The Twistrose Key is the story of Lindelin (Lin) Rosenquist, dead pets and a magical winter kingdom.
Her pet mouse Rufus lies buried under the rose bed outside of their new house and Lin feels that something isn’t right about where they have moved. It’s like the clock moves a bit too slow and there are frost in the flowerbed even though it should not.
One day Lin receives a package. Inside is some sort of key in the shape of a rose. Lin finds her way down to the basement where the key unlocks a door into another world.
She enters into the world of Sylver where she is reunited with Rufus, only this time he is just as tall as her, walks on two feet and he can talk.
Every now and then when Sylver is in dire need of help a child is brought into the kingdom (where every dead pet that was ever loved by a child lives) as a Twistrose.
Lin’s quest as a Twistrose is to help find a missing boy. The last Winter Prince.
If the boy is not returned by a certain time there is fear for the future of Sylver and all the dead pets.
But Lin and Rufus are not the only ones who is trying to find the boy and Lin quickly realises that not all of the talking animals can be trusted on her quest.
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I absolutely loved this book. The details in the story, the characters and the writing was spectacular. I could easily picture everything throughout the story and it reminded me of the joy of reading as a little girl. With the magical kingdom, the talking animal and the suspense of the story it kind of reminded me of The Narnia Chronicles.
I loved Lindelin and Rufus as main characters and thought they evolved nicely.
There are just some books that you wish could have been longer and this was one of them for me! When I got to the end I wanted it to not end yet.
It was a magical read and I really look forward to reading this for my son in a year or two. I think it would be a perfect start for kids to enjoy YA fantasy as they get older.
Love LOVE loved this soooo much!!
It’s a perfect getaway for your mind. If you like magic, fairytales and fantasy then I think you should join Lin into the kingdom of Sylver and see what happens!
Brace yourself for a magical and wonderful ride!
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Eleanor & Park is a love story following two lovestruck sixteen year old misfits.
Park is half Korean, half white, dresses in dark clothes, listens to punk and loves comic books.
Eleanor is the new girl at school. She’s a bit bigger than all the other girls, her style is weird, she has red hair (with a life of its own) and has a secret.
The year is 1986.
While Park comes from a family where his parents love each other very much and even still make out after so many years, Eleanor’s family is a whole other kind of story. She lives with her mother, a violent stepdad and four siblings. All five children are crammed up together in one tiny bedroom, huddling together whenever they are woken up by their mothers screams or their stepfathers yelling.
When Eleanor and Park falls in love with each other, Eleanor knows that her stepdad will never let her have that joy in her life, but she can’t picture a life without Park and Park can’t picture a life without Eleanor either. What are they to do?
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I’ve heard so many great things about this book and finally found the time to read it. This was a quick read for me. I enjoyed the story and could much relate to the weirdness and gingerness of Eleanor. I went into this believing it would be just another cutesy high school romance novel, but Eleanor & Park touches on so many other subjects than that of first love. Bullying, abuse, domestic violence and body image are some of the main themes throughout this book and even though this is a fictional story it hurts to know that the life of Eleanor is ever so real to so many others in this real world.
I’m not one to read a lot of young adult romance novels, but I did enjoy this one quite a lot. I thought it was funny, cute and also shook my heart from time to time (didn’t make me cry though) and I’m giving it a 4 out of 5 stars.
Recommend this if you want a lighter but not too mooshy kind of read 🙂
Here are a few of my favorite quotes from Eleanor & Park:
“Eleanor was right. She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn’t supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something.”
“Holding Eleanor’s hand was like holding a butterfly. Or a heartbeat. Like holding something complete, and completely alive.”
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I hope you enjoyed this review! Please share if you have any thoughts on Eleanor & Park (or anything else) in the comments below 🙂
The Martian Chronicles is a short story collection written by Ray Bradbury, first published in the 1950’s.
All the short stories revolves around the story of earth people trying to visit and settle on the planet Mars, and it describes the conflict that surfaces with us trying to invade Mars and make it our new home.
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I found The Martian Chronicles an interesting read. It reflects around how humans have a problem with learning from our own mistakes. In these stories they are trying to get away from a planet that is on the brink of an atomic war and then when they get to Mars tries to live just like they did on Earth. Trying to build a new society, just the same as the one who pushed earth to its possible extinction.
It also has a lot of resemblance to our history of Europeans migrating to America, invading the new country and forcing the Native Americans of their own land.
I really enjoyed the classic Science Fiction feel of the stories and the suspense within the them. An eye opener that is just as easy to relate to (if not even more) than it was in the 50’s.
A few of my favorite quotes from The Martian Chronicles:
“We earth men have a talent for ruining big, beautiful things.”
“Science is no more than an investigation of a miracle we can never explain, and art is an interpretation of that miracle.”
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Christina de Vries 