Public service announcement this Sunday.
Author: Ambrosia
Friday Finds 5/23/14
Book Review: A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire #3) by George R.R. Martin
Here is the third volume in George R.R. Martin’s magnificent cycle of novels that includes A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings. Together, this series comprises a genuine masterpiece of modern fantasy, destined to stand as one of the great achievements of imaginative fiction.
Of the five contenders for power, one is dead, another in disfavor, and still the wars rage as alliances are made and broken. Joffrey sits on the Iron Throne, the uneasy ruler of of the Seven Kingdoms. His most bitter rival, Lord Stannis, stands defeated and disgraced, victim of the sorceress who holds him in her thrall. Young Robb still rules the North from the fortress of Riverrun. Meanwhile, making her way across a blood-drenched continent is the exiled queen, Daenerys, mistress of the only three dragons still left in the world. And as opposing forces maneuver for the final showdown, an army of barbaric wildlings arrives from the outermost limits of civilization, accompanied by a horde of mythical Others—a supernatural army of the living dead whose animated corpses are unstoppable. As the future of the land hangs in the balance, no one will rest until the Seven Kingdoms have exploded in a veritable storm of swords…
Action, Action and more action! That is what you get when you read this book. ACTION. Another solid installment of the series, and another re-read this year for me. It gets hard to say more about the series, but again you should give it a read if you like the show or have read the first books. I enjoy growing with the character and the action in this book really kept me riveted.
My Gemstone Rating:
Teaser Tuesday 5/20/14
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
The angry horde of rabble-rousers never came as far as the Abdenstern home, but the smell of the smoke from the burning buildings wafted through the air, choking Leah. She coughed and gagged as she huddled beside her father in the closet. Sweat from the stiffening heat caused their clothing to stick to their bodies as they waited, gripped with terror. ~ All My Love, Detrick by Roberta Kagan
Book Review: See you in hell by Demelsa Carlton
See You in Hell (Mel Goes to Hell) by Demelza Carlton
Hate your job? Try working in HELL!
Melody Angel takes a job as a temp at the HELL Corporation. Surrounded by eternal bureaucracy gone mad, demons who love making life miserable, and dying for a decent coffee, it may take a miracle for Mel’s mission to succeed. She must find out what evil plans the Lord of Lies has up his sleeve and stop him, using any means necessary. Lucifer and his minions are out to take over the world, but there’s more than money at stake when the Devil drives.
Adding trouble and temptation to Mel’s job is Luce Iblis, the damnably hot CEO, who has set his smouldering eyes on the new office angel and is determined to claim her, body and soul.
Can ultimate evil and angelic perfection escape a limbo of desire and find a paradise of their own?
Author Bio:
Demelza Carlton has always loved the ocean, but on her first snorkelling trip she found she was afraid of fish.
She has since swum with sea lions, sharks and sea cucumbers and stood on spray drenched cliffs over a seething sea as a seven-metre cyclonic swell surged in, shattering a shipwreck below.
Demelza now lives in Perth, Western Australia, the shark attack capital of the world.
The Ocean’s Gift series was her first foray into fiction, followed by her suspense thriller Nightmares trilogy. She swears the Mel Goes to Hell series ambushed her on a crowded train and wouldn’t leave her alone.
Connect with the author:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | YouTube | Amazon | Pinterest | Google +
Giveaway:
$20 Gift Card (INT)
My Review:
This was an interesting premise and I found the book a good read overall. Personally for me there was one or two places that dragged a little bit, however that happens sometimes even in the best of books. Generally speaking, I loved this book, the characters and the interesting writing. If you think your job is Hell try working Melody’s is all I have to say. I would recommend this one for a summer read if you like a good novel!
Musing Monday 5/19/14
Musing Monday is hosted over at Should Be Reading.
Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!
True love is difficult to come by. What would you sacrifice for love? Your home? Your material possessions? Your family and friends? Your principles? Your life?
Prologue
Detrick, a seven-year-old Aryan boy, with blonde hair that shines like the rays of the sun rides his brand new bicycle down a main street of Berlin in 1923. Young and carefree, he’s fully experiencing freedom for the first time. It is mid-day and the street is filled with humanity. Vendors hawk their wares and haggle with potential shoppers, while a few of the new inventions called automoblies honk as make their way through the crowded roads. There is so much to look at, to smell, and to take in, the fresh baked bread, the chocolate candy, the fresh fruit. Detrick is swept away by all of the activities surrounding him, so he is not paying attention when suddenly a horse drawn cart appears causing him to fall. Embarrassed and upset he decides to walk his damaged bicycle home by a different path, one where he is unlikely to be forced to face his friends. A path through the Jewish sector of town. It is here that he meets Jacob Abdenstern, a lovable Jewish bicycle repair man who offers to help the little boy. Detrick having an alcoholic, anti-Semitic father finds a friend and much-needed paternal figure in Jacob. A relationship flourishes between the two of them that will alter both of their lives forever.
Sunday Salon 5/18/14
This week I am just going to do some quotes, from Tom Hiddleston. I think it is a nice way to start a Sunday.
I grew up watching ‘Superman.’ As a child, when I first learned to dive into a swimming pool, I wasn’t diving, I was flying, like Superman. I used to dream of rescuing a girl I had a crush on from a playground bully.
Ancient societies had anthropomorphic gods: a huge pantheon expanding into centuries of dynastic drama; fathers and sons, martyred heroes, star-crossed lovers, the deaths of kings – stories that taught us of the danger of hubris and the primacy of humility.
Haters never win. I just think that’s true about life, because negative energy always costs in the end.
Showing young children in these communities, that there are outlets for their feelings, that there is room in a space for their stories to be told, and that they will be applauded – and it’s not about ego, it’s about connection: that their pain is everybody else’s pain.
My father and I used to tussle about me becoming an actor. He’s from strong, Presbyterian Scottish working-class stock, and he used to sit me down and say, ‘You know, 99 percent of actors are out of work. You’ve been educated, so why do you want to spend your life pretending to be someone else when you could be your own man?’
I don’t think anyone, until their soul leaves their body, is past the point of no return.
For myself, for a long time… maybe I felt inauthentic or something, I felt like my voice wasn’t worth hearing, and I think everyone’s voice is worth hearing. So if you’ve got something to say, say it from the rooftops.
I was so lucky because what I did in ‘Thor’ was I built the character from the ground up – the foundations of his spirit, really. He was someone who was born with an expectation that he would one day be a king, born with an entitlement.
Artists instinctively want to reflect humanity, their own and each other’s, in all its intermittent virtue and vitality, frailty and fallibility.
I always found the extraordinary loss of life in the First World War very moving. I remember learning about it as a very young child, as an eight- or nine-year-old, asking my teachers what poppies were for. Every year the teachers would suddenly wear these red paper flowers in their lapels, and I would say ‘What does that mean?’
I’m an eternal realist and the success rate for being an actor is pretty low.
If you are at a boys’ school, especially, there is a level of bravado that you have to keep up otherwise you’ll get picked on.
Since my education, I’ve done quite untraditional things. There are very few Etonians who went to Rada. And far fewer Etonians – certainly when I was there – went to Cambridge. I don’t know whether it’s the same now. Most people I knew went to Oxford, because it seemed more of an easy bridge.
Book Review: A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire #2) by George R.R. Martin
Time is out of joint. The summer of peace and plenty, ten years long, is drawing to a close, and the harsh, chill winter approaches like an angry beast. Two great leaders—Lord Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon—who held sway over an age of enforced peace are dead…victims of royal treachery. Now, from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns, as pretenders to the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms prepare to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war.
As a prophecy of doom cuts across the sky—a comet the color of blood and flame—six factions struggle for control of a divided land. Eddard’s son Robb has declared himself King in the North. In the south, Joffrey, the heir apparent, rules in name only, victim of the scheming courtiers who teem over King’s Landing. Robert’s two brothers each seek their own dominion, while a disfavored house turns once more to conquest. And a continent away, an exiled queen, the Mother of Dragons, risks everything to lead her precious brood across a hard hot desert to win back the crown that is rightfully hers.
A Clash of Kings transports us into a magnificent, forgotten land of revelry and revenge, wizardry and wartime. It is a tale in which maidens cavort with madmen, brother plots against brother, and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside.
Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, the price of glory may be measured in blood. And the spoils of victory may just go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel…and the coldest hearts. For when rulers clash, all of the land feels the tremors.
Audacious, inventive, brilliantly imagined, A Clash of Kings is a novel of dazzling beauty and boundless enchantment—a tale of pure excitement you will never forget
Another solid installment to this series, and for me another re-read that I did not review when I first read it. If you love a good series that you know is going to go places and give you adventure, conflict and everything else under the sun you should read the game of thrones series. I am always coflicted when I conflicted when I do reviews on books that are now movies/TV because I know not everyone has read them yet or seen the entire show/movie so spoilers and all.
That said. Solid characters, Solid book and excellent writing. Puts this on my keeper shelves.
My Gemstone Rating:
Booking through Thursday 5/15/14
This one is Hosted at the Booking through Thursday Blog.
If you had all the time in the world, what would you read?
It may seem cheesey to say but if I had all the time in the world I would read everything. I would seriously just do nothing but read and read ALL the books!
Blog Tour: Book Review: Broken Arrows (The Cupid Chronicles #1) by Chelsey Butler
Broken Arrows by Chelsey Butler
Page Count: 174 pages 
Released Feb. 6, 2014
Adult Romantic Fantasy
Cari Harris lives what should be a charmed life. She owns a quaint bed and breakfast in a charming southern town, is surrounded by loving friends and family, and possesses magical powers. Most of the residents in Fable, GA, are descended from mythical creatures straight out of fairy tales, and Cari is no exception. As a descendent of Cupid, she has the ability to see when two people are soul mates and the power to make sure they fall in love. However, this power is sometimes more of a curse than a blessing, because Cari is also the town screw up.
While hosting a murder mystery weekend at her inn, she tries to match a young couple and makes a huge mistake. Now she must fix her mistake before the guests leave at the end of the weekend, all while making a bigger mess of things along the way, in her typical fashion.
As if Cari didn’t have enough to worry about already, her old boyfriend just moved back to town. Years ago, she forced herself to stop thinking about Mike, but now that he’s back, there is no avoiding him. It’s a small town and she keeps running in to him, no matter how much she hopes to avoid it. When she stumbles across some unexpected secrets, and Mike helps her with her current matchmaking dilemma, all of her feelings from the past come flooding back.
Goodreads | Amazon
Chelsey Butler was born and raised near Fort Worth, Texas. She still lives in north Texas with her husband and four daughters, but she rebels against the Texan stereotype. She loves God, her family, and all things involving books, and is a self-proclaimed nerd, a history buff, and vintage enthusiast. She also writes young adult fantasy under the name S.G. Tillery. Chelsey loves hearing from her fans and encourages them to find her on Facebook.
Facebook | Twitter
Giveaway:
$10 Gift Card
My Gemstone Rating:
My Review:
This was a great mystery that was well written and entertaining. Cari the main character is likeable, and interesting and she sure has a lot on her plate! As a note, I would also love to have a bed and breakfast so I am a little be jealous of her job! Overall, she is a character you can relate to and enjoy which for me always makes the book more enjoyable. The flow of the book overall is pretty good, there was one or two points that dragged a little bit for me but overall it all worked well together. I would recommend this one as a read to my friends, and I can’t wait to read the next instalment of the Cupid Chronicles. My biggest wish? That it was longer!
This tour was organized by CBB Book Promotions.
