Beauty: A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast

AN UNFORTUNATE NICKNAME - Sixteen year old Beauty has never liked her nickname. Thin, awkward and undersized, with big hands and huge feet, she has always thought of herself as the plainest girl in the family...
Here is the unusual love story of a most unlikely couple: Beauty....and the Beast.

So I recently reread this book again and I'm loving it all over again. I quite positively adored it the first time I read it. It quickly became one of my favouritest (I know it's not a word but I don't care) books of all time. Particularly as a retelling. I liked the whole concept that Beauty wasn't pretty. But yet her strong, intelligent and brave character appealed to me all the same. The ending was perfect.
I'm such a sap for happy endings.
The whole idea just worked really well coupled with Robin McKinley's poignant pose.
It's the kind of novel I could read a thousand times over and every time enjoy it just as much as the first time.

Graceling - Kristin Cashore

In the vast and magical world of Graceling political turmoil is strife across the seven kingdoms.
In this world there are people who are born with a Grace.
They are feared and exploited.
Katsa was born with the Grace of killing.
She can strike more than dozens of armed men without a weapon.
None is her equal until she meets Po, another Graced fighter.
He has eyes that glow that unsettle her. Unexpectantly she becomes his friend and they travel together on a quest to discover the truth of dark things happening under the seven kingdoms' rulers.

After finishing it, I was quite convinced that Kristin Cashore has a gift for engrossing, enlivening story telling. Graceling is one of those books that capture your attention and trap you into the story so deeply until you simply can't put the book down until you finish it. Even then, you do so relunctantly.

The passionate yet fiercely loyal love between Po and Katsa, the engaging plot, very well-developed characters and to top it off, a strong, intelligent female protagonist - all flowed together seamlessly to make an enchanting story, that will stay with me for quite a while to come - with a lot of re-reads!

New slate :)

Things change starting now.
I want a fresh clean start to this blog. But I do not have the heart to delete my old, from-another-lifetime posts.
It's only been a year.
But as every year does. It feels like forever since the last one.

I'm determined to do this blog from a totally different approach from now on. And the change has already started happening with the new ratings and site revamp.

So keep posted!