Twilight and History
By Nancy Reagin
Genre: Fantasy/History
Personal Rating: 7/10

This was a very interesting and random book I came across while book shopping online. Despite how it looks, this book is not by Stephenie Meyer, but an analysis on her imaginary world and characters. This book goes into details about specific times in history mentioned in the Twilight Saga--Jasper's Civil War, Edward's 1918 Chicago, Alice's insane asylum, ext. Although the Twilight world is fictional, each character's historical backgrounds shape their personalities as expressed in the books. That's what makes the books and characters in endearing. This book goes in depth with historical facts about everything from real Quileute legends to the Puritan witch hunters.

I did like this book because it was a history lesson but correlated with my favorite fictional characters. I thought it was very interesting. However, all the chapters in this book were written by different authors and there were some I liked better than others. Also, because of the multiple authors, some parts got a little repetitive. But overall, I think this would be an enjoyable read for Twilight fans.

A Little in Love
By Susan Fletcher
Genre: Young Adult Historical Fiction
Personal Rating: 9/10

This book is the untold story of Eponine from Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. Les Miserables is one of my favorite stories of all time and Eponine is my favorite literary character, so when I saw this book I knew I had to read it.

Eponine has been taught her entire life to cheat, lie, and be cruel to the one girl who could have been her only friend. Cosette was a servant to Eponine's family while the girls were very young, until the day Cosette is whisked away by a kind, wealthy man with a promise to keep. Years later the girls meet again in a bloody and rioting Paris, and both are in love with the same man. This book follows Eponine's story as she falls for Marius and tries to do good despite what she has always been taught.

Since Les Miserables is very close to my heart, I was nervous about this book disrespecting the characters, but I thought the author did a very good job of maintaining the integrity of the story while still making it a book a younger audience can read and enjoy. I also loved how this novel more closely follows the plot line of the actual book instead of the musical--although I love both. It is a small book and more simply written, but I love the story it portrayed. It was very
heartwarming.

The Revolution of Ivy
By Amy Engel
Genre: Young Adult Dystopian
Personal Rating: 9/10

This is the sequel to The  Book of Ivy that I read earlier this year and loved! I won't say very much about the plot of this book so I don't spoil the first book. I got this book in the mail late one afternoon and read it late into the night, I did not want to put it down for a second. I really enjoy Amy Engel's writing because it focuses so forcefully on character development. She has a way of making a story feel epic without the plot line getting crazy and depressing. I did knock it down a point simply because the ending was a bit anti-climatic compared to the ending of the first book. The ending was clean and didn't leave me with annoying questions, but I thought there could have been a bit more for the ending of the series. Overall though, I highly
recommend this series.