BOOK REVIEW: The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All The Way Home

Title: The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All The Way Home
Author: Catherynne M. Valenta
Published by: Feiwel and Friends
Publication date: March 1st 2016
Format: Hardback
Source: Own copy (Amazon)

Oh Fairyland...
I shall be so sad to see you go!
I know you must, but it doesn't make saying goodbye any easier *sobs*

This whole series of books was so magical, whimsical, cosy and delightful!

"Let us take a great swaggering knife between us - it will take both our hands - and slice it open to see what we can see inside. For that is all a story is, my dears: a knife that cuts the world into pieces small enough to eat."

I'm so glad that this installment goes back to having September, Saturday, and Ell as the main characters. 
While I enjoyed the previous book (The Boy Who Lost Fairyland), it just didn't thrill me as much as the other books have. I much prefer to have September as my adventuring partner while I run and skip through Fairyland, thank you very much. 
Hawthorn and Tamburlaine do make great side-characters in this one though, if you loved them very much and are worried about missing them! So fear not!

This was probably my second favouite of the Fairyland series (with the first book coming in a solid first place long before the others have even started the race or even tied their shoes)
The plot was interesting and kept me glued to the page throughout.
I loved the idea of a race through Fairyland! It meant that we got to visit so many new places, meet wonderful new friends, and even meet up with old ones again for a spot of tea!
It was wonderful :) 

I won't spoil the ending for you, but I thought it was quite delightful.
I don't think I could have asked for the series to have been ended in a better way!
I makes saying goodbye to all these lovely friends, who I've spent so much time with, that little bit easier.

"A thing is hardly real if no one's written about it. It's the writing that makes a thing proper and solid and true in the first place."

And who knows, maybe one day we'll find our way back to Fairyland once more?

BOOK REVIEW - There May Be a Castle

Title: There May Be a Castle
Author: Piers Torday
Published by: Quercus Children's Books
Publication date: 6th October 2016
Genres: Middle Grade, Children's Fiction
Format: Kindle
Source: Advanced reading copy from the publisher.
Amazon UK **Amazon US **Goodreads

It's Christmas.
And Mouse hates Christmas.
This Christmas is particularly awful because Mouse has to spend hours in the car with his older sister Violet, who's dressed as a pirate, and his baby sister Esme, who keeps shouting "Easta!" at the rapidly falling snow flakes.
But things take an unexpected turn when Mouse's mum looses control of the car in the snow after being hit by a flying dinosaur.
Mouse is thrown from the car and tumbles into a whole new (and scary) world. This world is filled with a whole host of fantastical characters such as a sarcastic one eyed horse called Nonky, a friendly sheep called Bar (because that's all she can say), a giant robotic dinosaur, a mildly irritating Minstrel who weirdly reminds Mouse of his Dad, and a terrifying Knight dressed in bright pink armour. 
And of course, there may be a castle...

This book surprised me completely.
Its a story about the startling power of imagination and how we can achieve remarkable things if we just imagine that we can. 
It's a story about love, family, and the staggering things we are able to endure in order to protect them.
It's a story about life and death.

It's a story you should read.