Mundie Moms

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Book Review- Huntress

Published by Little Brown
Released on April 5th, 2011
Source- Book from publisher to review
4 stars- I enjoyed it

Nature is out of balance in the human world. The sun hasn't shone in years, and crops are failing. Worse yet, strange and hostile creatures have begun to appear. The people's survival hangs in the balance.

To solve the crisis, the oracle stones are cast, and Kaede and Taisin, two seventeen-year-old girls, are picked to go on a dangerous and unheard-of journey to Tanlili, the city of the Fairy Queen. Taisin is a sage, thrumming with magic, and Kaede is of the earth, without a speck of the otherworldly. And yet the two girls' destinies are drawn together during the mission. As members of their party succumb to unearthly attacks and fairy tricks, the two come to rely on each other and even begin to fall in love. But the Kingdom needs only one huntress to save it, and what it takes could tear Kaede and Taisin apart forever.

The exciting adventure prequel to Malinda Lo's highly acclaimed novelAsh is overflowing with lush Chinese influences and details inspired by theI Ching, and is filled with action and romance (quoted from Goodreads).


I wasn't sure what to except when I sat down to read Huntress, but I can say I didn't except to swept up into the world building and the character's journey's. The fantasy part of the book was my favorite. What starts off as a journey to the Fairy Queen turns into a wonderful character journey for the two main characters, Kaede and Taisin, both great heroines in their own right. I also loved the settle romance Malinda writes with their traveling companions, Prince Con and a member of his guard Sage.

Huntress has a very alluring mythology that hooked me from the get go. I've not read Ash, so I can not compare the two stories, though I know Huntress is a prequel to that story. With Huntress, I enjoyed all the elements that Malinda used to bring her story to life. It's rich Chinese influences, the action, the paranormal characters, the journey, and even the romance really created a spell binding story. Huntress is a story about following ones path and fulfilling their destiny. One of my favorite quotes from the story is found on page 28,

"Making a decision isn't' about knowing every potential consequence. It's about knowing what you want and choosing a path that take you in that direction."

Huntress has a fascinating mythology and fantastic action, and two sweet romances. I really love that both romances were supported by the characters making their own choices. Take Con for example, he's a Prince and told who he should marry, but instead he falls in love with Sage, a member of his guard. Than there's Taisin who's falling for Kaede the daughter of the King's advisor and highly knowledgeable in fighting, but is torn between being in love with her and following her path and her heart in wanting to be a Sage. Malinda's romances are written in a way that fits the customs of her time period. There's a few innocent kissing scenes and nothing more and even then there's only a couple of those scenes. The romance doesn't take away from what the story is truly about, but it adds to it.

For me, what makes this story is the adventure/journey and mythology. I know I keep saying that, but I was so hooked on it. I liked the added elements of magic. I feel Malinda's writing is flawless and her characters well developed. While they each have these notable talents and come from distinguished heritages, they are written in a manner that makes them relatable. They have times where they doubt themselves, they question their actions and abilities, and then they grow into themselves, and learn to accept themselves for who they are. I really like the end of Huntress, as Malinda stays true to her story. She keeps it realistic and as their journey together ends, each character has now chosen their own path to follow. I'd recommend this to readers who enjoy a wonderful fantasy, heart pounding adventure and a little bit of romance.

Be sure to visit the www.diversityinya.com site. Malinda, Cindy Pon and a group of fellow authors will be traveling around the country to talk about their books and the diversity in YA. This is one tour you don't want to miss!

BLACKHEART Has A Cover!

We're huge fans of Holly Black's The Curse Workers series, you can read my reviews for White Cat here and Red Glove here, and we can't wait for the 3rd book in the series to come out, BLACKHEART. Holly posted last night on her blog, the cover!!!

I think they've done an amazing job with the covers for the series, but this is my favorite one! I love that both Lila and Cassel are on the front. What do you guys think?

If you haven't already, we highly recommend picking up this series! Red Glove will be our featured book of the month in May. BLACKHEART will be out in stores in April 2012!

Live Spoiler COFA chat with Cassie Tonight at 8 pm CST!

We are SO excited about tonight's chat!! We are doing things a little bit differently... with the high number of attendees expected, ALL questions must be submitted before the chat. You can submit your questions HERE


*Our chat will start at 8 pm CST. To join, hit join and enter a screen name.!

* ALL questions needed to be submitted HERE before our chat started. We do our best to make sure all comments are published, but with the high volume of guests expected tonight, not all the questions may be answered in the hour time frame of the chat.

* This is a spoiler chat and ONLY questions pertaining to COFA will be posted.

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*Thank you and we look forward to chatting with everyone tonight!

**No part of this chat is allowed to be used with out our permission**

Book Review- Once Was Lost

By Sara Zarr
Published by Little, Brown
Released in Paperback on January 4, 2011
Source- book from publisher to review
4 Stars- Enjoyed it a lot!

Synopsis (From Little, Brown): Samara Taylor used to believe in miracles. She used to believe in a lot of things.

When your father's a pastor, it's hard not to buy in to the idea of the perfect family, a loving God, and amazing grace. But lately, Sam has a lot of reasons to doubt. Her mother lands in rehab after a DUI and her father seems more interested in his congregation than his family. When a young girl in her small town is kidnapped, the local tragedy overlaps with Sam's personal one, and the already worn thread of faith holding her together begins to unravel.

Once Was Lost was an emotional story that felt very sincere and pulled at my heartstrings and fed my inner teenage angst. This is the first novel I read by Sara Zarr and one that has made me want to go and explore the rest of her books, because it was such a great story and kind of beautiful despite its very heavy subject and painfully emotional plot.

Sam our main character is a pastor’s daughter but seems to have lost her faith in god and everything that her father seems to believe, she’s gone through a lot, her mother is an alcoholic and her father despite the fact that he’s a pastor, does not seem to put into practice what he preaches, so you can totally understand where she’s coming from. I know that the mere mention of religion and god in a book might deter a person from picking up this wonderful novel but don’t let that stop you, trust me, because even though it is a big part of the story is not a book that will preach at you about religion or going to church. Yeah, it’s a huge part of Sam’s journey in this one and her doubts in her church and god are a big part of the plot but it's also about her family and her life, and how what everyone including her, thought that what once was a perfect family seems to be falling apart right in front of her eyes and she can't figure out how to fix it, her confusion and frustration are definitely understandable.

Not only do we have Sam trying to figure out what’s going on with her family and her world falling apart but then a girl that she knows goes missing and she begins to feel the hopelessness increasing and her faith lessening, she wonders how people can keep hope when horrible things are happening around her and also feels guilt at even thinking about her own problems when this terrible thing is happening. Sam’s feelings and emotions were so vividly described thorough the story that I felt her anger towards her oblivious father, I hated him, and really felt the rage and confusion she was feeling while reading this. The ending definitely leaves you with a sense of hope but also wondering about some unanswered questions that might be way too painful to know the answers to. Even though I didn’t cry through Sam’s emotional journey while reading it, at the end and after closing it I did let a few tears slip out, my emotions were all in trumoil. The ending might not seemed completely finalized, but it leaves you satisfied with a resonating imprint that leaves you thinking about it for a while. The writing in Once Was Lost flows easily and beautifully that I was immediately immersed into the story and finished it in one sitting. Definitely recommend it.

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