Belinda’s Book Nook Review: The False Princess by Eilis O’Neal

August 19, 2014 by Leave a Comment

ThefalsePrincess

Title: The False Princess
Author: Eilis O’ Neal
Copyright: September 11, 2012
Genre: fiction, fantasy
Format: audiobook Narrator: Mandy Williams

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Princess and heir to the throne of Thorvaldor, Nalia’s led a privileged life at court.  But everything changes when it’s revealed, just after her sixteenth birthday, that she is a false princess, a stand-in for the real Nalia, who has been hidden away for her protection.  Cast out with little more than the clothes on her back, the girl now called Sinda must leave behind the city of Vivaskari, her best friend, Keirnan, and the only life she’s ever known.

Sinda is sent to live with her only surviving relative, an aunt who is a dyer in a distant village. She is a cold, scornful woman with little patience for her newfound niece, and Sinda proves inept at even the simplest tasks.  But when Sinda discovers that magic runs through her veins – long-suppressed, dangerous magic that she must learn to control – she realizes that she can never learn to be a simple village girl.

My Thoughts on The False Princess:

When I work in my craft room, I enjoy listening to music, podcasts and audio books. I enjoy this because I can listen to something while I work. Over the last six months I have really enjoyed being able to keep up with my “reading” while still getting my crafting time .  The first place I go when I need an audiobook is Overdrive since it is free from the library. I read the description, listened to a preview of this book and checked out it’s ratings on Goodreads and it sounded just like the right book to listen to.

The False Princess  is a fantasy book filled with magic, romance and mystery. Mandy Williams did a great job with the narration. Which I believe can make or break the listening experience.

I enjoyed this debut novel by Eilis O’Neal right from the start because it brought you right into the mystery.  I liked the main character Nalia who was really Sinda.  She was a strong character with definite flaws.  Many typical of a 16 year old girl. Which I had to keep reminding myself.

Most of the women in this book were very strong characters. Sinda’s aunt despite the shock of a niece she thought had died appearing on her doorstep, did not let her poverty keep her from taking care of her niece.  Filanthra, who was portrayed as a bit of a loose canon and  an outsider, still managed her home with help from servants and found a place for her magic and potions to maintain her lifestyle. Melaina, although the antagonist was a very strong women that took command of the situation and planned a through deception. Which I think would have been very difficult in such a male dominated society. Perhaps magic was the great equalizer.

I enjoyed the light romance in the novel with Keirnan. He was a charming friend for Sinda and a little love in stories is always good.

The only thing I would say that I was frustrated with was the fact that Sinda was so strong and bright and yet they made her so naive when it came to love and romance. Over and over, her doubt presented itself and at times, I felt could be skipped. Perhaps that is how authors create drama but I felt it was a little overkill at times.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and the detail and the descriptions for the settings. I felt I could really see the settings and the narration was spot on. I haven’t read many books with magic so this was a little fun for me. I ended up listening to the last few hours of the book into the wee hours of the morning to find out how it all would turn out. I think the message finding out who you really are and learning to accept yourself for who you are was a strong message in this book. Particularly with Sinda.

I think if you are looking for a light read with good narration, you should give it a try.

I give this book 4 butterflies.

4ratingA

Happy reading!

Belinda

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Belinda’s Book Nook Review: Three books of a quartet: Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress by Marisa Meyer

April 29, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Cindertrilogy

Titles: Cinder, Scarlet, Cress
Author: Marissa Meyer
Genre: fiction, fantasy
Format: book

Synopsis (from publisher):

Cinder (Lunar Chronicles, Book 1)

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles, Book 2)

Cinder is back and trying to break out of prison—even though she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive if she does—in this second installment from Marissa Meyer.
Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother, or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana.

Cress (Lunar Chronicles, Book 3)

In this third book in Marissa Meyer’s bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, now with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and prevent her army from invading Earth.

My Review:

Wow… I came across Cinder while watching some book bloggers back in February. So many people were talking about it and let’s face it, the cover is really cool.  So I ordered it from BookOutlet for an amazing price.  I took it with me on my annual girl’s craft weekend in Jackson New Hampshire. I always bring a book to read before I go to bed.

I started reading Cinder (the first in the series) and found myself up hours later, totally engrossed. Now, this is a Young Adult fiction and I am past Young Adult in age but let me say that I thoroughly enjoy many books from this genre.  I don’t turn my nose up to a good story.

Ms. Meyer takes the story on a wild adventure while still keeping the basis of the story grounded in the traditional fairy tale, Cinderella.  I enjoyed the first book so much because it created the world with vivid descriptions.  I instantly liked the main character Cinder although a few times I don’t know why she didn’t make smarter choices.  I like that social issues (Like what defines being human.)  were intertwined with the story but weren’t being forced down your throat. I found myself going to my room while on my weekend away and reading a few chapters. I just wanted to know what would happen.

As in the Hunger Games, each book of this series end with a cliff hanger so you have to read the next book to find out what happens. What I also found fascinating is that Ms. Meyer took different fairy tales and found ways to link the books to each other. For example the first book is Cinderella, the second is Little Red Riding Hood and the third is Rapunzel and the next to be released is Snow White.

I really enjoyed this series and read them very fast. I think there was good character development in each book and just enough romance without ruining the story.  My favorite of the three would be Cinder because that is where Ms. Meyer created the world for us in such lovely detail.

I highly recommend this series. The only problem is that I have to wait for the final book, Winter which will be released in 2015.

I will be back with more reviews very soon.  I have been reading a lot lately and just need to sit down and write up some reviews.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. My rating was 5 butterflies!

5rating

Happy Reading!

Belinda

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Belinda’s Book Nook: My Love affair with Books

March 27, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Lately I have just been so engrossed with books that it has got me thinking about my on-again and off-again love affair with books. I can’t remember exactly what book that was the turning point for me, but as a child I remember reading Ann of Green Gables and loving it. I loved how they transported me everywhere. I would sit in my bedroom and read my favorites feeling like I was the luckiest girl to have it.

When I reached high school, boys were on the brain and I slowed my pace. I also remember resentment at some of the school selections I had to read and it souring me a bit.

In addition to the fictions I was reading while in college, I became exposed to more African American History books so I tried to learn more about my heritage.  I always still felt that warm feeling when I went inside bookstores and perused the shelves for a great find.  I began to find pleasure in the hunt for the next book.

Right after college, I read mostly in the summer at the beach. I discovered chick lit and would tear through them like a good chocolate bar. It was a welcome break from the serious non-fiction that I was previously reading.

While working my second real job out of college at a newspaper, I renewed my love of books.  I got exposure to many genres I never knew existed. I started reading historical fictions, mysteries, science fictions, biographies, non-fictions and realized there was so much more to books.

I joined a book club at one point and was exposed to the joy of talking books with friends. We would pick a book and meet once a month at each others’ house bringing food to eat while we discussed our selection.

After I married, I was focused mostly on my career and read mostly on vacations. I would call them my beach reads.

Years, later after my two beautiful boys were born, I struggled to find the time and energy to devote to my first love (books) and stopped completely for  a short spell.

For the last few years, I have renewed my vows with my first love and can’t get enough of them. I am opening up to even more experiences (YA, paranormal, dystopian, self-help) and so happy to have books in my life again.

Have you ever thought about your journey with books? Are they just something you do on vacation or has it been a long love affair with ups and downs?

Happy Reading!

Belinda

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Belinda’s Book Nook Review: Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock by David Margolick

February 19, 2014 by Leave a Comment

elizabeth and hazel

Title: Elizabeth and Hazel Two Women of Little Rock
Author: David Margolick
Copyright: 2011
Genre: nonfiction
Format: hardcover

Synopsis (from publisher):

“The names Elizabeth Eckford and Hazel Bryan Massery may not be well known, but the image of them from September 1957 surely is: a black high school girl, dressed in white, walking stoically in front of Little Rock Central High School, and a white girl standing directly behind her, face twisted in hate, screaming racial epithets. This famous photograph captures the full anguish of desegregation – in Little Rock and throughout the South – and an epic moment in the civil rights movement.”

My review:

This book is the second book for my book club for 2014.  I was very excited to begin reading it and what great timing, February is Black History month.  I have to admit that  I don’t recall learning about the Little Rock Nine in school.  I definitely did not know the names Elizabeth Eckford or Hazel Bryan. So I read this book with deep interest and a heavy heart.

The author, David Margolick explores the lives of these two women as they first meet in front of Little Rock on the first day Central High School is forced to integrate, as they cross paths many years later and strike up an unlikely relationship.  He explores the impact this photograph of Elizabeth with a  sea of white people behind her yelling the most awful things on Elizabeth and Hazel as well as the country. Elizabeth and eight other black children endure the most difficult situations on a regular basis once inside the school. 

As an, African American, I found this book difficult to read at times.  I struggled through the very beginning when Margolick described the lynching of a black man named John Carter in 1927.  My heart ached for the injustice of it all, that adults and small children witnessed the hanging and that no one intervened.  Margolick used many examples to set the tone for the climate in Little Rock before settling into the story of the integration of Central and the lives of Elizabeth and Hazel.

I found the story telling very easy to move through but the content is what gave me pause many times.  For example, the use of the N-word (I don’t even like to write it) was widely used and that never sits well with me.

I think he did an amazing job of developing the stories of the parallel lives of both Elizabeth and Hazel.  Sadly, the overall experience kept Elizabeth from fully moving forward.  I believe one does not have to forget to move forward but I think Elizabeth has been deeply traumatized and it makes moving forward almost impossible without proper help and guidance.

Hazel managed to learn some from the experience and move forward to some extent. However both women seem to be filled with so much doubt and plagued with insecurities to truly resolve their differences.

One quote I especially l liked and had to add to my list of quotes was from Bill Clinton who was speaking at the fortieth anniversary celebrations at Central high school, “Reconciliation is important not only for those who practiced bigotry but for those whose resentment of it lingers, for both are prisons from which our spirits must escape.”

Despite my difficulties with the content, I found this book to be a very quick read. I am truly sad that I am only learning about this story now. I feel it should be on everyone’s list to read even a high school requirement.  Elizabeth in particular never received any help (emotionally and monetarily) for the sacrifices she has made and the money she made from speaking along with her job barely afforded her a life above poverty.  I am truly saddened by this. She went to battle on the front lines of racism and bigotry in this country and paid dearly only to live her life in poverty.

I gave this book five butterflies (stars) not because it is great writing but because it is a catalyst to much needed dialogue about race relations in this country and can help enlighten all of us.

Belinda

5rating

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