Books recommendations for LOTR fans

Welcome back. This week, I am recommending 8 books if you enjoyed reading/watching the Lord of Rings.

Comment down below what book recommendations I should do next.

 

A Wizard of Earthsea

I actually found this from a book recommendation for the LOTR. A win-win.

Synopsis: Ged, the greatest sorcerer in all Earthsea, was called Sparrowhawk in his reckless youth.
Hungry for power and knowledge, Sparrowhawk tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death’s threshold to restore the balance.

Lord Brocktree (Redwall #13)

Synopsis: Salamandastron, under the guardianship of old Lord Stonepaw, is under threat from an enemy of immense and terrifying power. Ungatt Trunn, the wildcat who can make the stars fall from the sky, has attacked with his Blue Hordes and is determined that the fortress should be his. The mountain’s defenses are weak and it seems that nothing can stand in his way. Nothing, that is, but the badger Lord Brocktree, who is drawn to Salamandastron by an undeniable sense of destiny. But if he is to rescue the mountain from Trunn and his verminous hordes, he must gather about him an army capable of defeating them in battle.

The Ruins of Gorlan (Ranger’s Apprentice #1)

This is the first book of the series. It a great read for all ages. This is another book I recommended on reading the LOTR.

Synopsis: They have always scared him in the past — the Rangers, with their dark cloaks and shadowy ways. The villagers believe the Rangers practice magic that makes them invisible to ordinary people. And now 15-year-old Will, always small for his age, has been chosen as a Ranger’s apprentice. What he doesn’t yet realize is that the Rangers are the protectors of the kingdom. Highly trained in the skills of battle and surveillance, they fight the battles before the battles reach the people. And as Will is about to learn, there is a large battle brewing. The exiled Morgarath, Lord of the Mountains of Rain and Night, is gathering his forces for an attack on the kingdom. This time, he will not be denied…

The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander

Synopsis: Taran, the Assistant Pig-Keeper, and his friends are led into a mortal struggle with Arawn and his deathless warriors. Taran must wrest the black cauldron from them, for it is the cauldron that gives them their evil strength. But can he withstand the three enchantresses, who are determined to turn him and his companions into toads? Taran has not foreseen the awful price he will have to pay in his defense of Prydain…

King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green

Synopsis: King Arthur is one of the greatest legends of all time. From the magical moment when Arthur releases the sword in the stone to the quest for the Holy Grail and the final tragedy of the Last Battle, Roger Lancelyn Green brings the enchanting world of King Arthur stunningly to life.

On the Edge of Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson

Synopsis: Once, in a cottage above the cliffs on the Dark Sea of Darkness, there lived three children and their trusty dog Nugget. Janner Igiby, his brother Tink, their crippled sister Leeli are gifted children as all children are, loved well by a noble mother and ex-pirate grandfather. But they will need all their gifts and all that love to survive the evil pursuit of the venomous Fangs of Dang who have crossed the dark sea to rule the land with malice and pursue the Igibys who hold the secret to the lost legend and jewels of good King Wingfeather of the Shining Isle of Anniera.

The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

Of course, I pick this book series. One: Lewis and Tolkien were best friends. Two: It’s a great series.

Synopsis: NARNIA…the land beyond the wardrobe, the secret country is known only to Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy…the place where the adventure begins. Lucy is the first to find the secret of the wardrobe in the professor’s mysterious old house. At first, no one believes her when she tells of her adventures in the land of Narnia. But soon Edmund and then Peter and Susan discover the Magic and meet Aslan, the Great Lion, for themselves. In the blink of an eye, their lives are changed forever.

Eragon (The Inheritance Cycle #1)

This book has been criticized for copying Tolkien. And of course, I am going to add it to the list. It’s a great book. Don’t allow people’s review avoid reading this beauty.

Synopsis: Eragon and the fledgling dragon must navigate the dangerous terrain and dark enemies of an empire ruled by a king whose evil knows no bounds. Can Eragon take up the mantle of the legendary Dragon Riders?

That’s all folks. See ya next week! 🙂

 

Not by Sight: Book Review

Title: Not by Sight

Synopsis: With Britain caught up in WWI, Jack Benningham, heir to the Earl of Stonebrooke, has declared himself a conscientious objector. Instead, he secretly works for the Crown by tracking down German spies on British soil, his wild reputation and society status serving as a foolproof cover.

Blinded by patriotism and concern for her brother on the front lines, wealthy suffragette Grace Mabry will do whatever it takes to assist her country’s cause. When she sneaks into a posh London masquerade ball to hand out white feathers of cowardice, she never imagines the chain of events she’ll set off when she hands a feather to Jack.

And neither of them could anticipate the extent of the danger and betrayal that follows them–or the faith they’ll need to maintain hope.

Genre: Romance, Historial, Christian Fiction

Language: mentioning of cursing

Romance:

-kiss of the hand, a kiss between two people, mentioning of a prostitute

Rating: Five Stars

I was actually surprised by this book. I am not usually one who enjoys reading romance. Especially if it isn’t Amish romance, the only Christian romance I read. *hides in the corner* The book itself reminded me of Jane Eyre with a twist of the Phantom of Opera.

This book is the first book that surprised me with its plot twist. I promise I wouldn’t spoil it. This book is on my favorite reads of 2018.

 

See ya soon.

 

 

All the Way: Book Review

I have returned. Please enjoy this post and follow if you aren’t already. Like and comment down below what book I should review next.

Title: All the Way

Author: Loriane Haynes

Genre: Christian Fiction

Synopsis: Families were the center of lives during the Great Depression. Life choices changed the safety and security of Kathryn’s teenage world and tainted her view of the world the rest of her life. The shame that wrapped itself around her was the result of condemnation from Christians who felt compelled to rid itself of a good family whose only sin was love.

Setting: Covington, GA; Griffin, GA; Atlanta, GA

Language: one incident

Romance:

two times mention of two people kissing

teen mother

Theme: Trust, Family, Guidance

 

Overall it was an interesting read, the book itself had the same writing style as A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. I rated this book a four. You should read this book and spread it around. The author is self- published author. So share everyone and give out the bookish love.

 

101 of Book reviewing

Welcome back. This week I will be writing the correct way of a book review. Or the way I prefer to write one. Take your pick, people.

For many years, I wrote book reviews like the summary of the book and the shortest nicest opinion of it even if I disliked the book. Because I so used to writing a book report or essay for school.  Now that I have written some reviews. I see the best way is to write honestly. Especially since I am a Christian, I should make sure I give warning to others so that they don’t read any sinful content. Even if you read only half of a book, you can write a book review even if the reason you choose to stop reading it for sinful content or cursing. There is no guideline against that.

The last thing you don’t want to do is be afraid of people who will judge you because of certain review. Especially since recently I read some people judging a book because of an author’s review of a popular young adult book. Haters are gonna hate. There will never be a time when someone will always love your book. The silly thing about it is half of the book reviewers was just basically copying and pasting other people reviews. The dumbest thing you can do online is to start a debate. Half the time, no one really cares what you are talking about.

One of the first things, you should write is the title of the book, author’s name, synopsis, and genre(s) because not everyone is going know what you are talking about.

Next stop mention all language, and romance in the book. This is helpful especially since you don’t want a young person reading a book meant for older people.

Lastly, I would mention your rating for that book and why is that.

The worst thing you can do in a book review is to rip the author’s story and believe something that is not even mentioned in the author’s bio. Even if it is the worst book you ever do. Never destroy an author’s reputation. Just because disliking book doesn’t mean you have to write hateful reviews about the author. There is an old saying we should have as a guideline for book reviews. If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.

Is there anything I missed? Comment down below what you do for book reviews.

Thanks for Reading!

 

 

 

Bookish/ Writing Q & A

1) Are there any books which have inspired the style or plot of your books?

C.S. Lewis Narnia series, Sir Gawain and The Green Knight by J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Giver by Lois Lowry, The Odessey by Homer, etc.

2) What is your least favorite and/or favorite trope in books (ex. damsel in distress)? And why? The perfect female character. I hate books with that. Seriously, people, we need to write realistic characters, not perfect. A character with flaws or insecurities. The chosen one. Yes, I have written about it. Let’s be fair, we may all have written about it but over time it gets boring.
3) Do you come up with the characters for your story first or the plot? Or both? I usually come up with the plot and the characters will follow. Usually, I have the whole story landed out in my mind. From the beginning to the end.

4) Pick a favorite character from a book you have read and a favorite character from a story you have written. If both of those characters were to face off in an epic duel, who would win and why?
Why?????? Favorite character from a book. Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter.

Favorite Character from one of my stories: Daisy from A Prisoner of Scales.

Reasons why I chose them because they are intelligent, they both have magic but in different ways. Luna uses a wand, she is a witch. Daisy is a druid with magical powers and she is twelve years old. They are weird and intelligent.

Honestly, a battle between each other would be really close. It would be hard to see who win. Daisy could since she may have powers even I don’t know about. Luna could because she is awesome when I reading the Harry Potter books. A tie maybe? But to save my character’s ego, I would say Daisy.

5) What is your favorite book/book series?”

My favorite book would be always The Odyssey by Homer. Don’t get me wrong. I could choose any modern book but this classic stole my heart. Favorite book series would be Lord of the Rings come on people. You should know that by now.

And there you have it. Enjoy! We will do another Q&A when I get to 100th blog post.

Thanks for reading!

 

Rebel of the Sands Book Review

I finally finished it. I am so excited to share it with you all. I found this book while watching videos from the Booktube community. I am so happy I found it. This book is probably my second favorite book this year so far. 🙂

Let’s begin:

Title: Rebel of the Sands

Summary: Amani, a girl with a gun and a plan begins to find a way to escape Dustwalk a back country town. She knows she must escape or she will be forced to get married. Meeting Jin in a shooting contest changes her life forever. Thrown into a world of rebellion and magic. Amani will never look at life in the desert the same again.

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance, Magic

Author: Alwyn Hamilton

Author bio: Awyln Hamilton was born in Toronto and spent her childhood bouncing between Europe and Canada until her parents settled in France. She grew up in a small town there, which might have compelled her to burst randomly into the opening song from Beauty and the Beast were it not for her total tone deafness.  She instead attempted to read and write her way to new places and developed a weakness for fantasy and cross-dressing heroines. She left France and went to Cambridge University to the history of art at King’s College, and then to London, where she became indentured to an auction house. She has a bad habit of acquiring more hardcovers than is smart for someone who moves house quite so often.

Language: Mentioning of cursing, only one real incident of cursing

Romance: There is only one scene of kissing but the reason why is so funny. XD I laughed out, it was hilarious.

The book itself takes place in the middle east aka desert. I love the world building in this book. I wished this story would never end. Just throw me in that fictional world, please.

I noticed that I am good at finding out the plot twist before it happens. Which I managed to do in this book. It felt too easy. I am just saying.

I would rate this book a 4.9. Mainly because I felt “the plot twist” came a bit too late in the story. Giving the effect that it had no purpose in this story. Maybe should have waited until the next book.

 

 

 

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

Title: The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

Author: Jacqueline Kelly

Author Bio: Jacqueline Kelly was born in New Zealand and raised in Canada. She is a practicing physician and now makes her home in Austin and Fentress, Texas. This is her first novel.  (Amazon bio of her, not mine)

Author Website:http://www.jacquelinekelly.com/

Genre: Historial, Y/A, Children’s, Middle Grade, Fiction

Quotes:

“She needs to spend less time with your father and more time with me and Viola. I’ve already told her I’m going to supervise her cookery and her stitchery. We’ll have to have lessons. A new dish every week, I think.”   “Will we have to eat it?,” said Father. “Heh. Heh(220).” – Heh, heh. It’s probably one of the strangest things: I have seen so far. Could you have said giggled or something? It’s just really odd.

“And stop stamping about like that,” Mother called. “You’re not carrying the weight of the world, you know.”

Overall Opinion:

After finishing reading it, I noticed nowadays most girls (not all girls) can’t actually cook. I am probably going off topic. But still. Calpurnia was a tomboy who preferred science instead of the science of housewifery.  The strangest thing is that her mother tells her to learn to cook but throughout the story, there is no mention of her mother actually making a meal.  So, hmm. What is with that?

To finish this review, there are several incidents where cursing occurs.  I would rate this book a 3.9 mainly because it was slow but interesting read. 🙂

Thanks for reading! 🙂

 

 

 

London in the Dark One Year Birthday Celebration

Good morning, my fellow bloggers. I decided to help a girl out by doing a book review on London in the Dark by Victoria Lynn.

London in the Dark is now a one-year-old so she is doing a giveaway. 🙂

Details:

First Place winner must be in the United States only. The winner receives, one paperback autographed copy of London in the Dark, a London themed t-shirt of their choice from my Zazzle shop, and one Book Themed mug designed by me from my Zazzle shop.

2 Second place winners. Open internationally. Receives one ebook copy of London in the Dark.

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For WordPress users: https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/a44877ea5/

Also check out Grace’s blog to enter her personal giveway for a paperback copy of London in the Dark.

Let’s begin my book review:

Title: London in the Dark

Genre: Christian Fiction, Historial Fiction, Mystery

Synopsis:

London, 1910

Budding Private Detective Cyril Arlington Hartwell has a conundrum. London is being ravaged by the largest run of thefts in recent history. His hunch that it is all tied together may put him and those he loves in more danger than he could have reckoned.

Olivia Larken Hartwell is just home from boarding school for the summer anticipating time with her adoring parents.She misses her absent brother, Cyril, hoping for the day he will finally come home. But tragedy strikes, causing upheaval for all concerned and changes her life in a way she never could have imagined.

Olivia, Cyril, and their friends must bring the hidden to light, seek to execute justice, and dispel the darkness that hovers over London… and their hearts.

Author bio:

Victoria Lynn is in her 20s and if she’s not writing, she is probably sewing, singing, playing the piano, washing dishes, creating something with her hands, or learning something new. She has a passion for serving her Creator, encouraging others and being creative. She blogs at www.rufflesandgrace.com about writing, fashion, modesty, her walk with God and life. She lives in Michigan with her parents and 8 siblings.

 

The book itself has a Sherlock Vibe. Since there is a detective (Cyril) and doctor (Dudley) and a landlady (Mrs.Hobbs).  It felt slow in the beginning but then the {spoiler removed} happened helped a lot.  At times, I really wanted to choke Cyril. One word to describe each character:

Olivia: Faithful

Cyril: Moody

Dudley: Kind-hearted

Mrs. Hobb: Caring

Favorite Quotes:

Cyril folded his arm and rested the side of his head against the window of the swiftly moving train. The faint light of early dawn illuminated the countryside just enough to make it a dizzy blur as it passed by his sight. (p. 223, Kindle Edition) Love the description.

As she plunged into the song, her fingers traveled over the keys at a rapid pace, tinkling out the lovely scales and melodies. She lost herself in the music, drowning in the special feeling of creating something beautiful. (p. 24, Kindle Edition)

Book Rating: 4.5

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys clean mysteries.

Thanks for Reading! 🙂

 

 

 

Book Series I haven’t finished yet

This series are books I have started but never actually finished the series.  Please don’t judge me.

1. Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
2. Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery
3. Divergent Series by Veronica Roth
4. Six of Crows series by Leigh Bardugo
5. Grisha series by Leigh Bardugo
6. Candain West series by Janette Oke
7. Earthsea Cycle series by Ursula K. Le Guin
8. Redwall series by Brian Jaques
9. My America series by Patrica Hermes
10. Ranger Apprentice by John Flanagan
11. Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene
12. Hercules Poirot by Agatha Christe
13. The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander
14. The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson
15. The Giver Quartet by Lois Lowry
16. Hornblower Saga by C.S. Forester
17. The Maze Runner by James Dasher
18. Kane Chronicles series by Rick Riordan
19. Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan
20. Miss Peregrine’s by Ransom Riggs
21. The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini

Any book series you haven’t finished? Let me know in the comments below.

Thanks for Reading!

P.S. Check out this survey, I am doing. It would be most appreciated.

This or That Book Tag

I found this book tag at Kris’ blog

QUESTIONS:

1. Reading on the bed or the couch? I usually read in bed but you can also find me reading an ebook on the couch any day.
2. Male Main character or female main character? I like both. I usually read female main characters. Its hard to find any male main characters. If you know any books with a male POV, let me in the comments below.
3. Sweet snacks or salty snacks when your reading? I usually have chocolates when I am reading.
4. Trilogies or Quartets? Trilogies alway!
5. First person point of view or third person point of view? Third Person point of view
6. Reading at night or in the morning? I am more active at night but you can sometimes see me reading in morning. If I really obsessed with the book I am reading.
7. Libraries or bookstores? I usually get most of my books at the library. Its inexpensive besides having dues to the library. XD
8. Books that make you laugh or cry?
9. Black books covers or white book covers? I own more black book covers so…
10. Character driven or plot driven? It will always be plot driven. I can’t stress enough. I only pick up a book if the plot is interesting. It’s not even about the book cover either.  I don’t care how popular or good looking the characters are. Plots are the best. 🙂

 Thanks for Reading!