Paper Roses by Amanda Cabot

Paper Roses by Amanda Cabot was surprisingly good.  I really enjoyed reading this historical romance novel.  It was not too mushy or cheesy which was very nice.  I also like that it was a little longer than most kindle books that you can download for free.  Yes, this book right now is free on the kindle.  It is part of a trilogy, but is the type of book that can be read by itself without you needing to read the other books.  It ends without leaving any loose ends.  I like being able to read a few books without having to read the entire set.

Sarah has traveled from Philedelpia to San Antonio as a mail-order bride.  She has a 2-year-old sister who she must take care of as well since both her parents died in Philedelphia.  She arrives in San Antonio to be greeted by her future brother-in-law Clay, who informs her that her betrothed, Austin, has been murdured.  Clay offers to pay for her return, but she refuses and starts working at a store and later starts a school in order to provide for her and her sister.

Clay is determined to find his brother's killer, but is having no luck.  No one knows who could have killed him.  There is also someone who keeps stealing and breaking fences in the area and a young french man is being framed for these occurances.  Later in the book someone starts to try and hurt Sarah as well.  Together, Clay and Sarah work to overcome their own grudges and forgive others for hurting them in order to move on and fall in love with eachother.  This book ties in a lot of spiritual moments as well about trusting in God and that there is a reason for everything that is done.  We must forgive all and trust in the Lord.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

I have started alternately between reading the same literary book that my husband reads with books that I want to reat and that interest me.  I'm not saying that good literature is boring or uninteresting, it just doesn't pop out to me like other books that have little literary value such as the McClure books.  This is one book that my husband wanted to have read for his English class.

I very much enjoyed this short book.  It is a very easy, quick read and gives you a nice insight into the puritan beliefs and witch trials that happened in the past.  It is set during the early days of America in Connecticut when England was still trying to take control of the citizens and tax them for the land that they were originally given for free.  Kit grew up in Barbados, but must come to America to her only living relatives when her grandfather dies.  When she arrives she is immediately targeted as being different and possibly a witch.  Kit hates her life and must adjust to the completely different life in America.  She is used to having slaves and never having to work.  Now she much work hard and can never wear her fancy cloths and must attend church because of her relatives Puritan beliefs.

She finds a friend in an old lady who lives by Blackbird Pond, but is thought to be a witch because she is a Quaker.  Speare adds a nice balance in the book by having suitors court Kit, but she also keeps the interest of a young sailor involved since he is friends with the witch of Blackbird Pond.  I must admit this book drove me crazy with the Puritan beliefs and thoughts on how things should be done and I was really worried that this would end up much like The Crucible, but it did not.  A good read for all.

The Chimney Sweep Charm by Marcia Lynn McClure

Yes, another Marcia Lynn McClure book.  I promise this will be the last for a long time.  I actually really enjoyed this short novella.  It has so much potential to be a great book if Marcia will take time to add to it. I'm sure she eventually will since she seems to write short stories and years later make it into an actual book.  This is a good book to read over Christmas since it takes place over christmas time and talks about hot chocolate, christmas movies, and snuggling with your honey.  I think this novella appealed to me a bit more than the last couple books I've read of hers because it is set in our time period and focus's on things that are important.  Things such as military service and veterans, friends, love, and enjoying the time you have.  Don't let things pass you by because of fear or even price.

Baylee is the young lady in our story who loves handbells and is a handbell player for the Dickens Village.  She has always wanted a charm bracelet and very carefully chooses her sterling silver charms based on whether it really means something to her or not.  If it is a charm that she will always cherish, she will splurge and buy it only because it is something that will always be important to her.  Justice is our handsome guy of the story who served in the military, but was honorably discharged after being seriously injured.  He now works for the FBI and they are stationed at the Dickens Village to catch a Jack the Ripper copycat killer.  He doesn't waste time asking Baylee out since he knows what it is like to possibly lose your life.  They are not too mushy like some books and it is a realistic story.  My only complaint is that the story just skimmed the service and never got into any real depth.  Like I said, my hope is Marcia will one day really take this book to the next level and make it great.

A Literary Paris by Jamie Cox Robertson

I got this book for free through GoodReads.com.  They have a lot of giveaways that you can enter your name for so every couple of days I check out the first page and see if there are potentially any books that might be interesting to read.  So far I have won this book and one other after only being a member for a month.  Not bad.  I decided to enter for this book since I took a class in college that took a couple weeks to study the culture of France, mainly the difference between Paris and the rest of the country.  It was quite interesting and even though I think it would be fun to travel to Europe, I just don't want to do the actual traveling.  I want to get there and see everything, just not spend the money and time to do it.  Traveling just isn't that much fun for me.  Restless legs, little sleep, poor eating... yeah, not really for me.  So this book seemed like a fun way to read stories about Paris and get some personal insight into it and the places you might see.  Then, if I ever make it there, it would be fun to compare what other authors have said and get an opinion myself.  So, "A Literary Paris: Hemingway, Colette, Sedaris, and Others on the Uncommon Lure of the City of Light."  As the title says, there are a lot of exerpts from many famous authors on Paris.  I have not read the entire book yet since I just read an exerpt here and there, but I have enjoyed reading parts of writings from these authors that go into detail about the feel and look of certain cafe's and streets.  You get a feel for day and well and night life.  Jamie Cox Robertson even mentions in her preface that she like many other 'artists' feel a pull to go to Paris to open their creative minds and write, paint, perform, these amazingly inspired masterpieces.  It does not always work that way, but you get a glimpse into why so many feel the lure of this city.

The Haunting of Autumn Lake by Marcia Lynn McClure

I don't know if I have read too many of Marcia Lynn McClure's books or if this just did not live up to expectations.  Autumn is the daughter of Ransom Lake.  This sequeal to "The Visions of Ransom Lake" had potential but never really had a good climax or even a romance story.  Autumn's romance with the cowboy that shows up in her life didn't really build, it just happened quickly with no fun incidents like her mother had.  Autumn has her father's looks, but supposedly her mother's attitude.  You can tell Marcia tried to go more into depth with details and branch out a little with her writing.  I am proud of her for doing that and expanding her writing capabilities, I just wish it hadn't taken away from the story.  She also used the villian's son to be the one to molest Autumn.  Why not just bring in another villian instead of trying to pretty much rewrite "The Visions of Ransom Lake."  I like how she kept Ransom a major character in the story and even still had his intuitions.  Overall, a little bit of a dissapointment.

Land Keep (Farworld) by J. Scott Savage

I must say it took me a long time to finally get the courage to read the second book in the Farworld series, and am I glad I did.  I really was not a huge fan of the first book, Water Keep.  It just did not catch my attention and seemed so far fetched in Savage's descriptions of all the creatures.  Land Keep proved to capture my attention and was very enjoyable to read.  It had a lot of suspense and action and really put a twist on things in the last chapter.  I am excited to continue this series now.  

Marcus and Kyja found Water Keep in the first book and have a water elemental traveling with them.  They are now searching for Land Keep in order to get a land elemental to join their quest to open a portal between Earth and Farworld so they can both go back to their respective worlds.  Their quest brings them to a city where Keepers suck magic from you and give it to those in power.  Marcus and Kyja escape only to find themselves captured in a swamp and held captive by creatures that will kill you if you try to leave. This just happens to be the entrance to Land Keep, however, they find out that it has been 3,000 years since any land elementals have been in Farworld and so the entrance and land has been corrupted by the Dark Circle.  Marcus and Kyja, in order to find the land elementals, must pass a series of tests in order to find the land elementals.  Once they finally complete these tests, a pair of land elementals join their quest.  

Unfortunately, they must make a detour back to Terra ne Steric in order to save the city from the Keepers that have overtaken it.  Marcus must pass his biggest challenge yet or possibly destroy the world thinking he is cleansing it.  Kyja saves him from making this terrible mistake and the Keepers are destroyed and the Dark Circle is held back for a time.  Best of all, in pretty much the last sentence of the book we find out that the Water and Land Elementals are working with the Dark Circle and Marcus and Kyja are still going to find the last two elemental groups to help them.  Makes you wonder why the elementals are helping the Dark Circle and what will happen in the future books.

Inheritance by Christopher Paolini

I finally got around to reading the last book in the Inheritance Cycle.  It turned out good and I am glad to have finally been able to finish this series.  It seems like it took a very long time for Paolini to get this book out.  I am glad for the most part how things played out and where everyone ends up.  Thank you Paolini for not making everyone's ending a 'happily ever after' story.

Spoiler:

So if you have not read the book yet, then DO NOT READ FURTHER.  I usually try to steer clear of giving out too much information about a book, but in order to really state my feelings on this book I will have to say some things that may ruin the surprises and twists in this book.  So to start off with.  Why or why did Paolini have to make Arya a dragon rider.  Seriously.  She already becomes queen, why not make someone else the dragon rider.  I was happy to see Murtagh and Thorn live, it puts a little twist on things having Murtagh and Nasuada have feelings for one another, but it does seem fitting.  I love the twist of finding hidden dragan hearts and eggs.  It seems like a very logical thing for the riders to have done and especially to have everyone erase their memories of it in order to keep everything safe.  It was a very well thought out part of the story.  Lastly, I am glad to see that every race now has the ability to have a dragon rider.  This also seems fitting and a good way to unite all the races.  I am glad to see that Paolini was also smart enough to put in that not everyone would be happy to have Nasuada as queen and therefore even after the main battle, they are still fighting with one another and bands of rebels.  Mainly, my main complaint is making Arya a dragon rider.  Even the final battle was slightly anti-climatic and I think he could have spent a bit more time with the final fight between Galbatorix, Murtagh, and Eragon.  It would have even been interesting to actually hear from Thorn and Galbatorix's dragon a bit to see relationships between other dragon riders.  It sort of seemed like Paolini was done with the book and just skimmed over it.  He spends more time on other non-important details, but the actual climax of the book was lacking just a bit.  I am a little more critical of this book than others just because it is a great story (even though it has many similarities to Lord of the Rings).  I just expect perfection from a good story.

The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

 This is the second book in "The Heroes of Olympus" series which continues to follow Percy Jackson and introduce new demigods to save the world from Gaea.  I must admit I was slightly disappointed with the feel of this book.  Yes, we are introduced to two new demigods, Frank and Hazel.  Frank's life is dependent on a piece of wood and Hazel is brought back to life by Nico for a second chance at life as a daughter of Pluto (Hades).  So Percy shares the light with these two and I felt like his character just did not fit him like in "The Olympians" series.  He seems a little too grown up now and less of a main character.  I still enjoyed the book and can see that this book sets up for all seven characters to meet again in the third book.  I am hoping the third book will bring some good humor and interesting stories since we have Greeks and Romans being forced to work together and even better, we have the two heros of each camp finally meeting, Percy and Jason.

One thing I would like to mention is that I like having the Greek and Roman terms and way of life being compared side by side.  If you are like me, you tend to mix up the Roman and Greek gods, not realizing they are the same person, just a different time period.  You see the good of each time period as well as their weaknesses.  The Greeks tend to embrace technology while the Romans keep the old ways of life, but they also have a safe civilization for older demigods to live, while the Greeks do not have this or at least we have not been introduced to it yet.

GoodReads

I didn't have much time to read over the Christmas Season, however, I was introduced to a wonderful book site.  goodreads.  It took me a bit of time to set of my account since there were so many books that I wan't to add to my list, but it was worth the time.  This site allows you to add books you have read and rate them on a 5-star rating.  You can also put together lists of books you want to read as well as post reviews on books you have read for others to see.  It shows what the average rating is for each book and also refers books to you that you might be interested in reading based on your lists.  If you like free giveaways, there are tons of books you can enter to win.  Check it out by clicking on the goodreads link.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Wow. Want a book to really make you think and possibly start worrying about our future, then this is the book to read.  Another one of those books from the classroom that Blake wanted me to read with him.  What really makes this book believable is that Ray Bradbury wrote this in the early 1950's and much of what he thought and predicted can be seen today.  That's over 60 years later.  The book is divided into three sections instead of chapters so there is no stopping points or segment breaks which is nice to just keep your thoughts on the one idea instead of many subjects.

So the first section you are introduced to Montag and the life he lives as a fireman.  However, being a fireman means that you burn books and houses that held books.  Anyone found with one is arrested.  No one really remembers the past and what it was really like and they do not care.  No one really knows eachother or interacts with one another.  The world is in chaos and no one cares.  After seeing a woman burn herself alive with her books, Montag starts to really question his life.  He doesn't know his wife, nor does he seem to care about her anymore.  She has been sucked into the life of imediate gratification and entertainment.  Her 'family' consists of 3 tv walls that she even says makes her laugh and she makes them laugh.  It's who she only cares about.  Even going to bed she puts in headphones to keep in contact with everyone.  Intellegence and individual thoughts are crushed.

What makes it scary is that you can see this happening today.  Everyone comes home from school/work and is glued to an electronic device.  Even today, the power went out for an hour and I kept finding myself being drawn to the computer since I wanted to check emails and facebook, which I had already checked a couple times today.  I didn't know what to do at first without any connection to the world.  A sad, but true commercial I saw of a teenager saying her parents have no friends while she has 350 on facebook sums it up pretty good as well.  Are these really your friends?

Another part of this book talks about how minority groups caused the main reason for the start of burning books.  Groups kept getting offended of what each book talked about.  Not just racial groups, but religious, intellectual, etc...  Any group of people with similarities started saying everything was unfair for them since the majority did not comply.  The fire chief put it pretty clear when he said that their job is to make the minority population happy no matter what.  Do we not see this happening today?

We learn that it is not necessarily books that make all the difference.  There are three things everyone needs.  1. Quality Information, 2. Leisure to digest it, and 3. The right to carry out actions based on what you learn from the interaction of the first two.  Society in this book are missing these and struggling to survive.  People kill each other with no thought and commit suicide.  It is accepted an part of life.  One lady mentions she will never have children since it limits her fun while another says she puts her kids in schhol for ten days and the 3 days in the month they are home she puts them in front of the tv.  It is all about the individual.

To see what happens to Montag in this environment pick up this book and read it.  It has been a while since I have read a book that really makes me think and analyze life.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Blake has a ton of classroom books in his room so I decided to go through them and read some of the ones I have never read.  Blake started to read this book and insisted that I needed to read it with him.  Needless to say, I got hooked  and finished before he did.  This was a great book and the story just pulls you in.  I just looked up on amazon and noticed there are a good 5 books in this series so we will definately have to keep reading them.

Ender is 5 years old when the book starts. You have to keep reminding yourself that most of the characters in this book are between 5-12 years old and being breed and trained to save the world.  Earth was attacked by Buggers (bug-like aliens) and nearly destroyed before the military, by pure luck, stopped them from invading the earth.  Now they have decided to attack the Buggers and get rid of them for good.  The world is only allowed to have children if granted by the government and even them only 2.  Each child when they has a monitor attached to their neck to see if they are gifted enough to go to Battle School.  Ender is a Third in his family.  This is not highly thought of and often the kids are bullied since they were only breed since their older siblings did not pan out and therefore the Third was breed with the intentions of them being great.  From the start, the military has pegged Ender as the commander to lead the Bugger invasion and therefore isolate him and rigorously train him beyond any student.  He is pushed to the limits and eventually makes it to Eros, the command center.  He is only 11 at this time which is unheard of since most go when they are 16.  Ender and his group of toon leaders train with mock battles in order to prepare for the actual Bugger battle.

I won't say much more since I don't want to ruin the ending of the book, but it is crazy how smart these kids are and what they are capable of doing.  It is also sad to see that they have no childhood.  Yes, it was for the good of the earth, but at what cost?  What has the government done to their economy and the people in it?  A must read for sure.

Darke by Angie Sage

What a great way to end the Septimus Heap series.  An evil Darke has enveloped the castle and starts to take over the village as well.  Marcia accidentally banishes Alther and Septimus must return him in order to hopefully end Merrin's terror over the castle.  Merrin is still determined that he was suppose to be Septimus and is intent on taking revenge on him.  Jenna finally accepts that she is to be a princess and must act accordingly and think of everyone else as well as her safety, however, the Coven witches are determined to make her a witch.  Sounds crazy and a lot is going on, but Angie does a great job tying up all the lose ends and ending this fun story.

The Heavenly Surrender by Marcia Lynn McClure

Yes, I read another one.  In this story Genieva has agreed by mail to marry Breven McLean.  When she arrives at the train station, Breven is needless to say a little upset with how young, pretty, and small Genieva is.  He needs a hard worker to help him with his farm.  They marry and she finds herself for the first time in the country learning how to milk cows.  I love this book since it has so many different things going on.  You have a neighboring family trying to take the McLean's land with their son trying to take Genieva.  Then you have Genieva's family who shows up and then the town that talks about how Breven fathered a young girl's child, which is not true.  For some reason my favorite part is when Breven gets hurt and is out for a couple of days when their corn needs to be planted.  Genieva plants the corn all by herself and then carries water from the river to the corn all day since the corn needs water.  Breven wakes up to Genieva asleep at the table and takes her to bed to notice that her feet and hands are terribly blistered.  It is just an awesome part since she works despite the pain knowing the work has to be done and doing it for her husband who she loves, but believes he will never love her in return.  Great story of trust and work.

Desert Fire by Marcia Lynn McClure

Who can resist a good Marcia Lynn McClure book?  Not I.  I started to read "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and decided I needed something more lighthearted and fun to read.  I'm not saying Dorian Gray is not a bad book, I've read it before and enjoyed the overall story, it just is not a quick, easy read and I struggle with those at times.  So when in doubt, turn to Marica.  I admit at first I was not a fan of her books and found them somewhat simple and predictable, but there are times when I crave reading her books.  I have never had that from an author so Marcia has risen to the top of my list of great romance authors.  I am a little embarrassed to admit that I even e-mailed her with a cute, romantic idea for a book.  Who knows, she may actually use it, which would be totally awesome.

Back to "Desert Fire."  I have read all of Marica's books, just not posted all of them since there are so many.  It took me some research to finally find this book since I knew I was in the mood to read the story where the girl is found in the desert and can not remember who she is.  Yes, the young lady in this story finds herself rescued by a very handsome McCall boy and taken to his family's ranch.  She can not remember who she is and stays with the family.  She slowly remembers who she is throughout the book and falls in love with her rescuer.  It is a fun read with a classic love story that everyone can love.

I'm Back

No, I have not given up on this blog. We just finished moving and finally got the internet connected again. Unfortunately I have not had time to read for a while with the new baby and not having a home, but hopefully I will start a new book next week. There are so many options I don't know where to start. I've got a huge list of books from my husbands new classroom that I would like to read since they are all approved books for 9th and 10th grade and I would like to be familier with these books. For Halloween this year I need to read Frankenstein. Then there are all the new books coming out such as the Inheritance book, Septimus Heap, The Sun of Neptune... Man, I need to set up my new library card so I can be put on the waiting list.

Otherwise, I need to catch up with the Domino Project by Seth Godin. (Click here to read more) Sadly I have not read the other kindle books I have recieved from The Domino Project since my kindle was packed in a box, but I did recieve a paperback copy of one of their books, Pick Four: Zig Ziglar's Legendary Goals Program, Updated and Simplified as part of being an agent for BzzAgent. (Click here to join BzzAgent) I found this booklet to be awesome, especially for someone who has a bunch of projects they want to accomplish and don't know where to start. Zig starts you out by listing 100 things you want to do and then you slowly go through the list until you have 4. Each with a differnt focus such as family, career, financial, physical, spiritual, etc... You need to have different focuses for the goals in order to create balance in your life. It then makes you write down each week what you accomplished and goals for the following week. If you follow the steps, you will accomplish your goal. It's awesome. I would suggest copying the pages so you can continue to use the worksheets over and over again. Seriously, try this out.