A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

Square Fish

This is the first book I finished for the mini-challenge #2 of the Newbery Challenge, but the second one I am reviewing for the challenge. I have read it before, but I reread it for the teen book club. I think it is one of those books you should read when you are a teen, when you are an adult, and possibly again when you are old. I looked at the book completely different when I was a teen. I identified with Meg's almost loathing of herself, her looks, her temper, even her doubt of being intelligent and didn't we all want a Calvin at that age. The deeper thoughts of the book escaped me for the most part at that age. Now I look at it and try to analyze the religion and science of the book.

Meg Murry feels she is an outcast. She believes she is stupid, ugly, and just can't fit in. Her only comforts, now that her father is missing, are her mother and young brother Charles Wallace. Charles seems in tune with her thoughts and feelings and is a great comfort although he is only five years old. The whole town seems to make fun of Meg and Charles and thinks her mother is pretty pitiful, since she will not admit her husband left her. Meg's twin brothers seem to be the only ones who fit in. Meg and her family know her father did not leave them of his own choice and they are proven right by the events of a dark and stormy night. Mrs. Whatsit appears and tells them that a tesseract is a real thing. Meg doesn't understand this until the next day, when she, Charles, and Calvin, a boy in her high school are drawn to the same place. The three meet Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which who transport them to different worlds by tesseract in order to save a world from evil and to rescue their father. In order to survive the three will have to face their fears and their faults and embrace the things that make them different.

This is one of those award winners that is timeless and is embraced by every generation. Those who read it when it first came out recommend it to their children and grandchildren and despite a few outdated comments and items, the themes of waiting to belong and of feeling like an outcast, resonate with all readers. Each time I read it, I feel like I find more things to love about it and each time is like reading it for the first time. I am excited about the making of a new movie for this book! If I can ever get caught up with my reading, I plan to read more of the series. I have finished A Wind in the Door, but that is as far as I have read. Definitely a 5 cups of cocoa book!

Thistle and Thyme by Sorche Nic Leodhas

This is one of my three books for the second mini-challenge of the Newbery Challenge. This is a collection of tales and legends from Scotland that was a Newbery Honor book in 1963.

The stories are all relatively happy ending stories, which is a nice change from most myth collections. The stories in this collection revolve mainly around marriages although a couple are about tricking the fair folk or demons. In the introduction the author talks about how the stories started as word of mouth in Scotland and were passed down by different clans, by monks, and by traveling storytellers. She also mentions that some were written for special events like weddings and one was part of the author's own heritage, it was one her grandfather told her.

I loved all of the stories and raptly read each one. Most had a bit of humor to them. In one story, the one the author's grandfather told her, a man and his bride trick a water kelpie who had cursed the lady. At first the lady could not speak a word because of the kelpie, then when she tried to undo the curse, she could not stop talking. Since water kelpies have to repeat what people say, the lady sat for an entire day by the water kelpie's home, until finally the water kelpie was too tired to keep up and the lady returned to normal.
 I also liked another story that was kind of a twist on the Little Mermaid. In this one, the lady was a seal and a prince fell in love with her. The prince married her and she could stay with him as long as he wasn't cross with her. If the prince became angry with her, she had to leave everything in her new life behind. He became frustrated with her, because she was always busy with her son, and said some not very harsh words, but harsh enough, and she had to leave her family. Things sort of turn out okay for the couple in the end, but it had a bit of a bitter twist to the happy ending.
The first story was also good and was about a laird's lass who fell in love with the gobha's son. A laird is a lord and a gobha is a blacksmith and it involved some trickery on the part of both the lass and the lad to end with a happy ending.

Even though this is an older Newbery, it was very good, although it would appeal more to adults and teens who like a more classic tale than children. It is interesting to look at the older Newbery's and see that the audience in today's time would not necessarily be the same as when the books were published. The next book I will review for this challenge, A Wrinkle in Time, is one of the few exceptions.
Overall I enjoyed this greatly and it is a 5 cups of cocoa book for me!

Beat the Heat Week 1 Updates

Week 1 Updates
Day 1:
Currently reading: The Son of Neptune
Pages read: 43 pages

Day 2:
Currently reading: The Son of Neptune
Pages read: 44 pages

Day 3:
Currently reading: The Son of Neptune
Pages read: 21 pages

Day 4:
Currently reading: The Son of Neptune
Pages read: 72 pages

Day 5:
Currently reading: The Son of Neptune
Pages read: 49 pages

Day 6:
Currently reading: The Son of Neptune
Pages read: 26 pages

Day 7:
Currently reading: Finished The Staff of Serapis, The Son of Neptune, Men of Athens
Pages read:60 pages- The Staff of Serapis, 11 pages- The Son of Neptune, 22 pages- Men of Athens
Mini-challenge: Unscramble challenge @ Book Haven

Short and Sweet Read-a-thon

Logo by Limabean Designs

This is another COYER mini read-a-thon that runs from August 15 to August 17. The focus of this one is novellas. I plan on reading Shadows by Jennifer Armentrout and The Staff of Serapis by Rick Riordan.

Finished The Staff of Serapis by Rick Riordan. I hope this means he is going to write a combined Greek and Egyptian series!

Beat the Heat Readathon Goals and Reading List

Beat the Heat is hosted by Jessi at Novel Heartbeat and Reanna at Phantasmic Reads you can signup at this link. The Beat the Heat Readathon runs from August 11th to September 1st. There will be mini-challenges throughout the Readathon for participants, along with a grand prize giveaway at the end. You pick how much you want to read and what you want to read and set your own goals. I would like to finish at least 2 books and around 500 pages.

My reading list:
Cinder by Marissa Meyer (now that I am halfway through, surely I can finish it with this readathon!)
Men of Athens by Olivia Coolidge (last book I need for Mini-challenge #2 of the Newbery Challenge)
Escape from Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein
Dearest by Althea Kontis

Rereads:
The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan
The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan

Novellas (for COYER challenge)
Shadows by Jennifer Armentrout
The Staff of Serapis by Rick Riordan

Sleeping Beauty by Jenni James

This is the second novella in the Faerie Tale collection by her. Each novella can be read individually and the order does not matter.

StoneHouse Ink

Prince Darien wants to find a true love like his friend King Michael has found with his wife. Queen Aleyna lives in a sleep induced world in which she does not know about the horrors in her past and the horror that awaits her future. Ezralon the unicorn keeps her in this state until she can face Villeria, the witch who killed Aleyna's family and placed a curse on her. Darien and Aleyna are destined  to meet, when his friends challenge his honor by saying he is scared of the ghostly queen. When Darien learns the truth about Aleyna, he will stop at nothing to defend her and bring her back to the world.

This was a very dark novella. Villeria is a truly vicious villain who uses torture as one of her most effective tactics. The bloody violence she inflicted on Aleyna's family and people is very macabre and gives this a darker feel than Beauty and the Beast by her. I think this makes Sleeping Beauty a unique retelling and gives it a sort of horror story type feel. I have mixed feelings on Aleyna as a character. In the end she is pretty strong, but she is treated throughout the book as fragile and incapable of anything. She was a bit too much damsel in distress.

Favorite Character: Ezralon, because I love unicorns. He was also very brave, although he, like all the male characters, underestimated Aleyna.

Favorite Quote: "Perfection may be good on the outside, but if there are no trials-if we do not face our destroyers and challenge our right to truly live-then what is the point of living if we do not gain anything, if everything is frozen, if we do not find out what we are capable of achieving?"

I like James' retellings and will probably read more of them at a later date. These were the only two available on Overdrive, but I liked them enough to purchase the rest. 3 cups of cocoa.

The Snow Bride by Debbie Macomber

I read this book for the Christmas in July readathon as part of the COYER Summer Vacation challenge. I read and liked both of Macomber's Mrs. Miracle books, so I decided to try another of her Christmas books.

Mira

Jenna Campbell is a practical sort of person, so when she decides she is going to meet the man of her dreams in Alaska, a man she met on the Internet, her mother, friends, and boss are all concerned. Jenna has been in love with her boss for years, but he only sees her as a good assistant. Her mother has just divorced her 5th husband and Jenna is a little tired of taking care of her. Dalton Gray seems like the perfect escape and also potential husband material, since he quotes poetry and thought she was pretty based on an actual picture of her. At this point, Jenna is thirty and desperate and boards a plane to Fairbanks. On the plane, she meets Reid, who seems like a total jerk. He doesn't realize who Jenna is meeting in Alaska, until the guy doesn't show up. Jenna needs a ride to a smaller town in Alaska and Reid has his own plane, so he ends up flying Jenna toward her destination, until she tells him who she is meeting. He knows Dalton is no good and basically kidnaps Jenna and takes her to his town of Snowbound. He wants her to stay with his sister who knows just how bad Dalton is. However, his sister is out of town and there is no where else for Jenna to stay in this one woman town. With the charming locals and melting Reid's cold exterior, Jenna may find what she is really looking for.

My first thoughts were this reads exactly like a Hallmark movie. I looked it up and couldn't find a movie link for it, but it would make for a perfectly cheesy Hallmark movie. I actually secretly like those movies, but don't tell anyone. ;) Parts of the story were a little out there, like Jenna was a little too comfortable with Reid kidnapping her and the storyline with her mom was a bit out there. I did like that Jenna refuses to just dismiss Dalton based on other peoples opinions of him. She realizes they are probably right, but she wants to make up her own mind.

This was a perfect quick fluff read and perfect for Christmas in July. I am really excited about Mr. Miracle, both book and movie, coming out in October. 3.5 cups of cocoa!