Okay!
We've got a big post today, peaches! It's going to be "TRILOGY TUESDAY" then we've got a belated IMM.
*flexes fingers to prepare for typing marathon*
Hop on board lovelies! The ride begins with:
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❀ Key Of Valor ❀
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April's Featured Trilogy was the "Key Trilogy" by Nora Roberts.
The review for the first two books can be found at the following locations:
Title: Key of Valor
Author: Nora Roberts
Genre: Modern Fantasy Romance
Published: December 30, 2003
Pages: 352
Zoe had eaten in this
dining room before, with its soaring ceilings and roaring fire. She
knew how lovely everything looked under the lights of the chandeliers
and the glow of candles.
But this time, she knew without a doubt
the way the evening would end. It wouldn't be a matter of a lottery.
It wouldn't be the luck of the draw.
Both Malory and Dana had
taken their turns. She helped them. She knew she'd contributed ideas,
support, even comfort. But when push came to shove, she understood the
burden had been on each of them, in their turn. In the end, both Malory
and Dana had to reach deep inside themselves every bit a much as they'd
had to reach for the tangible key.
Now it was her burden, her risk. Her chance.
She had to be brave enough, smart enough, strong enough, or everything they'd done before her would be for nothing.
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Auggie-Talk Quill Rating
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5/5
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Main Character
The main character of this last installment of the trilogy is Zoe. She is a character referred to as "Little Warrior" and "Little Mother" (she is the only one of the 3 women with a child, a 10 year old son named Simon). She appeals to me
because of her resourceful and powerful personality, wrapped up in a
blanket of reservations that eventually gets pulled away to reveal a
very strong, very spunky woman who came up swinging even when life threw dirt in her face.
She does not whine incessantly, she does not complain, she doesn't bask in the pity of others and after a long string of really popular books (I know you can think of a few you've read yourself) which features a really flimsy, flaky female character, Zoe was a welcome!
Zoe was endearing and interesting in this book (as she was in the past books as well). In her life she's had to face ridicule (her mother), rejection (Simon's father), and struggle (making ends meat with no education and a little child) and she manages to come out on top (not without fighting).
While Zoe is fantastic it is not just her story this time around. This is the final book of the trilogy, so while the focus is on Zoe, who has been
charged with the responsibility of finding the last key to release the souls of the demigoddesses (who they are themselves
), it's all about catching us up with the other two characters and tying things up.
General Thoughts
Key of Valor was my favorite of the 3 in this trilogy. I'm going to put a guess down and say that it's because Zoe is my favorite of the three women and I was just naturally inclined to prefer the last of the books since it featured her.
Also, while the final book in a trilogy is bittersweet (no more books for that storyline!) it's also very exciting because the story wraps itself up, everyone is enlightened, and issues are resolved. This may be another reason I preferred the last book over the others.
Regardless this was the book the made the trilogy a 5 star for me. Nora Roberts was able to bring everything around full circle, tying up all the loose ends, and making sure that there were plenty of moments that would lend the reader to thinking things might not end happily.
Of course... it's Nora Roberts. It's a romance novel. Very rarely do romance novels end badly for the main characters. In the end the girl gets the guy, the bad guys get the boot, and everyone lives happily ever after. Knowing that, I have to give Ms. Roberts credit for trying to make us think that the Happy ending wasn't going to happen.
I found a few people didn't enjoy this last book as much because the story line was just stretched too far, the plot (find the key, fall in love so on and so on) was too boring the 3rd time.
One of the reasons that I rate this trilogy so highly is that, for me, this was NOT the case at all!
I was surprised that the story was still interesting and appealing even though it really was just a recycle of the other plots with a new people plugged into the integral roles.
Recommended To
In my humble bookie opinion, this trilogy is one of the best ever written by Roberts. For her fans and fans of Magical Romance it is a definite
TO BE READ! Read read read!
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IN MY MAILBOX #5
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I know! I know! I'm late doing this.
It's hectic lately and I'm doing my best to keep things on schedule. I missed the IMM this past Sunday but I figured it's better late than never so... here we go!
I received quite a few book review requests this last week so I'm very excited to share those books with you in the future. May is going to be a busy review month!
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Bought
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❀ Enchanted Glass ❀
Title: Enchanted Glass
Author:Diana Wynne Jones
Genre: Middlegrade Fantasy
Published: April 6, 2010
Pages: 332
SOMETHING IS ROTTEN IN THE VILLAGE OF MELSTONE
Aiden Cain has had the worst week of his life. Creepy, sinister beings want him dead. What's a boy to do? With danger nipping at his heels, Aidan flees to Melstone, a village teeming with magic of its own. There he is taken in by Andrew Hope, the new master of Melstone House, who has some supernatural troubles too. Someone is stealing power from the area - mingling magics - and chaos is swiftly rising. ARe Aidan's and Andrew's magical dilemmas connected somehow? And will they be able to unite their powers and unlock the secrets of Melstone before the countryside comes apart at the seams?
I am beyond tickled pink about reading this book! As many of you readers know Diana Wynne Jones is my favorite author and I have adored every single one of her books that I laid my eyes on. This book is one of her last and I look forward to reading it with both joy and a heavy heart.
❀ Charlie Bone and the Time Twister ❀
Title: Charlie Bone and the Time Twister
Author: Jenny Nimmo
Genre: Middlegrade Fantasy
Published: September 6, 2003
Pages: 402
Time is running out for Charlie Bone . . .
Charlies
hopes that the new term at Bloor's Academy will hold no nasty
surprises. But then Henry Yewbeam appears, twisted through time from
the icy winter of 1916.
With the scheming Yewbeam aunts on the
prowl, and the Bloors out to catch him, Henry will need Charlie's help
just to stay alive. Bloor's Academy can be a very dangerous place . . .
Book Two in The Children of the Red King series!
It's been a while since I had my hands on a Charlie Bone book, so I'm looking forward to continuing the cute middlegrade series! Mr. J and I went to our local bookstore and after I thought about buying it then put it back (because it was a bit expensive) he "went to the bathroom" while I looked around and grabbed "Enchanted Glass" instead. When we got back into the car he insisted that he'd left one of his books in the floor of the passengers side . I told him there was no way because we'd recently deep cleaned the car. He pressed that I at least look under the seat for him.
I did.
"Honey... there's no way that your book is under here... " *feels a book shaped thing and pulls out a bag* "Unless it's in this bag..." *realization dawns* "YOU SNEAKY MAN!"
Very much looking forward to reading this one!
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Requested Reviews
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Title: Ethos: Morning Star
Author:Desiree Finkbeiner
Genre: YA Fantasy
Published: March 28, 2012
It started with a
mushroom, from another world... never before touched by a human hand,
until Brianna... but life continued as normal... until a near fatal
accident almost a decade later, reveals to Brianna... she's...
different...
Unexplained lab results, unusually fast healing, and recent sightings of Jurassic sized dragonflies... What is happening to her?
When
a peculiar man delivers her from a violent assault, she becomes
enchanted by his heroism and inhuman abilities. Her rescuer, Kalen, is
sworn to protect the powerful secret she has yet to realize, from an
ancient foe with evil designs...
With the secret exposed, our
world is no longer safe. Kalen takes Brianna to Ethos, his home,
unprepared for what happens next... An ancient prophecy unfolds and they
must make make a choice... Give into their forbidden love, or sacrifice
their heart's desire for a chance to save their worlds.
❀ Death and Disappearances ❀
Title: Death and Disappearances
Author: Richard Smiraldi
Genre: Mystery
Published: January 26, 2012
Pages: 142
Money, crime, death, unrequited love with a little voodoo in the mix - best characterize this book.
When Montgomery Clark wakes up, two weeks
after his wife’s disappearance, he finds a bump on the back of his head,
a painting (done by his wife) missing, a note in his own handwriting
which reads, “You killed my sister, now I’ll kill you,” and a dead
sparrow in his dresser drawer. He realizes he must solve the mystery of
the disappearance of his wife or face charges for her disappearance.
Death and Disappearances is
a psychological thriller. Young, rich and promising novelist,
Manhattanite, Montgomery Clark, “Mont.” has had one un-successful book,
and an interesting marriage to Petula Beaujolais, a Parisian artist he
met while attending Columbia University. They’d been married about two
years when life as they know it began to unravel. Petula was unhappy
because Mont didn’t take her career as an artist seriously. To make
matters worse, Mont belongs to that elite class of first American
families –to which Petula could not find acceptance. After a heated
argument at a club function on Gramercy Park, Petula leaves their
apartment at 2am in nothing but her sable coat and a pair of fuzzy pink
slippers –never to be seen or heard from again. Did she go back to Paris
to visit her twin sister at the asylum (Clarenton)? Where is she? Mont
elicits the help of his friends Bea, and Peter. Bea discovers a
cancerous lump on her throat and is advised by her psychic root worker
to leave the country. While rushing to his parents’ home in Westchester,
Peter’s Astin Martin careens off the cliffs of Bear Mountain and
crashes into the Hudson River. With nowhere else to turn, Mont files a
missing person’s report with Detective, Draza Vicaru, (a first
generation American of Slovakian descent and a Coney Island resident).
Together, with the help of Bea’s psychic and a little time travel, Mont
uncovers the truth about the disappearance of Petula Beaujolais-Clark
and the deaths that surround it.
❀ Quarter Life Crisis ❀
Title: Quarter Life Crisis
Author: Diana-Ashley Krach
Genre: YA Paranormal
Published: March 13, 2012
Sam is incapable of
having a girlfriend because of her trust issues, and prefers to be alone
with the exception of her close circle of friends. Matti is always
putting herself before others, especially when it comes to her
boyfriends. Jayden is the independent one who doesn't play by any dating
rules, yet she is always in a monogamous relationship. These girls
don't fit the typical mold of the female stereotype, as babies and
marriage were never on their radar. Though, when one of the girls,
Jayden, actually gets married, a rift starts to develop between them. In
order to mend the rift, they go on a camping trip. What starts as a
simple camping trip, quickly turns into a journey of discovery and
self-revelation, as each girl comes face-to-face with the woman they
have become. They are quickly forced to realize that friends may be
forever, but time will always change the friendships.
Title: Silver Knight
Author: Caron Rider
Genre: YA Paranormal
Published: February 24, 2012
Pages: 278
When seventeen-year-old
Diana recognizes an elderly priest in a video on YouTube, she realizes
that reincarnation is real and that she’s been alive before! Every night
in her dreams, she relives her past learning that it’s kill or be
killed. Now a bishop at the Vatican whom she saved in another life calls
on her once more. She is needed to help defeat evil within the
catacombs of Rome. But when she arrives in Rome, she meets Alexander –
the man of her dreams! Through the centuries she has loved him…betrayed
him...been killed by him. Will she give him another chance or this time
will she strike first?
❀ Doll House ❀
Title: Doll House
Author: Anya Allyn
Genre: YA Paranormal
Published: May 2012
For fifteen year old
Cassie Claiborne, there's only one good thing about moving from steamy
Miami to the wild inland forests of Australia--the even wilder Ethan
McAllister. But Ethan already has a girlfriend--Aisha Damaj--the girl
with a hundred different moods a minute.
When Aisha goes missing on a hiking trip in the local mountains--presumed dead--the whole town points a finger at Ethan.
Cassie
defends Ethan fiercely--and she's just about the only friend he has
left. But is Cassie letting her feelings for Ethan cloud her judgment of
him?
Or does something dark lurk out there in the forests? Aisha isn't the first girl to vanish there in recent years.
There's only one way to find out--go back to the forests.
A paranormal mystery/light horror.
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❀ REMINDERS ❀
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To join the challenge and view the prizes, rules, and book lists click here.
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❀ Giveaways ❀
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NOTICE: Murakami Giveaway will end May 1st 2012!
New Giveaway announced! Lynda Meyers' "Letters From The Ledge"
Ends May 1st
I have another WONDERFUL giveaway!
The Giveaway is for a SIGNED COPY of "Letters From the Ledge" by Lynda Meyers. There are also signed posters and bookmarks that will be given away to the winner and the runners up!
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| Ends July 4th |
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Well, there you have it dears!
A lot of great reads to look forward to! I am now going to grab up one of these books and get to reading.
Happy Tuesday!
Until Next Blog,
Read on!
~A.
