Graceful by Wendy Mass, 2015

Stop right there! Don't go any further unless you've read the other four books in the Willow Falls series. I've done my best to avoid spoilers, but when you're reviewing the fifth book in a series you're bound to ruin something from the earlier books. Click the links to go to my reviews of the first, second, third, and fourth books in the series. And if you read on and spoil the entire series for yourself? Well, don't say I didn't warn you.

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An exciting new story in the bestselling Willow Falls series from Wendy Mass!
Angelina D'Angelo has left town to see the world. It's now Grace's turn to use her magic to protect the people of Willow Falls, and she is up to the challenge. This is her destiny, after all. But destiny is a funny thing-it doesn't always behave the way you'd expect it to.
Mysterious postcards from Angelina begin showing up in the mail, Grace's parents are freaking out with worry, and something BIG is coming to town that will affect everybody who lives there. But all Grace is powerful enough to do is turn leftover meatloaf into pizza.
Fortunately, she's not alone. She has Team Grace on her side! Amanda, Leo, Rory, Tara, David, and Connor know a thing or two about magic and how it works. But none of them are prepared for what's coming, and none of them know how to stop it. Life in Willow Falls is about to change forever.

(272 pages)

Every Willow Falls book is told in first person present tense from the main character's POV, and Graceful is no exception. This time around it's Grace, learning to deal with her new magical abilities, who takes center stage. However, in this book Mass also adds snippets of narration from the other characters: there are diary entries by Amanda, letters from Tara to her pen pal/friend Julie, texts to and from Rory (who finally got a real phone!), poems written by Leo, inventor's notes from Connor, and more. I really like how Mass did that because it keeps the narration focused equally on all of the many characters. Otherwise she would've had to include long pages of second-hand descriptions as characters waited in line to tell Grace everything important that happened to them since the last time they talked to her. And that would not be fun.

The things that I expected to feel fake/annoying (like the middle school couples popping up every time I turn around) turned out to be perfectly fine, and actually pretty enjoyable. I think a large part of this success is the more disjointed technique of using all the different mediums to tell the story, because it dilutes the effect of having so many people running around with different things on their mind. Learning about the magic of Willow Falls was also really interesting - Mass does a good job of explaining it without sucking out all of the mystery and wonder.

Despite how much I did enjoy it, Graceful is not a perfect book. For one thing, I disagree with Grace's decision in regards to her parents. Just because they're stressed about your magical powers, does not mean you should use said abilities to make your parents forget about them! I'm not saying whether Grace succeeds in inflicting amnesia on her parents; it's the fact that this is treated like such a great idea by everyone involved that slightly annoys me. Surely someone would have pointed out that it wasn't really the ten-year-old's place to wipe her parents' memories? Another quibble is that the book can feel a bit disjointed. This wasn't a big deal for me, because I don't know of any other way for a story with that many characters to be told, but I know some might find it annoying. Also, did I mention there are three middle school couples? Yes, that's three. As in 3. As in two more than one.

To be fair, though, they're not just a bunch of random couples off the street; they're our couples, the ones we've watched from the very beginning, the ones we've rooted for and laughed at with and cried over. So I can't really fret too much about how many of them there are, because just in this one series, it doesn't really matter. I love them all with a passion that makes chapter fifteen particularly amazing for me - oh, you want to know what happens in chapter fifteen? I'm sorry, but you'll have to read Graceful and find out for yourself because I just can't bring myself to spoil it for you.

Bottom line: I love this book. A lot. It's the perfect ending to the series, and now that I've read it I can't imagine the series being complete without it. Is Graceful a standalone? Never! Is it the perfect close to an amazing series? Absolutely! So please take the time to read just one more Willow Falls book. But definitely make sure to re-read the other books before you delve into this one: trust me, Graceful is that much better if you understand all the references to the earlier books. And by "better," I mean "funnier." This book is hilarious!

Disclaimer: This is an Amazon affiliate link, and I received a free ARC from Scholastic Press in exchange for an honest review.

Mark of the Thief by Jennifer A. Nielsen, 2015

When Nic, a slave in the mines outside of Rome, is forced to enter a sealed cavern containing the lost treasures of Julius Caesar, he finds much more than gold and gemstones: He discovers an ancient bulla, an amulet that belonged to the great Caesar and is filled with a magic once reserved for the Gods -- magic some Romans would kill for. Now, with the deadly power of the bulla pulsing through his veins, Nic is determined to become free. But instead, he finds himself at the center of a ruthless conspiracy to overthrow the emperor and spark the Praetor War, a battle to destroy Rome from within. Traitors and spies lurk at every turn, each more desperate than the next to use Nic's newfound powers for their own dark purposes.
In a quest to stop the rebellion, save Rome, and secure his own freedom, Nic must harness the magic within himself and defeat the empire's most powerful and savage leaders. 
(352 pages)

I have been reading/loving Nielsen's Ascendance Trilogy books for a couple of years now (click here to read my review of the first book in that series, The False Prince). When the last book, The Shadow Throne, was coming out I participated desperately in every giveaway the author offered but didn't win. Not one to let failure stop me, I ordered it from Amazon instead and read it within twenty-four hours of its release.

This is why I find it particularly cool that I won a giveaway of Mark of the Thief, the first book in a new series by Nielsen. Not only do I now have her autograph (squeal!), I got to read her new book two months before its release date.

And let me just say, how amazing it was to be able to read this wonderful book early! I went into it with a large amount of hope for the new series but not a little fear as well - what if it wasn't any good? What if it was just a cliche rehash of other books I've read? I was worried, because The False Prince borrowed a lot in terms of plot from other books/series. While Nielsen totally pulled it off then, and I adore the book to pieces, I was worried she would wind up pulling from the same bag of tricks for this series. And in the first few chapters, I thought my fears were confirmed: Nic seemed like a rehash of the cocky-but-brilliant Sage  (but where Sage was witty and fantastic, Nic seemed to just have an inflated ego for a slave). I sensed some sort of family secret a long way off, and the insta-hate between Nic and Aurelia just screamed "romance."

However, as I was sucked farther and farther into the complicated world of deceit, treason, and mixed motives that was Ancient Rome, the more I realized what a different story Nielsen had created. While Nic may have shared similarities with Sage on the surface, once the book gets going it's clear to see that he has a different personality than Sage. This is most clear when you compare the ways Sage was always planning three steps ahead and laying out elaborate plots to get people to do what he wanted. Nic is not a plotter and a planner like Sage was; his brainpower is used attempt to figure out who is on his side and how he can manage not to be killed.

As for the family secret and the insta-hate with Aurelia (by the way, love the name!), at the risk of spoilers all I can say is that the "family secret" aspect plays a rather minimal role in the book and isn't really that huge of a shock (especially when compared with The False Prince). It has potential to make the next book pretty interesting, though. And the insta-hate/inevitable-romance thread actually straightens itself out very nicely. Aurelia is probably already more fleshed out than Amarinda ever was, and I'm looking forward to watching what she does next - both with Nic, and on her own. She's a complex, interesting character instead of the cliche "two-dimensional warrior girl with some sort of grudge against the main character" that I thought she was the first time I saw her. I can't wait to see her in the next book!


The setting is phenomenal, the plot complicated (Who are the bad guys here? Who wants Nic dead?) but never convoluted or confusing, and the characterization solid with lots of room for additions later. While I still love The False Prince better (let's be honest, I don't think anything can surpass that book on my favorites list!), I still spent several enjoyable hours reading this book and look forward to reading it again. If you think it looks at all interesting, or are a fan of the author because of the Ascendance trilogy, then by all means read this book! For those of you who are interested in getting it from the library or buying it, it comes out February 24. And if you do read it, please post below to tell me what you think!

Disclaimer: I won a copy of this book through a giveaway offered by the author. She did not ask me to review it, and the opinions expressed in the above review are entirely my own.