Three Middle Grade Fantasy Novels to Warm Your Heart This Winter

Christmas is just around the corner, and that means it's time to make yourself cosy with a wonderous Fantasy novel. I have found myself reading many Middle-Grade Fantasies as of late, and there are three in particular that I have found them utterly charming. So get your hot chocolate and bundle up nice and warm, because I have some Middle-Grade mini-reviews for you - of books that are magical no matter your age.

Mini Reviews // The Boy Who Steals Houses + Proud + Summer Bird Blue + King of Fools + If I Was Your Girl

Time for some more mini reviews! This post was edited on 21/06/2019 to include an additional two reviews for a couple more excellent books that I read in the time since this was originally posted. These are all lovely contemporaries, with the added bonus of King of Fools, a fantasy novel and one of my most anticipated sequels of the year 💙

Mini Reviews // City of Ghosts + Vengeful + Stardust

I have been enjoying lots of lovely and slightly dark sci-fi/fantasy novels in these dreary Autumn/Winter months. I find myself missing the brightness of Summer, but genre books always feel warming on cloudy days. Here are three magical and paranormal books I have read recently.

Mini Reviews // Wink Poppy Midnight + American Panda + Only Love Can Break Your Heart + Leah on the Offbeat

Summer is the time for contemporaries. The other four seasons are mostly filled with fantasy reads for me, but in summer I find contemporary YA is a must. For some reason, regardless of when the story is set, books of this genre always feel like ones that can be read in the sun. Here are some of the great books I've been reading in this good weather.

Magical Mini Reviews

It's time for a little selection of magical mini reviews! These three books are all strangely magical, and I enjoyed them a lot. Reading them felt like going back and reading old fairytales, but in a way that feels vibrant and new. Also not fitting with the theme, I reviewed a graphic novel in addition to these three books. Just consider it as a bonus review of a book you should also read!

Mini Reviews #5 // Dystopias, Vampires, and Magic Realism

These three stories are all about women who dare to imagine the world differently. Despite having different backgrounds, the characters in these stories are connected by worlds similar to our own, with twists of science fiction and fantasy that give an entirely new perspective to how we see the world.

Mini Reviews #4

I am back with more mini reivews for my required reading, this time with some Contemporary Literature. Half of them were DNFs which was a shame, especially since I'd promised myself to read more of my texts this semester. But they were also the two biggest texts I had to read this semester, so I am hopeful that I will be able to read all the other books. Midnight's Children was interesting but rambling and going nowhere, and even with the audiobook Brick Lane couldn't engage me at all. The Buddha of Suburbia had some good ideas but didn't really work for me. Which leaves Interpreter of Maladies, which I actually loved! I only gave it 3 stars because that was I rated the majority of the short stories as. But there were also some stunning 4 and 5 star stories in that collection that took my breath away.

Mini Reviews #3 // Science Fiction edition

I am back with another collection of mini reviews! I'm getting ahead on next semester and reading the books for my Science Fiction module. It is the module that I'm most excited by, and the reading has not let me down so far. With all of these books I'm only going to give them a quick summary, because to say too much would give a lot of what is so great about them away.

Mini Reviews #2

I'm powering through my university reading, which continues to be a mixed bag. My tolerance at the moment is quite low, so I'm DNFing books after a couple of chapters, sometimes even a few pages. I hate that I'm doing it, because I genuinely want to be more well read. However, I'm still attending lectures (even the ones that mean I have to get up at 6:30 😭) and I am still participating in class discussions. Plus the way I am assessed means that I don't have to read every book I'm assigned, so I'm forcing myself to get over my perfectionist people-pleasing guilt.

Mini Reviews #1

The weight of my required reading for university feels a little crushing right now. It feels like there are so many more books I need to read this year. Thankfully it's more fiction than theory, but at least when I was assigned theory, even when I couldn't understand it for the life in me it was never more than 20 pages. But I have 27 novels/stories/poetry collections I need to read by the end of December, and reading for necessity rather than pleasure does crush the fun out of reading a lot of the time.

Classic Mini Reviews: Mrs Dalloway and The Driver's Seat

Time for EVEN MORE mini reviews of classics I have recently read for class. This post will focus on the books I have read that were written in the 20th century.

Classics Mini Reviews: Love in Excess and Vanity Fair

Time for some more mini reviews of classics I have recently read for class.

Classics Mini Reviews: Frankenstein and Madame Bovary

You may have noticed a lack of reviews on my blog lately. The primary reason: required reading. I love studying books from the past, but often I don't enjoy reviewing them as much as newer releases. It feels a little like writing a sparknotes summary or recapping what we've said in class, so it feels a little counter productive. Nevertheless, I am here today to give a handful of mini reviews for the books I have been studying.

Mini Review // Beyond The Kingdoms by Chris Colfer

Title: Beyond the Kingdoms (The Land of Stories #4)
Writer: Chris Colfer
Genre: Fantasy, Magic, Retelling
Rating: 5 stars
Goodreads | Book Depository

Funny, sweet, and amazingly crafted. I had my doubts when I discovered the series would start expanding to other universes, but all of the world building meant it made perfect sense. The structure and pacing was good as always and I never saw the plot twists coming. The series continues to be a truthful retelling of fairytales yet remains consistently original.

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Kindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell (Mini Review)

Title: Kindred Spirits
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Contemporary
Warnings: -
Rating: 4 stars
Goodreads Review

Kindred Spirits is short but sweet story about what it's like to be a nerd. I love Rainbow Rowell because she has the ability to make every one of her stories so relatable through her humour and voice. You don't even have to like Star Wars to enjoy it, because in the end it isn't what you're a fan of or why you are a fan, it's about the enjoyment of the thing in itself.

Diversity Note: Vietnamese protagonist

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10 Favourites in 10 Words or Less

Want to find interesting books to read but don't want to read through a whole review? I'm going to give you a super mini review of 5 of my favourite books that I hope will intrigue you enough to pick them up.

Favourite Books by Genre (part 2)

Last week I wrote mini reviews for 5 of my favourite books in 5 different genres. This week I have 5 more that are aimed at younger audiences, but are still just as brilliant.

Children's: 'Wonder' by R.J. Palacio
I wrote a review of 'Wonder' which you can find here.
I cannot believe it took me so long to read this book. I would have loved this when I was younger - which is why I made my younger siblings read it too.
'Wonder' tells the story of August - a ten year old boy with facial abnormalities who must go to school for the first time. This is a beautiful read that reflects the behaviours of children accurately - showing how they can be horribly cruel as well as wonderfully kind. Palacio understands how children think and behave better than any other children's literature author I have read, and uses the voices of Auggie as well as the other people in his life to paint a beautiful picture of the different types of people in this world and how we all must "choose kind."

Favourite Books by Genre (part 1)

My list of favourite books is always growing. I love every book for different reasons, so instead of sharing all of the books I adore (which would take a very long time and be pretty boring), I thought I would pick my favourite from each genre and give a mini review.

For this post I will focus on fiction aimed at an older audience (although personally I think most of these books can be read by all ages) and in part 2 I will focus on books that are aimed at children and young adults.


Adventure: 'Lord of the Flies' by William Golding
I love adventure stories because they are always moving. They don't need to be packed with action, but there is nothing worse than a slow or poorly paced story as it can completely ruin a perfectly good book.
This was a difficult genre to pick for, but I went with 'Lord of the Flies' because of it's beautiful symbolism and how Golding shows even a morally sound protagonist can be corrupted. The author said that his intention with this book was to contradict the 'perfect British boy' trope seen in many other adventure stories and show how everyone has the potential for evil. This book reflects society and how even children can become power obsessed - manipulating and deceiving others in order to create a sense of fear and gain control.