Review: The Princess and the Hound by Mette Ivie Harrison

Book: The Princess and the Hound by Mette Ivie Harrison

Genre: YA Fantasy

Rating: B+

For: F2F Book Club

Back when we were planning our line up for the F2F book club, we decided to support a couple of our local authors and add their books to the list. This one is the first one up!

This is a story about Prince George who has a magical power that is banned in the kingdom. He must keep it a very guarded secret. This causes him great pain. In fact, his mother has the same power and things didn't go to well for her either.

Meanwhile, after he is older, he plans to marry the princess of the neighboring kingdom for political reasons. When he goes to meet her for the first time, he finds that he is surprisingly attracted to her, and to the hound that never leaves her side. He feels that something strange is going on, and the rest of the story is uncovering the mystery and following these two characters as they learn more, much more, about each other.

I enjoyed this book, though I didn't love it. But I'm not sure why. Maybe sometimes it was hard to follow, or it didn't grab me and yank me in. It bugs me that I can't put my finger on what would have made me like it better. Maybe it was as simple as my mood at the moment.

Other reviews:

A Small Accomplishment

Thick and Thin Things

Gamila's Review

Ten Favorite Things Beginning With T

So there's this Alphabet Game meme sort of thing going around now. I tried to resist. Really, I did. But Lisa at Books on the Brain got me with her favorite D things. And now she's given me a letter to do. If YOU want a letter, please comment and let me know you are interested. Then you'll have to post of your favorite things with your assigned letter.

Now for my letter: Ten of my favorite things beginning with T!


1. TV: I'm sorry to say. I've tried to not like it. But awhile back, I gave up and now I embrace my addiction. I blame it on my parents for not replacing our broken TV back when I was in junior high. We then went for years, all through high school, without one! Can you even imagine! :) My TV show addictions are: Heroes, Lost, American Idol, Amazing Race, Survivor, Friday Night Lights, Pushing Daises, Chuck, Jon and Kate Plus Eight, Little People Big World.... for starters.

2. Tee Shirts. I love 'em. I live in 'em. I hate have to wear anything else. So uncomfortable and itchy and binding! My fashion sense is non-existent and so far, I don't care much.

3. Thunder: Big booming storms in the summer. I love them. So far, I've not experienced any scary storms, and if I do, this love may change. But at this point, thunder storms are fun and exciting and to be enjoyed.

4. Tiesto: Strange, but interesting music that I especially love to clean the house to! But I think if I went to a concert, I might leave with a headache. Perhaps I'd burn a lot of calories though! See what you think:



5. Traveling: Something I love to do, even if it is sometimes stressful. We've been able to go to some cool places so far. For instance: two cruises to Mexico, a trip to England, Scotland and Denmark, a drive down the Oregon Coast, Hawaii twice, an adventure in Washington DC, and also New York City. I dream of going back to England and spending much more time there. Also, adding Spain, Switzerland, Italy and Greece to the line up. I need to see Canada someday too, and many many places in the US. There's lots left to explore in the world. (The picture below is me standing at the Tower of London right on the spot where Ann Boleyn was beheaded. Gruesome, but thrilling nonetheless.)





6. Tomatoes: mostly the ones I grow in my own garden. During tomato season, I have a BLT (without the L usually, not a big fan of L... and with bacon bits, not real bacon) every single day. Pretty much the yummiest lunch ever.


7. Trees: especially the big huge pine ones up in the mountains. They smell so good. And the quakies up there too. Great big shade trees that provide a picnic spot are very nice too.


8. Time: I really love it and wish I had more! But then again, sometimes I wish it would totally stop too, because it moves just a bit too fast for me.


9. Technology: I embrace it all. Everything is pretty cool to me, and I'm wowed by all we can do these days. When I'm an 80 year old grandma, I hope I'm still embracing it and able to keep up with everything that will be new at that time.


10. Teachers: We need them, we need good ones, and we need more of them. I appreciate the wonderful ones I had, and I appreciate the wonderful ones my kids currently enjoy. Great teachers really are the best!


Okay, that's it for now. I'm sure there'll be something I'll think about and go "D'OH!" But oh, well. So, now speak up if you want a letter so you can join in the game.

The Sunday Salon: Reading Funk

Sad to say, I've been in one of those dreaded funks again lately. Part of the problem is that's it's been a busy book fair week and there's not been much time for reading, and if there was time, I've been too tired.

But the really sad thing is that I'm just not feeling it for Inkdeath. This really grieves me! I've been so looking forward to this book, and I loved the first two like crazy, but this one.... sheesh, nearly 200 pages in and NOTHING is really happening! Arrgghhh! So, I'm giving it a break.

Instead, I picked up a book for book club this month The Wednesday Letters by Jason Wright. Review to come soon.

And then I want to try and complete the Lit Flicks Challenge which ends this month, so I need to read All the Pretty Horses, and The Dark is Rising so that's what I'll be concentrating on today. And I do expect lots of reading time. I may fit a bit of War and Peace in there too. And some James Dashner.

Here's hoping to end the funk!

How To Run a Book Fair

For the Blog Post Bingo game as suggested by Kim for our Blog Improvement Project, I need to do a "How To Post". So, what do I know how to do? The only thing that's coming to mind for this week is:

How to Run a Book Fair!

1. Make sure you partner with a great company like Scholastic.

2. Gather LOTS of wonderful people around you to help.

3. Have a planning meeting and make assignments.

4. Put someone in charge of Book Talks.

5. Put someone in charge of decorations.

6. Put someone in charge of Teacher Preview and the Teacher Wish Lists.

7. Put someone in charge of finances.

8. Put someone in charge of reordering and stocking the books.

9. Put someone in charge contests and Look and Lunch.

10. Have them ALL sign up to cashier when the book fair is actually running.

11. Buy three or four reams of paper.

12. Get on the computer and compose a student flier, a teacher letter, a small flier for the Highlight brochure, bookmarks, teacher door fliers, student wish list forms, etc.

13. Go to the school and copy all that stuff on your three or four reams of paper.

13. Hang posters.

14. Make sure the teachers get all the stuff they need to pass out to the kids so everyone knows there's going to be a book fair.

15. Staple 600 little fliers to the Highlight brochure.

16. Get those out to the kids.

17. Check up on everyone who has assignments!

18. Set up the book fair!

19. Help with Teacher Preview and Book Talks.

20. Start selling books!

21. Sell books all week!

22. Survive Look and Lunch event. Two of them.

23. Pack up and take down the book fair.

24. Have other people count the money and tell you how much you made for the school.

25. Go home and relax until it's time for the next book fair!

After that nice explanation, now you too can be in charge of your school's book fair! Have at it!

(My "how to" post sort of turned into a "list" post. Strange how that happens.)

Weekly Geeks 2009.05: Judge a Book by it's Cover!

It's Weekly Geek time again! This time, as suggested by Becky, we are to discover different book covers of a favorite book and post their pictures. Very fun idea. I've tried to see what everyone has done so far so I can avoid posting a duplicate.



My book: Jane Eyre, for which, according to LibraryThing, there are 405 covers. These few I grabbed from Google Images. Can you pick out the "joke" one?

As far as which one is my favorite... I tend to lean toward the more vintage looking ones, just because old books are cool. I like the Penguin Classic one at the bottom, and the old one with the house drawing on it. Which one do you like? Too bad I couldn't put all 405 on here for you to choose from! :)

Book Fair Loot

I bought a lot this time.... but it's all for a good cause, right? Right! Here's what I came home with:

Purplicious by Victoria and Elizabeth Kann: For Toto to give to her teacher.

The Haunting of Derek Stone by Tony Abbott: Because Toto said she really wanted it!

Models Don't Eat Chocolate Cookies by Erin Dionne: Because the author commented!

The 39 Clues: The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan: For Moder's birthday, and because we need to see what these books are all about.

Fairest by Gail Carson Levine: Because Toto read the first page and decided she HAD to have it... besides, she won the student drawing and got to pick a free book!

The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti: Because everyone's been saying how good it is... and besides, my water bottle totally leaked on it and so I HAD to buy it! Poor book.

Violet Raines Almost Got Struck by Lightning by Danette Haworth: Because we had a great book talker that made Toto decided this was also a book she really needed to read.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney: Because we need book three for our set and besides that, the series is one of the best!

Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass: Because our great book talker said it was good.

Gossamer by Lois Lowry: Because it was a good hardback, and it's on my Dewey Challenge list.

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson: Because this one has been making a buzz and I need to read it.

Palace of Mirrors by Margaret Peterson Haddix: Because it was another great hardback deal and looks so good!

Yeah! Fun books! I'm so excited!

The Bookword Game Has Officially Started!

Here's another post I wanted to do yesterday but ran out of time.

The Bookword Game has begun! Be sure to head over to Raidergirl3's post that explains it all. She is now taking suggestions for a word that describes a book that everyone else loves, but you hate!

Next week, I'll have a poll of all the suggestions and you can come and vote for your favorite. Soon, we'll have a whole new vocabulary to describe our books, all created by you!

You know it sounds fun! So join us!