Salute to the Ships

Tags

falling kingdoms, st valentines, the captive, the cat eye chronicles shadowmarch, throne of glass

❤ ❤ ❤ In honor of St. Valentines’ Day, I would like to take a moment to pause and salute the results of my matchmaking amongst fictional characters. I can be a most passionate shipper, having been known to hyperventilate, swear, and shriek in reaction to whatever latest development has befallen my ship. You have probably heard me mention these before, but prepare to be hit with a wave of fangirling once more. ❤ ❤ ❤

 

Chaolaena (Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas)

I will ship this until the day I freaking die and I don’t bloody care what anyone says and if this ship sinks I will have WORDS.

 

Cleo & Magnus (Falling Kingdoms series by Morgan Rhodes)

As of page 316 of Rebel Spring, I ship this. I’m convinced they’re perfect for each other, if they’d ever stop with the sarcasm and the hostility long enough to figure it out.

 

Crora (The Cat’s Eye Chronicles by T.L. Shreffler)

From my current Favorite Series, I ship this so much it hurts. I love Crash, I love Sora, I love everything about them and I have shipped them from the moment they met. I need this to work out!

 

Braith & Arianna (The Captive series by Erica Stevens)

Just…yes. My inaugural foray into vampire literature, I adore these books and them as a couple and this series was one of the first romance titles to end up on my Shelf of Awesome.

 

Vansen & Briony (Shadowmarch series by Tad Williams)

 

You have not known the true pain of fangirling until you have shipped something for four gigantic books and the characters only speak twice while one of them makes plans to marry some prince. But I stuck with the series and it was soooooo worth it. The moral of the story? Stand by your ships.

 

❤ ❤ ❤ Happy St. Valentines’ Day to you, your ships, and, to those of you who have them, your significant other. ❤ ❤ ❤

Happy New Year’s Eve!

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am reading, graphic, new year, new Year's eve, photo post

Happy New Year’s Eve! I shan’t be partying tonight, instead I shall be huddled away using the occasion as an excuse to stay up later reading. (I have a 2014 reading goal to meet, after all!)

Top 5 fantasy locales for your Christmas vacation

Tags

book nerd, christmas

With Christmas upon us in a matter of days, you’re probably hard pressed to find some epic vacation destination for the family. Yes? Well, never fear. Here are the top five yuletide (or any time) tourist attractions for children ages one to ninety-two.

Narnia

Here we have somewhere Father Christmas visits in person. None of this outsourcing to parents and family members. You can dance the Christmas Eve away with the fauns before dashing through the snow with talking reindeer on Christmas Day—what’s not to love?

The Shire

Three words—hobbit snowball fights. And can you imagine what kind of feasts there are? That rivals Thanksgiving, let me tell you! (Maybe we can even get Gandalf to wear a red suit for the occasion.)

Westeros

Just kidding, I wanted to see that look on your face.

Hogwarts

The very best time of year to visit! And very safe since the demise of You-Know-Who. With the students out for vacation along with most the staff, a stay in the dorms, chat with the painting people, and enjoy spectacular service provided by the otherwise bored house elves.

City of Crowns

Though technically a celebration of midwinter, if you’re not worried about being family-friendly, you can go to what is essentially a two-week Mardi Gras in this bustling metropolis. (But if anyone, and I mean anyone with a mask turns up, you better turn around and run.)

Wherever you spend your Christmas, I wish you a happy one filled with pumpkin pie, evergreen boughs, and so much laughter your sides hurt until next year.

2013 Reading Challenge: I did it!

Tags

am reading, epic fantasy, fantasy, goodreads reading challenge, historical fiction, historical romance, indie author, mystery, new years resolution kept, paranormal, paranormal romance, self-published, ya, young adult

With the end of the year fast approaching and the time for New Year’s Resolutions bearing down on us, I would like to share (brag about) one of my resolutions for 2013 that I actually kept. Way back in January, I challenged myself to read 77 books in 2013 and what do you know, I did. There were books that made me laugh, one or two that even made me cry. Heroines and heroes I loved to bits, but also those I’d like to bludgeon to death. There were new additions to my Shelf of Awesome as well as a handful of disappointments. Overall, I had a pretty awesome year as far as literature goes. So feast your eyes on the cover candy!

(Click the covers to see my reviews of the books or their Goodreads pages for the ones I haven’t reviewed yet.)

My Favorite Christmas Songs No. 4

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christmas, christmas music, mary did you know, rascal flatts

Mary Did You Know is probably my favorite Christmas song of all time. I adore the whole song, but something about “when you’ve kissed your little baby, you’ve kissed the face of God” and “the sleeping child you’re holding is the great I Am” impact me in a way I can’t get over.

Happy Samhain/All Hallow’s Eve/Halloween!

Tags

all hallows eve, am reading, druids, Halloween, madeleine l'engle, middle grade, mythology, paranormal, samhain

A few years ago, I read a book by a tragically underrated literary genius, Madeleine L’Engle. An Acceptable Time is a comfortable resident on my highly selective Shelf of Awesome and one of only five books I have read more than once for pleasure (the other four being the previous books in this series). It deals with themes of mercy, tolerance, love, and forgiveness, a classic that I believe is still completely relevant today.

It takes place leading up to and following the Gaelic holiday of Samhain (pronounced /ˈsɑːwɪn/ SAH-win or /ˈsaʊ.ɪn/ SOW-in), also known as Halloween. Samhain was a festival to mark the end of the harvest season and the start of winter and  was observed in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man while similar festivals were held in Brittany, Wales, and Cornwall at the same time of the year. It is still traditionally celebrated by Wiccans and Celtic Reconstructionists.

Mumming (acting) and guising (disguising oneself) and going door to door in exchange for food were a part of the Samhain celebrations. The costuming may have been a way of hiding from the Aos Sí, a race of fairies from Scottish and Irish mythology closely associated with Samhain.

Samhain is known to have pre-Christian roots, but in 835, Louis the Pious switched the Roman Catholic holiday of All Saints Day or All Hallows from May 13th to November 1st. This made the last day of October into All Hallows Eve and the two holidays were eventually consolidated into the secular holiday of Halloween.

Guising appears to have reemerged in Scotland in the late 19th century, but would not be recorded in North America until 1911 in Ontario. By the twenties, guising had spread to Chicago and by the late thirties, dressing up and demanding sweets from one’s neighbors became common practice as well as the term “trick or treat,” leading to the Halloween of this century!

So there you have it, a brief history of today’s holiday. Whether you call it Halloween or are like me and it makes you feel smart to say “Samhain,” have fun tonight and don’t get carried off by anything malevolent!

(If I got any of my facts wrong, please correct me. I love learning!)

Happy Mother’s Day!

Tags

dragon, mary morrison, mermaid, mother, mother's day, nobody knows but mother, poetry, unicorn

Nobody Knows but Mother

by Mary Morrison

How many buttons are missing today?

Nobody knows but Mother.

How many playthings are strewn in her way?

Nobody knows but Mother.

How many thimbles and spools has she missed?

How many burns on each fat little fist?

How many bumps to be cuddled and kissed?

Nobody knows but Mother.

How many hats has she hunted today?

Nobody knows but Mother.

Carelessly hiding themselves in the hay—

Nobody knows but Mother.

How many kerchiefs willfully strayed?

How many ribbons for each little maid?

How for her care can a mother be paid?

Nobody knows but Mother.

How many muddy shoes all in a row?

Nobody knows but Mother.

How many stockings to darn, do you know?

Nobody knows but Mother.

How many torn little aprons to mend?

How many hours of toil must she spend?

What is the time when her day’s work shall end?

Nobody knows but Mother.

How many lunches for Tommy and Sam?

Nobody knows but Mother.

Cookies, apples, and blackberry jam—

Nobody knows but Mother.

Nourishing dainties for every “sweet tooth,”

Toddling Dottie or dignified Ruth—

How much love sweetens the labor, forsooth?

Nobody knows but Mother.

How many cares does a mother’s heart know?

Nobody knows but Mother.

How many joys from her mother love flow?

Nobody knows but Mother.

How many prayers for each little white bed?

How many tears for her babes has she shed?

How many kisses for each curly head?

Nobody knows but Mother.