Monthly Reflections (#6) ~ June

<a href="http://christianbookshelfreviews.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa452/Love-Being-Vegan/MonthlyReflections.jpg" /></a> <br />

Monthly Reflections, where we take the time to reflect on the previous month.

My goals for June were...

Read at least 11 books - including:
☑ 2-3 Non-fiction books
☑ 1 "Just for Fun" book
 ☑1-2 eBooks
☑ Read a book starting with the letter "E"

In June, I...


Read 10 books - including:
Two non-fiction books
Two "Just for Fun" books (Insurgent and The Earl's Mistaken Bride)
One eBook (Tributary)
Read a book starting with the letter "E" (The Earl's Mistaken Bride)

Books read:




My favorite fiction book was Tributary by Lisa T. Bergren! I absolutely LOVED that book! I am really hoping Lisa will write more River of Time books. :)

My favorite non-fiction book was I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris.

Reviews:

The Next Target by Nikki Arana
Protecting the Princess by Rachelle McCalla
Baroness by Susan May Warren
Love in Disguise by Carol Cox
Tributary by Lisa T. Bergren
Smitten by Colleen Coble, Kristen Billerbeck, Diann Hunt, and Denise Hunter
Intervention by Terri Blackstock
The Search by Shelley Shepard Gray

Interviews:

Travis Thrasher
Tom Pawlik
Michael Leonard Jewell

Special Post:




Character Interview! Sir Luca Forelli from Lisa T. Bergren's River of Time series!

Reading Challenges:


I signed up for another reading challenge (Non-Fiction Non-Memoir 2012 Reading Challenge) and I completed another reading challenge (1st in a Series Challenge).

My thoughts on this month:

I didn't read as many books as I wanted to (I am one away from my goal!), but I'm still happy with the amount I read. I interviewed some great authors and Luca Forelli! :) All in all, I am really happy with what I accomplished this month.

Looking ahead:


Here is what I hope to accomplish in July...

I want to read at least 10 books in July - including:
2 eBooks
A book starting with the letter "E"
1 "Just for Fun" book
2 Non-fiction books


Now it's your turn! What did you accomplish in June, what do you hope to accomplish in July?


If you want to do your own Monthly Reflections, feel free to grab the button and post about it on your blog, then leave a comment with the URL - otherwise, please share your thoughts in a comment!

Weekend Report (#36) and Giveaway Winners!!

  <div style="text-align: center;"><br /> <a href="http://christianbookshelfreviews.blogspot.com/search/label/Weekend%20Report"><img alt="Photobucket" border="0" src="http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa452/Love-Being-Vegan/powerpoint_001-Copy-2.jpg" /></a></div><br /> <div style="text-align: center;">

Weekend Report is where I share what I accomplished (book-wise) the previous week! Feel free to join along and post your own Weekend Report on your blog/site. If you do, please leave the URL in a comment below.

What I'm currently reading:




I'm 34% done with this book.

I'm on page 19 of 331

I'm on page 35 of 229

I'm on page 35 of 1144

  What I've read this week:




I don't know whether or not I'll be posting a review of I Kissed Dating Goodbye, but I did love that book! :) It was great!

What I think I'll read soon: 

About Prism:

He wanted to bring light to the world, but knew that along with it would come darkness... 

Alejo is a leader in the Prism, a Muslim organization bent on fighting social injustice in his native Bolivia. His passion for God's justice has always led him far away from the church and its dark secrets he has seen with his own eyes. 

Until now. 

  Wara Cadogan's friends think she's the ideal missionary in Bolivia, but they don't know the truth: she betrayed her values, and it's tearing her apart. When Wara and her best friend Noah collide with the Prism, she believes Noah is dead and Alejo is to blame. 

She should hate him.

He's a killer. Who took everything from her.

What is she supposed to do when he gives up everything to save her?

About Swipe:


Everyone gets the Mark. It gives all the benefits of citizenship. Yet if getting the Mark is such a good thing, then why does it feel so wrong?

Set in a future North America that is struggling to recover after famine and global war, Swipe follows the lives of three kids caught in the middle of a conflict they didn’t even know existed. United under a charismatic leader, every citizen of the American Union is required to get the Mark on their 13th birthday in order to gain the benefits of citizenship.

The Mark is a tattoo that must be swiped by special scanners for everything from employment to transportation to shopping. It’s almost Logan Langly’s 13th birthday and he knows he should be excited about getting the Mark, but he hasn’t been able to shake the feeling he’s being watched. Not since his sister went to get her Mark five years ago . . . and never came back.

When Logan and his friends discover the truth behind the Mark, will they ever be able to go back to being normal teenagers? Find out in the first book of this exciting series that is Left Behind meets Matched for middle-grade readers.

About Authentic Beauty:

Inside Every Young Woman is a Princess…In Search of her Prince 

In a culture that mocks our longing for tender romance, in a world where fairy tales never seem to come true — do we dare hope for more? For every young woman asking that question, this book is an invitation. With refreshing candor and vulnerability, bestselling author Leslie Ludy reveals how, starting today, you can experience the passion and intimacy you long for. You can begin a never-ending love story with your true Prince. Discover the authentic beauty of a life fully set-apart for Him. Experience a romance that will transform every part of your existence and fulfill the deepest longings of your feminine heart.

Reviews posted this week:


Intervention by Terri Blackstock
The Search by Shelley Shepard Gray

  Current Giveaways!



Another chance to win your choice of one of the River of Time books - Waterfall (Print or eBook), Cascade (Print or eBook), Torrent (Print or eBook), Bourne (eBook only), or Tributary (eBook only). US only. Here is the link to enter.


Three people will each receive the first three books in Michael Jewell's Old Sodus series! (At Home In Old Sodus, Life In Old Sodus, The Big Farm In Old Sodus). Giveaway is open to the US and Canada. Here is the link to enter. 

  Giveaway winners!

The two winners of Beckon by Tom Pawlik are...

Andrea!

&

Michelle!

Congrats to you both! :)



The winner of their choice of one of the River of Time books - Waterfall (Print or eBook), Cascade (Print or eBook), Torrent (Print or eBook), Bourne (eBook only), or Tributary (eBook only) is...

Mariah!*


*Winner has been contacted. If I don't hear back from her by July 7th, I'll choose a different winner.

  So that's what I accomplished (book-wise) this week, what about you? Please share in a comment below. :)


I'll be posting my Monthly Reflection post later today or tomorrow.

Awesome Tiger Lily News!

So you all know that I gave a rave review to Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson. It still tastes bittersweet on my tongue and it has been a few months since I read it. It's one of my favorite reads ever.

Well, HarperTeen wants you to get a taste too! They've added the first half of the novel. All you have to do is go here and start reading so you can discover the magic and beauty awaiting you. It's only up from 6/29-7/1 so act fast.

A Fairy Tale in Photos- Peter Pan

I'm looking for something fun to do on Fridays and I figured that this might be something interesting. As you all can probably tell by the theme of this blog, I really love fairy tales. I've been looking through Deviantart and thought it might be fun to pick a fairy tale and showcase pictures I like from it.

This week is all about Peter Pan!

Twinfools

Broookesterr

Noirele

Thebritishgangsta

The-optimist

DinnerSpoiler

Akai-Ritsuka

*srslyriot

The Meeg

Blasteh

emilioacevedo

Littlemewhatever

Blasteh

immObile

lockofhair

raanz

jaina88

duchesse-2-Guermante

CourtoonXIII

What I love about Peter Pan is that perfect blend of boyish adventure meets innocence. I think it's awesome hoe Pan is both caring and thoughtful and childish and cruel in the same breath. I think my favorite photo of this batch is the fifth one down that had Peter and Wendy in it. Very cute!

Which photo do you like best?

Comic Review: Buffy the Vampire Slayer S8: No Future For You

Buffy the Vampire Slayer S8, V2: No Future For You by Brian K. Vaughan, Joss Whedon & Georges Jeanty

Paperback: 120 pages
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics; 2 edition (June 11, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 159307963X
ISBN-13: 978-1593079635
Series: Season 8: Volume 2
Stories: No Future For You: Part 1, No Future For You: Part 2, No Future For You: Part 3, No Future For You: Part 4, Anywhere But Here
Source: Purchased at Books-A-Million
First Sentence: "Oh! The places you'll go!"

Mini-Review: Maintains the same feeling as the show while widening the scope of Season 8.

Summary:

When a rogue debutante Slayer begins to use her power for evil, Giles is forced to recruit the rebellious Faith, who isn't exactly known for her good deeds. Giles offers Faith a clean slate if she can stop this snooty Slayer from wreaking total havoc--that is, if Buffy doesn't beat her to it.

Review:

As a Buffy fan, I'm not too wild about Faith but as an Angel fan, I've started to get her appeal. She is Buffy's darker side. She goes bad so Buffy doesn't have to and now that their struggle is over, she wants to find redemption. I was pretty stoked to find out that this second comic was all about what happened to my favorite dark Slayer and the story inside didn't disappoint.

Like with the first volume, No End for You is able to capture Faith's essence. She is all about the struggle and is tested big time yet again. After watching her get mentally abused by Wesley in Angel (and rightly so since she was physically torturing him), it was nice to see Giles being kind to her. For so long, everyone has treated her like a second class citizen so I really liked watching her form a bond with him. In the end, Faith and Giles aren’t all that different and I’m glad their similarities are addressed. I’m excited to see where this newly found friendship is going.

Also, giving Faith the mission of being a lady in disguise and trying to assassinate a rogue Slayer was awesome, especially after Faith spent time with her and started to realize how similar they were. Because Faith has been misguided before, she is in a unique position to understand her target Slayer which makes it that much harder to follow through with her mission. People that Buffy might just brand as “evil” Faith sees in a different light. I love that the writer chose to explore this aspect of Faith’s character and I was glad to see Faith confront her dark side and chose against it (something she was never able to do in the show). There is this magic scene where Faith and Buffy fight and Faith is holding Buffy underwater. They are mirror images and this perfectly depicts their relationship.

As far as plot goes, this collection didn’t seem to have a lot to do with the overall arc that was building in the first volume accept that it finally shows us what Twilight looks like (we don’t know who he/she is, just what they dress like and their face is covered) and what Twilight’s goals are.

I found the same gorgeous action shots, the perfect blend of comic and character in the drawings and the unique placement from the first volume. I also happened to spot a seemingly throw away panel which I thought looked an awful lot like the Tenth Doctor and Rose from Doctor Who. Upon some research, it turns out that it WAS a nod to Doctor Who which made me ridiculously giddy.

Though Faith’s struggles managed to make me feel for her, it was again the last story in the comic that got me the most. This time, we follow Buffy and Willow as they go to visit a demon in another dimension. At first, I thought it was going to be a silly installment as they talk about their fantasies but the end does what all good Whedon works do… it hits hard. The demon plays with Buffy and Willow’s insecurities and makes them both confess things they never thought they’d say. Even though they want the world to think they are close, there is a final panel that shows them walking away very far apart which is stark contrast from the earlier ones where Buffy is clinging onto Willow as they fly. I smell trouble in Bullow-dise.

In the end, I enjoyed this one just as passionately as the first installment and now that I have a better understanding of how to read comics I feel like it is only going to get better. I think the choice of following a different character through their journey really helped build the scope of the Buffy universe and flesh out a wider story arc. Keeping the same great dialogue from the show and packing in as much drama, Volume 2 is still going strong in my book. Can’t wait to dive into Volume 3!

Rating: