The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong

This was my Random Read for March. It is the first in the Darkness Rising series.
Maya and her friend Daniel lost Serena, Maya's best friend and Daniel's girlfriend, in a freak drowning incident. Maya knows Serena was a great swimmer and is shocked when she drowns right before her own eyes. A year passes, but Maya can't forget her best friend and when her sixteenth birthday rolls around Maya goes to get the tattoo that she vowed with Serena to get. It will be a paw-print to accent a birthmark. At the tattoo place, an old woman calls her a skin-walker and says she is a witch in Navajo culture. Maya knew she was Native American and that her adoption by a white parent and only a half Native American is rare, but now she is afraid she knows the reason. Combined with the hopefully false ramblings of the old woman, the new "bad boy" Rafe seems to be attracted to Maya. He shows her a vulnerable side and she hopes he is really attracted to her. However, his motives are not only attraction and Maya will learn the hard way the secret of her adoption, what caused her friend's death, and what she really is.

I really liked the Darkest Powers series and this one seems to have some ties to that series as well and I can't wait to see the connections. I like Kelley Armstrong's writing style and she captures the teenage voice well. This one was a little slower to start than her other series, but the cliffhanger ending made me go and get the second book at the library today. I am glad this was my Random Read, because I would have put off reading this series for awhile.

Favorite Character: Maya. She is a great strong female lead. She can be a little stubborn and finds it hard to forgive at times, but she is loyal and tough. I can't wait to see how she matures as the series progresses.

Favorite Quote: "Building super wrestlers and singers who can take over the WWE and American Idol. The first steps to world domination. I think that'd be Canadian Wrestling Entertainment and Canadian Idol. Okay, the first, very, very small step toward world domination." I like the humor Armstrong puts into her books.

I can't wait to read the second book and am excited the third book just came out. 4 cups of cocoa!

Reading Stack #29

With the Fairy Tale Read-a-Thon over, I have to decide what I will be reading this week. I do want to finish up the books I started, but I have so many other books I want to read too. I am going to read on The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong, because I want to finish my Random Read for this month. I also want to read a Fey book for the Paranormal Reading Challenge, so Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa will be on my list too. I know that on Tuesday, the Clockwork Princess will take over, so I don't want to have too much on my stack. I will stick with those three for now and see what happens. :)

The Crimson Thread by Suzanne Weyn

I read The Crimson Thread for my two fairy tale challenges and for the Fairy Tale Read-a-thon. I love the Once Upon a Time series and have read about half of the books in the series. I always thought Rumpelstiltskin was a creepy fairy tale and that the princess should really be mad at her father who gets her into all the trouble. Weyn's twist changed my mind a little on both accounts.

Weyn set her story in the late 1800s and her heroine is an Irish immigrant. The 1840's were a particularly bad time in Ireland and were the years of the Great Potato Famine. The year 1845 saw the failure of the potato crop, the main food source for Ireland and one of the main exports. The people starved and the population of Ireland never completely recovered. As I wrote in other posts, this was when my Irish relatives decided to move to the United States settling in Indiana and then Kentucky.

In our story, Bridget's family came over in the 1880s years after the Potato Famine, but Ireland had not yet recovered from it. Bridget O'Malley is the oldest girl and has taken over protecting and guiding her family after the death of her mother. Their father moves the family to America and they settle in New York. The family is very poor and has to live in the Five Corners, basically slums for new immigrants. Bridget's brothers and father find work at a box factory and she works as a seamstress. Her youngest brother takes care of their three year old sister, Eileen, while the others work. At the beginning of our story, a faerie queen tells us of the royal blood Bridget and Eileen have and how that will impact their story. Bridget longs for a better life and meets a young man Ray Stalls who may be able to help her on her way. After she and her siblings and father are fired, her dad changes his name and those of most of her siblings to try to be more American and less Irish. The Irish were looked down upon by other ethnic groups and American citizens, because of the English disdain and cruel treatment of the Irish throughout history. Bridget becomes Bertie and is employed as a seamstress's assistant for the Wellington family. There she falls for the young master, who flirts with her. When he makes a serious error in his father's clothing business, her father brags that Bertie can save the day by making new dresses in two days time. If Bertie succeeds she will become a part of the Wellington factory managers and possibly the family itself by her marriage to James Wellington. She is not a very good designer, but Ray is and he will help her for a price. What price is too high for James and can true love prevail?

I loved the time period of this retelling and Weyn does a fantastic job of keeping with the traditional story and then turning it completely around. I love the theme of people being more than what they appear to be, which is the true essence of fairy tales.

Favorite Character: Ray. He was loyal, intense, and caring. I won't say anymore, because I do not want to give away the story.

Favorite Quote: "She understood him now, saw him at last as he truly was: a true prince of the spirit."

This is one of my favorite retellings in this series, mainly because of the time period, but also because of the twist at the end. 5 cups of cocoa!!

Fairy Tale Read-a-thon Update: Day 8 and Wrap-up

I only read 6% of Rapunzel Untangled yesterday. We watched our niece last night, so that her mom and dad could go out on a dinner date. It was alot of fun, but I was too tired to read much after that.

For the read-a-thon as a whole I finished one book completely and am about halfway through two other books, which is not bad for me. I read 268 pages and 44% or roughly 133 pages, so 401 pages in all. I completed three mini-challenges and made a few comments on blogs. I really enjoyed this read-a-thon and this was my first time participating in a themed read-a-thon. I would love to do this one again! Thanks to Debz for hosting!

Fairy Tale Read-a-Thon Day 6 and Day 7

Well I only read 6 pages in Beauty Sleep on Thursday. I was so exhausted from work and only read a little during a morning break.

I did much better last night. I read 26% of Rapunzel Untangled. I love the modern twists on the story. I am glad I read the author's introduction/foreward, where she explains that the fairy tale of Rapunzel does not exist in Rapunzel and Fane's world, otherwise I would be wondering why she did not just google her name.

Genie Wishes by Jessie's Book Place

The mini-challenge at Jessie's Book Place is what three wishes would you ask for if you had three wishes. I am going to keep my reading related.
1. I would wish for a lifetime supply of chocolate that tastes good and good for you, so that I could always have chocolate when reading.
2. I would wish for a big comfy chair to read my books.
3. I would wish for at least an hour of reading time each day, so I could actually finish books.

What a fun idea!

Fairy Tale Book Spine Poetry

This mini-challenge is hosted by Read Your Bookcase. You can use up to seven books and they must be fairy tales or retellings.

Here is my fairy-tale spine poetry:
Scarlet
Cinder
The Crimson Thread
Towering
Ash
Golden
Beauty

Scarlet and Cinder are both by Marissa Meyer.
The Crimson Thread is by Suzanne Weyn.
Towering is by Alex Flinn.
Ash is by Malinda Lo.
Golden is by Cameron Dokey.
Beauty is by Robin McKinley.