Posted April 13, 2015 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments
Shadow and Bone by
Leigh Bardugo Series: The Grisha Trilogy #1 Publisher: Square Fish (2012)
Paperback (372 pages)
Via: Library Rating: Also by this author: Siege and Storm,
Ruin and Rising,
Six of Crows Also in this series: Siege and Storm,
Ruin and Rising Reading Challenges: Read 2015 Synopsis
Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.
Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.
Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.
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Tagged as 5 star, Catholic, Catholic Connections, Library, Read 2015, You Read How Many Books Challenge
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!
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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.
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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 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 4, 2015 in Faith, Reading, Review / 0 Comments
I just finished this book and did not want to wait to share it. I really loved it. I also think that it fits nicely with the Triduum and the Easter season.
I pray that every one of you has a wonderful Easter weekend!
Seven Revolutions by
Mike Aquilina,
James L Papandrea Publisher: Image (2015)
Hardcover (256 pages)
Via: Blogging for Books Rating: Also by this author: History's Queen Reading Challenges: Read 2015 Synopsis
Combining history, politics, and religion, Mike Aquilina and Jim Papandrea provide practical lessons to be learned from the struggles of the Early Church, lessons that can be applied to the day-to-day lives of Christian readers.
Prolonged, multiple wars in the Middle East. Waves of immigrants crossing the borders. Ongoing economic recession. Increasing political polarization, often with religious overtones. Conflicts over ideologies that pit the progressive against the traditional. Sound familiar? These conditions not only describe the United States, but the situation of the Roman Empire in the third century. That situation led to religious persecution and the eventual collapse of the empire. In the middle of the third century, the Roman Empire was roughly the same age as the United States is now.
In this book, authors Mike Aquilina and Jim Papandrea examine the practices of the Early Church—a body of Christians living in Rome—and show how the lessons learned from these ancient Christians can apply to Christians living in the United States today. The book moves from the Christian individual, to the family, the church and the world, explaining how the situation of the Early Church is not only familiar to modern Christian readers, but that its values are still relevant.
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Tagged as 5 star, All Time Favorites, Blogging for Books, Catholic, Catholic Book, Catholic Connections, Easter, Read 2015, You Read How Many Books Challenge
