Waiting on Wednesday: Yellow Brick War (Dorothy Must Die #3) by Danielle Paige

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases that we're eagerly awaiting.  My choice this week is the third book in a series that was such an original story.  It wasn't quite what I expected, but it still was a great, unique story.  I just listened to the 2nd book a month or so ago.  So it is pretty fresh in my mind and I'll be ready to read it when it comes out!  Here is the blurb from Goodreads:  

In this dark, action-packed third book in the New York Times bestselling Dorothy Must Die series, Amy Gumm—the new girl from Kansas—must do everything in her power to save Kansas, kill Dorothy, and make Oz a free land once more.

Amy Gumm’s mission to take down Dorothy Gale is not going according to plan. Dorothy has found a way to bridge the worlds of Oz and Kansas, and if the power-hungry dictator of Oz has her way, Kansas will be destroyed forever. Now, Amy has to team up with the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked to save her home, restore the balance between the magic and nonmagic worlds, maybe get the guy—and kill that not-so-sweet Kansas farm girl once and for all.

In the third installment of the New York Times bestselling Dorothy Must Die series, Danielle Paige’s twisted versions of beloved Oz characters are back, including the biggest, baddest, most famous of all: the Wicked Witch of the West.

Welcome to the other side of the rainbow. Here there’s danger around every corner, and magic shoes won’t be able to save you.

Have you read this series yet?  What book are you eagerly awaiting this week?  While you're here, make sure to go enter my giveaway for a finished copy of Titans by Victoria Scott.

Audiobook Review: The Wicked Will Rise (Dorothy Must Die #2) by Danielle Paige

This was the next audiobook I chose to listen to.  I had owned a copy of the book, but traded it for something I couldn't wait for awhile back.  So I had to borrow the audiobook from my public library.  It was a pretty good story. The narrator did a good job with different voices and keeping it interesting. As most second books seem to be in trilogies, it was what I call a "road trip" book.  Now, my review of this will probably, no definitely have spoilers if you haven't read the first book.  So in that case, you should just stop reading now, and go read my review of the first book, Dorothy Must Die. 

This book picks up basically where the last one left off.  The main character, Amy Gumm, failed in her mission to kill Dorothy.  She was able to get the Tin Woodsman's heart though, which was one of the things the Wizard told her she would need to be able to actually kill Dorothy.  In the battle, she lost sight of the rest of the witches in the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked, included her friend Nox.  Probably the one thing she is glad to have done is save the Princess Ozma.  Even if she isn't much help in her dazed and confused state.  Amy and Ozma get some help getting away from their friends the wingless monkeys, who got paper wings from the Wizard just for this mission.  And they get close to the monkeys' village when they run into the Lion.  And somehow, Amy must get his courage from him, another ingredient needed to kill Dorothy. The way that she does it, well, that is a surprise!  And then they are taken into the village high up in the trees where the monkeys live now.  While there, Amy discovers a secret about Ozma, and the boy named Pete that she'd seen back at the Palace in Emerald City.  Mombi shows up beat up and exhausted.  She tells Amy that she must talk to someone named Polychrome, who lives in the land of the rainbows. 

So part of the book takes place in a land of rainbows.  It is on this journey that she will find Nox again.  And together they must try to figure out how to stop Dorothy.  Only Glinda and Dorothy will not fight fair.  And they will soon find out that there is something peculiar between Dorothy and Amy, something that makes it really hard to kill each other.  And the Wizard, we'll finally find out what he's up to.  And you'll know whether he can be trusted, or if he has a plot worse that what Dorothy has! 

Another cliffhanger of an ending, and the big battle will still be coming in the third book!

Again, such fun with all the different places being created for the story.  I kind of want to smoke a rainbow cigarette, even though I'm very anti-smoking.  :-)

Review: No Place Like Oz (Dorothy Must Die 0.5) by Danielle Paige

When I saw this was available as an e-novella, I had to purchase it right away.  I bought it before I got ahold of the ARC of Dorothy Must Die, but just didn't get around to it until after I read it.  It was nice to read this because it did kind of answer some questions I had as I read Dorothy Must Die.  If you go back to my review that I liked to above, you can see what my questions were.

As it says, this is a prequel.  In No Place Like Oz we join Dorothy about 6 months I believe after she returned from Oz.  But when she gets back, she finds that she really, really misses Oz.  In fact, you kind of see a connection in the way she feels about Kansas compared to the way Amy Gumm felt about it in the first book.  It is just about time for Dorothy's birthday, and at the party she begins to feel like she misses Oz even more.  Her Uncle Henry and Auntie Em are having some issues with raising money with the farm these days, and so the cake doesn't turn out so great.  And when her best friend shows up, she sees that her tales of Oz may have lost her to other, more well-to-do girls in the town.  Dorothy gets upset at one of her gifts and runs to shut herself in her room.  Under her bed is a gift from Glinda!  Some bright red shoes.  When she puts them on, she makes a wish, and she is back in Oz.  Only, not alone.  Her aunt and uncle end up there as well.  And they are not happy to be there.  They want to get back to take care of the farm.  But they land right by the old house, and there is a message from Glinda that she is in trouble.  So Dorothy sets off on a journey to find and help Glinda.  While many years have passed in Oz compared to the short time that passed in Kansas, she is still able to find all her friends, as well as meet the Princess Ozma, and begin looking for Glinda.  But she gets a taste of magic, and loving the life she lives as a hero there, and gets really irritated about her aunt and uncle who just keep harping about going back.

It's a different Dorothy than we know from The Wizard of Oz, but that's okay.  A trip like she had would change anyone.  Another great read, that while it gives you an idea of what is to come, it doesn't tell us every detail leading up to Dorothy Must Die, and that is just done perfectly.  Read it before or after, you won't be disappointed either way.

Review: Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

I was lucky enough to get to read an ARC of this that was sent to the Barnes and Noble where I work part time by HarperCollins.  I was extremely excited to read it because I had been hearing so much about it on other blogs, as well as from Epic Reads, and then the fact that I am supposed to be moderating a discussion panel with the author in May.  Unfortunately, I will not to get to keep the copy of the ARC, because I have to pass it along to the other librarian who will be helping me moderate the panel.  Guess I'll just have to buy an actual copy of it.  Not sure where that money is coming from at the moment, but I've got a month before the author will be visiting.  Anyway, on with my review!

If you haven't heard about this, as the title might give you a clue, Dorothy is now a bad guy.  She's come back to Oz and seems to have gone to the dark side.  She wants all the magic for herself, she's taken over Emerald City as a princess, and has enlisted her friends, the Tin-man, the Scarecrow, and the Lion as her advisers/security.  But as with other story re-tellings, we learn that some of the story may not be quite as it seemed.  Glinda the "good" witch has also become a bad guy, as one of Dorothy's friends.  The Tin Man is a bit different than pictured as he now has sharpened weapons as part of his tin suit.  The Scarecrow is a bit evil with his experiments that his brain wants him to do, many to only help himself.  And the Lion is pretty evil as well.  He takes the fear of others to increase his "courage".  The main character of this book however is not Dorothy.  It is Amy Gumm.  Amy also comes from Kansas, but has had a much different upbringing than Dorothy.  She lives in a trailer park with her mother.  Her mother who has emotional problems, as well as drug problems.  The kids at school are horribly mean to her, and when the popular girl, who is also pregnant, punches her at school, Amy gets kicked out.  So Amy walks home, seeing the skies get dark and stormy.  After a fight with her mother, who is leaving for a "tornado" party, the tornado does hit the trailer park, as you would expect from the old adage.  And Amy soon lands in Oz.  A much different looking Oz than she'd seen in the movie.  You see, Dorothy is mining all the magic from the land so that she can hoard it at the Emerald Palace for herself.  And taking the magic has made huge holes in the land, as well as turning it brown and gray, and dead looking.  She is met upon arrival by a very handsome boy with intriguing green eyes.  But he is very mysterious, and while he gives her the directions to follow the yellow brick road, he then disappears.  Amy sees an abandoned Munchkin village along the road, but all the Munchkins are out helping Glinda mine the magic.  One Munchkin ends up helping Amy on her travels.  Other creatures along the way are different than expected, such as the flying monkeys.  Which are now under Dorothy's command.

Amy must now decide what to do, and who to trust.  She will be arrested for trying to save a creature.  She will see a new friend be destroyed by Dorothy's minions.  So she knows Dorothy is not a good guy.  She is approached by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked, which includes one green familiar looking witch named Mombi, another witch named Gert, and a witch named Glamora, who is a twin to Glinda.  Also, a boy named Nox, handsome in his evil looking way, but at first not a fan of Amy's.  They have said that Amy is the only one who can defeat Dorothy, because she has come from the same place, Kansas.  She will train with them, but still doesn't know if she can trust them.  Amy will infiltrate the palace as a servant, to see what she can learn to help with the plan.  While there she will find out just how evil the Lion, Scarecrow, and Tin Man really are now.  She will meet the Wizard, who is also back.  But can he be trusted either?  And back at the palace she will see the mysterious boy who greeted her, and also meet Ozma, the true princess of Oz.  She must decide who to trust, if Dorothy really must die as she's been told, and if she can really play a role in saving Oz from losing its magic.

A really fun, original read.  One thing that kept me hanging on every page was what would be incorporated from the original story/movie, and how it would be changed, or used to fit this story.  Now, I will admit that I've never read the books.  So of course Dorothy's shoes should be red in my mind.  This book talks about them being silvery.  Any of you who have read the book, is that true?  Or is it one way the author has made it her own story?  Questions I had about how old Dorothy would be in the story, and why she came back, etc.,  I am currently getting answered as I read the prequel There's No Place Like Oz.  I'm glad in a way that I waited to read the prequel until after, although as I've not finished it yet, I don't know that it would have ruined anything for me to read it before.  I'll let you know when I review it.  All that said, this is a great book, you need to get your hands on it.  And know, it will be a series, as the ending is a bit of a cliffhanger, and we're kind of left still not knowing who to trust for sure.

Waiting on Wednesday - Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases that we're eagerly awaiting.  This week I've chosen a book that I first learned about through other blogs' WOW posts.  And then about a week ago I learned that I might get to be a moderator at a discussion with this author, along with three other authors, and now I'm even more eager to read this book.  Here is the blurb from Goodreads.com:  

I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't ask to be some kind of hero.
But when your whole life gets swept up by a tornado—taking you with it—you have no choice but to go along, you know?

Sure, I've read the books. I've seen the movies. I know the song about the rainbow and the happy little blue birds. But I never expected Oz to look like this. To be a place where Good Witches can't be trusted, Wicked Witches may just be the good guys, and winged monkeys can be executed for acts of rebellion. There's still the yellow brick road, though—but even that's crumbling.

What happened?
Dorothy. They say she found a way to come back to Oz. They say she seized power and the power went to her head. And now no one is safe.

My name is Amy Gumm—and I'm the other girl from Kansas.
I've been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked.
I've been trained to fight.
And I have a mission:
Remove the Tin Woodman's heart.
Steal the Scarecrow's brain.
Take the Lion's courage.
Then and only then—Dorothy must die!

Sounds pretty interesting to me!  Especially if like me, you grew up watching The Wizard of Oz every spring when they broadcast it on network tv.  

While you're here, make sure you enter my 1900 Follower Giveaway for a book of your choice up to $19 value!  It ends on Friday! 

The Hazards of Working at a Bookstore Vol. 3.1 Part 1

Okay, this is either going to be really long, or I'm going to split it into a few. This is a collection of papers from working 3 days last week and 2 this week. And at first I thought I didn't find many, but I did. I found 8 (edit, only 7, 2nd book I was going to list I didn't write an author, so not sure of it). So, I'm making an executive decision right now, this will be two separate posts.
First is Anno Dracula by Kim Newman. This is an adult fiction. It begins in England, 1888. In this retelling of Dracula, he is married to Queen Victoria and basically is ruling England, turning it into an undead country. There is also another race of vampires, and a detective from this group is trying to solve the Jack the Ripper murders. I like the themes of Jack the Ripper, that is a story that has fascinated me since the movie From Hell, and the book written by Patricia Cornwell. This sounds to be another story also where vampires are trying to live among the world, similar in a way to the Sookie Stackhouse series, just at a much earlier time in history.




Second is Original Sin by Lisa DesRochers, which I guess is second in the Personal Demons series. Don't remember the first one, but this is a story about a girl named Frannie, who is kind of a good Catholic girl until her senior year when a boy named Luc enrolls in her school. She's instantly attracted to him. But he's there on a mission to take her soul back to hell, all he has to do is get her to sin. Soon the angel Gabriel shows up to try to save her soul. Sounds like a love triangle to me. And I like the use of the angels' names in this.






Third is Princess of Glass by Jessica Day George, which after looking up on Goodreads I guess is 2nd in a series as well! I've got a lot to get caught up on! Anyway, it sounds like a retelling of a fairy tale in a way, and I've really been getting to where I enjoy these. I think my enjoyment started with Gregory Maguire's dark retelling of Cinderella and Wizard of Oz. But those were so involved that these are better in a way to me. This is another retelling of Cinderella with some changes. Looks like the 1st in this series was another take of the 12 Dancing Princesses, another fairy tale I really like.
That's all for this blog. Part 2 will have 4 books from this week. All these were from working last week.
Have you read any of these? Would you recommend I keep them on my TBR list?