The Tales of the Frog Princess by E.D. Baker

The Tales of the Frog Princess by E.D. Baker

   

     Princess Emma of Greater Greensward could never be the princess her mother wanted her to be. The way she walks, the way she laughs, and the places she goes - none of them were right for a princess.

     So when her mother tells her she has to marry Prince Jorge, she hides in the swamp, where she thinks she can hide. But when a frog hops up to her asking for a kiss, she realizes she was wrong. 

     The frog is an enchanted prince named Eadric. He convinces her to kiss him, and says that if she does, he will be released from the spell and transformed into a human again. But when the kiss backfires, Eadric is still a frog- and so is Emma! 

     8+. T I have loved this book for a long time, but just recently got it for my birthday. 

     -Grace

Icefall by Matthew J. Kirby

Here's another quick recommendation. As you know, I've been a bit of a slacker on the blogging front lately.  During my recess, I have read many books. Some turned out to be unworthy of Deliciously Clean Read status. Others were forgettable.

Icefall by Matthew J. Kirby
was one that stuck with me, and I wanted to make sure to mention here at Homespun Light.

Amazon has the following plot description:

Critically acclaimed author Matthew J. Kirby deftly weaves a stunning coming-of-age tale with chilling cleverness and subtle suspense that will leave readers racing breathlessly to the end.

Trapped in a hidden fortress tucked between towering mountains and a frozen sea, Solveig--along with her brother the crown prince, their older sister, and an army of restless warriors--anxiously awaits news of her father's victory at battle. But as winter stretches on, and the unending ice refuses to break, terrible acts of treachery soon make it clear that a traitor lurks in their midst. Solveig must also embark on a journey to find her own path. Yet, a malevolent air begins to seep through the fortress walls, as a smothering claustrophobia slowly turns these prisoners of winter against one another.

Those charged with protecting the king's children are all suspect, and the siblings must choose their allies wisely. But who can be trusted so far from their father's watchful eye? Can Solveig survive the long winter months and expose the traitor before he manages to destroy a kingdom?

Besides being a great page-turner, this book has some great themes. It talks about the importance of stories, what it is like to be a middle child, bravery, and selflessness.

This book kind of has a fantasy feel, but you certainly won't find any fairies or goblins in it.

I highly recommend it. If you enjoy books like The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen (review here), check this one out!

The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielson

The first time I heard someone compare The False Prince: (Book 1 of the Ascendance Trilogy) by Jennifer A. Nielson to Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, I admittedly balked a little. I mean really, Harry Potter AND The Hunger Games? But I put the hardcover in my Amazon cart anyway.

The second time I heard the comparison made, I decided to check my library system to see if I could get it sooner. All the copies in the county were checked out. And there were quite a few.

The THIRD time I heard that it was AS. GOOD. AS. HARRY POTTER. AND THE HUNGER GAMES (!), I said, I need this book now...and downloaded it to my Kindle.

So, how did it measure up?

Considering my HIGH expectations, it did well.

I can't say that it was quite the page-turner that The Hunger Games was, but I certainly didn't want to stop reading at any point either.

I enjoyed this book as well as the first few Harry Potters (BLASPHEMY! you say), but whether the series becomes a true classic remains to be seen. I mean, that 7th Harry Potter book was genius. Pure storytelling genius.

Here's a summary:

The royal family is dead but few members of the Kingdom know. One of the princes, however, was lost at sea years ago. A power-hungry regent chooses four orphans who look similar to the missing prince and begins training them. One will become Prince Jaron. The other three, knowing too much of the treacherous plan, will be killed.

Sage, an unruly boy full of spunk, is our narrator. He doesn't want to be a prince, but what choice does he have? Full of twists and turns, we watch this unique character face challenge after challenge in his unusual way.

And it is Sage's character that makes this book great. Jennifer Nielson did an excellent job crafting this boy...making him someone stubborn yet lovable. He's always fighting the system, but the more we get to know him, we see that his intentions are honorable and worthwhile. I don't know if I loved him at first, but I watched him become a man and grew to LOVE his character.

While this book has some adventure, the violence is more comparable to the first Harry Potter novels than any of The Hunger Games books. One orphan is killed early on to prove that the regent is serious about his evil plot, but it isn't graphic.

So, despite my balking (like a chicken), I consider this book a 5 star read. Adventure, a little romance, a good fairy tale...

If you want to know if Sage ranks up there with the likes of wizard boys and the tributes of district 12, you'll just have to read it and decide for yourself.

Clean Fantasy Romances for Growing Girls

For years, I waited for my kids to be old enough to appreciate Princess Academy by Shannon Hale. I would pull it off the shelf now and then and consider it for our next read-aloud, but the right time hadn't arrived.

Until recently. We just finished reading this wonderful book last week.



My patience paid off. Both Bubs (8) and Welly-Bells (6) thoroughly enjoyed it, but Welly was absolutely triumphant as the sweet little romance wrapped up. Giddy even.  :) She pranced around a lot and giggled a little...and I thought, Oh Boy! My little girl is growing up.

I told her that she comes from a long line of love. Couples that are madly in love for life and beyond.

I certainly haven't grown out of sweet little romances like The Princess Academy. I'm still a sucker for a good, clean fairy tale.

That got me thinking about all the other wonderful fantasy romances that I'll be able to share with her over the years. Can't wait!

Gail Carson Levine's:

Ella Enchanted

and Fairest

Shannon Hale's:

Book of a Thousand Days

and The Goose Girl series

Jessica Day George's:

Dragon Slippers
series

and Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow

Robin McKinley's:

Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast

Julie Berry's:

The Amaranth Enchantment

and Secondhand Charm

Martine Leavitt's:

Keturah and Lord Death

E.D. Baker's:

The Wide-Awake Princess



These books vary in maturity, but I consider them all Deliciously Clean Reads. What books would you add to the list???

Divergent by Veronica Roth

In an attempt to stay awake while nursing in the middle of the night, I've been reading some YA dystopia. Divergent by Veronica Roth is one of them. My intention for these books is that I will only read them while nursing in the night and not during the day....that doesn't work out so well. I mean, the whole point is that the book is enough of a page-turner that I won't put it down and fall asleep. It's hard not to pick them up while nursing during the day.

Anyway, enough rambling. Divergent is an entertaining book. It has a bit more grit to it than some of my favorites, but still, it was a page-turner. 

The Amazon blurb about it says this: 

In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the YA scene with the first book in the Divergent series—dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.

Divergent has a fair amount of violence, as many of the dystopian books do. I don't think there was any swearing or sexuality, but I was mostly reading it at 3 am.  :) The main characters get tattoos as part of their initiation into their faction, as well.

I'd probably give this book three out of five stars.