stories from my bookshelf

Naomi's Gift by Amy Clipston

2012-02-22T01:51:00.000-08:00

Naomi's Gift re-introduces twenty-four-year-old Naomi King, who has been burned twice by love and has all but given up on marriage and children. As Christmas approaches-a time of family, faith, and hope for many others-Naomi is more certain than ever her life will be spent as an old maid, helping with the family's quilting business and taking care of her eight siblings. Then she meets Caleb, a young widower with a 7-year-old daughter, and her world is once again turned upside-down.

It's not the best time for reading a christmas novella, I know, but I just finished this one.

And I have to say, I was enchanted.

The writting is really good, as I expected, since I liked this author's work in a ya novel I read previously, entitled 'Roadside Assistance'. But on top of that, the story although brief, was very well thought-out, with diverse and very realistic characters.

The romance was sweet but deep, both the hero and heroine having to overcome struggles before they could be together. There is a little girl in the story, whom I didn't find at all annoying, as I usually do, and quite cute actually. There is a jealous girl who wants to subotage our heroine, which added spice to the story. And there is the hero's and heroine's persoanl relationships with God, which is what guides them throughout the story.

I really enjoyed this beautiful, Amish novella, and although I strongly disagree with the amish way of life, I found some things it could teach me about trusting God's will for my life.

Rating: 4/5

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

Cliques, Hicks and Ugly Sticks by KB McCrite

2012-02-17T13:42:00.001-08:00

Just when April Grace thought the drama was over . . .

After an automobile accident, Isabel St. James—resident drama coach and drama queen—needs help putting together the church play. Mama insists April Grace and Myra Sue will help. April’s fall is now devoted to spending every afternoon with Isabel and Myra Sue—if anyone is as big of a drama queen as Isabel, it’s Myra Sue. Plus, she’s dumb. (Okay, not dumb, but "older sister dumb.") If that’s not enough, Isabel is wreaking havoc in the community trying to get Rough Creek Road paved, the new boy at school will not leave her alone, and then Mama drops the biggest bombshell of all . . . April Grace is no longer going to be the baby of the family . . .

Girls will completely relate to April and love her sense of humor as she deals with siblings, boys, and the many changes that come with growing up.

I just LOVED the teenager, April Grace.

Her voice is so unique, quirky and funny and sarcastic and surprising. I laughed out loud while reading this book more than five times, which is extremely rare for me, except when I'm reading Georgette Heyer (but that's another thing altogether).

I loved to see her struggle and see her grow, I loved her disarming honesty to herself (and the reader) and I loved what she learned about family and relationships with God.

I didn't care about how her mother was portrayed, it left me feeling cold and I am sure that was not the intent of the author, and also I tought there were many things going exceptionally wrong with the church and everyone's conceptions of God and what is right in His eyes. I would not recommend this book if that's what you are interested in reading about, because it is a very minor if at all part of the whole thing.

Otherwise, it was a sweet and funny coming-of-age story, and only if the 'church' element was missing, it would make a wonderful young adult or middle grade novel.

Rating: 4/5

I received this book from Booksneeze in exchange for an honest review.

Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta

2012-01-14T04:40:00.000-08:00

This high fantasy novel by the author of Jellicoe Road (one of my favourite books of all time) tells an incredible story in beautifully-crafted writing.

Finnikin was only a child during the five days of the unspeakable, when the royal family of Lumatere were brutally murdered, and an imposter seized the throne. Now a curse binds all who remain inside Lumatere’s walls, and those who escaped roam the surrounding lands as exiles, persecuted and despairing, dying by the thousands in fever camps. In a narrative crackling with the tension of an imminent storm, Finnikin, now on the cusp of manhood, is compelled to join forces with an arrogant and enigmatic young novice named Evanjalin, who claims that her dark dreams will lead the exiles to a surviving royal child and a way to pierce the cursed barrier and regain the land of Lumatere. But Evanjalin’s unpredictable behavior suggests that she is not what she seems — and the startling truth will test Finnikin’s faith not only in her, but in all he knows to be true about himself and his destiny.

It is the story of a boy -young man- who has to make a journey in order to save his country and his countrymen. I admit, it was a little hard to get into at first, but after the first five or so pages, I was sucked right into the story. The adventure is breathtaking, with a lot of fight scenes, sword-fighting scenes, chace scenes, escape scenes and so on.

Of course, there is a great mystery to unfold, which was written exquisitely, uncovering pieces slowly and tantalizingly of another large story which is the entire backstory of the novel. I absolutely loved these kinds of stories, where you discover all the pieces to the puzzle, and by the last page you finally understand the whole picture. I also adore the kind of truth that was revealed at the end. It simply made the story that much more interesting and meaningful. This is just exquisite writing, where the whole book is crafted intricately into a close-woven thread and everything falls into place by the end.

The romance was intense, although not a dominating part of the book, and the heroine, Evanjalin, was one of the bravest and cleverest heroines I have ever read about. She is strong but her strength is not shown in a way that makes you dislike her. She is stubborn, but only because she knows what she is doing, and by the way, her self-confidence is one of her best traits. She is als vulnerable, however, and I loved the fact that this was the first thing that attracted Finnikin to her. At least, seemingly the first thing.

Finnikin was a hero that grew from a frightened and disillusioned boy into a true hero, fighting his battles and protecting those he loves.

This was an excellent read, and, needless to say, as soon as my younger brother saw the cover, he pested me until I had finished it and lended it to him. I think it is as appropriate for boys as for girls.

Rating: 5/5

Bookish Top Ten of 2011: Covers

2012-01-05T12:56:00.000-08:00

These are the best book covers of the books I read in 2011.

Not all of them are 4 or 5 stars books, but their covers... rock!

Only pictures this time.

In all their glory (and in no particular order).

10.

Protection For Hire by Camy Tang

2012-01-05T05:29:00.000-08:00

Product Description from Christianbook.com

Tessa Lancaster's skills first earned her a position as an enforcer in her Uncle Teruo's Japanese Mafia gang. Then they landed her in prison for a crime she didn't commit. Now, three months after her release, Tessa's abilities have gained her a job as bodyguard for wealthy socialite Elizabeth St. Amant and her three-year-old son.But there's a problem or two . or three .. There's Elizabeth's abusive husband whose relentless pursuit goes deeper than mere vengeance. There's Uncle Teruo, who doesn't understand why Tessa's new faith as a Christian prevents her from returning to the yakuza. And then there's Elizabeth's lawyer, Charles Britton, who Tessa doesn't know is the one who ensured that she did maximum time behind bars. Now Tessa and Charles must work together in order to protect their client, while new truths emerge and circumstances spiral to a deadly fever pitch.

I enjoyed this contemporary, christian fiction novel packed with action and full of realistic characters.

Tessa, our heroine, is a strong Christian woman trying to leave her dark past behind and make a new life for herself away from the Japanese mafia. But, of course, people -even her mother and especially her sister- are reluctant to give her a second chance. This was very realistic and I liked how the author portrayed the whole situation. I also liked reading about Tessa's struggles to live as a Christian and to learn to control her temper.

Also, the choices she had to make were never easy, but she was determined to live for Jesus.

I really loved this part.

The action part was a large part of the entire story, and while I would have liked it to be a little more fast-paced, it was ok and had a few surprises along the way. There were a few action scenes too, quite well-written.

The romance with a young lawyer, Charles, was really sweet, but also deep at times, which I loved. There was no love at first sight or any of this immature stuff, just a growing relationship of trust and getting to know each other. I just love it when the hero and heroine are forced to fight together, it just seems to make them bond much more than going on dates...

There were some funny parts, too, which I enjoyed.

The book is generally written in a chick-lit genre manner, which I am not a great fan of, and I expected it to be written differently. For this genre it was really well-written, though, although I had to skip over a few conversations that seemed boring to me.

I rceived this book form Zondervan in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 3/5

Camy Tang grew up in Hawaii but she now lives in San Jose, California, with her engineer husband and rambunctious mutt, Snickers. She was a biologist researcher, but these days she is surgically attached to her computer, writing full-time. In her spare time, she is a staff worker for her church youth group, and she leads one of the worship teams for Sunday service. She won the Carol Book of the Year award in the Debut Author category with her novel Sushi for One? Follow Camy online at www.camytang.com.

Bookish Top Tens of 2011: Couples

2012-01-04T04:17:00.000-08:00

I meant to make this post sooner, but I' ve been in bed, sick, so everything got a little behind.

These are the best of the best and cutest and most romantic and intense couples from the books I read in 2011. which happens to be this past year (by the way, have a wonderful and blessed year, everybody!)

Here we go.

1. Celia and Marco

from

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.

Like the story,

the romance between the two duelling magicians is epic.

2. Karou and Akiva

from

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Of course, Karou and Akiva would be in this list. They are two exceptional characters in a unique world.

Their love was astonishing.

3. Fire and Brigan

from

Fire by Kristin Cashore

The most unique love story I have read in years.

A brilliant story and an extraordinary couple. This was one of the most romantic reads of the year for me.

4. Andi and Virgil

from

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

A romance in Paris, a dark secret, a girl in need of saving.

Sweet, witty banter and slowly developping trust.

It doesn't get much better than this.

5. Willow and Guy

from

Willow by Julia Hoban

Willow is drowning in guilt and sorrow. Guy is the only one capable of rescuing her.

And he did.

6. Tris and Four

from Divergent by Veronica Roth

It's the two of them against the whole world.

Romance at its best.

7. Kieran and Maria

from

Stupid Perfect World by Scott Westerfeld

in the Love is Hell novella collection.

These two teens in a sci fi future have one of the most realistic and sweetest romances I've ever read. The story is very well-written, too.

8. Noah and Mara

from

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

I loved the relationhsip between Mara and Noah, their banter, his protectiveness of her, the things they shared.

The story got kind of weird at the end

and I'm not sure I liked it overall,

but this definitely is one of the best couples I've ever read about.

9. Alexius and Tibi

from

The Champion by Carla Capshaw,

a historica, romance in ancient Rome.

He is handsome and strong and a gladiator.

She is sweet and abused and without a champion.

Together they discover the new christian faith.

Against all odds.

They are one of my favourite couples of all time.

10. Tessa and Guy

from

Magic Flutes by Eva Ibbotson,

another historical ya novel,
taking place in Vienna of 1922.

Excellently romantic

Bookish Top Ten of 2011: Best Of

2011-12-30T03:54:00.000-08:00

I read many extraordinary books in 2011.

Some of them moved me, some of them made me happy, some of them changed me.

All of them made me dream, all of them made me think.

This is a selection of the ten best ones.

1. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor.

This is in the fantasy genre and it wowed me like I hadn't been wowed in a long time. Instead of starting to praise its awesomeness, I will link my review of it.

Just... just WOW!!

2. There You'll Find Me by Jenny B. Jones

This is a delightful ya contemporary christian romance, with a lot of incredible messages about grief and growing up. Excellent!

Here is my review of it.

And here is Debra's YouTube channel, where I first heard of this book.

3. Divergent by Veronica Roth

This action-packed, romantic dystopian novel might even replace The Hunger Games (review) in readers' preferences.

I certainly loved it.

Especially the play on fears. Wow.

4. Lost In the River Of Grass by Ginny Corby

I am so sad and surprised that this incredible book hasn't got more publicity. It is a contemporary ya survival story that changed the way I think about nature and animals in every way.

It is also terribly romantic and filled with action.

It kept me at the edge of my seat.

I wish more people would read it so I could talk with my bookish friends about its awesomeness.

Review here.

5. Revolution by Jennifer Donnely

I absolutely loved this historical and contemporary ya novel. I thought it was brilliant, very well-written, romantic and deep.

Here is a link to my review and here is a bookmark that I made out of the gorgeous cover image.

6. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

This is fantasy at its best.

This is one of those books that aren't books, but an experience.

I was completely swept away.

It was dark and tender and funny and sad.

It was light and shadows and death and life.

It was everything.

7. Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

This, in my opinion, is one of the best contemporary ya books out there. Not that it wouldn't be fantastic as an adult read too. It tackles a great many important and touchy issues with grace and depth and I loved it for this.

It also includes one of my favorite pair in ya books, but that will have to wait for another top ten of 2011 post.

Here is a part of my thoughts on it.

8. The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester

This book is part fantasy, part sci-fi, part dystopian, part survival. It is absolutely brilliant in its symbolism and its optimism. It is a rather dark book, I suppose, and not as middle-grade as it looks.

But it spoke to me deeply.

Also, there is a great deal of humanity in this book. Of good overcoming evil in the best and fullest sense.

Here is my review.

9. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Every year I read parts of this book.

This year I indulged myself and reread it whole.

Needless to say, I couldn't read anything else for days afterwards. Cause it's that kind of a book. You know, epic.

I hear a lot of readers saying casually in their videos that they haven't read Jane Eyre.

Guys, no.

You aren't a reader until you have read this book.

Do yourselves a favour.

Most other books are just postcards compared to this masterpiece. And talk about moden issues... or romance...

10. Reckless by Cornelia Funke

This fantasy, fairytale-esque book is amazing. It's dark and tender and... just beautiful. Breathtakingly beautiful. I loved how different it was than anything else I have ever read.

A New Year

2011-12-28T02:38:00.000-08:00

There would be nothing in this life for me

without Christ.

A new year is just around the corner.

I have no idea what it holds.

But this I know.

I want to live it.

I am grateful for having lived through one more year, and although at times I know I wasn't particularly happy or thankful for my place on this earth, I recognize this now as a fault and take it back.

Thank You for letting me live through one more year.

Thank You for all the love you poured at me, through people and things and circumstances, although I wasn't always there to receive it.

Thank You for giving me one more year, one more second chance, one more infinite moment in which to love me.

I want to be reconciled with myself this year. I want to learn to love You as You love me, and to accept myself and my life as a gift You have given me rather than a punishment.

I want to find more answers.

I want to learn more.

I want to read and I want to write.

I want to serve others, to serve You.

I want to live in this new year.

Today I added to my cart

2011-11-18T04:32:00.000-08:00

This time the list is mostly -if not entirely- comprised of books that are not released yet. But I so, SO, want to read them, and I love their covers too.

And I actually didn't add them to my cart, but to my to-read Goodreads shelf.

Under the never Sky by Veronica Rossi.

Dystopian YA. I could just look at this cover for hours.

Fairytale retelling or fairytale-esque.

Enchanted by Alethea Kontis.

Faery Tales and Nightmares by Melissa Marr.
12 stories, some based in the WIcked Lovely world, some not. All awseome, I hope. Fairytales, Vampires, Selchies.

Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood.
Witches that love books. Wow.

Above by Leah Bobet.
The girl on the cover has moth wings...

Dragonswood by Janet Lee Carey.
Dragons, fairies and humans, I think and, of course a gorgeous cover.

Tempest by Julie Cross.
Timetravel and star-crossed romance. Wow.

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

The sequel to Divergent. If I could read this book yesterday, it wouldn't be soon enough.

I know I haven't reviewed Divergent yet, but I am really tongue-tied. It's that good. But, I suppose, if I found the words to review Daughter of Smoke and Bone, I will be able to review Divergent as well. We'll see....

A Million Suns by Beth Revis

Sequel to Across the Universe. I'm really interested to see where this futuristic, romantic science ficton is going. Let alone that I get a craving for John Lennon's Nothing's Gonna Change My World every time I see these covers...

Barcelona Calling by Jane Kirkpatrick

2011-11-16T02:22:00.000-08:00

Blurp from Goodreads:

From bestselling author Jane Kirkpatrick comes this relational story about a close-knit group of five women and their pursuit of life goals. You'll be encouraged and entertained!

In the tradition of Neta Jackson's Yada Yada Prayer Group series, Kirkpatrick invites you into the lives of five women friends who promise to help each other achieve their life goals. Annie Shaw's goal is far from simple: become famous. But she's in trouble after quitting her day job to write full-time. Her second novel tanked, and her new editor wants her to re-write the ending of her latest work to ensure this one is more successful. In order to pursue fame and an elusive bestseller, Annie travels to Chicago, acquires a rambunctious dog, and participates in antics better suited to a television reality show than real life.

Can Annie's best friends help her achieve her goals without destroying her future?

Award-winning author Jane Kirkpatrick, known for her superb historical novels, writes this bold, fresh, contemporary story she always threatened she'd one day 'put down on paper to make people laugh and consider the true treasures of their hearts.'

So, this book is mainly about an author. A female author of light romance novels with very low self-esteem and a group of also female friends who love her and want to help her.

It portrayes her struggles during the editing of her latest book, her ambitions of seeing it promoted by Oprah Whinfrey, and her coming to grips with the past. She is divorced, and quite scared of taking the next step into love. There is quite a bit of romance in this book, as well as a comedy of errors.

I really enjoyed being inside the heroine's head, especially as I am a writer myself. I believe anyone would be interested, though, since the whole point of the story is is finding yourself, your voice, and deciding what kind of life you want to live. I loved the romance, it was subtle at first, althought there were sparks flying all over the place by the end of the book. I really like, as I have mentioned in other reviews, a book that has a surprise for the reader at the end, and this was one such book. The surprise was brilliant, and it was as if it made all the pieces of the story click in place.

The only thing that bothered me with this book was the mention of Oprah in every page -and several times, in some pages. Of course, I understand that this was a major plot point, the author's ambition to get her book on Oprah's show, or on her book club, or something, but it got boring and weird after the first two chapters or so. That was the main drawback for this book for me.

Also, it is not Christian fiction, although categorized as such. There are a couple of verses thrown in as quotes, but God plays no part whatsoever in the lives of the characters. That disappointed me a little, but if I had to rate this book as a secular book, I'd say it was a good one.

I received this book from Zondervan, in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 3/5

The Faerie Ring by Kiki Hamilton

2011-11-15T05:34:00.000-08:00

Tiki lives in Victorian London, she is 16 years old and she is a thief.

Anxious about the other orphans that are in her care, and desperate, she finds herself one night in a lavish house, stealing a golden ring with a red stone. Little does she know that the lavish house was the palace and the ring belonged to Queen Victoria, binding an ancient truce between her (the Queen) and a world of vindictive faeries.

So begins a race against time, against sickness and despair and hunger, and a race against the most violent faeries you have ever read about.

Let me just say first, the cover up close was a real let-down.

It's black, with a huge abnormal hand, that can't possibly belong to the heroine, who is slender and starving, or to one of the graceful and beautiful faeries. The ring, also, couldn't be further from what it's described to be in the book, thick with swirlings and writings on it. This one looks like an engagement ring. And not a pretty one at that.

Anyway, you open the cover and are immediately engrossed withing the dark alleys of London, panting, running for your life, glimpsing dark faerie-like shadows from the corner of your eye.

The pacing of the story flows nicely, although the writing isn't very good. Sometimes there are repetitions, sometimes there are awkward phrases and sometimes there are important omissions.

However, the adventure and the mystery kept me turning the pages.

The romance was real and tender and intense, the kind that I like.

I loved how the heroine had to overcome her mistrust of men in general to trust him (I won't say who he is, because that's a surprise too.)

And this brings us to another part I liked, and that was the surprises.

By the end of the book, I'm sure my eyes had grown two sizes larger from being surprised so much and from all the discoveries. I just love it when the story slowly unfolds itself and you discover little by little the whole picture of which you could only see tiny bits before.

This was excellently done.

I had, however, one rather important problem with this book.

The main character, Tiki, appears to have somewhat loose morals, to none.

She is a petty thief. You know, petty.

She is so cruel and selfish and narrow-minded in her pocket-picking at the beginning of the book, that I found I couldn't respect her for the rest of the book.

We are told that she has a kind heart, that she cares for other orphans, that she was driven out of a good home by her uncle's sexual advances to which, of course, she wouldn't give in. All this is good. We are told she has saved the life of more than one starving child, we are told that she cares for a sick little girl. Well done.

But she has no morals elsewhere.

She doesn't have strong ethics.

And a girl like that, a girl who has let what happened to her change her morals, if ever she had any, and make her steal from strangers instead of begging, for example, or something, a girl who would break into a random house and pick up a ring she had just heard was the most important thing in the possesion of its owner... Well, I'm sorry but that is not a girl I like to call 'heroine' in life or in a book.

No matter how many orphans she feeds, no matter how many faeries she defeats.

There are some paralleles drawn between this book and Oliver Twist.

This is actually done by the author herself, and I would rather she didn't force her parallels and influences down my throat by making Tiki and her friends compare themselves to the book over and over again, but rather let me decide for myself whetherTiki reminded me of Oliver or not.

However, the thing is this.

Tiki did not resemble Dickens' orphan in the least.

Tiki appeared happy to rob people. She didn't want to leave the streets because what she was doing was wrong, but because she was cold. Tiki hadn't just fallen in with the wrong crowd. She was the wrong croud that influenced younger children.

Oh, Tiki.

The times have changed since Charles Dickens, the morals as well.

And a character like Tiki seems to have changed with them.

She actually pictures herself as 'cool' for doing what she does and getting away with it.

No remorse.

Yes, that bad.

Rating: 3/5

The Hunger Games Trailer

2011-11-14T10:22:00.000-08:00

Any thoughts?

I'm almost scared.

Blood Red Road by Moira Young

2011-11-13T05:28:00.000-08:00

I had heard so many good things abou this dystopian ya novel, that I expected to be swept away when I finally got to read it. I wasn't. I'm afraid I was rather disappointed.

The premise of the story is a girl is looking for her brother in a land that resembles a wasteland more than anything else. So she begins with a journey and end up with... a lot more. Maybe growth should be one of those things, and maybe it is, but I didn't really see it. She also ends up with a love interest and a bunch of new friends, or allies, even though her relationships with them sounded cold to me and selfish on her part.

By now I should maybe tell you something rather unique about this book (although it's by no means the first time I've seen in in a book) which was also my main problem with it.

It's the way it's written.

No grammar, no duotation marks when someone speaks. Instead, it is written down like a flowing narrative, told in the 'dialect' of the main character. The dialect seems to consist of a few misstypes, like fer instead of for and so on, and of omitting the g in the end of ing words. For example, wakin instead of waking.

Some people said it made the story difficult to understand and to follow. I didn't have much of a problem with that, after a few pages I gor used to it. My problem was elsewhere.

This is what cowboys talk like!

It was really hard for me to get into this book while all the time picturing Lucky Luke and John Wayne as the main characters. Or wearing Stetsons. I mean, come on. They all talked like they were from the Far West. I still can't wrap my head around the world of that book.

It was really weird.

I expected Buffalo Bill to jump from a corner at any minute. Seriously?

If it had to be another dialect, another way of speaking, well, the author could invent one all on her own, I suppose. Not steal the Dalton brothers' slang.

Anyway.

Let's get to secondly.

Secondly, I am afraid that I found the story of the book to be almost completely unoriginal.

It was obvious where the author has taken her ideas from, and that isn't to say that all authors should be well-read and, as a consequence, be influenced by everything else that is out there. No, but it shouldn't be obvious. It shouldn't be stolen. This book read as though it was a compilation of every other popular dystopian book that's out there. And I even recognized some I haven't really read, by their summaries.

I hated the book for that.

I mean, I can put up with anything, with the bad writing even, if at least the story has something to say.

But this story was completely unoriginal. I knew what was going to happen, pretty much by thinking, oh, there's one dystopian setting I haven't met so far, so it must be coming up somewhere in the next pages. And sure enough, it was.

The main character really annoyed me a bit with her selfishness and her immaturity, and I would be able to understand that, only the author seemed constantly to be against her, and to blame her for everything, so even if I wanted to like her, I couldn't, not with the author shoving her dislike down my throat every single page.

Sometimes, I thought the heroine was right.

But those were the times, always, where the author portrayed her to have been in the wrong.

I wish she would have let me decide for myself.

If she had, and if the writing was not Lucky Luke's native tongue, and if the cover of my copy wasn't the worst I have ever seen on a book (pretty much), maybe I would be less inclined to give this book:

Rating 2/5

Forgotten by Cat Patrick

2011-11-13T04:39:00.000-08:00

This is a book of realistic contemporary ya fiction, with a twist.

The twist is that the main character, London, has a memory of the future, but not of the past. And at some point every night, her memory resets. Everything is erased, everything is forgotten.

She gets by with notes that she writes down for herself every night and with the help of her best friend -and her mother.

But of course, this memory-related disability, makes for an interesting love-life when she falls in love with the new boy in her school. And then secrets from the past she can't remember start resurfacing, and generally everything in her precariously balanced life starts to change.

I loved this story of coming-of-age, and falling in love and finding yourself.

The greatest part of it for me was the love story. It was surprisingly mature, not as in explicit content, not at all, it was a very clean romance, but in the way they acted, and they bonded with one another. You also have to love a romance where they have to fall in love every day all over again, because she simply doesn't remember him.... That aspect of the book was absolutely delicious.

There is also a slight mystery waiting to be solved, which gave a bit of a dark twist to the whole story and I enjoyed the suspence very much.

It is also a stand-alone, as far as I can tell, which I appreciated to no end, with all these endless series that are going on everywhere and that tend to drag and drag forever...

I think there was a depth in this book that is absent from many other in this genre, about relationships between friends and between parents and their children and between a boy and a girl. Also, the book deals subtly with the matter of a disability, although London's is not one you meet everyday, and with the theme of sorrow, of grieving and of loss.

Rating: 4.5/5

Between The Sea And Sky by Jaclyn Dolamore

2011-10-31T02:35:00.000-07:00

For as long as Esmerine can remember, she has longed to join her older sister, Dosinia, as a siren--the highest calling a mermaid can have. When Dosinia runs away to the mainland, Esmerine is sent to retrieve her. Using magic to transform her tail into legs, she makes her way unsteadily to the capital city. There she comes upon a friend she hasn't seen since childhood--a dashing young man named Alandare, who belongs to a winged race of people. As Esmerine and Alandare band together to search for Dosinia, they rekindle a friendship . . . and ignite the emotions for a love so great, it cannot be bound by sea, land, or air.

Blurp from Goodreads. (Add me)

I rather liked this soft, romantic book. Its main focus is Esmerine's search for her sister in the world on the land. But in the process she grows up, matures, find romance and finds herself.

I really liked the aspect of the romance between a siren and a winged boy. How she learned to trust him to carry her while he flew, how they both had to compromise in order to fit into each other's lives and worlds.

They are a bit of star-crossed lovers, too, in the way of the saying "a bird and a fish can't fall in love because where will they live?"

The depth of the story is about accepting people who are different from ourselves, and I found that a very important message to pass to young readers.

The truth is, this book is in my opinion targeted at a younger audience, because it was very fluffy and a bit simplistic in its writing style.

However, it was an enjoyable read and I look forward to bying it, because I read it via the NetGalley.

Rating: 3/5

It is out now.

A Million Suns by Beth Revis (giveaway)

2011-10-31T01:53:00.000-07:00

Here is how to enter the contest.

I have read Across the Universe and really liked it -it is reviewed here-, so I am looking forward to reading the next in the series, A Million Suns. To answer the question of the contest :

What book are you most thankful for?

I am most thankful for my Bible.

Although sometimes I see it more as a person than a book, because God speaks to me through its pages, it is the one book I would be totally lost without.

I am really thankful that its writings have been preserved through the ages,

I am thankful that I live in a country where I am free to read it and distribute it

and I am thankful that it has been translated to so many languages, although part of it -the New Testament_ was written originally in my own language, Greek.

This is another thing I am thankful for.

And also, I am thankful that I have it and read it every day.

Yep, that's greek.

Ancient greek, actually.

It's 1st corinthians 13, the psalm of love.

NaNoWriMo

2011-10-30T15:26:00.000-07:00

I decided to sign up for NaNoWriMo this month.

I only heard of it recently, so I am looking into how it works and everything.

Here is how it works.

I am so nervous and excited and proud and scared.

Have any of you participated in the past?

Are you participating now?

Carla?

And can anyone tell me how I am supposed to keep from biting my nails to the bone?

I hope it wasn't completely stupid of me to sign up...

Imagination Disappears

2011-10-29T13:41:00.000-07:00

When you don't read imagination disappears.

I found this on Word For Teens blog.

There You'll Find Me by Jenny B. Jones

2011-10-25T03:30:00.000-07:00

Finley embarks on a journey to Ireland, armed with bitterness and grief over her brother's death. And questions. A lot of questions. She wants to find God again, but she feels completely lost.

She has the journal her brother wrote during his visit to Ireland as a guide, but nothing seems to go as she hoped it would.

I absolutely loved this book. I saw Debra from Debra's Book Cafe raving about it on YouTube, and was curious to read it. I am so glad I did. Wow.

This book is about anyone who has even questioned the bad things that have happened in their lives. It is about anyone who has ever been angry at God and ready to give up on everything, Him, themselves, life. And it is about finding hope again, and the will to live and answers in the most unexpected places.

The characters are so vivid, it's like they are leaping off the page. If only they would...

There is a vampire actor who is a heartthrob, but who also has a tender heart and a mind to find the truth. There is a bitter old lady, who is of more help to Finley than all the pastors combined. There is a whole cast of characters to relish while to read.

The descriptions of Ireland I found just mouth-watering and the romance... It was real and sweet and deep. No instant love at first sight here. Instead there is humour and friendship and sharing. I loved it.

But most of all I loved the messages of this book, about grief and anger and decisions, and even about eating disorders. I cried after I had finished it, not because it was sad -it isn't- but because it spoke to my heart.

I think it will speak even to those who are not Christians. It is not preachy at all. Instead, it is just plain real.

And just plain good.

I read it via the NetGalley, but I have already bought it and can't wait to delve into it again.

Rating: 5/5

Enthralled by Melissa Marr, Kelley Armstrong and others

2011-10-25T02:50:00.000-07:00

I really liked this anthology of paranormal stories.

I will write my impression on each one of them, and rate them separately, as well as the whole book.

Let me just say before I begin that most of these stories are based on series, or books, previously published by these authors. Of these, I have only read As You Wish by Jackson Pearce and Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr, but I had no trouble enjoying most of the short stories.

Giovanni's Farewell by Claudia Gray

I liked this ghost story, although I wish it was more fully fleshed-out. It has no romance to speak of, although there is a beautiful bond between two twins. 2.5/5

Scenic Route by Carrie Ryan

I absolutely loved this story that has to do with a zombie infested land. It was a bit creepy, but considering how easy I scare, it wasn't scary at all. It was really strong, and it made me think. 5/5

Red Run by Kami Garcia

Also a ghost story, interesting, and a bit more scary than the previous stories, although I thought it moved a bit slow. 2/5

Things About Love by Jackson Pearce.

I am afraid this story was the worst of the anthology. It had absolutely nothing to say to me. It is a continuation of the As You Wish book, so it is about genies, but nothing happens, I am afraid. 0/5

Niederwald by Rachel Vincent

This story about harpies must have something to do with some other books by this author, because I didn't understand a lot. It was beautifully written though, and it had something to say. My rating of this story is valid only for people who haven't read the other books in the series. 3/5

Merely Mortal by Melissa Marr

This story swept me away, completely. I even had a dream about it. (!) It is so romantic and sweet and magical. It feels like Christmas, reading this story. And, although I have only read the first book in the Wicked Lovely series, I had no problem understianding it. I think it is pretty much stand alone. It has to do with fairies, but the rest is a spoiler, so I won't say anything more. 5/5

Facing Facts by Kelley Armstrong

A lot of paranormal creatures here, a lot of growing up and coming to terms with one's past and guilt. I would have enjoyed this story more if I had read the other books by this author, still it was really well-written and it had a lot to say. 4/5

Let's Get this Undead Show on The Road by Sarah Rees Brennan

I really liked this story. There is a vampire in it, and humans, and it is very interesting. I loved the relationships between friends, the coming-of-age and the rock music. I think it was a smart story 3.5/5

Bridge by Jeri Smith-Ready

This is written in verse. I think there is a whole series with the same theme, but I truly loved the short story. It made me think. I couldn't put it out of my head for days. It's about a ghost trying to het in touch with his living brother. It is absolutely amazing in every way. The writing, the characters... It felt like reading a novel instead of just a short story. 5/5

Skin Contact by Kimberly Derting

Again, I don't know if I would have understood this better if I had read more books from this author. This is really scary and violent, and creepy. Some romance, some tragedy. 3/5

Leaving by Ally Condie

I don't know whether this was in the same world as her Matched series or not. But I loved it. It was romantic and deep. I loved the meaning of the whole 'leaving' idea and what it represented. It was also written beautifully. 5/5

At The Late Night, Double Feature, Picture Show by Jessica Verday

Ok, this story was just weird. And gory and creepy. And short, thankfully. 1/5

IV League by Margaret Stohl

Creepy. Weird. Vampires. Yuck. ?/5

Gargouille by Mary E. Pearson

This was another amazing story. Romantic and full of meaning. And adventure, too. I absolutely loved it. And it has a new genre of paranormal creatures, which I would love to see more of. 5/5

The Third Kind by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

This story was nice, I enjoyed it. Especially the ending. 2.5/5

Automatic by Rachel Caine

This one was romantic, but really short. 3/5

Overall, I read five incredible stories in this book. No matter what the rest of them were, this is enough for me to rate Enthralled four stars.

Rating: 4/5

I need a little help...

2011-10-22T06:37:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone.

I recently created an account in goodreads.

I am loving all the options of ratings, and reviews, and lists, and quizzes (!).

But I am not sure how to find friends.

If anyone would like to friend me, that would be awesome.

Any advice would be more than welcome.

Thanks you guys in advance.

the hop!!

2011-10-22T01:50:00.000-07:00

"What is your favorite type of candy?"

I am afraid I do not like candy. Is this even normal?

I love gum. I could chew all day...

And I love chocolate. But not candy. Boo hoo.

This pic is by Mary Engelbreit.

You can visit the hop at Crazy for Books.

Tris and Izzie by Mette Ivie Harrison

2011-10-21T11:18:00.000-07:00

Izzie loves Mark, and why shouldn’t she? As the captain of the basketball team, he is kind and loving and he’s everything she’s ever wanted in a boyfriend. Her BFF loves . . . somebody, but she won’t say who. So when a hot new guy, Tristan, shows up at school, who better for Izzie to fix up her friend with? And what better way to do it than with a love philtre?

But even the best of magic has a way of going awry—and Izzie finds she’s accidentally fallen in love with Tristan herself. And that’s a problem. First of all, there’s Mark. Second, Tristan comes with baggage—like the supernatural creatures that keep attacking whenever he’s with Izzie, and the fact that he comes from the place where Izzie’s father was killed, years ago, by an enormous, evil serpent that’s still around—and it knows Izzie is out there.

This is supposed to be a retelling of the story of Tristan and Isolde. I didn't see it, but I think that's what it's supposed to be.

There is a girl who tampers with a magic potion,

and a boy who is not her boyfriend who falls in love with her, and yet another girl who has been in love with the first girl's boyfriend for a really long time and is jealous of her.

Then a dragon comes out and they fight him with magic.

I know that is a very simplistic way to put the plot of the book, but really, there didn't seem to be much more to it than these few simple lines. I saw no character developement, no realistic dialogue, no interesting plot elements. This book really disappointed me.

It wasn't even written well.

I don't know what else to say, except I am sorry to put someone's work down, but I think this book wasn't good at all. It seemed contrived, and boring and ordinary. And there was nothing more to the characters except their height and the color of their hair.

As for the magic, it was simply that. Magic. Potions, mostly, and a sword, I think (it really couldn't keep my interest, I am afraid). There didn't even seem to be a logic behind the magic, you know, rules.

Pity.

Rating: 1/5

I read this book in the NetGalley, and that's why I had to give a review of it, otherwise I would be reluctant to review a one-star book.

It is out now.

P.S. I really really love the cover....

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

2011-10-14T03:09:00.000-07:00

ThAround the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low. And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war. Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.

When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

I just finished this book and am in deep mourning.

First of all, it's finished. No matted how many times I read it again, I will never again get the experience of discovering this world again. This world, these characters, this plot.

Second of all, it has ruined (ruined, I tell you) every other book I have read and loved in the past, and seriously every book I could possibly read next.

This is just sad.

On the other hand, how can I be sad when such a story is in existance in the world?

This was not a book. It was an experience. It was steps into another world. It was magic.

Karou is a lovely, strong, mysterious heroine. Mysterious to everyone, including herself, which makes for a really amazing character. She is in search of answers, and the reader searches with her. I saw pieces of myself in every charcater, but mostly in her. She has a feeling of emptiness which she is constantly trying to fill -or pretend it doesn't exist- but she doesn't learn how to begin to face it, because she doesn't know who she is. By the end of the book, she has done some impressive progress and has grown a great deal.

The fantasy world in this book is the most exceptional I have ever encountered.

Can I even compare it with Narnia? If I could, Narnia would fall short, so I won't do it. This world is original, and brilliant, and really really intricately drawn. I actually forgot myself and was expecting to see one of the strange but lovely creatures of the story as I was walkint in the street.

Yes, it is that good.

I would so love to visit it, although I would probably have to just contend myself with Prague, which is even more magical emerging from the author's pen, seeping with romance, mystery and theatre.

There is a unique romance in the book, and even talking about it doesn't do justice to its depth and fierceness, so I won't say anything more about it.

The best part about this book, hoever, is this:

questions.

It raises questions. A lot of questions.

About the meaning of life, the point of life, about love, about human relationships, about origins.

About differences and the everyday war we all engage in.

I loved the way it just put these themes out there and then let you, the reader, think them through without pushing the answers down your throat.

I loved the lyrical way this book it was written, I loved the fact that I didn't breathe normally while I was reading it, I loved the fact that I want to meet this book in person and shake its hand in awe.

I loved everything about this book.

Wow.

This pic is a still from here.

Rating: 5/5, or, to be more precise, a sky full of stars (and two moons).

Avalon High by Meg Cabot

2011-10-06T02:17:00.000-07:00

To newcomer Ellie, Avalon High seems like a typical American high school, complete with jocks, nerds, cheerleaders, and even the obligatory senior class president, quarterback, and all-around good guy. But it doesn't take Ellie long to suspect that something weird is going on beneath the glossy surface of this tranquil hall of learning. As she pieces together the meaning of this unfolding drama, she begins to recognize some haunting Arthurian echoes, causing her to worry that she has become just a pawn in mythic history.

I do not like Meg Cabot's writing.

She talks too much, she beats around the bush, she is repetitive. A lot.

The action usually starts after the first three fourths of the book, or even later. In this book the action was actually no longer than three small chapters. In another book of hers I read recently, the action never started at all. Literally nothing happened.

That being said, this book was brilliant.

I adored it.

It has stayed with me since I finished it, and I can't put it out of my head.

The story, the romance, the retelling of the myth (and the history), the characters. THE CHARACTERS. Never have characters come so much to life than in this book. Will, Lance, Jennifer, Ellie. Wow. The dynamic of their group was very realistic and their interactions witty and funny. Not to mention the dialogue (I think it's Cabot's rela talent). I couldn't put the book down.

What I especially appreciated about this book,

was that it isn't about reincarnation, or even the retelling of an old myth. It is about people, about teenagers, about past hurts, about disagreeing with your parents and making a difference in the world.

It is about making choices and decisions.

Even through the end, the reader, and more importantly the characters themselves are not completely convinced that they are Arthur and Guinevere and Lancelot. But that's the whole point, the way I see it.

Even if the same decisions they are called to make have been already been made for them in the past, they still have to decide for themselves. They have to choose to be good or evil, honest or deceptive, loving or hating. And they will be burdened with the consequences too.

There is nothing paranormal in this story, except talk.

I respect an author who can deliver such a story without having to resort to magic.

I fell in love with this book.

I also loved the stranzas from Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott" that accompanied every chapter's beginning. This poem has been one of my favorites since I discovered it in my early teens. I cringed a bit when I found out the lady's actual name was Elaine (which is also mentioned in the book), but it doesn't take away any of the charm of the tragic woman who loved Lancelot.

And you have to love John Waterhouse.

Rating: 4.5/5

Regency Reads

2011-09-24T05:36:00.000-07:00

These last few weeks I have been on a Regency spin.

I don't know how it started, perhaps I reached a point when I was tired of all the seriousness of life,

and all the books depicting it. So I picked up Mr Malcolm's List by Suzanne Allain

which is a sort of a comedy of errors in the Regency World, funny, light and romantic, if sometimes silly.

In the end, however, it ended up being a bit unclean, although it has nothing graphic, so be careful of that if you want to read it. It was rather worth the effort, because the dialogue is sparkling and witty, although I would have liked more romance than lust and spoofs.

Anyway, then I remembered my love for Georgette Heyer (I really hadn't forgotten it, that was just a manner of speech, never could have forgotten my love for her books).

Of course there are some very elegant Regency books written by christian authors, such as Catherine Palmer,

Linore Rose Burkard and Julie Klassen, and many more, which I think I will start rereading (I own all the Regencies of these three authors) next.

And after that, who knows?

Maybe some Jane Austen BBC or Masterpiece? Lost in Austen for the millionth time?

Or maybe I should actually reread for the upteenth time her books. I did reread Persuasion last month,

and it might have become my new favourite. There is nothing like a mature heroine and a hero who is already in love with her at the beginning of the book, for romance.

So that's what I have been doing.

Losing myself in imaginary worlds again, as usual.

Have you stumbled into another world by any chance recently?

Wings, Spells, Wild by Aprilynne Pike

2011-09-17T04:15:00.000-07:00

The books in the series.

1. Wings

2. Spells

3. Wild (or Illusions)

And there is a fourth book coming.

The series follows the story of a teenage girl called Laurel who has been living a fully normal human life, until the day that an enormous blossom sprouts from her back.

Then she begins the journey of finding out the truth about herself -she is a fairy- and the magical world that she belongs to. She has a lot to learn and get used to, that's why I believe that this is mainly a story about growth, about a personal journey of discovery, about coming of age.

She has a human boyfriend, David, who, in my humble opinion is the ideal guy, so understanding and romantic and always beside her no matter how crazy things get. She also has a fairy boy, called Tamani, who becomes her guide in this new fairy world she has to explore. He also wants to become her love interest, but in the first book at least, that reads like an unwelcome and immature interruption to Laurel and David's loving relationship.

This rather contrived triangle is the main reason I haven't reviewed this series until now, although the first book, Wings, is on my top favorites shelf.

The reason that I love this first book, Wings so much, is not that the writing is good -which it is- or that the characters and the fairy world are so well developed -which, they are. It is not even that Laurel and David have one of the most tender and unique relationships I have ever read in YA fiction, not based on physical attraction or kisses, but on understanding and standing by each other. On sharing and talking. This was my second reason for loving this book.

The first reason, however, has to do with the very difficult and modern theme of acceptance.

It seemed to me, while I was reading th book, that when Laurel sprouted wings, or petals from her back, that that same thing happens to all teenagers, sooner or later. The don't sprout wings, of course, but they develop acne, or they shoot up suddenly taller than everyone else, or their body changes and becomes awkward.

Or they fall in love, or discover the evil in the world around them, and everything is different.

I think we all go through a similar phase, some of us much more painful.

I rememder the night I cried myself to sleep, and for the first time it wasn't because I wanted a new toy they hadn't been able to buy me or something so childish, but because I felt that "no one could understand me."

Most of us have to go through this phase alone, and so does Laurel, facing a problem that she can't expect anyone to understand. Not her parents, not her best friend, not even Tamani, who, being a fairy himself for so long, is rather impatient with her reluctance to acceot herself.

So what does she do?

She hides.

She tried to hide the changes in her body, her questions, her fear.

And then comes my favorite part.

David.

It may have been anyone in your life, your mom, your grandmother, your dad, your best friend.

One person can see you. Only one, but it makes all the difference in the world for you.

In this story, it was David, her boyfriend, who was able to see she was miserable and force the truth out of her. He didn't know exactly what to do to help her, but he was there for her. He was freaked out as much as she was, but he accepted her as she was. That's what I love about this book.

If even one person reading it, gets that message, especially a teen, it would be amazing.

And then, there is that scene at the costume dance, which I won't spoil for those who haven't read the book, but it moved me deeply.

It was the first time Laurel openly accepted who she was, and was not embarrased or afraid of others noticing. I loved the message that conveys.

As for the rest, the book is full of action and romance, and creates many questions that are to be answered in the next book.

Spells is the obligatory middle book in the series, where the fantasy world is described in detail and the also obligatory "triangle" (ugh!) is exlored and exploded.

This book I found rather boring, and skipped a few pages, mostly because I found excessive world-building boring and also because I was rather disgusted at the totally nonsensical (and unnecessary) triangle.

There is some action, but little, and mostly the expectation of action, which indeed comes with:

Wild (or Illusions) seems to be draggind a bit, and maybe it could have been the last book in the series, except for the bid cliffhanger at the end. I am not a very huge fan of cliffhangers, especially those who seem contrived, but it was rather intriguing and also, I understand that the author has gone to so much trouble to create this world, she can't abandon it so soon.

More romance and more action in this book, where the characters develop and mature (or, in Tamani's case, the reverse), but all in all I am rather satisfied with Laurel's progress. She is a heroine. Flawed, and sometimes faulty, immature even, but always willing to learn and to sacrifice.

Rating: Wings 5/5

Spells 2/5

Wild 3/5

Wallpaper: Jane Eyre

2011-09-02T14:01:00.000-07:00

I recently watched the new adaptation of Jane Eyre (2011).

The actors were really good

(and beautiful, too, which doesn't happen in the book, but I liked watching them for two hours).

I am very critical of book adaptations, and especially so when the book is one of my most favorite ones in the whole world. I happened to be in the middle of one of my rereadings of Jane Eyre, and it didn't help that I kept comparing the movie to the book.

I didn't approve of it, as was expected, and I had to bang my head a couple of times on the bedpost, which was rather unpleasant.

BUT.

I found that it had many original phrases from the book, in fact it contained the most faithful phrases I have ever heard on a Jane Eyre adaptation (apart, of course, from the 1983 one).

Also, it focused on Jane and Rochester's relationship, which was nice -I always wish these films wpuld skip the boring parts about her childhood and St. John- although it did not contain a few of my favorite scenes, and, as a result, the romance didn't seem half believable to me.

All in all, it was better than I had expected it to be, and worse at the same time.

So, I watched it three times almost non-stop, then proceeded to watch the eight or seven other adaptations of Jane Eyre I own, and then watched it again.

Then, I made a wallpaper.

You can right-click on it, as usual, although if you use it, credit would be nice.

Please let me know if you watched it

and what you think.

Today I added to my cart

2011-08-18T02:05:00.000-07:00

A Long Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan.

I have been waiting to buy this book ever since I read it on NetGalley, it is an amazing dystopian-sci-fi, set in the future, and borrowing a theme from the fairytale of Sleeping Beauty. I can't wait to read it again.

Playing Hurt by Holly Schindler.

This is about a girl who is an athlete, but has an accident and loses the use of her leg, for the better part. I am really interested in how it handles this subject, and looking forward to be inspired by it.

Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta.

A fantasy story by the author of Jellicoe Road. I have loved thas book more than almost any other I have ever read, it just blew me away. Just hoping that this one will be as good, and kind of worrying that it won't.

Sharks and Boys by Kristen Tracy.

Interesting survival story about teenagers who are stranded in the ocean. I have recently discovered this genre and am fascinated by it. If you have read my review of Lost in the River of Grass by Ginny Rorby, you will know that I absolutely fell in love with it, and, consequently with the whole genre.

A Whisper of Peace by Kim Vogel Sawyer.

Christian historical fiction about a half-Native American woman in the Alaskan Mountains, who meets a missionary. Sounds interesting.

Heiress by Susan May Warren.

Susan May Warren is one of my favorite christian fiction writers, promoted to this place of honor by her books Happily Ever After and Nightingale, which are both in my top favorites list (especially the first, of which, I now realize I haven't done a review, which really is a shame, I must do that asap). This is a historical fiction, set in the Gilded Age in the elite of New York society, and doesn't the cover look beautiful?

The One Who Waits For Me by Lori Copeland.

This book, I understand, has a few intermingling storylines set in the aftermath of the Civil War. It is also christian historical fiction (I read a lot of this genre, it seems -or at least I hope to.)

You can go here in my first "today I added to my cart" post to see the whole point and purpose of these posts. Please let me know if you know anything (good or not-so-good) about these books, which I should go for, and which can wait. I would really appreciate it.

The Champion by Carla Capshaw

2011-08-12T05:14:00.000-07:00

Tibi, the young Roman heoine of this book has to deal with a (still) very modern problem: she is abused by her father. What she needs is another Father to love her, and a champion to fight for her.

She finds the first in the Person of the Christian God, but she is reluctant to put her trust in Him.

She finds the second in Alexius, a Greek gladiator with a 'reputation' among women, and a past that has made him cynical and bitter. Tibi is different to him, however, he feels protective towards her, and he respects her. Of course, the path to romance is not smooth either.

This is the third book in Carla Capshaw's Rome Series, and I loved it almost as much as the first, which is high praise indeed, since The Gladiator is one of my most favorite books of all time.

The romance was sweet and deep. I love it when the romance is deep and not shallow, you know, like 'you're so pretty', or, 'I can't help it, I want to kiss you'. None of that in this book. The hero and heroine become friends, learn to care about what troubles the other person, even rescue each other vitally before their romance comes to its full bloom. I loved the romance in this book, it was really well written, the dialogues as well as the more tender scenes.

What I also loved about this story was that neither the hero nor the heroine were christians at the beginning, and they have to find their way through obstacles and distrust to find the new and forbidden God of the christians. I, the reader, watched them journey from unbelief, from wavering and doubts to firm belief and faith, and I was amazed. I especially liked the fact that they had to be disappointed in every other way, by their friends and relatives, by the Greek and Roman gods, before they could in all honesty turn to the One true God. I think that is the way it happens for many people in modern days too, and it was very realistic and moving.

The historical detail is exquisite, of course, as in the previous books. This makes this little trilogy a treasure since there aren't many novels about the first christian years in Rome out there. And none as well written as these, except perhaps the classics (The Robe, Quo Vadis, etc).

There was a lot of action in this book also, and for me the plot and the romance just took off as soon as the hero and heroine were in danger.

I am really privileged to have these books in my collection and I plan to read them again and again (I already read The Gladiator twice and a half times waiting for the next books.)

I recommend them to any fan of historical and romantic novels.

I received this book from the author, for which I thank her very very much.

Rating: 5/5

This book is out now.

The Protector is the second book in the trilogy (althgouh each book is its own, individual story).

P.S. I hear Carla Capshaw is writing another series set in the Victorian Era. Yay!!!!!!!!!!

(Are you done yet? I want to read them...)

Starry Starry Night

2011-08-07T14:02:00.000-07:00

Starry
starry night
paint your palette blue and grey

look out on a summer's day
with eyes that know the
darkness in my soul.
Shadows on the hills
sketch the trees and the daffodils

catch the breeze and the winter chills

in colors on the snowy linen land.
And now I understand what you tried to say to me

how you suffered for your sanity
how you tried to set them free.
They would not listen
they did not know how

perhaps they'll listen now.

Starry
starry night
flaming flo'rs that brightly blaze

swirling clouds in violet haze reflect in
Vincent's eyes of China blue.
Colors changing hue
morning fields of amber grain

weathered faces lined in pain
are soothed beneath the artist's
loving hand.
And now I understand what you tried to say to me

how you suffered for your sanity
how you tried to set them free.
perhaps they'll listen now.

For they could not love you
but still your love was true

and when no hope was left in sight on that starry
starry night.
You took your life
as lovers often do;
But I could have told you
Vincent
this world was never
meant for one
as beautiful as you.

Starry
starry night
portraits hung in empty halls

frameless heads on nameless walls
with eyes
that watch the world and can't forget.
Like the stranger that you've met

the ragged men in ragged clothes

the silver thorn of bloddy rose
lie crushed and broken
on the virgin snow.
And now I think I know what you tried to say to me

how you suffered for your sanity

how you tried to set them free.
They would not listen
they're not
list'ning still
perhaps they never will.

Vincent by Don McLean

Book Covers

2011-08-02T12:14:00.000-07:00

Have you seen the new Puffin Classics for children (and for adults who are children at heart)?

I am sure you have, and if you find yourselves in a bookstore, do not omit to take them off the shelf and hold them in your hand, it's the greatest feeling.

As for me, I couldn't resist posting them here,

although the pictures don't do them justice. It's the feel of holding a clothbound book that's just magical.

These books really don't need an introduction, do they?

Which one is your favorite?

Mine is Robin Hood, by far, (although Anne of Green Gables is a close second.)

I'll try to get my husband to buy it for me....

Let me know which ones you prefer.

The Protector by Carla Capshaw

2011-08-01T14:05:00.000-07:00

This is the love story between Adiona, a Roman lady and Quintus, a slave and gladiator. Quintus is a christian with a great sorrow -and guilt- in his past and Adiona is a widow traumatized by her abusive late husband, sworn to hate men forever. She is an icy, distant woman, mistaken by many for evil, but deep down inside she still longs for the love her father witheld from her when she was a child, she needs a Saviour and a man to protect her.

The attraction she and Quintus feel towards each other flares up when an attempt is made on Adiona's life and Quintus is appointed her bodyguard. From there the adventure begins.

They find the Lord, they find healing for their hurting hearts, they find each other.

And in the midst of it all, they have to find the would-be murderer and a way to be together.

This is a sweet, romantic book, rich in period detail, with a touch of mystery and adventure.

I am very glad that I didn't let me prejudice about Adiona from the previous book in the series, The Gladiator, (in which she was quite the villainness) spoil my enjoyment of this book.

It was really well-written, in a way that drew me in, making the characters feel alive and the scenes greatly realistic.

The only thing I disliked about this book was the way the characters sometimes behaved very modernly, which was not consistent with the era in which they lived. I understand that this was so that the author could make a point, but it quite drew me out of the story to think every once in a while, "wow, they would never say or do that". Hoewever, if someone is not so familiar of this particular century in history, they might not even notice it.

Another thing was the characterization of many people by animal adjectives. There were snakes, cows, spiders, weasels, and so on, all over the place. I did not like that.

First, I prefer to drive my own conclusions about the evilness of a character.

And second, it made the speaker sound mean and un-christian.

That really wasn't necessary, I really understood that the murderer was quite evil without them being compared to an animal.

This lovely book, the second in the Roman Series by Carla Capshaw delighted me almost as much as the first and I am truly grateful to her for sending it to me for a review.

If only every author of LoveInspired books wrote like her, there would be no other books in my home.

I recommend it to Christians and non Christians alike.

This is historical romance you don't often come across.

Rating 4/5

P.S. Just look at that cover. Seriously they shouldn't do that to us...

I Bless the Day I Found You

2011-07-25T02:20:00.001-07:00

I bless the day I found you

I want to stay around you

now and forever

let it be me.

I bless the day you were born.

I bless the day He brought you to me.

I bless every day you wake up next to me.

And the ones you wake up far away.

You are the BEST. ;)

Awaken by Katie Kacvinsky

2011-07-23T07:57:00.000-07:00

This promising dystopian novel takes place in a society where the greatest part of human relationships takes place via the internet, sitting at a computer. Reading the description of this book I was led to believe that its characters are people who 'live life through a computer, do everything on a computer, hardly ever meet other people and so on.'

Here start the problems with this book.

It would have been very interesting if indeed it was about a society where there was none or little human communication, but that certainly is not the case here. It is simply a world identical to our own, with the difference that almost all schools have been shut down and are now digital.

I was very disappointed in the huge holes in world-building.

I can't say more because I might spoil the plot, but it was not a well-built world. It was so incomplete, inconsistent with itself and confusing, that I couldn't picture the hero and heroine in that world. It was like seeing them move and talk in front of an ever-changing landscape. I hated that, it made me dizzy.

Anyway, the girl who is our protagonist is more confined to her computer than most other girls of her world, and that's why she is so intrigued when she meets a boy who wants to meet and get to know her in person, not via chat or messaging. He starts questioning everything, challenging to see things diefferently, to "awaken". The plot snowballs from there, which was nice and there was quite a lot of action, which was one of the things I loved about this book.

The romance was quite a large part of the book, and the problem I had with that was that it didn't fit in the dystoian society in which they were supposedly living. I say supposedly, because I never quite understood exactly what the problem was with their world, why they were being chased and in danger of being imprisoned or killed. Anyway, it didn't seem realistic that they were thinking about how hot the other was while they were simultaneously fearing for their lives and trying to change the world.

What I really took from this book, which I thought was rather great, were thoughts about the meaning of life.

If you only live in a way that is supposed to keep you safe, then are you really living?

If you are living a predictable, normal life that others have preordained for you, then are you really living?

If people are suffering and you are doing nothing about it, then are you really living?

And, most important of all.

If you are passing your time, just surviving, just doing things so that you're not bored,

then are you really living?

I loved being asked these questions and seeing how the characters and the author attempted to answer them.

Although, it's true, no one can answer these questions for you. You must answer them for yourself.

And, at the end, this book doesn't claim to give any answers.

Just a (mediocre, in my opinion) story and some brilliant, deep questions.

I'm glad I read it and I will again.

Rating: 3/5

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

2011-07-22T06:02:00.000-07:00

I think this book's genre is somewhere between fantasy, dystopia, and something completely new.

Let me explain.

The heroine, a teenager named Liz, is killed by a hit-and-run driver. The next minute, she wakes up on a ship which she soon realizes is full of 'dead' people, headed for 'Elsewhere', the place where afterlife exists. There are animals in Elsewhere, there are dead people living normal lives, there are houses and cars and clothes and food. There is no death in Elsewhere, although there is something that resembles it.

The residents of Elsewhere are getting younger every day.

For as many years as their age was when they died, they live through a countadown that diminishes their age every year, until they can be sent back to earth as newborn babies and live all over again.

This was a very interesting premise for a story in my opinion, althgouh fundamentaly wrong. Reincarnation, although believed by many people as a glimmer of hope about the void that awaits us after death, is not actually what happens. According to the Bible, a man dies once, and then he is brought to the Throne of God:

"it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment." (Hebrews 9:27)

I just wanted to mention this here, because with all the paranormal and undead characters appearing in YA fiction nowadays, it is easy to lose sight of the actual truth, the christian truth, the biblical truth.

This being said, I was able to enjoy this book immensely, taking the world-building as a metaphor for our lives. Imagine living with your future all laid out before you. Imagine a world where there is no death, but where everyone's life moves with precision, getting younger every year and inevitably moving on as preordained. Takes some of the pressure off right?

There are very few criminals if any, there is little use for money, and the greatest danger of all, are the telescopes from which you can see life back on earth, a habit which soon becomes an addiction for our heroine.

She struggles to accept the loss of her life, she hates the fact that she has to live with a grandmother who died before she was born but who is now around thirty years old and is consumed by plans of revenge for the driver who killed her.

But she can't go back, and she can't kill herself.

So she has to live.

That's what made me love this book.

The fact that life is inevitable in this Elsewhere society was one of the most brilliant, most thought-provoking ideas I have ever seen in a book. And the author handles it beautifully. The writing flows easily, the sentences are short, the humour and the sarcasm are most definitely there. Imagine a ten year old with the mental age of seventy. That's good humour, is all I can say.

There is also romance in this book, there are difficult moral dilemmas, there is grief and there is playfulness. But most important of all there is a journey, which takes a self-absorbed girl, mourning her lost life, and transforms her to a wise, strong, happy person, in charge of her feelings and her choices.

She was angry that she would never have the experience of falling in love, but, complicated though Elsewhere is, there are still possibilities over there.

The ending just took my breath away, and the lovely picture on the cover if this edition is one of the sweetest -although a bit painful- scenes in the book. There is real love in this book, kindness and goodness, the overcoming of one's flaws, and the revealing of the good side that is in our hearts.

The characters range from understanding, bored, frustrated, full of hate and full of goodness.

And then they all are transformed, both physically as they are getting younger and spiritually, as they are forced to take life slowly and they struggle to find something to live for, since death is out of the way.

Life on an earth with another name, and with all the pressure off.

This sentence sums up the awesomeness that is this book.

I will look for more books by this author, because I admired both her mind and her talent in this book.

The only thing that takes a point out of the rating is the reencarnation thing, but as I said before, I chose to look that as a metaphor, a parable, of how our life would be, were our thinking and our goals different.

Also, the animal thing annoyed me a little, but it was not a major issue (animal loves out there will be extatic I think).

It makes you think, though.

If life is not a race against death, then what it is?

Maybe it is just moments, good and bad, all linked together, and an effort to help other people and be happy.

That's what I got fom this book at least.

Rating: 4/5

In My Mailbox (for once)

2011-07-21T14:43:00.000-07:00

Today a lovely red package arrived at my door, which was a completely new and exciting experience for me. The package itself was not the surprise. The surprise was that it did not contain books I had ordered, but a book that one of my favorite authors had promised to send me to read and review.

That author is Carla Capshaw, who has written The Gladiator, The Protector, and The Duke's Redemption and the package included TWO books instead of the one promised, both signed by the author, a sweet card addressed to me, and a cute "Little Inspy Trading Card".

So, here are the books.

The Protector by Carla Capshaw

Book 2 in The Roman Series

Quintus Ambustus is a slave--Adiona Leonia is a wealthy socialite. He fights for his life in the gladiator's ring--she plays cutthroat politics in Rome's high society. He's sacrificed everything for his Christian faith--she believes in nothing and no one. But when Adiona's life is threatened, Quintus is chosen as her bodyguard, and their fascination with one another shocks them both. Neither thought to find joy in a match society would condemn...but their feelings cannot be denied. Have they lost too much to believe in happiness? Or will their growing love let them leave the past behind--and build a new future together?

The Champion by Carla Capshaw

Book 3 in The Roman Series

Release Date: 21 August 2011

Triumphs in the Coliseum-and society bedchambers-made gladiator Alexius of Iolcos famous for his brutal skill and womanizing ways. Yet the only woman who intrigues him is Tiberia the Younger, who now needs his help. Protecting Tiberia places Alexius in the greatest danger he has ever known-from her vengeful father and his own heart.

Becoming a temple priestess may be an honor, but Tibi can't bear to surrender her freedom or her newfound faith. Alexius's solution stuns her. Marriage.to a gladiator! Scorned by her noble family, Tibi always felt unworthy. But with her champion by her side, can she accept-and give-a love strong enough to vanquish their enemies?

In case you were wondering, the first book in the series which I have already read and reviewed (and loved) is

The Gladiator by Carla Capshaw

Book 1 in The Roman Series

He won his fame--and his freedom--in the gory pits of Rome's Colosseum. Yet the greatest challenge for once-legendary gladiator Caros Viriathos comes to him through a slave. His slave, the beautiful and mysterious Pelonia Valeria. Her secret brings danger to his household but offers Caros a love like he's never known....

Should anyone learn she is a Christian, Pelonia will be executed. Her faith threatens not only herself, but her master. Can she convince a man who found fame through unforgiving brutality to show mercy? And when she's ultimately given the choice, will Pelonia choose freedom or the love of a gladiator?

I just want to say here that this book is everything one would want in historical fiction, romance and action and I would even recommend it to someone who doesn't read christian fiction, because it is not at all preachy. It is a rather deep book, however, and one that makes you think, whether you are a christian and agree with the characters' beliefs or not.

Hopefully, I will review the rest soon, I'm looking forward to savoring them.

Sorry for blowing up the covers, I just love them so much, I couldn't help it.

I am not going to feel foolish for memorizing the card, or for taking the books with me and putting them on my nightstand when I took a nap this afternoon, or for showing them to my husband about a million times, or for taking my copy of The Champion off its shelf so that it can 'hang out' with the next two books in The Roman Series. I am not, because this is the first time someone has sent me anything for review, and I plan to enjoy it to the fullest. After all, if I am going to be realistic, it's not very probable that anyone else will take the trouble of sending a book all the way to Greece so that I will post a review about it in my tiny little blog....

But Carla did it, and I thank her for giving me the opportunity to feel the excitement that I see many other book bloggers taking for granted.

P.S. My husband looked at the card in awe when I first gave it to him. Then he said,

"Do you realize, someone on the other side of the planet actually wrote these words, with their hand, in another language, and now you are holding them in your hand and reading them."

I nodded, speechless at the amazingness of it myself.

He gave the card back to me and I held it reverently. A few minutes later I showed it to him again.

"Look what came in the mail for me!" I said, as though we were reenacting the whole scene.

And my husband, in true man-form, creased his eyebrows and asked,

"Haven't I seen this card somewhere before?"

And no, I don't think he was joking.

Lost Voices by Sarah Porter

2011-06-27T04:49:00.000-07:00

I was fascinated by this book about teenage girls turned mermaids during the most traumatic time in their lives.

The mythology of this story is amazing.

Abused girls turn into mermaids and then proceed to sing ships to their death, thus venting their anger and pain on the human beings who hurt them.

This is a very interesting premise for a book, as it deals with themes such as justice, forgiveness and the value of human life. A you can imagine, this community made up of hurt girls is quite disfunctional, and the majority of the book deals with that. The girls' realtionships, their petty fights -or bigger ones, their friendships and their competitiveness.

A book about sirens could not be without its tribute to art, and indeed sometimes the narration is so lyrical and poetic that it touches the reader's very soul. There are beautiful descriptions that bring the sea-world to life, and even though sometimes it is a dark, cold world, some other times it is bursting with light, colour and activity.

What I especially liked about this book was its depth. It travels deep into the human heart, trying to decipher motives and sentiments, portraying the battle between evil and good that takes place within all of us.

The heroine, Luce, was a perfect, tragic heroine, making mistakes and hurting, yet rising above them and trying to defeat her darker side. I was captivated by her strength and compassion.

There wasn't any romance in this book, although there is the promise of one -maybe in the next?- and it ended in the most absolute cliff-hanger. This was even worse than the Runours by Anna Godbersen cliffhanger (if you know what I mean).

These two are the reasons this book doesn't get a perfect five, because otherwise it was indeed perfect.

Don't be fooled by the pretty mermaid on the goregous cover, this is a dark book, delving into the dark depths of the dangerous ocean and of the human soul.

Rating: 4/5

Publication Date: 7/4/2011

Martha by Diana Wallis Taylor

2011-06-23T01:58:00.000-07:00

This is another biblicl fiction novel from the author of Journey to The Well, the story of the Samaritan woman who met Jesus at the well. That one was one of the loveliest books I have ever read and touched me deeply. This one did too.

Martha is the story of the woman named Martha in the Bible, her sister Mary and her brother Lazarus. It is also the story of their father, Simon the leper and Thomas the apostle, along with a colourful cast of many more characters. But most of all it is the story of Jesus, following closely on many -if not all- the stories depicted in the New Tastement. His friendship with Lazarus, His miracles, His teachings.

I loved the book for this. I loved how Jesus was shown, His humanity, His humour, His compassion.

I loved the way Martha's faith in Him developped and became strong as His passion was followed by His resurrection. It was like getting a taste of what it was like to live in the times of Jesus. I often wish I could have been alive then, but I hadn't realized how dangerous it would be for Jesus' followers, since they were trying to kill Him. I also learned a few facts about the period, their customs and their origins, which I mainly liked for their symbolic value.

On another note, this book seemed less well-written than the first.

There was little or no imagination in the names (all taken from existing characters of the Bible) and their activities. The characters also were pretty one-dimantional and greatly stereotypical. I hate it when that happens in a book, because then I can't feel like they are real peole, it ruins the whole story for me.

If the story of the ministry and life of Jesus wasn't closely interwoven with the plot, I probably would have been completely indifferent to this book. But as it was, I am really glad I bought and read it.

As with the first book, I don't think I will be reading my Bible the same way after this one, either.

Rating: 3/5

Addition by Toni Jordan

2011-06-20T00:52:00.000-07:00

This really funny and poignant book is about a young woman who is suffering from a rather severe case of OCD, her attempts at 'normal' life, real love and a cure.

I think this book is supposed to be 'chick lit', but it was really deep, tackling serious issues and problems. It is also terribly sarcastic and at times even hilarious, what with the counting of everything and the inner dialogues and monologues of the heroine.

I loved its message.

I cried so hard at the middle towards the end, where the heroine discovers that to "cure" her, would be to deprive her of her personality, her character, her very self.

We live in a world that tends to make everybody the same, to sort of try and blend everyone together. Our differences and quirks, even our illness or difference are what make us each one unique and we should each one of us individually withstand every effort to mold us into an 'accaptable standard'.

That's what this book is about.

The man who loved her tried to change her, with the best intentions in the world, of course.

I won't tell you how that worked out, but if you do read this book, you are in for a surprise.

And one more thing.

This book plainly tells about the great harm that antidepressant medicine can do, which may seem outwards like 'healing' but is in truth a slow and painful death of the brain.

I wish a few doctors could read this book.

I wish a few of my friends and family would read this book.

It really counts (pun intended).

Rating: 5/5

Wallpaper: Daniel Deronda

2011-06-11T12:31:00.000-07:00

Daniel Deronda is a novel by George Eliot and my favorite character in classical fiction, possibly the very top of my favorite characters of classical fiction. A few years ago I finally purchased the movie edition of the miniseries of BBC, and was further enchanted by the characters, the plot and the moral of this beautiful, moving story. It is dramatic and romantic and... well, classic.

After obsessing about the story and especially the love story between Daniel and Mirah for sometime, I decided to do what I usually do, so I began making wallpapers and bookmarks of the characters.

This is not one of the best-known classical stories, and I think it is a great shame,

as it addresses many modern issues with great precision and also, compasion.

That's why I wanted to share some of my wallpapers.

Just click on them for a larger view.

Some movie quotes:

"She's had an unhappy life, but yes, she's born it all with patience and good humour and true grace and refinement."

-Daniel about Mirah

"Let me share all your sorrows and all your joys..."

-Daniel Deronda proposing

"I hope you shall never be sorry that I came."

-Daniel to Mirah

"I wish you could know everything about my life without me having to tell you"

-Gwendolen to Daniel

"She loves me, you see."

-Herr Klausmann

Scribbler of Dreams by Mary E. Pearson

2011-06-07T04:25:00.000-07:00

I rather liked this modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet.

This boy and girl belong to two families who have feuded throughout a few generations, ending in a rather recent murder that involved both their fathers. Without knowing who they are, they meet at school and fall in love. And then it begins.

As far as star-crossed love goes, this wasn't so full of angst, although I did hate all the lying that Kaitlyn did and it did seem to be a bit difficult to believe that he didn't have any inkling of the truth with all her ridiculous lies and excuses.

However, their romance was really sweet and tender, and the outcome beautiful. I also loved how Kaitlyn discovered the truth about the family feud and how it changed. And in the end, she was really brave, which was totally unexpected given her previous behaviour.

The only thing I was disappointed in (except for the lies) was that I expected a lot more drama in a book that claims to be a respectable retelling of Romeo and Juliet. There was none in this book, so maybe if it didn't try to call itself a Shakespearean retelling, it would be a really good teenage romance.

Which, it is.

Rating: 3.5/4

Bookmark: Revolution

2011-05-30T03:13:00.000-07:00

Someone once said: "imitation is the best form of flattery" (I don't remember who).

I don't know if that's why I decided to make a bookmark out of my cover of Revolution by Jennifer Donnely, but I did and I have to say, I am rather proud of the outcome....

You are free to print this out or otherwise use it, but a comment would be nice.

Have a blessed day.

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

2011-05-26T04:13:00.000-07:00

A spaceship is travelling the universe alone in the great dark space for more than 200 years. Inside, a new race of people has evolved from the original travellers, a race that lives organized and in harmony, never wonderind where they came from and where they are going. Their leader is the Eldest (the oldest man there) and next in line is the Elder, a boy of 16 being groomed to succeed him, being the oldest in his generation.

What the Elder didn't know until the beginning of this book, is that various scientists, along with a girl called Amy, lay frozen somewhere in the bowels of the ship, waiting their arrival to the new world to "wake up".

But now someone has begun to unceremoniously wake them up, and killing them in the process. Amy is discovered in time, and then the old world and the new one clash. Nothing will remain the same, not even she.

The story is told alternatively by Elder and Amy, always in the first person.

It is a well-written book, but what I really hated about it was how claustrophobic the description Amy gave while she was frozen. It was incredibly well described, so much so actually that it made me feel as if I was trapped there with her. I think the feeling will stay with me forever.

Apart from that, the book is amazing.

I liked how Amy challenged everything ethically and I loved how the author gently introduces a series of important subjects, like cloning, DNA evolving, mutations, rebelling against dictatorship, mating without romance, information to the masses and many many more. I appreciated the fact that she didn't shove her opinions down my throat but just presented the situation and let the characters (and the reader) form their own opinions. I hadn't ever read a book (a novel) discussing all of these matters and it really made me think, which is actually the purpose of any book, but only the good ones manage to do it.

The idea of humanity travelling towards a future and failing miserably to provide it with an improved version of itself is as old as the Pilgrims, and in this book it is portrayed realistically and hauntingly in a frightening version of the future.

There is also a theme of romance, or rather attraction in the book, which was a but refreshing amid all the revolution and struggle that was taking place. It wasn't a major theme but how could it be when there were so many major issues to be dealt with? The thing is, the characters as well as the small world of the spaceship remained with me long after I finished the book, and even for that alone I can say this was a really good book.

Rating: 4/5

P.S. I love how his face looks in the cover, exactly how it is described in the book, like he belongs to a new race that has evolved from all the now existing ones in our world. I disagree with those who complain about it, because he isn't exactly African, or even African-American. He is from an altogether different race.

Revolution by Jennifer Donnely

2011-05-20T05:43:00.000-07:00

This is another of these great books that are not books but an experience, a journey within a story that no review can do justice to. That's why I have hesitated to do a review of it, but I decided try to share a few of my thoughts finally.

This is the story of a suicidal girl who has recently lost her little brother through circumstances that left her blaming herself for his death.This the story of her struggle between death and life. This is the story of her trip to Paris. This is also the story of a girl living in the time of the French Revolution, a girl really close to the royal family, a girl who also lost a little boy she loved as a brither and is struggling to survive.

This is a story full of music and history, a story of pain and blood and sorrow.

This is a story of rebirth and love and romance and... revolution. The deepest, greatest kind of revolution that exists and that takes place inside the heart of a human being.

When Andi, the present-day-New-York girl, finds an onld journal in which Alexandrine, the French-Revolution-time girl, wrote her adventures, their two stories clash. The reader of course has no idea how each story will end, and keeps rooting for both girls to overcome tragedy and choose life.

I have read quite a few historical novels on the French Revolution, but none told the story in such vivid colours as this. It is as if the author of this book kept the meat of the story, the important parts, the feelings and the tensions, and left out the historical details and the politics of the revolution (the boring parts -to me at least). That's why it's so interesting and so breathtaking to follow. Reading Alexandrine's journal was more like actually experiencing the revolution first-hand, as if I had actually lived there. There is some blood and gore, but not too much. Mostly there are the different points of view, and surprisingly, the predominant one is that of the royals and the aristocrats, whose story is so seldom told.

As for Andi's story, it blew me away. Her love and talent for music was one of my favorite parts and I loved exploring the playlists on her iPod. She tells the story in her honest, cynical voice that states facts, and some of her feelings, but not in a way that makes you think she is feeling sorry for herself. There is a great deal of dialogue, and that's the way you find most things about her out. Also, I loved the romance. It was one of the most tender and realistic ones I have read in a book. And in Paris, too! You can't beat that for romance...

I feel very protective of this book, I don't know why.

I feel as if I should be careful that it doesn't fall into the hands of a reader who won't be able to understand it, to appreciate it. Or, the other day I watched a review of this book on YouTube, and the girl kept pronouncing Alexandrine's name wrong, and I was so angry at her.

This is such a precious story, the characters are so fragile and yet surprisingly strong when it is needed. Maybe that's why.

Or maybe because this book is actually about choosing life in the worst possible circumstances, and choosing how to live it. How to live it so that it matters. And the few people who are priviledged to undestand that have felt intense pain in their lives and bear the scars to prove it.

Andi is such a person, and Alexandrine.

Rating: 5/5

P.S. This review wouldn't have been up, nor would I have had the energy and the strength to write it, if it hadn't been for your lovely comments and prayers. God really did speak to me through you. And I think he said that He cares. Thank you.

An earnest post

2011-05-18T05:14:00.000-07:00

Don't feel obliged to read this post. It's just, well, I have no one else to tell really. And somehow, writing it here, it seems like there is someone listening. Probably there isn't, but it's a precious illusion. A beautiful illlusion. And a necessary one.

I have not felt much like blogging recently.

The truth is, I started this blog as a journal of my efforts to recovery from a long and painful sickness during which time only books, God and my husband were my only true and effective medicine. Opening a tiny window to the world seemed a good idea in the middle of closing myself up and hugging my pain to myself.

Lately, it seems to be returning like an unwelcome guest who forces his way into the most private and treasured room of your home. I don't think there is anything I can do to stop it.

I have been so much ashamed of this sickness, of this thing happening to me, that I have kept it hidden inside me for so long, I think it may have started to become a poison.

Sometimes it feels like God isn't even listening.

I know He's there and I can't stop loving Him even if I wanted to, but where is He already?

Anyway, it turns out I was a lot better than I knew.

Have you ever felt this way? Something disastrous happens and you realize how well off you were until then, only you had taken it for granted.

Now, let's see if I can get out of this alive.

A Bookshelf of Stories

2011-05-12T05:51:00.000-07:00

I recently came back from a short holiday in a Greek island called Lefkada. I really enjoyed being with my husband, playing rummy by the fireplace, talking to God by the nightly sea and -of course- reading.

Until my next review goes up, enjoy this beautiful image I found somewhere on the web, of a bookcase full of stories. That's exactly what my bookshelves would look like if only others could look at them through my eyes.

Where She Went author interview

2011-04-27T06:48:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have read If I Stay by Gayle Forman and loved it, maybe you would be interested in this Youtube video where the author, Gayle Forman speaks about the sequel, Where She Went.

The interview is by RT Book Reviews, and it contains HUGE SPOILERS about the first book, so if you haven't read it, don't watch it. I found it very interesting and infromative and it seems to have been watched by so few people that I thought it was a pity. So, here it is.

Today I added to my cart

2011-04-25T06:10:00.000-07:00

Not all of the books I get excited about and add to my cart eventually make it to my bookshelf (much less to my blog) because sadly the cost of shipping is too great for me to be able to afford all of them.

However, I thought I might share the titles and covers of these books, and that might make it easier for me to decide which ones will journey all the way to Greece...

So, today (or around today) I added to my CBD cart:

Love amid the Ashes by Mesu Andrews,

a fictionalization (did I get this word right?) of the story of Job. I am really interested in anything that has to do with this biblica, man of suffering.

Amy Inspired by Bethany Pierce,

about an aspiring writer who encounters problems and is looking for love.

Amazing cover!

To Win Her Heart by Karen Witemeyer

I have been waiting for this book for so long, and I think it just came out.

An ex-prisoner tries to win the heart of a lady.

I have read the Tailor-Made Bride by the same author and really loved it.

Unlocked by Karen Kingsbury,

about a boy with down syndrome.

I have grown a little skeptical towards this author after reading quite a lot of her books, though, I don't know why.

Love me tender by Janice Hanna,

a love story about a 'godly singer' and a soda shop girl. Love the cover and the era, but not sure what I will find inside. I think I would love to read it.

That's it for this time, although I tend to add tons of books to my cart almost every week.

So this will be revisited soon, hopefully.

Only books that are out will be included in these posts, because although I look forward to a lot of coming-out books, I add those to my wishlist and transfer them to my cart as soon as they are available.

Empty Tomb

2011-04-23T13:59:00.000-07:00

Let the poor man say I am rich again

Let the lost man say I am found again

Let the blind man say I can see again

Let the dead man say I am born again

We all need a miracle this Easter. Badly.

We have it.

Right now, fireworks are booming like thunder in the nightly sky everywhere in my country. Most of them (maybe all) thrown by people who have no idea what they are celebrating.

The Saviour of the world. He is alive. Now and forever. Yes.

Yes!

The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester

2011-04-22T12:25:00.000-07:00

This little gem of a book is part science fiction, part paranormal adventure and part dystopian.

Piper McCloud could float from when she was a baby, but as she grows up, she decides to cultivate her "special ability", and she painstakingly teaches herself to fly. However, this ends up only in earning her the disapproval of her simple farmer (but loving) parents, and the fear and prejudice of their small community.

Enter a charming lady from a special government school for such "special" children, and with her, Piper's only hope of companionship and finally fitting in.

However, things are not as they seem, and as we enter the school with Piper, we get to know the other children with their gifts (one can run incredibly fast, another is extremely strong physically and another -my favorite character in the whole book- is an exceptional genious.)

There is beauty and horror within the walls of the school, as there is light and darkness in this story.

I was completely blown away.

The analogy of someone being different in a small society, was very well played in the book. It doesn't matter whether you are good different or bad, you are just unacceptable. And, it turns out, not only by the small society that may be narrow-minded, but by the whole world.

Unfortunately, this is the truth of the world we live in:

If you are in any way different, if you are special, better than others and determined to reach when no one has before you, people will not accept you. They will fear you instead. And push you away with all their might.

This was shown in the book in an incredibly lyrical and tender way, yet totally realistically too.

There is no element of romance in the book -or very little- but there is real love in here, love that accepts you for who you are without questions, love that understands your differences, love that can change the world.

And, finally, love that will fight against injustice and pain to the very last.

This book is supposed to be for younger adults, and teens, but I think that's not the appropriate age group for it. It contains some harsh realitites and realistic scenes, so if a teen is rather sheltered, they may be shocked by this book. I actually read some negative reviews to that effect on Amazon.

I, personally, wish all the adults I know could read and understand this book (not just read it as a fairytale, but as a study into the darkness of human nature.)

I wish more books like this existed.

If you are one of those people who can fly in a world filled with rooted-to-the-earth, walking-on-the-ground persons, then this book is for you.

Rating: 5/5

Bookmarks: The Hunger Games

2011-04-18T13:06:00.000-07:00

I made these out of my book's cover. You are free to download them. If you want, leave a comment. I would be honored.

Between Two Ends by David Ward

2011-04-10T05:01:00.000-07:00

For everyone who has ever wished you could jump into the pages of a book, this one is for you.

This is a story that features a boy named Yeats, Shaharazad, a talking tiger, pirate bookmarks, a library of wonders and magic and many many more. The plot begins when the 12-year-old boy visits his grandmother's house along with his parents, who appear to be wary of the mysterious building, and almost immediately upon arriving begin to talk and argue about magic and tragedy and suspicious adventures. Yeats, intrigued by all this beggs them to tell him what they are talking about, but they refuse, so he wanders off, a magic wish on his lips. That is just the beginning of his incredible adventures.

I loved everything about this book. I couldn't stop reading it. I loved the adventure and the humour, I loved the courage and the self-sacrifice of the young hero of the book, I loved the realism of his grandmother and the moodiness of his father.

I wish this book was around when I was 12 myself, but even now it was fascinating to read, that's why I would recommend it for every age. Everything in this book was very real the descriptions, the characters. It made me feel along with them, the danger, the anguish, the sorrow, the redemption.

Perhaps at some point I wished the plot was a bit more developed, but it was still very interesting. Generally, the whole idea of this book is ingenious in my opinion and I enjoyed it very much. At the end of the book, it leaves some loose threads open in a way that obviously leads to a sequel, which I would be incredibly excited to read.

I read this book in the NetGalley, and I plan to purchase it as soon as it is out.

Rating:4/5

Publication Date: 5/1/2011

No Place Like Holmes by Jason Lethcoe

2011-04-09T02:38:00.000-07:00

Preteens and teens who are fans of Sherlock Holmes, or just love a good mystery story, will love this book, I think. It is not only well-written and fast-moving, but it also deals with some human issues, like family relationships, jealousy, pride, courage and love.

The story is about a boy who visits his uncle and ends up embroigled in a mystery featuring the moster of Loch Ness! It also involves the great Sherlock Holmes at some point, although he is not the main protagonist of the book. At the end, the readers get to solve two bonus mysteries (the answers are at the back of the book) and to answer a quiz which lets them know whether they qualify to become the next great detective.

The hero of the story is a boy named Griffin Sharpe, and he is a very clever, observant boy, with a kind heart. I loved him as a protagonist and a role-model hero for young readers.

With his skills he manages to solve the mystery and with his warm heart he manages to completely transform a bitter, lonely old man with whom he works. This was the part of the book I expecially loved.

The only problem I had with this book was the mention of God.

Yes, God is mentioned in this book and we are often reminded that the boy, Griffin, totally believes in God and is shocked to find out that his uncle doesn't. By the end of the book, the uncle seems to be changing his mind, due to Griffin's occasional cries from sithing the throes of danger "help us, God!" and "Oh, Lord, what do we do now? Tell us?". I found this absolutely wrong and disgusting, especially since Griffin promptly forgets all about God as soon as there is a headway in the mystery they are trying to solve.

It read as if God was an afterthought, or even being mocked, which I doubt that it was the author's purpose, but still it was rather ridiculous.

I wish God had been left out of it instead of being mentioned a few times like a magician who would help them when they were about to die.

That's why this book is rated less than 5 stars.

Otherwise, a good read for children and teens. There is no girl in the story, so you might say it is a book for boys, but I know I am a girl and I liked it and would have if I was still a preteen.

I read it on the NetGalley, and am considering purchasing it for my brother who is 14.

Rating: 3.5/5

Release date: 5/11/2011

A Long Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan

2011-04-06T13:26:00.000-07:00

This retelling of Sleeping Beauty takes place in the future, when a girl has been in 'stasis', a sort of sleep that suspends her in time, for about sixty years wakes up to a world she doesn't recognize. The boy who woke her up with his kiss plays a major part in her rehabilitation in this new world she finds herself in, but he is not just any boy. Another boy is an alien who can't speak, but communicates with her via texting. Add to that a mysterious guardian, a pair of indifferent foster parents, and a lethal robot programmed to 'terminate' the heroine if he can't do with her what his instructions tell him to, and you have the most amazing book ever!

What I loved about this story was that it is a 'fairytale' taking place in a dystopian society in the future. There is a lot of room for thought there, and the author handles it beautifully. There is a great deal of angst, and understandably so, as the sixteen-year-old girl, Rose, tries desperately to untangle the timeline of events that occured during her 'sleep' and to reconcile the world she grew up with the one she has woken up in.

There is an element of romance too, the sweet, caring kind that may not take away your breath with swooning kisses, but warms your heart and makes you cheer the characters on.

There were a few other issues that this book dares to deal with, that end up lifting it from a very good book to a really amazing one.

Firstly, there is the matter of using sleep as a coping mechanism. There are people who do that, including myself, and I was truly amazed by how the author handled that. You sleep to avoid life, to avoid pain, you end up having life pass you by and missing on the most important things.

Now, that's something you didn't expect to learn from a Sleeping Beauty tale, is it? You do, however find this out in this story, and many more.

Then, this book is about parental abuse. I almost popped a vein I was so angry at the things I was reading about some of the parents mentioned in the story. It was cleverly done, though. Subtly, so that you can see why the child doesn't even understand that he or she is being abused, because he or she is fed lines such as 'we know best what you need' and 'why are you mean to us when all we want to do is keep you happy?'

All the while, of course, they are slowly killing their child, just because he or she happened to interrupt their 'perfect' lives by growing up.

I so hope there is a second book after this one, and it seems likely, because at the end there are some lose ends, although I completely adored the way it ended, particularly the last sentence.

I read this book in the NetGalley, and I will order it as soon as it is out.

This is the poem featured on the first pages of the book, and where the title comes from, apparently.

Rating: 5/5

This book will be out on 8/9/2011

P.S. I know it is rather early to be reviewing this book, in view of its publication date, but I was just too excited to wait. If you think it wasn't right of me, please say so on the comments and I will delete my post and save it for later. If however you caught my enthusiasm, add it to your wishlist.

All the Tea in China by Jane Orcutt

2011-04-05T13:49:00.000-07:00

This historical romance and adventure is one of my favorite books and for good reason.

It is the story of a girl approaching spinsterhood in Regency-era London. She thinks she finds her God-planned destiny in the form of a missionary in China who visits London in order to collect funds. When he is reluctant to take her on board his ship on his return to China, she promptly becomes a stowaway, so sure is she of God's calling to become a missionary. However, as it turns out absolutely nothing is as it seemed at first, and she embarks upon a grander adventure she could ever have imagined herself in.

The question arises, is she drifting further and further away from God's will in her life, or is she getting any closer to finding it than she was in her uncle's house in London?

This is a question that has troubled me at various times in my life, and to find it tackled in a book with so much humor and adventure was a delight for me.

There are surprises at every turn, and I couldn't stop turning the pages at the very end, not even the second time I read this book (and I intend to read it many more). But this wasn't its only asset.

It is the most colorfull story. There are regency gowns at the beginning and a chinese wedding at the end. There is a breathtaking sword fight and melting kisses. There is a ship and a journey. And most importantly, there is God in this book. His mercy and His guidance and His care.

And His love for us, even when we turn our back on Him and follow our own ways.

Needless to say, I loved how the question of finding God's will was answered. And I do believe that is the actual answer, that we will find it in the place we least expect.

Rating : 5/5

P.S. Once more, the cover is misleading. The heroine is nothing like this woman on it, she is not coquettish or cruel. (I don't know why, but the model's mouth and jaw give me the impression of cruelty and harshness.) The heroine is a self-conscious young lady, struggling to find her way without comitting too many gaffes, and to trust God in everything. If nothing else, trusting God does soften one's features...

Nightingale by Susan May Warren

2011-03-30T07:01:00.000-07:00

An american nurse with a past she would like to bury and forget, begins corresponding with a soldier who is also a doctor. Then her diance returns and she discovers that the man she was corresponding with isn't who she thought. But she has fallen in love with him. Then all hell breaks lose.

After reading Happily Ever After a few years back (it is one of those books that are too good to review, but I have to try and do it someday), I thought Susan May Warren might well be one of my most favorite authors in the christian fiction genre. After reading this book, I'm sure of it.

This is an incredible story. There is danger and romance and God in this book.

Everyone is broken in this book. The war has come and interrupted their lives and now that it is finally over and they can go back to whoever they were before it happened, they find that they can't. Gils miss their dead fiancees. Mother can't find their sons. The soldiers have lost legs and arms and their sanity. They dream of bombs, they hear cries in their sleep.

Esther, the heroine, is sure God is angry with her. She needs to be found out. She needs forgiveness.

Peter is a boy who is a very long way from home. He too needs to be found. He also needs forgiveness.

And Linus. And Caroline. And Rosie. And Mrs. Hahn.

And the reader.

Perhaps there were too many descriptions of the characters' inner thoughts, because I found myself skipping pages containing information I had already been told or had guessed already. That was my only problem with this book, but truth be told it didn't bother me at all. And I can see how that might be necessary for some readers, to understand how God speaks to the human soul, and how much attention you must pay to be able to hear Him. I was truly blessed by this book, I learned a lot about forgiveness and second chances. And who doesn't need both these things?

I really hated the injustice pictured in the story, the prejudice and the terrible injustice. But that is what a good book is supposed to make happen. It's supposed to make you angry, to make you want to cry, to make you smile. To make you feel. And I certainly felt a lot of things while reading this one, from anger, to joy, to sadness, to elation, to thankfulness.

Romance is always my weak spot when it comes to book, and I am happy to report that the romance in this book was breathtaking. It actually took my breath away in one scene, I am not exaggerating. It was tender and sweet and caring. Like the way God treats us.

Rating: 4/5

P.S. Don't let the bookcover mislead you, the heroine is actually a very sweet, humble, caring woman. I almost didn't buy this book because of its cover, but I am sooo glad I overlooked it.

Bookmarks: Lost in Austen

2011-03-28T04:20:00.000-07:00

I think it's getting worse. My love for all things Austen, I mean.

This time I started watching Lost in Austen (for the fifth time since it came out), and I couldn't stop. I finished it, all three episodes, or four, I don't remember because I watched them non-stop and then I started it again. From the very beginning. I intended to watch only a few parts, the most romantic ones of course, but then I decided I also wanted to watch the funniest ones as well (and there are a lot of those!). And then I also wanted to watch the sad ones. So I watched the whole thing over again, pausing it every few minutes and rewinding so that I wouldn't miss any of the delicious dialogue.

The next day I tried watching something else. Not something 'completely different' like the Monty Python's ambition of course, but another period drama, anything, something other than Lost in Austen. Needless to say, I couldn't.

I watched it a third time. And instead of running through it quickly (after all I was beginning to say the lines along with the actors at this point) I actually paused it and took notes. I took notes.

Is this normal?

Wait, don't answer that.

I don't really care. The thing is, I loved it, and I have some quotes I want to share with you and two incredible bookmarks (if I say so myself). Aright, they may not be incredible, but I have not been able to put something else in my books for two weeks now, so that must mean at least I loved them.

Maybe you will, too.

Click on them and print, if you like.

The two quotes on them are two of my favorites.

"For there is more to say, if only the same words over and again."

-Mr. Darcy, after he has told Amanda he loves her

"Not one heartbeat do I forget."

-Mr. Darcy wrote it on a piece of paper and left it to Amanda (the piece of paper was actually a modern-day London bus ticket.)

Some more quotes from my notes:

Mr. Darcy to Amanda:

"You are an abomination, madam!"

Mr Bingley: "Whenever 'life is getting me down', I shall be sure to go down-town, eh Darcy?"

Mr. Darcy (somberly) : "With alacrity."

(right after listening to Amanda singing Down Town in the drawing room of Netherfield.)

Amanda:

"I love you. I love you. I want to die. I love you."

Amanda: "The entire world will hate me."

Mr. Darcy: "Were that true, Amanda, I would fight the world."

Whickam:

"I think you're a girl who's a very long way from home."

Some of the icons I used were from Fanpop. I also found a Livejournal community with Lost in Austen icons, here. Some of them are really yummy! As for the bookmarks, I made those myself, as always.

And now I want to watch it again.... Whatever shall I do?!?

May you all have a very blessed week and a happy one.

Rage by Jackie Morse Kessler

2011-03-25T12:33:00.000-07:00

This is the second book in a series that began with Hunger.

The basic story is that a girl who has is a cutter, is appointed by Death to be another rider of the Apocalypse, War. She rides a red horse whom she names Ares (the name of the ancient greek god of war).

This was an honest book, deep and sometimes extremely dark. It deals with the subject of violence, whether it is at a refugee war camp, degrading comments at school or self-mutilation. I loved how the book flowed, both realistically and poetically. I loved how the heroine gets to know and understand herself, how she battles with her darker side, how she overcomes her struggles.

The other three horsemen, Hunger, Death and another one whom I shall not name, because it might be a spoiler, make appearances in this book, and although it is not strictly necessary to have read the previous book to understand this one, it is better if you have.

The only problem I had with this book was the distorted view on the horsemen of the Apocalypse, for anyone who has studied that book, it is quite obvious that they are not portrayed correctly. However, I understand this is just a metaphor in Rage, a means to a purpose that deals with very serious subjects of our world today.

I also liked that it doesn't exactly finish on a happily-ever-after, although it is hopefull and encouraging and the heroine has made real progress by the end of the story.
As a believer of the Prince of Peace, I am not sure I liked the resolution of this book, however, and I don't think I agree with the author's view on violence and war. If you are a parent or a teacher, you should read it first yourself and the decide if your teenager should read it.

This is above all a realistic story, an honest view on our world and our morals.
If you don't want to be sad or touched by other people's pain, you shouldn't read it. If, however, you want to realize what is going on in the world around you and not just about the countries that are at war, but about your friends, your children, yourself, you should definitely read it. I am certainly glad I did.

I read this book on NetGalley.

Rating: 4/5

P.S. You can find a very interesting interview of the author by her characters here, at Figment blog. I really enjoyed it, it is quite an insight in the author's mind -and in the characters'.

Publication Date: 4/8/2011

Scones and Sensibility by Lindsay Eland

2011-03-24T07:51:00.000-07:00

Growing up in a cozy seaside community above her family’s bakery, 12-year-old Polly has always been a romantic. After she reads Pride and Prejudice, though, her yen for successful love stories spills over into daily life, and she determines to spend her summer matchmaking among the locals. Of course, everything goes horribly awry, and Polly is forced to confront the impact of her meddling: “This isn’t your dumb Green Gables or England or whatever. This is real life!” says her furious best friend. To better emulate her favorite book’s “enchanting heroine,” Polly narrates in a mannered, archaic voice (“I vow to call you on the morrow!”) that may try some readers’ patience but provides comedic moments in her mixed metaphors and the curt responses she receives: “Put a cork in it,” growls her sister. The plot is as light as pastry filling, but young romantics may recognize themselves in Polly and in her puzzlement over the way love and attraction happen in the twenty-first century, beyond the pages of books.

Okay, this book is silly at best. The way Polly talks is annoying and incredibly stupid. It is not funny and there does not seem to be any point to it.

She is just a pretentious shallow and immature little girl, and I as a reader kept wondering why she is supposed to be the protagonist of this story. Of course the pace is slow and there isn't much of a plot, but the stupidity that is Polly goes beyond anything.

It seemed to me that this girl was so incredibly messed up with her selfishness and her meddling for such a young child, that she would become the worst kind of adult. The fact that both the author and her parents view her monstrous behaviour as cute and treat her with tolerance and smiles, made me hate them as well.

This book gets two points for the most beautiful cover ever, and for a very sweet boy who appears to be the only normal character in this book and for some reason wants to go out with Polly (obviously that means he is not that normal after all). It is also full of delicous smells, which made my mouth water.

I wanted to read this book for its references to Jane Austen's books and Green Gables.

These books are ashamed, I am sure, that they were mentioned in this book at all.

Rating: 2/5

Lost in The River of Grass by Ginny Rorby

2011-03-22T05:34:00.000-07:00

A science-class field trip to the Everglades is supposed to be fun, but Sarah's new at Glades Academy, and her fellow freshmen aren't exactly making her feel welcome. When an opportunity for an unauthorized side trip on an airboat presents itself, it seems like a perfect escape--an afternoon without feeling like a sore thumb. But one simple oversight turns a joyride into a race for survival across the river of grass. Sarah will have to count on her instincts--and a guy she barely knows--if they have any hope of making it back alive.

This is one of these books that I hesitate to review, because it is so good I am afraid my review won't do justice to it. It is simply amazing.

It is an adventure in nature, and not green-grass-lovely-flowers-butterflies-dancing-around nature. No. This is wild nature in all its glory, with aligators, biting insects, snakes and mud. Lots of mud. What a city girl with a sensitive streak and a bred in nature boy do once they realize they have to survive out there is simple:

they freak out.

The start by being selfish and cranky and fighting with each other because that's how teenagers express their fear. Then they work with each other and try to look after each other. They end up finding themselves and growing into adults, right there in the 'jungle'.

There is of course a budding romance between them, but it isn't all lovey-dovey. It is my favourite kind of romance, the romance that is born from friendship, from learning to work and fight and survive together. They discover each other's beauty, they discover the beauty within them, they discover the beauty around them, a wild, unstoppable, dangerous beauty, that is beyond their wildest imagination.

They become different persons, they are transformed.

Although this book isn't christian fiction and has no element of christianity whatsoever, it brought me infinite closer to God, and it made me tear up in gratitude and amazement to the Maker of such wonders, of such beauty both in nature and in the heart of a teenage boy and girl.

Both characters are quite immature and sometimes silly at the beginning of the story, but that made them so much more realistic and likeable to me. It also made their journey that much more worth, both to them and to me.

Rating: 5/5

P.S. I read it on the NetGalley, but I am soooo buying it, too. It is out now.

Love Inspired Historical Covers

2011-03-22T05:14:00.000-07:00

Recently, I do not buy as many Love Inspired Historical books as I used to, because I have been disappointed at the repetitive and really poor writing of a few ones I read last year, so I decided to take a break.

However, by visiting Amazon.com and CBD I found some totally delicious covers of upcoming books (most of them are not released yet) and decided I had to post about them.

I don't know if I will be reading all of them, but I am almost tempted to order them for the sake of their covers.

These are only a few of them.

Hmmm.... I'm beginning to see a theme here... too many brides?

Anyway, I just love these covers. Now, if only the actual books were guaranteed to be just as good...

Let me know what you think, and God bless :)

2011-03-18T08:22:00.000-07:00

Balancing on

one wounded wing...

the rest of the adventures in solitude here

An Award!!!!!

2011-03-17T05:19:00.000-07:00

Bella, from Cheezyfeetbooks gave me this wonderful award some time ago.

I didn't have the time to post about it until now, so here it is:

The rules

1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.
2. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you've newly discovered.
3. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Lovely Blogs

I wanted to include only read worthy blogs, that I totally love to follow and read their every post, and that feature books that I read and am interested in. I think the readers of this blog would love to follow these blogs, if they don't already do so.

So I came up with only six. Please note that the second one isn't a book blog.

Most of the others I have found out through YouTube and I watch their videos daily.

You guys all have really lovely blogs, and I am so glad they exist and are often updated because I love to read them!

Have a wonderful day everyone and God bless :)

An "UnReview": Mr and Mrs Fitzwilliam Darcy Two Shall Become One by Sharon Lathan

2011-03-17T04:52:00.000-07:00

This is going to be an anti-review, of a 'book' (I hesitate to call such rubbish books, as I think it is an insult to the real books) that is supposedly a sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

First of all, this is a lie.

It is not a sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, it's a sequel to Keira Knightley's film of 2004 (give or take a year or two, I am not sure, I watched it with great distaste due to the fact that it's much different from the beloved book.)

That means of course, that there are some things that vastly differ from the actual book, for example when the happy couple reminisce on their courtship, they think back on the movie's hot scenes -that never took place- and not on the book's actual ones.

Secondly, the 'author' plainly states at the prologue that she hadn't read P&P until she saw the above mentioned movie. Now, that should give you a first impression of the quality of her writing, since she had no experience with classical authors while she was growing up. From where did she get the talent and the skill to write a novel -and a historical one at that-, when she started writing the next minute she watched a film?

I wish I could say here that her writing reminds of fanfiction, but no. It isn't even that good.

Which brings us to the third point.

This isn't a book, it isn't a novel, it isn't even a story.

It's just plain, descriptive and graphic sex. With all the details. Over and Over again. The characters are married. So what? That doesn't stop the book from being pornography.

After Darcy and Elizabeth got married, they had sex.

I know that, it goes without saying. However, I am not really interested in knowing what exactly they did in the bedroom, how many times, or in the knowledge that they did absolutely nothing between their endless nights and days of passion.

There is one last thing I want to say about this book that made me feel infuriated at first and then unclean and dirty.

After the final chapter, the writer has a page of thanks to various people.

At the bottom of the page, she thanks Jesus and says that God is her Rock.

I felt really ashamed for a minute after reading this, ashamed that I too am called a Christian.

I have no idea how a person can claim to believe in God and write pornography. It would be best if she had left God out of it. The 'book' is her own, and she can do whatever she likes with it. Bot God is God, and if I cried when I read this, I think He may have cried too.

Rating: On, no. This doesn't even deserve a rating.

P.S. I really didn't want to pollute my blog with the review of this.... this, but my husband begged me to do it, when he saw what condition I was in after having read it, so that other readers may be warned. I had actually read a few good reviews about it, and that's why I bought it without a second thought, its cover looking so serious and classic and all. If only I had read the first page where it says she hadn't even read the book until recently, I would have been spared the pain that was this... this thing that looks like a book.

Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

2011-03-14T06:07:00.000-07:00

I was rather disappointed in this high school romance between two kids from different backgrounds. She is white, rich and seemingly perfect, he is Mexican, poor and in a gang. Both however are facing difficult situations in their current lives and have pain and frustration in their hearts.

This sounds like a very interesting premise, but the book didn't actually deliver.

First of all, this book is leaden with stereotypes, which diminished my respect both for the characters and the author. Also, the pace was really slow, so much so in fact that by the time the romance was beginning to bud between the protagonists, I was beginning to lose my interest.

However, my greatest problem was with the romance between them.

It felt so fake, so contrived and so shallow.

If you know what I mean, that kind of ruined the whole thing for me. I couldn't believe that they really cared for each other, except in a few instances, which however were soon ruined by their sappy lines afterwards.

I had heard so many good things about this book, so maybe my expectations were too high. I have kept the book in my bookshelf, however. It wasn't horrible, just not all it was cracked up to be. (And I really hated the cover which didn't help at all.)

Rating: 2/5

Bookmark: North and South

2011-03-11T16:02:00.000-08:00

I recently made this bookmark I am rather fond of. It is from the movie adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South by BBC.

A couple of the icons I used are from Fanpop.

I have also made a wallpaper of this film sometime in the past

"Don't mock my own deep feeling of unworthiness."

-John Thornton

The Whispered Kiss by Marcia Lynn McClure

2011-03-08T14:07:00.000-08:00

This clean romance retelling of Beauty and the Beast is a beautiful book.

In this story the Beast is no beast transformed by magic, but a man whom the heroine loved previously but who has turned into a bitter, vindictive person of wealth and fortune. He vows to marry her for revenge, she vows to make him human again.

Everyone who has read a Marcia Lynn Mcclure book before must be familiar with the peculiar edition they come in and I will agree with some other reviewers about the typo mistakes and about some words (adjectives, verbes) used once too often in the same scene, in the same page even.

But these flaws were in my opinion very very easily overlooked in view of the awesome plot and characters. I couldn't believe there was a book like that and the hero was what i have always dreamt a romantic hero should be.

Also, the love story between him and the heroine was beautilully long-standing in time and in commitment.
I also want to say that this story does not follow exactly in the steps of the original "beauty and the beast" story, however i found it terribly refreshing and clever. For the beast's ugliness is in his soul and there is no other magic in the story than that of the heroine's love and devotion to him.

That's why i could relate to this story.

This is my favorite retelling of Beauty and the Beast, and I have read quite a few.

Rating: 4/5