Christine’s Comments (group member since Jun 24, 2017)

Christine’s comments from the What's the Name of That Book??? group.

Thanks, Elise, I will check those! The series name sounds familiar... I think I read them with my kiddo, 10-12 years ago.

Rainbowheart, thanks for the bump! Still looking...

Following... I’d like to read this, too!

It sounds like it could be something by Edward Lear, perhaps?

Was it fictionally based on a well-known pantheon of gods, such as the Greek gods or Norse gods?

Author P. C. Cast has several fantasy series based on Greek & Celtic mythology...

The “Partholon” series starts with book 1, Divine by Mistake.

She also has the “House of Night series,” co-authored with her daughter, Kristin Cast.

I’m sorry I don’t know the series... but I’m following because it sounds great & I’d love to read it also!

This definitely sounds like City of Stairs.

Holy-moly, I just found it: A Norse Lullaby, by M. L. Van Vorst.

Writing the description in my request, helped to jog my memory. When I re-read my post, and thought about “Norse,” “rhyming text,” and “lullaby,” it just came back to me. I had not recalled the title being something that simple; I thought it was more complicated. I was wrong about the cover art... but other people’s reviews make me certain this is the right book. Yay!

My son had this book when he was little, but I don’t know what happened to it, and would like to find another copy. We read our copy frequently at bedtime, around 2003-2006, but it was definitely published pre-2000, maybe even pre-1990. Just wish I could remember the title.

It was a hardbound picture book, with the story set in Norway or another Nordic country. It featured a family in the home, on a snowy winter night. They are wearing “traditional” clothing, and I believe the story was set in the 1800s, or very early 1900s. The mother is at home with three young children, all under 7-8 : a sister, a 2-4 year old brother, and a baby. The father is away somewhere, and they are waiting for his return.

I think it had rhyming text, or the text was possibly written like the words to a song? Maybe a lullaby? The mother is doing household tasks, and the children are playing. The little boy has a toy soldier (the father might/might not be a soldier?). Eventually the father comes home, on a sled drawn by a reindeer.

The illustrations were beautiful: outdoor nighttime snowy scenes, and indoor scenes with the house lit by the fireplace, and maybe by candles. I think the cover illustration was an outdoor scene, maybe with a reindeer or sled (maybe not).

Thanks for any help!

This does sound a lot like 77 Shadow Street.

It’s an “alternate fantasy universe,” you said? Is it like an alternate of a specific country or time period?

For example: like an alternate Victorian England with magick. Or an alternate Colonial America with magick.

Or is it a fantasy universe created by the author?

Ann, I'mm checking the Enid Blyton books now... but no, those are unfortunately not them.

They look good, though, so I added one! Thanks!

Thanks for the bump, Rainbowheart!

Thanks, Nicole! It's not the Pinkalicious series, but did have similar pastel illustrations. : )

This one is driving me nuts, because I didn’t finish it, and I hate to leave a book unfinished (even if something about it was driving me nuts). I read about 1/3 to 1/2 of this, within the last 3-5 years, and I believe it was published in the last 3-8 years. It may have been on my kindle, which has since died, so I haven’t been able to go back and check the title.

Here’s what I remember:

* YA fantasy/urban fantasy.
* This was NOT part of Cassandra Clare’s “Mortal Instruments” series, though it had a little of the same feel to it. Fewer characters.
* Set in possibly a college town? Maybe U. S. East Coast?
* Lots of buildings that were decrepit, downtown, and some that took on different appearances at night. Some buildings featured in scenes may have been part of an abandoned estate/mansion.
* The early part of the book had an over-abundance of description about clothing and buildings (not so much architecture as appearance of buildings).
* My vague ‘college-town’ memory may come from the author constantly describing ivy climbing up old stone or brick buildings, but she kept calling it “emory” instead of ivy, which was driving me crazy.
* One main character (the guy- maybe Fae, maybe some other kind of supernatural/fantasy being), possibly lived above a theatre (movie cinema or stage theatre?). It may have been closed/ruined in some way.
* Main character, young woman (high school or college age?) is human. Story (might?) be told by her in first-person. I think it was.
* Plot involves her meeting the guy in some unusual way (I don’t remember how), and becoming a little obsessed with him, romantically, though at the point where I stopped reading they weren’t in a relationship.
* At one early point, he invites her to a party, on the grounds of an estate/abandoned estate. Lots of people attend, but I think she goes alone, to find him there. Lots of detail (too much) about what everyone is wearing. Young people acting strangely at party (maybe not human). There is a sort if attraction/pull away dynamic between the two main characters. Something else happens at the party that causes the female mc to feel strangely about the other guests, about how they act or look (fantasy elements that I can’t recall). A strange/spooky/otherworldly “tone” to the writing.
* Another scene involves female mc visiting (or arriving unannounced) at male mc’s home (above the theatre), and noticing how strange and shabby it is. I think I stopped reading around this point.

Thanks! Any help is appreciated! : )

There is a YA author, Kristy or Christy - something-, with I think a traditionally Asian last name? She writes an urban fantasy series about a teen brother and sister who can shapeshift to dragon form. I think the sister had a dragon tattoo.

Of course, I’m blanking on the author’s full name, as well as the titles of any of the books (sorry!!), but I will try to remember. I think maybe the book titles all had one-word names.

There is also The Secret of Roan Inish (which was also made into a movie).

Following...

Following... this sounds interesting. I will try to help find it. : )

This definitely sounds like Inkheart, by Cornelia Funke, which was made into a movie. There are two more books in the series.

In Inkheart, the father is a bookbinder, and also a “Silvertongue” (anything he reads aloud has the potential to appear in our world, having come out of the book- with the catch that something from our world goes into the book world).

Does that sound familiar? There is a daughter, and there are many fantasy elements.