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February 27, 2018

Tell Me Something Tuesday: When is your favorite time to read?

Tell Me Something Tuesday
Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly discussion post hosted by Rainy Day Ramblings where they discuss a wide range of topics from books to blogging. Weigh in and join the conversation by adding your thoughts in the comments. If you want to do your own post, grab the question and answer it on your blog.
This week's topic: When is your favorite time to read?

I don't know if I have a favorite time to read. These days, I read whenever I can, usually on my way to work, which is not the best because there have been a couple of times that I just forget to get out the subway at the right station....and arrive late to work.

But if I could pick a favorite moment to read, it would be at bed just before going to sleep. I have a couple of hours at home alone before my husband arrives, and it feels like the perfect time to enjoy  with a cup of black tea and a book.

February 26, 2018

Book Review: Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1) by Sarah J. Maas

Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1)  by Sarah J. Maas
Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1) by Sarah J. Maas
Published August 7th 2012 by Bloomsbury USA Children's
Goodreads | Amazon | The Book Depository
After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for four years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilarating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her ... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead ... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.
I know Throne of Glass was big a few years ago, but I kind of missed it. But I won the Spanish edition a couple of days ago and decided to give it an opportunity.

It left me confused. I liked the story, with a powerful king and magic. But on the other side, Celaena, the protagonist, wasn't what I was expecting.

Celaena has been a slave for a year, and it's a miracle she's still alive. She's an assassin, the best in her kingdom, and the King send her to be a slave so she would die. But when the young and handsome Prince Dorian offers her freedom, in exchange on winning a competition, she thinks it's better to be the King's champion than a slave.

The story starts great. Celaena is in bad shape, but she describes us why is she the best and who trained her. The problem is that in this book, Celaena doesn't show us her abilities, and her personality doesn't go along with the cold hearted assassin I was expecting. She's only 18 years old and have been trained to be that way since she was a kid, suffering a lot, but she's still too immature, always gets surprised from behind, and she could have escaped a lot of times but didn't.

It's a young adult book, and maybe that's why I couldn't relate with Celaena. She worries too much about dresses and parties to be an assassin. It's not that she can't have a feminine and childish side, but I thought I was going to find someone more mature and cold hearted.

The competition she's obligated to play is against 23 men, the worst kind. The winner won't go back to jail or slavery, but will serve the King for a few years and then, freedom.

Dorian, the Prince and her sponsor, choose her because he trust in her abilities, but there isn't a lot of explanation about that. Even though Celaena must hate him, being the son of the King who took everything from her, she likes him and I couldn't find a reason, because he isn't a strong in court or in battle.

Chaol, the Capitan and good friend of the Prince, is a more mature character and the one who is really in charge of Celaena. A task a little bit fool for a captain. But between the three of them starts a love triangle, and love triangles aren't my thing.

I can't see her falling in love with any of them, because in the end both are her enemies, but she seems to forget that all the time. I did prefer Chaol instead of the Prince, for his personality, but in the end he wasn't as strong as I thought. Really, a captain being so affected by death...

The competition ends up being secondary in the story because some of the competitors are being killed and their bodies found with weird marks. Nobody knows what those marks mean, and since magic is prohibited, it can't be something good. That's when the story gets more interesting, I know there is much more behind those marks and this book is only the tip of the iceberg.

But, even when I didn't love the characters, the story was too interesting and made me read until the end. It isn't a perfect book, it could have been better, but I know there is more in this fantasy story to be discovered in the second book: Crown of Midnight.

February 20, 2018

Movie Review: Black Panther

Black Panther

I loved Black Panther! It wasn't my favorite Marvel's superheroes movie, but it was different and exciting.

T'Challa is a great leader and I can see him as a great avenger. He cares for his nation, his people, but is intelligent and calm. You won't see him fighting without a cause or if it isn't really necessary. He is the perfect person to carry the honor to be the Black Panther. He's the king and heir of Wakanda, a rich nation but hidden from the world, and it comes the time when their secrets are going to be revealed, by force or by decision.

I loved how he was surrounded by amazing women who helped him during his quest. His sister and his guard were incredible, and interesting characters to look up.

Obviously this movie showed Hollywood that other types of heroes can also be a success and even wanted. I'm tired to see the same type of heroes, I wanted something different and Black Panther gave me that. Another country, another culture, another race. The superheroes world is still dominated by men (except for Wonder Woman) but doors are opening and I can't wait to see what's out there.

It doesn't have as much action as other superheroes movies, but it's darker sometimes, specially the villain. I suppose I was expecting it to be a slower movie because it's an introductory movie, we don't really know a lot about Wakanda at first. But also, I can't wait for the big fight at the next movie Avengers: Infinity Wars.


February 17, 2018

Book Review: Dragonflight (Dragonriders of Pern #1) by Anne McCaffrey

Dragonflight (Dragonriders of Pern #1) by Anne McCaffrey

Dragonflight (Dragonriders of Pern #1) by Anne McCaffrey
HOW CAN ONE GIRL SAVE AN ENTIRE WORLD?

To the nobles who live in Benden Weyr, Lessa is nothing but a ragged kitchen girl. For most of her life she has survived by serving those who betrayed her father and took over his lands. Now the time has come for Lessa to shed her disguise—and take back her stolen birthright.

But everything changes when she meets a queen dragon. The bond they share will be deep and last forever. It will protect them when, for the first time in centuries, Lessa’s world is threatened by Thread, an evil substance that falls like rain and destroys everything it touches. Dragons and their Riders once protected the planet from Thread, but there are very few of them left these days. Now brave Lessa must risk her life, and the life of her beloved dragon, to save her beautiful world. . . .
Wow, I loved this book. It was a nice surprise, since the first pages were really confusing. New words as weyr, wher and many weird names, and the story starting in this new world as if I already new how it was, as if I wasn't reading the first book of the series. But after those first pages, I enjoyed an incredible and fantastic story, with powerful dragons, fights and conspirators.

It has been a while since I didn't devour a book so fast, I read it in 3 days and because I was busy with work. I really liked the characters, specially the protagonists Lessa and F'lar. Lessa is very stubborn and even sometimes a little bit childish, but I loved that she was like that and made everything she proposed happen. Also, she wasn't scared of the dragon riders as F'lar, who was much more mature and responsible but also found a weakness in her. Their relationship isn't perfect, specially at the beginning when it was too controlling.

Dragon
Dragon by ameeeeba
It was first published in 1968 and since then many dragon's stories share some of these dragons. These dragons are amazing, I love dragons and these are powerful and wise, and I really liked the whole Pern history, I thought it was original, a little of science fiction with fantasy.

Although I read it fast, it's a story that you have to be careful while reading, specially because time passes between chapters. But I can't wait to read the second of the series: Dragonquest.

February 16, 2018

Cover Reveal + Giveaway: A Falling Friend & A Forsake Friend @rararesources

Cover Reveal + Giveaway


 A FALLING FRIEND

A FALLING FRIEND
There are two sides to every friendship.
After spending her twenties sailing the globe, making love on fine white sand, and thinking only of today, Teri Meyer returns to Yorkshire – and back into the life of childhood friend Lee. Plus, there’s the new job, new man – or three – and the guaranteed lump sum of a bursary for her academic research piece on the way. Life is first-rate. 
What could possibly go wrong?
Going out on a limb to get best friend Teri a job at the same university seemed like a great idea. But it doesn’t take long for Lee Harper to notice a pattern. Teri seems to attract trouble, or maybe she creates it, and Lee can see exactly where things are spiralling – downwards. But Teri’s not the sort to heed a warning, so Lee has no choice but to stand by and watch.
And besides, she has her own life to straighten out.
For fans of BRIDGET JONES, this ‘witty’ chick lit has been described as a ‘rollicking good read’ and is the first in the FRIENDS trilogy following the lives of two thirty-something women, who, despite their close friendship, don’t always see eye-to-eye.


A FORSAKEN FRIEND

A FORSAKEN FRIEND
No-one said friendship was easy.
Things can’t get much worse for Teri Meyer. If losing her job at the university and the regular allowance from her dad’s factory isn’t bad enough, now her ex-best friend has gone and stolen her ex-husband! Well, to hell with them all. A few weeks in the countryside at her brother’s smallholding should do the trick – and the gorgeous and god-like neighbour might help.
But then there’s Declan, not to mention Duck’s Arse back in Yorkshire...
It’s not as if Lee Harper set out to fall in love with her best friend’s ex-husband. But, for once, her love life is looking up – except for all the elephants in the room, not to mention Mammy’s opinion on her dating a twice-divorced man. Perhaps things aren’t as rosy as she first thought. And now with one family crisis after another, Lee’s juggling more roles – and emotions – than she ever imagined.
Maybe sharing her life with a man wasn’t such a grand idea.
The FRIENDS trilogy continues in this heartwarming and hilarious hoot as two best friends navigate men, careers, family and rock bottom in this brilliant sequel to A FALLING FRIEND.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Sue Featherstone and Susan Pape
Sue Featherstone and Susan Pape are both former newspaper journalists with extensive experience of working for national and regional papers and magazines, and in public relations.

More recently they have worked in higher education, teaching journalism – Sue at Sheffield Hallam and Susan at Leeds Trinity University.

The pair, who have been friends for 25 years, wrote two successful journalism text books together – Newspaper Journalism: A Practical Introduction and Feature Writing: A Practical Introduction (both published by Sage).

Their debut novel, A Falling Friend, published by Lakewater Press, has been followed by a second book, A Failing Friend, in their Friends trilogy.

Sue, who is married with two grown-up daughters, loves reading, writing and Nordic walking in the beautiful countryside near her Yorkshire home.

Susan is married and lives in a village near Leeds, and, when not writing, loves walking and cycling in the Yorkshire Dales. She is also a member of a local ukulele orchestra.

They blog about books at bookloversbooklist.com. You can find both Sue and Susan on Twitter: @SueF_Writer and @wordfocus


GIVEAWAY

One winner will receive an e-book of A FALLING FRIEND and an e-ARC of A FORSAKEN FRIEND as well as wine voucher!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

February 8, 2018

Guest Post: Reluctant Courage by Rica Newbery

Please welcome author Rica Newbery and her new book:

Reluctant Courage  A Family’s Struggle to Survive in Nazi Occupied Oslo By Rica Newbery

Reluctant Courage
A Family’s Struggle to Survive in Nazi Occupied Oslo
By Rica Newbery

Amazon | Book Venture
It is 1942 in Oslo, two years into the Nazi occupation of World War II.
Maria is used to struggling with food rations, bickering daughters, and her husband’s frequent absences from home with police work. She is enraged when Johannes leaves her for another woman and Leo Wolff, a Wehrmacht officer, forcibly takes up residence in their flat, but worse is yet to come. One daughter becomes seriously ill, and another is raped. When the youngest goes missing, Maria must find a way to transcend her bitterness and survive, for her own sake and for her daughters.
Although my novel is fiction, it is inspired by real stories told by my mother who was 8 years old when the Nazis marched into Oslo. Real events and situations experienced by Norwegians are woven into the story. Resistance fighters risked death every day with hidden radios and distribution of leaflets. Red hats became a symbol of the resistance and were banned by the Nazis. Teachers and Church leaders refused to propagate Nazi ideology, and teachers were arrested en masse, only to return later as no-one would fill their roles. Underground papers printed cartoons mocking the Nazis and graffiti abounded.

Food was scarce, and women queued for hours or pawned their belongings to afford items such as eggs or meat on the black market. Stomach complaints were common as people ate meat eked out with herring or bread with added newspaper or saw dust from unscrupulous shopkeepers.

Five hundred and thirty two Jews were arrested by Norwegian police and handed over to the Gestapo at Pier 1 in Oslo Harbour. They were sent to Auschwitz via the famous SS Donau on 26th November 1942.

‘Lebensborn’ mother and baby homes were set up as soldiers were encouraged to impregnate local girls, seen by the Nazis as ‘good Aryans’. Many of the resulting babies were taken out of Norway to Germany for adoption, and abortion became punishable by death.

Author Bio

Rica Newbery
I am a retired psychiatrist, living with my husband in Bristol. After completing an Open University course in Creative Writing, I wrote my first novel Reluctant Courage.

I am now writing a novel about a young woman experiencing the trauma of a psychiatric admission in Bristol in 1957.

Publishing Push

Guest post courtesy of author

February 6, 2018

Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Have Been On My TBR The Longest And I Still Haven’t Read #TopTenTuesday

Top Ten Tuesday

This is a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. Everyone is welcome to join!

Today's list is: Books That Have Been On My TBR The Longest And I Still Haven't Read




The one I really want to read soon from this list is Inheritance. Maybe because I want to finish this series, and also becase I'm worried that I left the book on my room in Venezuela and I don't know when I'll go back :S

Have you read any of these books? Which one I should read first?

February 3, 2018

The 5 best TED Talks about books and reading

I love TED Talks. I have learned a lot from them, and what I like most about them is that they are short, and can be about everything. Even books!

That's why I wanted to share with you the best 5 TED talks about books and reading:

the best 5 TED talks about books and reading


How books can open your mind | Lisa Bu



My year reading a book from every country in the world | Ann Morgan



Why a good book is a secret door | Mac Barnett



Power of Reading from a Reluctant Teenager | Alexia Safieh



The library is not a place, it's a concept | Bill Ptacek



Do you like TED talks? Recommend me your favorites!