August Wrap Up

This month flew by so quickly. It was also a very easy reading month. I didn't feel like a failure if I didn't read and I didn't push myself. I read when I wanted to and if I had some free time that was devoted to the girls, the house, work or Cayce. Some of the books on this post, I read with the girls and I had these on my TBR. That's one of the best ways to fit in reading as a parent. 

1. Forever in Blue by Ann Brashares

2. A Mango Shaped Space by Wendy Mass

3. Flame of Resistance by Tracy Groot

4. The Crescent Stone by Matt Mikalatos

5. The Isle of the Lost by Melissa de la Cruz

6. City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

7. Hidden Among The Stars by Melanie Dobson

8. Night by Elie Weisel

Review: Hidden Among The Stars

As you all may know, I am a fan of World War 2 fiction. I constantly learn new things about the war when I google a name or site location or a phrase from this time period. I thought this was a good book. It's not a favorite but it did make my cry at the very end.

This book is told in two time periods. The first is the past in 1938 and then present day. The past chapters are set in Austria and focuses on our 3 main characters Max, Annika, and Luzia. Luzia is our Jewish character and Max is in love with her. Annika is the caretaker's daughter of Max's family's estate and she is in love with Max. Love triangle. BLEH!! The present day is set in Ohio and our main character from this time is Callie. She owns a bookshop with her sister and is obsessed with finding Mr. Right and love and settling down because she's 30.

Also, this book is very Christian heavy and I did skip some parts while reading because the author took passages from kids books that were mentioned in the story and analyzed them and it was very boring.

I loved the past chapters and didn't care for the present day chapters. Every time something exciting started to happen in the past chapters, the chapter would end and start a present day chapter. It was very frustrating. I disliked Callie characters because she was basically a woman scorned who didn't make it to the altar because her fiance fell in love with another woman instantly. Every man she sees or family she sees, she gets jealous very quickly and whines about why couldn't that be her, but that she doesn't need love because she has books. then the process starts all over again.

I think the author could have left out all the children's book passages and analyzing and the constant biographies of the Jewish authors. They did nothing for the story. This is the first book that I skimmed through part because the present main character was such a sob.

Thanks to Tyndale House Publishers for sending me a copy of this book to review.

Review: City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

I am slowly but surely getting through the Shadowhunter world. This has to be my favorite one so far that I have read. It made me laugh several times, thanks to Magnus and Jace. I was surprisingly not hating on Simon this time.

This installment is mainly set in the Shadow Hunter city of Idris. We meet some new people and learn some secrets and a major plot line had been resolved.... in a way.

Magnus Bane is still my favorite character in this universe. I can't give much away because of major spoilers, so I am just going to be giving my thoughts for the rest of the books.

I am reading these in publication order, so the next one I am going to be reading is Clockwork Angel, which is book one in the Infernal Devices series. Also, I think it is very easy to tell who is on the cover.... it's Alec or maybe Sebastian??????

OWLCRATE: JULY 2018 & AUGUST 2018

I have decided to do this post whenever I get three Owlcrate boxes. I received two Owlcrate jr. boxes and I bought myself another past box that I had to have. I am loving the Owlcrate jr. boxes because they are so handy and vibrant. 

JULY 2018: True Calling

Samantha really loved this box, more than her first one. This one was very EPIC!!!Her favorite thing has to be the inflatable sword and shield. She still plays with it till this day and I entered her into a contest that Owlcrate is hosting until next week featuring the sword, so hopefully her picture is the winner.

JULY 2018: Strange and Unusual

This is the past box that I bought myself and I am obsessed with it. When I watched an unboxing of it, I saw everything and swooned and had to have all of it immediately. 

OWLCRATE JR: Storyteller's Toolkit

This box was perfect for Ariana. She loves writing and making up her own stories like I did at her age. This box is also perfect for back to school. She got a pencil bag, a cool book eraser, two notebooks and an awesome book that has the coolest book cover I have ever seen and I want it on a t-shirt.

Review: The Crescent Stone by Matt Mikalatos

The cover is gorgeous, which is the reason I picked this book to read and review. I absolutely LOVED it. I loved the humor. It got me within the first few pages with the map. Once I met the characters, you wouldn't have a hard time figuring out who the person was who "wrote" on the map.

This story is about a girl who has a terminal lung disease and a boy who has had a traumatic event happen to him recently. They are both lab partners at their high school. One day, Madeline is at school and she is looked terrible according to Jason. She ends up blacking out and Jason rushing her to the hospital. Time ends up freezing and a mysterious man named Hannali offering Madeline a deal. He will allow her to breathe freely and normally again in exchange for a year of servitude and a place called The Sunlit Lands.

Jason refuses to let her go by herself, so he makes a deal for pudding cups.. chocolate to be exact and not the fake stuff.. (this cracked me up and had me rolling.. so I had to include it.) He makes the deal but he says he will be in servitude to Madeline and not the people who Madeline are in a deal with. This means that he has to obey what she asks of him while in the Sunlit Lands.

This is an epic fantasy about magic, greed, justice and injustice. We learn that when they hone their special skills and it is being taken from someone else, or if you are breathing fine... is that pure magic, or is it making someone else suffer for something they or their family desperately need.

Thanks to Tyndale House Publishing for providing me a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Flame Of Resistance by Tracey Groot

It took me a week to finish this book. Longer than I expected. It is about an American pilot who gets shot down over France and is hidden by a resistance group called Flame. We also meet a French woman turned prostitute in order to survive and her name is Brigitte. She is pulled into the resistance since she owns the German only brothel and is a stone's throw away from a major bridge that everyone wants there hands on.

This book was super slow in the beginning and very repetitive about the torture and death of a woman named Jasmine. Every other page, it was all sad and moody over her death. I had some confusion over the characters. I could not separate them because they didn't have their own voices and the character building for these minor characters were non existent.

About 3/4ths of the way, almost the very end, I got swept up in the instant romance between Cabby and Brigitte. I wanted more for them and the epilogue did not give me what I wanted.

More Polyvore sets #27-29

I know my last post said that those sets were the last one I had, well, I remembered I got all my sets sent to me to download. I don't have any of the links to these items sadly. I hate that Polyvore got sold and we weren't given a warning or time to save links. I also don't have any of my set names which sucks because I had some really good ones. 

First Date inspired

Proposal at Braves Game

Trendy Emo

Review: Forever In Blue by Ann Brashares

*SPOILERS*

I am almost finished with the Summer of the Sisterhood series. I have the 5th book left and I honestly can't wait to read it. I am hoping the characters have better character building and act like adults than ignorant teenagers. I once again knew most of the plots in this book since most of the material was in the second movie, which I still think is completely ridiculous.

There were a lot of problems. Carmen is still self obsessed and I thought she was over that when he little brother is born, but the whole book she is whining about her mom moving to a new house and how she is feeling invisible and why can't she have her true temper because that is everything it seems like.

Lena had a great character building. She let loose and had a fling with another artist and was almost over Kostos and the author just dragged him back in. I was a die hard Kostos and Lena shipper, but there is nothing there.

Bridget's story line was by far my favorite with how she connected with her dad and twin brother. The only thing I had a problem with was her cheating on Eric and it was not addressed. the author just throws them together and they have sex, like that fixed the problem. Young girls read this and they will figure this is ok when in actuality it's NOT.

Tibby was the most annoying. She played hermit and had sex with Brian. The condom broke and immiediately she starts thinking she is pregnant and looking every five minutes at her underwear for blood, and then she keeps telling herself that if she doesn't get it on the day she is supposed to, she will take a pregnancy test. This is not good mental health representation at all.

August TBR

How is it already August. It feels like we just ended our school year yesterday. I AM NOT READY FOR THE NEW SCHOOL YEAR. I am still getting all my records in order and trying to get stuff done for this year. Can time just slow down. It has been raining non stop for the past two- three weeks and we haven't been able to get in the pool since the beginning of July and we are getting grumpy. I have a stack of books I want to read this month or try to finish before August 20th, which is very ambitious. the first two books have been on my TBR for the last two months and I am making them a priority this month. I hate having repeat books on monthly TBR's.