Must Read Books!!!

 My niece (age 12) called me the other day to tell me that she had just finished the book By These Ten Bones by Clare B. Dunkle and she wanted another book exactly like it to read.  I'm the go-to aunt for books.  I told her to read The Hollow Kingdom by the same author because it is amazingly, fantastically good.

So she checked out the book from the library that day.  When she called to tell me that she was reading it, I started thinking about it--which led to me picking up the first one around 7:30 pm and staying up until 3:00 am when I finished the third in the trilogy.  Yeah, I really love these books.

The first book is The Hollow Kingdom and it is far and away Dunkle's best book (that I've read).  By These Ten Bones is also fantastic (about werewolves) but the incredible goblin world Dunkle creates in Hollow Kingdom is just so much fun.  Besides that, the goblin king is the love interest and he is awesome.  Makes you want to rush right out and marry a goblin.

 The second book in the trilogy is Close Kin and it is about elves and goblins.  The main elf girl is a rock star when most elves are kind of wimpy so you want to read the book just for her.  Her name is Sable.  You will love her.

The third book is called In the Coils of the Snake and it ties everything together by finding a leader for the elves and getting them squared away.  It isn't my favorite.  In fact, you can read the first book as a stand alone and you'd be fine.  I like them all but the first, like I said, is in a whole different caliber than then second two (although I love Sable enough that I reread the second book on a pretty regular basis as well).

So rush out and get them--from the library if you want, but you'll buy them once you read them.  I guarantee it.  I adore Dunkle.  Much like Megan Whalen Turner, I eagerly await and read anything she writes.  Usually long into the wee hours of the morning.  I'm just chock-full of self-discipline like that!