Mundie Moms

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Book Review- Through Her Eyes


Published by HarperTeen
Released on April 5th, 2011
Source- ARC received from publisher for review
4 stars- I enjoyed it

Every ghost has a story to tell.

The last place Tansy Piper wants to be is stuck in Cedar Canyon, Texas, in the middle of nowhere, with a bunch of small-town kids. But when her mother decides to move to the desolate West Texas town, Tansy has no choice but to go along. Once there, Tansy is immediately drawn to the turret of their rickety old house, a place she soon learns has a disturbing history. But it's the strange artifacts she finds in the cellar—a pocket watch, a journal of poetry, and a tiny crystal—that have the most chilling impact on her.

Tansy soon finds that through the lens of her camera, she can become part of a surreal black-and-white world where her life is intertwined with that of mysterious, troubled Henry, who lived in the same house and died decades earlier. It seems their lives are linked by fate and the artifacts she found, but as Tansy begins spending more and more time in the past, her present world starts to fade away. Tansy must untangle herself from Henry's dangerous reality—before she loses touch with her own life forever (quoted from Goodreads).


Jennifer Archer's writing is refreshing, poetic and realistic. It's one of those stories that makes you wonder if this town is real and if the ghost stories really happened. I think Jennifer's portrayal of a small TX town was spot on. I felt like I was apart of the story and the world in which Jennifer created.

I was really captivated with the way Jennifer wove together history with modern day and added that perfect paranormal twist to her story. I was so caught up in how Tansy, her grandfather Papa Dan, Tate and Henry were all connected, I couldn't put the book down. I needed answers. Tansy was a character I sympathized with. Though I personally don't know what it's like having a mother who's a well known writer and having to move from town each time she starts a new book, I felt I got to know what it's like getting to know Tansy. Tansy and her mother had a relationship that was a bit broken, but it wasn't one that lacked love. Mixed with Tansy's feeling of isolation and feeling friendless is Henry, the ghost who haunts the home Tansy, her mother and Papa Dan move into.

Jennifer's writing really allowed me to feel the emotions that Tansy and Henry felt and were feeling. It was no surprise they were drawn to each other, even though my motherly instincts wanted to grab Tansy and get her the heck out of there, I also found myself drawn to Henry and I wanted to find out what the historical connection he had with Tansy's Grandfather, Papa Dan. The setting also played a huge role with the emotions. Cedar Canyon is a tiny little town in the middle of now where and the old home Tansy moves into it is very haunted. I understood the emotions Tansy went through. Having moved from San Francisco the tiny town USA where everyone grew up knowing each other, Tansy has to worry about fitting in.

Tansy has a great cast of supporting characters around her. Each character had a roll to play and they did so well. I should say, each character was written true to life. Papa Dan was my favorite character, and surprisingly he doesn't have a lot of speaking roles, but it's his presence and his role in Henry's history that I found most fascinating. I loved the relationship he and Tansy had. It was unique, strong and one full of genuine love and concern. It really made me miss having my grandfather around. There's a great love interest with Tate. Through out the whole story I was back and forth with him. I liked it, but then I wanted to know what his ulterior motive was, then I wanted Tansy to fall for him, then I questioned his true feelings, much like Tansy was doing. I couldn't help but love his character, and my only compliant with the book was not having more scenes with Tate.

Through Eyes is a beautifully haunting, rich story. Jennifer's writing is so captivating. She brings her story to life in such a unique way. It's a ghost story with a rich history that takes place in modern day and will also transport you back in time, so you're not only getting to meet people in Tansy's life now, but those that were in her Papa Dan's life. There's a lot of elements to this story, mystery, romance, friendship, teenage life, small town life, and family relationships all wrapped up around a haunting ghost story. Let me just say, Jennifer Archer's setting makes me want to take a road trip up to the TX Panhandle. I recommend picking up Through Her Eyes. I'm looking forward to reading more YA books from Jennifer.

Don't miss Jennifer's Guest Post HERE where she shared her inspiration for her setting with us.

Wings Read Along Challenge Update


THANK YOU to everyone who participated in our WINGS Read Along! We had a lot of fun chatting about Wings with you. We have some shocking and exciting news...... WE WON!! We are still shocked we won, and we're so excited. We found out last week and we were going to keep it a secret until we received our personal video from Aprilynne and the exclusive short story, but we couldn't wait any longer. YAY!! Thank you to all of you for being apart of this. We're definitely planning some more read alongs here on MM's.

We'll be sharing the video and exclusive short story here on Mundie Moms just as soon as receive them. In mean time, be sure to pick up Spells and read that before May 3rd, when the third book, Illusions is released. You can visit Aprilynne's site here to watch the book trailer and read some teasers. THANK YOU to Harper Teen for putting the Read Along together.

Thoughtful Thursday- Run For Your Life & The Ovarian Cancer Foundation for Living



CANCER. It's that dirty word we all love to hate. Yes, I said hate, a word I can't stand but it's the only word I can think of to describe cancer. One day you can be fine and the next day you wake up and wham.... your whole is forever changed. It's the dirty word that robs life of some of it's brightest people. It doesn't matter if you're male, female, what you look like, what your age is, cancer knows no boundaries. Lately it seems it's effecting so many people I know. Now the fight against cancer has become a lot more personal for me.


Today's post is a little personal to me. It's not the first time I've posted about cancer on our Thoughtful Thursday post and it won't be the last. There's too many various forms of cancer that all need aid in finding a cure for. I had already planned on posting about Charlie Bewley's Run For Your Life, which is an Ultramarathon Run he'll be doing on May 1st to support The Lions Gate Hospital Foundation. Charlie's run is a personal one and he's running in memory of a friend he lost to cancer to this year. Please go HERE to read his touching story about his friend Jocelyn and why he choose to take part in this amazing charity. Go HERE to donate to help Charlie raise money for this amazing foundation.

You can also visit Myra McEntire's site HERE to read more about the race and find out what giveaways she's hosting to those who donate to Charlie's cause. What I've not mentioned is the amazing prize pack Summit is giving away to one lucky donator. Be sure to click on Charlie's link above to donate and to see what you'll be entered to win.


Along with Charlie's amazing cause, and seriously I envy the fact he's going to do an UltraMarathon, lots of positive thoughts to him in completing something so grueling, yesterday I found out a wonderful person, and friend of mine died of Ovarian Cancer. The most shocking part about it is she was diagnosed three weeks ago. To say it put things into perspective for me about how truly precious life is and how unimportant the petty things are, is an understatement. She was truly one of those people who lit up the room and made everyone around her feel better about themselves. She was a teacher and some one who's left a mark on everyone she knew. Cancer has claimed another amazing person and in memory of her, I am spot lighting The Ovarian Cancer Foundation for Living.

It doesn't matter if you can donate $100, $20, $1 or even 50 cents. Every little bit helps in finding cures for cancer. If you have a cancer foundation you donate to, please feel free to post it in the comments. Today, here's to celebrating life, and finding a cure!

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