Calla: A Fairy Tale Retelling with Pixies

---4.5 Stars--- This book was such a fun, exciting, entertaining, hilarious, and adventurous read!! This book was unlike anything I’ve read before – but in a good way!! This book is filled with sass, drama, adventure, many LOL’s, and lots of OMG's!!! Can you imagine going on a trip to find your dad who may be in trouble and being escorted by a total hottie that you have a huge crush on, but have to play it cool and act like it’s no big deal?? Oh, and this journey requires lots of close moments and touching and uhhh yea awkward!!! How is Calla going to make it through this trip with her heartbeat racing so fast and she can’t stop thinking about Dare?? This is going to be a longgggg trip!!! This book is told in a diary format, which at first, I was a bit hesitant about, but this story quickly grabbed a hold of me and immersed me into the faerie world!! I also enjoyed the strikeouts and silly drawings that made Calla's diary more realistic. My diary was certainly filled with lots of doodles and squiggles lol. There is so much to this creative story, with complex characters that are strange, unique, but still able to connect with or at least sympathize with. I really liked the main character, Calla. She is feisty, scrappy, vivacious, determined, caring, gritty, gutsy, and just down right kick***!!! Definitely Book BFF material!!! I also liked Dare and found him alluring, seductive, charming, strong, and protective. I haven’t had the chance to read many Faerie books, but after reading Calla, I am very interested in this genre – or at least Bauer’s telling of these cleverly innovative and imaginary entertaining little creatures!!! There are some predictable scenes. However, there are still a few unexpected twists and turns that you won’t see coming! I also really liked that the author included an afterword note at the end of the book. She provided further insight into the story and little tidbits of how she crafted this enchanting treasure!! It was a bit randomly put together but felt like a mind-blowing glimpse into the author's gray matter. I often wonder how author's come up with such clever story ideas and it was definitely a treat to have such an open interaction hearing directly from the author about her process and inspiration behind Calla. This book is Book Two of The Pixieland Diaries Book Series. This book can be read as a standalone, however, there are significant character and story line overlap from the previous book. Even with the overlaps, this book wouldn’t be confusing to new series readers, but I personally would think it would make more sense and have a stronger impact on the understanding of this book series, if you started with book one first. It looks like the author has written a total of three books in this book series so far with books one and two available for sale at any major bookstore. Book Three, "Dare," is listed to be released on March 30, 2021 and as it's appropriately titled, focuses on the story of the character, Dare. And there seems to be some strong indicatation that there will possibly be two more additional books making their way out sometime in the near future for a total of five books in this series. I am looking forward to checking out what’s next in this book series as there is still so much more adventure to come!! All in all, I really enjoyed reading this book and would absolutely recommend it! I think all young adult paranormal romance readers will like this book too! So, add it to your TBR List and get to reading - you won't be disappointed! **Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book and have voluntarily provided an honest, and unbiased review in accordance with FTC regulations.**

Awkward was not the word I would have used for this situation. Blue had plans. Those plans were not going to be derailed by a spirited pixie, Calla. Nor her supposed friend, Dare. If you enjoyed the prequel and book one, you have nothing to fear. You will enjoy this mini-quest that Calla and Dare go on. Their minor discomfort aside this was that chance needed. The writing was a lesson in experiencing a different world thought very vivid descriptions. Christina gives me a world that entices me to expand my imagination beyond the extraordinary and think much bigger, dream exponentially. This second full book of the series builds on the previous and allows you to follow along as Calla explores and grows. And Dare happens to be there along for the ride with a little push or two from Blue. Blue had me feeling like that was something more. But only time will show. Up next Dare.