Black Friday Book Sale!

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Like most other bookworms, great books make their way onto my “things I’m thankful for” list every year. It’s hard to choose favorites, but I went ahead and picked five books I read in 2015 and am thankful for.

  1. A Time to Speak, by Nadine Brandes: I’m thankful for this book because it was even better than the first book (A Time to Die) and I got to be on Nadine’s awesome launch team!
  2. Spark, by J.B. North: I’m thankful for this book because J.B. wrote it when she was young (Around 16 I believe) and it inspired me! I can get a book written and published, even though I’m young.
  3. Starflower, by Anne Elisabeth Stengl: I’m thankful for this book because it’s my favorite of the Tales of Goldstone Woods series and it was beautifully written!
  4. Courting Morrow Little, by Laura Frantz: I’m thankful for this book because it introduced me to the wonderful Laura Frantz and her lovely books!
  5. Thick as Thieves, by Susan K. Marlow: I’m thankful for this book because it continues one of my favorite series as a child! The Circle C Adventures. I loved that series and was so sad to see it go… Then the author came out with two more! Woohoo!

(There was so many amazing books I read in 2015… but I could only choose five. I tried to choose books I haven’t talked about much, but only 3/5 books made that “requirement.”)

I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to another great year of reading! Speaking of more reading, here’s one more thing to be grateful for. Books on sale! In honor of Thanksgiving and Black Friday, a group of independent Christian authors banded together to offer over seventy discounted books on Nov 27-30. There’s literally something for everyone.

Every single book listed on Indie Christian Books is on sale in one or more ways. Find discounted paperbacks, dozens of books offered with free shipping, $0.99 ebooks, package deals and more. Even if you have a budget of $0, new reading material awaits you.

Don’t know what to pick? The fearless Indie Christian Books team created a quiz that will generate a book list perfect for you! Check it out!

Book Quiz

What awesome reads of 2015 are you grateful for? What books are you looking forward to reading in 2016?

A note on the Ebooks Only page. All books are listed as “Sold Out.” This only refers to paperback copies of these titles. Please click onto the product pages to find descriptions and links to discounted or free ebooks.
Acknowledgements: Thanks to Leah E. Good for her work organizing this sale, Gloria Repp for completing the time consuming job of uploading book info to the sale website, and Hannah Mills for her fantastic design work on the website graphics. Hannah can be contacted at hmills(at)omorecollege(dot)edu for more information about her design services.
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If We Burn, You Burn With Us!!!

Hopefully you can tell from the title, today’s post is about the Hunger Games! Who has all seen Mockingjay part 2? I get to go see it Thursday and I am so excited!!! I thought I would post my favorite pictures/quotes from the trilogy. NO SPOILERS!

Books          Fly like a Mockinjay

 

 

 

 

 

You can...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deep stuff

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mockinjay

 

 

 

 

 

 

If we Burn

What was your favorite picture? Would you be interested in seeing a spoilery Mockingjay review with my thoughts? Let me know!

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Book Review: Soundless by Richelle Mead

soundless

Title:  Soundless

Author: Richelle Mead

Genre: Fairy-tale, Folklore

Series?  Stand-alone

POV: First person, present tense, one narrator.

Cliffhanger?  Nope!

My Rating: 5 of 5 stars

 

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads | Author’s Website

About the Book (from Goodreads)
For as long as Fei can remember, there has been no sound in her village, where rocky terrain and frequent avalanches prevent residents from self-sustaining. Fei and her people are at the mercy of a zipline that carries food up the treacherous cliffs from Beiguo, a mysterious faraway kingdom.

When villagers begin to lose their sight, deliveries from the zipline shrink and many go hungry. Fei’s home, the people she loves, and her entire existence is plunged into crisis, under threat of darkness and starvation.

But soon Fei is awoken in the night by a searing noise, and sound becomes her weapon.

Richelle Mead takes readers on a triumphant journey from the peak of Fei’s jagged mountain village to the valley of Beiugo, where a startling truth and an unlikely romance will change her life forever…

My Thoughts
I don’t know how to describe the fabulousness of this book!  I have been trying to write this review all morning, and I’m not sure where to start!

I went into this book both excitedly and nervously.  I have never read anything by this author, and I still have no intention go back and read her other books.  They just don’t sound interesting to me.  The day I picked Soundless up from the library, I had seen several negative reviews for it. This made me hesitant, but really, who can say no to the promise of Chinese folklore and that gorgeous cover?  I’m glad I read it.  It was sooooo worth it!

Don’t go into this book expecting an epic fantasy either.  It is nothing of the sort.  I’d say it has a very fairy-tale feel to it.  It does claim to be based in Chinese folklore after all.  And it is more than just the names that distinguish this book as Chinese.  I may have missed it before I took my Chinese language class, but the whole book had an underlying Chinese feel to it.  It’s not very obvious, but it’s there.  And the food they ate was very Chinese.  Not necessarily what we Americans think when we go to a Chinese restaurant, but Chinese all the same.  I mean, they were picking persimmons off trees!! I wish a persimmon tree would grow where I live!

Soundless is about a village where everyone has lost their hearing.  Fei, our main character, regains her hearing one night.  It scares her, and she does not know how to live with hearing.  I can’t image living without hearing, and Fei is struggling to figure out life with hearing.  It made me stop and think so many times.  As I write this, I can hear my sister downstairs in the kitchen.  I would not be able to know she was in the kitchen or hear her coming upstairs without my hearing!  This book made me rethink an entire sense that I usually take for granted.

Because the village cannot hear, there is no dialogue in Soundless.  Not to worry though, the villagers communicate through sign language.  How cool is that?!  An entire book where people communicate with sign language!  The writing is beautiful.  It allows you to feel the story.  After the first chapter, I was amazed at how each sentence is packed with emotion.  It’s just beautiful!  And sometimes heartbreaking.

I have seen some reviews complaining about the love interest.  I’ll admit, Fei and Li Wei’s relationship is sweet, but not swoon worthy.  That is because the love they share is not the point of the book.  The relationship that really drives Fei is the one she has with her sister Zhang Jing.  There are not enough young adult books that focus on close sibling relationships.  And I think they are beautiful.

I don’t know what else to say except – GO READ IT!!!

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Content: No language. Some kissing and one shirtless scene (she was going to wash the guy’s shirt and can’t help but notice how hansom he is rolls eyes). Very mild violence – it is there but nothing is really described.

I couldn’t help but see parallels in the story to Christianity.  It was probably not intended, and I can’t say much without giving the story away.  There was this beautiful scene where people cry out, and some people get discouraged because they don’t believe that it will do anything, but something does happen to help the villagers.  Ugh, did I just say too much?  I don’t know, but why are you still here anyway – Go read the book!!

Review: Luther and Katharina by Jody Hedlund

Luther

Genre: Christian, Romance, Historical Fiction.
Favorite Quote: “Satan, if you frighten me, Christ will give me courage; if you kill me, Christ will give me life.”
Age Range: 18+
Stars: 2/5 stars.

 

 

I can tell Jody Hedlund did a lot of research for this book: the correct outfits, the way they talk, even how to catch fleas! I appreciate that, but I don’t feel she built her characters at all. They fell kind of flat with me, and I didn’t connect to the characters or the budding romance. I also felt like Katharina’s personality would change throughout the book.

This is definitely not a book for teens. There were several mentions of rape and girls losing their virginity. There was also a marriage bed scene that made me very uncomfortable.

Overall:
I probably won’t be reading another Jody Hedlund book. I’ve tried several times and haven’t enjoyed them.

About The Author:


Jody hedlund

As a busy mama-writer, she has the wonderful privilege of teaching her crew of 5 children at home. In between grading math papers and giving spelling tests, she occasionally does a load of laundry and washes dishes. When she’s not busy being a mama, you can find her in front of her laptop working on another of her page-turning stories. She loves reading almost as much as she loves writing, especially when it also involves chocolate and coffee. Blog, Facebook and Goodreads.

I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review

 
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