A kingdom, a princess, maybe two or three, magic, adventure and romance are some of the elements represented in: The False Princess. The story begins the day Nalia AKA Sinda discovers her life has been a lie; the kingdom she thinks to belong to is a mirage and she has only been a puppet to protect the real princess from a terrible prophecy. Without that much emotion from whom she believes are her parents, she’s sent out of the castle to live with the only relative she was not aware of and live the life she was NEVER prepared for even if it means leaving Kiernan behind. I was trapped inside this story and captivating would be a word to describe it. I liked the world where the story is narrated, making me want more. It’s so rich and impressive that prequels and spinoffs would not be bad idea at all. I’m impressed that in O’Neal’s world, it speaks for itself. There’s no need for the characters to tell Thorvaldor’s stories. In character developing terms, O’Neal enjoys of certain “magic”; the characters, even those whom you’ll only get glimpses from will make you fall in love and want to know more from them. Our narrator Sinda is simply exquisite; she’s funny, strong and has a free spirit. This girl’s on top of my favorite characters. When she receives the news of not being who she thought during her entire life and that the circumstances she’s about to live are not the ones she’s used to; she won’t lay down and cry, on the contrary, her courage and determination pushes her forward. It’s refreshing to see this type of heroine in YA Literature. The story’s even more interesting with every chapter and Sinda’s journey as an ex princess, common girl to wizard is interesting. The romance is adorable and I loved it. The False Princess, the story of a “princess’ who doesn’t own a crown but possesses the courage and determination to save a kingdom.

A group of three books cover images that I like the most from the titles to be released in the current month. Usually I already pre-ordered the titles or own them. I named the section like I did because I like thinking about these covers like they are something that its meant to look.

*Eye Candy: visual images that are pleasant to see.

Book Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Egmont USA
Age Range: Young Adult
Publication Date: January 25, 2011

Book Trailer:

Page: 222

“And then he was gone,

the door shut behind him,

and my heart – rebellious and cruel – went with him. ”

Book Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Penguin
Age Range: Young Adult
Publication Date:  September, 2010

Author Web Page:

Phoebe finds herself drawn to Mallory, the strange and secretive new kid in school, and the two girls become as close as sisters . . . until Mallory’s magnetic older brother, Ryland, shows up during their junior year. Ryland has an immediate, exciting hold on Phoebe but a dangerous hold, for she begins to question her feelings about her best friend and, worse, about herself.  Soon she’ll discover the shocking truth about Ryland and Mallory: that these two are visitors from the faerie realm who have come to collect on an age-old debt. Generations ago, the faerie queen promised Pheobe’s ancestor five extraordinary sons in exchange for the sacrifice of one ordinary female heir. But in hundreds of years there hasn’t been a single ordinary girl in the family, and now the faeries are dying. Could Phoebe be the first ordinary one? Could she save the faeries, or is she special enough to save herself?

Extraordinary is the next novel presented by Werlin after Impossible. With really high expectations to be fulfilled, Extraordinary combines a real touch in between a fairy tale.   The story is narrated from Phoebe’s point of view and in third person where the reader has the opportunity to see which crucial factor plays the Fairy Kingdom in Phoebe’s life.  Phoebe’s life is normally according to her circumstances until the day she meets Mallory, who turns into her best friend and a little ahead when she meets Ryland, Mallory’s “brother”.  There’s something special that makes impeccable the way Werlin writes and Extraordinary is not the exception.  However, the story lacks the element that made Impossible a masterpiece.  My taste and tolerance for dysfunctional relationships in real life as in literature is not my favorite cup of tea and in this presentation, the topic is rich.  Phoebe’s relationship with Mallory is built based on lies, Mallory’s relationship with her “human mother” is so dishonest or even worse the one she has with Phoebe and on top of that  issue Patch’s twin brother from Hush Hush AKA Ryland makes his appearance.   Ryland and Mallory make everything possible to break down the spirit of an innocent girl for their own benefit and it’s disgusting to see how much they mutilate the girl.   The only character that has likable qualities was Banjamin and it was not quite enough to carry the story’s weight.    At the end, there’s remorse and a message that, to my understanding, lacks deepness, but what’s quite worse is how much a human being can tolerate before developing character and love their selves for what their qualities already are; ordinary or extraordinary.  Extraordinary, a great writing technique with a story platform Impossible to love, at least for me.

* Warning  /  The word ridiculous will be constantly mentioned in this review.

I want to begin this review with the quote that drew my attention to read this title:

“Milestones is a delightful story about the true meaning of self-discovery, love and friendship, book one of the Milestones trilogy takes readers into an imaginative and amazing new world which gives a whole new meaning to summer vacation.”

After reading the story I thought Milestones is neither of the things that are mentioned above.   If I can use on word to summarize the book it will be ridiculous.  Faye, the main character and the narrator is a character that is not interesting at all.  She is boring and her way to show the reader the world she’s living in is a complete torture of dragging and dragging the story at the never end point.  Camp Milestone is a ridiculous place with ridiculous tasks that are developing to show to the characters “what they really are”.  I figured out the main “mystery” very early in the story but I was hoping that at the end the story was not as ridiculous as it seemed.  My major problem with the story is not the narrator because I’ve read books before where I don’t like the narrator and I still enjoy them but the problem with this story is that the plot line is so ridiculous that I question myself:  why did I finished reading it?   Since the plot does not have any substance or fundament once you get to understand the mystery that surrounds the story. Without spoiling the story, I’ll say that legends and classics are eternal for something. It’s a little sad because the 2009 debutants are pretty great but this one let me down.

I think the story’s main idea could have worked appealing to a younger public if the author just could have released some weight off the narration’s style, it would have been lighter and funnier. I would not recommend this story as it is for youngsters because the story line’s too much dense.