Follow Friday--July 5, 2012

Hosted at by Alison at alisoncanread.com and by Parajunkee. Click the button for official rules/websites. Basically they put out a question, we answer it, link up, and then check each other's answers out. Simple, right?

Q: Jumping Genres: Ever pick up a book from a genre you usually don't like and LOVE it? Tell us about it and why you picked it up in the first place.

A: I really got into classics junior year in high school, and to my surprise I really loved a lot of them. Farewell to Arms, the Awakening, The Great Gatsby, Their Eyes were watching God. And of course there's Shakespeare--Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Macbeth. And finally Austen with P&P. Austen who led me to Bronte and Gaskell and whoever wrote Wives and Daughters (although my Yiya did introduce me to WAD with the movie, which was excellent). I'm just sayin' I never expected to love the classics, but I do.

Please comment and leave your FF links below and I will get back to you. FF love yall, Rachel

Damsel in Distress

I got this book for free via Net Galley. This is no way at all affected my review or my opinions, which are my own. Thank you.

Okay, so everybody knows how I loved Scarlet, right? The tale of how she begins to love Robin Hood and who she really is. It's set from the tale of Robin Hood and Lady Marian, his love. Well, when I requested this one from NG I was thinking okay, another Robin Hood related book. Not the case. It's the story of Katherine de Montrain, Kat, an heiress with a castle and Lord Damian Montjoy, a knight who rides with King Richard in the Crusades.

Kat is forced to wed for her own protection against an evil man who wants her. She, however, despises Montjoy, though he seduces her.It's one of those stories where ladyhastowed--doesntwanttolovehusband--fallsinlovewithhusband--hastobetrayhusbandtosavehislife. This book had the potential to be so much more, to be so much better. I expected so much more from it.

It is related to Robin Hood. Kat is the Lady Greensleeves and Damian is the Silver Sword, who saves both their lives one day and the life of Kat's father. It is this act, that propels Kat into the role of helping Robin. But she's ultimately a woman and an heiress and must play the role of women of her time.  I wish Drake/Graham had written more on this roles, on how they were a legend, rather than their romantic relationship. That's what I was looking for.

And Damsel in Distress did not live up. I'd like to mention how it was riddled with ellipses, exclamation marks, and modern day English when it's set in medieval times. The action scenes were so confusing that I had a hard time following them. The betrayal was set up poorly. And I think Damian should have told her he loved her long before he actually did. It would have solved so many problems between them. Also, there's no white horse in this novel! (I know it's very miniscule, but I'm seriously bugged by it)

Overall, I didn't like this book, because it's very cliche. However it was my first ebook on NG so I proud that I finished it. I'm proud that I got on NG even though I really don't like ebooks (no it's not that I don't like them, it's that I like print so much better). If ebooks are the new thing, that I'm jumping in. I do have plans to get either a kindle or a nook for my birthday:)

Leave any thoughts below in the comments section. Thanks for reading.

Cover Love Thursday--July 5, 2012

This week's cover:

Sever by Lauren DeStefano

Why I chose this cover:
If you've been alive (or on twitter) at all the past couple of weeks, you have seen this. Now I loved the wither cover and thought the fever cover was creepy. I think what I love the most about these covers is the SYMBOLISM.

In Wither, the ring is on her finger and the bird is in the cage; Rhine is wearing a (weird, in my opinion) dress and cool eyeshadow, and sitting in a fancy chair. She does not look ready to face the world. The cover matches Rhine in Wither. She is Landon's bride, his prize. She's belongs to Landon, hence the ring. She's the bird, not allowed to fly away. She's kept caged. But she escapes. She escapes, because she has to. Because she's withering.

In Fever, Rhine is wearing a pretty dress, but is on her knees, head raised, looking defeated, like she's giving up. She is still not ready, still being oppressed, even though she has fled with Gabriel.  She's holding cards and is surrounded by cloth and cases. Her hair looks better, but mainly the cover makes me think of Fever, as though there is a sickness, because not all is right in Rhine's world. The ring is still on her finger.

In Sever, Rhine is sitting up straight and is wearing such a nice dress. The bird is perched on a ledge and the ring is off her finger. She's free, severing her life from Landon and his creepy father. I also love the bright green. Wanted to get my nails done in this color green, but haven't found the color yet. So I settled for a very light and very pretty pink. I also love the purple of Wither. I love the pose in Fever the most however (even though it doesn't have a very colorful cover)

So yeah, I basically love these books and their covers and cannot wait for Sever to come out.
Here's the link to the USA today article on this cover: http://books.usatoday.com/happyeverafter/post/2012-06-25/sever-cover-reveal-lauren-destefano/790595/1
Here is the trailer for Fever:

Here's the trailer for Wither:

 Aren't these trailers awesome? So ready to see the Sever trailer? And really need to reread Wither and Fever before Sever comes out! So much to do!

Please comment and leave a link to your own CLT and I will get back to you. Thanks for reading & happy future readings!

Shaping Destiny by Destiny Allison

I recieved this book for free in exchange from the author for an honest review. This is no way at all affected my opinions which are my own. Thank you.

I am an artist. I am a lover of life. I am a reader. Shaping Destiny is the story of one women who is also an artist. I still don't know if she is a lover of life, but she is a lover of art.

While I didn't agree with everything she wrote (I'll get to that), there is certain wisdom in this book. I'd like to share it with yall. Here.

"Sculpture came from the root sculpere--to carve or alter. There was also a reference to the term "shelf" in the dictionary and when I looked it up something clicked. I imagined an ocean shelf, carved and altered by the shifting sea."

"I was working on a piece trying to understand love--how to hold it and find solace within it. I couldn't get there. I found only that the connection we strive for when we love--the touching beyond body and into the soul--was impossible for me...Love isn't fixed or solid. It requires work--struggle and desire, hope and memory, a momentary pause in intimacy and then the effort to go again, fight again, touch again, and dream again."

"I rigged another shop lamp to the ceiling and the light shone down the empty spiral of the form, illuminating its center...The sculpture was positioned so that my gaze rested on the lower half of the letter A and there was a trickle of light that flowed like water down one of the legs. My eyes followed the light up the leg and behind the line that crossed the triangle into the interior or the work..The form of Faith was dark, a shadow. The light existed only in the negative space of the interior...Faith is a solid object and we exist inside it as the thing that cannot be defined. The relationship was important, but not in the way we had thought. Faith defines us, but not the other way around. Faith is. We become. And we are capable of becoming only in faith. Faith is the vessel that contains the free-flowing substance that is us."

"Grief is not about what you didn't get. It is about what you didn't give."

Now that I have shared this with yall, I will move on to what I disagree with. For Shaping Destiny is almost a discussion, an invitation to think and challenge the artist's mind. So I share my thoughts.

Shaping Destiny is the story of a woman's soul. Bare. Real. Bold. It's unlike anything I have ever read. Yet there are hints of humanness, and how we are all flawed. And here I do the human thing, I judge, I play the critic. I am aware of this.

"I let them scrape and suck the child out of me..."

It is a poverty that a child must die so that you can live as you wish. --Mother Theresa

"Faith does NOT become." Oh, Destiny Allison, if you think this, then I think you don't understand faith very well. Because faith DOES become.
I've seen it.

All I have left to say is that Shaping Destiny, ultimately, revealed to me that Destiny Allison does NOT understand the meaning of life and faith. Although, I give her art credit--she IS an artist. Her sculptures will make you think, because art is subjective. The meaning of a piece if different to every person who looks at it, which is different from that of the artist's. And the piece only has meaning because someone gives it meaning. It is that way in art. If you create it, you give it meaning. If you see it you give it meaning. The meaning lies in your thoughts.

Allison's online gallery here: http://www.destinyallison.com/
The book trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itsPByhj-qI

Nights in Rodanthe

 here's an alternative cover


From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Nicholas Sparks comes a tender story of hope and joy; of sacrifice and forgiveness—a moving reminder that love is possible at any age, at any time, and often comes when we least expect it. At forty-five, Adrienne Willis must rethink her entire life when her husband abandons her for a younger woman. Reeling with heartache and in search of a respite, she flees to the small coastal town of Rodanthe, North Carolina to tend to a friend’s inn for the weekend. But when a major storm starts moving in, it appears that Adrienne’s perfect getaway will be ruined—until a guest named Paul Flanner arrives. At fifty-four, Paul has just sold his medical practice and come to Rodanthe to escape his own shattered past. Now, with the storm closing in, two wounded people will turn to each other for comfort—and in one weekend set in motion feelings that will resonate throughout the rest of their lives. (from nicholassparks.com)

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Nicholas Sparks has done it again! Another deep, moving, passionate, broken and beautiful love story. It's so so so beautiful. I don't have any other word to sum it up. I love how it's written in 3rd person perspective, how it's set during a storm by the beach, and how mysterious and intriguing Rodanthe is. Even just it's name.

I love that Adrienne is such a strong mother--and woman and that she is there for her children. I love that Paul is willing to give up everything to get to know his son. Paul and Adrienne both make tremendous sacrifices for their children. Paul's story is sad. Stories of striving people often are. Striving never gets us anywhere, does it? But yet we have to work, we have to accomplish something. But even at a personal cost? Although isn't everything in life about weighing the personal costs, which ultimately is our Time? Just thoughts. I have a whole philosophy about striving and time and how they relate, but I want to focus on NIR.


This novel is so sweet and tender. And it's sad. When Adrienne whispered the words, "Don't you know?" I knew. Because ultimately this story is about taking life one day at a time even when it's hard, about loving life despite death, caring for one's children (the greatest love story ever is that of a mother's love, someone once said), the sacrifices and decisions we make, the influence we can have on each other, the indifferent universe and how painful it is to live inside.


I would recommend this book to everybody and am giving it a 5 star rating. It's such a beautiful story. It will change the way your think about life and love (it did for me) Read it.

I honestly do not believe that I have done NIR justice with this review. But this is one of those books that is too beautiful for words. So I leave you with a quote from Nights in Rodanthe:
“The greater the love, the greater the tragedy when it’s over. Those two elements always go together.”

Teaser and Tuney Tuesday--July 3, 2012

Hosted by Miz B at should be reading. Go to her website for offical rules. Don't forget to link up and comment.

I have two teasers this week (one is from a NG book)
I've owned this for a while and got it from BookMooch because I loved the Secret Life of Bees. Hoping this one will live up to it. Have also heard there is a movie so I might have to get that too. Love good movies.

My read: The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd

My teaser: Something struck me then: I'd never done any of those things my mother had done. Never danced on a beach. Never made a bonfire. Never waded into the ocean with laughing women and tied my life to theirs (pg 91).


This other teaser is from one of those "currently reading" books I got on Netgalley. I actually think I'm going to finish it. Amazed that I am actually reading an ebook.

My read: Damsel in distress by Heather Graham

Teaser: Then she felt the fire and steel in his fingers. And when he looked at her, she saw the silver triumph in his eyes (pg 173).

Tuney Tuesdays is hosted at JAYA and Eileen Li's blog. Click the button for official rules and don't forget to comment.

Well there hasn't been a particular song that I've listened to this week. But I am reading the mermaid chair and I DID come across this song/music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDYLxzz5qHA
It's the Secret Garden--Theme from the Mermaid Chair and it's such beautiful playing! Please listen and hope you enjoy!


If you know any music that would go along with The Mermaid Chair please say so below leave your own links so I can get back to yall. Thanks & Love, Rachel

It's Monday! What are you Reading?--July 2, 2012

This is hosted by Sheila at the Book Journey (her blog). Click the button or go there for offical rules. Don't forget to link up/comment.

Basically you just say what we have finished reading, are currently reading, and are going to read next. And then you can see what other bloggers are reading and comment on their blogs and they can comment on yours.

So here we go.

Just finished reading:
            

Currently Reading:
          
I'm also supposed to be reading books from netgalley to which I'm wondering how that will go since I'm new to NG and ebooks.

Will read next:
   

This week's schedule.

Monday (today)--This post
Tuesday--Teaser & Tuney Tuesday (Teaser will be from either The Mermaid Chair or A Gift from Brittany)
Wednesday--Nothing
Thursday--Cover Love & The Mermaid Chair review
Friday--Follow Friday

And that's all I got for this post. Got any tips for reading ebooks please let me know? And thanks in advance to all those who comment. I will get back to you!