Graceling by Kristin Cashore

January 24, 2018 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight—she’s a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king’s thug.

When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change. She never expects to become Po’s friend. She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace—or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away… a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone.

Book Overview:

Author: Kristin Cashore | Series: Graceling Realm | Format: Audiobook | Narrated by: David Baker and the Full Cast Family | Length: 12 hours, 30 mins | Publish Date: June 30, 2009 | Literary Awards: Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature (2009), William C. Morris YA Debut Award Nominee (2009), Rhode Island Teen Book Award Nominee (2011), Milwaukee County Teen Book Award Nominee (2010), Sakura Medal Nominee for High School Book (2010), Florida Teens Read Nominee (2010), Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award (ALAN/NCTE) Nominee (2009), Iowa High School Book Award Nominee (2011), Lincoln Award Nominee (2011), Cybils Award Nominee for Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction (2008), Green Mountain Book Award (2011), Missouri Gateway Readers Award Nominee (2011) | Rating: ★ ★ ★ | Recommend: Maybe

“How absurd it was that in all seven kingdoms, the weakest and most vulnerable of people – girls, women – went unarmed and were taught nothing of fighting, while the strong were trained to the highest reaches of their skill.”

So I have heard of this book before, and I was always told that I should read it right away. I received a lot of recommendations for this book throughout the years and I only now got to reading it. I must be one of the ones that weren’t completely blown away by this book, unfortunate for me because I really wanted to love it.

I would say that to me, the book moved too slow for me. I appreciate the action scenes and I can appreciate that there needed to be some story building, but to me, there were portions that took way too long to happen. A huge part of the book was Katsa, the main Graceling, and a little princess named Bitterblue traveling from one kingdom to the other. Since the distance between these two kingdoms is pretty big – at least, that’s the image I got reading it with how long it took them – I feel like those scenes could have gone much faster. What I thought was the climax of the story, the “showdown” if you will, was barely a blip compared to the journey. Was that the point, and maybe I just didn’t understand it? I’m not sure.

I apologize that this review is short. Other than the pacing, I wouldn’t say there was anything particularly wrong with this book. I enjoyed the premise, and I’m glad that Katsa was able to grow as a character, but there were times where I just wish I could have skipped some chapters to get on with the story.

Author Spotlight

Courtesy of Goodreads

Born: The United States

Website: http://kristincashore.blogspot.com/

Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Young Adult, Ebooks

So, here’s the short tale of me: I grew up in the countryside of northeastern Pennsylvania in a village with cows and barns and beautiful views from the top of the hill and all that good stuff. I lived in a rickety old house with my parents, three sisters, and a scattering of cats, and I READ READ READ READ READ. I read while brushing my teeth, I read while chopping parsley, the first thing I reached for when I woke up in the morning was my book; the only two places I didn’t read were in the car and in bed. What did I do then? The one thing I liked even more than reading: I daydreamed.

And so, without knowing it, I was planting the seeds. Reading and daydreaming = perfect preparation for writing.

At 18 I went off to college– thank you, Williams College, for the financial aid that made this possible– and it almost killed me. College is hard, man, and the Berkshires are cloudy. A (phenomenal) year studying abroad in sunny Sydney revived me. After college I developed a compulsive moving problem: New York City, Boston, Cambridge, Austin, Pennsylvania, Italy, and even a short stint in London, where my showerhead hung from the cutest little stand that was exactly like the cradle of an old-fashioned telephone. The best phone calls are the pretend phone calls made from your telephone tub.

During my stint in Boston, I got an M.A. at the Center for the Study of Children’s Literature at Simmons College. (Thank you, Simmons, for the scholarship that made this possible!) Grad school almost killed me, but I felt a lot more alive than when I was almost being killed in college. The Simmons program is stupendous. It got me thinking and breathing YA books. It got me writing.

Am I getting boring?

Since Simmons, I haven’t stopped writing, not once. I’ve developed a compulsive writing problem that makes my moving problem look like a charming personality quirk. I can’t stop! But it’s okay, because I don’t want to stop. I’ve been writing full-time– well, more than full-time, really– for about 4 years now, first doing educational writing for the K-6 market and now working on my novels. It’s a dream job, which is another way of saying that when I shop for work clothes, I go straight to the pajamas section.

Should I say a little bit about what I’m like? I’m fiercely independent. I am sometimes a hermit, but never for very long. I am in search of the perfect cat. I’m a recovering Catholic. I meditate, and when I do, Prince Harry appears in my subconscious and meditates with me. It’s a little strange but I don’t think there’s anything I can do about it. Sometimes he’s not the only one; the other day it was me, Prince Harry, the Dalai Lama, Mr. Rogers, Coco the gorilla, and George Clooney. We were all floating above the earth looking down at the continents as they passed. George Clooney suggested I visit Providence, Rhode Island. The Dalai Lama sighed deeply and said he’d really like to visit Tibet.

Poor Dalai Lama.

I recently moved from Jacksonville, Florida, to Cambridge, Massachusetts, trading the St. Johns River for the Charles River and pelicans for geese. As a native northerner, it’s nice to be back in the land of four seasons. I feel as if I’ve come home. :o)

And that’s my story.

Stars by Colleen Oakes

January 23, 2018 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Wendy Darling has a perfectly agreeable life with her parents and brothers in wealthy London, as well as a budding romance with Booth, the neighborhood bookseller’s son. But while their parents are at a ball, the charmingly beautiful Peter Pan comes to the Darling children’s nursery and—dazzled by this flying boy with god-like powers—they follow him out of the window and straight on to morning, to Neverland, an intoxicating island of feral freedom.

As time passes in Neverland, Wendy realizes that this Lost Boys’ paradise of turquoise seas, mermaids, and pirates holds terrible secrets rooted in blood and greed. As Peter’s grasp on her heart tightens, she struggles to remember where she came from—and begins to suspect that this island of dreams, and the boy who desires her, have the potential to transform into an everlasting nightmare.

Book Overview:

Author: Colleen Oakes | Series: Wendy Darling Series | Format: Paperback | Length: 317 pages | Publish Date: October 13, 2015 | Genre: YA Fantasy/Retelling | Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ | Recommend: Maybe

“If the stars above saw what I felt for you, they would pour out their wonders…”

Almost every single Peter Pan movie out there is about Peter. I guess it makes sense since those movies are often called “Peter Pan”. But what about the Darlings? What about Wendy Darling, the only human girl to ever set foot in Neverland and become a mother figure to all the Lost Boys that live there? What was it about her that made Peter Pan come into her nursery and take not only her, but her two younger brothers on the adventure of their lives?

This story talks all about it, and it’s not pretty.

Forget everything you know about Peter Pan, or even Wendy herself. This book turns the knowledge we have of the Disney version of this story and makes Neverland a much more formidable and dangerous place to be. It’s not a happily ever after kind of place, filled with violence and death and secrets.

Think of Peter in the Disney version. He’s a nice guy for the most part, maybe. He is just a boy that won’t grow up, so he has the tendency to be immature. We think that he’s not always as smart as he should be, but boy, are we wrong. Peter Pan is so much smarter than we give him credit for, and it makes him an extremely dangerous “god-boy” as Wendy likes to call him. He has the power to control all of the Lost Boys with his charisma alone, and at times it can be downright scary. These Lost Boys are willing to lay down their lives for him, all for the sake of an adventure.

“I knew I was bound for something different. Something better. I was meant to rule the stars, not gaze at them from under our poverty.”

I will say that Peter is not a good guy in this book whatsoever… but to avoid the risk of spoilers, that’s all I will say about that.

Wendy on the other hand… poor Wendy. All she wanted was to love a boy below her station. It’s not her fault that she lives in London’s past, where you risk losing everything if you fall in love with someone that doesn’t come from a rich enough family. It sucks, and it’s not fair to her when this boy actually makes her feel something. She loves him, he loves her, and he wants her to be brave and let their parents know. But before she can really, truly be brave, Peter shows up.

She has so much growing up to do, and she’s forced to do it in such a strange world with no adults except for the ones that want to kill her and the rest of the Lost Boys. Mostly the pirates, I mean. Can she survive here? Will she ever go home, or will the thrall of Neverland keep her here forever? Will Peter Pan win her heart, even though she is in love with a boy back home?

I’ll make a note here and say that there is violence and some gore in this book, so please be aware of that if that’s something you don’t like reading. There is also some form of abuse (I won’t say to avoid spoilers) so be wary of that as well.

Author Spotlight

Courtesy of Goodreads

Born: in Denver, The United States

Website: http://www.colleenoakes.net

Twitter: ColleenBlooms

Genre: Young Adult, Fiction, Fantasy

Goodreads Member Since: September 2007

Colleen Oakes is the author of books for both teens and adults, including YA fantasy retellings The Queen of Hearts Saga and The Wendy Darling Saga, and the Elly in Bloom series which is women’s fiction. She lives in North Denver with her husband and son and surrounds herself with the most lovely family and friends imaginable. When not writing or plotting new books, Colleen can be found swimming, traveling and totally immersing herself in nerdy pop culture. She currently at work on another YA fantasy series and a stand-alone YA novel.

You can visit her webpage at: www.colleenoakes.net

Obsession by Amanda Robson

January 21, 2018 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

One evening, a wife asks her husband a question: who else would you go for, if you could?

It is a simple question – a little game – that will destroy her life.

Carly and Rob are a perfect couple. They share happy lives with their children and their close friends Craig and Jenny. They’re lucky. But beneath the surface, no relationship is simple: can another woman’s husband and another man’s wife ever just be good friends?

Little by little, Carly’s question sends her life spiralling out of control, as she begins to doubt everything she thought was true. Who can she trust? The man she has promised to stick by forever, or the best friend she has known for years? And is Carly being entirely honest with either of them?

Book Overview:

“He pants my name at the moment he climaxes. He pants my name in his sleep.”

I read this book for my book club, Bookish Babes of Norfolk. If you guys are living in Norfolk, VA and are looking for a club to join, I recommend them.

After saying all that, I honestly don’t think this is a book I would have ever picked up. I was listening to it at work, and within the first few chapters, there’s a sex scene that I wasn’t expecting. Call me a prude or whatever, I don’t really care. But I personally do not like reading about sex in books. To me, it doesn’t add to the story, and I don’t need to hear about all the blowjobs and climaxes happening behind closed doors. But in this case, the sex scenes did add to the story because of what the book was about.

So this story – and every single terrible thing in this story – happened because one of the main characters Carly asked her husband Rob a question: if he could have sex with anyone else but her, who would he choose?

Well, Rob made the critical mistake of saying Carly’s best friend Jenni. And that’s when “shit hit the fan”.

The drama between these two couples: Carly and Rob, and Jenni and Craig, is absolutely ridiculous. I understand that Carly has been made to have depression and paranoia, but I’m curious as to why Jenni was never diagnosed with anything. These women were pretty ruthless towards one another, and their husbands were complete idiots. I pretty much hated every single character in this book, with the exception of the children. They didn’t do anything. Once again, only the children are innocent in a book like this.

Also, while reading this book, I didn’t really see how it was considered a psychological thriller until more than halfway through the book. Even then, I wouldn’t have labeled it a thriller. It didn’t keep me on the edge of my seat like The Couple Next Door. It didn’t make me want to know how the ending would play out. I just knew who I hated, and I didn’t care what happened to them. They were stupid, and they purposely did stupid things and had the audacity to not understand why things were starting to go wrong.

I also had a question about Rob’s integrity as a narrator. There were times where his narration would continue right after Jenni, or right after Carly, and the differences between his recollection and the women’s was almost startling. I feel like he lied about a lot of things, and he just was not a good person, to begin with. Both Rob and Jenni claimed to be religious people, and yet their actions were anything but holy. At least Craig and Carly owned their actions and didn’t try to hide behind God or anything else.

Stay tuned for an Author Spotlight in the future!