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 31, 2015 in Reading, Review / 2 Comments
A Whole New World by
Liz Braswell Series: Twisted Tales #1 Publisher: Disney Press (2015)
eARC (336 pages)
Via: NetGalley Rating: Also by this author: Once Upon A Dream Also in this series: Once Upon A Dream Reading Challenges: 2015 Fairytale Retelling,
Read 2015 Synopsis
This dark and daring version of Aladdin twists the original story with the question: What if Jafar was the first one to summon the Genie?
When Jafar steals the Genie’s lamp, he uses his first two wishes to become sultan and the most powerful sorcerer in the world. Agrabah lives in fear, waiting for his third and final wish.To stop the power-mad ruler, Aladdin and the deposed Princess Jasmine must unite the people of Agrabah in rebellion. But soon their fight for freedom threatens to tear the kingdom apart in a costly civil war.
What happens next? A Street Rat becomes a leader. A princess becomes a revolutionary. And readers will never look at the story of Aladdin in the same way again.
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Tagged as 3 star, Fairytale Retelling Challenge, NetGalley, Read 2015, You Read How Many Books Challenge
Posted August 27, 2015 in Faith, Reading, Review / 3 Comments
An Introduction to the Vocation of Consecrated Virginity Lived in the World by
United States Association of Consecrated VIrgins Series: ORDO VIRGINUM #1 Publisher: USACV (2012)
Paperback (145 pages)
Rating: Reading Challenges: 2015 Re-Reading,
Read 2015 Synopsis
An Ancient Rite Restored, for women living in the world.
Those who choose chastity have looked upon the face of Christ, its origin and inspiration.
They give themselves wholly to Christ, the Son of the ever-virgin Mary, and the heavenly Bridegroom of those who in his honor dedicate themselves to lasting virginity.
-Rite of Consecration to a Life of Virginity (24)
Consecrated by the diocesan Bishop, these women acquire a particular link with the Church, which they are committed to serve while remaining the world. Either alone or in association with others, they constitute a special eschatological image of the Heavenly Bride and of the life to come, when the Church will at last fully live her love for Christ the Bridegroom.
-Pope Saint John Paul II in Vita Consecrata
The Order of Virgins is a special expression of consecrated life that blossomed anew in the Church after the Second Vatican Council. Its roots, however, are ancient; they date back to the dawn of the apostolic times. With unheard of daring, certain women began to open their hearts to the desire of consecrated virginity … the desire to give the whole of their being to God. (This desire) had its first extraordinary fulfillment in the Virgin of Nazareth and her “yes.”
-Pope Benedict XVI to the 2008 Rome International Congress/Pilgrimage of Consecrated Virgins
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Tagged as 4 star, Catholic, Catholic Book, Consecrated Virginity, Read 2015, Rereading Challenge, Vocation, You Read How Many Books Challenge
Posted August 24, 2015 in Reading, Review / 2 Comments
The Darkest Part of the Forest by
Holly Black Publisher: Little Brown Books (2015)
Hardcover (324 pages)
Rating: Also by this author: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown,
The Queen of Nothing Reading Challenges: Read 2015 Synopsis
Children can have a cruel, absolute sense of justice. Children can kill a monster and feel quite proud of themselves. A girl can look at her brother and believe they’re destined to be a knight and a bard who battle evil. She can believe she’s found the thing she’s been made for.
Hazel lives with her brother, Ben, in the strange town of Fairfold where humans and fae exist side by side. The faeries’ seemingly harmless magic attracts tourists, but Hazel knows how dangerous they can be, and she knows how to stop them. Or she did, once.
At the center of it all, there is a glass coffin in the woods. It rests right on the ground and in it sleeps a boy with horns on his head and ears as pointed as knives. Hazel and Ben were both in love with him as children. The boy has slept there for generations, never waking.
Until one day, he does…
As the world turns upside down, Hazel tries to remember her years pretending to be a knight. But swept up in new love, shifting loyalties, and the fresh sting of betrayal, will it be enough?
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Tagged as 4 star, Read 2015, You Read How Many Books Challenge
