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Statistics |
| Unique Visitors: 29 |
| Total Unique Visitors: 999662 |
| Visitors Out: 5830 |
| Total Visitors Out: 19959 |
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| Review: The Armor of Light |
| 2011-09-13 21:02:29 |
Title: The Armor of Light
Author: Karen E. Hoover
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Pub Date: September 2011
Ebook, Smashwords
Book Source: Received from the author (and have also purchased a hardcover copy)
Synopsis
Ember has been accepted into the mage academy, but not without cost. She
has gained a new enemy, ancient and dark, whose entire purpose is to
destroy all white magic and her along with it. After nearly losing her
life in a brutal attack, DeMunth is assigned her guardian, and the
keystone he wears, The Armor of Light, begins the transition that will
make it a true power. Kayla has lost most everything of
importance to her—the people, the prestige, and all she fought for the
past ten years. With nothing left to lose, she continues her search for
the birthplace of The Sapphire Flute and the Wolfchild she believes to
be its player. Her journey will take her to strange, foreign, and often
dangerous places, and everything she had thought to be true will be
proven wron...
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| I'm On A Blog Break... Indefinitely |
| 2011-01-02 20:40:39 |
All right, folks, it's official... I am on a book-blogging break. I still enjoy getting to read books when I have the time, but frankly, I just don't have it in me to write and post reviews these days, as there is just too much else going on in life! Sometimes it's a miracle I can read a book, much less put my thoughts about it in writing! :-)
I don't know how long this blogging break will be -- it could be permanent -- but I appreciate everyone's support of Melissa's Bookshelf since I started it in early 2009 and hope you'll continue to peruse my older posts and reviews.
I wish the best for all of you and hope that 2011 is a wonderful year for you! Happy Reading!!!
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| Where's Melissa?! |
| 2010-11-26 08:54:34 |
Wow, it has been awhile, hasn't it? I'm truly sorry about that, but admittedly other areas of my life are so full and busy right now that there just hasn't been the time (or even the passion) for book blogging. I've still been reading here and there, but really haven't had the urge to write any reviews (of course, a few of my more recent reads have actually been RE-reads).
So, no, I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth. Far from it! In fact, I'm pretty excited to be able to make an announcement that I've been sitting on for awhile now... My husband and I are expecting our first baby next May! Just when I thought I was busy, our life is about to get even crazier, but we can't wait! I am out of the first trimester and just beginning the second. I just found out that we may even be able to find out what we'll be having at my 17-week appointment just three days before Christmas, I can't wait!
Hopefully now it's a bit more understandable why I just ...
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| Review: Victory |
| 2010-10-29 13:12:20 |
Title: Victory
Author: Susan Cooper
Genre: Fiction, Young Adult/MG
Pub Date: December 2007, Simon & Schuster Children's
Paperback, 224 pages
Book Source: Purchased from Amazon.com
Synopsis
LIVING CENTURIES APART, BUT JOINED IN AN EPIC BATTLE.
Sam Robbins is a farm boy, kidnapped to serve on HMS Victory, the ship on which Lord Nelson will die a hero's death at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Molly Jennings is a twenty-first-century English girl transplanted to the United States by her stepfather's job, who's fighting her own battle against loss and loneliness.
Two lives that couldn't be more different, two hundred years apart, are linked by a tiny scrap of fraying cloth, tucked into an old book. It draws Molly into Sam's world, to a moment in time that changed history — a frightening shared moment that holds the key to secrets from the past and hope for the future.
My Thoughts
A light and easy read, Victory is a book I know I would have enjoyed had I read it at the...
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| Mystery Mondays: Review: Pushing Up Daisies |
| 2010-10-04 19:07:32 |
Title: Pushing Up Daisies
Author: Rosemary Harris
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Pub Date: February 2008, St. Martin's Press
Hardcover,
Book Source: Received my copy from the author for review
Synopsis
Thirtyish former television exec Paula Holliday relocates from New York City to sleepy Springfield, CT, determined to turn her passion for gardening into a new, less stressful career.
When an eccentric spinster dies, her landmark property is left to the local Historical Society, and Paula sees the garden’s restoration as a way to get her fledgling business off the ground. She’s prepared for everything, but not for the mummified baby she digs up her first day on the job. After a cursory investigation, the local police decide it’s an old secret, not a recent crime, so they drop the matter, but . . . Paula’s not so sure.
Casual snooping turns serious when someone is impaled on a garden tool and one of Paula’s helpers is arrested for the crime. Aided by the stil...
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| Review: Guardian of the Gate |
| 2010-09-25 17:04:46 |
Title: Guardian of the Gate
Author: Michelle Zink
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal
Pub Date: August 2010, Little Brown
Hardcover, 340 pages
Book source: Purchased at B&N @ Ga Tech
Synopsis
As sixteen-year-old LIa Milthorpe searches for a way to end the prophecy that has divided her family for generations, her twin sister, Alice, works to hone the skills she'll need to defeat Lia. Alice will stop at nothing to reclaim her sister's role in the prophecy, and that's not the only thing she wants. There's also Lia's beloved, James.
The sisters always knew that the prophecy would turn those closest to them against them. But they didn't know what betrayal could lead them to do.
In the end, only one sister will be standing.
My Thoughts
There's definitely no sophomore slump for Michelle Zink with Guardian of the Gate! While I had a difficult time getting drawn into Prophecy of the Sisters (but ultimately enjoyed it), I was immediately hooked on this story. Perhaps that was because I was...
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| Review: Clockwork Angel |
| 2010-09-19 10:00:38 |
Title: Clockwork Angel
Author: Cassandra Clare
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal
Pub Date: August 2010, McElderry Books
Hardcover, 478 pages
Book Source: Purchased from Amazon.com
Synopsis
Magic is dangerous—but love is more dangerous still.
When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London's Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos.
Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, members of a secret organization called The Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What’s more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the Club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa's power for his ow...
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| Review: A Scattered Life |
| 2010-09-12 09:28:14 |
Title: A Scattered Life
Author: Karen McQuestion
Genre: Fiction
Pub Date: August 2010, AmazonEncore
ARC Paperback, 255 pages
Book Source: Received my copy from the author for review.
Synopsis
Free spirit Skyla Plinka has found the love and stability she always wanted in her reliable husband Thomas. Settling into her new family and roles as wife and mother, life in rural Wisconsin is satisfying, but can't seem to quell Skyla's growing sense of restlessness. Her only reprieve is her growing friendship with neighbor Roxanne, who has five kids (and counting) and a life in constant disarray--but also a life filled with laughter and love.
Much to the dismay of her intrusive mother-in-law, Audrey, Skyla takes a part-time job at the local bookstore and slowly begins to rediscover her voice, independence, and confidence. Throughout one pivotal year in the life of three very different women, each will learn what it means to love unconditionally.
My Thoughts
While not my typical reading far...
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| WINNER: The Life O'Reilly |
| 2010-09-06 15:43:00 |
It's that time! Time to announce the winner of a signed copy of The Life O'Reilly by Brian Cohen! Many thanks to all of you who entered the contest. In the end, there could only be one winner and I let Random.org choose the lucky reader. Congratulations are in order for...
Sharon54220!!!!
Please join me in congratulating Sharon on her win! I will be sending out an email and if I don't hear back from her within 48 hours, I will choose a new winner.
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| Review: Mockingjay |
| 2010-09-06 11:31:50 |
Title: Mockingjay
Author: Suzanne Collins
Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian fiction
Pub Date: August 2010, Scholastic, Inc.
Hardcover, pages
Book Source: Purchased from Amazon.com
Synopsis
Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she's made it out of the bloody arena alive, she's still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what's worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss's family, not her friends, not the people of District 12. Powerful and haunting, this thrilling final installment of Suzanne Collins's groundbreaking The Hunger Games trilogy promises to be one of the most talked about books of the year. -- Scholastic
My Thoughts
It is so hard to believe that we have finally come to the conclusion of the Hunger Games trilogy. I can remember putting off my reading of the first book simply because I didn't know if it c...
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