Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier

"Five adventurous sisters...
Four dark creatures...
Three magical gifts...
Two forbidden lovers...
One enchanted frog...

Cross the threshold into the Wildwood, and enter a land of magic, daring, betrayal... and true love."

Very interesting, eh? I thought so. What a lucky find this one was while I was searching for hidden treasures at the 1/2 price book shop. I actually got this one for less than 1/2 the original cover price. It was well worth more than I paid. At 400 pages long, I read this book in about 15 1/2 hours give or take... It is so easy to become ensnared in this wonderful fantasy about five sisters and their frolicking to another world and dealings with witches, vampires, and other-worldling beings. Dear Jena is so easily loved, as well as her frog Gogu. As one of four sisters I loved the family togetherness, tightness, friendship shared between these five sisters; Tati- the beautiful, Jena- the leader, Iulia- the flirt, Paula- the learned and Stela-the child. We get to experience love, friendship, trust/betrayal, magic/reality-change. This is really, truley a wonderful coming of age story. The main character learns, grows and changes. For we all must change and accept change as life takes us on our own journies. My only complaint about the book that bugged me was the mis print at the beginning confusing the actual ages of the two older girls. At first the author says that Tati is in her seventeenth year and then later says she is only 16. This affects Jena's age because she is introduced as being one year Tati's junior. Then later they are said to be 16 and 15 instead of 17 and 16. To me that year makes a difference. 15 is quite young to be experiencing the love that the author writes about. Unrealistic but then I suppose that this book is aimed for young adult. Also, when telling one of my sisters about the book, she was put off by the romance between two first cousins. It didn't put me off from it only because I understood it to be told from a time when that was deemed acceptable, unlike today. All together, It was well written, easily read and most easily enjoyed. I loved it! Nearly crying in anguished joy at the end. 5/5 Stars!

Bitter Thistle, Sweet Rose by Ruth Glover

This book is #2 in a series called The Wildrose Series. I have not read any of the other books in this series... yet. This 206 page book was much too short for my liking. It took me maybe 4 hours to read this. I found myself skimming through a lot of parts of the book as the author seemed to go on way to long in description of the landscape and setting. I've never had that happen to me before. I was sorely disappointed with this book as the back of the book suggests that supposedly a young lady named Linn is the main character of this book. Yet, as the story went through it didn't seem to focus even mainly on her, only some. That annoyed me a lot since I had been attracted to read this book by the creation of her character and introduction of her on the back of the book. I am hoping that the 3rd book of this series will carry on about the ending of Linn's story because this book doesn't give a good conclusion for her at all. If you enjoy historic romances set back in pioneer/settler type days with the Christian moralities preaching throughout the book, then I recommend this one for you. This author reminds me of Lauraine Snelling or Janette Oak, but not quite as good. 3/5 Stars!