My Favorite Books this Year

“Newly orphaned Peggy Grahame is caught off-guard when she first arrives at her family’s ancestral estate. The house is full of mysteries and ghosts. Soon Peggy becomes involved with the spirits of her own Colonial ancestors and witnesses the unfolding of a centuries-old romance against a backdrop of spies and intrigue and of battles plotted and foiled.”

This book was written in 1958 and has an almost dual timeline between then and Colonial New York. The synopsis sounds strange, but don’t let the ghosts scare you off! It is a lovely book, well written with a fun yet complicated plot, and wonderful characters. I highly recommend it!

“Peregrine strives to be the Latki ideal—and to impress her parents: affectionate Lord Tove, who despises only the Bamarre, and stern Lady Klausine. Perry runs the fastest, speaks her mind, and doesn’t give much thought to the castle’s Bamarre servants, who she knows to be weak and cowardly. But just as she’s about to join her father on the front lines, she is visited by the fairy Halina, who reveals that Perry isn’t Latki-born. She is a Bamarre. The fairy issues a daunting challenge: against the Lakti might, free her people from tyranny.”

This was my first Gail Carson Levine book, and I really enjoyed it! This book was written after The Two Princesses of Bamarre, but I believe it is a set up for that book, which I haven’t read yet. I really liked Perry, and how after she was taught a skewed truth, she was able to change, and help others do the same. Looking back on the book, it doesn’t seem like it was anything special, but the writing pulled me in and left me wanting to read the next book!

“From the author of The Goose Girl comes this fabulous tale of a group of mountain girls who find themselves in training as possible royal brides. Talk about a clash of cultures!”

This book is something I do not usually read. Middle-Grade Princess books are not usually my thing, but Amelia read it and liked it, so I gave it a try. The title is a bit misleading because though the girls do go to a princess academy, that isn’t really the main focus of the book. Miri, the main character, has never been allowed to do the work the rest of her village does because she is so small. She is left feeling unloved and unwanted, but hides it under a cheery laugh. Throughout the book, Miri learns and changes, and finds ways of her own to help her village. It was a fun story, and I’m excited to read the rest of the books in the series!