A Tree, A Book, and A Breeze

Charity U at Austenitis is hosting a giveaway. The prize is a copy of either Glamorous Illusions or Grave Consequences , by Lisa T. Bergren. You can head on over here to check it out!

A Lasting Impression Tamera Alexander Bethany House Publishers A fake. A forger. More than anything, Claire Laurent longs for the chance to live an authentic life, to become the woman she wants to be. And she'll be given that choice. But will it come at too costly a price? Claire Laurent's greatest aspiration is to paint something that will bring her acclaim. Yet her father insists she work as a copyist. A forger. When she's forced to flee from New Orleans to Nashville only a year after the War Between the States has ended, her path collides with attorney Sutton Monroe. She considers him a godsend for not turning her in to the authorities. But after he later refuses to come to her aid, Claire fears she's sorely misjudged the man. Finding herself among the elite of Nashville's society, Claire believes her dream to create a lasting impression in the world of art is within reach--but only if her fraudulent past remains hidden. The Federal Army has de...

Follow the Heart Kay Dacus B & H Set during the Industrial Revolution and the Great Exhibition of 1851, Follow the Heart is a "sitting-room romance" with the feel of a Regency-era novel but the fashions and technological advances of the mid-Victorian age. Kate and Christopher Dearing's lives turn upside down when their father loses everything in a railroad land speculation. The siblings are shipped off to their mother's brother in England with one edict: marry money. I’ve heard much about Kaye Dacus, but I’ve never had the chance to read any of her novels until now. Though it took a little while to get into, I really enjoyed Follow the Heart . It was slow-moving at first, but I thought it got better as the story went on. I wasn’t quite as interested in Kate’s story- I liked the plot between her brother Christopher and governess Nora much better. (Nora was definitely my favorite character, though Christopher came close). Though I didn’t disli...

Reached Ally Condie Dutton Cassia’s journey began with an error, a momentary glitch in the otherwise perfect façade of the Society. After crossing canyons to break free, she waits, silk and paper smuggled against her skin, ready for the final chapter. The wait is over. One young woman has raged against those who threaten to keep away what matters most—family, love, choice. Her quiet revolution is about to explode into full-scale rebellion. With exquisite prose, the emotionally gripping conclusion to the international–bestselling Matched trilogy returns Cassia, Ky, and Xander to the Society to save the one thing they have been denied for so long, the power to choose. I actually have finished an entire YA series. Please applaud. :)  This book was divided between the three main characters- Cassia, Ky, and Xander’s- point of view, and since Xander was my favorite character, I was glad to see him in more of it. Like all the books in the Matched series, this novel ...

Crossed Ally Condie Dutton In search of a future that may not exist and faced with the decision of who to share it with, Cassia journeys to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky - taken by the Society to his certain death - only to find that he has escaped, leaving a series of clues in his wake. Cassia's quest leads her to question much of what she holds dear, even as she finds glimmers of a different life across the border. But as Cassia nears resolve and certainty about her future with Ky, an invitation for rebellion, an unexpected betrayal, and a surprise visit from Xander - who may hold the key to the uprising and, still, to Cassia's heart - change the game once again. Nothing is as expected on the edge of Society, where crosses and double crosses make the path more twisted than ever I wasn’t sure I would like this book when I saw that it was divided into both Cassia and Ky’s point of view. I’ve read books like that before, but for whatever reason I just wasn...

Into the Free Julie Cantrell David C. Cook Publishers I don't even know where to begin on this book. I mean, we have barely been introduced to the characters before we see Millie's dad beat up her mom, Millie stand by helplessly as she watches a dog give birth to and then kill her own pups, and then, on top of it, her only friend dies. And did I mention that her dad also nearly cuts down her special tree? The latter seems almost silly next to the others, but all together it created a sum of complete depression and heartbreak. Honestly, it was one of those things you look at in disbelief and think, Who would write this? I kept reading to see if it got any better, but when sixteen-year-old Millie started kissing some strange gypsy boy she'd barely met, I decided I'd had enough. I skimmed through the rest of the novel, but it only proved my overall thoughts on this book: it was depressing, filled with a few scattered theological statements I didn't like, ...

As Mount Vesuvius churns in the distance, a runaway slave and a nobleman craving justice join forces. In the coastal town of Pompeii, a new gladiator star is on the rise. But the gladiator hides a deadly secret: she’s actually a runaway Jewish slave named Ariella, who’s disguised herself as a young boy. A savvy fighter, Ariella determines to triumph in the arena, knowing her life would be forfeit should anyone uncover her truth. Cato, a wealthy politician,  resettled in Pompeii after tiring of the corruption in Rome. But he soon learns Pompeii is just as corrupt, and if he doesn’t play the game, his family could pay the price. Determined to bring about justice for the citizens of Pompeii, Cato searches for allies. But what he discovers instead are a confounding group of Christians… and a young female gladiator whose fame is growing daily. I've been wanting to read this book for quite some time, and I've really enjoyed the other books in this series by Tracy L. Higley,...

Matched Ally Condie Dutton Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow. This is actually a book that I had seen before online somewhere, and so since the cover looked familiar when I saw it for the first time at the library, I decided to check it out. I actually found Matched ,...

"The Missing" Series Margaret Peterson Haddix I don’t normally do reviews on an entire series rather than an individual book, but since I’ve read three of The Missing books already, and they are moderately short, I decided to go ahead and do so here. Here's a synopsis I found on Wikipedia. It's not the best write-up ever, but oh well. Thirteen-year-old Jonah has always known that he was adopted, and he has never thought it was a big deal, until he begins receiving strange messages. Jonah, his sister Katherine and his friend Chip realize that Jonah and Chip are important missing children from history who were transported to the twenty first century by baby smuggling time travelers. Unknowingly, they are lured into a cave with all but one of the other 36 missing children by the baby smugglers themselves. After they have defeated them, another time traveler from the future decides to send Chip and another boy, Alex back to the 1480s, where they are r...

A Wrinkle in Time Madeline L’Engle I was at the library the other day and picked this book up. I’d heard of it, but I didn’t really know what it was about- I just knew it was supposed to be a children’s classic. I certainly had no idea that it was apparently controversial!  I read a special edition of this book, so it had a big long “afterward” that I skimmed through, and  one phrase back there that I read concerned me. It said that some people criticized  the book for being “too Christian” and other people for it not being “Christian enough”. And later it read, “ A Wrinkle in Time was condemned by the same people who would later condemn the Harry Potter books.” Me: “What- what?” Since we were the people who didn’t like the Harry Potter books due to the witchcraft, I was wondering, what on earth was in A Wrinkle in Time ? It doesn’t have magic, does it? I read this phrase when I was about halfway through the novel itself, and I certainly hadn’t read an...