Mundie Moms

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Author Appreciation Week: Fantasy and Romance

Author Appreciation Week is continuing here on Mundie Moms and today, we want highlight our love of two genres in particular: Fantasy and Romance with a focus on a few classics.

C.S. Lewis - We couldn't start this post without mentioning C.S. Lewis. We walked through the wardrobe, sailed on the Dawn Treader and fought the Last Battle alongside his characters. Lewis brought to life so many themes we still love: dark magic, battles between man and nature and most of all a detailed new universe that we wanted to explore.

Charlotte and Emily Bronte - If we're going to discuss our love of romance, we have to mention the Bronte sisters. Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights are Must Reads for all Mundie Moms. If you haven't read these Gothic romances, by all means pick them up next time you're in a bookstore or at your library. You won't be sorry. Complex characters. Highly developed plots. And in them, you'll recognize the root of some of our favorite current stories.

Jane Austen - We feel like the skies should open up and a choir of heavenly angels should sing at the mere mention of her name. She wrote only six novels during her lifetime. But their themes are lasting. Think of all the recently released books which pay homage to her stories. You know them. You've seen them. Now go and read the originals. You will not be sorry. As for hot male characters, well, all I have to say is...Mr. Darcy. She invented him. We know, we know, we hear the angels singing, too.

Book Review-Under My Skin

By Judith Graves
Published by Leap books
To Be Released on March 27th, 2010
Source: from Judith Graves
3.5 stars

All her parents wanted was for Eryn to live a normal life...

Redgrave had its share of monsters before Eryn moved to town. Mauled pets, missing children. The Delacroix family is taking the blame, but Eryn knows the truth. Something stalks the night. Wade, the police chief's son and Redgrave High's resident hottie, warns her the Delacroix are dangerous. But then so is Eryn--in fact, she's lethal.

But she can't help falling for one of the Delacroix boys, dark, brooding--human Alec. And then her world falls apart.

A normal life? Now that's the real fairytale.

Under My Skin is one of those books, that you sit down thinking you'll read a few pages of it and then a few hours later you're done. I found myself wanting to read more of Judith's mythology and world building. By the time I finished reading the book, I wanted to read more.

The first half of Under My Skin was a little slow for me, but this was due to the building up of the mythology and introducing the reader to the characters and the world in which Judith has created. Being the first in a 3 book series, there needed to be the world building and I think Judith did a good job with it. Had there been a lot of the action that comes later in the book, I think it would have distracted from the mythology and getting to know the characters and what Eyrn is and why she's in Redgrave. I loved the setting of Redgrave.

Eyrn is a very snarky, stubborn character who isn't afraid to fight her worst nightmares in the form of werewolves. That's not all that's hidden within Redgrave's small population. Witches, Vampires and more are introduced as we get to know some stand out characters. Be rest a assured there is some great tension in two hot, bad boys that Eryn is torn between.

There's the dark, brooding Alec, who she has an immediate chemistry with, but there's something about him that she has yet to figure out. I loved her first meeting of him, when she's running in the woods, and he's running with "pet" wolf. Then there's Wade, who she can't help but be drawn to, especially after her dream about him.

Eryn will soon find herself torn between Wade and Alec, and the dark secrets that are unraveling around her in Redgrave. As tensions build between Alec and Wade, who are both trying to help Eryn, she will find herself facing the toughest choice of all. Letting her true nature be revealed.

I liked Under My Skin and I'm looking forward to reading the second book in the series. Judith's book will be released on March 27th!!

You can find out more about Judith and her series here http://www.judithgraves.com and www.leapbks.com.

Happy Book Birthday to Kimberly Derting's The Body Finder

Happy Release Day to Kimberly Derting's The Body Finder!!! We're very excited to be on The Body Finder street team, which means we've got LOTS of signed goodies we'll be giving away soon.

Be sure to go pick up your copy now! We'll be sharing our review of The Body Finder soon.

Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her "power" to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes that the dead leave behind in the world... and the imprints that attach to their killers.




Delicious Beautiful Creatures Recipe

To end our super fun, month long Mundie Moms 1 year Birthday Bash, Kami Garcia has treated us with a YUMMY recipe that is Ethan's mom Lila's favorite.

*Fried Green Tomatoes*

3 medium, firm green tomatoes

½ cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup milk

2 eggs, beaten

2/3 cup fine dry breadcrumbs

¼ cup olive oil

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

Directions:

1) Cut unpeeled tomatoes into 1/2 inch slices. Sprinkle slices with salt and pepper. Let tomato slices stand for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, place flour, milk, eggs, and breadcrumbs in separate shallow dishes.


2) Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a skillet on medium heat. Dip tomato slices in: milk, then flour, then eggs, and finally breadcrumbs. In the skillet, fry half the tomato slices at a time, for 4-6 minutes on each side or until golden. As you cook the rest of the tomatoes, add olive oil as needed. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

* Adapted from a recipe in Better Homes and Garden.


Thank you Kami for sharing the YUMMY recipe with us and for being apart of our Birthday Bash!!

To follow the latest news on the Beautiful Creatures series, please visit their site here-

http://beautifulcreaturesthebook.com/

Be sure to join the awesome Beautiful Creatures fansite- http://castergirls.com/ They have fun discussions, giveaways and more.

Elizabeth Scott Winners!!!

Congratulations to our Elizabeth Scott WINNERS!!!

The WINNER of The Unwritten Rule is Courtney Rae!

The WINNER of Bloom is Lynsey Newton!

Congratulations to our winners, who have been notified by email!! Please contact us within 48 hrs.

Thank you to Elizabeth Scott for the wonderful giveaway.

Be sure to go grab your copy of The Unwritten Rule, which is out on bookshelves TODAY!!

Twitter Tuesday - Myra McEntire

You know when one of your favorite author's books will be published some time in the future? Let's say that this date is in early 2011. But, the time between then and now just seems so long and all you really want is a sample. Just a taste of her writing to get you through the wait?

Well, wait no more. One of our favorite authors, and I have to say an amazing friend to Mundie Moms, Myra McEntire, released the first part of a short story yesterday on her blog. Did you see it? If not, here's an appetizer-sized portion:

We get up early to go out and search, before the sun dries the dew and the flies are too thick in the summer air. I watch as Granny packs a breakfast of cold biscuits and bacon. We’ll eat as we walk, to save time.

She ties a bright blue scarf around her pin curls to keep branches and brambles from snatching at the silver strands. Tonight is the Fourth of July social at church. I know she wants to look pretty, that she still has hope for a future. She has her eye on Widower Robinson. He still has all his own teeth.

This makes him “a catch.”

I stand to follow her, pausing by my shoes at the front door. I’ve worked all summer to build the calluses on my feet, toughening up my soles so I can run barefoot on gravel without a care. My cousin Daisy makes fun, says boys aren't interested in girls with rough, dirty feet. I say I'm not interested in boys at all, so this is not a concern.

I don’t say I have to be prepared to run without warning.

I am interested in boys, but it’s a secret I keep close, hidden in my heart. I have a special place for my other secrets, the tangible ones. After the war, my great-granddaddy brought home a cedar trinket box with a painting on the lid. Sun-bleached houses dotting a lush hillside above a peaceful body of water. When my aunt died I inherited it, and its contents. I think of that painting when I need to hide, pretend I’m inside it in some far away country, turning brown in the sun while the breeze cools my skin.

My grandmother calls to me from outside. “You coming, Dovey?”
You can read the rest of Part One, here. And she just posted Part Two, here. Be sure to follow her on twitter because throughout the day, you will see random tweets like this one. They're going to make you laugh. Yes, they will.

As for the short story, read it and then ask the same question as I did, "Wait, I need more?" I wanted to get lost in this world. I desperately need to find out more about The Diviners and Holy Everything, what is under that ground?? MMs, I'm telling you, don't miss this one.

As for the best part? Well, we get a sample of Myra's writing style before her book, HOURGLASS, is released next year. Just a snippet. A taste. A bite. How many more days until 2011??

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