The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

“Ladies and Felines,” he stated grandly, grasping the doorknob, “Welcome to Tir Na Nog. Land of endless winter and shitloads of snow.” -Puck

Okay, so I had unreasonably high expectations of Meghan. Mainly because her name was Meghan, and us Meghan’s simply have a higher standard to live up to. =] That said, I admired her. I admired her strength, cleverness, determination, and love for her little brother. This was an incredible book. I couldn’t put it down. It played on all of my favorite fey legends, and was beautifully written. The Iron Fey are a great new twist on classic fey mythology. The plot was fast paced, and nothing was ever pointless. 

Puck has been keeping an eye on Meghan Chase for years, though Meghan only knew him as her best buddy Robbie, not as the immortal fey of legend. All of this changes though on her 16th birthday when Meghan’s little brother Ethan is  kidnapped by the fey and a bloodthirsty little changeling left in his place. Meghan soon finds herself thrust into the adventure of her life as she travels to the Nevernever to rescue her brother. Along the way, she starts to come to terms with who she really is and that she is not as helpless as she thinks. 

Grimalkin was probably my favorite overall, I adore witty sarcastic characters, and this snarky cat was brilliant. Does anyone else totally think of Grim when seeing this gif? I know I do.

Here Lies Bridget by Paige Harbison

 “I want you to understand how people see you, and how your actions matter…You must learn that your place in the world is important. You’ve been given the power to affect people, just as we all have, and it’s important-no, vital-that you do the right thing with it” – Anna Judge

Bridget Duke is the byproduct of a semi-famous, barely-there father, an absent mother and a stepmother who spends entirely too much time decorating. And this infuriates Bridget. In fact, everything infuriates Bridget.  I blew through this in a matter of hours, because it was just that good. As ashamed as I am to say it, I saw a lot of the way I used to be in Bridget. She was catty, mean-spirited, manipulative, and selfish. However, she was not heartless, but  careless with the hearts of others.  Simply put, our heroine is a huge effing bitch, with a capital B. As she notices a dramatic decline in her popularity, she hops into her (used) 2007 BMW and drives too fast, getting into an accident and passes out. When she wakes up, she’s suddenly surrounded by all of the people closest to her watching her impassively. She is then encouraged to “walk in their shoes”. Literally.  Which was actually an interesting concept.Suffice to say, I enjoyed watching her turn over a new leaf as she was shown how her actions had a grenade-like effect on everyone around her.

It’s kind of Christmas Carol-esque, and I actually really enjoyed the ending.

Ms. Harbison did a wonderful job building incredibly likeable characters and describing their world, right down to the very end. Sequel? Maybe?