Leap Into Books Hop

Today I come to you with a gift card giveaway.
$10 to Amazon. :)
To enter you just need to do two things. Leave a comment below with your favorite bedtime story book and follow the blog. You can do that one of three ways: Google Friend Connect, email (both located on the right) or through the Facebook page. (Link on the left)

Your comment should look something like this.  

My favorite bedtime story is Horton Hears A Who.

GFC:Trellyn
Email:misstrellyn (please do not put your whole email addy. just up to the @ symbol)
FB: Trellyn K. (Just your last initial)

This contest will run till 1159 PM a March 7th.

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Review: Darker Still by Leanna Renee Hieber

 

Well, lets see how this goes.  I have never written a book review before, not counting those awful dreaded ones yo write in high school.  YUK!
     Darker Still: A Magic Most Foul is a wonderful book to me.  I love the mix of magic and the way people carried themselves in the 1800's.  I wouldn't call this steam-punk as it didn't have that feel to me.  It's more Victorian with magic.
     The magic in this book is very reminiscent of the story of Dorian Gray.  Such a fantastic idea by the amazing Oscar Wilde.   A gentleman's portrait that catches his youth so he may live forever, less he were to ever gaze upon it.  I also see some Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
     The book is written in a diary format.  While this isn't my favorite way to read a book, I do appreciate that I know that it is always written in the 1st person.  The writer of the diary is Natalie Stewart, an almost 18 year old who, after a tragic event as a youth, is mute.  Her father is a curator at the museum that wins the bid to house the painting of Lord Denbury.  Mrs. Northe, a lady who is intrigued by the painting and helps the museum get the painting, becomes Natalie's mentor.  Together they figure out the magic of the painting and how to "solve" it.
     The premise behind the painting is that the young Lord Denbury was tricked by evil and his portrait was painted thus catching his soul within, while the evil took possession of his body. Can you see how I get the Dorian Gray/Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde?   I'm not the only one who thinks this, it's written everywhere.
     When it comes to romance, it's muh.  It's not really there.  Yes, it's written but I never felt the tension.  It was also inevitable that our young Natalie would fall for the Lord.  That's just the way YA goes.  I just wish it could have been UNpredictable.
     So, my conclusion:
     Would I recommend this? Absolutely
     Would I read it again? No, but that's just because I don't read books more then once.
     How do I rate this? 4 stars
     Am I going to continue the series? You betcha!
    

Waiting on Wednesday: Cress (The Lunar Chronicles Series) by Marissa Meyer

     There is just something about a well put together cover.  And this one has it.  The colors, the font, the contrast; you could say that it's got me on it's hook.  But then again, the other two books in this series are beautiful as well.

Cress
The Lunar Chronicles Series, #3
Release date: February 4, 2014

Pre-Order information
Barnes & Noble   $16.35
Amazon               $16.04

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.

Their best hope lies with Cress, a girl trapped on a satellite since childhood who’s only ever had her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker. Unfortunately, she’s being forced to work for Queen Levana, and she’s just received orders to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.

When a daring rescue of Cress goes awry, the group is splintered. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a higher price than she’d ever expected. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai, especially the cyborg mechanic. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has.

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.

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.