Hood

Author: Stephen R. Lawhead

Genre: Adventure

Series: King Raven Triology

Number in series: First

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 8

Type: Historical fiction

Number of pages:  472

Time period: 1200, maybe?

Main characters: Bran, Merian, Iwan, Angharad

Exciting events: A mysterious gigantic bird, being hunted by warriors, nearly dying, escapes, captures, much more!

My overall opinion: A unique re-telling of Robin Hood! It's...different. You have to read it to understand. A few slightly inappropriate things, but overall it was a good book. Any boy is sure to enjoy it, and girls will too. :)

Keeper of the Light

Author: Patty Metzer

Genre: Romance, life

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 9.5

Type: Fiction

Number of pages:  367

Time period: 1700's

Main characters: Kaytra, Colin, Lydia

Exciting events: Many! :)

My overall opinion: This is one of the best books I've read in a long time! I highly recommend it to everyone. Well, not little kids, but you get the idea. :) It's a really unique, sweet story!

Big book giveaway!

Hey, everyone!

Just wanted you all to hear about the big book giveaway going on at Legacy of a Writer. She's giving away a lot of books! But hurry, they all end tonight, January 14.

Click here for your chance to win two books! Either Texas Roads and A Path Less Traveled by Cathy Bryant, Somewhere to Belong and More Than Words by Judith Miller, The Edge of Light and Promise of Morning by Ann Shorey, or McKenzie and Kaydie by Penny Zeller. So go enter!

Then click here to enter to win Surrender the Wind by Rita Gerlach.

Click here to enter to win Singing Winds by Linda Strawn.

And then, click here to win Pearl in the Sand by Tessa Afshar.

And here to enter in the giveaway for The Heart's Journey Home by Jen Stephens.

Good luck!

I Was Awarded!

My very first blogging award! This is terribly exciting. Thank you, Kait! For the rest of you...Kait runs a couple of delightful book blogs. I was awarded on her blog called Reviews by Jane. Check it out! She also blogs with a friend on Book Ponderings.

The great time has come. :) Here is the award!

Ta-da! Yes, I'm a little happy. :) Thanks again, Kait!

Now. I'm supposed to share seven things about myself with you! So...here goes!

1. I love reading. Especially anything Jane Austen. :)
2. I do enjoy watching movies too, especially anything Jane Austen.
3. I have a camera and a photography blog. View my profile to find it. :) I named my camera CaMera.
4. I also have an Mp3 player named LaMera. I like her a lot.
5. I love listening to music, especially Katherine Jenkins, Susan Boyle, Sarah Brightman, Andrea Bocelli, Josh Turner, Celtic Woman, Enya, and a variety of movie soundtracks.
6. I think I want the Emma 2009 soundtrack. Now I need to save my money and buy it! :)
7. I think I'm rambling. Do you agree? ;) On a side note...I love smilies. :)

Okay. Now I get to choose up to 15 other bloggers who I feel deserve this award! So...I'm going to go with my nine followers. First, thank you all for following me! I love followers and your comments really make my day. :) Before you post the award on YOUR blog, follow these rules:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Award fifteen recently discovered great bloggers.
4. Contact the named bloggers and tell them they're awarded!

Here we go! I realize I didn't do 15, but I think that 12 will be enough this time. :)

1. Elegance of Fashion
2. Old Fashioned Charm
3. Rather Bookish
4. Regency Delight
5. An Old-Fashioned Girl
6. Book Ponderings
7. Reviews by Jane
8. Libri
9. Content in Christ
10. Inspire
11. Jane and Elizabeth
12. Jessica's Blog
13. That's all!

Movie: America's Test Kitchen

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 7.5

Genre: How-to, cooking

Series or set: America's Test Kitchen

Number in series: Season 9, Disc 3.

Primary actors: Christopher Kimball, Julia C. Davison, Bridget Lancaster, Adam Ried

Time period: Present

Year it came out: 2009

My overall opinion: This was fun. :) A cool thing was that in each episode, they would compare a bunch of cooking utensils, as in, they might get 15 sets of measuring cups and figure out which was best. Or rice cookers, scales, etc. :)

Movie: Emma

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 10

Genre: Romance

Primary actors: Romola Garai, Johnny Lee Miller, Michael Gambon

Based on: Emma by Jane Austen

Time period: 1800's

Quote(s): There are many quotable lines in here, but I'm unable to recall any at the moment. :(

Year it came out: 2009

My overall opinion: My rating shows...I love this movie! Saw it three times in a row. :) It's definitely worth every minute you spend watching it. About four hours long! But it's so totally worth it. You're guaranteed to love it if you enjoy reading Jane Austen's book and/or watching the movies of them. :) This one follows the book quite closely. Highly recommended! Oh, also, the soundtrack? I don't have the CD, but I LOVE the music! SO beautiful. :)

Love that scene, and the dance music. :)

And finally, two banners made by Elegance of Fashion:

Make sure you check her blog out! :)

Another book giveaway!

Yes, another book giveaway! This one is at Book Ponderings.

Click here to enter this giveaway!

50th Post!

That's right! This is my 50th post! I'd offer a giveaway, maybe, but I already told you: when I have 25 followers, there'll be a book giveaway! Tell your blogging friends about Austenitis, and let's have this giveaway! :)

Movie: A Christmas Carol

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 8

Main characters: Scrooge, The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, Future, Bob Cratchit

Genre: Life, classic

Primary actors: Patrick Stewart

Based on: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Time period: 1800's

Exciting events: Many travels, walking through walls, etc.

Quote(s): God bless us, every one! I was wondering if you'd like Mr. Marley's name removed from the sign, outside. No, time will erase it at no cost to us. He'll be about as merry as a graveyard on a wet Sunday.

Year it came out: 1999

My overall opinion: This is a good movie! It sticks fairly closely to the book, but there are some differences.

Love's Secret Storm

Author: Leonora Pruner

Genre: Romance

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 7.5

Type: Fiction

Number of pages: 262

Time period: 1800's

Main characters: Meg, Charles, Will

Exciting events: Many!

My overall opinion: This book was okay, I didn't love it. There were some things about it I didn't like, but I'm not going to say what because it'd give away some of the story. :)

Taste of Home's Casserole Cookbook

Author: Ummm...it's a TOH publication.

Genre: How-to, cooking

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 8

Type: Cookbook

Number of pages: 317

Time period: None

Main characters: Chicken, beef, seafood, vegetables

Exciting events: None

My overall opinion: Whoever heard of a cookbook with exciting events, or a time period? Actually, there are some time period cookbooks. ANYWAY, this is a pretty great cookbook. It has recipes for pretty much every imaginable casserole. Recommended!

A Conspiracy of Kings

Author: Megan Whalen Turner

Genre: Fantasy, adventure

Series: I don't think it's in a series, but it may be. I haven't read the potential preceding books.

Number in series: Fourth, IF it's in the series. I don't know! Okay, according to Wikipedia it's in The Queen's Thief series.

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 8.5

Type: Fiction

Number of pages: 313

Time period: Fantasy, Byzantine

Main characters: Sophos, Eugenides, the Queen of Eddis, the magus

Exciting events: Sword fights, escapes, and more.

My overall opinion: A fun read! It sounds long, but is worth the time. I wish I'd read the books earlier in the series first, but didn't miss them too much, still was able to understand the story. It is a fantastical story, in a fantastical time, but similar to Byzantium, which is why we have the confusion about time period up there. :)

Special Post: Book Giveaway!

Hey everyone!

This is a special post to alert you all to a book giveaway going on on the blog Jane's Reviews and Giveaways. If you click this link, you can go straight to her blog to check it out. :) Have fun and good luck!

Villette

Author: Charlotte Bronte

Genre: Life, romance

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 7.5

Type: Fiction

Number of pages: Around 650

Time period: Early 1800's

Main characters: Lucy, Paulina, Paul, John/Graham

Exciting events: A mysterious personage...

My overall opinion: This book has very mild romance, and you don't know who it's going to be until the very end! It was a fun read, but as you can see it was very long and took me several days. It got a little tiring by the end. Another annoying thing was that it had a lot of French phrases and conversations. Not so much as to impede my understanding of the book, but enough to be rather annoying. Overall: takes some patience to read, but can be worth it.

The Tender Summer

{No picture, explanation below}

Author: Jim Johnson

Genre: Romance

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 7.5

Type: Fiction

Number of pages: 185

Time period: 1800's

Main characters: Joanna, Tom

Exciting events: Gun fights, Indians, and more!

My overall opinion: A good book. :) Recommended. The reason I have no picture is simply because I couldn't find one anywhere. So.

Terror in the Sky

Author: Lee Roddy

Genre: Adventure, life, mystery

Series: An American Adventure

Number in series: Sixth

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 7

Type: Fiction

Number of pages: 175

Time period: 1900's

Main characters: Hildy, Ruby, Spud

Exciting events: A kidnapping, near-death experiences, mean dog, mean man, and more!

My overall opinion: I haven't read the other books in this series, but this one was fun!

Sarah's Choice

Author: Wanda E. Brunstetter

Genre: Romance

Series: Brides of Lehigh Canal

Number in series: Third

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 8.5

Type: Fiction

Number of pages: 284

Time period: Early 1900's

Main characters: Sarah, Elias, Carolyn, Sammy

Exciting events: A run-away, accident with the lock.

My overall opinion: A good book, completely clean. Wanda Brunstetter is a good author.

Time Cat

Author: Lloyd Alexander

Genre: Fantasy, animals

My rating on a 1-10 scale: 8

Type: Fiction

Number of pages: 206

Time period: Several!

Main characters: Jason, Gareth

Exciting events: Time travel, exciting encounters in other centuries

My overall opinion: First of all, this isn't really a science fiction book. It's about a cat who (contrary to popular belief) doesn't have nine lives, but rather can travel with a companion to nine different time periods and countries. I thought it was a fun read, though aimed at kids younger than teens probably.