Book of the Month & MG Fantasy Giveaways (RTW)

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway contributors post a weekly writing/reading-related question to answer.
This week's question was:

What was the best book you read in July?

Which worked out well, because today I was planning to start a middle-grade fantasy giveaway for a few of the best books I read in July! So STAY TUNED to WIN FREE BOOKS.

My very favorite of the month has to be Wisdom's Kiss, by Catherine Gilbert Murdock:

Wisdom's Kiss by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


"Princess Wisdom, known as Dizzy, longs for a life of adventure far beyond the staid old kingdom of Montagne.

Tips, a soldier, longs to keep his true life secret from his family.

Fortitude, an orphaned maid, longs only for Tips.

These three passionate souls might just attain their dreams while preserving Montagne from certain destruction, if only they can tolerate each other long enough to come up with a plan. Tough to save the world when you can't even be in the same room together.

Magic, cunning, and one very special cat join forces in this hilarious, extraordinary tale by the author of Dairy Queen and Princess Ben. An incredibly creative tale told with diaries, memoirs, encyclopedia entries, letters, biographies, even a stage play, all woven together into a grand adventure."

Having 8 different points-of-view, all told in various formats (to name a few: letters, a memoir, a play, and an encyclopedia) is pretty ambitious. Especially given the tons of first-person-present-tense books flooding the teen market right now (which is my favorite tense to write in too, don't get me wrong). But Catherine Murdock makes it WORK here.

I loved her first fairy-tale/fantasy novel, Princess Ben (set in the same world as Wisdom's Kiss, but in a different time period), but I enjoyed Wisdom's Kiss even more. With so many POVs going on, the characters all get voices of their own. You sympathize with all three members of the love triangle, another feat that's hard to pull off when there's heartbreak involved (and that's all I'm saying, don't want to spoil you!).

But best of all... it's HILARIOUS. This reminds me of Princess Bride or Terry Pratchett, with the crazy, goofy place-names, quirky country traditions and a little fun magic to top it all off. I also love that Catherine wasn't afraid to use big words in a book for teens. Yes, I might've stumbled across a few of those if I read this book at age 12, but it wouldn't have stopped me reading the book. It's one of those books you'd reread again 10 years later, and laugh even harder when you spot all the snark you missed the first time around. I think it would be fun to read this aloud to younger kids, too. There's a lot of room for making fun of the various voices (especially the narcissistic swordsman, Felis el Gato. How can you not love a book with a narrating character whose name is that ridiculous?!).

View all my reviews

You can win this book OR any of the following:

Liesl and Po by Lauren Oliver (SIGNED COPY)
(read my review)


Villain School: Good Curses Evil by Stephanie Sanders

Janitors (Book 1) by Tyler Whitesides

and, although it's not fantasy or middle-grade, since no one won it last time, I'm throwing in We the Animals by Justin Torres as well!

How do you win? I'm so glad you asked! Here's the dealio:

Comment on this post in order to enter (be sure to mention which book you want to win, if you want a specific one!).

+1 if you follow this blog

+2 if you're already a follower

+1 for re-Tweeting this contest (Copy @egoodlett to let me know if you do!)

+2 for mentioning this contest on your blog

Winners will be drawn on Friday, August 5th (oh my god is it already almost August??), so hop to it!!