Isle of the Books

I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July! An Unpresentable Glory is by Eleanor Gustafson and is Christian contemporary. “I trusted you, and some day, you may know just how much you hold in your hands.” Linda Jensen leads a relatively quiet life in Westchester County, New York, as the owner of a highly-acclaimed garden. Inherited from her parents, the garden is her pride and joy. What is not so joyful is finding a strange man sprawled near her delphiniums! The mysterious man is sick, unable to do anything more than drink water—and beg for secrecy. Ignoring all alarm bells, Linda sees to his needs, but her caring act takes on unexpected significance, an unpresentable glory. Seeds of trust, and perhaps love, are planted in Linda’s garden haven. But as secrets are revealed and scandal hits the headlines, the act of caring for this man threatens to tarnish both of their reputations. Like weeds in Linda’s garden, circumstances threaten to choke out their fledgling relationship,...

Instead of writing a book review, I decided to do something different. I'll be looking at the books I've read so far this year and picking some of my favorites from them (which is hard since lots of them are really good). Each selection will give a brief description of what it's about and why I picked it. This way allows me to showcase several books without having to write that many reviews, and then there's possibly something for everyone. As I was scrolling through my read shelf, I wanted to put several on the list. I've read a lot of single issues of comics this year, so I won't be putting multiple in the same series up, and I've also tried to pick a books from different genres. They are in no particular order. 1. Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys The story follows Lina, a fifteen year old girl who is deported from Lithuania during World War II to labor camps in Russia. Throughout her journey, she fights the conditions of Siberia and hopes...

Hello everyone! So I was thinking recently about how the comments work on blogger and how some people use a platform for their blog called Disqus, which got me thinking: What is the best system for interacting with bloggers on their blog? My main problem that I have with the comment system that comes with Blogger is that I don't know when someone responds to my comments, which also means when I reply to someone, they don't see what I said either. Of course, I could check back on the posts I commented on, but that takes a lot of dedication. If there's a setting someone has found to remedy this, please let me know. That brings me to Disqus. It works way better because they email you a notification when someone responds, which means the conversation can be kept going. The only downside is that you have to create an account to use it, which isn't that bad, but for some people it's easier to use the system already on the blog. I have looked into downloading this for ...

Mickey Malloy, Wonder Boy! , by Laurisa White Reyes, is a children's book, geared for ages 6-10. " Mickey Malloy is just your average kid who loves comic books and superheroes. When a mysterious package arrives with his name on it, he finds a strange contraption inside. Urged on by his friend, Juanita, Mickey pushes the thing’s button and gets ZZZZZZAPPED! Suddenly, he ism’t a normal kid anymore, he’s Mickey Malloy, Wonder Boy! The human magnet! But what seems like an awesome superpower gets Mickey into more trouble than he could possibly imagine. "-Goodreads The premise of the book interested me because it's about a normal kid who gets what he thinks might be a superpower, only to see his day go downhill. Mickey just wants to be able to walk around again without being a human magnet and I wanted to see how he would handle this new ability, which led to me reading it in one sitting. I haven't read a kid's chapter book since I was that age, so I forgot th...

I've had this tagged saved to do for forever, and finally got around to actually doing it. 1. A CHARACTER’S APPEARANCE THAT YOU MISREAD OR IMAGINED DIFFERENTLY: Blitzen from the Magnus Chase series 2. A CHARACTER NAME THAT YOU’VE BEEN PRONOUNCING WRONG: I pronounce lots of character names from fantasy books wrong (because they're made up so it's not like people say them everyday), but the one that sticks out to me is Chaol from Throne of Glass. I said it like coal the whole time, and when I read the actual pronunciation I stuck to it for a while. Then it turned into "saying coal is quicker than kay-all, so I'm not going to bother getting it right all the time." 3. AN OVERUSED TROPE THAT IS YOUR GUILTY PLEASURE: The mysterious bad-boy love interest/character. I know they're overused, but I find them interesting to read because  they're not all like that for the same reason. 4. A CLICHÉ CHARACTER TYPE THAT YOU LIKE BETTER ON SCREEN THAN REA...

Carve the Mark is the first book in the series by Veronica Roth, and is sci-fi/fantasy. " In a galaxy powered by the current, everyone has a gift. Cyra is the sister of the brutal tyrant who rules the Shotet people. Cyra’s current gift gives her pain and power — something her brother exploits, using her to torture his enemies. But Cyra is much more than just a blade in her brother’s hand: she is resilient, quick on her feet, and smarter than he knows. Akos is the son of a farmer and an oracle from the frozen nation-planet of Thuvhe. Protected by his unusual currentgift, Akos is generous in spirit, and his loyalty to his family is limitless. Once Akos and his brother are captured by enemy Shotet soldiers, Akos is desperate to get this brother out alive — no matter what the cost. Then Akos is thrust into Cyra's world, and the enmity between their countries and families seems insurmountable. Will they help each other to survive, or will they destroy one another? Carve the Mark...