Mundie Moms

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Have you seen this?

Yes I know I've not yet finished the Harry Potter series (I'm still on book 4), but that's not stopping my excitement over the second trailer that was just released.....


I can not wait to see this movie. I've not seen the last one yet either, because I want to have the books read even though I already know what happens at the end of the series. At this point I'm thinking I need to just cave in and listen to the audiobooks to get caught up. I need to point out Sophie on the other hand is a huge HP fan & has read the entire series.

Who's going to a midnight showing?

Book Review- Breath of Angel

By Karyn Henley
Published by WaterBrook Press
To Be Released on June 21st, 2011
Source- ARC from publisher for review
3.5 stars- It's A Good Read

The stranger’s cloak had fallen back, and with it, a long, white, blood-stained wing.
When Melaia, a young priestess, witnesses the gruesome murder of a stranger in the temple courtyard, age-old legends recited in song suddenly come to life. She discovers wings on the stranger, and the murderer takes the shape of both a hawk and a man.
Angels. Shape-shifters. Myths and stories—until now.
Melaia finds herself in the middle of a blood feud between two immortal brothers who destroyed the stairway to heaven, stranding angels in the earthly realm. When the feud turns violent and Melaia becomes a target, she finds refuge with a band of angels attempting to restore the stairway. But the restoration is impossible without the repayment of an ancient debt—the “breath of angel, blood of man,” a payment that involves Melaia’s heart, soul, and destiny.

Breath of Angel is a unique story with an enjoyable plot set in a fascinating time. It's a story I was really drawn to not just for it's mythology, but because of it's middle age feel to it and it's paranormal elements with Angels, magic, and Shape-shifters.

The story starts off with action as the main character, a young priestess named Melaia, witnesses the death of an Angel. From there her journey into discovering who he is, and who she really is shrouded in deception, lies and betrayal. Melaia herself is a fabulous character that I enjoyed getting to know her. She's a very strong, courageous heroine who's torn on following her destiny. She also has a fascinating ability to save a person's soul when they're dying by playing an enchanted harp. The harp and Melaia's ability are two of the unique things I liked about the story, as it's all tied into the story's mythology.

The setting is fabulous. I loved the old world feel to it and the vivid description of the land really brought the setting to life. I really liked the cast of strong, well grounded characters, the sweet romance and the constant action through out the story. Even with all the elements I loved about the story I still feel torn with it. There were times when a lot of things were going on that I felt connected with the story and there were times when the plot slowed down a bit I lost a little bit of interest and I felt there were a few things thrown into the story to keep the plot moving that threw me off and were a bit confusing. Over all there are a lot of things I liked about the story. My curiosity with wanting to find answers to some of the character & plot twists had me finishing this book in one sitting. Breath of Angel is a fun, clean cut read that fans of fantasy would enjoy. I'm anxious to see what it's in store for Melaia and the rest of the characters in the next book in the series.

Blog Tour: Breath of Angel, Teenage Garage Sale

Teenage Garage Sale w/ Karyn Henley:

Most of what I treasured in my teenage years would mean nothing to anyone but me. They were keepsake/scrapbook items. But . . . let’s see . . . I’ll go back to my blue bedroom and we’ll walk around. I could sell:

French provincial double-bed
Matching powder table (also called a vanity)
Matching side table
Radio clock with a automatic turn-off, so I can go to sleep listening to music
A charm bracelet (charms: football for school spirit, Canadian maple leaf from a trip to Canada, choir ensemble emblem, Christmas charm)
Wall pictures of ballerinas
Portable sewing machine and dress patterns
Knitting needles and yarn
Ring with interchangeable “gems” of different colors
Books . . would I sell my books? . . . no, I don’t think so

Thank you Karyn! You can follow the rest of the tour here and I'll be posting my review for Breath of Angel later today.

Follower Appreciation Giveaway

WELCOME to all of our new followers! Thank you so much for being apart of Mundie Moms. We've been blown away by all the support we have received from all of you here on the blog, on facebook, our forum and on twitter. We've enjoyed getting to know many of you and we're looking forward to getting to know our new followers.

To show our thanks we thought it would be fun to host a little Follower Appreciation Giveaway. Here's what we're giving away:


Pre-Order:
* Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare (not pictured)

SIGNED books:
* The Forest of Hands & Teeth by Carrie Ryan
* Low Red Moon by Ivy Devlin

Swag (signed):
* Anna & the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins, bookmark
* The Faerie Ring by Kiki Hamilton, bookmark
* Sweet Venom by Terra Lynn Childs, bookmark
* Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton, bookmark & book plate
* Through Her Eyes by Jennifer Archer, bookmark
* Cynthia Leitich Smith book plate

Not signed:
* ARC of The Near Witch by Victoria Swab
* book swag: The Vespertine postcard, Red Glove postcard, Divergent temporary tattoos, book marks

3 winners will be drawn:
* The 1st winner will receive Clockwork Prince (when it's out in December)
* The 2nd winner will receive a signed copy of The Forest of Hands & Teeth and Low Red Moon, along with the ARC of The Near Witch
* The 3rd winner will receive all the swag shown in the picture, including the signed bookmarks.

To enter, please fill out the form below. 1 entry per person, per email. More than one entry will result in all your entries being deleted. Since this is a follower appreciation giveaway, you must be a follower to enter. This is open to all of our followers world wide.

Thoughtful Thursday- Faces on YA Book Covers
























Julie Kagawa recently shared the cover for The Iron Knight with our beloved Ash on the front, but have you seen her recent post with the reveal of the back cover!?!? That's right, that's Puck! I seriously LOVE these covers. I'll admit I can't stop staring at both the covers.

That brings me to my Thoughtful Thursday question. Normally I'm not a fan of seeing faces on book covers, because often times I picture the person differently than what they look like on the cover. With The Iron Knight, I really like what Harlequin Teen has done. I like that we get to see part of their faces while still leaving a little air of mysterious surrounding how they look, but giving us just a enough of teaser to satisfy our curiosity.

I loved how Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instrument Series covers were done. It gave me an idea of what the characters looked before reading the books, and once I got to know the characters I thought the cover matched their descriptions perfectly. I also liked it when covers show people, but shadow their faces a bit. An example of that is with City of Fallen Angels, I like that part of Simon's face is shadowed and we get to see all of Clary's. Another series I liked seeing people on the cover is Becca Fitzpatrick's Hush, Hush series. Even though we can see the "characters" on the covers, I like that their faces are some what shadowed on the cover. Holly Black's Curse Worker's series and Andrea Cremer's Nightshade series are examples of series that I actually loved seeing the faces on.

Some other examples are great covers with faces on them are:

* Sophie Jordan's Firelight & Vanish
* Kiersten White's Paranormalcy & Supernaturally
* Ally Condie's Matched & Crossed
* Gayle Forman's If I Stay & Where She Went

Is it weird that I actually love seeing people on the cover of Middle Grade books, unlike YA? For some weird reason I'm way more accepting of seeing people on the cover of Middle Grade books than YA books, and I'm not sure why. I don't know if it's because I connect more with the characters or world while reading YA than MG or what. Even with the select few adult books I've read they've had people on the covers and I wasn't bothered by it. I'm really not sure why it bothers me more with YA books.

My question is, do you like seeing people on the covers of YA books? If you so, what is your favorite book or series that has someone on the cover?

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