New Review!!

Well we are almost one month into the new year and I feel it's time for a new book review! Seems Krista keeps pumping out reviews for us so we'll go with hers! Recently she won a contest which included an ARC of Betrayal by Lee Nichols. It's the second installment in the Haunting Emma series...

Thanks Krista for the review!

Betrayal (Haunting Emma, #2) Expected publication: March 1st 2011
ARC review. 4 stars

Betrayal is a fantastic installment in the Haunting Emma series. In this second outing Bennett pops up here and there but there are compelling reasons for his absence. His absence gives the reader a chance to get to know the other people in Emma's world and to view the real bonds she is forming with her new "family". (Right now her "real" family's actions and motivations are so confusing and unclear.) I found myself questioning and doubting everyone right along with Emma and this book took me along for the ride. Loved it!

In the Arms of Mr Darcy -- Krista's Guest Review

Hi folks! Once again my friend Krista has written a wonderful review! She shares a bit in my Darcy obsessions so here it goes!!

"In the Arms of Mr Darcy" - By Sharon Lathan

Delightful. That word runs through my mind every time I pick up a book in this series by Sharon Lathan. In this 4th outing, it felt a lot like just spending some time with the Darcy family and their friends/relatives. Not a lot of high stakes drama --- just some pleasant time with them for the most part. I loved the way Ms. Lathan treated the blossoming of Georgiana and Kitty. I've always wanted to learn more about Colonel Fitzwilliam and hoped for a good match for him. I actually would have liked some more time on his story. I see the 5th book in the series will up the excitement factor and feature the return of Wickham! Bring it on.

Have Yourself A Darcy Christmas!

Seeing as how I love all things Darcy, I could not wait to read this!!!! 

Curled up under the covers on a cold, gray and windy day, I started with one of my favorite soundtracks (Pride & and Prejudice....Jean-Yves Thibaduet) and my new Darcy Christmas book.....sigh.....I am so glad I decided not to wait until it was closer to Christmas. As I started the first story "Mr Darcy's Christmas Carol" by Carolyn Eberhart, I was hooked!!!! I have always loved the B&W version of A Christmas Carol (with Alastair Sim) and in the place of Ebeneezer I put the handsome and dashing Mr. Darcy and went on the midnight journey with him.....a very cozy entertaining look at one of literature's most beloved characters with a Christmas twist!

After a quick break and a freshly poured cup of hot coffee I was once again enraptured with the Darcy's. Amanda Grange pours me into the world of the Darcy's and Bingleys in the second story "Christmas Present". We get a charming little look into the lives of our Pride & Prejudice characters as they all celebrate Christmas together with the Bingley family. To end the story with a tiny Darcy bundle was wonderful!

Settling in further, well into the evening now, I enter the breathless world of my favorite couple with Sharon Lathan's "A Darcy Christmas".....as I traveled from Christmas to Christmas with these two passionate lovers, I looked into the world of the Darcy's with breathlessness.....tears.....happiness.....and all around satisfaction. I loved how Miss Lathan took us across the years with the Darcy's and looking at their Holidays spent with one another and how they grew as a couple and a family. 

Much applause to these three wonderful authors for creating such a wonderful book! I believe Miss Austen would have loved this! 

I have now officially added this book to my books that I read every holiday season....A new tradition is born....Thank you ladies!

Just Some Thoughts

Wow, it's been a while since I posted and I apologize to the handful of people who follow my little cozy blog here. Sorry about that but work and life has been quite demanding but hopefully I am back on top of things for a while. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Mine was quaint and uneventful and that was WONDERFUL!

I am so ready for the holiday season! I have already read my first holiday book and I will be reviewing that on here later.....I must warn you all though that I am veering away from YA for a while. I still love my YA books but I just need something different. Every once in a while I get on a spurt where I cannot get enough of one author. This time (again) it is Jane Austen! I am a HUGE fan of Pride and Prejudice and when gobbling up all I can in literature I also watch the movies

Oh Mr. Darcy.........sigh........

So as it is, my following book reviews will reflect my current phase for the next few weeks! Happy Holidays everyone and please feel free to share your own book reviews in comments and such!

Cool Contest!!!!! Great Giveaways!

Click on over to Mystical Lit Lounge for a great contest with cool prizes!!!!
http://mysticallitlounge.com/2010/10/smart-chicks-signed-tank-giveaway/

Thoughts followed by Mockingjay Review

Hello everyone....well I've been quite lazy on the blogging front but hopefully I can stay up to date now that I am back on track! It's been quite a couple of months for books if I must say.....I have been meaning to post a review of Mockingjay for a while but as I said before I have been quite lazy....I was going to write this review myself but I felt that I could not do it justice...so I asked a friend of mine to write one as she is very witty and full of wonderful things to say.....so thank you Heather for the wonderful review and I will follow it with some thoughts of my own.....(spoilers!)

The final installment of Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games trilogy does not disappoint.  Collins creates realistic yet extraordinary characters, and from the first book, I was hooked.  I am a fan of dystopian fiction in general, and I think the series is one of the better examples of this genre.  It makes you think as much as 1984 or Brave New World, but the intensity of the characters and the challenges they must face give it a little something extra. 

The series' heroine, Katniss Everdeen, has demonstrated courage, integrity, and a heck of a lot of spirit from the beginning.  Mockingjay sees her character grow even more as she really slips into the role of a leader in the rebellion as well as tackles some of her personal issues.

In The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, good and evil were fairly clearly defined.  Mockingjay seems to progress through more of a gray area of morality, and the reader really has no choice but to reflect on this.  Who exactly are the good guys?  How much can you ultimately justify for the sake of your cause?  Surprises are also a more common occurrence in Mockingjay.  Whenever I thought I knew where the story was headed, Collins would throw something out of left field, making the reading experience even more exciting.

Finally, I wanted to respond to some of the concern about the violence in the book.  Yes violence is a prevalent theme in the trilogy.  A lot of the characters (many of them children or teens) are killed in horrible ways, and Collins does not hesitate to describe this in detail.  However, try to imagine the series without these scenes.  It would become virtually meaningless.  One of the reasons The Hunger Games trilogy is so powerful is that it forces readers to examine the effects of war and oppression, and the violence is necessary to drive these points home.  That said, parents have every right to decide whether these books are appropriate for their children. 

As with any book, one could quibble over a few plot points here and there, but all in all, Mockingjay was a terrific end to a terrific series.  Collins always leaves the reader wondering what's next, and at the last page, we can finally exhale and close the book with a feeling of satisfaction.

Great Review!!!! 

(my thoughts)

When I finished the book I was not sure exactly what to feel...I reread a few things and thought I wasn't pleased at all.....however...after wonderful insights from friends and reevaluating things I realized that I understood the ending more than was pleased with it. Don't get me wrong...Miss Collins writes wonderfully....it's just that things didn't go my way and I was a bit pouty about it. After thinking it over for a while I do feel that Gale could have had a better ending but he went his own way as Katniss went hers. I loved this series and it is one of my favorites I have ever read. I hope to see a movie in the future but hope the writers stay as true to the story as they possibly can.

Krista's Haunted Review

Time for another guest review! My friend Krista and I are HUGE fans of Jessica Verday's "The Hollow" and we have been on the edge of our seats and biting our nails for a whole year waiting for "The Haunted"! It has finally arrived and Krista gobbled this one up quickly! 

 Thank you Krista for a great review!! I still might write my review too when I am done with this one!

Synopsis from bn.com

An impossible truth. An impossible love.

After a summer spent reclaiming her sanity and trying to forget the boy she fell in love with--the boy who must not exist, cannot exist, because she knows that he is dead--Abbey returns to Sleepy Hollow, ready to leave the ghosts of her past behind. She throws herself into her schoolwork, her perfume-making, and her friendship with Ben, her cute and funny lab partner, who just might be her ticket to getting over Caspian once and for all.

But Abbey can never get over Caspian, and Caspian has no choice but to return to her side, for Caspian is a Shade, and Abbey is his destiny. They are tied not only to each other, but also to the town of Sleepy Hollow, and to the famous legend that binds their fates--a legend whose dark truths they are only beginning to guess....

Krista's Review

In most cases 2nd novels for me are usually a big disappointment. I fall in love with the first book in a new series, but when the next book comes out, it just isn't as exciting as the first. The Haunted proved me wrong. Abbey and Caspian's relationship (how will this work?), the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, delving deeper into Abbey's perfume making hobby, new questions raised, and being introduced to new characters (and revisiting the returning ones) guaranteed I was sucked into this book just like the first one. I tried to make this book last (I really did) but I was totally weak here. Absolutely no willpower whatsoever. I am absolutely hooked -- I really want to know where this story is going to take me and I hope that I will not have to wait another whole year to find out!! 

 

This title DEFINITELY qualifies for a double bookworm seal of approval!!!

Censorship in 2010!!

This is a post that I put on Facebook but feel so passionately about that I must put it on my blog too!

So recently I read that author Ellen Hopkins has been uninvited from the Humble Texas Teen Lit Fest. I also read that the "uninvite" had originated by a LIBRARIAN!!!  It's such a sad thing that such censorship still exists today. I grew up being surrounded by books...(thanks to my wonderful Mother)....being as how my mother was brought up in a very traditional and strict environment, she could have very well kept my sisters and brother and me from reading a lot of things. However, we had such a rich environment with literature everywhere and always had something good to read at our disposal. We also had many trips to the library....I sigh as I type this because of the comfy memories I have of my lifelong love affair with books. This love affair continues with me today, hence my job and passions in life.
Miss Hopkins has written such riveting titles as Burned, Crank, Impulse and many more. She brings to the forefront real topics that teens face today. These titles show the journey of teens from different angles and the agony and dispair that sometimes accompany situations in life. Bravo to Miss Hopkins!!!! Bravo to educating our children from their own point of view!!!!!
As a result of these amazing stories a Humble Texas librarian feels its her duty to just make a mention that Miss Hopkins shouldn't be exposing our children to such "horrors" to Superintendent Guy Sconzo and voila! (without ever reading her titles) Mister Superintendent has (lets just say it) BANNED her from coming to the Teen Lit Fest! Ummm what is a teen lit fest of you cannot celebrate the freedom of reading correctly!!!!???? In support of Miss Hopkins four other authors have pulled themselves out of the teen lit fest in Humble....BRAVO to you: Melissa De La Cruz, Pete Hautman, Matt de la Pena and Tara Lynn Childs for making a stand against censorship!!!!!
I'm so disgusted with this I almost don't even know what to say!? I do know this.....I wonder how many of these "advocates" ever sit and talk to their teens about the subjects they ban them from reading....how many of these "advocates" speak to their teens as if they are people instead of their little trophies....that's right I said it TROPHIES!!!!
Ellen Hopkins has written a manifesto that now is the manifesto for Banned Books Week.....I hope she doesn't mind but I also adopt this as my personal manifesto when referring to those rightwingers who assume to know what is best for everyone and what is right! Screw you Humble Texas and screw you people who have the audacity to think for our teens and not let them think and learn for themselves!!!!! For those of you who haven't seen it yet here is Miss Hopkins' Manifesto:

To you zealots and bigots and false patriots
who live in fear of discourse.You screamers and banners and burners
who would force books off shelves in your brand name of greater good.
You say you’re afraid for children,innocents ripe for corruption
by perversion or sorcery on the page.
   But sticks and stones do break bones, and ignorance is no armor.
You do not speak for me,and will not deny my kids magic
in favor of miracles.
You say you’re afraid for America,the red, white and blue corroded
by terrorists, socialists, the sexually confused.
But we are a vast quilt of patchwork cultures and multi-gendered identities.
You cannot speak for those whose ancestors braved
different seas.You say you’re afraid for God,the living word eroded by Muhammed
and Darwin and Magdalene. But the omnipotent sculptor of heavenand earth designed intelligence.
Surely you dare not speak for the father, who opens
his arms to all.
A word to the unwise.Torch every book. Char every page.
Burn every word to ash. Ideas are incombustible.
And therein lies your real fear.
Manifesto— Ellen Hopkins, bestselling author of Crank and newly published Tricks