Cover Attraction - July 8

This is a weekly event hosted by Marcia of The Printed Page every Wednesday.

Marcia says:

I love beautiful, and interesting, cover art so every Wednesday I post my 'Cover Attraction' for the week along with a synopsis of the book. Everyone is welcome to stop by and, if they'd like, post a link to their favorite weekly book cover.

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My find this week is The White Queen by Philippa Gregory. I am a fan of Philippa Gregory after reading The Other Boleyn Girl and Fallen Skies so it goes without saying that I will get this book once it is released in August!

ISBN-13: 9781416563686
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group
Published: August 2009

Synopsis:

THE COUSINS' WAR

Book One

Philippa Gregory, "the queen of royal fiction," (USA Today) presents the first of a new series set amid the deadly feuds of England known as the Wars of the Roses.

BROTHER TURNS ON BROTHER to win the ultimate prize, the throne of England, in this dazzling account of the wars of the Plantagenets. They are the claimants and kings who ruled England before the Tudors, and now Philippa Gregory brings them to life through the dramatic and intimate stories of the secret players: the indomitable women, starting with Elizabeth Woodville, the White Queen.

The White Queen tells the story of a woman of extraordinary beauty and ambition who, catching the eye of the newly crowned boy king, marries him in secret and ascends to royalty. While Elizabeth rises to the demands of her exalted position and fights for the success of her family, her two sons become central figures in a mystery that has confounded historians for centuries: the missing princes in the Tower of London whose fate is still unknown. From her uniquely qualified perspective, Philippa Gregory explores this most famous unsolved mystery of English history, informed by impeccable research and framed by her inimitable storytelling skills.

With The White Queen, Philippa Gregory brings the artistry and intellect of a master writer and storyteller to a new era in history and begins what is sure to be another bestselling classic series from this beloved author.

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To find out more or participate, go to The Printed Page every Wednesday.

Happy Blogiversary!

How time flies! Melody's Reading Corner has turned 3 today! Really, where has the time gone?

When I first started this blog, I have no idea what to write except briefly jotting down my thoughts and a summary of the books I read. I took a look at my first post and wanted to cringe at the things I wrote back then; they seemed so simple. And as the time goes by, a few readers posted their comments on my blog and I remember I was so thrilled and excited because I did not expect anyone would want to read my blog, let alone leaving a comment!

As I began to explore around, I realised that there are in fact a lot of booklovers around the world and that a bookblogging community actually existed! So what did I do then? I joined in the fun, of course! I visit more bookblogs, made friends and not to mention adding books to my TBR pile along the way. Before this, I used to read a few certain genres but my reading habits/preference have changed after reading all the great recommendations by fellow bookbloggers! And I love it! Today, I read about anything except genres like sci-fi (unless I have came across a terrific one!), non-fiction, poetry and memoirs.

Anyway, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for reading and leaving your comments on my blog. I really appreciate them all! I want to say I am honoured to know you and I am so happy we are friends, even though if we have not had the chance to meet in person!

Now a little celebration for my blogiversary... you wouldn't think I would end this post simply with my ramblings, would you? For this occasion, I will buy a lucky reader a book of her/his choice. To participate in this draw, simply tell me which is your favourite book so far this year. I will announce the winner on July 10 (Friday). Good luck!

Teaser Tuesdays

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Please avoid spoilers!

Here's my teaser for today:

Lastly, Miss Stanton-Lacy herself descended, thanking the footman for his proffered help, but requesting him instead to hold her poor little Jacko. Her poor little Jacko was seen to be a monkey in a scarlet coat, and no sooner had this magnificent fact dawned on the school-room party than they brushed past their scandalized preceptress, tore open the garden-gate, and tumbled out into the road, shouting:

'A monkey! She has brought a monkey!'

(Pg 40, The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer)

Mid-Year Review

I have seen a lot of fellow bookbloggers posted their mid-year reviews lately and decided to jump on the bandwagon. To be honest, I do not read as many books as compared to last year at this point of time, but then again I would choose quality over quantity any time so I am quite satisfied with my reading so far!

Here is the list of books I read:

* Favourite reads

January
1. Private by Kate Brian
2. Her Real-Life Hero by Trish Wylie
3. Ritual by Mo Hayder *
4. Fallen Skies by Philippa Gregory *
5. Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto *
6. The Orange Girl by Jostein Gaarder

February
7. Gossamer by Lois Lowry
8. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne *
9. South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami
10. No Escape by Shannon K. Butcher
11. Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge
12. 圈套 – 湛清著 (A Chinese romance novel)
13. A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami
14. The Love Letter by Cathleen Schine
15. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett *

March
16. The Piano Teacher by Janice Y.K. Lee
17. Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
18. Evermore by Alyson Noel *
19. The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister *
20. Tangled Lies by Anne Stuart
21. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins *

April
22. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris *
23. Goodbye Tsugumi by Banana Yoshimoto
24. The Lost Hours by Karen White * (Review copy)
25. Blueberry Girl by Neil Gaiman *
26. Godmother : The Secret Cinderella Story by Carolyn Turgeon *
27. Sweethearts by Sara Zarr *
28. Sonata for Miriam by Linda Olsson

May
29. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
30. Death Angel by Linda Howard
31. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
32. The Billionaire's Bride of Vengeance by Miranda Lee
33. 征服 - 单飞雪著 (A Chinese romance novel)
34. The Accidental Bestseller by Wendy Wax * (Review copy)
35. Skin by Mo Hayder *
36. Solace of the Road by Siobhan Dowd

June
37. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher *
38. Bloody Good by Georgia Evans (Review copy)
39. Persuasion by Jane Austen
40. The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns by Elizabeth Leiknes (Review copy)
41. Wings by Aprilynne Pike
42. Silver Falls by Anne Stuart
43. Stolen by Lucy Christopher *

I read a total of 44 books to-date, counting of a book I had recently read but did not list it down since it is considered a July read. I am definitely hoping the remaining year will be better!

Happy reading to all!

Edited to Add:

After I posted this, I then realized I had missed out the reading challenges! Here they are:

First completed challenge:

Romance Reading Challenge (5/5)

Follow up next:

The Pub Challenge (9/9)

Yet to be completed:

YA Challenge (11/12)

Harlequin/Silhouette Romance Reading Challenge (2/5)

TBR Lite Challenge (2/6)

Buy One Book and Read It Challenge (2) - Buy and read as many books as you can before Dec 31

Book Buddy Blogger Challenge (2/5)

Classics Challenge (2/4)

Manga Challenge (0/6)

Sookie Stackhouse Reading Challenge (1) - Read Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire series between July 1, 2009, and June 30, 2010

Song of Renewal by Emily Sue Harvey

ISBN: 9780981608730
Publisher: The Story Plant
Published: July 2009
150 pgs

I have not read a good inspirational novel for a while, so when I was offered the opportunity to review Song of Renewal by Emily Sue Harvey, I grabbed it.

Song of Renewal centered around the Wakefields' family, whose all members seem to have everything. Garrison, the head of the family is a hugely successful graphic artist and his wife, Liza is an active member of the community and a patron of the arts. Their 16-year-old daughter, Angel, is beautiful and a gifted dancer. Before this, Garrison and Liza used to have their dreams - to be an accomplished painter and a ballet dancer but they traded their dreams away, thinking that things and their current lifewould be enough to hold a family together. Plus, they have high hopes for Angel and Liza has hoped that Angel would fulfill her dream to become a ballet dancer.

Unfortunately, all things seem to come to a halt when Angel has met in a car accident. Her boyfriend, Troy, was killed instantly and Angel's injuries are beyond critical. While she lies in a coma from which even the best prognosis is devastating, the relationship between Garrison and Liza became strained. While Liza blamed herself in a way for letting Angel and Troy left for a concert on a rainy night, she is also hoping that she would lent some support from Garrison but his anger and resentment got into the way.

But seeing the critical stage Angel is facing and their heartache over her builds, Garrison and Liza began to question themselves and at the same time, struggle to rediscover who they once were and who they were meant to be. They discover that besides praying for Angel, the other only way they could do for her is to focus all their strength and love to help heal Angel, meanwhile also refocusing their relationship and bringing back the faith and to forgive each other.

Song of Renewal is a great inspirational story without being preachy. Reading this story has made me appreciate my life and my family more than ever. Each family has its story, and no matter how good or bad life is, it always takes trust, faith and love in building and making the bonds stronger, and of course, not forgetting forgiveness and commitment.

I also liked how the story is nicely wrapped up in the end. After all, one must not loses hope and through the miracles and the power of love, one would expect his ray of rainbow after every storm. Don't you think so?

I want to thank Joan Schulhafer and Joy Strazza for sending this book to me for review!

~*~*~*~*~*

The author, Emily Sue Harvey says that grief and therapy catapulted her into writing. She has written numerous essays for Chicken Soup for the Soul and the Chocolate for Women series and Song of Renewal is her first novel. Much of her work grows from reflections on everyday events - life changing and ordinary. Determined to make a difference in people's lives through her writing, she imbues her work with moments from her own life - the good and the bad. The result, she hopes, are stories and messages that stress joy and the promise of triumph as they draw people out and share the struggle of moving forward.

Click here to read more about Emily Sue Harvey and other renewal stories.

Stolen by Lucy Christopher

ISBN: 9781906427139
Publisher: The Chicken House (UK)
Pulished: 2009
301 pgs




This book has stolen my attention right from its grabbing first line till the end of the story. For a moment, I am at a loss of words when typing this post because I fear whatever I write will not do this book justice. It is so good!

Anyway, I suppose I have to start from somewhere, so here it is:

Sixteen-year-old Gemma Toombs is kidnapped while she is on a holiday with her parents. They were waiting for their plane to arrive at the Bangkok airport when she caught the attention of a young man, whom she believed she has last seen him on the plane departing from the London airport. She could sense there is a strange sort of familiarity about him, but she could not remember anything.

So when she wandered about and stopped at a cafe for coffee, the young man offered to buy it for her when he found she hasn't got any change. They started a conversation from there, and told her his name is Ty. Ty must have drugged her coffee and fed her some chocolates because the next thing she knew, she was following him half-dazed and by the time she has changed clothes and with Ty holding her 'new' passport, they left Bangkok and arrived at a wild land of outback Australia.

There are no sights of any people there in the remote deserted area, except the dry landscape which seems to stretch forever and some wild animals like snakes, wild kangaroos and even camels. Being a city girl all her life, Gemma has seen any place like this before, but the most terrifying of all is there will be no escape for her, ever. Left without a choice, she learns to live with Ty, who seemed to have prepared and planned for this abduction because he had more than enough food and other necessary stuff to keep them both alive and to stay there for some time.

On the other hand, Ty has no means of kidnapping her. Like Gemma, he has been living in the city once, but it left him with too many sad memories, in particularly of his mother. Living in outback Australia has changed his lifestyle and the way he sees things, and he welcome this new experience. He has been watching Gemma since she was ten, and he feels he has a need to protect her ever since her narrow escape from a boy whom had taken a fancy at her.

Although Gemma has not entirely given up hope on escaping, but it is also at this time that she began to see him in a new light which she has never seen in him - sensitive and yet vulnerable at the same time. Through these, she sees a little of him in herself; after all she is very much alone like him as she felt her parents are too busy with their lives to even care about her feelings.

Just when Gemma wonders about her life thereafter, an encounter with a wild snake changes their lives from then. After Gemma is bitten, Ty tries all ways in saving her, even if it means risking his life in seeking medical assistance and exposing his deeds. But regardless anything, it is up to Gemma to decide his fate.

Stolen is told in a letter from Gemma's perspective, but it does not read like the typical letter form. Throughout the story, Gemma referred Ty as 'you', so it read like journal after what had happened between her and Ty. I liked the plot, but most of all I liked how it explores Gemma's feelings about everything: from Ty to the wild remote place she is being forced to stay.

I think most readers would argue that what her feelings for Ty might be a cause of Stockholm syndrome; I admit I had the same thinking while reading the story, but the more I read I felt there is also a real connection between Gemma and Ty, after all. And I simply, simply loved the ending and that is all I have to say. You will have to read it and find out what Gemma has decided on Ty's fate, and I felt there is no other better ending than this is.

There, I have completed writing this post, at last. It is now your turn to look for this book and read it.

To find out more about the author, Lucy Christopher, click here.

Wordless Wednesday

Dusseldorf, Germany