I am the mother to 4 little tater tots. I read to them every night and buy a ridiculous amount of used books.
For those who don’t know, Deliciously Clean Reads has moved. The blogger, Emily, had too many different blogs to maintain so she combined them all into one new one. It is called Homespun Light and I’m really enjoying her posts so far. She writes about her family, clean books, crafts, or whatever strikes her fancy.
She currently has a book giveaway as well for Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George. Check it out here.
This book will not be for sale until March 24th, but I received an Advanced Reader’s Edition through LibraryThing.
Serendipity is a story involving 4 generations of women. The book begins with Carrie, who has just lost her mother, Rose. Carrie has never been able to follow through with things; a chocolate business she started with her best friend and then sold, an engagement that was called off, etc. She decides to investigate her past and find out why her mother hadn’t talked to her grandmother in 35 years. She visits all the people she can think of until she finally has to visit a grandmother she’s never known.
It’s a story of famous ancestors and secrets revealed. And for Carrie, the knowledge she gains about her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother gives her the power to move on with her life and the understanding of where she comes from.
The actual characters in the book were not women I admired or respected. Most of the women were selfish and proud and wanted to be famous. I understand there are women like that in the world, but I can’t really relate to women who can’t hug their own daughters or give them the love and attention they desire. It was, however, an interesting read. We can’t pick who we come from, but we can learn from their mistakes. I was pleased with the ending and the book did get better further in. I couldn’t stop reading once I was deep into the story.
I am interested in more books by Louise Shaffer, but would probably not read this one again.
I give it 3 out of 5 stars.
I’m going to try to do a quick book review for every book I read this year. So far I have completed 2 books by Shannon Hale (an author I LOVE!)
The first book I read was Princess Academy. I have read it once before in 2007, and my husband gave it to me for Christmas. It was just as good the second time around. The main girl, Miri, is just like any other teenager. She yearns to be accepted by her friends and family and isn’t quite sure where she fits in. She lives in small mountain village that is named as the place where the prince’s future wife is. So it’s decided that a Princess Academy must be formed in order to teach all the teenage girls how to be proper ladies. Miri has trouble at first and seems to have lost her friends after a severe punishment, but slowly she pushes herself to be the best in the class and helps the other girls around her as well.
It is a wonderful story for young girls and what they can become. And like the rest of Shannon Hale’s books, there is some romance and humor as well. Very enjoyable read.
The second book I read by Hale is quite different than her ordinary books. She has a relatively new book out that she wrote with her husband, Dean Hale. It is a graphic novel, and I wasn’t even sure what that was when I heard it. It’s like a comic book with lots of pictures and the characters talking to each other. I was somewhat hesitant to try it out, but as I said earlier, Shannon Hale is a great favorite of mine. I will read anything that she writes.
So I got it at the library last week and read it in about 1 1/2 hours while all of my kids were napping. It was awesome! We’ve all heard the story of Rapunzel before and this was very loosely based on that story, except with a tough chick twist. Rapunzel escaped from the tower and used her long hair as a lasso as she fought all the ruffians to get back to her wicked pretend-mother and take her down. Along the way she becomes friends with Jack (and slowly a romance develops). I’m sad to say I didn’t realize quickly that he was Jack from Jack and the beanstalk. He was carrying a goose the whole time, so I should have picked up on that sooner than I did. Together they fight the bad guys and become friends.
There is lots of humor and a tiny bit of romance and Rapunzel’s Revenge is just a very enjoyable and quick read. What girl doesn’t like to read about a chick out there kicking butt? And the illustrations are amazing. Really a great book for kids age 9 and up.
My husband writes a very witty Christmas letter every year for our family. His snippet about me this year is quite fitting for my Book Blog:
Katie took the pregnancy in stride and kept busy with two active boys. Her favorite books of the year were The Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libba Bray and These is My Words by Nancy Turner. Speaking of books, Katie suffers from a rare disease known as children’s book syndrome. Whenever she sees a children’s book, she wants it. When leaving for DI she declares “No more books!” but returns with a few dozen. “They were such a good deal,” she says. Now the Library of Congress calls us to borrow ones they don’t have.
It’s so funny to me, because it’s true!
Anyway, these were my favorite books from this past year.
Lately Clark has been obsessed with this Christmas book we checked out at the library. He asks me to read it to him at least 3 times a day (who knows how many times he asks Dan to read it).
The first time I read it I was concerned that the author was not going to have Santa Claus come, that perhaps Little Bear would learn that Big Bear and Mommy Bear are the ones who eat the treats and put gifts in the stocking. But Santa did show up, though no one did ever see him. It’s a very cute book.
