March reading was a little better!

This month, I finally stepped it up a little bit and got back to pseudo-normal.  5 books, 1302 pages.  So away we go!

Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale by Holly Black (331 pages).  Kaye is 16 years old and has spent much of her life traveling around with her rock band mom, Ellen.  But a strange incident with Ellen's boyfriend leads them back to their New Jersey hometown.  There, Kaye remembers all of the faeries she used to know.  And when the truth about herself comes out, it changes everything she knew about the fey.  It was a super weird book and to be honest, I didn't really like it very much.  I finished it in a week (only 3 days of actual reading). 

Rebel Queen by Michelle Moran (344 pages).  Back to my historical fiction addiction.  And one of my fave historical fiction authors!  This one was beyond fascinating.  It tells the story of Rani Lakshmi, the queen of Jhansi, India.  I had never heard of this woman, but apparently she is the stuff of legends in India.  Originally, India was a land of kingships, with no one ruler.  When the British East India Company decided to overstep their bounds, they took thrones away from the kingships and frustrated/insulted their hired soldiers.  Those soldiers eventually began a rebellion that swept the country.  Rani Lakshmi at first attempted to stay neutral, for the sake of her people and her adopted son.  But finally the British went too far.  And the rani knew that her future was forever changed.  So she fought.  Shortly after the rebellion, Britain took over the whole of India as part of their empire.  The story is told through the words of Sita, one of the members of the rani's Durga Dal (a group of ten women who were the elite guards and friends of the rani).  Some of the truly historical aspects of the story were shocking- the Circular Memorandum that allowed the soldiers of the BEIC to take young Indian girls and basically turn them into prostitutes for the soldiers, the fact that the rani sent a delegation of some of her guards (men and women) to appeal to Queen Victoria, the customs of India themselves.  I finished the book in 1 day!

The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery (248 pages).  I am a HUGE Anne of Green Gables fan.  As in, I have been to PEI and was pretty much offered a job as a tour guide at Green Gables while still in middle school.  I've read all of her books, multiple times over.  Or so I thought.  When my friend Debbie asked me if I'd read this book, I was shocked and mortified that an LM Montgomery novel existed that I'd never even heard of, let alone read.  There's something about Maud's style of writing that is like curling up with a favorite blanket- it envelops you and makes you feel right at home from the first sentence.  This novel was no different!  Valancy Stirling (um, best name ever) is 29 years old and, GASP, basically an old maid.  Her family doesn't understand her and she doesn't really care for them.  So she imagines a life for herself in a blue castle, somewhere far away.  Then, one day, Valancy receives news that makes her realize that she's not going to be content living this way for the rest of her life.  So she makes a change.  And learns that her own blue castle AND her own happily ever after do exist.  She's now my new favorite Montgomery heroine, well, favorite after Anne (she'll always be number one!)  I finished the book in 2 days.

Time at the Top and All in Good Time by Edward Ormondroyd (379 pages).  This was two books in one (the first of which I'd already read and the second was a heretofore unknown to me sequel).  I finished the first book in 2 days.  Which is to be expected, as I've read it before.  Susan Shaw and her widower father are living in 1960.  One blustery day, she helps an old lady and is given "just three."  But three what?  When she goes back to her apartment building, she takes the elevator up to the top floor and finds herself in 1881.  Yep, it's three trips in the elevator!  She quickly befriends the Walker children who live in the house and they decide to help the widowed Mrs. Walker.  On trip number three, Mr Shaw comes with Susan.  The book is narrated by the author (who was a neighbor of the Shaws when they lived in 1960).  The book ends with the narrator seeing a picture of a family from the 1880's.  And a young girl in the picture looks suspiciously like Susan!  The sequel is a result of the narrator finding Susan's diary and learning what happened after the Shaws met the Walkers.  Boy, was it an adventure!  But it ended with a happily ever after for the Walker-Shaws.  I finished this one in 2 days as well.  Reading these two books reminded me of my childhood (the first book was a favorite back then.)