Review: The Dragon, the Thief, & the Princess by Gillian Bradshaw

Award-winning novelist Gillian Bradshaw's classic fantasy-history tale of Egypt and Nubia, now in one volume. Teen fisherman Prahotep is nicknamed "bad-luck" because everything he touches turns to disaster. When his father dies, he sets off to Thebes to improve his fate, but soon winds up on a dangerous work crew, cutting stone for an evil magician. There he befriends a dying tomb-robber who tells him of unimaginable riches - and how to find them. Prahotep escapes the work crew but instead of finding the riches, he finds Lady Hathor, a proud, irritable dragon. Meanwhile, to the south, in Nubia, the princess Kandaki's family is murdered by an usurper. Kandaki refuses the usurper's offer of marriage, and is sent north to be offered as a sacrifice to a "swamp dragon".

I received this ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

This book started out a bit rough for me. I did not think I was going to like it because the way the opening chapters are written made me think it would have been more suited to a prose-y picture book than a 300 page novel. I could see myself reading this aloud to my son and it would have been fine. The Egyptian culture was evident and some aspects of it explained in simple and straightforward way (i.e. why Prahotep had to stay home for 70 days after his father died - embalming takes time).

As I read further in, though, things started to look up. I think the turning point was when Prahotep met Lady Hathor for the first time. I had never thought of dragons as something that related to Egypt in anyway. They seemed a more European story aspect. I liked the inclusion. It was unexpected and done well. I felt quite sad for Hathor here due to her situation (won't say more for fear of spoilers).

One thing that was a bit odd was that unless I had been told in the text that Prahotep was seventeen, I would have guessed twelve or thirteen. He comes across as a much  younger person, similar to Percy Jackson in the Olympians series.

Prahotep, for all his bad luck, does end up with some good luck along the way. If he had not failed so spectacularly at learning a trade, he would never have met Hathor or Baki. I thought that reading about all the different ways that his bad luck cropped up (the different trades failing, the magician and Kenna finding them on the river, etc.) would become tired, but the writing kept it fresh enough that I was not rolling my eyes every time something new cropped up.

Overall, I'd say that there were a few moments when the plot dragged and the beginning read more like a fleshed out picture book, but I could see sharing this with a middle grader to read on their own or reading it aloud to a slightly younger child.

Music Recommendation

I liked the thought of the journey that Prahotep begins when he comes to Thebes that ends up leading him to Hathor and their adventure. On a whole I would recommend the soundtrack for The Hobbit - The Desolation of Smaug for listening while reading this book. There are a few tracks that since up perfectly with moments in the book, for example:

Smaug

When Prahotep stumbles upon Hathor's cave, the feeling of wonder and a little fear is summed up wonderfully within this score.

My Armor is Iron

This song would work for anger or sandess, whichever  feeling was most in Hathor's heart. When you are first introduced to her and her history, there is such a depth of emotion that could go either way. Picture a reaction of anger or one of tremendous fear when reading her talking about her parents and grandparents and listening to this song. It came to my mind so well, I thought I'd better share it.







All pictures, quotes, and videos belong to their respective owners. I use them here solely for the purpose of review and commentary.

Earth's End Cover Reveal

Elise Kova, author of Air Awakens & Fire Falling, has graciously allowed The Hermit Librarian to take part in her cover reveal event for Earth's End, the third book in the Air Awakens series.

The second book in the series, Fire Falling, will be released on 19 November. While Earth's End will not be released until 11 February 2016, there is a lot of exciting content being released today to celebrate the unveiling of the cover.

Is that not one of the most beautiful cover you've ever seen?

Synopsis:

A woman awoken in air, a solider forged by fire, a weapon risen from blood.

Vhalla Yarl has made it to the warfront in the North. Forged by blood and fire, she has steeled her heart for the final battle of the Solaris Empire's conquest. The choices before Vhalla are no longer servitude or freedom, they are servitude or death. The stakes have never been higher as the Emperor maintains his iron grip on her fate, holding everything Vhalla still has left to lose in the balance.

Air Awakens Series

If you haven't read Air Awakens yet, you've been missing out on an epic story full of wit and magic. You can still catch up by purchasing Air Awakens now and pre-ordering your copy of Fire Falling.

Cover Reveal Exclusive: The Making of the Air Awakens Cover

Another really exciting bit of content on reveal day is a Q & A with the artist that drew the covers!

Meriliza Chan (Meril) is the cover artist that designed such gorgeous covers. I think she really pulled out all the stops with Earth's End. She's even written an entire post concerning the creative process that goes on for each cover. Be sure to check it out!

Her blog can be found at Merilliza.

First we have the interview with Meril herself, followed by one from author Elise Kova.

Meril's Q & A

What attracted you to doing the covers for the AIR AWAKENS series?

The AIR AWAKENS series was my very first book cover series. I’m not going to lie that I first took interest on the project because it was an opportunity for me to finally work on the book industry. Any artist starting out would be uncontrollably excited when offered a project as such. And THEN I read the story, read about the characters, got to know an amazing client and author, a friend, and so there lies my true answer. It was the perfect project for me, I loved the world, I loved the characters and I loved the idea behind it all. And so I wanted to make sure that I make it very special.

What program do you use to create your artwork?

I use various tools to create artwork. When starting out with ideas I prefer making them on my sketchbook first, not minding specific details and just having fun with idea generation and doodling. This is the stage we call ‘thumbnails’. The next step I usually use the digital media to finalize the thumbnails, but sometimes I go straight out and sketch my favorite thumbnail to turn into a finished linesketch. As such, all my finished artworks are painted and done in Adobe Photoshop (CC 2014, currently), along with my old and trusted Wacom Intuos 4.

What is your favorite cover so far?

That’s hard to say. I loved all of it so far! (Or I’m being extremely biased, because well, I worked hard on all of them! haha) But if I’m being asked as an artist I would probably say the first cover. It was simple, straight to the point, saying, ‘Hey, this is Vhalla, the Heroine for this amazing world/story’. I like covers that has that iconic, unique feeling to it and so I would say that the first cover definitely did it for this series.

What’s your background? Did you study art in school?

I finished university in 2014 with a degree of Bachelor of Finearts, Major in Advertising Arts. My Alma Mater is the University of Santo Tomas here in Manila, Philippines. The course I took focused on graphic design, branding and marketing for agencies, which is a very good background to have in any art industry. During our 3rd year to 4th year we had special classes we called ‘Electives’, which are basically specialized classes, this was the time I decided on focusing more on digital painting and illustration, rather than going into graphic designing, so I took electives related to my chosen field. By the time I got to the thesis phase, which is the final requirement before finishing the course, I decided to take on Book Illustration. I’ve learnt many things from my background that if it weren’t for it I’m not sure if I’ll be able to do the same things I’m doing right now.

(Without any spoilers) What did you like about the third book in the AIR AWAKENS series: Earth’s End?

Earth’s End is my favorite of the 3 books so far and my main reason is that it felt like everything was coming down together, finally! Especially for Vhalla. I loved the Vhalla in this book. The character has developed into something much more and although she’s still probably transitioning, she’s finally getting there. In general what I liked about Earth’s End is that there’s more action, more storyline focused on Vhalla and her world, there were more things learned about the other characters too such as Baldair, among many others. Elise has outdone herself with this one.

What’s one thing that you think would surprise people about the process of creating the AIR AWAKENS covers? Or, one thing people may not know?

Elise has always told me that she and her author friends never expect their artist to read the whole manuscript. And I read the whole thing because well, I just couldn’t help it. I have become very attached! She says I make the most ‘official-est’ fanart ever and I agree.

Elise’s Q & A

How did you come to work with zwxArt (Meril Chan)?

Well, when I decided to self-publish I knew the cover art would be one of the most important things about my book, and I also knew I wanted drawn artwork over photography. I, personally, feel like it’s “iconic high-fantasy” to have a painted cover and so that’s what I began searching for. Also, as an indie author, I wanted to work with someone else who wasn’t a big cover art company and perhaps was just getting their start also. So I was thumbing through DeviantArt for illustrators I liked and I found Meril.

It was the image below that made me know I needed to work with her. It was like she’d already created something that I thought captured the essence of Air Awakens, even if the visuals I wanted were completely different.

Can you explain the process from the author’s perspective? How are covers made?

Well, I can only explain in my limited experience. It’s my understanding that traditional authors get little to no control over what their covers look like. For me, I started by sending Meril what had been my query letter and a handful of scenes I pulled out from the story. I also sent her the draft manuscript in case she wanted to find how a particular scene I’d chosen to pull out fit in. I’d been told that cover artists are too busy to read their client’s work in its entirety, so I wasn’t offended by the notion of just handing her some scenes.

To my surprise, Meril read it all. Talk about knowing you made the right choice as an author! I seriously count my blessings every day for this.

So, Meril reads my draft manuscripts (she’s usually among the very first to read them before my editor) and then she begins drafting thumbnails. These are very rough, quick sketches to give me an idea of the layout. She explains a bit of each, what she sees as the inspiration and story for each cover. From there we tweak them.

Tweaking can be everything from, “What if she’s holding…” to “I like the third and fifth sketch, can you try to merge them?”

This process can take anywhere from two days to a week, depending on how long I need to stare at them and how many changes are being made.

Following that, Meril moves onto the final sketch with a bit more detail. Once we’re certain we’re on the same page with the final direction she starts rendering. As an author this stage of the process is basically magic to me. Because she transforms (granted, an already amazing rough) into an even more amazing final illustration.

When she’s close to the final she sends it to me (by this point I’ve already poked her for updates because I’m way too excited not to) and we do any last-minute editing like color changes, softening lines, or adding small details.

Once all that is done she sends me the final illustration and I do the text layout on it. And, that’s how the Air Awakens covers come to life!

What’s your favorite cover so far?

I like them all… They each have something that I think is perfect for the book they’re representing about them… I suppose, it’s a toss-up between Earth’s End and Fire Falling. Earth’s End just wows me with the background Meril created, it’s going to be a gorgeous hardcover book. There’s also a lot of teasers in there. But, Fire Falling has Aldrik on the cover, and that’s never a bad thing!

About the Author

Elise Kova has always had a passion for storytelling. She wrote her first novella, a high-fantasy, in sixth grade. Over the years she's honed her love of literature with everything from fantasy to romance, science fiction to mystery, and whatever else catches her eye.

Elise lives in Saint Petersburg, Florida, where she's currently working on the next installment in her debut YA fantasy series: Air Awakens.  She enjoys video games, anime, table-top role playing games, and many other forms of "geekdom". She loves talking with fans on Twitter (@EliseKova) and Facebook. Visit her website, EliseKova.com, for news and extras about her books!

Raffle

The good news doesn't end with the cover reveal! Elise has a raffle going on for a whole host of goodies that one lucky soul will walk away with, including:

• Air Awakens "Shatter the Sky" Canvas Bag
• Silver Wing Earrings
• Signed Paperback of Air Awakens OR Fire Falling
• Signed Air Awakens Postcard
• Signed Air Awakens, Fire Falling, and Earth's End Bookmark Set

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: The Casquette Girls by Alys Arden

Seven girls tied by time.

Five powers that bind.

One curse to lock the horror away.

One attic to keep the monsters at bay.

* * *

After the storm of the century rips apart New Orleans, sixteen-year-old Adele Le Moyne wants nothing more than her now silent city to return to normal. But with home resembling a war zone, a parish-wide curfew, and mysterious new faces lurking in the abandoned French Quarter, normal needs a new definition.

As the city murder rate soars, Adele finds herself tangled in a web of magic that weaves back to her own ancestors. Caught in a hurricane of myths and monsters, who can she trust when everyone has a secret and keep them can mean life or death? Unless...you're immortal. 

I received this ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 4 Stars

Characters

One of my favorite things about this book was the characterization, particularly of Adele Le Moyne. She was not what I have become used to in a typical YA main female character. In the paranormal/horror genre novels I have read, they have tended to be like the girls you would see in a horror movie: over excited, dim, and Dora the Explorer (let's explore the creepy abandoned house with unknown sounds!). Adele had a few moments when she was veering toward this kind of person, but on the whole I found her to be intelligent and relateable.

With the tone of New Orleans set, with the legends of the ghosts, witches, vampires, etc. throughout the city, it was not too long before I started looking at the other characters Adele met with something of a suspicious eye. Each one had something about them that added to the mystery of the story and caused me to wonder who they were, and in some cases, what they were. Here's looking at you, Nicco.

Pacing

The pacing of this novel was fantastic, something I've been looking  for more and more in books. The author took the time to get you intertwined with the characters. You find the story winding its way into your mind like a fog settling over the city: it's there before you realize it.

Setting

The pacing of this novel was fantastic, something that I've been looking for more and more in books. You get swept up in the story and the character known as setting. The Casquette Girls takes place in New Orleans following the worst Storm is has ever been through, a combination of all the bad hurricanes in history. You really get a feel for this town and for the experience the residents are going through, rebuilding their beloved town. There is so much history in the French Quarter and I wish I could say I'd read more books set in in.

The Ending

It would be difficult to summarize my feelings for the end of The Casquette Girls and my need for The Romeo Catchers (The Casquette Girls #2) but I can try:

WANT!!! NEED!!!

Unfortunately there is not a release date yet for the next book, though I think that it is meant to come out sometime next year, 2016? That is one of the few bad sides to finding such a fantastic and fun novel to read that turns out to be one of a series: if you read it too quickly, you have just that much more time before the next book comes out.

Bearing that in mind, you should definitely pick this up if a paranormal story is along your wavelength. It was on the high end of the scale for me as a YA paranormal book because it didn't succumb to the cliches that you sometimes see. I'd almost say that if you normally veer away from YA paranormal but enjoy adult paranormal, you should still give The Casquette Girls a shot. If any book could change your mind, it would be this one.

Music Recommendation

Nightwish is a band was brought up in my recommended Youtube videos and I think a great many of their songs would make a wonderful soundtrack for this book. My favorites are:

The Islander

Over the Hills and Far Away

The overall feel of this band: the instruments, the singing voices, it is all just amazing. Their current songs could stand to play in the background for The Casquette Girls, but imagine for a moment if the author got together with them and wrote songs specifically for the book? Be still my heart, that would be an album I would buy so fast!

All pictures, quotes, and videos belong to their respective owners. I use them here solely for the purpose of review and commentary.

Review: Fe-Lines: French Cat Poems through the Ages, collected and translated by Norman R. Shapiro

The French have long had a love affair with the cat, expressed through centuries of poetry portraying the animal's wit and wonder. Norman R. Shapiro lionizes the felines' limitless allure in this one-of-a-kind collection. Spanning centuries and styles, he draws on she-cats and toms, and an honor roll of French poets, well known and lesser known, who have served as their devoted champions.He reveals the remarkable range of French cat poems, with most works presented here for the first time in English translation. Scrupulously devoted to evoking the meaning and music of the originals, Shapiro also respects the works' formal structures. Pairing his translations with Olga Pastuchiv's elegant illustrations, Fe-Lines guides the reader through the marvels and inscrutabilities of the Mystique feline. 

I received this ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 3 Stars

I don't usually read non-fiction, so picking up this volume was a bit of a departure for me. I do love cats, though, so that helped me make up my mind to give it a try.

Poetry can be a difficult subject to discuss because the flow and the content make it a very personal topic. This is a volume of translated work, which made the assortment of poems even more interesting. There are pieces in it from hundreds of year ago to more modern times, which is a nice variety. 

Some of the older pieces I did not care for because the language was a product of its time and thus very different from what I am used to. This difficulty was especially evident in the older poems of a longer length.

One of my favorite poems was The Cat and the Dog by Andre Auguste Tandon (1759-1824). It typifies the relationship between cat and dog in a humorous way. The translator had to do a bit of work with this one regarding the dog's voice as there's a stammer there, but I think that he managed to capture the attitude of the dog.

Another favorite was The Clock by Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867). This was one that was more of the poetic prose sort that read more like a story to me, but in such a lyrical way that I would certainly call it poetry. It speaks to the cat lover's soul, illustrating the serenity that one might enjoy in the company of your feline.

Something that was an interesting feature was that the first half of the book is the translated works and the second half of the book was the originals. It was not as much of a draw for me because I cannot read French, but for someone that does, it could be fun to flip back and forth to see the differences between the original and the translated work.

The illustrations by Olga Pastuchiv were a great choice to include in this volume. Looking at them on a Kindle screen, they look like delicate pencil sketches that are smudged in just the right places. It gives the poems a sort of ethereal quality that fits most of the poems.

The reason that I am giving this a 3 star rating is that the older poems selected for the beginning of the book were too heavy for me; they felt as though they were dragging too much.

Another drawback was the introduction that also had that dragging feeling. It could easily be skipped, though, and wouldn't need to be read more than once if you were indeed interested in pushing through it.

Music Recommendation

This song was running through my head for much of the time I spent reading this volume of poetry. If I wasn't humming the tune under my breath, I was imagining Duchess reciting some of these poems in that perfect little voice of hers.

What else could it be but Everybody Wants to be a Cat from the movie The Aristocats.

All pictures, quotes, and videos belong to their respective owners. I use them here solely for the purpose of review and commentary.

Harry Potter Thursday - 12 November 2015

I learned about this sort of event from Little Lillie Reads after I'd done a tag she shared. Thank you, Lillie. :) It sounds like a lot of fun and it's something great to try out for Thursday content.

The premise: Uncorked Thoughts has a question for every Thursday from now until oblivion (or at least 2018!) relating to the Harry Potter universe. What you (or in this case I) have to do is answer the question. The meme's specific page can be found here.

Since I love Harry Potter so much and don't get enough chances to talk about it everyday life, this will be a lot of fun, starting with this week's question:

If you could change one thing in book two, what would it be?

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets has never been my favorite of the Harry Potter novels. When I re-read it this summer, I did think that perhaps I should rethink my stance on it because it was not as bad as I remember. There are things that still felt off to me, whether pacing or character behavior, but I can narrow it down fairly quickly to what I would change.

I would change the character of Gilderoy Lockheart to someone else. There isn't a specific character I have in mind, but he ought to be gotten rid of. He's an annoying prat for the most part, but upon further reflection, I see an even better reason for his removal: he doesn't add anything to the series.

Think about it: every other Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher brings something to the series and, with few exceptions, lasts beyond that one novel. Lockheart gets mentioned again in Order of the Phoenix I think, but it's been awhile since I read that one as well. 

Quirrel is the vessel  for the beginning of Voldemort's return. He's his minion and he literally carries the guy/snake dude around on the back of his head. Lupin is a friend to Harry and the first to really teach him something about Defense Against the Dark Arts. He sticks around, too, and has a huge impact on Harry as he grows up.

Goblet of Fire gets a bit tricky as Mad Eye Moody is the supposed teacher, though technically Barty Crouch Jr. is. Despite turning out to be a rather nasty piece of work, Moody/Crouch teaches Harry a lot turning his year. Harry learned to throw off the Imperius Curse, for crying out loud. No other teacher would have taught students that!

Dolores Umbridge is, yes, the worst "teacher" to ever set foot inside Hogwarts, but even she served a purpose. As a teacher she was horrid because she was of the mind that passing a test was all you needed to learn in school. It didn't help that the Ministry was behind her appointment and didn't want the children being turned into some army. Her mistreatment of students made them band together for a common purpose and was ineffective in regards to them learning how to use defensive spells. Her job as Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was a failure, but through it Harry stepped up and began to learn what it meant to be a leader. He taught his fellow students how to protect themselves and gave them the idea that they could be more than their teachers had in mind.

Even Snape had some good points in Half Blood Prince, which is hard for me to say since I view movie Snape and book Snape as two different creatures (guess which one I love?). He began teaching the students how to use non-verbal spells, an essential skill for them especially with the Second Wizarding War coming up.

What does Lockheart do? 

He sets pixies free, he sends dwarves around dressed as Cupids, and he tries to leave three students in the Chamber of Secrets to die. Not a good guy. Not a good guy at all.

Top 5 Wednesday: Books You Did Not Finish

I hate to not finish a book. It makes me feel weird and icky on the inside. It had happened, though. Sometimes there is something about a book that makes me very unhappy and I cannot finish it. I might try at a later date to go back and see if it was simply not right for me at that time, but others I know I won't go back or touch with a ten foot pole.

This does create a slight problem because I don't often not finish books. So, what I've done and you'll see is that I'll share some of the books that I almost did not finish. They were so bad that I nearly shut them forever, but  then I figured that there was so little of the book left that I might as well soldier on.

Since I got this book as an ARC, I really gave it my best shot as I do with all of my ARCs. There was something about this one, though, that made me regret requesting it in the first place. I marked it as "did not finish" at 20%.

The concept sounded really interesting, but upon reading it I found the plot muddled, the writing dull, and it had a main character that I could not get interested in. He was not sympathetic in the slightest and I did not want to find out what happened to him, he was that annoying.

I finished this one, but barely.

I did not like it for a couple of reasons and the biggest one was that nothing really happened. There wasn't a course of rising and falling action. I can like a novel in which nothing "happens" (i.e. no quest, no prophecy to fulfill), but this was ridiculous.

The characters were another huge problem for me. The main character was annoying. He was not relateable, I could not even pity him in his situation. There was nothing about his so-called development that made me want to know or that made me care what happened to him.

The best friend character was the only one I found to have developed at all. He was pretty cool and I would have liked to hear more about him after the conclusion of the story.

And then the title dying girl. What do I know about her? She dies. That is all. She barely appears in the story, though she is talked about a lot. We don't hear anything really meaningful about her. Then, she dies. Normally I would expect to feel sadness, remorse, joy, something if a character dies. For her? Nothing.

Rat Queens was another book that I really wanted to like. Similar to Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, there was a lot of talk about it so, naturally, I picked up a copy from the library and sat down to read it.

It was slow, almost painfully so. I didn't find the plot engaging in the slightest. I can't say that I have any interest in continuing the story.

I kept waiting for Harry Potter to show up, to be mentioned in some meaningful way. That was the only reason I started and continued reading. Did it ever happen? Nope. Hence the one star review I gave it.

This is the only book on the list today that I may re-read at some point. I really had a problem with it during my first read because Lara Jean was coming across as much younger and more foolish that she's supposed to be. I kept going because I'd like the first book for the most part and wanted to know what happened to the characters. It wasn't a great experience, but I might try it again because there's a possibility that I was expecting too much. Maybe, in retrospect, it's better than I thought and deserves a second chance.

Review: Winter's Fairytale by Maxine Morrey

Step into a winter wonderland and fall in love in the snow this Christmas...

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

A few weeks before Christmas and a sudden blanketing of snow has closed the roads and brought public transport grinding to a halt, stranding Izzy miles from home and in desperate need of rescuing.

That doesn't mean she's looking to bump into Rob and spend a cozy weekend holed up in his swanky flat watching London become a winter wonderland! Because Izzy and Rob have history... 

 Six months ago, they were standing in the vestry of a beautiful country church, while best man Rob delivered the news that every bride dreads on their big day.

But at the time of year when anything is possible, can Rob and Izzy let go of the past and let Christmas work its magic? Or will this be one holiday wish that Izzy lets walk right out of her life...

I received this ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 3 Stars

This book was simple and sweet, which is needed sometimes.

When the main event from the synopsis, that epic snow storm that strands them at Rob's for the weekend, happened within the first short bit of the book, I was worried that the rest of the novel would drag on needlessly. After that, the plot did drag on for a bit before a catastrophe brought Izzy and Rob back together. Fate can play a funny hand sometimes and it certainly did in their case. While it was quite a silly circumstance, that is the sort of thing one expects from a holiday book.

I quite like the author's description of the surroundings. For someone that does not live in London and doesn't really know what the countryside looks like, it felt like I was being welcome into the family along with Izzy and experiencing a true country Christmas.

Most of the characters came across well, though I have to say that we did not hear much about Izzy's former fiance. Obviously we are to assume he's a bit of a scoundrel, given that he left her at the altar and then went on the honeymoon by himself! I wanted to punch him for that bit there, but besides that, I didn't get a sense of what he might have been like, what it was that made Izzy fall in love with him in the first place (or what she thought was love).

The other character that made me hate her a bit was Rob's ex. She was a bit of the stereotypical ex-girlfriend that shows up to cause trouble for the main couple. You aren't meant to like her and I really didn't, which was the point of course, but I felt like I'd seen her a dozen times. Do all heroes have selfish exes? Why not have one that could actually be just as good for him as the MC? That'd add a bit of drama, yes?

Overall, the plot was a bit silly, but that helped, actually, because it made the book something relaxing that you could settle in with for the evening, perhaps snuggled up under a blanket on the couch with a nice cup of tea while the snow falls outside.

Music Recommendation

This song came to mind immediately when I thought of Rob and Izzy. As much as they might have not wanted to fall in love at the beginning of the story, when they had all that embarrassing history behind them, the course of the Christmas season brought out the love that was there, just beneath the surface.

You'll recognize it from the movie Shrek 2, but this video is the official music video from Counting Crows. It is especially silly, but that's okay. ;)

All pictures, quotes, and videos belong to their respective owners. I use them here solely for the purpose of review and commentary.