The Mermaid’s Mirror by L. K. Madigan

January 16, 2018 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Lena has lived her whole life near the beach – walking for miles up and down the shore and breathing the salty air, swimming in the cold water, and watching the surfers rule the waves – the problem is, she’s spent her whole life just watching.

As her sixteenth birthday approaches, Lena vows she will no longer watch from the sand: she will learn to surf.

But her father – a former surfer himself – refuses to allow her to take lessons. After his near drowning years ago, he can’t bear to let Lena take up the risky sport.

Yet something keeps drawing Lena to the water… an ancient, powerful magic. And one morning Lena catches sight of this magic: a beautiful woman – with a silvery tail.

Now nothing can stop Lena from seeking the mermaid, not even the dangerous waves at Magic Crescent Cove.

And soon… what she sees in the mermaid’s mirror will change her life forever.

Book Overview:

Author: L. K. Madigan | Series: None | Format: Paperback | Length: 308 pages | Publish Date: September 27, 2011 | Genre: YA Fantasy/Mythology | Rated: ★ ★ ★ ★ | Recommend: Yes

“By the lightof the blueberry moonwe sang this songin Lena’s room…”

I read this book as part of one of my bookclubs last year, but I only just finished it today. I’m not sure what took me a while to finally get back to finishing the book, but I finally did. I’m glad I know what happened at the end, and now I can rest easy knowing that I actually don’t have to worry about this one anymore.

This book was about a girl named Lena (her full name is Selena but nobody calls her that), a girl in California who just can’t get enough of the ocean. The only catch is, her father refuses to let her swim or surf because of the time where he almost died surfing many years ago. He doesn’t want the same thing or worse to happen to her, but for some reason Lena feels the ocean calling to her. On her sixteenth birthday, she goes to her favorite beach, Magic’s, and as she’s looking out into the ocean, she sees a mermaid.

Yep, a real-life mermaid.

At first, she thinks she’s going crazy. I mean, mermaids aren’t real, right? That’s what Lena thought when she first saw the beautiful creature. She soon became obsessed with seeing the mermaid again, and eventually, something else happened that she would have never imagined in her entire life.

Lena was the kind of character that you wanted to support through all of her decisions, but just couldn’t. There were times where I understood why she was so angry, but just couldn’t imagine the actions she took because of it. I wanted to tell her “NO! You don’t want to do that!” or “How could you be so cruel right now?” but of course, she couldn’t hear me. Lena is an interesting character though, and when you follow her journey, you know that she is the kind of girl that will stop at nothing to get what she wants.

This was a beautiful story about my favorite mythological creature in the world, and I’m sorry that there will be no more stories about Lena and her friends. I hope to visit her world again one day, and dream about life under the sea.

Author Spotlight

Courtesy of Goodreads

Born: in Portland, OR, The United States

January 1, 1963

Died: February 23, 2011

Website: http://www.flashburnout.com

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal

Lisa Wolfson (also known as L.K. Madigan) was born in Portland, Oregon, but when she was ten years old, her parents moved to Los Angeles. They were pretty insistent that she accompany them. She spent the rest of her formative years in L.A. (the Valley, to be exact … a region made famous in both song and film). When she was 28, she decided that she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life in L.A., even though she had a cool job working at Warner Bros. Records. Her husband and her decided to relocate to her hometown. Living in Portland and L.A. made her the kind of person who was equally at home sitting in traffic jams or walking in the rain.

FLASH BURNOUT was published in October 2009. Her second young adult novel, a paranormal story titled THE MERMAID’S MIRROR, was released in Fall 2010.

She was a 20-year breast cancer survivor. She died on February 23, 2011 from pancreatic cancer at the age of 47.

The Last Namsara by Kristen Ciccarelli

January 15, 2018 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Kristen Ciccarelli’s debut fantasy explores an intricately woven world of deception, inner darkness, and dragons that fantasy fans won’t be able to resist.

In the beginning, there was the Namsara: the child of sky and spirit, who carried love and laughter wherever he went. But where there is light, there must be darkness—and so there was also the Iskari. The child of blood and moonlight. The destroyer. The death-bringer.

These are the legends that Asha, daughter of the king of Firgaard, has grown up learning in hushed whispers, drawn to the forbidden figures of the past. But it isn’t until she becomes the fiercest, most feared dragon slayer in the land that she takes on the role of the next Iskari—a lonely destiny that leaves her feeling more like a weapon than a girl.

Asha conquers each dragon and brings its head to the king, but no kill can free her from the shackles that await at home: her betrothal to the cruel commandant, a man who holds the truth about her nature in his palm. When she’s offered the chance to gain her freedom in exchange for the life of the most powerful dragon in Firgaard, she finds that there may be more truth to the ancient stories than she ever could have expected. With the help of a secret friend—a slave boy from her betrothed’s household—Asha must shed the layers of her Iskari bondage and open her heart to love, light, and a truth that has been kept from her.

Book Overview:

Author: Kristen Ciccarelli | Series: Iskari Series | Format: Audiobook | Narrated by: Pearl Mackie | Length: 11 hours, 17 minutes | Publish Date: October 3, 2017 | Genre: YA Fantasy | Rated: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ | Recommend: HECK YES

“Once there was a girl who was drawn to wicked things.Things like forbidden, ancient stories.It didn’t matter that the old stories killed her mother. It didn’t matter that they’d killed many before her. The girl let the old stories in. She let them in eat away at her heart and turn her wicked.”

I am so glad that I found this book. I don’t know why I never read this earlier. I think I have a tendency to be late for such amazing books.

So this was definitely something that I hadn’t come across before. Not only am I so intrigued by this world that our characters are in, but just the kind of characters that are involved in this book. My absolute favorite character has to be Asha, but Torin is definitely a close second. Asha is pretty much the deadliest woman in this world, because she is the only one that can destroy a dragon and survive. She has been hunting them since the moment she could, and the only one that has ever bested her was the oldest dragon Kozu when she was a little girl. She almost died then, and from that point on she learned her lesson. The dragons were the enemy, and she would kill every single one.

“The old heroes were called Namsara after a beloved god, he said. So she would be called Iskari, after a deadly one.”

She got her title, Iskari, from the old gods, one that was deadly and corrupt. Everyone that knew who she was feared her, and her reputation preceded her everywhere she went. And yet, her abusive and evil fiance Jarek has the potential to take everything she has away – most importantly, her freedom. Asha’s father, the Dragon King, tells her that she can get out of this hell of a marriage if she kills the oldest dragon, the dreaded Kozu that almost killed her all those years ago. She jumps at the chance to take him on, anything to gain her freedom. So what does she do when she finds out that, not everything is as it seems?

Everything that she knew about the dragons was a lie, and even though she used to hear the old stories, she still has so much to learn about her world. With the help of Torin, the slave of her betrothed, her world opens into one that is actually worth fighting for. She grows into a person that doesn’t just refer to slaves as “slaves” but by their given names. She learns that dragons aren’t always the gruesome monsters that she grew up knowing. She becomes so much better than she was before, and it makes her stronger.

I can’t wait for the rest of the series to come out, and I’m so glad that I purchased the hardcover copy from Barnes & Noble so I can reread this again before the second book is out.

Author Spotlight

Courtesy of Goodreads

Born: Canada

Website: http://www.kristenciccarelli.com

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Goodreads Member Since: July 2011

Kristen Ciccarelli hails from Ontario’s Niagara Peninsula where she grew up on her grandfather’s grape farm. She’s made her living as a baker, a bookseller, and a potter, but now writes books about bloodthirsty dragons, girls wielding really cool weapons, and the transformative power of stories.

You can learn more at www.kristenciccarelli.com or by following @kristenciccarelli on Instagram.

Dead Serious: Breaking the Cycle of Teen Sucide by Jane Mersky Leder

January 13, 2018 by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Are you under a lot of stress? Feeling too much pressure to get good grades? Trying to avoid social media because you’re being bullied? Grappling with your sexual/gender identity? Feeling depressed—even suicidal?

What are the reasons why teens decide to take their own lives? What can be done to stop them? Through stories, studies and strategies, Dead Serious helps teens, parents and educators navigate the choppy waters of adolescence and provides tools that can help break the cycle of teen suicide.

Teen suicide is preventable.

Book Overview:

Author: Jane Mersky Leder | Series: None | Format: eBook – ARC | Length: Unknown | Publish Date: January 23, 2018 | Genre: Nonfiction Psychology | Rated: ★ ★ ★ ★ | Recommend: Yes

“Truth is there is never one reason why someone takes his/her own life. And never just one person to blame.”

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was an extremely hard book for me to read because it hit home for me. I have known people that have committed suicide, not as teens but as young adults, and I myself have almost gone down this dark path in the past. Reading this book was almost an eye opener for me, bringing this hard topic to light.

There were so many statistics in this book that I had no knowledge of until I read this. There are so many teens out there that either know someone who has committed suicide, have attempted suicide, or still have thoughts of suicide. So many stories in this book show that suicide affects everyone, not just the person who commits it. There is never a clear reason as to why these teens killed themselves, and no matter how much their friends or family try to find answers, there just aren’t any. They now have to figure out how to heal during this dark time, and it doesn’t completely go away.

“If only he had done something then, maybe Brad would be alive now.”

The thought that maybe if these people who were brave enough to tell their story had done something earlier, they could have prevented it. They are so full of guilt, not understanding why their loved one could do such a thing, and beating themselves up for not seeing the signs before. Would they even know what those signs were if they had to go back? Would they be able to stop it? Would their loved one be alive today? All of those thoughts are going through their minds, and their pain and hurt of reliving these moments can’t help but make you feel for them. It hurts, and all we can do hope that their loved ones are in a better place now.

As the cover of this book states, this book is for teens, adults and educators. I would say that this book is for anyone that has ever had to deal with thoughts of suicide, or someone in their life that has committed suicide. Even if they haven’t done it yet, this book helps you to determine what the signs are, and how to get them the proper help before it’s too late. Suicide should not be a taboo topic, and more people need to discuss it to make sure that we can help those suffering by themselves, begging for help before they do something that they can’t take back.

I really do recommend this book. Keep it as a resource, and hopefully you will be able to help someone in your life get the help they need.

Author Spotlight

Courtesy of Goodreads