Review: The Armor of Light

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 wrong.

In a showdown full of betrayal and heroic loss, Ember and Kayla finally meet on the battlefield, fighting a war on two fronts—against C'Tan and her people, and the mysterious enemy bent on destroying all magic—the shadow weavers.

My Thoughts

Yes, my friends, I am back with my first review after a l-o-n-g hiatus!  When Karen Hoover contacted me and asked me to review her second book in the Wolfchild Saga I simply couldn't say no (even though I'll be the first to admit I am not likely to be reviewing regularly just yet).  I had been really, REALLY looking forward to continuing this series ever since reading The Sapphire Flute.  In fact, some of you might recall just how much I loved that book.  I made some pretty bold assertions, likening Hoover to some timeless, favorite authors -- Madeleine L'Engle, Lloyd Alexander... I stand behind those comments 100%.

So often it seems that second books in series don't quite live up to the debuts.  Thankfully, this is not remotely the case with The Armor of Light.  This book is every bit as good as The Sapphire Flute, and in fact is quite possibly even better!  To put it simply, these stories are those that I have always dreamed of being able to write.  Not only that, I sincerely wish these books had been around when I was a young reader, just so I could have that much more time to re-read them over the years.  I can't wait for my own daughter to read these books down the road and enjoy them as much as I have.

Hoover has made fantasy and adventure new again for me.  I am completely captivated by the quest of the Chosen Ones (of whom we've only met a few) to unite the magical keystones and save their world.  There is a wide array of characters on both the side of good and that of evil who are wonderfully developed.  Relationships between many of the characters are molded, deepened, and in some heartbreaking cases, torn apart.  With this second book the pieces of the puzzle really begin to come together, as we follow Ember's and Kayla's separate adventures that are destined to join as one.  I truly cannot wait to see what Hoover's next book in the series brings to the story as we discover the next keystone and Chosen One.

I urge you to give Hoover's Wolfchild Saga a try if you enjoy adventure and fantasy.  The story is so engaging that I believe you'll find yourself totally immersed in the world that Hoover has created.  As I read her books, I had a vivid picture of the scenes taking place and the story still sits with me long after finishing The Armor of Light.

My Rating:

I'm On A Blog Break... Indefinitely

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!!!

Where's Melissa?!

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 haven't been around that much.  Unfortunately, I can't promise that is going to change.  While I am not precisely declaring a formal blogging break, don't be surprised if you only hear from me very sporadically for awhile.  I'm just not ready to give this up quite yet!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday.  I know we are thankful for so much right now, so it was a very special holiday for us!  Enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend!

Review: Victory

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 age Cooper intended the book for.  The story is told in alternating points of view, going back and forth between Sam Robbins and Molly Jennings, which tends to keep things moving pretty quickly.

While there are obvious connections between these two characters, the more you read, the more you want to know just why their lives would be connected.  In the end, while I suspected what was coming, no matter how improbable it may have been, I really enjoyed how Cooper laid everything out and revealed all of the pieces of the puzzle.  It was also interesting to have a glimpse of the history of Lord Nelson, even though it came in a fictionalized setting.

I think readers young and old could appreciate this story not only for its plot and setting, but also for the cast of characters.  If you are looking for an adventure that won't bog you down but will keep you entertained, I definitely recommend Victory.

My Rating:

If you have reviewed this book and would like to see a link to your site listed here, please leave a comment with the link to your review!

Mystery Mondays: Review: Pushing Up Daisies

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 still-hot aging rocker who owns the local greasy spoon, a Shakespeare-quoting massage therapist, and a handsome Mexican laborer with a few secrets of his own, Paula unearths more dirt the suburban town has kept buried.

Rounding out the cast, and among the suspects, a randy Congressman and his gin-swigging mother, an amoral newspaper reporter, an octogenarian ladies’ man, childhood sweethearts reunited after 50 years, and a tattooed lady you wouldn’t want to mess with.

My Thoughts

Have you been looking for a fun, cozy mystery to read?  Then I would urge you to try out Rosemary Harris' Dirty Business mystery series!  Quirky and entertaining, Pushing Up Daisies is a very worthy debut in the world of cozy mysteries.

While the overall story and mystery might have benefited from a bit more fleshing out, this book remains a winner.  With a wide array of characters, most of whom are quite likeable, you can't help but expect some interesting events to occur, and Harris certainly takes us for a winding ride on the way to solving the puzzle.  In the end, since everyone in town seems to have a secret to hide, there's more than one mystery that needs to be solved, which adds a bit of spice to the story.

Yes, there's also a bit of potential romance in the air with this book--two eligible bachelors are introduced, in fact.  So now, not only do I look forward to trying out another of Harris' mysteries, I am anxious to see who Paula Holliday ends up falling for.  Again, many thanks to Rosemary Harris for sending me Pushing Up Daisies for review!

My Rating:

Other reviews of Pushing Up Daisies:

Lesa's Book Critiques ~ Kylee's Journal ~ S. Krishna's Books

If you have reviewed this book and would like to see your site listed above, please leave a comment with the link to your review!