Jenni James Faerie Tale Collection: The Little Mermaid

"Is Grass Truly Greener than Ocean Blue?"
 

Bookworm's Ranking - 4 Worms

Storyline - Pearl has always dreamed going to see the people on land, even if that means leaving behind the merman, Keel, who wishes to marry her. But, when he decides to give her what she's always wanted, it is a dream come true and ignores the warnings of the dangers of land. When she get there, will it be everything she ever dreamed or will the warning of her loved ones prove true?

Author - Jenni James

Publisher - StoneHouse Ink

Age Group - 14 and up
 
Content - *May Contain Spoilers* Pearl and Keel lie to their families. Pearl is a bit gullible which get her and Keel in trouble once. Some fighting. Pearl and Keel are willing to make sacrifices to save each other. The both learn the truth about the world, changing their perspectives and being open to more then they originally thought.

Personal Opinion - This retelling of The Little Mermaid had a lot of the hallmarks of the original tale with a few twists. And isn't that just a beautiful cover? Keel, the leading merman, is a real prince in shinning... ah... scales, while Pearl's curiosity tends to get the better of them. While Pearl is curious and determined to live her dream of visiting land, there was one moment in the story I thought she was kinda dumb but don't want to go into details because of spoilers. Mostly, this story is well told and well built but I did have a couple of things that I wish had been different. This book had a lot of kissing and cuddling and it seemed over kill. It also took long time for them to get on land, like half the book. The people were presented as cruel and the reader doesn't get to know what the people are saying (because Pearl and Keel can't understand their language and vice versa) which can be good but it makes me wonder what was said and if there was a miss communication that blew out of proportion. I wish there had been more on land time and mix of people and maybe a point of view of someone who knew what was going on that the merfolk didn't. For a lot of the book, the world is full of terrible people who only look out for themselves. But, at the end, there was some hope when one character showed kindness. This was close to the end with very little time to get to know that character and have hope that there is some good. I like Jenni Jame's writing, this being the third book of hers I've read, and I will read more but this one is not my favorite and could have been better.

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Other Reviews for this Author - Jenni James Faerie Tale Collection: Beauty and the Beast - Review

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Thieves of Greatness

 

Bookworm's Ranking - 4 Worms

Storyline - Elizabeth is the second daughter of King Henry the VII and unlikely to ever receive the crown or be remembered. Shunned by her family, she feels alone and wishes to be great. Yet, when she starts seeing a flying sailing ship, she begins to worry that she is going insane like her father is rumored to be. When the ship lands atop the palace and the man called Captain invites her aboard, she begins an adventure where animals talk, travels through time, and meets the other children invited on board like King Tut, the boy king of Egypt, Neal Armstrong, an adventurous boy who jumps into everything, and Coaxoch, a shy Aztec princess. But, their adventures are interrupted by someone taking children out of their time and abandoning them. As they race to stop whoever is doing this, the hunters become the hunted and they will have to find a way to send the world's and time's children back to where they belong and find in themselves all they can be.

Author - Emily C. Burger

Publisher - Howling Wolf

Age Group - 12 and up
 
Content - *May Contain Spoilers* Elizabeth decides to go with a man on a sailing ship that flies who she just met. Coaxoch struggles with right and wrong. Each child has to face their fear and doubt to overcome the evil they are facing and use their talents.

Personal Opinion - I've been jumping between rating this book at 3.5 or 4 stars because, while it is good and interesting and the characters are great, there were some questions and concerns I had. The story was really good and engaging, having a Doctor Who feel with the Captain and the Explorer and the strange items aboard the ship as well as picking up people who are fantastic (the biggest difference here is in Doctor Who, the companions are just normal people while each kid in this book is a recognizable figure from history but the sentiment is the same for the people who come along). That is one cool thing, that the every kid is an important person from history, which really shows that, "Every child has the ability to make history," as Captain says, and there are hints of how these children do so while reading this book. Speaking of history, while it was fun seeing  different people from various cultures and historical time periods, I did question the historical accurateness at times. The reader gets to see Elizabeth in her home for several chapters before she meets the Captain yet there were times I thought, "Is that right? I thought it was different." It makes me want to do research. That being said, the issue of accurateness also comes into play with point of view. It seemed it was mostly from Elizabeth's POV yet sometimes the author would seem to speak to the reader director, and then, again in the description, an item would be described by being compared to something else, something Elizabeth would not know anything about because of the time period difference. It made me wonder who was telling this story. There were also several POV changes without a scene break or chapter change that went from one character to another with only the change of a sentence. For the antagonist, I am still not clear is what his motivation and goal was. Lastly, and this is more personal, I would have liked to have seen Elizabeth at home longer at the end of the story, had seen how she changed, especially after how long the beginning was before even before a hint of the flying ship. But, this story was good. It wasn't a, "I have to get back to this right now!" story for me but, when I was reading, I was interested and engaged, enjoyed the various characters, human and animal, and seeing how these historical people before they were famous were brought into the story. I think there is a lot of room for it to become a series and continue on but it also works well for a stand alone. This is a good book, maybe one I would not say, "You have to go buy this," but, if someone was interested in it, I would say good things and support them picking it up. The author, Emily C. Burger, has a great future in writing if she wants to continue and work on it some more. I would keep an eye out for her next book.

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Books Releasing in May

Hey Bookworms,

May today (hey, that rhymes!) and some new books. I love new books. New stories. New adventures. New worlds. So, lets check out what's coming out that I'm interested in.

A Branch of Silver, A Branch of Gold

Release Date: May 16

A retelling of two fairy tales by Anne Elisabeth Stengl. I love when fairy tales are mixed together to make a new an original story and seeing how they fit together and what new meaning comes from that. Sorry for the run on but it is so fun. Also, I hear good stuff about Stengl and look forward to reading her books.







Okay, not the best list. I did get an email with about 10 books on it from Goodreads but... I wasn't really interested. It had books from authors that I've only read once, such as Becky Wade whose book is really good and has a new one, Her One and Only, and Lynne Hinton with Sister Eve and the Blue Nun, but I knew nothing about or from a company so I wasn't interested in that particular story (one was a new TMNT graphic novel, Volume 14, but I've already read the comics collected in it so I didn't see that I should post about it) or authors I have read, even more than once, and am no longer interested in reading. So, yeah, new that I have heard and read about that is releasing this month is this book. While there are others coming out that is worth the time, this one is that I remember.

Please, share what you are interested in reading (or coming out) this month. Apparently I need the help. Have a great month and see you in June for a new list (there will be more than one book next month, I can promise that.

Chew on a good book today!