Hi, everybody!!

So guess what, everyone? My birthday was on Saturday!!!! I am now 16 years old!! Cake for everybody!

And, even though it was my birthday, I have a present of sorts for you guys. A new review!

Dragonhaven by Robin McKinley

Summary (from http://www.robinmckinley.com): Dragons are extinct in the wild, but the Makepeace Institute of Integrated Dragon Studies in Smokehill National Park is home to about two hundred of the world’s remaining Draco australiensis. Humans have never seen a baby dragon . . . until Jake discovers a dying dragon that has just given birth, and one of the dragonlets is still alive.

My review: Once upon a time, I thought I could maintain my dignity during my reviews. And then I read a book like this. I loved it, I loved it, I loved it, I loved it!!!!! It was so good, like the Godiva of books.

Robin McKinley is another of my favourite authors. She wrote one of the greatest vampire books of all time, in my opinion, Sunshine, which is a shivery good book.

One of the (many) things I loved about this book was how the main character, Jake, wholly and absolutely became the mother of this baby dragon (who he names Lois, because she looked like a Lois). Not father, not parent, but very much the mother. He honestly thought of himself as "Mom" to Lois. At one point, he worries about her eating habits, that she'd fallen in love with ketchup because she'd "made a dive" for his plate and got a mouthful of ketchup. He thinks,

Or about wondering what ketchup would do to dragon physiology. I spent most of my life wondering what something or other would do to dragon physiology. I hadn't realized till we got out here how much I'd left all the nutrition stuff up to Grace. But in theory I didn't let her eat anything with sugar in it, just like a good mom. Ketchup had sugar in it. (Do dragons get ADHD?)

I loved that enough to mark it with a piece of paper so I could share it with you all and that was just one of many things that had me smiling and laughing and, occasionally tearing up. I also really liked it that the author wrote like she had some idea what a teenager actually thinks and talks like, unlike some books I've come across. Jake was also a deep, interesting character with issues and quirks and wonderful to read.

Conclusion: This has definitely become one of my favourite books, and I recommend it to anyone out there looking for a good read.

Happy reading, guys, leave a comment if you want, and check in soon.

Yours, Laina