While Imogene is at the traveling theater she makes witty and humorous remarks and gives advice to Luella who makes the mistake of following Bertie to a traveling theater. Imogene's funnier than I expected and I really enjoyed her perspective as a princess trapped in a frog's body. I kind of felt bad for frogs and their bad wraps even though I will still never get near any of them or at least not any toads *shudder*. I am not going to lie, the book was written well enough that I needed to see how things turn out. I had to see how each character turned out and whether they got closure in certain aspects of their lives. My one complaint is the climax. It felt a little…anticlimactic. And the ending for a certain character was extremely unsatisfactory and didn’t seem in character at all.

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Her YA stuff has more character depth and deeper plots, whereas her more MG stuff sits a little closer to the surface and the characters aren't nearly as developed. Cumming, Valerie, C. Willett Cunnington, Phillis Cunnington, and Charles Relly Beard. The Dictionary of Fashion History. New York: Berg, 2010. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1005840681. Through a series of unfortunate events, poor Imogene gets tossed in with a traveling theater group. This theater group isn’t exactly made up of the nicest people though. Most of them were downright infuriating. But they were supposed to be. And some of their antics were quite amusing. You couldn’t help but feel sorry for Imogene getting tossed in with these rotten, clueless people though. Thankfully, not all of them were straight up caricatures. There was some depth and even a character arc that really brought heart to the tale.

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When I first started reading, I was a little worried she’d be pretty cliché. It seems most MG princess stories features a rebellious, tomboyish princess who defies her parents and thinks being tough is the only way to live. Which is okay occasionally, but it gets tiring after a while. Imogene was actually a breath of fresh air. Imogene's misadventures as an amphibian are entertaining. There's enough light humor throughout to keep readers hooked." I'm a lover of fairy tales and all that goes with it - dangerous journey's, daring rescues, princesses who save themselves (girl power!), witches, good versus evil, and of course happily ever afters. Telling me that you just read or I should read a book that is a retelling will instantly make me want to read the book. I do not need to know anymore just give me the book. I decided to read some retellings this year after I told myself I would last year. The story here is told in vignettes. It begins with Miriam arriving at her sister August’s house with her children in tow and a face full of make up covering the last beating she received from her husband. This is an emotional story with adversity and dark topics that are hard to read or listen to. It feels chaotic through most of the story but this family puzzle does come together to confirm the strength of family, bonds between women, mothers protecting children, and neighbors helping neighbors. There is also a hopeful ending!

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The audiobook is narrated by Karen Murray and Adenrele Ojo. Two narrators give more believability to the voicing of the characters and with the constant shifting between timelines, it gives clearer distinction between the main character's voices. No book can stand up to the hype of Bookstagram and I think this is why I felt so underwhelmed reading it. Don’t get me wrong this book kinda has the makings of what great books are about: a main issue with this book is the non-linear story telling. this is a new trope in modern literature, and i can confidently say it never benefits the story or the reading experience. it's use in this book was particularly bad in my opinion. it made for a lot of confusion and a lot of flipping around, at least for me. It was interesting to see a new twist on the Princess and the frog tale. I've never stopped to wonder how it would feel like to be a frog and now I have a very good idea.But that's ok, because YA or MG, I can pretty much always count on Vivian Vande Velde to give me these things: Frog, frogging: an ornamental loop-fastening for a coat, used with a frog-button, associated with Brandenbourgs; Frog-button, olivette: a spindle-shaped braided button to pass through frog fastenings.” A plain princess, a conceited prince and a rejected marriage proposal are just a few of the elements in this imaginative parody of traditional fairytales. Ages 9-11. Continue reading »