Review: Shadow by Jenny Moss

Shadow by Jenny Moss
My rating:  4.5/5.0

Publisher: Scholastic
Release Date: April 1, 2010
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 384

** I received this book through Around the World Tours, Check out this post for more reviews of Shadow.**

My Review:

A fascinating fantasy read, I enjoyed this book throughout.

Shadow has always been just that, a shadow to the young queen who is the same age she is. She has been told to protect the queen at all costs, so she very rarely gets to move far from the queen. And the queen doesn't get to move because she has been told she will die before her official coronation. So all Shadow wants to do is explore the outside world. She cherishes moments she can spend outside, and she also treasures moments when Sir Kenway is around even though his attentions are toward the queen.

As the plot shifts and Shadow gets her wish to get away from the castle but not in the way she expects. She embarks on the adventure of a lifetime that will test her and what she thinks she wants from life. She will have to make choices on whether to put herself or others first.

It's a wonderful coming of age tale about wishing for one thing all of your life and then when you receive it, you have decisions to make and it's not all you made it out to be. Shadow has to grow up suddenly and has many decisions before her. I found her character fascinating but sometimes frustrating, but when I thought about it she acted like a child at times because she was a child. So her character was actually very well done.

The plot is mesmerizing. I read this book quickly because I couldn't wait to find out what happened next. The supporting characters were also very intriguing and added a lot to the story. Shadow is a wonderful young adult read, full of a beautiful land, interesting characters and an amazing plot.

About the Book:

In a time of kings, queens, and conspiracy, it's impossible to know whom one can trust. . . .

In a kingdom far away and long ago, it was prophesied at her birth that the queen would die before her sixteenth birthday. So Shadow, an orphan girl the same age as the young queen, was given the duty to watch her every move. And as prophesies do tend to come true, the queen is poisoned days before her birthday. When the castle is thrown into chaos, Shadow escapes with a young knight, whom she believes was betrothed to the queen.

Unsure of why she is following Sir Kenway, but determined to escape as far as possible from the castle, her long-time prison, Shadow sets off on an adventure with the handsome knight who has been charged with protecting her. As mystery builds, and romantic tension does, too, Shadow begins to wonder what her role in the kingdom truly is. Soon, she learns, it is up to her to save her land.

Pump Up Your Book Promotion Tour and Review: Gringa in a Strange Land by Linda Dahl

Join Linda Dahl, author of the literary fiction, Gringa in a Strange Land (Robert D. Reed Publishers, January ‘10) , as she virtually tours the blogosphere in January on her first virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book Promotion!

**  I received my book from the author for this book tour. **

Gringa in a Strange Land by Linda Dahl (click on cover to purchase)

My Review:

Rating: 4.0/5.0

Gringa in a Strange Land is a very interesting novel.  Erica's life is shared in a series of stories all put together to see how her life is.  I found it fascinating.  I was born in the mid-70s so I am unfamiliar with how the 70s were so it was a true eye-opener to me.  I am also unfamiliar with Mexico and learned a lot.  I realize that Erica was not symbolic of everyone in the 70s, but it does show a fictional life of someone in the 70s trying to make it in art and also dealing with men and a prescription drug addiction.

At times I felt sorry for Erica, at times I cheered for her and at times I wanted to slap her.  This book brings out all of your emotions and I think that makes it a very good book.  This was a different type of book for me to read and I enjoy stretching my boundaries.  This was a great book to do that with.

About Linda Dahl

I have always loved to write about characters, usually edgy, little-known folks with wonderful stories and talents. I love places too and music, above all jazz. As a girl, I dreamed of traveling around the world and as soon as I could, I took to the road. I was fortunate to live and work in a number of Latin American countries. After college (Latin American Studies, University of Wisconsin), I moved to the Yucatan in Mexico, and then made the pilgrimage to another foreign country called New York with a suitcase and several hundred dollars. This was in the mid-l970’s.
Finding the requisite cheap, shabby apartment (you could still do so in those days), I started writing in earnest. I had a number of ridiculous jobs to pay the rent, such as writing reviews of C- movies I never actually saw (no one else seemed to be watching them either), driving an ice-cream truck in Central park for just one day until I had a fender-bender, and writing a history of all the world’s cheese with a two-week deadline for a manic food editor. I managed also to produce novels, biographies and essays about women in jazz, and quirky travel articles about such topics as the Carmen Miranda Museum in Rio, a priestess of Candomble, a.k.a. voodoo (interview in rudimentary Portuguese), and a Mayan folk healer.
I am happy to say that most of my writing efforts have been published, well-reviewed and are still in print. My latest novel, a love-child, is “Gringa in a Strange Land,” available in January 2010.
You can visit Linda Dahl’s website at http://www.lindadahl.com/.

About Gringa in a Strange Land

Gringa in a Strange Land brings back the exhilarating and confusing time of the “counterculture” in the early 1970’s.
Erica Mason, an American woman living in Mexico, is torn between working to become an artist and the lure of the drug culture.
Set mostly in the colonial city of Merida in the Yucatan peninsula, the story also moves among Mayan ruins, laid-back beaches and the cities of Belize and Oaxaca.
A host of bohemian expats and Mexicans, and the complex character of Mexico itself, infuse this portrait-of-the-artist-as-a-young-American, culminating in an unexpected resolution.

Read an Excerpt

Night came as it did every evening to Merida, lazily, gracefully. The final light through the spires and towers of the cathedral, which dominated one side of the plaza, melted into the old stones and briefly glowed on the arcades ringing the rest of the square. The plaza, smelling of old things, rustled with the dry sighs of the grey old trees mixed with the whooshing sounds of Mayan and plangent Spanish of the families resting on its benches. It spoke of an ancient harmony, and sitting to one end on “her” bench, Erica could not imagine it would ever end. People streamed continuously through the plaza with their henequen bags or the more “modern” plaid plastic bags used now for shopping. Children played, but many instead worked, as shoeshine boys, vendors of Chiclets and one-cigarette-at-a-time; round-eyed Indian girls helped their mothers sell the last of the produce. Taxi drivers stood with rounded shoulders like horses waiting for a fare. And Alonso came slowly along, in immaculate whites, absentmindedly stroking his guitar case. He sat down heavily beside Erica, looking around him with the mildest of interest—this was, after all, the city of his birth, everything was perfectly routine—and then rolled his eyes to the evening sky, a deep cobalt blue.
“You are really en la onda tonight,” Erica commented. Riding the wave. In the groove. But then, he so often looked stoned, even when he wasn’t.

***

Linda Dahl’s GRINGA IN A STRANGE LAND VIRTUAL BLOG TOUR ‘10 will officially begin on January 4th and end on January 29th. You can visit Linda’s blog stops at www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com during the month of January to find out more about this great book and talented author!

FIRST Wild Card Tour and Review: Matter: Its Properties and Its Changes by Tom DeRosa and Carolyn Reeves

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

Today's Wild Card authors are:

Tom DeRosa
and
Carolyn Reeves

and the book set of
Matter: Its Properties & Its Changes

The Main Book

The Student Journal

and The Teacher's Guide

New Leaf Publishing Group/Master Books (May 8, 2009)

***Special thanks to Robert Parrish of New Leaf Publishing Group for sending me a review copy.***


My Review:

This is another set of books like the ones I reviewed yesterday and I feel the same about this set.  I think it's a good set of books to teach children some of the science basics in an interesting a fun way.  I will be taking this set to my son's charter school for them to check out after I do some of the experiments with my sons.  The books are well-written and well thought out.  Some experiments take a lot of materials, but most can be found around the house or nearby (unlike my chemistry set when I was a child which needed a lot of things we couldn't seem to find).  I look forward to using these books to teach my boys my love of science.

ABOUT THE AUTHORs:

Tom DeRosa left seminary and the church thinking he was throwing away his faith, but in reality he found a new religion: evolution. In 1978, Tom accepted Jesus Christ as Lord of his life. Soon after he studied biblical creation at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church and came to the conclusion that a lack of knowledge of the biblical account of creation is greatly responsible for keeping many people from Christ. His commitment to breaking down those barriers is what led Tom to form Creation Studies Institute in 1988.


Carolyn Reeves, Ph.D. and her husband make their home in Oxford, Mississippi where they are active members of North Oxford Baptist Church. Carolyn retired after a 30-year career as a science teacher, finished a doctoral degree in science education, and began a new venture as a writer and an educational consultant.



AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:




The Main Book Product Details:

List Price: $12.99
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Perfect Paperback: 96 pages
Publisher: New Leaf Publishing Group/Master Books (May 8, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0890515603
ISBN-13: 978-0890515600

The Student Journal Product Details:

List Price: $4.99
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Paperback: 32 pages
Publisher: New Leaf Publishing Group/Master Books (May 8, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 089051559X
ISBN-13: 978-0890515594
Product Dimensions: 10.6 x

The Teacher's Guide Product Details:

List Price: $4.99
Paperback: 32 pages
Publisher: New Leaf Publishing Group/Master Books; Tch edition (May 8, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0890515611
ISBN-13: 978-0890515617

Matter

Its Properties & Its Changes


By Tom DeRosa & Carolyn Reeves


Investigation #1: The Physical Side of Chemicals


Think about this. A detective collected samples of food from the table where a victim was eating when he collapsed. The detective sent them to a crime lab. A few days later, the lab called to say they had positively identified a poison in the victim’s food that was not in anyone else’s food. Have you ever wondered how someone in the crime lab could figure out what chemicals are present in food or in someone’s blood or in something else?


The Investigative Problems:

How can the physical properties of a chemical substance be used to help identify the substance?


Gather These Things:

Magnet
Iron nail
Sugar cube
Copper penny
Container of water
A piece of paraffin
Small amount of vegetable oil


Procedure & Observations

Your teacher will show you ten items. Your job is to identify one of the items on the basis of its physical properties. You should eliminate any item that doesn’t match the descriptions. These are the physical properties of the item: It is round. It is flat. You would not want to eat it. It would be hard to break. It is shiny. What is the item that has all of these properties?

Your teacher will give you some more substances to investigate, but each of these will be a pure chemical substance. They will be either an element or a compound.

Bring a magnet near each substance and observe if the magnet has an effect on it. Place each substance in a container of water and observe if it floats or sinks. Note if it is soluble (will dissolve) or insoluble (will not dissolve) in the water. Note also the color and whether it is shiny or dull. Put this information in a data table.


(sample of date table)


The Science Stuff

Physical properties are often characteristics you can see, hear, taste, smell, or feel, but may include any physical characteristics of a substance. You used some simple physical characteristics to identify one of the ten items you were first shown.

Some of the items you were shown were pure substances (like the glass), and some were a mixture of many substances (like the apple). A pure chemical substance could be either an element or a compound. (We’ll learn more about elements and compounds later.) A fragment of a pure substance would have the same properties as the whole substance. All of the basic particles in a pure substance are the same. For example, a piece of pure iron only contains particles of iron and a container of pure water only contains particles of water.

Properties such as size and shape were helpful in identifying the first items, but they are seldom considered in identifying pure chemical substances. The properties of the five pure substances listed in the chart will be present regardless of the size, shape, or amount of the substance. Scientists look for characteristics that will remain the same no matter where the chemical is found. Almost any substance can be made into a round shape, so this would not be helpful in knowing what chemical is present.

We examined physical properties of several pure substances, including the effects of a magnet, whether the substance would float or sink in water, whether the substance was soluble or insoluble in water, its color, and its shininess. There are many other properties we could have considered, such as odor, taste, density, hardness, brittleness, elasticity, melting and boiling temperatures, solubility in other liquids, conductivity of heat and electricity, and viscosity.


Making Connections

There is a huge need for methods, instruments, and trained people to identify chemical substances that are present in things. Identifying unknown chemicals is part of the study of analytical chemistry. This includes what chemical are present, their characteristics, and how much is present. There are many crime labs that hire people to help solve crimes by identifying things such as drugs, alcohol, poisons, or traces of gunpowder. Medical labs test blood and urine for the presence of many kinds of substances. Other labs help identify pollutants in the air, water, and environment. Industries must consistently monitor their products for impurities. These are only a few of the places where chemicals are analyzed.

One of the most important things any society can do is to maintain a clean source of water. During the Industrial Revolution, many factories were built next to a river so they could dump their wastes into the river. Congress eventually passed a number of laws to try and keep our water sources free of pollution. Even today, environmentalists look for better ways to prevent pesticides and other harmful chemicals from being washed into rivers and lakes after a rain.


Dig Deeper

Labs generally use both traditional methods and a variety of instruments to identify chemical substances. An instrument known as a spectroscope is often used to help analyze the chemicals in something. Do some reading about spectroscopes to find out how they work and what uses thy have.

Crime labs hire forensic scientists. What do forensic scientists do? Is there more than one kind of forensic scientist? If so, what are the different areas in which they work?

What are some of the U.S. laws that try to prevent water pollution? Do all countries have similar laws? Try to find the name of one charity whose mission is to provide clean water to people who don’t have clean water to drink.


What Did You Learn?

What are physical properties of chemical substances?
When scientists want to know what chemical substances are in an item, they seldom consider the size, shape, and amount of the item. Why is that?
Give ten examples of physical properties used by scientists to describe a chemical substance.
What is a pure chemical substance?
What are some of the things students learn about in analytical chemistry?
What are some of the main things that are don in medical labs?
How might an environmental agency use a lap that analyzes chemical substances?
Are the physical properties of pure iron the same anywhere pure iron is found?

FIRST Wild Card Tour and Review: Forces and Motion: From High-speed Jets to Wind-up Toys by Tom DeRosa and Carolyn Reeves

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

Today's Wild Card authors are:

Tom DeRosa
and
Carolyn Reeves

and the book set of
Forces & Motion: From High-speed Jets to Wind-up Toys

The Main Book

The Student Journal

and The Teacher's Guide

New Leaf Publishing Group/Master Books (January 16, 2009)

***Special thanks to Robert Parrish of New Leaf Publishing Group for sending me a review copy.***

My Review:
This set of books seem excellent for teaching children science using everyday household items.  Because of my surgery and Christmas - I didn't get to try anything yet, but after looking through all the books there are a lot of things I would like to try with my 9-year-old.  I am a science-lover and he is also so I can see us enjoying these books for quite some time.

The books are well laid-out.  The student book goes over the lesson well.  The journal seems excellent for recording observations and conclusions and the teacher's guide helps put the two together for parents who aren't science teachers. 

I am also planning on recommending this series to my son's charter school - I think it is really well-done and would be great for homeschool or regular school or just parent's that want to have fun and teach their children.

ABOUT THE AUTHORs:

Tom DeRosa left seminary and the church thinking he was throwing away his faith, but in reality he found a new religion: evolution. In 1978, Tom accepted Jesus Christ as Lord of his life. Soon after he studied biblical creation at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church and came to the conclusion that a lack of knowledge of the biblical account of creation is greatly responsible for keeping many people from Christ. His commitment to breaking down those barriers is what led Tom to form Creation Studies Institute in 1988.


Carolyn Reeves, Ph.D. and her husband make their home in Oxford, Mississippi where they are active members of North Oxford Baptist Church. Carolyn retired after a 30-year career as a science teacher, finished a doctoral degree in science education, and began a new venture as a writer and an educational consultant.





Product Details for the main book:

List Price: $ 12.99
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Paperback: 88 pages
Publisher: New Leaf Publishing Group/Master Books (January 16, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0890515395
ISBN-13: 978-0890515396

Product Details for the student journal:

List Price: $ 4.99
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Paperback: 48 pages
Publisher: New Leaf Publishing Group; Student edition (January 16, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0890515409
ISBN-13: 978-0890515402

Product Details for the teacher's guide:

List Price: $ 4.99
Paperback: 48 pages
Publisher: New Leaf Publishing Group; Tch edition (January 16, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0890515417
ISBN-13: 978-0890515419

AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:

Forces & Motion

From High-speed Jets to Wind-up Toys


By Tom DeRosa & Carolyn Reeves


Investigation #1: Wind-up Walking Toys, Speed, Time, and Distance


Think about this. Many people still consider “Bullet” Bob Hayes to be the world’s fastest runner. In the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, he was part of a 4 X 100 relay race. He was already running when he took the baton. He completed his 100 meters of the relay in 8.6 seconds. He also ran the 100-meter dash in 10.05 seconds. In this race, he started from a still position. Four years later at the Mexico City Olympics, James Hines ran an official time in the 100-meter dash that was less than 10.0 seconds for the first time ever. His record stood for several more years, but Bullet Bob’s relay race time will be a hard record to break.

These very fast runners were moving an average of about ten meters every second. Use a meter stick to mark off ten meters and make a prediction of how many meters you think you could run each second. Would you like to be able to figure out how many meters you can run in one second?

We can calculate the speed of a moving object by testing wind-up toys. How far a wind-up toy moves can be measured with a ruler. How long it takes the toy to move a certain distance can be measured with a watch. These two numbers can be used to calculate its speed.


The Investigative Problems:

How can we determine the speed and motion of a wind-up talking toy?
How can this be shown on a graph?


Gather These Things:

Walking toy
Chart
Pencil
Clock with second hand
Toothpicks
Metric ruler (with each cm divided into tenths)


Procedure & Observations

For these measurements, you will need a metric ruler where each centimeter is divided into tenths. Look carefully at the markings on the ruler. Notice there is a long line by each number. There are shorter lines following each number. The short lines are written as decimal numbers. Measure the line to the right by putting the zero mark of the ruler at the beginning of the line. The correct answer is found by writing the last whole number, a decimal, and the number of short marks following the number. The abbreviation “cm” is written after these numbers. Did you get 15.3 cm for your answer? Work with a partner. Each of you should draw two or three more lines. Measure each other’s lines. Check each other’s answers.
Lay the ruler out in front of you. Wind up the walking toy next to the ruler and measure how far it walks in ten seconds. Record. Calculate its average speed by dividing the total distance it walked in centimeters by ten seconds. Write your number answer followed by cm/s. This is read “centimeters per second.”
Measure how long it takes for the wind-up toy to walk one meter. Record. If it doesn’t make it that far, record how far it walked and the time it walked. Calculate its average speed by dividing the distance it walked by the time. The speed will be in m/s (meters per second) if it walks as far as a meter. If you measure the distance in cm, your answer will be in cm/s.
Go back to the starting point. Wind up the toy again. This time lay down a toothpick next to the ruler every time the instructor calls out a five-second interval. Record for 30 seconds. Measure the distances between toothpicks and record in the chart below.
Graph the results of distance versus time. Your teacher will show you how to put this information in the graph. Does your graph make a straight line or a curved line? Try to think of a reason for this.
Did your walking toy start out fast and then get slower until it stopped, or did it keep walking at the same speed all the way?
Race your walking toy with someone else’s. Which one was the fastest?


The Science Stuff

The motion of an object can be described by changes in its position, by its direction, and by its speed. Speed can be calculated by measuring the distance an object moves and the time it takes to move that distance. Divide the distance by the time to get the speed.

The distance traveled equals the object’s speed multiplied by the time traveled. The same units of time must be used. For example, if a toy travels 50 cm/minute and it travels fro a total of two minutes, it has traveled a total of 100 cm. The calculations would be 50 cm/min X 2 min = 100 cm. Minutes would cancel out, leaving cm as part of your answer.

Different aspects of motion can be shown on a graph. If the speed of the walking toy stayed the same, the graph line will be straight, but if your walking toy slowed down, the graph line will be a curve. Remember, the source of energy for walking toys is a wind-up spring. A tight spring may provide more energy than a loose spring.

Scientific measurements are taking in metric units. The correct abbreviation for centimeter is cm; for meter, it is m. the correct abbreviation for centimeters per second is

Cm/s; for meters per second, m/s.


1 centimeter (cm) = 1/100 meter
1 meter (m) = 100 centimeters
1 kilometer (km) = 1000 meters


Dig Deeper

See if you can use the Internet or some reference books to find the runners who have run at official speeds of ten meters per second or greater. (There won’t be many.)

Do additional research to find some more world records for swimming, skating, bicycling, or other sports.

Use the Internet or some reference books to find the top speeds of several animals. Did you find any that you could outrun? What is the difference in how humans run and how certain animals run.

(If you choose one of these projects, use a creative way to display your findings.)


Making Connections

Sometimes a highway patrol officer will stop a car for speeding, and the driver will insist that the car was traveling within the speed limit. Is it possible that the car’s speedometer is not accurate? Mile markers along the highway and a watch can tell if your car’s speedometer is accurate. To do that, have the driver hold the car’s speed at 60 miles/hour. Start timing with a watch that has a second hand as the car reaches a mile marker. Stop timing as the car reaches the next mile marker. The speedometer is accurate if the car travels one mile in 60 seconds. One mile/minute is the same as 60 miles/hour. You can also calculate the speed of your car by dividing the distance of one mile by the time it takes the car to travel from one mile marker to another.

Suppose you are traveling in a car wit the cruise control set at 65 miles per hour and your driver drives for two hours without stopping. Multiply the speed by two hours to see how many miles you have traveled in two hours, as: 65 mi/hr X 2 hr = 130 miles.


What Did You Learn?

What two things do you need to know in order to calculate speed?
What is the formula for calculating speed?
How would a line graph of the speed of a runner look when the runner goes slower and slower? Or faster and faster? Or maintains the same speed?
What are three ways in which motion can be described?
If you are riding in a car that is traveling at 60 miles per hour and you travel for three hours, how far have you traveled?
Suppose an object is traveling at a supersonic speed of 800 m/s. Write this speed using all words and no symbols.
Calculate the speed of an animal that ran 50 meters in 10 seconds. Write the number answer with the correct unit symbols.
What is the source of energy for the walking toys you used for this activity?

Teaser Tuesday - January 12

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Still filled with embarrassment from yesterday, Lucinda avoided direct eye contact with Jake.  She remembered the fell of his arms around her and how safe she felt.

 From Becoming Lucy by Martha Rogers

Author Interview and Giveaway with Sharon Lathan (My Dearest Mr. Darcy)

 

I would like to welcome Sharon Lathan, Author of My Dearest Mr. Darcy for an author interview here at My Reading Room.

Sharon is touring around the blogosphere at the moment promoting the third book in her Darcy Family Saga, My Dearest Mr. Darcy.  Please welcome her today and check the end of the post for a wonderful giveaway of the three Darcy Saga books offered by Sourcebooks. 

1. How did it feel to see all of your hard work come to fruition with of the first book in the series, Mr. and Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy: Two Shall Become One?

You know, I am not sure there are words to adequately convey how it feels. Surreal is a great way to describe it, for sure. It is an incredible amount of work getting to that point. There are struggles amid the fun and one becomes so focused on the details, on the “project” aspect of it all. So when the book finally arrives and you hold it in your hands there is this almost out-of-body experience when the reality of it crashes upon you. The joy, pride, relief, and probably three-dozen other emotions overwhelm and you stand there not quite knowing what you are feeling! I remember when I first saw my novel sitting on the shelf at Target, alone and with a dead-battery camera, that I was absolutely giddy and surely grinning stupidly. I was then a bit disappointed because there was no one to shout for joy with and no angelic Hallelujah chorus singing as I felt was appropriate! LOL! Yeah, surreal.

2. Has the thrill been the same with the release of the two other books in the series, including the newest one, My Dearest Mr. Darcy?

It really has. Perhaps not as intensely as with my first, since I now know what to expect. Yet, in another way it is a deeper emotion as I now can look at all three books sitting together on my shelf, or in a store, and the full impact of what an accomplishment that is has settled into my brain. The feeling of pride is profoundly stronger. Still somewhat surreal and no less thrilling, but most of the anxiety and self-doubt is gone. I am much more confident and serene about it all, and that is really wonderful. 

3. Without giving anything away - what is My Dearest Mr. Darcy about?

My Dearest Mr. Darcy is the third book in my Darcy Saga sequel series to Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.” The series is written to be read in sequence, so this novel follows smoothly after Mr. and Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy and Loving Mr. Darcy, the three books covering the first year of marriage between Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth Darcy. This novel spans approximately four months with the Darcys taking a vacation at the seacoast, visiting friends, and then settling back into Pemberley as they await the birth of their first child. A number of adventures occur with rich historical details I love strewn throughout. Like all my novels, the focus, the theme, is one of deep abiding love and marital happiness between the two main characters. There is lots of fun, some excitement, humor, and a wealth of secondary characters adding to the mix. However, the main point of my Saga is to live life with the Darcys in a very realistic and positive way.

4. Do you get time to read? What are your favorite types of books to read?

I make time to read, and it is not always easy! But I have to. Books have been my constant companion, solace, and main form of entertainment for as long as I can remember. My favorite genre has always been fantasy, oddly enough, although I am eclectic in my taste and will read just about anything. Now I am also a huge fan of romance. But I still kind of like that paranormal twist, so I have been devouring everything by Karen Marie Moning and Sherrilyn Kenyon. I have read most of the novels by my fellow Sourcebooks authors and they are all terrific. I still dip into my favorites, for instance I just finished rereading a couple of Dean Koontz that I hadn’t read in years and I next plan to read an Anne McCaffrey Pern book that I somehow missed. My hubby bought me a Kindle for Christmas, so I am excited to search for some older books to replenish ones I have lost.

5. What is your favorite room in your house?

When I am in a serious writing mood I retreat to my study/office, which is a beautiful room all my own. Well, I do share it with the cat, but he doesn’t bother me too much! Yet, I love my living room best of all. It is huge, has a very comfortable leather recliner that is mine all mine, enormous windows, the kitchen right there with espresso machine in easy reach, and the TV if I am in the mood. Plus it is where my family hangs out and I like having them around me.

6. What is your favorite spot to read in?

That wonderfully cushy leather recliner with my legs propped up and covered by the gorgeous throw blanket my daughter got me for Christmas. I can read anywhere, totally zoning out the rest of the world while I lose myself in the story, but the chair is the best.

7. What is your favorite snack food?

Oh man! Did you have to ask that when my New Year’s resolution is to finally succeed at that diet I have been putting off for *cough - years?! Geez! Well, the better question is what snack foods don’t I like, as that list would be way shorter. Honestly, I don’t think I have a single favorite, which is part of my problem. Ha! Crackers with peanut butter, BBQ potato chips, Cheez-Its, or puffy Cheetoes when I am in a salty mood. For a sweet tooth is love sweetarts, chocolate mint chip ice cream, apples dipped in caramel, chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin pie, cherry pie… I’ll be right back. Gotta check the cupboards….

Crystal: Sorry about the question - I have diet plans too - but keep getting sidetracked by Pez, I know, but the stuff is addicting :)

8. Do you have a schedule for writing each day or do you just do it when you can?

Sadly I can’t put myself on a schedule. My life and work hours do not allow for any kind of consistency. So I squeeze it in as best I can, but it does go in spurts. There is still the dream of someday having more time to write, just write, but so far I can’t quite see the light at the end of that tunnel.

9. When you first watched the 2005 version of P&P movie did you fall in love with Mr. Darcy from the beginning or did it take awhile for you? I must confess I haven't seen this version of the movie, just the BBC version, so I'm not sure how different they are. I will be viewing the newer movie after reading your website though :)

Oh, I do hope you love it! Indeed it was my first initiation into the richer world of Austen, and I still adore that version best of all even though I have seen the others.

For me it wasn’t Mr. Darcy, and it never has been just or even primarily him. It was everything about the story and how Joe Wright brought the vision to life. I still feel that the movie is brilliant. Learning of how Wright altered the original text in places, taking liberties as all folks who adapt do, has never changed my opinion of how amazing the movie is. It stands on its own as a masterpiece of cinema. I am totally honest in admitting that the movie is a huge part of my inspiration.

However, my love for this story was greatly enhanced by reading the book. No doubt. Reading the parts that Wright left out due to the constraints of a two-hour movie, reading Austen’s beautiful prose, and delving deeper into the world took my passion to a higher level.

Again, it was not an infatuation with Mr. Darcy per se, however he looks or is portrayed by the actors, but an infatuation with the entire story and all the characters. I love everything about it! I will say, though, that I prefer how Matthew Macfadyen was directed to play Mr. Darcy. The interpretation of his character is more appealing to me than how Colin Firth was directed. The softer, shyer, more vulnerable Mr. Darcy strikes a chord within my heart. Same with Keira’s Elizabeth. I simply love them.

10. I also read the book after viewing the movie.  Do you think doing it this way enhanced your reading of the book (because the characters were already defined in your mind) or do you think you would have gotten more out of it if you read the book first?

That is a very good question! And one I do not think I can answer as I just don’t know. In one respect I suppose my reading after seeing the movie was enhanced since I saw the actor’s faces and gestures. Dialogue and descriptions are naturally seen in a certain light having watched how the actors spoke and moved. Scenes, locations, costumes, etc. were in my mind so undoubtedly I fit the text into what I was visualizing.

At the same time, I have been reading since I was able to walk so I am very good at interpreting and creating visuals of my own. It is easy for me to sync the two. For instance, I have been a Tolkien fan since I was 12, reading all his novels once a year at least. When Peter Jackson’s astounding movies came out it was both wonderful and weird to see these characters and places brought to life, some precisely as I imagined and others not. Now when I read the book I see Elijah Wood’s face as Frodo, (not what I ever imagined before but so incredibly right that the previous idea is long gone) and that visual greatly enhances the reading pleasure. Then there are other parts that I prefer the way I always saw it and they were not affected negatively by how Jackson did it.

Furthermore, one of the reasons I love books and why I read my favs over and over, is because every time I read it I learn something new or am touched in a different way. A good book is almost alive. There isn’t usually any one absolute about a character or the story or a scene as we each interpret it based on our emotions or experiences, and as those change so do our perceptions of the text. Every time I watch P&P I notice something new. Every time I read the book I notice something new. And that is a wonderful thing.  

Crystal:  Too funny that you used the Tolkien books as an example - they were what I was thinking of when I did this question - I know seeing the movies helped me with those books, but I wasn't much of a fantasy reader until recently.

11. Any book signings/conferences/public/blog appearances in the near future?

This interview marks the beginning of my second week of virtual book touring! I am all over the place with guest blogs and interviews, having an absolute blast. All the dates are listed on my website and Sourcebooks is graciously giving away whole sets of my books, so I encourage anyone interested in my Saga to follow me around – after checking out the wealth of information and fun stuff at my terrific website: www.darcysaga.net

My first solo book signing was yesterday, but since I am actually answering these questions before that event takes place, I have no idea if I sold and signed a hundred copies or sat there like a lump with a forced smile hurting my jaws! LOL! I am sure I will blog of my adventure once it is over, for good or ill. Ha!

I have a few speaking engagements this month, one with my Romance Writer’s group and another with a Women’s Networking group. I am kind of excited about those, but also extremely nervous as public speaking is not my forte. After this month I will be back to the real life of quietly writing, editing the next book, and adding fun stuff to my own blog. My celebrity moment in the sun will be over, and that is just fine with me!

12. Any last words on Elizabeth or Mr. Darcy, your new book or anything else that you would like to share?

Thank you, Crystal, for sharing your blog with me today and for asking great questions. Interviews are so much fun!

Darcy and Elizabeth are two of the most beloved characters in literature. Jane Austen gave a wonderful gift to the world with her books, and I am honored to be able to carry on their love story with my own twists and vision. The Saga of the Darcys and their friends will continue in Romancing Mr. Darcy, scheduled for release in October, and in an untitled fifth installment in the spring of 2011. I also have a novella titled “Reflections of Christmas at Pemberley” hitting shelves in November 2010 as part of a Darcy Christmas-themed anthology with Amanda Grange. I aspire to always write of the Darcys with respect and devotion, showing how it is possible for a married couple to find joy and contentment. It is how I know it can be and how I believe Miss Austen would have wanted it.

 

 MY DEAREST MR. DARCY—IN STORES JANUARY 2010

Married life is bringing out the best in the Darcys. Their mutual attentiveness brings readers into a magical world of love and wedded bliss.

Elizabeth is growing into her role as Mistress of Pemberley, and Darcy has mellowed under her gentle teasing and light-heartedness. Pemberley becomes a true home and a welcoming environment for loving family and friends. The Darcys travel to the seaside, welcome their firstborn, celebrate their anniversary and second Christmas, and at every moment embrace the love gifted to them.

“I love you, my Elizabeth. You are my soul, my blood and bone, my very life.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sharon Lathan is the author of the bestselling Mr. and Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy: Two Shall Become One, and Loving Mr. Darcy: Journeys Beyond Pemberley. In addition to her writing, she works as a Registered Nurse in a Neonatal ICU. She resides in Hanford, California in the sunny San Joaquin Valley. For more information on Sharon and her saga, come to her website at: www.darcysaga.net.

 Giveaway:

For my lovely readers, Danielle Jackson from Sourcebooks, Inc. is offering a wonderful giveaway of all three books in Sharon Latham's Darcy Saga: Mr. & Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy: Two Shall Become One, Loving Mr. Darcy and My Dearest Mr. Darcy.

Giveaway open to addresses in the US and Canada.  Enter by leaving a comment and your email address if not available through blogger. Extra entries for following me on blogger or twitter (or through rss feed) and also for tweeting about the giveaway.

Giveaway ends 1/18/2009. 

Thanks to Danielle for the giveaway and to Sharon for taking time for the interview. 

FIRST Wild Card Tour, Review and Contest: The Chic Shall Inherit the Earth by Shelly Adina (All About Us #6)

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

Today's Wild Card author is:

Selley Adina

and the book:

The Chic Shall Inherit the Earth (All About Us #6)

FaithWords; 1 edition (January 7, 2010)

***Special thanks to Miriam Parker of the Hachette Book Group for sending me a review copy.***

CONTEST! For a chance to win one of two prizes: a Tiffany's Bracelet OR an All About Us T-shirt, go to Camy Tang's Blog and leave a comment on her FIRST Wild Card Tour for The Chic Shall Inherit the Earth, and you will be placed into a drawing for a bracelet or T-shirt that look similar to the pictures below.

My Review:

Rating: 4.75/5.0



I can't even begin to say how much I loved this book.  It's a fun Young Adult novel that's positive and realistic at the same time.  I have not read any other books in the All About Us series, but I did not feel lost at all while reading it.  I think it works best when read with the rest of the series, but it can be read as a stand-alone just as easily.  I will go back and read the rest of the series after reading this installment.

The book centers around 5 girls who are the best of friends at a private school in San Francisco.  They are different in many ways but share a lot together.  One of those things is their faith in God.  They also seem to share all of their experiences and are really close.  I enjoyed learning about each of them, especially Lissa, which this book seems to focus on.  In this book Lissa is still exploring her faith and also learning about her friends along with having to figure out what to do with her life and also seeing a romance that has been right in front of her the whole time.


The book takes on typical teenage issues is a positive and Christian way, without being too preachy.  The book flows well and conversations seem real, never forced.  Ms. Adina does a beautiful job with the characters and the plot and make this novel a true joy to read.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Shelley Adina is a world traveler and pop culture junkie with an incurable addiction to designer handbags. She knows the value of a relationship with a gracious God and loving Christian friends, and she's inviting today's teenage girls to join her in these refreshingly honest books about real life as a Christian teen--with a little extra glitz thrown in for fun! In between books, Adina loves traveling, listening to and making music, and watching all kinds of movies.


Visit the author's website.

Product Details:

List Price: $9.99
Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: FaithWords; 1 edition (January 7, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0446179647
ISBN-13: 978-0446179645

AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:

THE CHIC SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH

© 2010 by Shelley Adina


Chapter 1


LET ME PUT it right out there: I’m no sports fan—unless you count surfing, which is more of an attitude to life than a sport. I used to think that there were some things you just knew. But if God were a major league pitcher, He’d be the kind of guy who threw curveballs just to keep you on your toes. To catch you off guard. To prove you wrong about everything you thought.

Which is essentially what happened to us all during the last term of our senior year at Spencer Academy.

My name is Lissa Evelyn Mansfield—yes, I’m back again. Did you miss me? Because, seriously, this last term of high school before my friends and I graduated was so crazed, so unpredictable, that I had to write it all down to try and make sense of it.

But, hey, let’s take a moment here. The words last term of senior year need some respect, not to mention celebration. They need to be paused over and savored. Excuse me.

Okay, I’m back.

The term began in April, and by the time our first set of midterms (or thirdterms, as my roommate Gillian Chang calls them, since we get three sets of exams every term) rolled around at the beginning of May, it was just beginning to sink in that there were only seven weeks of high school left. Seven weeks until freedom. Adulthood. Summer vacation. Adulthood. Home.

Adulthood.

Eek.

“Sarah Lawrence is stalking me,” Gillian moaned from where she sat on her bed in our dorm room. “Here’s another letter.” She fished an envelope out of the pile of mail in her lap and waved it.

I looked up from my MacBook Air, where I was checking e-mail. “Don’t let Emily Overton hear you. She got turned down and her roommate has had to keep her away from open windows for the last month.”

“But I already told them no twice. What’s it going to take?”

“You could fail some exams.” I’m always willing to offer a helpful suggestion. “They can’t help it if they covet your fearsome brain.”

“So does Harvard. And Princeton. Not to mention Stanford and Columbia and Juilliard.” She threw her hands in the air so that the letter flew over her shoulder and bounced off the headboard. “How am I supposed to pick just one? Can I spend a year at each school? I could be a career transfer student.”

“I’m glad I don’t have your decisions to make,” I told her with absolute honesty. “If all those schools were after me, I’d run away and hide.”

“I’ve got to figure out what I’m doing with my life.” She glanced at me. “Or maybe I should say, what God wants me to do with my life.”

“There’s the kicker.” I nodded sagely. “I understand about waiting on the Lord, but . . . He knows about registration deadlines, doesn’t He?”

“Oh, yeah. He knows. I keep asking Him, and He keeps thinking about it. Maybe He wants me to figure out what I want, first. But that’s the impossible part.”

Poor Gillian. She has the kind of brain schools fight over for their research programs. But she’s also a music prodigy—hence the acceptance from Juilliard. Then, to complicate things even more, she also has quite the talent for drawing, and ever since she met my friend Kaz Griffin, her dream has been to create a graphic novel starring a kick-butt Asian girl with a secret identity. Kaz, in case you haven’t met him, is my best friend from my old high school in Santa Barbara. He’s been trying to get his graphic novel published for, like, years, with no success. But I have to hand it to him. He never gives up.

Anyway. Gillian.

“You could always do pre-med at Harvard and minor in art or music,” I suggested. “You know you’re going to need a release valve from all that scientific pressure. It would be good to have the right-brain kind of classes to turn to.”

Gillian pushed the stack of mail off her lap and leaned back against the mound of colorful silk pillows. The letter from Sarah Lawrence crumpled somewhere underneath. “But then how will I know if I’m any good?”

“Um, your grades? Not to mention, if you got an acceptance from Juilliard, you’re good. Full stop, as Mac would say.”

Lady Lindsay MacPhail, aka Mac, was a student here at Spencer for two terms, and she’s one of our little group of friends. She’s gone back to live in London until the end of term, when she’ll return to her family’s castle in Scotland, and she has none of these questions about her life. She knows exactly what degree she’s going to get, when she’ll get it, and what she’ll be doing after that: making the Strathcairn Hotel and Corporate Retreat Center the go-to place for world-class events in the UK.

I envy people who have their future in a laser sight. I’m still trying to figure out what to wear tomorrow.

“What do teachers know?” Gillian asked. I don’t think she was looking for the answer to that one. “If I’m going to find out whether I’m really any good, I have to try to get into an art program and give it everything I’ve got. Try to get an exhibition. Or a publisher. Live in a garret and try to make it as an artist.”

“That sounds scary.”

“I know.” She sighed. “Medical school is the easy path, grasshopper.”

Only Gillian Chang would say something like that.

I turned back to my notebook and saw that while we’d been talking, a message from Kaz had popped up in my inbox.




*

To: lmansfield@spenceracad.edu

From: kazg@hotmail.com

Date: May 4, 2010

Re: Ow



I am so regretting pushing off physics until senior year. My brain hurts. What was I thinking? Instead of grabbing my board and heading for the beach, I’m stuck down here in my room writing equations I don’t know the answers to.

Does the Jumping Loon tutor over the phone? Can you ask her? I’ll give her anything she wants, including full use of my studly body, if she’ll just say the magic words that will unveil the meaning of x and y, not to mention z.

Life, I’ve got a handle on. X is a mystery.

Kaz




I looked over my shoulder. “Kaz wants to know if you do physics tutoring over the phone. He says you can do what you want with his body if you help him.” I paused when she didn’t look up from a Neiman Marcus catalog. “I didn’t know you were interested in his body. Does Jeremy know about this?”

“That sounds like a jealous remark.” She flipped a page. “Ooh, nice dress. Chloé does summer so well. Which reminds me, if we’re going on a Senior Cotillion dress safari, we’d better start soon.”

I was not to be sidetracked, no matter how tempting the bait. “Is something going on with you and Kaz?”

She put the catalog down and rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “Yes. Yes, there is.”

I sat there as stunned as if someone had upended a bucket of seawater over me.

Kaz and Gillian? What? How is that possible? When did—

What is the matter with you? Kaz is your friend. You aren’t . . . like that. If he’s interested in Gillian, it’s none of your business.

Poor Jeremy.

“Lissa. Lissa, come back to me.” I blinked at her. My face felt frozen. “For crying out loud, get a grip.” She was trying not to laugh and not succeeding very well. “He’s teasing you. He’s helping me with a plaster mold of his hand for my art project, okay? That’s all.”

“A mold. Of his hand. And you don’t have guys’ hands any closer than Santa Barbara?”

“He has interesting hands, which you’d know if you ever paid any attention.”

Of course he did. And of course I did. Pay attention to him, I mean. He was my best friend. We e-mailed each other, like, twenty times a week.

“And Jeremy’s hands aren’t interesting?”

She picked up the catalog and flipped another page. “Write him back and tell him of course I’ll tutor him. We can start tonight if he’s desperate.”

Hm. Poor Jeremy, indeed. What was going on here? “He wants to know the meaning of x.”

“Don’t we all. Some of us wait for the universe to reveal it to us. And some of us wouldn’t know it if the universe dropped it on our heads.”

“What’s your point?”

But my friend, who usually has all the answers, didn’t reply.