The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda’s Voice.
Rules
- Grab a book, any book.
- Turn to page 56 (or 56% on ebook).
- Find any sentence that grabs you.
- Post it.
- Link it at Freda’s Voice.
Review: Of Shadow & Stone
Of Shadow & Stone by Michelle Muto Publisher: Skyscape (2015)
eARC (291 pages)
Via: NetGalley
Rating:
Reading Challenges: 2015 Color Coded, Read 2015
Synopsis
Gargoyles were created centuries ago to protect mankind, but something went horribly wrong. Now only the sentinel—a mortal chosen to control the stone beasts—stands between them and their human prey.
When the latest sentinel is killed, Kate Mercer is destined to take his place. But Kate has enough going on in her life—like a skyrocketing film career, a delusional ex-boyfriend, and a crazed stalker who will stop at nothing to get to her. But the powers that be have decided, and Kate is transported to Shadow Wood, a mysterious castle that serves as a sanctuary for the supernatural. Although beautiful, Shadow Wood is no safe place for a mere mortal. Yet Kate is drawn not only to the gargoyles but also to Ian McGuire, a charming novelist who might be in the greatest danger of all.
As Kate decides whether to accept the most perilous role of her life, she discovers there are more secrets than answers within the castle’s walls. Her survival and Ian’s depend on her ability to master the gargoyles before time runs out. Is fate really cast in stone?
Find the book: Goodreads
My Favorite Ash Wednesday Hymn
It is crazy to think that today is already Ash Wednesday. It seems like Christmas just ended and now it’s the middle of February and the beginning of Lent.
One of my favorite songs ever is “Ashes” which is typically only sung on Ash Wednesday. So, on this Ash Wednesday, I offer you a brief meditation on the four verses. Sadly, one of the best videos I found does not have all of the verses. 🙁 Therefore, the following verses are from memory.
Review: The Turnip Princess
The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales by Franz Xaver Von Schonwerth Publisher: Penguin Classics (2015)
eARC (288 pages)
Via: NetGalley
Rating:
Reading Challenges: 2015 Alphabet Soup, Read 2015
Synopsis
With this volume, the holy trinity of fairy tales – the Brothers Grimm, Charles Perrault, and Hans Christian Andersen – becomes a quartet. In the 1850s, Franz Xaver von Schönwerth traversed the forests, lowlands, and mountains of northern Bavaria to record fairy tales, gaining the admiration of even the Brothers Grimm. Most of Schönwerth’s work was lost – until a few years ago, when thirty boxes of manuscripts were uncovered in a German municipal archive. Now, for the first time, Schönwerth’s lost fairy tales are available in English. Violent, dark, and full of action, and upending the relationship between damsels in distress and their dragon-slaying heroes, these more than seventy stories bring us closer than ever to the unadorned oral tradition in which fairy tales are rooted, revolutionizing our understanding of a hallowed genre.
For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Find the book: Goodreads
Review: Water Song
Water Song by Suzanne Weyn Series: Once Upon A Time
Publisher: Simon Pulse (2006)
Paperback (189 pages)
Rating:
Also by this author: The Night Dance
Also in this series: Snow, Sunlight and Shadow, The Night Dance
Reading Challenges: 2015 Fairytale Retelling, 2015 Re-Reading, Read 2015
Synopsis
Young, beautiful, and wealthy, Emma Pennington is accustomed to a very comfortable life. Although war rages abroad, she hardly feels its effect. She and her mother travel from their home in Britain to the family estate in Belgium, never imagining that the war could reach them there. But it does.
Soon Emma finds herself stranded in a war-torn country, utterly alone. Enemy troops fight to take over her estate, leaving her with no way to reach her family, and no way out.
With all of her attention focused on survival and escape, Emma hardly expects to find love. But the war will teach her that life is unpredictable, people aren’t always what they seem, and magic is lurking everywhere.
Find the book: Goodreads