Dakota Born - Debbie Macomber

This is my first book from this author.  I enjoyed it.  It is a romance novel, and it isn't one based on my value system.  However, I have read much, much worse.  The story was good however, and made me respect farmers much more.  They work so hard, and love what they do so much, and the return is not great.  I  admire the "love for the land," and the will power they have to stay when things look impossible.  I am grateful that my life is much easier than that, but there are aspects of their lives that I do envy.  The work ethic, the small town "good" feelings and pulling together as a community.  I don't think we experience that in the city so much.

This is a trilogy, and I am now reading the second book.  It is very much the same as the first.  They are quick, easy reads. I would recommend them, but not to my girls!

Midnight in Austenland - Shannon Hale

I have already said that I love Shannon Hale.  I realized today that I have read almost all of her books.  This is very different from her youth fiction books, and that is where her talent and imagination shine.  However, I do enjoy her Austenland books as well.  This is her second one.  She writes these books for Jane Austen fans.  I have not read any Jane Austen books all the way through, but I have watched the movies and love them.

This book takes us a second time to an estate where you become part of a Jane Austen type story.  You become a character for two weeks.  The book is silly, on purpose, and serious as well.  The main character, Charlotte, is going through some tough things in her real life.  She has money to spend and time to take a vacation.  She has found some relief from reading Jane Austen, so why not go to this place and experience it first hand.  There are crazy twist, a mystery, a murder, and of course romance.  Most of it is pretty predictable, especially if you read Austenland.  There was one big surprise though, and it was a very nice one at that.

I read this book while traveling to and from San Antonio, and found it delightful.  I am still a Shannon Hale fan!

Book of a Thousand Day's - Shannon Hale

 I love Shannon Hale, she is an amazing author. I loved her Goose Girl, Enna Burning, and River Secrets series.  I also loved Princess Academy.  Then of course there was Austenland. Great fun for Jane Austen fans!

My opinion of this book fluctuated as I read it.  I always liked it, but some parts I loved, and some parts were just o.k.. This book got complicated for me at times with all the different "gods" and "ancestors".

I loved the story though.  I loved "Dashti."  How many people in the world to day, make promises and really keep them?  She was a young woman who represented almost all the values that we teach our young women in church.

• Faith - she prayed all the time and believed in her "gods." 
• Divine Nature - This one she did not understand, feeling she was lower than her "Lady" because of being a mucker.
• Individual Worth- even though she didn't see her true potential, she did love who she was and knew she played an important part of society. 
• Knowledge - she was always learning and teaching herself. 
• Choice and Accountability- she understood choices and accountability very well.  Everything she did was done with great consideration. 
• Good Works- Her whole life was spent serving others and thinking of others first. 
• Integrity - She was always concerned with doing what was right and representing herself appropriately, and sometimes those things conflicted with each other. 
• Virtue -  I think she was an example of virtue in every way.  She did what she felt she was born to do.  She served her "Lady" dutifully, even when it meant going against her values, because her value of her oath to serve was so important.  She risked her own life for those she loved, as well as strangers.  She prayed throughout it all.  Prayed for strength, for forgiveness, for enlightenment, and for safety.  Most of those prayers were for her "lady."

I know comparing the values is a little bit of a stretch, but I feel that Dashti is a great character for young girls to read about and try to emulate.  There are not a lot of those type of characters in literature today.

Quick Catch Up

I want to review the books as I finish them, while they are fresh in my mind.  But I don't want to forget about the few I read in the last two months.  So, here goes:

• Wielder's Awakening- This book was written by someone who use to live in my neighborhood.  That is the only reason I read it.  It is not my "normal" kind of read.  That being said, I really liked it.  It deals with special powers, mythical type characters, but also very real people.  It really got pulled into it and I just started the second book. I am excited to see what happens next!

• Matched - I loved this book.  Society controls everything in Cassia's life and always had.  It is for her own good and she has never questioned it.  But that all changes after she is 'matched.'  I found the writing of this story so well done.  I stayed up many nights far too late, anxious for what was next!  I felt like I really knew the characters, Cassia, Xander, and Ky.  I was very excited to read book #2.

• Michael Vey-I have always been a fan of Richard Paul Evan's.  I was excited when this book came out.  I was interested to see this different style of book from Mr. Evans.  We were planning an assembly for our elementary school, featuring this book, so I wanted to be informed on the book as well.  Again, I loved the characters in this book, Michael and Ostin being such a unique pair.  I have always liked books where the less popular, not so normal people are the heroes.  This book did not disappoint. It is good, clean, suspenseful, and very appropriate for young readers.

• Crossed - The sequel to Matched.  It was not as good as Matched. I had heard lots of disappointed reviews.  However, I was very happy with it.  I think we learned a lot with Cassia.  She starts out so positive about what she wants, and then questions that as she travels this road she has chosen. We are left with a lot of questions, so we need the third book quick!

So Young, Brave, and Handsome - I read the first book by this author "Peace Like a River" the end of last year.  I loved that book. I loved the way it felt to read, the authors ease at telling the story.  This book is not a sequel, just his second book.  It didn't flow quite as well, but was every bit as enjoyable to read. Following these characters as they try to make sense of their pasts and decide what the future will be for them is a journey worth taking!

Like I said, these are brief, pretty vague reviews.  The details are quite as strong in my mind as right after reading, but I still wanted to account for each book I have read this year. 

Here I go!

I have decided to try to keep up a blog on all the books I read.   I love books, so what better to talk about, right!?!