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Showing posts from April, 2016

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

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The Raven Cycle book one Blue Sargent comes from a family of psychics, and every single one of them has told her that true love's kiss will kill her true love.  She doesn't let this news affect her life (as far as readers can tell), and she has her rules, anyway.  "One, stay away from boys, because they were trouble.  And two, stay away from Aglionby boys, because they were bastards. ( Raven Boys , p. 10)"  Aglionby boys are the students of the all-boys school Aglionby Academy; due to the raven emblem of the school, Blue refers to the as Raven Boys.  And that's that. Image from weheartit.com Except for the first time ever, Blue saw someone on the corpse road, and since she doesn't possess the psychic ability that runs through her family, only the ability to "amplify" readings, that can mean only one of two things: that person is her true love, or she's the one who killed him.  In Blue's case, chances are it's both. One day she m

Welcome to: The USA

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Recently, I came across this on Pinterest:     I've always thought books are the best way to travel - they can transport to anywhere in any world.  Since forever, one item on my bucket list is to visit all 50 states; this is the next best thing!  I think for the most part, the book that corresponds with the state is because that book is based there, such as with Shiver or The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater, which are set in Minnesota and Virginia respectively.  Other books, like Divergent by Veronica Roth, I believe are listed based on where the author lives (a quick Google search revealed Veronica Roth lives in Chicago).     So far, I've read through Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, and Virginia.  (I also saw the movie version of the Kansas book - does that count?)  Someday, I'll have read through the whole country!      A lot (possibly all) of these books are fiction, and so not entirely educational, but I'm sure they capture at least part of the

Welcome to: Ireland

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(We're finally branching off from Rick Riordan books!) The Tapestry series by Henry H. Neff revolves around the Irish story of Cuchulain (or Cuchulainn, or CĂș Chulainn; there are several different spellings available) who is known as the Champion of Ireland.  In the series, Cuchulain has been reborn (in a sense) as Max McDaniels, a young boy with special abilities.  He is scouted by someone from the magical school of Rowan Academy, where other students with Old Magic in them - though most do not have the sam level of power as Max - go to learn about their abilities.  (It's sort of Hogwarts, but more serious and mystical.)  When a great evil rises and threatens Max, his roommate David, and all of Rowan, Max and his friends must step up and use their abilities to defend themselves and the people they love. Book One Not only are these books really cool, they include some interesting mythological tidbits, mostly from Ireland but also from a few other countries/cultures as w

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

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Scarlet is the second book in the Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer.  One great characteristic about this book (and the next one, and the next) is that it picks up right where Cinder left off, but from a different character's perspective.  Enter Scarlet Benoit. Scarlet lives with her grandmother on their farm - or she did until her grandmother disappeared a few days ago.  As she goes on with her deliveries and asking around about her grandmother, she comes across a street fighter by the name of Wolf (not a coincidence), who offers to come help her with the farm.  She turns him down, but they cross paths more than once and eventually they join forces to find Scarlet's grandmother. In the meantime, Scarlet's story crisscrosses with chapters from Cinder's perspective, as she deals with recent changes in her life and builds up her plan and determination to do what it best for New Beijing (and Prince Kai).  With each chapter, the two girls get closer and clos