Colleen Houck

March Book Madness! Day 23, The Fellowship of the Ring Book Tag!

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A Girl Reading by Johann Georg Meyer

Here I am again filling out a book tag. With how busy I am lately, they are a good way for me to finish writing fast and have fun. Todays Tag I found from Suzy’s Cozy World. Since I love Lord of the Rings, this seemed like the perfect Tag prompt.

Let’s get started!

Gandalf – A book that taught you something

Kate Milford‘s The Boneshaker (2010)

I learned so much about automatons, mechanics, medicines, old Southern folktales, and the culture during the early 20th century. It was simply fascinating to read this book. Her other book Greenglass House is just like that as well. Milford really paints history in beautiful, fascinating colors.

Frodo – A book that left a mark on you

Ruta Sepetys‘s Between Shades of Gray or Ashes in the Snow (2011)

I knew about the German holocaust, the billion people killed in China, and Russia’s internment camps. I did not know about the Slavic people’s from Lithuania and other neighboring countries mistreated, killed off, and imprisoned in Russia. This book opened my eyes to parts of history I did not know. It is one of my favorite books from these past few years. I highly recommend it to anyone who has not read it.

Legolas – A book you finished in one sitting

J.K. Rowling‘s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007)

This is the one book I know for sure I read in one sitting. I probably did the same with the 5th and 6th books in this series, but this felt like my most impressive accomplishment.

Gimli – A book that features an unlikely friendship

Juliet Marillier‘s Wildwood Dancing (2006)

For this question, I immediately thought about the sweet friendship between Jena and her frog Gogu, who she could understand and talk to. Their relationship is the heart of this beautiful fairytale book.

Merry – A book that pleasantly surprised you

Tahereh Mafi‘s Furthermore (2016)

I honestly didn’t expect Furthermore to be as interesting a read. The cover is beautiful, but the premise seemed too predictable. However, when I sat down and started reading, this book had its hooks in me. The story and writing style are just as colorful as the cover. 

Pippin – A book that made you laugh

Philip Ardagh‘s A House Called Awful End (2003)

A House Called Awful End is the funnier version of A Series of Unfortunate Events. I laughed so hard reading this story. the stuffed weasel, the house and people who smelled like old hot water bottles, and even the silly old man with his fake gun stole my little heart as a teenager.

Boromir – A book/series that you think ended too soon

Brian Selznick‘s The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2008)

This book unfolds like a dream. It’s beautiful artwork, writing, and conclusion stole my heart the first moment I read it. My one grievance against it was it ended so fast. Because it is so beautiful I wanted more.

Sam – A book with memorable side characters who stole the show

Eva Ibbotson‘s The Secret of Platform 13 (1994)

I am not sure who constitutes as a main character in this story, but I love all the quirky side characters scattered throughout the book. Ibbotson always has such amusing side characters and this book is no exception.

Aragorn – A good book with a bad/average cover

Elizabeth Marie Pope‘s The Sherwood Ring (1958)

My friend Erica really likes this book and gave it to me to read. I didn’t want to because its cover wasn’t very appealing to me. In fact, I think it is kind of ugly. But as I read it, I actually enjoyed it. It’s a good story, and a fun look into Revolutionary History in the United States.

Gollum – A book that had great potential but disappointed you in the end

Colleen Houck‘s The Lantern’s Ember (2018)

I read this book fairly often because I love the IDEA of it. I have a soft spot for Halloween-esque stories in forested towns. I love who the characters are, especially Jack with his Pumpkin who carries his soul. But, Houck’s execution just fell so flat. This felt more like a third or fourth draft rather than a well-polished finished novel. In fact, if she took her story and fixed it up I think it would do it a lot of good. I still love reading despite these flaws because it sparks my imagination.

Thank you for reading! See you tomorrow.

March Book Madness! Day 22, A Book For Each of My Initials

March Book Madness! Day 24, My Life in Books Tag

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March Book Madness! Day 15, Have you seen these beautiful book covers?

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Here is another fun deviation! Aside from loving to read, one of my favorite hobbies is going through Pinterest and finding beautiful artworks. Today I can combine two of my hobbies into one post by focusing on beautiful book covers! After seeing so many wonderful book blogs with beautiful new book covers, I wanted to showcase a few beautiful book covers from my Goodreads account.

Sometimes I just like to go to book stores and look at all the new book covers. It’s like going to an art gallery with a bonus story hidden inside eat piece!

So without further ado, here are 10 beautiful book covers and their artists. (Some don’t have artist names because I couldn’t find them.)

Juliet Marillier’s Wildwood Dancing and Cybele’s Secret, Artist Kinuko Y. Craft

Adrienne Young  Fable

Jessica S. Olson‘s Sing Me Forgotten, Art Team Kathleen Oudit—art director, Mary Luna—in-house designer, and Allan Davey—composite artist.

Aiden Thomas‘s Lost in the Never Woods, Artist Loika

Alix E. Harrow‘s The Ten Thousand Doors of January, Artist Lisa Marie Pompilio

Colleen Houck‘s The Lantern’s Ember, Artist Billelis

Sally Gardner‘s I, Coriander

Jenny Nimmo‘s Charlie Bone and the Castle of Mirrors

Marie Lu‘s The Kingdom of Back

Richard Powers‘ The Overstory, Art director Ingsu Liu

Thank you for reading! See you tomorrow.

March Book Madness! Day 14, Ben Behunin’s Authentically Ruby 5/5

March Book Madness! Day 16, Irish Book Tag

Tiger’s Curse (2011) Book Quote and Short review

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The dream made me realize how alone I really felt. Since my parents had died, no one had held me like this. Of course, I hugged my foster parents and their kids, but no one managed to break through my defenses- nor had I let anyone pull this depth of emotion from me in a long while.

That was the moment I knew that Ren loved me.

I felt my heart open to him. I already loved and trusted the tiger part of him. That part was easy. But, I recognized that the man needed that love even more. For Ren, it had been centuries-if ever. so, I held him close. . .

tiger's

So, I wanted to just share a quote from a book I really like. But it comes with a short review because. . . I need to get my thoughts off my chest. Tiger’s Curse is actually the first in a four book series. It is followed by Tiger’s Curse, Voyage and Destiny. Overall, it is definitely a good series to read and better than. . . Twilight. (Sorry. I had to say it.) Colleen Houck did a wonderful job embellishing Indian culture and creating likable characters with real problems.

I liked the main heroine Kelsey because though she was definitely insecure about herself and her relationships, it had a foundation for it that I could understand. But through it all, she was very compassionate and charitable. Ren was my favorite because he was intelligent, vulnerable and he loved very deeply. All in all, I saw in both of them my own anxieties in love and in life.

I also like Ren’s brother Kishan and was happy he received the ending and family he so desperately needed in the last book.

My thoughts on Colleen Houck’s novels are mostly positive. I love the way she writes, the setting she creates, and the the ending. But .. . . I can usually only read the first book and then the end of the fourth.

Of all the four novels in this series the first is my favorite because, well, there isn’t the mind crushing, painful love triangle from the others. Honestly, I can’t read the whole series because it gives me such awful anxiety and frustration.

Here is my reasoning. This was one of those stories I could tell right from the get go who would be together and I really thought it was tangible and real right from the start. But reading Kelsey’s decision to leave Ren after painfully watching him act though a haze of stolen memories and then have to read of how much she fought against herself to the point of almost hating herself. . . Oh gosh it is too much for me.

There are over two books of it and I just. . . can’t. . . make it through. I felt so sad for everyone involved. So. . . I read faithfully to the end, rejoiced it was finally over with Kelsey and Ren married happily with Kishan also married and happy and I was satisfied. But by golly if it didn’t almost destroy me.

So there you have it. The first is my favorite, I love the ending but can’t make it through the books without going through my own personal crisis.