Is Shannon Messenger the JRR Martin of MG fantasy? Yes she is! You know early on, before HBO, when only the truest of nerds would have admitted to loving the books (yup, me). Messenger delivers the same exaggerated world of unparalleled beauty and splendour (Lanisters abound), daring, adventure, romance… But this is MG grade people, so get your minds out of the gutter. No breasts, no flaying, just good clean elfin fun!

The books really do have it all. You want to see the ogres defeated but really, you just want to know if its Fitz or Keefe! As noted before, mine is well past fantasy but she’s waiting with bated breath for the delivery of the latest tomorrow.

As for me, I definitely did not hold out reading the compendium to the last book because I was afraid the broken spine would give me away!

(protagonists are between 13-16, there is some violence and death and lots of heart pounding crushes… barely a kiss to be found though)

Read the series it and then you’ll know what I mean when I say “Glitter But.”