Hi all!
My name is Chiara and I am a Bookworm.
My cat, Charlie, (say hi to Charlie) and I are here to take you through yet another foray through my over packed bookshelves.
Enjoy everyone!
1.The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett
The plot centers round Mary Lennox, a young English girl who returns to England from India, having suffered the immense trauma by losing both her parents in a cholera epidemic. However, her memories of her parents are not pleasant, as they were a selfish, neglectful and pleasure-seeking couple. Mary is given to the care of her uncle Archibald Craven, whom she has never met. She travels to his home, Misselthwaite Manor located in the gloomy Yorkshire, a vast change from the sunny and warm climate she was used to. When she arrives, she is a rude, stubborn and given to stormy temper tantrums. However, her nature undergoes a gradual transformation when she learns of the tragedies that have befallen her strict and disciplinarian uncle whom she earlier feared and despised. Once when he’s away from home, Mary discovers a charming walled garden which is always kept locked. The mystery deepens when she hears sounds of sobbing from somewhere within her uncle’s vast mansion. The kindly servants ignore her queries or pretend they haven’t heard, spiking Mary’s curiosity.
Have I read it? Yes
Will I read it again? Yes. One of my absolute favourites
2. The Miniturist Jessie Burton
Set in seventeenth century Amsterdam–a city ruled by glittering wealth and oppressive religion–a masterful debut steeped in atmosphere and shimmering with mystery, in the tradition of Emma Donoghue, Sarah Waters, and Sarah Dunant.
“There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed . . .”
On a brisk autumn day in 1686, eighteen-year-old Nella Oortman arrives in Amsterdam to begin a new life as the wife of illustrious merchant trader Johannes Brandt. But her new home, while splendorous, is not welcoming. Johannes is kind yet distant, always locked in his study or at his warehouse office–leaving Nella alone with his sister, the sharp-tongued and forbidding Marin.
But Nella’s world changes when Johannes presents her with an extraordinary wedding gift: a cabinet-sized replica of their home. To furnish her gift, Nella engages the services of a miniaturist–an elusive and enigmatic artist whose tiny creations mirror their real-life counterparts in eerie and unexpected ways . . .
Johannes’ gift helps Nella to pierce the closed world of the Brandt household. But as she uncovers its unusual secrets, she begins to understand–and fear–the escalating dangers that await them all. In this repressively pious society where gold is worshipped second only to God, to be different is a threat to the moral fabric of society, and not even a man as rich as Johannes is safe. Only one person seems to see the fate that awaits them. Is the miniaturist the key to their salvation . . . or the architect of their destruction?
Enchanting, beautiful, and exquisitely suspenseful, The Miniaturist is a magnificent story of love and obsession, betrayal and retribution, appearance and truth.
Have I read it? No
Will I read it? Yes. This has been say on my TBR shelf for forever but eventually I will get round to it.
3. Love You to Death, Meg Cabot
Being a mediator doesn’t exactly make Susannah Simon your typical sixteen-year-old. Her job is to ease the path for the unhappy dead to their final resting place. She finds her skills tested to the maximum. But can this girl get her ghost?
Have I read it? No
Will I read it? Probably not
4. High Stakes, Meg Cabot
Suze’s new life in California is pretty cool. There are the pool parties, the new friends, and the fact that “the” hottest ghost in history happens to live in her bedroom.
But when a screaming spirit appears at the end of her bed, Suze is thrown on to the trail of a murderer. All the clues lead to the freaky father of Tad Beaumont, the cutest boy in school . . . and the only guy who’s ever asked Suze out. Not only is her potential beau’s dad probably a killer, but he also seems be some kind of “vampire.”
No one said that life as a mediator was going to be simple. But this is getting ridiculous . . .
Have I read it? No
Will I read it? Probably not!
5. Third Time Lucky, Meg Cabot (Now called Princess in Love)
Princess Mia may seem like the luckiest girl ever.
But the truth is, Mia spends all her time doing one of three things: preparing for her nerve-racking entrée into Genovian society, slogging through the congestion unique to Manhattan in December, and avoiding further smooching from her hapless boyfriend, Kenny.
For Mia, being princess is not the fairy tale it’s supposed to be . . . or is it?
Have I read it? Yes
Will I read it? Yes, at some point I must get round to re-reading this whole series.
6. Mia Goes Fourth, Meg Cabot (Now called Princess in Waiting)
Never before has the world seen such a princess.
Nor have her own subjects, for that matter. Mia’s royal introduction to Genovia has mixed results: while her fashion sense is widely applauded, her position on the installation of public parking meters is met with resistance.
But the politics of bureaucracy are nothing next to Mia’s real troubles. Between canceled dates with her long—sought—after royal consort, a second semester of the dreaded Algebra, more princess lessons from Grandmère as a result of the Genovian parking—meter thing, and the inability to stop gnawing on her fingernails, isn’t there anything Mia is good at besides inheriting an unwanted royal title?
Have I read this? Yes
Will I read this again? Yes
Bookworms Anonymous 