Quarterly Reading

I've been meaning to get back into the blogging game for the past couple of months and thought there would be no perfect time than now, with a quarterly reading update and link up. Here we go, a list of all the books I've read in July, August, and September

• Days of Blood and Starlight/Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor: I listened to the audio version of all the books in this series. The narrator is extremely good. Not to mention the series is great as well. I like to listen to audiobooks while I am cleaning and I would make up things to clean while listening to these. My house has never been cleaner!

•  I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella: Another fun book from Sophie Kinsella. A book about a lovable but hopeless woman who falls in love and tries to sort out her life.

• City of Bones by Cassandra Clare: The narrator for this audio book is absolutely terrible. The voices for her characters are extremely annoying, especially for the males. The story itself is fun, and it had to have been to get me through such an awful audio book. If you want to read this, do yourself a favor and READ it. No audio for this one.

• The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot: If you’ve watched the movie then you know what to expect with this book. They changed the story a little bit for the silver screen, but I enjoyed reading it.

• Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein: I loved this book. It had me balling at the end. I even recommended it to my husband, which is the true test for any book. He liked it as well.

• The Midnight Witch by Paula Brackston: I read this book while I was visiting my family up in Canada. I had run out of reading material and my Mum had this on her kindle. It was a good summer read, but nothing I would recommend.

• The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton: I really liked the jumping from present day to WWII England. The story was interesting and kept me wondering how it was going to end. I highly recommend this book.

• Dealing with Dragons by Patricia Wrede: Great book for younger girls. The heroine is not your typical girl and I would love Summer to read this book (and series) one day.

• The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria Von Trapp: I loved all the little stories about her learning English. I even laughed out loud at a few of them. The family’s faith and continual trust in God was really inspiring. Really great read.

• The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale: Another great read for any age. I love books with a heroine without the love story being the only story.

• The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho: I honestly don’t know how I feel about this book. It was just okay. But it was also a quick read, so read it for yourself and decide how you feel!

• Enna Burning by Shannon Hale: This was the sequel to The Goose Girl. I didn’t enjoy it as much as Goose Girl but it was still good.

• Austenland by Shannon Hale: This book was kind of silly, but I’ll admit I liked it. It also made me want to go on a vacation to Austenland. Is it a real place?

• City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare: In my opinion, City of Ashes is the best book in the Mortal Instruments series. I give this book a solid 4 stars for anyone interested in the YA Urban Fantasy genre.

• Attachments by Rainbow Rowell: The premise of this book (boy falls in love with girl who's email he reads as his job) was interesting and funny. Although it could be considered creepy, it was actually sweet.  

• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain: I know it’s hard to believe, but this was my first Mark Twain. I totally understand now why this is a classic and Mark Twain is considered such a great writer.

• Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson: Probably my favorite read from the last 3 months. I love it when someone comes up with a totally new idea for fantasy. I’m excited to read the rest in this series.

• The rest of the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare: After the third book I didn’t really want to go on with this series, but I did and I’ll admit I enjoyed most of the books. Although it did feel a little young for me. I think a 16 year old Mindy would have devoured these books.

• The Faceless Ones (Skulduggery Pleasant #3) by Derek Landy: Another great audio book series. I listened to the first two earlier this summer, but I think #3 is the best one. Rupert Degas is a great narrator. I know a series about a Skeleton Detective sounds a bit weird, but I really love these books. A great read for the entire family.

• The Girl You Left Behind by JoJo Moyes: This is my second JoJo Moyes book and I think I’m converted.

• Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter: This book just had too many characters and stories without enough time to develop any of them properly. Not a bad book, but it could have been better.

Regency Romance

When I find a genre of book that I like I always seem to go overboard and read the genre to death. Literally. And usually it's for random topics like English monarchs, or Ancient Egypt, or English monarchs again (seriously, I have read the crap out of the English monarchy, if you have any recommendations send them my way!) Lately it's been for Regency Romances. I've read Pride and Prejudice a few times, and I even found a trilogy written from the perspective of Mr. Darcy that I really enjoyed a few year ago. But recently I have been on a regency romance kick. I'll admit a few of them have been extremely sappy and almost embarrassing to read, but the majority have been excellent. I love a good clean romance, where just reading about them holding hands or looking at each other gets your heart racing. No raunchiness, something you can recommend to your mom.

I've mixed them up with some good old fashioned Jane Austen along with more recent novels. Here's what I've been reading lately along with my thoughts.

Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen: Let's start off with Jane Austen. And this is the book that started my recent romance kick. I wouldn't have read this if it wasn't my book club's pick for October. Sometimes I find Jane Austen books hard to get into at first. She's kind of wordy and takes a bit to set up the romance. Not perfect for the impatient reader (me). But I always enjoy her books once I get into the thick of it.

Persuasion - Jane Austen: Another Jane Austen. If you haven't read any Jane Austen books and you like a good romance you should. Persuasion is about Anne Elliot. Years ago she walked away from the love of her life when she was persuaded that he wasn't a good match for her. Years later they meet again and it seems she is given a second chance at love.

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte: I became interested in this book because I read that it was autobiographical. And honestly, if even only a small part of this book is fact then Charlotte Bronte led a crazy life. I honestly can't imagine going through half the things she did.  It's a bit wordy, like books from this time seem to be, but there is definitely enough drama going on to keep you reading.

Edenbrooke - Julianne Donaldson: If you only read one of the books on this list, read this one! I read it in one day and totally ignored my kids. After her mother's death and her father's abandonment Marianne Daventry leads a sad, boring life in Bath with her grandmother. An invitation from her twin sister to join her at Edenbrooke offers Marianne an escape from Bath. A run in with a dangerous highway man, and a flirtatious handsome stranger soon proves to Marianne that it's not going to be the summer that she was expecting.

Blackmoore - Julianne Donaldson: Not as good as Edenbrooke, but still a good read. Kate Worthington is obviously in love with her best friend, Henry Delafield, but has made the decision to never marry. She's invited to visit his family's estate, Blackmoore, for the summer and it's there that we find out why.

The Kiss of a Stranger - Sarah M. Eden: This was one of the embarrassingly sappy books, but I still enjoyed it. Just a disclaimer, expect a whole lot of mushy sentimental moments. Crispin spontaneously kisses a servant while trying to convince a determined woman of her unwanted advances. He soon finds out that Catherine was in fact not a servant and is forced by her large uncle to marry her. He brings her back to London with him and tries to pass her off as his wife with as little scandal as possible, all the while pursuing a secret annulment. But an annulment would ruin Catherine's reputation and while delaying Crispin finds that he has grown fond of his unexpected wife.

Friends and Foes - Sarah M. Eden: The last on my list, and probably the least as well. It was just a little too sentimental for my tastes, and a bit far fetched in it's story line in some places. I didn't mind it, and finished it rather quickly, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

Book Review: Unbroken

I just finished Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand a few days ago. I've been reading a lot of "fluff" books and YA fiction so I thought I should try a grown up book. And I really liked it. I was worried it was going to be super depressing and hard to get through, but Laura Hillenbrand really did a great job telling this heart wrenching story without making me feel too heavy or down while I was reading it.

Unbroken is the story of the Olympic athlete Louis Zamperini. While training for the 1940 Olympics WWII broke out and Louis joined the war. Serving as a bombardier his plane goes down in the Pacific Ocean leaving only 3 of them alive. After floating on the raft for 47 days, beating sharks, dehydration, and ocean storms they find themselves on a Japanese occupied island. They are then sent to endure years of torture and hard labor in POW camps.

This story really is what the cover says: a WWII story of survival, resilience, and redemption. One line that has stuck with me since I read it, was after the POWs were freed one said that if they knew they would have to go through the same ordeal again, they would rather die. It really is amazing the amount of suffering a person can live through, but it was so heartbreaking to hear of the broken men that returned to the USA after living through such an ordeal.

I know it sounds a bit depressing the way I describe it, but I really don't want to give everything away. It did leave me feeling inspired, if not a little emotional. I would recommend it as one of the most worth while things I've read in a while.

Book Review: Ruby Red Trilogy

I just finished the last book from this Ruby Red trilogy by Kerstin Gier. I read the first two books during the summer, but hesitated to write a review before I could read the last book that just came out last week. I loved the first two books, but I have been disappointed to many time by the last book of a series to feel comfortable writing a review before I had read them all. But even though the ending of Emerald Green was a teensy bit weak and left me wanting for something more, I really did enjoy this trilogy. It was a fun read with a bit of mystery, romance, and fantasy. That's really all I want out of a book.

The Ruby Red trilogy is about Gwyneth Shephard. On the outside her family looks like a pretty normal, wealthy, English family. But in reality they are member of a long line of time travelers. When Gwen is 16 she finds out that she has inherited the time travel gene instead of her cousin Charlotte, who had been trained and groomed her entire life to time travel. Gwen is suddenly thrust into the world of time travel, chronographs, guardians, and Gideon, her fellow time traveller.

Once thrust into this world she starts uncovering clues as to what her cousins (and previous time travelers) Lucy and Paul discovered that had made them steal a chronograph, run away, and actively work against the plans of the guardians. Trying to uncover the mystery while navigating the tricky emotional roller coaster of a first time love lays the foundation for an interesting time-travel mystery that I'm sure you'll love as much as I did.

Recent Reads

I go through phases where I seem to devour books, and other times where it takes me months to finish a book. The past couple months I've been reading non stop so I thought I'd do a quick post on my thoughts about some of my recent reads.

One of my more recent reads. And maybe my favorite of the summer? It really is hard to choose. But Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran was fabulous. It's historical fiction about the real Madame Tussaud; a woman during the French revolution and Reign of Terror who went by the name of Marie Grosholtz. She learned the art of wax modeling from her "Uncle" Curtius and was probably the most famous was modeler in France at the time. Her family never chose sides during the revolution and managed to play both sides of the fence for a long time.                                  Madame Tussaud is historical fiction, with an emphasis on the fiction. Although through no fault of Moran. Tussaud was very colorful when writing her memoirs and much of her life has been fiction. Moran's research was thorough, and her writing was gripping. She really transported you to the Reign of Terror, and while I was reading I often wondered at the terror and horror a person living in France at the time would have gone through. I have read other books by Michelle Moran, and this one might be my favorite. I had trouble putting it down at night and burned through it faster than I would have liked.

The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger: I know I'm a little late to the party on this one, but it was at my parents house when we went for a visit this summer so I thought I'd give it a try. I liked it, and I would probably recommend it to certain people, but I was taken aback by the amount of F-bombs dropped and how prevalent sex was throughout the story. I'm not saying it was necessarily a bad thing, just stating a fact; a warning I guess to all those out there who wouldn't want this from a book. It really is a fun idea, and Niffenegger did a great job of jumping around timelines and allowing the story to flow at the same time. 

Divergent (and series) - Veronica Roth: I really hate to review a series before I've finished it. But I loved these books. The third book comes out in October and I am anxiously awaiting it. The story takes place in a future Chicago. The city is walled off from the outside, warring world. Every citizen is divided into different faction. When they become 16 they are allowed to choose the faction they were born into, or to change into one of the other 4 factions. 

Beatrice Prior was born into Abnegation, but chooses the enter the faction of Dauntless. It turns out this switch puts her in the position to be part of the events that will change her life, and the entire city. If you enjoyed reading the Hunger Games, I'm sure you'll love these books. Veronica Roth is an excellent writer and brought to life a world that was very much believable.

Dualed - Elsie Chapman: This is another book about a dystopian society. I read that if I liked the Hunger Games I would enjoy this. But it was just alright. I honestly wouldn't recommend it. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good. Just kind of a waste of time. The premise of the book seemed interesting. Like Divergent the citizens live in a walled off city. Every person is born with an identical twin, or alternate, that they will eventually have to kill so that they may prove themselves worthy enough to be the one to live. Although an interesting idea, the execution was less than exciting.

Wonder: R.J. Palacio: Loved this book. It's written for younger readers so it is a really quick, easy read. But I loved it. After I finished it I sat there and cried for a little bit. It was such a sad, heartwarming book and I had so much emotion that needed to come out. Wonder is about a little boy, August, that has a very severe facial deformity. The book tells of his experiences during his first year of public school as a 10 year old. The story is told through his point of view, his sister's, and his friends'. There are some heartbreaking moments when he has to overcome bullying, but there are also some beautiful moments when you really see the greatness of human nature. This is becoming a required read in some high schools and I totally agree. The anti-bullying theme is really powerful without being preachy. I'm sure anyone could relate to this story, regardless of if they have any physical abnormalities or not.

Books Lovers Day

Happy Book Lovers Day to all you bibliophiles out there! How fitting is it that this day falls in the summer? I don't know about you, but the majority of my reading happens during the summer. I don't know what it is but those warm summer months just scream at me to pick up a book. I can never get enough during the summer.
One of my favorite things to do in the summer is find an awesome book series to devour. I remember growing up I would always re-read the Harry Potter series in anticipation of the newest book coming out. This summer I actually read a few series. I did a review on the King Raven Trilogy earlier this summer, but I also (sort of) read the Ruby Red Trilogy as well. Unfortunately, when I started it I didn't realize that the last book isn't due to come out until October so I am anxiously awaiting for that release date.
I thought I would honor the day by sharing some of my favorite series that I've read over the years.

This might be a given, but I love the Harry Potter series. Love love. Nuff said. If you haven't read it go! Now.

Please don't judge this book by it's cover. It's a good one. It has action, romance, and clever twists on a familiar story. What more could you want?

I love Anne of Green Gables. My sister and I have watched the movies countless times. I would love to go to Prince Edward Island one day and visit Green Gables.

I've recently discovered that I have a huge crush on Sherlock Holmes. I love the devil-may-care attitude and his eccentricities. By association I have developed crushes on Robert Downey Jr. and Benedict Cumberbatch who have both played Sherlock recently. My husband shakes his head at me good-naturedly anytime this (often talked about up) subject is brought up.

Sophie Kinsella is so funny. I laugh through everyone of her Shopaholic books. The movie they made of it doesn't hold a candle to the books. And it is even husband friendly. Brian has read all these books and laughed the entire time as well. Go see for yourself.

 

Last one, I promise. This is an LDS (or mormon) fictional series about the wars that will take place towards the last days of the world. It is so good! The first books is alright, easy to read and not too exciting, but the rest of the series is fabulous. Even if you aren't LDS you'll enjoy this series, I honestly couldn't put it down.








So there ya have it. I honestly could keep going but I thought I'd spare you, and the babies are calling me. Love me a good book series!

Logan's Favorites: From Baby to Toddler

Logan loves to read, and although we are constantly buying and borrowing new books, I thought I would share some of his favorite books. All of these books we bought when he was a baby. They are simple but have transitioned great from baby to toddler. I'm excited to start reading these all with Summer soon.

Go, Dog, Go. A silly little book about all the different ways dogs can get to a party: boat, car, blimp, skis, skooters, etc. Logan has it memorized now and loves to read it to me and Brian.









My sister-in-law sent us this book for Christmas one year and it was an instant hit. It's a song from a mom to her child and I just love the message. I also love to hear other people sing it to him and see what tune they put the words too. Logan loves to sing this song with me. It's a great bedtime song to share with your little ones.

We love the Sandra Boynton books in our house. In Blue Hat, Green Hat four different animals put on a new article of clothing on every page. The fourth animal is always a silly turkey that puts on the clothes wrong. When Logan was a baby he would squeal with laughter every time we got to the turkey. Now that he's older he points to every animal and tells us what it is (blue hat, green socks, etc.) and essentially reads us the story. This is a really simple book but it teaches colors, clothes, and how to wear them properly and allows kids to "read" it all by themselves.

Another one that Logan loves to read to me. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? is a great book for teaching animals and colors. We also like to have fun with this and make the animals noises.









Those are just a few of our well-loved books. I'm sure every kid has a favorite, what are the favorites in your house? We are always looking for a new book to love.

Book Review: The Scarlet Pimpernel

I'm not going to lie, I was not optimistic about this book. But my initial judgements were based on nothing but the name and the fact that it was an "old" book. I should have heeded the old saying "don't judge a book by it's cover" but I didn't. I judged. If it weren't for my book group I would have never read this book. And that is precisely why I love book group. It forces me to read books that I wouldn't normally choose, and usually I end up pleasantly surprised. So here I am, ready to enlighten all you who have judged this book by it's cover.                                                                                                                                               The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy takes places during revolutionary France. The royal family is in prison and the new government is sending every aristocrat they can find to the guillotine. I'll admit I was put off a little bit at the beginning of this book because I swear the said "Madame Guillotine" twenty times in the first chapter. Redundancy really rubs me the wrong way, but I digress. Once you get past Madame Guillotine it starts to pick up. There is an English man, by name of The Scarlet Pimpernel, who runs a secret operation to smuggle French aristocrats out of France and in to England. The French are baffled by how imaginative and cunning The Scarlet Pimpernel is. He is constantly outwitting them. A couple chapters in the leading lady of our story, Marguerite Blakeney, is introduced. She is a French woman, married to an English nobleman, who gets blackmailed in to helping a French spy discover the identity of The Scarlet Pimpernel. The books tells the story of her discovering his identity and then trying to right her wrong of helping the French spy.

It really is a fun little read and I honestly had trouble putting it down. I like a little mystery now and then and the setting of Revolutionary France really adds adventure and danger to the story. I've been telling my husband he needs to read this for the past few days but he just keeps brushing the idea aside. So don't you brush me off! Most libraries will carry this book, it's free from Amazon if you have a Kindle, and I've seen it sold at stores for as little as a dollar so really you have no excuse not to go out and get this book today. It's a quick read so it's not a huge time commitment and I really did enjoy it. I'm not that discriminating of a reader. As long as the story flows and it captures my attention I'll read most anything. I was worried this would be a boring, dry read like other "old" books I've tried to read but it wasn't. A good summer read. Now on to new books!

Book Review: Nefertiti by Michelle Moran

I actually read this book a couple years ago and loved it. Recently as I was trying to pick some books to recommend in my book group I came across it and thought I'd read it again. And I loved it again.

I tend to get excited about certain topics and read it to death for a while and then move on. Nefertiti was during my Egyptian phase. I hadn't actually ever heard about Nefertiti before I read this book but she is really interesting.

Many scholars believe that Nefertiti was a Queen that actually became Pharaoh eventually, and this book follows that line of thought. It outlines the story of Nefertiti from her marriage to the Pharaoh at 15 years old to her eventual death at 31. Her husband is described as an unbalanced man, afraid of the army and obsessed with raising the obscure god, Aten, into being the main god of Egypt. He basically undoes most of the good his father did during his reign and bring Egypt nearly to ruin.

Nefertiti is a smart, beautiful woman whom the people love and is basically the only thing standing between Pharaoh and a rebellion. This book tells the story of what Nefertiti did to keep her husband interested in her (instead of his second wife) in order to ensure her family stayed in power to secretly rule the country that Pharaoh was single handedly bringing to ruin. The whole book is narrated by Nefertiti's younger sister and I feel it was very well done. Even though I had read it before it was a real page turner.

If you have nothing to read right now go get this book. I loved it and I'm sure I'll be reading it again in a few years. I also read The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran a few years ago and enjoyed it as well. It's about Nefertiti's niece. It is a little bit more of a romance instead of a historical fiction but sometimes I need to read something a little more fun and romantic.

Book Review: Raven King Trilogy

I am thoroughly enjoying my summer reading so far. I have to admit, I'm kind of a sucker for book series. I love when a story keeps going and going. I like to shop around on Amazon and read review for different book series, and when I find one that sounds interesting with great reviews I get really excited.

The King Raven trilogy, by Stephen R. Lawhead, consists of the three books Hood, Scarlet, and Tuck. It is essentially a trilogy about Robin Hood, but the author has taken it from the traditional setting of Sherwood forest and placed it in 11th century Wales. The King is William II, the Sheriff is Sheriff de Glanville and Robin Hood is Rhi Bran, or King Bran in Welsh.

The author explains in his book that he feels this is a more likely origin of Robin Hood then Sherwood forest. And after reading this trilogy along with his reasoning I'd have to agree with him. He reasons that by the time Prince John came around the forests of England were crown land and royal hunting grounds and there is no way Robin Hood and his group of merry men could hide out in there. Whereas in the wild forests of Wales whole populations could hide out. In fact, the Welsh did hide out in forests during the Norman conquests and fought their wars with long bows while hidden in trees.

I've never really thought about this but it makes perfect sense. I love when an author takes a well known story and puts a twist on it. I especially liked how he introduced well known characters and explained the origins of their names (Tuck, Robin Hood, Little John). 

The series tells the story of Bran. After his father is killed and his kingdom is stolen from him he takes to the Greenwood and leads a band of warriors to reclaim his throne. Bran has grown up in the forest along with his comrades and they use it to their advantage while they fight the Normans. The trilogy recounts the struggles, setbacks, and victories that they encounter as they work to drive out the invaders. It is very well written and at some points I really could not put it down. If you are at all interested in historical fiction or the story of Robin Hood this is a must read.

Book Review: The Great Gatsby

This was a great book to read after I struggled for months trying to finish Anna Karenina. It restored my conviction that I am in fact a reader. It took me only two days to finish this and I enjoyed every minute of it! A quick, easy read that is totally out of my typical genre. 

I'm not the type of reader to think about symbolism and character development and such but I read this book for my monthly book club and some of the girls involved are very much this way. 

It got me thinking about the different characters and especially Daisy. She was stuck in such a hard situation. A husband that cheats on her and a lover that I think she eventually realizes wont fix her problems either. 

Although it was fun to explore that world for a couple of days I am definitely glad I'm not a part of it. I'm grateful I have a husband that cares about me and a life filled with meaningful things.

For any of you who was not required to read this book in high school, and even for those who were, I recommend this book as a quick little summer escape. I haven't watched the movie that just came out but I am excited to see what they did with the book. 

Book Review: Anna Karenina

I started this book in January and I just finished it yesterday. Let me begin by telling you that I love reading and it has never taken me 4 months to finish a book before. I'm sure some of the blame can be placed on me moving and being to busy to read, but it was mostly just me not wanting to read it. It was just so slow.

I think my biggest disappointment in this book is that it could have been so good. The plot and premise of this book have the makings of a real page turner, but the writing just lacked emotion. I'm not sure if that is typical of Russian literature in the late 1800s, or if the emotion was just lost in translation (literally).

I'm just relieved to have finally finished this book. I wanted to stop and read something else, but I've only not finished a book once and it still bothers me to this day. So I couldn't quit, I had to finish it. I wont go so far as to tell you not to read it, but I didn't particularly enjoy it. It is a classic, and Leo Tolstoy is considered a great writer, so there must be people out there that enjoy this book. I'm just not one of them.