Tag: recommend

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Legends of the Guardian King series: Karen Hancock

I read these books off of a recommendation and the fact that their Kindle price was pretty cheap (hey, I’m on a budget!)

I feel kind of mixed about these books, even though I really liked them. They are overtly in the Christian genre, which to be honest, I don’t normally like. However, I got into these books. They have a way more “fantasy” feel than normal Christian books do, although their “analogies” were pretty obvious. Like Tersius is Jesus, just say it already! 🙂

If you like the fantasy genre with magic and warlocks and such, but are looking for a bit tamer version, then I would definitely recommend these to you.

I liked them and you get the feel good feeling of good triumphing over evil. But it’s not all roses as the protagonist goes through the fire similar to Job!  But I think it just makes you love him even more.

When you read the summary you’ll probably be like me and like “ehhh”, but give it a shot! Plus if you have a Kindle, book 1 is free, can’t beat that!

Anyways, totally recommend with 4 stars.

Summary of book 1:
Hancock’s intriguing Arena [BKL Ap 15 02] drew a great deal of praise for the originality and starkness of its alternative universe. In The Light of Eidon, she begins a fantasy series called Legends of the Guardian King that is more clearly a Christian allegory but is so crisscrossed with subplots and deceit that exactly where the light of Eidon shines may baffle the reader. It certainly baffles young Abramm Kalladorne, Hancock’s hero. He is the little-valued fifth son of the king of Kiriath, a vivid kingdom that seems a bit like medieval England, with a bit of ancient Rome. Abramm is drawn to the religious life, but after eight years as a novitiate, he discovers that his spiritual leader is a fraud and that the true path to Eidon’s light lies elsewhere. But upon leaving the monastery, he finds himself in the middle of court intrigues, and his brothers sell him into slavery in a faraway, barbarous land. For a while, Hancock’s novel seems like a gladitorial epic, but then Eidon, or Jesus, makes his truths known. A great battle ensues, but victory is not complete and many questions remain. Readers will certainly return for the second installment.

Paperback: 432 pages Publisher: Bethany House (July 1, 2003) Language: English ISBN-10: 0764227947

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The Knitting Circle: Ann Hood

I read this book because I was going to join in on a book club while I was in Texas. This didn’t happen, but I still read the book.

Sheesh, it was sad! It was one of those books where you really delved into the characters and the overall sadness they were experiencing. Each person involved in the knitting circle has a deep tragedy they are dealing with and knitting helps them get through it somehow. Or really, having each other to lean on does.

Anyways, it’s a good book though pretty sad and dark at times. I’m still glad I read it and I recommend it with 4 stars.

Summary:
While mourning the death of her daughter, Hood (An Ornithologist’s Guide to Life) learned to knit. In her comeback novel, Mary Baxter, living in Hood’s own Providence, R.I., loses her five-year-old daughter to meningitis. Mary and her husband, Dylan, struggle to preserve their marriage, but the memories are too painful, and the healing too difficult. Mary can’t focus on her job as a writer for a local newspaper, and she bitterly resents her emotionally and geographically distant mother, who relocated to Mexico years earlier. Still, it’s at her mother’s urging that Mary joins a knitting circle and discovers that knitting soothes without distracting. The structure of the story quickly becomes obvious: each knitter has a tragedy that she’ll reveal to Mary, and if there’s pleasure to be had in reading a novel about grief, it’s in guessing what each woman’s misfortune is and in what order it will be exposed. The strength of the writing is in the painfully realistic portrayal of the stages of mourning, and though there’s a lot of knitting, both actual and metaphorical, the terminology’s simple enough for nonknitters to follow and doesn’t distract from the quick pace of the narrative.

Paperback: 352 pages Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1st Norton Pbk. Ed edition (January 17, 2008) Language: English ISBN-10: 0393330443

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Girl in the Steel Corset: Kady Cross

This was the first time I’ve ever read “Steampunk” genre book. Well, I guess Clockwork Prince is sort of a Steampunk book, but this was a lot more true to the genre.

I liked it. Sort of a alternate history, League of Extroidinary Gentlemen type feel to it. I think she’s making this into a series and I’ll for sure read the rest of them.

I recommend and give 4 stars.

Summary:
In 1897 England, sixteen-year-old Finley Jayne has no one…except the “thing” inside her.
When a young lord tries to take advantage of Finley, she fights back. And wins. But no normal Victorian girl has a darker side that makes her capable of knocking out a full-grown man with one punch….
Only Griffin King sees the magical darkness inside her that says she’s special, says she’s one of them. The orphaned duke takes her in from the gaslit streets against the wishes of his band of misfits: Emily, who has her own special abilities and an unrequited love for Sam, who is part robot; and Jasper, an American cowboy with a shadowy secret.
Griffin’s investigating a criminal called The Machinist, the mastermind behind several recent crimes by automatons. Finley thinks she can help—and finally be a part of something, finally fit in.
But The Machinist wants to tear Griff’s little company of strays apart, and it isn’t long before trust is tested on all sides. At least Finley knows whose side she’s on—even if it seems no one believes her. 

Reading level: Young Adult Hardcover: 480 pages Publisher: Harlequin; Original edition (May 24, 2011) Language: English ISBN-10: 0373210337

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Firelight: Sophie Jordan

I’ve had this book on my Kindle Reading List for quite some time. The bloggysphere loves this author and this book and so I’ve wanted to read it, but just was waiting to feel “in the mood” to read about dragon people.

How did I feel about it? I liked it!

Have you read this book? What did you think?

Summary: Jacinda is extraordinary–even for a draki (descendants of dragons who can shift into human form): she is a fire-breather. Unique and invaluable to her “pride,” the 16-year-old is kept on a short leash, and it has already been ordained that she will mate with the alpha male, Cassian. Jacinda’s determination to do things her own way finds her nearly captured by dragon hunters, but a surprisingly kind young hunter named Will allows her to escape. Rather than suffer the pride’s punishment for her daughter’s risky behavior, Jacinda’s mother decides the family should flee to live among regular humans. Masquerading as a typical high school student would bury Jacinda’s draki nature until it died out. When Will turns out to be a classmate, Jacinda finds that her inexplicable attraction to him keeps her feel of fire and flight alive. Being near a hunter is the most dangerous choice Jacinda can make, yet her desire for him–and need to preserve her inner dragon–cannot be ignored. This distinctive twist on the popular supernatural romance theme will appeal to fans of the genre, even if a lack of resolution at this story’s culmination may frustrate some readers. “Twilight” fans ready to move beyond vampires will jump right in.

Reading level: Young Adult Paperback:
352 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins (September 6, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0061935093

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Birthmarked: Caragh O’Brian

This was one of my more favorite books I’ve read in 2011. It may be because I had a baby and the protagoinist is a midwife? I’m not sure, but I enjoyed the book. It took a bit to get going, but once it did, I really enjoyed the characters and the dystopian world they live in.
The second book in the trilogy comes out next month and I’m really excited about it!
I will give it 4 stars and recommend it!

Summary: It’s been 300 years since Lake Michigan became Unlake Michigan; the “cool age” is only hazily known to residents of Wharfton, a small village that sits alongside the walled city of the Enclave. Gaia is 16 and works in Western Sector Three with her mother delivering babies, “advancing” the first three per month to live a better life inside the city. It’s a wrenching routine Gaia doesn’t question until her parents are mysteriously arrested by Enclave authorities. Gaia’s rescue attempt is fraught with peril—the burn scar on her face marks her as a “freak” who would never be allowed into the Enclave’s exclusive gene pool—and soon she herself is tossed into a cell with other female physicians. Although the setup suggests speculative fiction, O’Brien’s concerns are corporeal; her impulsive and spirited heroine (who even resists, yes, romance) is the kind readers adore. The facts behind inbreeding and the numerous birthing scenes will give this an added appeal to science-minded teens. Continual revelations push this toward an ending that hints at more to come.

  • Reading level: Young Adult
  • Paperback: 384 pages
  • Publisher: Square Fish (October 11, 2011)
  • Language: English