{Review} Crown of Midnight – Celaena’s Back!

Item: Crown of Midnight
Rating: 5
Author: Amanda Marie

Posted January 4, 2016 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments

{Review} Crown of Midnight – Celaena’s Back!

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas
Series: Throne of Glass #2
Publisher: Bloomsbury (2013)
Paperback (418 pages)
Rating:
Also by this author: Throne of Glass, A Court of Thorns and Roses, Heir of Fire
Also in this series: Throne of Glass, Heir of Fire, Queen of Shadows
Reading Challenges: Read 2015

Synopsis

An assassin's loyalties are always in doubt but her heart never wavers.
Assassin Celaena Sardothien won a brutal contest to become the King's Champion. But she is far from loyal to the crown. Though she hides her secret vigilantly, her deadly charade becomes difficult when she realizes she is not the only one seeking justice. No one is above questioning her allegiance—not the Crown Prince Dorian; not Chaol, the Captain of the Guard; not even her best friend, Nehemia, a foreign princess with a rebel heart.
Then, one terrible night, the secrets they have all been keeping lead to an unspeakable tragedy. As Celaena's world shatters, she will be forced to decide once and for all where her true loyalties lie ... and whom she is willing to fight for.

Find the book: Goodreads, Amazon, Book Depository

Tagged as 5 star, All Time Favorites, Read 2015, You Read How Many Books Challenge

Happy Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God! & {F56}

Posted January 1, 2016 in Faith, Reading / 6 Comments

Happy Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God!

So I’m going to break all of the rules again, just like last week. If you aren’t Catholic, then you probably don’t realize that one week after Christmas (today) is another really important day. Today is the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. In the Catholic Church, today is a Holy Day of Obligation (like Christmas) where Catholics are obliged to go to Mass. I love this feast day so much and I wanted to share it with all of you. Last year, I wrote a little post about the Hail Mary, this year I want to share some quotes from one of my favorite books.

From Hail, Holy Queen by Scott Hahn:

I sat on the bed, then dropped to my knees and prayed an apology to Jesus.
I felt I’d let Him down by letting His mother down. I felt as if I’d run
with the ball to the one-yard line, only to fumble short of the goal.
I said, “I’m sorry, Lord, for my weakness and failure.” I prayed a Hail Mary.
~page 156~

Tagged as Catholic, Catholic Book, Jesus, Mary

2015 in Review (& End of Year and Statistics Surveys)

Posted December 31, 2015 in Life, Reading / 10 Comments

Big Things That Happened in 2015

I mentioned the school talent show in which the teachers sang Yellow Submarine.
I worked at a Catholic summer camp for the summer and had a blast. I wrote about it and shared some pictures.
I survived over a week of blinding smoke due to forest fires. It was insane. I talked about that here.
I had my very first ever Blogversary which was exciting.

Analysis of Books I Read in 2015

This was the very first year that I ever kept track of the books that I read. My stats have amazed me.

I read 141 books.
Almost all of the books I read this year were 4 or 5 stars. I must be pretty good at choosing books I know I’ll enjoy.
Over two-thirds of the books I read this year were from the library or books I own.
Over half of the books I read this year were hard copied (Paperback or Hardcover) while over a quarter were ebooks. Audiobooks made up the rest.
About a quarter of the books I read this year were debuts.

I made some pretty nifty looking pie charts in Excel (you can just pretend they are totally awesome).

Tagged as Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge, Birthday Month Reading Challenge, Catholic Book, Color Coded Challenge, Fairytale Retelling Challenge, Finishing the Series Challenge, Mythology Reading Challenge, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis, Read 2015, Rereading Challenge, What's In a Name Reading Challenge, You Read How Many Books Challenge

December 2015 in Review

Posted December 30, 2015 in Faith, Life, Reading / 4 Comments

It has been a crazy month and so I don’t have a whole lot for you other than the books I read and reviewed this month. My 2015 in Review post will be coming up tomorrow and this is a lot more interesting than this one. This post is, I know, rather pathetic but here it is anyway.

Things that Happened in December

Christmas!
I am (still) kitty-sitting for my sister’s two kitties while she and the rest of my family are visiting family in another state.
Somehow I managed to read only 5-star books this month; I’m not sure how that happened.

Books I Read in December

Tagged as Catholic Book, Christmas, Jesus, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Saint John Paul II

{TTT} Anticipated for 2016

Posted December 29, 2015 in Reading / 4 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly link-up hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week’s list is the Top Ten Books I’m Anticipating for the 1st Half of 2016. Well, I’m going to list these ten by publication date. If they share the same publication date, then author’s last name comes into play. One of them isn’t technically the first half of 2016 but I don’t care. I still NEED it! These title all have such gorgeous covers that I could say that I picked them only for their covers… and it wouldn’t necessarily be a lie. With the covers and the synopses, I can’t wait to read these books!

Tagged as Top Ten Tuesday