Author: Julie Lessman
Genre: Romance
Series: Daughters
of Boston
Number in
series: 2nd
My rating
on a 1-10 scale: 9.5
Type: Fiction
Number of
pages: 477 (trust me, the pages FLY by!)
Time
period: 1920s
Publisher
and price: Revell, $14.99
My overall
opinion: Wow. Julie knows how to keep her readers on the edges of their
seats! I’m about to start book three and am quite persuaded that the whole
series is brilliant and I have NO idea how in the world Julie came up with so
many fascinating twists and turns – it’s stunning. My apologies…this review is
disorganized. So it goes. I feel like the family situation here is going to be
super awkward, and wouldn’t actually work in real life – Faith and Charity were
both engaged to their sister’s future husbands at one point or another. Yeah.
Awkward. Also, a word up – Julie’s books are on the more passionate end of
Christian fiction. Save for older readers. Finally, I don’t always really agree
with some of the decision and actions made by or done by the characters, even
when the book makes them out to be fine – I feel like they are rather less
conservative about some things than they should be. However, despite these few
problems, I still managed to LOVE this book and come out giving it a 9.5!
Obviously the main character is named Charity (SO COOL), and so this book has
been on my to-read shelf for years – only now did I finally get to it! On page
466, I was persuaded that there was no way all the loose ends could be tied up
by the end – but by page 477, ta-da! The book was finished and somehow,
everything WAS resolved! The whole book was fascinating and impossible to put
down. The drama is constant. And can I just say…I love Patrick and Marcy’s
marriage (they’re Faith and Charity’s parents) and I want my marriage to be
like that when I’ve been married as many years as them. All in all? This book
had a few things that I wasn’t entirely on board with. But it’s definitely
worth my time and I can’t wait to read book 3 later this week!
Author: Colleen
Coble
Genre: Romance,
life, mystery
Series: A Mercy
Falls novel
Number in
series: 3rd
My rating
on a 1-10 scale: 9
Type: Fiction
Number of
pages: 292
Time
period: 1800s
Publisher
and price: Thomas Nelson, $14.99
My overall
opinion: First off, I absolutely LOVE the cover. Seriously. Whenever there’s
a discussion about pretty covers, this one comes to my mind first. I did aCover Focus on it awhile back too! And it contains a great story. There were a
few scenes that I can only describe as heart-melting – so sweet, and I loved
them. Mystery and excitement abound in this book, making it a page-turner the
whole way through! It’s a memorable read – I recommend it.
Author: Julie
Lessman
Genre: Romance,
life
Series: Daughters
of Boston
Number in
series: 1st
My rating
on a 1-10 scale: 9 high
Type: Fiction
Number of
pages: 477
Time
period: early 1900s
Publisher
and price: Revell, $14.99
My overall
opinion: Wow. What a book. I had to sit and take a few deep breaths to get
my thoughts in order for this review! :) First of all, it was really cool to
have a Charity in a book as a main character. She actually stars in the next
book (review coming soon), but she was pretty important in this one too. Albeit
she wasn’t a likable character here…but her name made up for it (my name is
uncommon…finding someone who shares it is awesome). There were SO many
intricacies in here that it was mind-boggling in a still understandable way.
Faith, the main heroine, is absolutely lovely. And I love their parents,
Patrick and Marcy. There were a couple passages in here that I especially
identified with – for example, Patrick (the father) once says “Charity, your
mother and I love you very much…and it’s because we love you that we are so
strict regarding, well, certain things.” (pg 36) I’m pretty sure that’s a
direct quote from my parents, name and all! Faith and I are alike in some ways –
we both bottle a lot of stuff up and don’t confide easily or quickly in hardly
anyone. I love having a heroine I can identify with. All in all, this was a
great book, well-written – I love Julie Lessman! It is certainly passionate,
more-so than much Christian fiction, so keep that in mind if you decide to read
it. Other than that, all I can say is that it was amazing and very good!
Author: Lynette
Eason
Genre: Suspense,
romance
Series: Hidden
Identity
Number in
series: 1st
My rating
on a 1-10 scale: 9.5
Type: Fiction
Number of
pages: 330
Time
period: Present
Publisher
and price: Revell, $14.99
My overall
opinion: After you read a lot, romantic suspense can become a bit stereotypical.
But not this one! Wow! It was jam-packed with thrilling and creative twists and
turns. Amazing, and quite enthralling! This is a memorable book filled with
page-turning adventures. It’s a must-read and must-own for suspense lovers, and
has earned a permanent place on my keepers shelf! I loved the characters, and
can’t wait to continue the series. Highly recommended for anyone who is a fan
of Lynette Eason, of course, or Dani Petterey, Irene Hannon, Dee Henderson,
etc.
**I reviewed this book as part of the Revell blog tour, and they
sent me a free copy of it. However, I wasn’t required to post positively, and
received no other compensation.**
Read my other reviews of books by Lynette Eason by clicking HERE and scrolling down.
Author: James
Stuart Bell
Genre: Christianity,
faith, Hobbit (yes, it’s a genre!)
My rating
on a 1-10 scale: 8
Type: Non-fiction
(about a fictional book…but also about God and the Bible, so…)
Number of
pages: 234
Publisher
and price: Bethany House, $13.99
My overall
opinion: This was definitely a good book! First thing to note? It’s not a
devotional. I had to re-orient my mindset a few times, as I went into this one
thinking “devotional” and that’s not really at all what it is. I was very
impressed by the amount of research that Bell put into Hobbit and Lord of the Rings –
he clearly knew what he was talking about. He draws valid points, without
trying to dig too deep or pull in things that aren’t there, and he wasn’t too
preachy. I especially liked the character profiles of Gandalf and Elrond –
informative and interesting. Good background info there, I thought. All in all?
This was an enjoyable book that I learned from and found interesting. Read it in conjunction with The Hobbit!
**Bethany House sent me a copy of this book in return for my
honest review. I wasn’t obligated to review it positively, nor was I
recompensed in any other way for this review.**
Author: Anita
Lustrea, Caryn Rivadeneira
Genre: Life,
growing up
Series: A Maine
Chronicle
Number in
series: 1st
My rating
on a 1-10 scale: 8.5 high
Type: Historical
fiction
Number of
pages: 259
Time
period: 1950s
Publisher
and price: RiverNorth, $14.99
My overall
opinion: A good book, and as good as I had hoped it would be. It’s about
the conflict between the whites and the Indians in Maine – I had no idea they had
this kind of tension there in the 1950s! This book provided a fascinating look
at some complicated situations that seemed true to life. It’s a growing up
story about a young girl of 16 and her Indian boyfriend. The book was full of
good writing, and had an excellent story – I would read more, either in this
series or by these authors. I especially loved the description of a food pantry
in Mercy’s house – it reminded me of the luscious food descriptions in Laura
Ingalls Wilder’s book, Farmer Boy. I’m
a sucker for food descriptions. ;) But this was a heartwarming and sweet story!
**RiverNorth asked me to review this and provided my copy, along
with others for giveaway. I wasn’t required to review it positively, nor was I
recompensed in any other way for my review.**
GIVEAWAY! Think you might enjoy this book? (I think you would!)
RiverNorth kindly sent me extra copies for giveaway! Interested in winning one
of them? Just fill in the Rafflecopter form below.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
My rating on a 1-10
scale: 9.5
Genre: Fantasy,
adventure
Series or set: Hobbit
Number in series: 2nd
Primary actors: Ian
McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage
Length: Two and a
half hours or so
Based on: Technically,
the original Hobbit book, with a bit
pulled from LOTR
Time period: Fantasy
Rating: PG-13
Year it came out: 2013
My overall opinion: A
good movie! At the time of writing this, I’ve seen it twice in the theater and
will see it once more before it goes out. I liked it better the second time
than the first, though I greatly enjoyed it both times! Now, here we go with
what I thought of it and specific people/creatures/events/etc, in no particular
order.
Be warned: spoilers are not in the least avoided! Indeed, they abound.
Bolg – Another
primary orc dude to dislike, in addition to Azog who is making a return from
the previous movie. And once again, he has quite a unique look about him –
almost like there are bolts in his head, or at least, that was my first
impression. While Azog was still the main immediately-visible villain, Bolg was
also around quite often to do his dirty work for him. Decidedly despicable.
Gold – There was
so much gold in this movie! Seriously. Either I haven’t heard, or I don’t
remember how many gold coins were made for these scenes, but it was clearly a
lot. The sheer vastness of the dragon’s lair was stunning…but I’ll come to that
in a bit more detail later. Anyway. So there was all the gold in the dragon’s
lair, and then down in the furnaces and all the gold that was supposed to bury
said dragon was also an immense amount. Most impressive!
CGI – Like the
vast amounts of gold, there were also vast amounts of CGI – albeit, very well
done in my opinion. As my friend pointed out, however, part of the charm and
enduring quality of the LOTR trilogy is the fact that so much of it is real,
not digital. However, the CGI in this film was done nicely and didn’t detract
from the story.
Dragon – One
cannot write a review of this movie without a section for the dragon Smaug! He
was impressive, and seemed quite accurate to the book, which I greatly
appreciated. He seemed quite reasonable as far as dragons go. Certainly very
large, very strong, but not impressively wise. So yeah, a good dragon!
Underground sets – There were two amazing locations that were underground in this
movie – one being Thranduil’s palace with wood elves and the other, obviously,
being within the Lonely Mountain. Let’s start with Thranduil’s. After I got
used to the idea of elves living underground instead of just in trees (accurate
to the book as it is!), I quite liked it. It managed to be underground, yet
still spacious and truly beautiful. And light. Elegant curves, making it
elvish. A lovely place to live. And then there’s the whole area under the
Lonely Mountain. As you may know if you know me (or have read this blog for
very long), I have rather a fascination with caves and underground scenes – the
Mines of Moria is my hands-down-all-time favorite part in the LOTR trilogy. So
going underground again here had me on the edge of my seat. The dragon’s lair is
gigantic and awe-inspiring. And then the melting area…but that deserves it’s
own section. Suffice to say that I have gained a very deep respect for the work
of the dwarves and the area that they have created under there. I’d love to
visit – after the dragon is gone and all is at peace.
Forge/furnace/melting
place – This part was all so amazing. I was fascinated by how everything
worked, and by watching the whole process. It’s quite an ingenious plan in the
end, that whole thing with the statue, though how Thorin could’ve ever actually
thought it would work is beyond me. Anyway, this was all definitely one of my
favorite parts!
Sauron, orcs, and the
ring – Because they all go together a lot. Sauron first. I’m not sure if he
was ever named or not, but he was definitely there and a rather prominent part
of this movie. He even takes on the eye form in a way. Some of that eye part
was a little silly, I thought, but certainly very dramatic. Then there was the
ring – already Bilbo feels often compelled to put it on and disappear, and
experiences a weird world when he does. Played up a little from the book, but
not an all bad change. And finally, the orcs. This was a big thing about this
movie that I didn’t like – remember the scene where Gandalf goes to Dol Guldur to
fight against the evil lurking there and meets Azog and co? At some point, as
Gandalf is looking, he is told by the orcs that “we are legion.” There was a
lot of darker content in parts of this movie, and that combined with the
particular use of the word “legion” (which is pretty Biblical) felt like it was
a very direct nod to satanic or demonic behavior. I’m all for a
good-versus-evil battle, and think that probably some of this story does
definitely correlate to the Bible. However, I really don’t like it when demonic
type stuff is in the story, even when it’s clearly evil. SO I strongly disliked
that.
Legolas – He’s
back! Technically, it’s true, he’s not supposed to be but I think his
appearance was more than worth it. It was great to see him again. He wasn’t a
character who the audience got very attached to in this movie like he was in
LOTR, and you never really got to know him – he spent most of his time doing
awesome trick shooting. Speaking of which, I laughed when he stood on dwarf
heads as they floated down the river and shot orcs – they all shot orcs. Epic.
But yes! Legolas was back, up to amazing tricks once again.
Tauriel – Finally!
A female elf who’s a fighter! She was a delight to watch. I did think that the
whole thing with her and Kili was a little silly – I mean sure, he’s cute and
awesome, but he’s a dwarf and she wouldn’t fall for him. Ever. But all in all,
I thought she was awesome and her fighting skills are amazing!
Dwarves in barrels
and spiders – The barrel scene was delightful, as I have suspected since
the very beginning. While I didn’t absolutely fall in love with it, it was good
and certainly enjoyable. And Bombur flying out of the river in his barrel,
crashing down a hill, and killing many orcs? That was amazing. The spiders…definitely
gross, but a good part of the movie.
Bard – We finally
get to meet Bard here! He’s not bad looking, and seems like a nice enough man –
I had to keep reminding myself that while he has his good points, he’s a bad
guy in the final battle (although Thorin is too a little bit). But here Bard
has a son and two daughters who we get quite attached to, and I’m curious to
see how they paint him in the third movie.
Fire – Strange to
say, the fire in this movie really stood out for me. Lol, it sounds weird – but
I walked away thinking “There was so much fire!” Smaug was certainly very fond
of it and used it often. Random point.
Nazgul beginnings
stuff – To anyone not familiar with the Lord of the Rings movies, much of
the fore-shadowing in this movie may go unnoticed and may even seem confusing.
However, LOTR fans will be fascinated by the beginnings of the Nazgul. My only
drawback is, of course, that this is not really in the book at all and
technically shouldn’t have been included in this movie. Their burial place,
where Gandalf and Radagast visited, was fascinating though!
Gandalf’s journeyings
– I will be the first to admit that seeing where Gandalf went after leaving
the hobbits was fascinating, and for the most part, it makes sense to have
included it – time-wise, at least. Though I think much of it isn’t learned
until LOTR in the books. But it was interesting, for sure, despite the made-up
parts.
Peter Jackson’s cameo
– Yup, there he was within the first few moments of the actual film,
chomping down on another carrot in a distinct nod to Fellowship of the Ring! I was quite excited that I caught his cameo
this time. :D
Book faithfulness – Well,
as some other person said, about half of it is from the book and half of it is
just made up and stuck in and added to make it more exciting. It was definitely
exciting. And some of the improvements were indeed improvements – some I didn’t
like as much.
Something missing –
One thing that hit me really hard to not have was the awesome way that the
dwarves are introduced to Beorn. Here they see him as a bear, and then get
chased by orcs and all just kind of run into his house. Remember how in the
book, they come in by twos following Gandalf’s instructions as he steadily
spins a tale, except for Bombur who comes a little before he’s supposed to?
It’s such a cool way to do it, and I really missed that here. I also noted that
this movie entirely skipped the river with the water that they couldn’t touch
(except Bombur touched it and fell asleep and they had to carry him a great
distance).
So there you go – a complete run-down of my thoughts
concerning Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug!
Worth your time and money to see in the theater? Absolutely. I can’t wait to
watch it again!
Want more Tolkien and Hobbit things? Check out my Tolkienesque Pinterest board!
Have you seen it? What did you think?
My rating on a 1-10
scale: 8.5
Genre: Period
drama, life, family
Series or set: Downton
Abbey
Number in series: 2nd
Primary actors: Michelle
Dockery, Dan Stevens, Elizabeth McGovern, Hugh Bonneville, Maggie Smith
Length: I think
it’s seven episodes (the first one being extra long) plus the Christmas special
(also about two hours)
Based on: I hear
it’s based on a real family?
Time period: World
War I, early 1900s
Rating: TV-PG,
I’m guessing?
Year it came out: 2011
My overall opinion: I
enjoyed this season, and finally – a happy ending! Since I have watched many
things (including Season 3) since this season, I’m not going to try to ramble
on about it more than to say that it was good, I liked the ending, enjoyed
getting to know everyone better, and all-in-all, liked it probably even a bit
better than Season 1. It helps that I know everyone now. Nothing stood out to
me as objectionable! A little about characters…Matthew is mostly annoying, but
occasionally quite nice. Lavinia is a sweet girl in a hard position. I still
love Cora, and Isobel is more annoying than ever. Cousin Violet is a delight
through and through, makes me laugh often. Thomas is horrid, Sybil is a
sweetheart…I really like her. Carlisle is despicable, and also recognizable as
a bad guy in Wives and Daughers as
well. Mary is interesting, tolerable, and not my favorite character. There!
Author: MaryLu
Tyndall
Genre: Romance,
adventure
Series: Escape to
Paradise
Number in
series: 2nd
My rating
on a 1-10 scale: 8.5
Type: Fiction
Number of
pages: 315
Time
period: 1800s
Publisher
and price: Barbour, $12.99
My overall
opinion: I hadn’t really read anything else by MaryLu Tyndall before, but I
saw her books
reviewed throughout the Christian fiction blogging world, so I
knew I’d better give this one a try when it came up for review. And I’m glad I
did! It’s unlike anything else I’ve ever read. The time period (1866, to be
exact) isn’t that strange, but the setting (mostly jungle in Brazil) is very
unique! Magnolia, the leading lady, is a real pain at times, and I empathized
with Hayden’s struggles with her, but she was quite funny and made me laugh
several times – always good. I didn’t love her, ‘tis true, but I certainly
enjoyed getting to know her. The whole book is packed with enthralling
adventures, and I loved the humor through-out! This book does work very well as
a stand-alone, though I would like to read book 1, as it has interesting
information (pretty sure) about earlier events. There was a little spiritual
stuff that also unlike anything encountered in other books, and while it didn’t
turn me against the book, it was a bit strange…not quite sure what I thought of
it. Or how realistic it is. BUT don’t let that deter you from this most
enjoyable read!
**Bookfun.org and the author sent me this book in return for my
honest review. I was not forced to post positively, nor was I recompensed in
any other way for this review.**
Author: Sarah E.
Ladd
Genre: Romance
Series: Whispers
on the Moors
Number in
series: 2nd
My rating
on a 1-10 scale: 8.5
Type: Fiction
Number of
pages: 311
Time
period: 1800s
Publisher
and price: Thomas Nelson, $15.99
Passage
from book: The opening lines: “There was no doubt in William Sterling’s mind.
He was being followed. He was an easy target – now more than ever. He knew
better than to travel at such a late hour in the moors, when midnight’s haze
shrouded the moon’s gray light and the new-fallen snow gave the illusion of an
even terrain. An owl’s mournful cry sliced the night’s uncomfortable silence,
and with a sharp click of his tongue, William urged his mount into a faster
gait.”
My overall
opinion: For some strange reason, this book reminded me of Charlotte
Bronte’s Jane Eyre, and the more I
think about it, the more I realize it does have some similarities. An
all-girls’ school; a dark, handsome, and mysterious main man; an older
heroine…but this book is lighter than Jane
Eyre and a quicker read. It’s packed with extra mystery, some great drama,
and a delightful romance as well. Patience is a sweetheart with many admirable
qualities, and William (or Sterling) is quite dashing. I recommend this book to
fans of Julie Klassen and Murray Pura – anyone interested in a sweet 1800s romance
with a healthy dose of mystery. It’s delightful, and Sarah is a wonderful
author!
**Sarah Ladd sent me a copy of this book in return for my honest
review. I wasn’t forced to review it positively, nor was I recompensed in any
other way for this review.**
I have also reviewed Sarah's first book, Heiress of Winterwood. Find that review HERE.
My rating on a 1-10
scale: 9.5
Genre: Fantasy,
adventure, romance, life
Series or set: Merlin
Number in series: 5th
Primary actors: Colin
Morgan, Bradley James, Katie McGrath, Angel Coulby, John Hurt
Length: 13
episodes, each of normal length
Based on: The
classic legends about Arthur and Merlin
Time period: 1300s
Rating: TV-14,
I’m guessing?
Year it came out: 2012
My overall opinion: I
can clearly remember that day, not very long ago, when I logged onto Hulu and
discovered something that made me ecstatic – there was a new episode sign right
there by Merlin. I watched seasons 1-4 earlier this year, and have been
desperate ever since to get my hands on season 5 somehow, but it never worked
out. Then. Finally. Hulu got it. I was over the moon.
I watched it in a little over a week. And wow. I didn’t
realize how much I had missed it – the characters, the music, the setting, the
humor, the drama, all of it. It was SO good to get to see 13 new-to-me episodes
of what is basically my favorite show! It may indeed be my absolute favorite.
Anyway. So I watched it. If you know anything about Merlin,
you know that the last two episodes of this last season go together, and
everyone says they’re sad – well, everyone is right. I sobbed. Literally
sobbed. And I don’t do that often, and I’ve never done it over a TV show
before…but this one was worth it, and I love it despite crying. Definitely
really worth watching.
Arthur and Gwen were finally happily married and that made
me happy. Merlin was using magic as usual, and I still love Arthur and Merlin
and the way they interact. Gwen was still a sweetheart, except when enchanted.
Morgana is horrid – who would have guessed from season one that she’d end up so
horrible? Downright despicable. The knights are good…I miss Lancelot, but it is
for the best that he is gone. We’ve still got Gwaine. And Percival.
Lots of delightful mystery and intrigue throughout this…a
grand culmination of everything for the end…and the very last scene? Was a
surprise. Even to me (and I tend to read spoilers about things…I dislike being
surprised with some stuff). But it made me smile. So! Need a new show? I highly
recommend this one for anyone who enjoys things to do with dragons, magic,
magicians, humor, romance, adventure, knights, suspense, war, epic battles, or
even just anyone with time to watch the five seasons. If you are like me in
most tastes…you’ll enjoy this.
Author: Kim Vogel
Sawyer
Genre: Life,
romance
Series: Heart of
the Prairie
Number in
series: 6th (however, I didn’t realize it was part of a series
until I looked it up on Goodreads – so basically, you can read these in any
order you like and it won’t make much of a difference)
My rating
on a 1-10 scale: 9 high
Type: Fiction
Number of
pages: 346
Time
period: 1800s
Publisher
and price: Bethany House, $19.99 (hardcover – but it’s currently available on
PaperBackSwap!)
My overall
opinion: So before this one, I had only read one other book by Kim and that
was a long time ago. However, I had really enjoyed it…and now, I’m not sure why
I haven’t read more since, because I’ll definitely be reading a lot more by
this author in the future! I really enjoyed this book. I loved the Midwest
setting and had no trouble picturing it. Joel, the main guy, is a sweetheart
and I liked him. Edythe Amsel (ooo-la-la, that name I love!) was a great
leading lady. And Johnny and Robert, two young boys who were supporting
characters central to the story, were extremely lovable. The whole book had an
easy pace and great writing. Kim masterfully presents this sweet story, and I’m
so glad I read it! Definitely excited to read more by her in the near future.
