Book Review: Just Ella

Hi everyone.  Sorry to be a slacker lately.  Last month it was moving (Bethany, I am SO impressed you posted while moving!) and this week it was the stomach flu.  Yuck.

Anyway...

I have been THINKING about the blog.  Does that get me any points?  :)

This week I've decided to do a book review.  I'm always looking for a good book to read and when I find one I enjoy I like to share it with others.  Usually I read what I call "book candy:" books that aren't literature but that allow me to relax and enjoy the story.  So if you're looking for Pulitzer recommendations you'll need to talk to someone else.

I stumbled across Just Ella by Annette K. Larson due to a recommendation by another author whose work I've enjoyed (Julianne Donaldson).

Just Ella is a young adult romance.  It is the story of Ella, a princess and one of seven daughters.  She yearns to know more about the lives of her people.  She befriends a palace gardner named Gavin.  They become good friends and he helps her leave the palace from time to time to see what life is like beyond the palace walls.  Ella is discovered on one of her trips outside and it changes her relationship with everyone - her family, her people, and Gavin.

I enjoyed this story because it seemed more realistic to me than other fairy tale love stories.  Everything wasn't rosy.  Ella had to learn about trust (earning and keeping it).  She also had to learn that sometimes you can't have everything you want.  I also appreciated that I could relate to what Ella was going through but I could also relate to her parents and their perspective.  They were not villainized for behaving like well-meaning parents.

While this book is considered young adult it didn't seem juvenile to me. It was an enjoyable read.  If you have Amazon Prime you can check it out for free.  If you read it let me know what you think.  Meanwhile, what books have you read lately that you'd recommend?