Once Upon A Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber is about a girl named Evangeline who is heartbroken over a boy that she loved. He ended up engaged to her step sister, and Evangeline was deeply hurt. She finds the church of the Prince of Hearts, a mystical fate related to all things love and heartbreak, and prays that the marriage does not go on. While there, she meets a mysterious boy who turned out to be the Prince of Hearts himself.
A mysterious girl was found growing in a bamboo stalk by a poor bamboo cutter. She brought lots of riches to the bamboo cutter and his wife, so they saw her as a gift from the gods and wanted to raise her like royalty. They move to the capital and live a luxurious lifestyle, but the Princess named Kaguya can’t live happily as the materialistic world distracts her from a simple life. Her heart yearns to return to where she comes from, but soon she would learn to regret it. This movie is a great emotional and artistic take on a Japanese folktale.
The Land of Stories follows Alex and Conner Bailey as they travel through the fairy tale world after they unexpectedly arrive there. They must work together to find their way out before it’s too late. This book is really great because it’s full of adventure and great characters. I really like how this book plays into some classic fairy tales like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. My favorite part is when they first enter the fairy tale world and my favorite character is Froggy.
Land of Stories, The Enchantress Returns is a thrilling novel that I would recommend to middle schoolers. My favorite part of this book was the character development. Example, Princess Red goes from being shallow and vain to caring and thoughtful towards others. All in all, if you like books that involve friendship, fantasy, and adventure, I think this book would be great for you!
This book appears to be the sequel to the Disney movie Brave. And it is an excellent one. We see Merida come back from a journey, and she realizes that nothing has changed. On Christmas, she meets two gods. One, who goes by the name of Feradach, is the god of ruin, and his next job is to ruin her beloved DunBroch. And the other is the god of renewal, named the Cailleach. Merida makes a bargain to save her family and home. The catch? She has just one year to change her family, or she must submit to Feradach’s ruin.
Princess Talia, who is woken by Jack, comes to the future. She realizes that she has slept for three-hundred years and does not know what the new world is. Princess Talia believes that she can escape her village and live with Jack, whom she must seduce to fall in love with her. However, she must do so before the witch takes her away.
The third book in The School for Good and Evil series by Soman Chainani, The Last Ever After, was surprisingly unpredictable. While Agatha and Tedros are transported back to Gavaldon, Sophie is living with the School Master. Although the girls’ story was supposed to be closed long ago, their separation causes their story to be opened once again as evil takes over and old villains return from their graves.
A retelling of the Goose Girl, Khanani introduces us to Princess Alyrra who is soon to be betrothed to the Crown Prince Kestrin. She travels to his kingdom with her handmaiden where the Lady, a fae folk, switches their appearances and uses this to capture Kestrin. Distraught, Alyrra has to warn him of the fake princess and the soon coming danger to his life. She soon realizes that he’s aware of this, and Alyrra comes to accept her new life. She takes on the position of a goose girl and the new name of Thorn.
