The Princess Diaries After Eight

 

After Eight is the eight book in The Princess Diaries series. 

I had problems with After Eight, I did not find things Mia did believable. Like having intense emotional breakdowns and crying super hard yet writing in her journal at the same time. That makes no sense. Also Mia has serious issues with being put into Introduction to Creative Writing but when she gets bad grades she does not talk to the teacher about them or even seem to care. With how much Mia cared in the last book it seems odd she suddenly stopped caring about her English grade. 

The writing continues to be consistent and in a journal format. While Mia grows in some ways she seems to fail to learn important lessons and keeps repeating the same mistakes. Lilly drives me crazy she is so self centered and Mia cannot seem to get over the fact that she is always to blame when something does not go the way Lilly wants it to. Despite all that since I have made it this far I intend to finish the series. 

Peter and the Starcatchers

For some reason it wont let me post the picture of the cover. :(

I grabbed Peter and the Starcatchers out of the local free library for my husband. However I was out of books to read so I gave it a try. 

Pete is an well rounded and active little boy. His character came off as totally believable and I loved every moment the story focused on him. Having grown up in an orphanage Peter is anxious about what is going to happen to him and his mates when they are put aboard a ship that has clearly seen better days. Freaked out that his friends and him are to be servants to a king and have to eat wiggling worms for food Peter is determined to make life aboard the ship more bearable. One evening while sneaking out for food he bumps into a girl who is a first class passenger and strikes up a friendship with her. 

Molly is not accustomed to being on a ship as poorly maintained as the Neverland however she is not one to complain. All is fine with her except for the fact that an orphan boy is determined to find out the secret of the chest that the Neverland carries. 

While this is a story for middle school age children it did highly entertain me, I constantly found myself saying just one more chapter. The pacing is well done and I never found a part boring or long winded. Molly came off as a bit too perfect at times but sine the story was more about Peter I am alright with that. Everything read smoothly and the transitions between characters points of view were fantastic. Despite being part of a series I feel like all the loose ends were tied up. With that said I am eager to read Peter and the Shadow Thieves. 

Party Princess

 

Party Princess is the seventh book in The Princess Diaries series. 

Once again I was bored out of my mind with the story. It was just slow moving and seemed really far fetched in several spots. If not for the fact I did not feel well and took an easy day I don't think  I would have finished reading it. Since I have the 8th book sitting here I will read it but I am so ready for the series to be over with. 

Princess in Training/Sixsational

 

Princess in Training/Sixsational is the 6th book in The Princess Diaries series. Once again I was bored out of my mind reading about Mia.

Mia has a lot on her place with princess duties, her boyfriend now going to college, and suddenly her best friend Lilly has nominated her for student president. Feeling overwhelmed once again it makes sense that Mia starts to crack around the edges of her life. To add to her stress her mother has declared she is taking Rocky to go visit her parents. Horrified that something will go wrong Mia feels the need to tell her mother all about caring for her little brother while in a different state. 

The writing has stayed consistent and continues to be in diary format. Some of the places Mia writes still seems odd and I do wonder how she gets out large diary entries in a small amount of time. Despite being bored with the story I am going to continue on in hopes of finishing the series. 

The Recipient

 

I do not recall where I got The Recipient from but I know it piqued my interest since I live in WA state.

The story is mainly told from the point of view of Wade a detective who investigated the Seattle Slasher murders years earlier. Things start to go wrong though when a new victim is found and her manner of death is the exact same of Seattle Slasher. It cannot be though the man who was convicted and found guilty was put to death over a year earlier. Haunted by the case Wade is determined to find this copy cat killer and bring justice to the family of the victim. 

Elle loves her husband and is devastated when he has a stroke. With little progress in his recovery they agree to try a experimental therapy that replaces part of Brian's brain with a donors. Little does Elle and Brian know that the donor is the man who executed for the Seattle Slasher crimes. Seeing her husband come to back to life makes Elle beyond happy until his personality starts to change or is it Elle that is changing. After all Elle's mother did go crazy. 

Despite having a few different points of view the writing was smooth with lovely transitions. Unlike writers that depends on cliff hangers to keep you reading Cole did not follow that path. I liked the characters and how they had their faults as well as strengths. Everything seemed believable and only a couple loose ends were not tied up. While this is a series the story felt like a stand alone. I believe that Wade's story is done since the next book, Inspired by Murder, features a side character from The Recipient as the lead character. I would happily read more of the series even with the different characters since the writing was so solid. 

The Fall of the Readers

 

The Fall of the Readers is the fourth and final book in The Forbidden Library series. 

Sadly I liked the series less and less as I continued on with it. Around the half way mark I got super bored with the story. Alice seems to have things come far too easily for her and that bothered me. Sure it is a children's book but still she needs to struggle and fail sometimes to learn from it. 

All the loose ends were tied up and I was left with no questions so that is a huge plus. The story was finished off leaving the reader with a happy feeling and enjoying a sense of completion.