The Wayfarer Redemption (US version of Battleaxe) by Sara Douglass

I have had this book sitting on my shelf for a long time now that I bought one day and kept for a new read when I was bored. Well I regret putting it on the shelf for so long. I should have read it long ago. The Wayfarer Redemption aka Battleaxe by Australian author Sara Douglass(www.saradouglass.com) was a refreshing epic fantasy. I had been looking for a new epic fantasy to read. One that would come close to standards with David Eddings' Belgariad series. This is the first of a trilogy and then there is another trilogy that takes place in the future past the Axis triolgy. I didn't realize this was a series until most of the way through the book (that always seems to happen to me...otherwise I try to avoid series.lol...not that it does me good since I have read so many now.) It took me a little to get into this book at first only because it was so foriegn to me I had a hard time grasping it. It took me 3 days to read this 629 page paper back book. It takes a while to become engrossed in the story only because it takes forever for us to be introduced to the two main characters and learn to like them enough to want to find out what happens to them. Though the main characters, Axis and Faraday, are very likable; there are many people controlling them that we don't like. This can become distressing. Don't let it. This fantasy has some crucial must haves: 1. some sort of magic 2. some sort of prophecy 3. great battle sequences 4. a great Hero 5. a great Heroine. I have yet to even purchase the next book in this series but how could I not? The end leaves us on a cliff and we have to read the next to find out what happens. Though they were nice enough to put a nice couple chapter exert from the next book at the end, I will not read it because it will just torment me that I can't continue to read past those chapters. I will hopefully purchase the book the day after Christmas. Merry Christmas to me :)! Merry Christmas to everyone else and Happy Holidays too! Pick up this book and read it! it's a marvolous read =) 10/10 stars!!!!!!

Loving the Highlander by Janet Chapman

I read this one shortly after I read the last one in this series. This story continues with the same highlanders whom traveled through time. We see the brother of Grey, Morgan, find his love. We also get to see the older men find some romance as well which is nice. I believe I enjoyed this one more than the last one. Mainly because I liked the main characters more. The male is one I could fall in love with and the female is someone I can relate to. It was exciting to see such a lovable woman be so accepting of her man. Good action scenes and love scenes. Overall very enjoyable read. I give it 8/5 stars.

Charming the Highlander by Janet Chapman

So I took a break from romances. But now I'm back. This one is a mix of historical meets fantasy. Janet Chapman takes the beloved highlander men from old days and throws them through time to find the loves of their lives. This is the first of a 7 book series (so far). The beginning of this book was hard for me to get into because of a sudden death that annoyed me. All the characters are lovable (except the ones who are supposed to be the bad guys. haha) Janet Chapman knows how to slip her characters into your heart nearly by the end of the first paragraph introducing them. With a winter setting and dangerous exciting stuff happening Janet Chapman keeps this story rolling. She also didn't disappoint with the Sutter brothers! Grace Sutter is the main female character and her 6 brothers are scattered about the country away from her. But by the end they come together and if anyone ever dreamt of tough, protective brothers, the Sutter brothers are perfect. Especially considering who they gotta be intimidating to. hehe. A good read. I will continue to read through this series that once again my sister got me into. That's what I get for getting her into the Dark series by Christine Feehan (it's 19 books long. so far. haha). Anyways... 8/5 stars :)

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

So I decided to take a break from all the sappy romance novels. I re-read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It has been at least 3 years since I have read it. I realized during reading it that I had seen the movie too many times and not remembered the book well enough. There were many differences between the book and the movie that I hadn't realized. I had begun to think that what happened in the movie was so similar to the book that it was the same thing. That is incorrect. The movie has many differences and the book is truely wonderful. I read it in paperback format, 384 pages long. It took me 2 days to read. I love the innocent feel of this very first book of the series, remembering how mature the books progress as they go along. This book was definitely worth re-reading and I'm glad I did so. It was a breath of fresh air from all my romance novels.lol. 10/5 stars. :)

Dark Prince by Christine Feehan

This is the first book in the dark series by Christine Feehan. Most of the books in this series can be read as stand alone books. Yet, I do NOT recommend that. I read most of them out of order and once I realized there was a order to them, I tried to keep to it and it made understanding the underlying large plot from book to book easier. This book I could not finish unfortunatly due to the fact that I had already read ahead in the series and did not find this couple as compelling to read about even though they are one of the most important couples involved in this series. I will say that Mikhail and Raven are a couragous couple that start the awakening for these wonderful Carpathian men, whom all who read these books seceretly...more maybe not so secretly...long for in real life. lol. There is just something strangly swoonifying about these "good" vampires. lol. This series is a long series of 20 stories. I say stories because a couple of them are short stories and not complete books, though do not skip those short stories thinking them unimportant. Some of those are my favorite of the entire series. I highly recommend reading this series of books and so highly recommend starting at the first book. If Mikhail is not your flavor, I'm sure one of the many other Carpathian men will steal your heart or your sensuality. ;) This book ins 314 pages long in paper back format and most paper backs will also have to Dark Descent story at the end of it. Dark Descent is a must read. :) Visit Christine Feehan's website. She has 2 or 3 other series of books she puts out as well. www.christinefeehan.com

Highland Honor by Hannah Howell

This historical romance between a murderous widow and a scottish knight started at a crawling pace. It wasn't nearly as action packed as I expected for a girl on the run but I suppose the book just wasn't long enough to accomadate such action sequences. It was a wee bit hard to read lol. The dialect that the author used for the Scotsman was hard to follow at first. The two main characters weren't likable enough to win my heart over. But overall it was a good enough read. I hope the other books by Hannah Howell are better written than this one. I have one more by her I had picked out to read from my sister's library. For being only 295 pages long, it took me a long time to read it. I started it 2 days ago... I don't think the characters were well enough developed. :( I would recommend it even though... For some aren't nearly as critical as I am about a nice romance novel.lol. 4/5 stars.

Dryden's Bride by Margo Maguire

Another historical romance. I wasn't too sure about this one since it is a Harlequin romance. I have read those in the past and they have been all sex and little romance. This one was good. I started it today at work and finished it a few moments ago. It is short and sweet at 296 pages long. It was very easy to fall in love with the two main characters and hard to feel any kindness towards any of the other adult characters in this story. Some were good friends though. I felt very compassionate for the two main characters and their trials they had been through in life. Margo Maguire did a good job with making sure she explained things well enough for us to understand thoroughly but not drawing it out to un-needed information. Very good read. 8/10 stars :)

Castles by Julie Garwood

So, I started this book yesterday and finished it this evening. I think it was 400 and something pages long, but I'm not for certain since I just returned the book to my sister moments ago and forgot to look. This tale of Colin and Princess Alesandra was very much a cookie cutter story that Julie Garwood likes to write. It was still a good read though. It had a murder mystery in it, which was a little different than her other novels I read. I found out tonight that there are 2 other books written by Julie Garwood that have the stories of 2 couples we see in this story who know the main characters by relation or business. But since I already seen them in this story together, it made me decline to read those stories. I'll edit this later and post the titles of those so if you might feel the same way, you could read those stories first. Colin made me yell alot. Alesandra made me yell too but only because I couldn't understand how she would speak up and tell her mind to Colin when I thought she should. The little tid bits of "writing like this" in the story showing the mind of the murderer we are searching for, I found quite disturbing but through them I was able to figure out who it was way before the characters did. I give the book 7/5 stars.

Saving Grace by Julie Garwood

Started this book today...and finished it today. :) This one was only 407 pages in paperback edition. It was wonderful. I loved the celtic setting. I found it interesting how the author always puts some kind of physical abuse happening to the main female character by her husband or relative. Makes me wonder if she or a close friend had experienced something like that. There was stuff like that which happened in Prince Charming that she wrote. I love how Julie Garwood is able to go back and forth between different characters thoughts from paragraph to paragraph. Though I did worry that there may be some who may be confused in reading it if they couldn't grasp the change. It's very nice of her to use that to let the reader have more insight of the whole situation from different points of veiw. I really enjoyed the lovely banter between husband and wife in this book, it really showed a humorous tale of affection. I believe it was just as well in Prince Charming...I really love this author, but I'm worried that her stories may start to seem like cookies cut with the same cookie cutter and just decorated with different icing and sprinkles. Yet...it won't keep me from trying each cookie to make sure ;) hehe 9/5 stars =P

Prince Charming by Julie Garwood

So I borrowed this book from my oldest sister. I was a bit skeptical about it being too gushy just based on the name of the book. It is one of my most favorite books now. I read it in less than 12 hours. It is 533 pages long in paperback edition. I stayed up all night without sleeping just to finish this book. The two main characters were wonderful, loved both of them. This is a historical romance btw. This is the first book I've read by Julie Garwood and I will most definitely read others of hers and see if they are as good as this one was. If so, then I expect she will be one of my new favorite authors...though that list is some what long now a days...lol This book has great pace from event to event and a little bit of action/adventure. The romance was wonderful. Not too much sex...I hate the super gushy romances where it's all sex and not really romance. Even though Christine Feehan's books border on too much sex... (Christine Feehan is one of my favorite authors, check out her Dark series and leopard series) If I were to give this book stars...I'd give it 10/5 stars it was so great!

no more Sword of Truth series

So, after only reading half way through the 4th book of the Sword of Truth series, Temple of the Winds, I decided that I would not finish it nor the rest of the series. I decided that I just couldn't go on reading these books. There was too much rape and torture. I seriously think that Terry Goodkind needs some counsoling. It also was too much suspense. I have read both The Belgariad and The Malloreon series by David Eddings and those were quite enjoyable. But The Sword of Truth series, I didn't get much enjoyment from reading. It felt almost like a chore. I felt I needed to finish the series so I could find out what happend to the characters. Then when I felt I could take no more, I remembered that....HEY! It's modern days, I can find anything on the internet. So happens that wikipedia.net has a nice description of each book in the series' plot. SO i CHEATED! If you don't like that....blah! I don't care.. I'm done wasting my time being horrified at the horrible rape and torture scenes Terry Goodkind came up with. So...if you have also read these books only to stop short after being fed up with some of the annoying things in there, then I recommend looking them up on wikipedia.net and reading the plots there to find out what happens to the characters. I would recommend the 1st book of this series only as a good read. I loved Wizard's First Rule. It was the only book I truly enjoyed in this series.

Temple of the Winds- how...annoying!

So, I'm only less than 300 pages into the 4th book of The Sword of Truth series, Temple of the Winds by Terry Goodkind. I am very annoyed at Mr. Goodkind. How many times does he have to use the characters thoughts to fill up a half a page thinking about things that have already happened and re-explain them to the reader? As if we haven't read the previous books... I don't think that anyone could properly read past book 1 as a stand alone book. Also, it seems that everytime the characters are conversing, that they nearly have to pull the others teeth out to get anything out of them. Come on!!! Did he really need to drag on through the pages like this? It's all bullshit just to fill in pages to make the freaking book longer! I hope to God that the rest of the series is not like this or I may not read past the 5th book! Plus... I seriously hope that after this series came out that any population of physciatrists that read any of these books offered free help to Mr. Goodkind. All these horrible rape/torture scenes are starting to become sickening. :(

SoT by Terry Goodkind, B3- Blood of the Fold

So, I finished the 3rd book in The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind a couple days ago. Blood of the Fold was very good. Being 623 pages long made it a faster read than the 2nd book by far. It also had alot of exciting things going on in this one, rather than just having a sense of dread. We see alot of twists and turns in this book. Richard now has Aydindril in the palm of his hand if he can hold tight enough... Alot of alliances and trust between them are tested... Good point; not as many horrific torture or rape scenes. Though at a few points I winced and grabbed my nipples...lol. I also found myself yelling at Richard alot throught this book. He's so headstrong and just going off and doing whatever whim of an idea comes to mind. Though his ideas have not come to go wrong enough that I don't trust him...idk..it's just...I don't trust Terry Goodkind not to twist it on us. I find that as soon as you think something is going right Mr. Goodkind decides to flip the tables on us. That can be a double egded sword there. I like to not feel on the verge of histaria reading a book and reading about the characters. LOL...ok. Maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit... Maybe I'm just feeling that way now...I started the 4th book yesterday. ;) Let me just say this... I have times I just wanna yell at both Kahlan and Richard, maybe go as far as bend them over my knee and spank them. ROFL. Anyways, 3rd book was wonderful :) I was very happy with it after reading the 2nd book and worrying that the 3rd would be like it.

SoT by Terry Goodkind, B2- Stone of Tears

So the 2nd book in The Sword of Truth series is Stone of Tears. This had to be the LONGEST book I have ever read. It was 979 pages long and felt it. It was a good book, but I had a hard time getting through the first half of the book. I had become so attached to the characters from the 1st book that I just felt a sense of dread and foreboding that made every page feel like the longest day of my life. With tons of sneak peeks at prophecy of what may or may not happen to our favorite characters throughout the book, it made it hard to want to keep reading. I'm one of those people who yell at people on tv when they do stuff stupid or stuff that I know will only cause them grief, because as the reader we have more insight about things than the characters sometimes have. I rarely feel like yelling at characters in the books I read, but I felt like doing that in this book. For those of you haven't ever read this book, do not read this as a bad thing and decide not to read it. Would you not live your life just because someone told you it wouldn't be a good one and that you would make tons of mistakes? I would still live my life and vow that it had to be better than that person said. The 2nd half of this books makes up for the 1st half of this book. Trust me you will be smiling at the end. :)

The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind: Wizard's First Rule

Ok, so I started reading The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind maybe three weeks ago. The first book, Wizard's First Rule, was 573 pages long in the large edition print. I didn't realize it was the first book in a series when I purchased it until later... I read it as a stand alone book not realizing til maybe a week after I finished it that there were many more books in the series. I was excited and annoyed at the same time. I love to read, so when I find a series of books I get excited because it's like a promise of the story to continue longer than usual. Yet, I have come to dread series as well because I read so fast and must have the next book as soon as I'm finished with the one in my hands that my wallet cries everytime I find a new book series. ( I buy my books and keep them to reread later) Well, anyways... Wizard's First Rule was wonderful. It took me 3 days to read. I fell in love with all the characters so quickly. It reminded me some of The Belgariad and The Malloreon by David Eddings...I'll talk about those books in later blogs... Anyways, Richard is a great hero in this tale and you quickly see how he can love Kahlan. Zedd makes a marvalous "all knowing" grandfather figure *wink*wink*. The book flew by before my eyes and I have the gift of being able to see these words in my mind almost as a movie playing before me. Though quite nerve wracking at some points, it was a breathless exilerating journey around Midlands and into the People's Palace. (which btw I love that it's called the People's Palace. In a way, if felt almost like it was my home too. After Richard of course clears it of it's evil...*listens for Zedd's fire and order to walk not run and rethinks that statement* LOL Anyways, if you haven't read this series, I would recommend it so far. It's a great epic fantasy tale. If you have read it. Please leave comments and tell me what you thought about the book. I have finished w/ the 2nd book already last night and started the third today. I will post seperate posts for them. :)