Posted September 10, 2015 in Reading, Review / 4 Comments
Seraphina by
Rachel Hartman Series: Seraphina #1 Publisher: Random House (2012)
Hardcover (464 pages)
Via: Library Rating: Reading Challenges: Read 2015 Synopsis
Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty’s anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.
Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered—in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen’s Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life.
In her exquisitely written fantasy debut, Rachel Hartman creates a rich, complex, and utterly original world. Seraphina’s tortuous journey to self-acceptance is one readers will remember long after they’ve turned the final page.
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Tagged as 5 star, All Time Favorites, Library, Read 2015, You Read How Many Books Challenge
Posted September 3, 2015 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments
Forsworn by
Emily Wibberley Series: The Last Oracle #2 Publisher: CreateSpace (2015)
eARC (410 pages)
Via: Author Rating: Also by this author: Sacrificed,
The Commander,
Divined Also in this series: Sacrificed,
The Commander,
Divined Reading Challenges: Read 2015 Synopsis
Clio can see the future, but what she doesn’t know about her past could destroy her.
It’s been a year since Clio made her sacrifice to the Deities and embraced her destiny as the Oracle to save her people.
The only family she has left is a brother who wants her dead.
The prince, her oldest friend, is a king with his own agenda.
And the man who once loved her, now hates her.
All she can do is try to forget about Riece, the enemy commander whose heart she broke to save his life, as she serves the Deities. Her days are filled with Visions and bloodshed in a never-ending war against the Untouched. To add to her problems, she must pose as King Derik’s mistress to conceal her forbidden powers from the Emperor’s spies.
When Riece unexpectedly returns to Sheehan with a new and beautiful ally, Clio knows she must put him out of her mind once and for all, but first, they are thrust together into battle against a mysterious Untouched warrior with otherworldly power. To reclaim her city, she must team up with the man she hurt, the man she still loves but can never be with, and finally confront the questions about her origin—questions with answers that Clio may not be prepared to face.
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Tagged as 5 star, All Time Favorites, Read 2015, You Read How Many Books Challenge
Posted September 2, 2015 in Faith, Reading, Review / 2 Comments
And You Are Christ's by
Thomas Dubay Publisher: Ignatius Press (1987)
Paperback (148 pages)
Rating: Reading Challenges: 2015 Re-Reading,
Read 2015 Synopsis
Father Thomas Dubay, one of the foremost authorities on the religious life, discusses one of the most important but not fully appreciated or understood charisms of the consecrated life, the charism of virginity. Although the idea of virginity is unpopular and even despised in modern society, Dubay emphasizes that the importance of evangelical virginity is rooted in its Biblical foundation, both in the Old and New Testaments.
Examining in detail what the call to virginity is and how it is integrated into the whole of consecrated life, Dubay presents his study in such a way as to be of importance to men as well. Noting that a woman, because of her feminine nature and traits, can image and live the Church’s wedded relationship to Christ more realistically, Dubay points out that men with the celibate charism are also members of the virgin Church that is wedded to Christ, just as in the Old Testament the People of God was a virgin bride wedded to Yahweh. The common and distinct elements of male and female consecrated love are fully captured in these pages.
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Tagged as 5 star, All Time Favorites, Catholic, Catholic Book, Consecrated Virginity, Read 2015, Rereading Challenge, Vocation, You Read How Many Books Challenge
Posted August 12, 2015 in Reading, Review / 2 Comments
The Wrath and the Dawn by
Renee Ahdieh Series: The Wrath and the Dawn #1 (2015)
Hardcover (388 pages)
Rating: Also by this author: The Rose and the Dagger Also in this series: The Rose and the Dagger Reading Challenges: 2015 Fairytale Retelling,
Read 2015 Synopsis
A sumptuous and epically told love story inspired by A Thousand and One Nights.
Every dawn brings horror to a different family in a land ruled by a killer. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, takes a new bride each night only to have her executed at sunrise. So it is a suspicious surprise when sixteen-year-old Shahrzad volunteers to marry Khalid. But she does so with a clever plan to stay alive and exact revenge on the Caliph for the murder of her best friend and countless other girls. Shazi’s wit and will, indeed, get her through to the dawn that no others have seen, but with a catch . . . she’s falling in love with the very boy who killed her dearest friend.
She discovers that the murderous boy-king is not all that he seems and neither are the deaths of so many girls. Shazi is determined to uncover the reason for the murders and to break the cycle once and for all.
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Tagged as 5 star, All Time Favorites, Fairy Tales, Fairytale Retelling Challenge, Read 2015, You Read How Many Books Challenge
Posted August 10, 2015 in Reading, Review / 2 Comments
Daughter of Deep Silence by
Carrie Ryan Publisher: Dutton Children's (2015)
Hardcover (375 pages)
Rating: Reading Challenges: Read 2015 Synopsis
I’m the daughter of murdered parents.
I’m the friend of a dead girl.
I’m the lover of my enemy.
And I will have my revenge.
In the wake of the devastating destruction of the luxury yacht Persephone, just three souls remain to tell its story—and two of them are lying. Only Frances Mace knows the terrifying truth, and she’ll stop at nothing to avenge the murders of everyone she held dear. Even if it means taking down the boy she loves and possibly losing herself in the process.
Sharp and incisive, Daughter of Deep Silence by bestselling author Carrie Ryan is a deliciously smart revenge thriller that examines perceptions of identity, love, and the lengths to which one girl is willing to go when she thinks she has nothing to lose.
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Tagged as 5 star, All Time Favorites, Read 2015, You Read How Many Books Challenge
