National Read an Ebook Day!

Yay an excuse to read! Today is Read an Ebook Day! I have been giving my Kindle the cold shoulder lately so I think it’s time we get re-acquainted. Today’s weather could not be more perfect to get lost in a book. It’s cloudy and on and off downpours. So I will be taking 2 hours out of my work day today to do a bit of reading. I have everything set up to go. I will be putting Chai tea in the teapot you see in the photo so I can cozy up with my blanket lose myself.

I recently joined an online book club that focuses on female authors of science fiction and fantasy. It’s a genre that I haven’t read much in a bit so I like the idea of getting introduced to some new authors. Our first selection is what I will be reading today and that is “The Red Magician” by Lisa Goldstein.

Are you celebrating National Read an Ebook Day? If so, whatcha reading?

Have a blessed day!

Belinda

Belinda’s Book Nook Book Review: A Path of Stars by Anne Sibley O’Brien

Hello, my bookworm friends! Oh, these gray days are perfect for beautifully illustrated books. This is my second book review for the Literary Voyage Around the World Reading challenge.

 

 

 

 

 

Title: A Path of Stars
Author: Anne Sibley O’Brien
Copyright: February 7, 2017
Genre: fiction
Format: e-book
Pages: 40

Summary (from Goodreads):

A touching story of family, loss, and memory.
Dara’s grandmother, Lok Yeay, is full of stories about her life growing up in Cambodia, before she immigrated to the United States. Lok Yeay tells her granddaughter of the fruits and plants that grew there, and how her family would sit in their yard and watch the stars that glowed like fireflies. Lok Yeay tells Dara about her brother, Lok Ta, who is still in Cambodia, and how one day she will return with Dara and Dara’s family to visit the place she still considers home.

About the Author (Genevieve Cogman):

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“My career creating multicultural children’s books is a direct response to my childhood in Korea, which kindled in me a fascination for the beauty and glory of human differences, and a passion for the truth that, across our differences, we are all one human family. We belong to each other. That’s what I’m trying to get to, through all my work.”

 

When I visited her website I think I liked her even more. This quote from her reflects my own wishes for my company. I always wanted to create products that celebrate diversity. I put more of her books on hold at the library. A few I plan on reading with Apollo.

My Thoughts:

I often come across new books while listening to podcasts, reading book blogs or watching BookTube. But sometimes, books come to me by chance. I was actually just puttering around Hoopla looking at books and came across this book. The beautiful illustration of the girl on the cover pulled me in immediately so I clicked on it to see what it was about.

When I saw that was a story about Cambodian refugees. I immediately thought back to my college days and studies about the Khmer Rouge.

“The Khmer Rouge was the name given to Cambodian (Khmer) communists (rouge, French for red) and later the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea in Cambodia who infamously carried out the Cambodian genocide.” – Wikipedia

I remember that when I learned about the mass genocides that killed between 1.5 – 3 million Cambodian peoples that occurred between 1975-1978. I had never been taught anything about Cambodia prior to my college experience so it came as such a shock. The obvious questions of why and how could this happen were the topics of discussion. It was troubling information to process and I didn’t know what to do with it but to be honest, after college, it didn’t pass by my radar again until I saw this book. Despite the fact that it is a children’s book and does not go into depth on the topic of genocide, it does focus on the Cambodian traditional familial bonds of grandparents and grandchildren as well as life as a refugee and it has stirred my heart again. So let me share this lovely book with you. These are a few pages viewed on my Kindle. The lighting wasn’t the best but trust me the illustrations were so beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think that this is good for both young and old to read. The illustrations are magnificent and the story is touching. I really like the way the author paced the story withholding certain information to allow the reader to really appreciate the bond between the grandmother and her grandchild as well as appreciate the details of Cambodian life before and after the event.

Cambodian flag

I really enjoyed this book and for the messages that it conveys about family, loss, love, being a refugee and the beautiful illustrations I give it 5 butterflies.

Happy reading!

Belinda

Belinda’s Book Nook Review: Rainy Day Sisters by Kate Hewitt

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Title: Rainy Day Sisters
Author: Kate Hewitt
Copyright: August 4, 2015
Genre: fiction, series
Format: ebook  ARC Pages: 368

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Welcome to Hartley-by-the-Sea in England’s beautiful Lake District, where two sisters who meet as strangers find small miracles tucked into the corners of every day….

When Lucy Bagshaw’s life in Boston falls apart, thanks to a scathing editorial written by her famous artist mother, she accepts her half sister Juliet’s invitation to stay with her in a charming seaside village in northern England. Lucy is expecting quaint cottages and cream teas, but instead finds that her sister is an aloof host, the weather is wet, windy, and cold, and her new boss, Alex Kincaid, is a disapproving widower who only hired her as a favor to Juliet.

Despite the invitation she offered, Juliet is startled by the way Lucy catapults into her orderly life. As Juliet faces her own struggles with both her distant mother and her desire for a child, her sister’s irrepressible optimism begins to take hold. With the help of quirky villagers, these hesitant rainy day sisters begin to forge a new understanding…and find in each other the love of family that makes all the difference.

My thoughts:

This is another ARC that I read for review for the publisher. I read the description and knew this would make a great summer read. From the beginning, I was pulled into the story and wanted to know what had happened to Lucy to make her flee Boston.

The setting: I felt drawn to the rich details of this quaint town and landscape. I could almost smell the dampness in the air from the mist and seawater. It added brilliantly to the story build.

The characters: I enjoyed all of the characters in this book from the two main characters, Lucy and Juliet right on to the postmaster. The author created such a great community. It reminded me of Debbie Macomber Blossom Street books. The story is nothing like each other but I feel that Kate Hewitt created and developed a great cast of characters. Each having their own interesting quirks. I found Lucy, a very lovable character and found myself routing for her and her sister Juliette throughout the book. Now when I picked this book I didn’t realize it was the first book in a series. I only actually realized this when I began writing this review and when to pull the summary for this book. So I am actually pleased that it will not be a farewell to the characters I have come to like.

The story:  I found the story interesting. I love stories set in little villages or small towns and I like the idea of the close-knit community. I grew up with 4 sisters and also found I was drawn to a book about sisters. Although I would consider this a light read, the family dynamics explored in this book provided more depth to the story while pushing forward the mystery of the cause for the broken relationship the girls have with their mother.

I also really enjoyed the pacing of the story. Right from the start I wanted to know exactly what caused Lucy to flee Boston. The pacing always allowed for nice story development prior to the reveal of both her and her sister’s complete story. My only criticism is that the pacing towards the end might have been a bit rushed. Not to say that I wasn’t anxious to see how things turned out, but I think when she returned to Boston, the story got a bit rushed in terms of the pacing throughout the story. I quite enjoyed how the author switched back and forth between the main characters to give you a more complete picture of what was going on in the story.

Overall, I truly enjoyed this book and look forward to visiting Hartley-by-the-Sea in the near future once she releases book 2!

For all of my reasons above I gave this book 4 butterflies.

4rating

Happy reading!

Belinda

Belinda’s Book Nook Review: The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

The5thWave

Title: The 5th Wave
Author: Rick Yancey
Copyright: May 7, 2013
Genre: fiction, science fiction
Format: ebook Pages: 497

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

Now, it’s the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth’s last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker.

Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie’s only hope for rescuing her brother—or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

My Thoughts on The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey:

I kept on hearing about this book on book tube and thought that I might need to see what the fuss was about. First, I would like to say that I think of myself as a big fan of science fiction. I love finding science fiction movies to watch. I especially love to see a team work together to solve/overcome problems. I enjoyed movies like, Mission to Mars, Aliens, Terminator and many more. Last night, I just watched the movie, “After Earth” starring Will Smith and his son. I thought it was good too.  I like the ideas of science fiction writers and I love the mystery and thrills I get thinking of the possibilities.

So when I heard about this book and it came available on my library’s Overdrive system. I took it out and began the journey with Cassie the main character as she experienced each “wave” of the Others'(alien) invasion.  I really enjoyed how the author made you wait to find out what exactly what was going on and who the aliens/others were. It made me think about what we would do if we were invaded in such a way. And that is the thing I love most about science fiction is it tickles my curiosity and a lot of ‘what ifs’ find there way into my mind.

I felt the pacing of book was nice and he used multiple narrators to give you multiple perspectives which carried the book along nicely while filling in the pieces to the mystery. I found myself moving through this book very fast and when he would switch narrators it would be at the precise moment something momentous was happening and I felt compelled to keep reading.

I liked Cassie as the strong female lead at times I struggle with her strength at such a young age but then Yancey would incorporate some indecisiveness that I feel was appropriate for a girl her age and appeared more realistic.

There was some romance and at times a little cheesy but not enough to take away from the story. I do enjoy a little romance in stories and I think it was overall fine in this book.

I stayed up to finish this book and look forward to reading book two which was just released this September. I am not sure if this is a trilogy but I definitely enjoyed book one and look forward to reading the next book in the series called, “The Infinite Sea”.

This was a good size book but I went through it so fast which means it took me on the journey and I love that.

For these reasons, I gave this book 5 butterflies.

5ratingHappy Reading!

Belinda

 

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