Posted April 9, 2015 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments
Moonlands by
Steven Savile Series: Moonlands #1 Publisher: CreateSpace (2015)
eARC (484 pages)
Via: NetGalley Rating: Reading Challenges: Read 2015 Synopsis
Ashley Hawthorne thinks of herself as the Cuckoo Girl. No matter where she is it feels like she doesn’t quite belong.
Everything changes when her eccentric aunt, Elspeth Grimm, leaves her the key to a safety deposit box in a bank that was destroyed during the Blitz. That box contains the first part of her true inheritance: an umbrella, a battered old notebook, a pair of aviator’s goggles and a locket. Each of these gifts is a unique part of who she really is.
Elspeth is a Grimm, a descendent of the brothers who purged this world of monsters by trapping them within the Concord. She is the Oracle. A keeper of all the knowledge we have amassed about the creatures of the Fae and other worlds. And someone intent on destroying the Concord has murdered her!
When Ashley looks through the goggles that night she sees curious creatures on the roof of the house across the street watching her. To the naked eye they look like crows but they are not. It is the first glimpse of the other place—the place where she will finally belong.
The journal is crammed full of things, but there’s no actual writing in it. Ash decides she’s going to use the book as a journal, and begins the first entry: My name is Ashley Hawthorne. The ink fades so she writes it again. My name is Ashley Hawthorne. Again the ink fades. She tries again and again until the ink scratches out an entirely different first line: That is not who you are!
Find the book: Goodreads
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Tagged as 4 star, Catholic, Catholic Connections, NetGalley, Read 2015, You Read How Many Books Challenge
Posted April 8, 2015 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments
Unhinged by
A G Howard Series: Splintered #2 Publisher: Amulet Books (2013)
eBook (387 pages)
Via: Library Rating: Also by this author: Splintered Also in this series: Splintered Reading Challenges: 2015 Fairytale Retelling,
2015 Finishing the Series,
Read 2015 Synopsis
Alyssa Gardner has been down the rabbit hole and faced the bandersnatch. She saved the life of Jeb, the guy she loves, and escaped the machinations of the disturbingly seductive Morpheus and the vindictive Queen Red. Now all she has to do is graduate high school and make it through prom so she can attend the prestigious art school in London she’s always dreamed of.
That would be easier without her mother, freshly released from an asylum, acting overly protective and suspicious. And it would be much simpler if the mysterious Morpheus didn’t show up for school one day to tempt her with another dangerous quest in the dark, challenging Wonderland—where she (partly) belongs.
As prom and graduation creep closer, Alyssa juggles Morpheus’s unsettling presence in her real world with trying to tell Jeb the truth about a past he’s forgotten. Glimpses of Wonderland start to bleed through her art and into her world in very disturbing ways, and Morpheus warns that Queen Red won’t be far behind.
If Alyssa stays in the human realm, she could endanger Jeb, her parents, and everyone she loves. But if she steps through the rabbit hole again, she’ll face a deadly battle that could cost more than just her head.
Find the book: Goodreads
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Tagged as 2 star, 3 star, Catholic, Catholic Connections, Fairy Tales, Fairytale Retelling Challenge, Finishing the Series Challenge, Library, Read 2015, You Read How Many Books Challenge
Posted April 7, 2015 in Reading / 6 Comments
Tagged as Top Ten Tuesday
Posted April 6, 2015 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments
Sunlight and Shadow by
Cameron Dokey Series: Once Upon A Time Publisher: Simon Pulse (2004)
Paperback (192 pages)
Rating: Also by this author: Winter's Child,
Wild Orchid Also in this series: Snow,
Water Song,
The Night Dance Reading Challenges: 2015 Color Coded,
2015 Fairytale Retelling,
2015 Re-Reading,
Read 2015 Synopsis
In a time when the world was young and many things were quite commonplace that are now entirely forgotten, Sarastro, Mage of the Day, wed Pamina, the Queen of the Night. And in this way was the world complete, for light was joined to dark. For all time would they be joined together. Only the ending of the world could tear them apart. In other words, in the days in which my parents married, there was no such thing as divorce….
Thus begins the tale of Mina, a girl-child born on the longest night of the darkest month of the year. When her father looked at her, all he saw was what he feared: By birth, by name, by nature, she belonged to the Dark. So when Mina turned sixteen, her father took her away from shadow and brought her into sunlight.
In retaliation, her mother lured a handsome prince into a deadly agreement: If he frees Mina, he can claim her as his bride.
Now Mina and her prince must endure deadly trials — of love and fate and family — before they can truly live happily ever after….
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Tagged as 4 star, Catholic, Catholic Connections, Color Coded Challenge, Fairy Tales, Fairytale Retelling Challenge, Read 2015, Rereading Challenge, You Read How Many Books Challenge
Posted April 5, 2015 in Faith / 2 Comments
“O wonder of your humble care for us!
O love, O charity beyond all telling,
to ransom a slave you gave away your Son!”
-Exsultet (The Easter Proclamation)
I pray that you all have a most blessed Easter season as we celebrate the Resurrection of the Savior of the world. May we always remember that, out of His great love, the God of the Universe became man so as to die for our sins. How blessed are we in our God’s care for us.
“You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified.
He has been raised; He is not here.”
-Mark 16:6
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Tagged as Easter