Connect with us

Mini Review: Juniper Berry

Books

Mini Review: Juniper Berry

This story was fun, mysterious, and engaging — with a hint of the fantastical and the terrifying

Review Date: August 7th, 2012

Cover Copy

Such is life for young Juniper: a series of contradictions. She is the daughter of the world’s most famous film stars, and yet she is alone. She lives on a palatial estate, but she feels trapped. And even though she is closer to her mother and father than anyone, she couldn’t feel more distant from them. In fact, Mr. and Mrs. Berry have been cold and disinterested and cruel, not at all themselves lately. And lonely, imprisoned Juniper and her equally beset friend, Giles, are determined to find out why.

On a cold and rainy night, she follows her parents as they sneak out of the house and enter the woods. What she discovers is an underworld also filled with contradictions: one that is terrifying and enticing, lorded over by a creature both sinister and seductive, who can sell you all the world’s secrets bound in a balloon. For the first time, Juniper and Giles have a choice to make. And it will be up to them to confront their own fears in order to save the ones who couldn’t.

M.P. Kozlowsky’s debut is a modern-day fairy tale of terror, temptation, and ways in which it is our choices that truly make us who we are.

Review

This story was fun, mysterious, and engaging — with a hint of the fantastical and the terrifying. Juniper Berry is a great character, sometimes self-doubting but ultimately strong and sure and brave. This was a very enjoyable read.

First Line

The house was a mansion, the lake was a pool, Kitty was a dog, and Juniper Berry was an eleven-year-old girl.

Favorite Lines

  • She knew his hair was dripping wet, but she wanted an excuse to touch it. … His hair felt like thick strands of yarn or … waterlogged caterpillars.
  • …his entire face brightening like the sun on snow.
     
  • Everything about him, even his feelings, always seemed about to break.
     
  • …the swollen ivory moon.
     
  • It was an ugly tree. If any were to be chopped down, it should have been this monstrosity. Its branches were bare and sharp, reaching out as if to pierce the sky, although the sky certainly did nothing to instigate such an assault.
     
  • She had to search for the right word, for words are very, very important.
     
  • [His] words seemed to linger in the air, even the ones he didn’t say.
     
  • Juniper … shot up in her bed as if poked by a very sharp and perhaps scorching stick…
     
  • Minutes gave birth to more minutes…
     
  • Jupiter was coated in horizontal layers of clouds, each one circling the gaseous globe in separate directions and speeds like the turn of screws, as if the planet were somehow unlocking.
     
  • The imagination of the young is nothing to be dismissed…
     
  • As you grow you will see how quickly the world can leave a person behind. It can beat you down. It can be brutal. There is no easy path in life.
     
  • They wanted the American dream and he handed it to them in a balloon.
     
  • Above them, the raven was perched ominously upon its usual bough, head bobbing side to side in sadistic glee.
     
  • The more she thought about [it], the more her feelings morphed into genuine yearning. And the more she admitted it, the more the yearnings burrowed into her heart.

Last Word

  • Berry

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Find this review helpful?

Clicking an affiliate link below helps to support our site and continue to bring you quality reviews! Learn More

Buy on Amazon     Listen on Scribd

 

Reader, Author, Bookstagrammer, and Mom; Alexis runs Nerdy Post, a fandom artwork box as well as serves as chief editor and writer on Drop and Give me Nerdy.

More in Books

Trending

Featured

Nesting

Children's Books

Nesting Review

By July 9, 2020
#StrongKids

Children's Books

#StrongKids Review

By June 2, 2020
Please, Mr Panda
To Top