Northanger Abbey Read Along!

While I haven't been around much in the blogging world for a couple months now {we've been a bit busy dealing with our two year old suddenly having juvenile arthritis and a second pregnancy on top of all the usual stuff}, I do pop in occasionally and today I stumbled across this lovely little gem that should be a delight to participate in, so I'm sharing it with you all.

Head over to Seasons of Humility for the whole scoop on her Northanger Abbey Read Along!

A Court of Thorns and Roses Book Review

Title: A Court of Thorns and Roses

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Genre: Fairy Tale Retelling, Drama, Action/Adventure, Dark

Plot: Nineteen year old Feyre has suffered a lot in her relatively short life - she's lost her icy mother, endured verbal abuse form her elder sisters, suffered neglect from her crippled father, saw their fortune destoryed and had to learn to hunt to survive. But Feyre has no idea what's in store for her when she's out stalking a deer in the snowy woods and spots a massive wolf on the hunt. Killing the wolf was easy, selling the pelt brought in some much needed funds but the consequences for her decision are astonishing. A terrifying beast breaks into the tiny cabin and demands blood payment - a life for a life - and takes Feyre away from everything she's known to live out the rest of her days across the mysterious wall where the vicious Fairies of old dwell.

Finding out that the other side of the wall isn't what she expects does little {at first} to dampen Feyre's desire to flee and return to her ungrateful family. But slowly, the lord of the manor begins to chip away at her armor and Feyre finds herself growing content with her new world. Until the gathering darkness presses in too close and she is sent away back to her family, to her side of the wall and relative safety. But she can't forget the things she saw and the person she's becoming, let alone the man she's fallen in love with and she can't abandon him to his fate.

Likes/Dislikes: My local library does a wonderful little Blind Date with a Book for Valentine's Day and after going through three "dates," the librarian recommended this one. I love Beauty and the Beast, so I was intrigued. It started out interesting with a bit of potential for a unique story. Then it got a little wobbly in the middle before taking a nosedive off a cliff into a very dark and disturbing churning sea. The last quarter to a third of the book reeked of darkness and pure evil; the villainous witch is a very good example of why fairies are often better known as bloodthirsty demons and should be avoided at all costs. Even the ridiculous "redeemed" character of Raysand or whatever his name is, is a horrible character. There are recounting of horrible gory torture sessions that lasted for days and weeks - including the vicious death of an innocent character through Feyre's own fault. There are bloody battles {including memories of a horrible war five hundred years ago}, family members brutally killing other family members, Feyre gets drunk multiple times {once willingly and the rest forcibly}, while held prisoner by the bad guys she is forced to wear a horribly skimpy outfit and dance for their pleasure, there are two uncomfortable sex scenes and Feyre is almost raped twice - I'm surprised not more times by all these terrible characters. As if all this darkness wasn't bad enough, Feyre was a stupid character; she spends all her time whining then does a one-eighty and its all good for awhile. One of her problems is that the author can't write a main character made of ice, just mushy gross mud that thinks it's special. This was a horrible book and I don't recommend it to anyone.

Rating: PG-18 and up for graphic content. Not recommended at all.

Date Review Written: February 9th, 2016

Blameless Book Review

Title: Blameless

Author: Gail Carriger

Genre: Steampunk, Victorian England, Romance, Action/Adventure, Drama, Humor

Plot: Everyone knows that werewolves can't produce offspring, but what few people know {until the news is leaked to the press anyway} is that Lady Alexia Maccon is pregnant with her werewolf husband's baby. And that is the cause for his sudden change in attitude and behavior, not to mention the tiny fact that he kicked her out. Alexia has been living with her horrible family for a few weeks in relative peace but when her family finds out her secret, she is suddenly homeless and goes to one of her remaining friends for shelter. Coincidentally, he might also have the answers she seeks but inconveniently, Lord Akeldama has left town in a hurry.

As if her current troubles weren't enough, Alexia finds herself under attack from a swarm of killer ladybugs. Shaken by this experience but uninjured, Alexia decides its time for decisive action and for answers. A quick meeting with her allies and she's off to Italy with her trusty Floote and Genevieve. Pursued across France by vicious vampires bent on killing her before she ever gives birth, Alexia wonders if the Templars will be any worse. Meanwhile, poor Lyall wonders if his Alpha will ever recover form his own drunken stupidity.

Likes/Dislikes: This was an exciting book to read and kept me at the edge of my seat for the two days it took to read {would've been less if I were still single and childless but that's okay}. I didn't like the handful of scenes with Genevieve {whose last name I can't remember how to spell}; it was far too distracting and unnecessary. And I personally would've stayed angry with Lord Maccon for a lot longer. If my husband pulled the stunt he did, I'd be spitting mad for weeks. Still, you can't have something like that too drawn out and it wrapped up beautifully in the end so no worries.

Rating: PG-18 and up, mainly for content {mostly just married couple hints and one scene at the end, and one crazy scientist dude who should've been killed}.

Date Review Written: February 9th, 2016

Changeless Book Review

Title: Changeless

Author: Gail Carriger

Genre: Steampunk, Victorian England, Humor, Fantasy, Romance, Action/Adventure

Plot: Blissfully newlywed Alexia Maccon is rudely awakened in the late afternoon by her werewolf husband yelling at the top of his lungs before dashing off into London on a mission, probably BUR business and possibly caused by her. Curious and unfazed by his behavior, Alexia receives a summons to attend her usual meeting as the queen's preternatural adviser and sets off on her own toward London as well, stopping only long enough to relocate the dotting of army tents from her front yard to her backyard, meet her husband's rather rude Gamma and pick up Ivy who seems to have gone and gotten herself engaged - of all things!

Of course, these little worries are soon overshadowed by the bigger mystery that covers London and had Lord Maccon out of bed at such an early hour. And this mystery grows, causing first Lord Maccon and then his undaunted wife to head to Scotland in search of answers. What they find is surprising and just a little more than Alexia bargained for.

Likes/Dislikes: This is the sequel to Soulless and picks up the thread of the story beautifully just three months into the unusual marriage of Maccon and Alexia. They're a hilarious couple, though after awhile, all his amorous attentions would've gotten on my nerves if my husband behaved like that. *wink* The scene where a secondary character is changed into a werewolf is very bloody and a bit graphic but passed fairly quickly. All in all, a fun romp in the pages. For such a big surprise "twist" at the end, I really wouldn't have placed the cover model's hand so suggestively. I guessed it without reading the book. Still a wonderful exciting read!

Rating: PG-18 and up, recommended for mature readers only for content {happily married couple stuff, innuendos, the wolf changing scene}.

Date Review Written: February 9th, 2016

Little Women Book Review

Title: Little Women

Author: Louisa May Alcott

Genre: Classic, Historical Fiction, Family

Plot: The classic story of four sisters setting out to find their places in the world begins on a cold snowy night around the fire, waiting for Mother to come home. A discussion of Christmas presents takes place and the girls display their unique personalities in their choice of gifts for their mother. As the story unfolds, we watch creative Jo befriend the neighbor boy and take on the intimidating writing world in New York. We watch as Meg polishes her sweet nature and tames her vanity before the trials of marriage and motherhood begin. And silly Amy grows up, becoming more grounded and anchored in the world. All are tied together by their parents' love and their sweet sister Beth who quietly makes a difference in the background.

Readers for years have grown with these characters, experienced their joys and triumphs, their sorrows and heartbreaks, and have grown better for it. And there is always a new generation to share this book with, so curl up with a cup of tea and indulge.

Likes/Dislikes: Growing up I loved this book. I admired Meg, secretly wanted to Jo {we writers all stick together ya know}, wished I had a sister like Beth and, admittedly, I rather hated Amy till she grew up a bit. This book had everything and is so richly written. I can't wait to introduce it to my little daughter and watch her get to know all the characters like I did.

Rating: G- all ages. Highly recommended.

Date Review Written: November 5th, 2015

Chuck TV Review

Title: Chuck

Starring: Zachery Levi {Chuck Bartowski}, Yvonne Strahovski {Sarah Walker}, Adam Baldwin {John Casey}, Joshua Gomez {Morgan Grimes}, Sarah Lancaster {Elli Bartowski Woodcomb}, and Ryan MacPartlin {Devon Woodcomb}.

Release Date: 2007

Genre: Spy, Action/Adventure, Drama, Comedy

Plot: Your average computer whiz, stuck at a dead-end job at the local Buy More, is Chuck Bartowski. Nothing adventurous or mysterious here, just a really smart guy with shattered dreams of graduating college, a nerdy best friend and a sweet older sister who took care of him when their parents split. However, all of that changes when Chuck receives an email from an old friend and accidentally gets all the CIA's spy secrets downloaded into his brain. Now a target and a potential asset, Chuck is assigned two handlers {NSA John Casey who is rather trigger happy and CIA Sarah Walker who stuns everyone with her good looks, apparently}, Chuck must rapidly adjust to his new life circumstances or die.

Spanning five action packed seasons, Chuck goes on dangerous missions with his new friends and adds old friends to his new spy life, even his sister learns about his secrets after awhile and gets roped into his new spy life. But even as he achieves his dream and becomes a spy, wins the girl and saves his family, Chuck never loses sight of his roots or his good character.

Likes/Dislikes: A friend recommended this show to us and we've slowly been watching it episode by episode. I think we're somewhere in the third or fourth season right now, but since I read spoilers and all the episodes are almost exactly the same, I feel safe enough to review the whole show here. During the first season, watching this lanky guy try to process his new abilities was rather intriguing, but once he becomes a spy and gets a handle on it, things settled into a rhythm that mostly involve a lot of whining about/fighting with Sarah, missions that usually go wrong and girls in short skirts fighting each other. That last bit is particularly annoying to me; I don't want to watch a bunch of dumb girls fight each other in "sexy" outfits. Casey is the smartest down-to-earth character in the whole show {it's a riot to watch him after seeing Firefly} and Chuck's friend Morgan shows the most growth, changing from a weird annoying nerd to a funny responsible man. Ellie and Devon add the domestic side to the cast while the secondary characters of Jeff and Lester are completely disgusting and serve no purpose to the story at all.

Rating: PG-17 and up, mainly for content {sexy girls, very suggestive scenes, underwear scenes, etc.}. Not recommended for teenage boys.

Date Review Written: December 15th, 2015