The Hunger Games

This week I read The Hunger Games. I read all three in 48 hours over the span of three days. Don't ask me why, but I take great pride in how fast I can read books. After reading the books, I am really excited to see the movie, I just hope it is as good as the book.
I really enjoyed this series. I like trilogies so it was no surprise that I would like this series. I did wait a while before I read them, though. I normally do not like reading books when they are popular, but my friend had them on her Kindle and since they were such easy access, I decided that I probably should read them. I thought it was an excellent trilogy and very well written. There were times when I was frustrated because of how dense Katniss could be, but that was her character so I just accepted it. These were books that I will probably read again. If you like futuristic fantasy books, these would be a great choice.

Really good video

I was on Facebook today and one of my friends posted a video from Youtube entitled Sex has a price tag. This is an excellent video and I would recommend that everyone watch this. The speaker makes excellent points even if you are not a Christian. I fully believe in no sex before marriage and both my husband and I were virgins when we got married. We even saved our first kiss for the altar. This is an wonderful video to show all teenagers and those who think that having sex before marriage is not harmful and just for fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFYPigFlp7w

Random Thoughts...

I am going to try to write something everyday, doesn't have to be much, just some of my random thoughts.
So, today I finished reading Just David by Eleanor H. Porter, for about the tenth time. I adore this book. It is one of my favorite books of all time and I try to read it about once a year. If you are looking for a good, wholesome, sweet book to read that won't take much of your time, this would be an excellent choice. It is about a little boy named David living in a mountain home with his father. He lived for his violin and played heavenly. His father became ill and they had to leave their mountain home. The book follows the journey of David as he learned to adjust to a world so different from the one that he was used to and how he touched so many lives with his spirit, his view on life, and mostly, his violin.
If you are at all interested, you can find a free download of this book at amazon.com.

Heart of Gold by Robin Lee Hatcher

“Heart of Gold” by Robin Lee Hatcher is about a Southern preacher and his daughter relocating to Idaho during the Civil War. It follows the girl through her struggles with being in the north and her feelings about the war to finding love in the place that she least thought possible.

I found the book kind of short. It may have been because I read it on the computer, but the story seemed to be very short.  The story line was very predictable. Girl and boy meet, they don’t like each other, something brings them together, they fall in love, something else pushes them apart, and then they get together at the end. It didn’t seem like it had a lot of depth to it. Shannon fell in love with Matthew awfully fast and it seemed to have more to do with attraction than actual love. She really only mentions once about how he was a great Christian man and that is one of the reasons she loved him. They didn’t seem to really talk and connect that way. It seemed slightly superficial to me.  It was a fun, enjoyable read, but it wasn’t a book that I would probably read again.

The Harvest of Grace by Cindy Woodsmall

The Harvest of Grace by Cindy Woodsmall is about a girl, torn by her loyalty to her family and a secret that she believes is too terrible to reveal, who makes the decision to leave her family and work far from home. She starts a journey that will eventually lead her to forgiveness from her family, from God, and from herself.

This book is the third in a series and I have yet to read the first two books. I know that I would have definitely understood the characters better if I had read the other two books first, but the author did a good job with explaining the characters so that not much was lost by not reading the first books. This was my first plunge into Amish Christian fiction and I was very impressed. I liked how the author developed the character of Sylvia. She did a great job with showing the different layers of her personality and character. Sylvia was a tough character to fully understand. This book was mainly the story of Sylvia, but there were also four other love stories that gave depth to the book. The different stories intertwined beautifully and built on each other very well. It could have been overwhelming to try to straighten out the different stories from each other but the author did a wonderful job with intertwining the stories without confusing the reader. Overall, I thought this book was an excellent read and I would recommend it to anyone.

I received a complimentary copy of The Harvest of Grace from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for the purpose of writing a fair and honest review.  I received no other compensation.

The Inconvenient Marriage of Charlotte Beck by Kathleen Y’Barbo

The Inconvenient Marriage of Charlotte Beck by Kathleen Y’Barbo is a novel set in 1887 about a young girl who has high aspirations of one day following in her father’s footsteps and join the family business. She wants a college education and will do about anything to get it, including making a deal with her father that would end up changing her perspective on life.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was predictable, but a fun read. Charlotte was a very interesting and very likable character. At the end of the book, reading the author’s note, I found out that this book was the third in a series of books about Charlotte’s life. This book was a good stand alone book, but I think I would have understood some of the nuances in the novel better if I had read the other books. One of the main issues with Charlotte and marriage was a back story about her mother that must have been explained in one of the other books as it was only briefly mentioned in this book. If I had read the other books first, I am sure that I would have understood Charlotte better and would have been able to relate to her more.

Overall, this was a nice read. It wasn’t a very deep book, but it made for some nice light reading. If you have a day that you want to spend curled up with an ice tea and some light reading, this is the book for you.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

DragonSpell by Donita K. Paul

DragonSpell by Donita K. Paul is a fantasy story about a girl who used to be a slave and is now on a magical quest of great importance. Kale’s life was once about following orders and doing as she was told, but then at the age of 14, her life drastically changed. She suddenly had a purpose and was thrust into a quest that would change her life forever.

I really enjoyed this book. In recent years I have been getting really into different fantasy books and I was really impressed with how Paul was able to write a fantasy book and have all the values that I are important to me.

One reason I really liked this book was that the magic in it paralleled Christianity. There was a God figure and a Jesus figure that were essential to the book. It was a classic good against evil book in which good triumphs over evil and you feel uplifted after you read it. It was about one girl’s journey to understanding that she was important and she had a purpose and that God loves everyone no matter who they are and He has a plan for their life.  

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.