Book Gossip #28 - Farewell to Charms & Body and Soul

Hey!! I have some stuff to share, namely the burbs of two books I'm seriously looking forward in 2012!!

First of... Farewell to Charms by Lindsey Leavitt - third book and last book of the Princess for Hire Series. I loved the first book and I LOVED the second one, and I just can't wait to read this one, particularly because of how book 2 ended!

Here's the cover and blurb:

Desi Bascomb is a princess substitute prodigy—she's the fastest agent ever to advance to level three in the Facade Agency, and the youngest to ever be a full-time sub. But now with all eyes on Desi, the only thing she wants is a moment alone to talk to Reed, who's a Façade legacy and possibly the sub for Prince Karl!

As Desi trains for her new role, she spies more than a few cracks in Façade’s perfect appearance. But uncovering the agency’s dark past might require more than a princess sub can handle by herself. Desi is no damsel in distress, but sometimes a girl needs a knight in shining armor.

 Farewell to Charms comes out June 26, 2012.

And second... I give you Body and Soul by Stacey Kade (book 3 of the Ghost and the Goth) which comes out May 29th, 2012.

Since it doesn't have a cover yet, I'll just put the blurb according to Amazon and to Stacey's site

From Amazon:

Alona Dare has been living as Lily “Ally” Turner for over a month...and it's not been easy. Besides being trapped in a body so not as good as her original one, she's failing miserably at playing the sister and daughter of people she barely knows. Plus, she can't help but think that Will Killian - the boy she hates to care about - somehow wishes the real Lily were back.

She and Will have been trying to find a solution, looking for a two-for-one miracle that would free Alona and keep Lily alive. Visits to local pyschics have proven useless, but then they stumble across Malachi the Magnificent, who seems to be different. His office is full of ghosts, for one thing.

But Malachi doesn’t seem to hear or see them, which is odd. Plus, he bolts the moment he sees Will. To make things even weirder, Misty Evans, Alona's former best friend, is waiting in Malachi's lobby and claiming that she's being haunted. By Alona.

Will's convinced that Malachi has answers, while Alona is all kinds of pissed that someone's impersonating her. But their efforts to uncover the truth will bring them much unwanted attention and put them directly in the path of a ghost who will stop at nothing for another stab at life. Even if it means destroying Alona.

From Stacey's site:

The Ghost

I’ve been trapped in the body of Lily “Ally” Turner for a month now. Talk about a fashion crisis on an epic scale. What worries me more, though, is sometimes I catch Will looking at me like he thinks I’m Lily…or that he wishes I were. Without the good looks of my former self, I don’t know who I am, or if who that is is good enough. I need out of this mess. Now.

Will and I have been looking for a solution, one that would separate me from Lily without killing her. But it’s not going well. Then, when it seems like things couldn’t get any worse, we run into Misty, my former best friend and boyfriend-stealer extraordinaire, who claims she’s being haunted…by me. Seriously?

I’m determined to get to the bottom of who’s pretending to be the spirit of Alona Dare (while I’m pretending to be someone else) and then get the heck out of this body. Or die trying…

The Goth

I’ll admit it. It’s really weird to look at Alona but see Lily. I do know the difference, though, contrary to what Alona might be saying. And Alona is more than a pretty face to me, not that she would believe that.

Our one lead for some help in this messed up situation might be a page torn from the yellow pages—the “Psychics” section—I found in my dad’s stuff. One of the “fakes” seems a bit more real—and odd—than the others. Before I can investigate further, though, Alona is off and chasing a ghost that’s probably nothing more than a figment of Misty’s guilty imagination. Now Lily’s family is freaking out because she didn’t come home, my mom is ordering me to stay out of it, and something is definitely wrong with the person formerly known as Lily “Ally” Turner…

I'm so excited to read these, and I can't wait!!

Book Review: The Royal Treatment by Lindsey Leavitt

WARNING: This review might contain spoilers about Princess for Hire.

At First Sight: It has been a few weeks since Desi Bascomb became a sub - a substitute princess, as in the person who steps in whenever a royal needs a time out -and she's eagerly awaiting her first assignment as a Level Two sub. Meanwhile, she's trying to improve her princessy skills, like learning to play a musical instrument (which she kind of sucks at) or learning to speak in public. 

She's also trying out for the school play - since acting is an useful skill after all, and because she just likes it - and it's through the play that she becomes reacquired with Reed, the new boy in town who also kind of saved her life last summer. Reed also happens to be the guy Desi's best friend is crushing on. However, sometimes when she's with Reed, Desi doesn't think much about Prince Karl, her own forbidden crush. 

When Meredith - Desi's agent - finally shows up, and looking surprisingly relaxed too!, Desi is ready for the job as she learns that there is a shake up in the works at The Agency, and she begins to suspect that not everything might be as she's been told it is; however, though her sub commitments Desi starts to learn more and more about her Magic Potential, and about her own heart.

Second Glance: *sigh* Oh, this was so hard to write without giving away too much of the plot!  

Anyway, The Royal Treatment is such a good, sweet story. It's so fun to see how Desi finds more and more about herself through trying to be other people - both while acting and while subbing. And I don't want to say too much, but I really felt like things were kicked up a notch in this book, and I loved seeing how Desi rose to the occasion.

I like how some of the Agency's secrets are being revealed, and there is a wonderful twist that it's hinted at if you pay attention, but that it's awesome anyway! Oh, and The Royal Treatment tackles one of the things I really wanted to see, so I'm so happy about that.

Bottom Line:Smalls (of Small Review, check her review here) told me that if I liked Princess for Hire, I was going to love The Royal Treatment, and she was so absolutely right. This is a sweet, fun book about a sweet, lovely girl. It's full of magic and fun and crazy.

Favorite Quote: "Maybe Barrett should see you like this. He can console you far better than I can. Unless he's the reason why you're upset, in which case I'll take care of him." 

"How?"

"A Duel. We are royal," Karl cracked a rare smile. "It's allowed."

Book Review: Princess for Hire by Lindsay Leavitt

At First Sight: Desi is 14 and stuck having the worst job ever - working for Pets Charming is a never ending string of undignified tasks such as being Gladys the Groundhog, scooping manure at a parade or taking a turn sitting on a dunk tank - and the rest of her life is not much better. Her Dad is all about 'work ethic' and won't let her quit her job, her Mom is a former beauty queen who now runs a Charm School - which Desi flunked -and dotes on Desi's baby sister. 

So, when after a particularly bad day, Desi is reading the wanted adds on the paper, hopeful to find a new job, she sees a strange add urging her to call for Meredith if she thinks she has what it takes to be a Princess For Hire. 

Figuring it's worth a shot, Desi calls for Meredith and gets sucked into the world of substitute princesses. See, for centuries and centuries, Meredith's agency has devoted itself to use magic to 'substitute' royalty while the real royals run about and have their little escapades. And Desi is their newest talent.

Standing in for a royal sounds glamorous, right? but Desi is about to find out that nothing is ever what it seems.

Second Glance: I got Princess for Hire close to a year ago - I won it from Free Book Friday Teens!, first time EVER that I had won anything - but my cousin sort of had it in her possession for a long time so I only got to read it now.

I quite adored this book, it was cute and sweet and full of magic. I really liked Desi and her struggles both as a sub and in life in general - her crush is dating her nemesis and she feels invisible more often than not - and how she goes about coping with what life throws at her. There is a core to her feelings that I found quite real, and I actually liked a lot of the characters in the book - specially two of the princesses Desi subs for. 

I had some problems with Meredith in the beginning, but Smalls@Small Review told me to stick to her and I have to admit that, in the end, Meredith did come through, and I hope they explore more of her story in the next books. 

Now, much as I liked this book -and I did like it from the start - it took me about two weeks to finish it, not because there was anything wrong with it but because at the beginning it was very easy to put down. I enjoyed it a lot while I was reading but it was very episodic and easy to put down once each adventure ended, but once I sat down to finish it, I read about two thirds of the novel in just two hours.

Bottom Line: I do love Desi and her world, I loved Princess for Hire and I can't wait to read the next book The Royal Treatment (which comes out on May 3rd). This book very much reads like a sweet, Disney movie and it's a nice, sweet treat.

Favorite Quote: "Exhausted, I found some pajamas and crawled into bed, thinking about how in every fairy tale, the heroine's problems melt away when she becomes a princess - everyone sees how special she is and loves her. None of the stories was about a chubby, lonely princess who played the French horn into a tape recorder in her duck-filled bedroom. Or about the chubby princess's substitute, for that matter.

Maybe that's what made them fairy tales.

Real life is never how you dreamed it."

3/4