. Rowling. 

Meggie is a very strong and brave character because she is very determined and she won't give up. I think that a lot of girls can relate to a character like her. Inkheart is a very different book style. There are a lot of different things going on at the same time in the book. Each person has their own personal adventure, but at the same time everyone is sharing the same adventure and mystery. In the summary I definitely could have gone on for lines and lines about the book but then there would be no more story left for you.  This book is a book with adventure and a mystery. I absolutely ADORED Inkheart, it is the best book I have read in a long time.

Spectacular, impossibly perfect read. Highly recommended.

534 pages