#Jaclyn Moriarty

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

[kanerallels]

I just finished reading this portal fantasy book called "The Astonishing Chronicles of Oscar From Elsewhere" by Jaclyn Moriarty, and the best part-- although the whole book was really good-- was the part where the kid from our world sat all his new friends from the fantasy world down and made them do a group therapy session, thereby accidentally unlocking a magical picnic blanket's abilities

The second best part was probably the one where skateboarding and perfect pitch saved the day

[karathespellbinder]

If I had a nickel for every time the rules of ancient magic are lost to time and become only the realm of the isolated academic despite once being known by everyone, and when the magic returns no one believes it except for the few people who have been chosen by the magic already and the specialized scholars, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't very much, but it's still kinda weird that it happened twice, yeah?

p.s. It’s in two of my favorite books, The Stolen Prince of Cloudburst by Jaclyn Moriarty and The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson.

[earlyzakariya]

Sometimes the book you're reading hits so hard you start crying in the middle of the library

Anyways here's the quote(s) that made me cry

"'You know I don't remember our mother ever once saying sorry about anything?'"

"'So what I'm realizing,' Imogen continued, 'is that you're more grown-up than Mother. She was small in your dream because she is much smaller than you,'"

"'And then she might be able to see us properly,' Imogen put in, 'and start being our mother.'"

[bookcoversonly]

Title: The Slightly Alarming Tale of the Whispering Wars | Author: Jaclyn Moriarty | Publisher: Guppy Books (2020)

[ren-commendations]

The Spell Book of Listen Taylor by Jaclyn Moriarty

6/10 part whimsy, mostly family drama, all the feelings. 

I first read this back in middle school, and it really stuck out to me. After I left middle school I wanted to find it again and it took me almost 7 more years to find this book again. I’m so glad to finally found it again. Re-reading it it was pretty similar to how I remember it, which was that is was good. The writing takes a bit of time to get used to, a lot of changing perspectives, but after a while you kind of fall into place and it’s not bad. 

There were some chapters I was less fond of than others, and moments where I didn’t care for certain characters as much as others, but even parts I liked less had a part to play in the greater narrative, so I cannot begrudge it too much.

The story follows Listen Taylor as she starts middle school, as well as experiencing conflict that arises from her dad’s girlfriend’s family secret. All of it ties together rather neatly and the author is really good at appealing to the emotional aspect of everything, which I enjoyed and why I wanted to re-read it. It really stuck out to me as experiencing life and emotions from someone else’s shoes. All the characters are flawed, and very human, but each have their own points to empathize with what they are going through and the decisions they make, which made me remember this book even all these years later. 

[theobviousparadox]

Review: The Astonishing Chronicles of Oscar from Elsewhere by Jaclyn Moriarty

Review: The Astonishing Chronicles of Oscar from Elsewhere by Jaclyn Moriarty

The Astonishing Chronicles of Oscar From ElsewhereJaclyn MoriartyAllen & UnwinPublished November 1, 2022 Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads About The Astonishing Chronicles of Oscar from Elsewhere Let me get this straight. I’m on a trip with the following people:1) Bronte, a girl who makes magical ‘Spellbinding’ rings,2) Alejandro, a former pirate/current prince who can shoot arrows and make fire…

[havewereadthis]

"A funny, touching, revealing story written entirely in the form of letters, messages, postcards - and bizarre missives. Hilariously candid, shows that the roller coaster ride of being a teenager is every bit as fun as we remember--and every bit as harrowing.

Life is pretty complicated for Elizabeth Clarry. Her best friend Celia keeps disappearing, her absent father suddenly reappears, and her communication with her mother consists entirely of wacky notes left on the fridge. On top of everything else, because her English teacher wants to rekindle the "Joy of the Envelope," a Complete and Utter Stranger knows more about Elizabeth than anyone else.

But Elizabeth is on the verge of some major changes. She may lose her best friend, find a wonderful new friend, kiss the sexiest guy alive, and run in a marathon. So much can happen in the time it takes to write a letter…"

[book--brackets]

Kingdoms and Empires by Jaclyn Moriarty (2017-2023)

Bronte Mettlestone's parents ran away to have adventures when she was a baby, leaving her to be raised by her Aunt Isabelle and the Butler. She's had a perfectly pleasant childhood of afternoon teas and riding lessons - and no adventures, thank you very much.

But Bronte's parents have left extremely detailed (and bossy) instructions for Bronte in their will. The instructions must be followed to the letter, or disaster will befall Bronte's home. She is to travel the kingdoms and empires, perfectly alone, delivering special gifts to her ten other aunts. There is a farmer aunt who owns an orange orchard and a veterinarian aunt who specialises in dragon care, a pair of aunts who captain a cruise ship together and a former rockstar aunt who is now the reigning monarch of a small kingdom.

Now, armed with only her parents' instructions, a chest full of strange gifts and her own strong will, Bronte must journey forth to face dragons, Chief Detectives and pirates - and the gathering suspicion that there might be something more to her extremely inconvenient quest than meets the eye...

The Lost Conspiracy by Francis Hardinge (2008)

On Gullstruck Island, legend has it that the mountain ranges and volcanoes are in charge. Anger them, and you'll pay the price. Keep them happy, and you'll enjoy their protection. These stories of the land's command come in handy for quiet, near-invisible Hathin when she must run for her life. Hathin's sister, Arilou, is believed to be a Lost. The Lost are held nearly sacred by those on Gullstruck, for they can send their senses away from their bodies. If Lost, Arilou can read a message across the island. If Lost, Arilou can hear whispers in the corners of private rooms. If Lost, Arilou can smell bread baking in the governor's mansion. All from her beachside hut. But the question remains: Is Arilou really a Lost? When all the Lost drop dead--except Arilou--she and Hathin are swept into a grand conspiracy that leads them to the most sinister depths--and heights--of the island.

Isola by Brenden Fletcher (2018-2020)

An evil spell has been cast on the Queen of Maar and her Captain of the Guard will do anything to reverse it. Their only hope lies on an island half a world away--a place known in myth as Isola, land of the dead.

The Secret of a Heart Note by Stacey Lee (2016)

Sometimes love is right under your nose. As one of only two aromateurs left on the planet, sixteen-year-old Mimosa knows what her future holds: a lifetime of weeding, mixing love elixirs, and matchmaking—all while remaining incurably alone. For Mim, the rules are clear: falling in love would render her nose useless, taking away her one great talent. Still, Mimosa doesn’t want to spend her life elbow-deep in soil and begonias. She dreams of a normal high school experience with friends, sports practices, debate club, and even a boyfriend. But when she accidentally gives an elixir to the wrong woman and has to rely on the lovesick woman’s son, the school soccer star, to help fix the situation, Mim quickly begins to realize that falling in love isn’t always a choice you can make.

The Fairy Realm by Emily Rodda (2001-2006)

When Jessie searches for her ill grandmother's missing charm bracelet, she is led to a magical world and finds she has a reason and right to be there.

Lays of the Hearth-Fire by Victoria Goddard (2019-2023)

Cliopher Mdang knows all about consequences. He is the Secretary in Chief of the offices of the Lords of State: the official head of the Imperial Bureaucratic Service of Zunidh, unofficial head of the government. He spends his days dealing with all the manifold results of enormously complicated systems.

He is also the personal secretary to his Radiency Artorin Damara, Last Emperor of Astandalas, Lord of Zunidh: the Sun-on-Earth, the Lord of Tising Stars, worshiped as a god.

Cliopher has never touched his lord, never called him by name, never initiated a conversation. He would never say aloud that he loves him, but it is for his lord, and not his own power or prestige, that he spends his life far from home and the family who have never quite forgiven him for leaving.

It is blasphemy to suggest that the Sun-on-Earth might need something as ordinary in human as a break. But one day Cliopher turns to his lord and invites him on a holiday to his homeland, the tropical paradise of Vangavaye-ve, which is as far from the court as it is possible to be. It is a place where pretension is soundly discouraged and pretenses are undone, and where the divine never very far from the human.

Valkyrie by Kate O'Hearn (2013-2016)

Freya is dreading her upcoming birthday when she'll officially have to take up her duties as a Valkyrie. She doesn't want to follow in the footsteps of the legends before her--legends including her mother and sisters. And she certainly doesn't want anything to do with humans 

Freya thinks humans are cruel, hate-filled creatures, but as she observes their world, she begins to wonder what it would be like to make friends with the girls or laugh with the boys she sees. And what would it be like to live without the fear that she could cause someone's death with a single touch? 

Then when she's sent on her first mission, she reaps the soul of a fallen soldier with unfinished business...business that sends her on an epic quest to the mortal world. Will Freya find the true meaning of being a human, or will she finally accept the legend she is destined to become?

Doomspell by Cliff McNish (2000-2002)

In a blaze of light, rush of wind and scrabble of claws, Rachel and Eric are ripped through the wall and hurtled on to another world. Like thousands of other children before them, they have been snatched away by the Witch.

But this time the Witch has met her match. Rachel discovers that she has extraordinary gifts: she can transform herself into a feather, or fly on an owl’s back, just as the Witch can. The Witch is excited she has found someone to use for her own evil purposes. But for the Witch’s victims, Rachel is their only hope.

Drizzle by Kathleen Van Cleve (2010)

Eleven-year-old Polly Peabody knows her family's world-famous rhubarb farm is magical. The plants taste like chocolate, jewels appear in the soil, bugs talk to her, and her best friend is a rhubarb plant named Harry. But the most magical thing is that every single Monday, at exactly 1:00, it rains. Until the Monday when the rain just stops. Now it's up to Polly to figure out why, and whether her brother's mysterious illness and her glamorous aunt Edith's sudden desire to sell the farm have anything to do with it. Most of all, Polly has to make it start raining again before it's too late. Her brother's life, the plants' survival, and her family's future all depend on it.

Lyra by Patricia C. Wrede (1982-1994)

Trouble is brewing in Alkyra. While the kingdom’s noblemen squabble, on their borders an ancient enemy, the Lithmern, raises an army. As the head of the Noble House of Brenn attempts to organize an alliance, the princess Alethia celebrates her twentieth birthday. She is a remarkable woman: quick-witted, beautiful, and handy with a throwing knife. But on the next night, she passes through a dark corridor on her way to the banquet hall, and never emerges from the shadows. The Lithmern have kidnapped the princess.   When Alethia regains consciousness, an evil Lithmern with a face made of shadows is carrying her through the forest. These are magic woods, home to fabled creatures whose existence she has always doubted. To find her way home, Alethia will have to learn to trust in the old tales, whose legends of magic and daring hold the only hope of saving her kingdom.

[anyataylorsoy]

*also known as ‘a year of secret assignments’

[chaoticloveyshroom]

fandoms list

Hi from Chao :) fandoms include how to train your dragon, the legend of zelda (BOTW, TOTK, LA), spiritfarer, danganronpa, animal crossing new horizons, cult of the lamb, minecraft, stardew valley, steven universe, MHA, JJK, AOT, Sk8 the infinity, warrior cats, hunger games, priory of the orange tree, the cruel prince, maasverse, BSD, one piece, banana fish, charlotte (anime), KNY, death note, harry potter, marauders, horimiya, howls moving castle, spirited away, totoro, fourth wing, riordanverse, saiki k, shadowhunters, case study of vanitas, tokyo revengers, Wednesday, spy x family, MCU, red white and royal blue, stranger things, bee and puppycat, ao haru ride, angels of death, akarnae, school for good and evil, ann liang books, cressida cowell books, dragonkeeper, avatar (james cameron), avatar: TLA, isobel carmody, Nevermoor, grishaverse, dragon city, shadow and bone (show), adventure time, Spiderverse, haikyuu, knife (rj anderson), TBHK, dragon rider, chainsaw man, bojack horseman, deirdre sullivan books, star wars (particularly andor/mandolorian), LOTR, FNAF, hazbin hotel/helluva boss, the dragon prince, sailor moon, neon genesis evangelion, heathers, ingo (helen dunmore), pokemon, given, the prison healer, whisper/weapon (lynette noni), komi cant communicate, the batman (robert pattinson version), ms kobayashis dragon maid, tokyo ghoul, the mirror visitor quartet (christelle dabos), all of us are dead, the glory, eeaao, jurassic world, the enchanted wood series, scythe, peculiars (Ransom riggs), circe, stella montgomery intrigues (judith rossell), his dark materials, we bare bears, hatsune miku/vocaloid, ado (singer), heartbreak high (reboot), jaclyn moriarty, still wakes the deep, and holy shit this is so long RIP well uh if you wanna moot me theres ur info lol!

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

[listentothestories]

Breathe the air, pick the flowers (if they are growing wildly, say in a forest), read stories, dream dreams!

Jaclyn Moriarty, The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone

[karathespellbinder]

So. I have this fancy family tree software and I thought I might as well use it, but it was having technical difficulties (or maybe I was the problem?) so here is this super low-quality Mettlestone family tree. Since it's impossible to read, (I just wanted to have a picture in a post for once, lol) I guess just rely on the image description! rip

Basically, I have figured out as best as I can the order of the Mettlestone siblings so I put them in, added their spouses, and added their kids. Oscar isn't in there but like he's an adopted grandkid so that is a bit of an inaccuracy; I'm not sure where he would go though? It was very fun researching the books to find all the ages, though ultimately there was a mostly-in-age-order list in SLV that filled in all the gaps. Before I found that list, I had known that Isabelle, Carrie, and Franny were the three oldest, that Emma and Patrick were at the end, and that Sophy was also a younger child.

kinda crazy they had 12 kids. that's a lot. In case you are wondering, the reason Bronte only had 10 gifts to give but 11 aunts is because Maya & Lisbeth shared a gift!

Also it's really cute that Jacob and Ildi combined their last names to make Mettlestone. Very wholesome.

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

🦘 Booklr Reads Australian - Authors on My Shelves 🐨

so, I’ve been trying to think of a way to recommend a lot of Australian authors really quickly for Booklr Reads Australian. what I came up with was just to give y’all a giant list of all the authors I have at home! 

most of them are YA and/or fantasy authors, and I’ve marked my favourites with an asterisk (*) but if you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an ask 😊

1. Sarah Ayoub 2. Eugen Bacon 3. Shirley Barber * 4. AJ Betts 5. Danielle Binks * 6. Cally Black 7. Steph Bowe * 8. Alice Boyle 9. JC Burke 10. Meg Caddy * 11. Frances Chapman 12. Wai Chim * 13. Claire Christian 14. Lyndall Clipstone 15. Claire G Coleman 16. Katherine Collette 17. Harry Cook 18. Cath Crowley 19. Robyn Dennison 20. Cale Dietrich 21. Lauren Draper 22. CG Drews * 23. Michael Earp 24. Kate Emery 25. Sarah Epstein 26. Alison Evans * 27. Fleur Ferris 28. Carly Findlay 29. Helena Fox 30. Lisa Fuller 31. Emily Gale 32. Meg Gatland-Veness 33. Sophie Gonzales 34. Erin Gough * 35. Leanne Hall * 36. Pip Harry 37. Sonya Hartnett 38. Adam Hills 39. Simmone Howell 40. Megan Jacobson 41. Amie Kaufman 42. Melissa Keil 43. Nina Kenwood 44. Sharon Kernot 45. Kay Kerr * 46. Will Kostakis 47. Jay Kristoff 48. Ambelin Kwaymullina 49. Benjamin Law 50. Rebecca Lim 51. Gary Lonesborough * 52. Kathleen Loughnan 53. Miranda Luby 54. Tobias Madden 55. Melina Marchetta 56. Ellie Marney * 57. Freya Marske 58. Jodi McAlister * 59. Margot McGovern * 60. Nikki McWatters 61. Anna Morgan 62. Jaclyn Moriarty 63. Liane Moriarty 64. Garth Nix 65. Lynette Noni 66. Carly Nugent 67. Poppy Nwosu 68. Kate O’Donnell 69. Shivaun Plozza 70. Michael Pryor 71. Alice Pung 72. Emily Rodda * 73. Autumn Royal 74. Omar Sakr 75. Holden Sheppard 76. AG Slatter 77. Jo Spurrier 78. Krystal Sutherland * 79. Jared Thomas 80. Hayli Thompson 81. Gabrielle Tozer 82. Christos Tsiolkas 83. Alicia Tuckerman 84. Ellen van Neerven 85. Marlee Jane Ward 86. Vikki Wakefield 87. Lisa Walker 88. Jessica Watson * 89. Allayne L Webster 90. Anna Whateley * 91. Samantha Wheeler 92. Jen Wilde * 93. Rhiannon Wilde 94. Lili WIlkinson 95. Gabrielle Williams 96. Rhiannon Williams 97. Fiona Wood 98. Leanne Yong 99. Suzy Zail 100. Nevo Zisin 101. Markus Zusak

[bookcoversonly]

Title: The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone | Author: Jaclyn Moriarty | Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books (2018)