While I don’t mention it on my blog much, I am so obsessed with learning about North Korea. I find it so interesting. So I knew I had to read this book. Young-Im was kind enough to send me an e-copy to read and while I have taken a while to read it, I am so glad that I took the time. It is such a beautiful story and I loved it so much. The story is told from two viewpoints. We follow Iseul, who lives in the 50s in Korea during a time when tensions run high. She lives in a South Korean village and works hard to keep a basic life for her family. The story is a war story and Iseul finds love with a soldier later on but I won’t delve any deeper for fear of ruining the tale. The other viewpoint is set in the present day and is told by Iseul’s granddaughter, Kim Jia who is trying to find out about her grandmothers past as her grandmother is now in a nursing home and can’t answer the questions that need answers. Kim Jia wants to know more about the msyterious man who her grandmother loved. What results is a spellninding trip down memory lane where we leave the frail Ji Iseul and travel back to find the lively Ji Iseul whose story is just waiting to be told.
The author says that she got actual accounts from real life relatives and added these details to the story. She weaves the tale so beautifully that it is hard not to get lost in it. I sat st the edge of my seat wanting to see how it all unfolded! 5/5! Excellent read!

Sold by Patricia McCormick is such a beautifully written book. It is a sad story but it’s so well written and the characters really draw you in. I felt like I knew the main character, Lakshmi, personally. She is such an innocent girl who has dreams and desires. Her life is altered greatly when her stepfather sells her to a woman and she leaves her home and quiet life in Nepal and travels to India. She believes she is going to work as a maid for a rich family and is excited at the prospect of earning money and helping her family back in Nepal. However, this is just the beginning of a dark road that Lakshmi will walk. She is actually being sold into sex slavery. And she is 11 years old.

I don’t want to tell anymore about the book because I don’t want to spoil it. This was such a moving story and it is the kind of book that never really leaves you and that you remember long after reading it. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. It was published in 2006 but is still terrific and timeless. 5/5!

So I know I am super late on the Illuminae files series bandwagon but wow. This was a very good book! I really enjoyed the style of writing. I have never read a book like this and I feel the writing style contributes to the suspense of the book. The story is told through censored documents, emails, and is not a traditional book in any way. I was literally at the edge of my seat the entire time. What a ride. Basically it takes place in the future and the story begins with a crazy situation taking place on home planet. They are in the midst of an attack and everyone is in danger. The main character, Kady Grant and her boyfriend, Ezra Mason have now broken up and it appears the world as they currently know it is ending. What follows is a crazy, fun ride with lots of twists, turns, and adventure. I give this book a 5/5 And will definitely be reading the sequels in 2018!

So. I am still around guys. Its tough holding down a full time job, being a wife and a mom of two. But anyways, i just finished a few books and need to post reviews. The first one up is Silent Lies by Kathryn Croft. I wasnt sure about this one as it was a cheap buy on Amazon and i just felt like the storyline sounded interesting but I am happy to say this book was great! It really pulled me out of my reading slump. Its a thriller and has lots of twists and turns and keeps you guessing till the end. Literally the last few pages lol. It is a whodunit too but it is done really well. The main character, Mia is a widow and mother to Freya. Her husband, Zach is a college professor and is dead at the start of the story. It is presumed that it was a suicide. The day that he died, a student of his named Josie goes missing. Mia has struggled to come to terms with his death and 5 years have passed. Mia has met someone new and he seems to be a good match for her. However she still doesn’t quite understand why Zach would have committed suicide and this leaves her unable to fully commit to Will. The other main character is Josie who was a college student at the college Zach taught at. She finds herself having feelings for Zach and unable to tell whether he is feeling the same way or not. The book goes back and forth between Mia in present day and Josie in the past. We read about Mias struggles with the loss of Zach and her confusion surrounding his death. We also hear Josies story of how Zach became a close person in her life and the entire story leads up to what happened to the two of them. One day their stories merge as a person connected to them claims that Zach didnt kill himself but was in fact murdered. It is really interesting and kept me on the edge of my seat. Great read. I give it a 4/5 stars because the ending was so unexpected. You won’t see it coming. Happy reading guys!

KM

Knight of the Hunted is a stellar book! I really loved the main character, Lisbeth. She is a born vampire and she lives in a pretty cool castle where the most powerful vampires have companions available to drink from. There are vampire/lycan rules that have been established many years before and as long as they are followed, everything goes fine. Until the day that a Lycan kid comes into vampire territory and although the rules say that he is to be killed, Lisbeth spares him. Things spiral out of control from here with Lisbeth fleeing the castle. She has broken a rule and it’s a big deal. She is under the Lycan protection because of her good deed and is now on the run. There is another character named Knight who is a really cool character and his relationship with Lis adds even more  depth to the story. The characters are do unique and remarkable. I really felt sucked into the story and had a blast reading. Thanks to Elizabeth Dunlap, the author, for allowing me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a review. This was do kind of her but it did not affect my opinions. They are my own. Fabulous story! If you enjoy paranormal reads, this one is great! 5 stars!

Ok so this has been a crazy summer and admittedly I fell away from the blog. I am still I interested in reviewing books and currently have a huge amount of them to get through.. I will be updating soon with a few new reviews. 😉

So. I. Did. A. Thing.

I finally read ACOTAR! Omg. I liked it so much more than ToG! What do you guys think?

So fantasy, romance, craziness, wow. This was a very fun read! It follows Feyre who lives with her father and sisters. They are poor and struggle to get by. One day, while hunting, Feyre kills a wolf. Only…it isn’t a wolf. It’s a fae. Tamlin is a fae lord who lives beyond the wall where the humans reside. His land is Prythian. Prythian is a forbidden area to humans and is riddled with danger to any who cross. Tamlin comes knocking on Feyre’s door demanding payment for the loss of the wolf. He claims the wolf was a friend of his. A fae. Feyre is given the options to die or to go with Tamlin and live out her days in Prythian and atone for the wolf’s death. The meat of the story takes place in these strange lands among the fae. Feyre lives with Tamlin at his home in the Spring Court. He is the master of this land. Feyre discovers things aren’t always as they seem and as she learns more about the mysterious far and gets closer to the kind but damaged Tamlin, she must decide if love is enough to save a world that is in danger of destruction.

I give this book a 4/5 stars! I enjoyed the storyline more so than book 1 of Throne of Glass. I like Feyre way more than Celaena. I am going to eventually read both of these series to see what all the hype is. I hope its worth it!

Happy Reading!

Well I got the job so now I can fully discuss it with no issue. I work with a company called Vipkid and I teaching Chinese children how to speak English. The children range in their English speaking abilities from zero English to a good basic understanding of it. How do we teach with the barrier? Do I speak Chinese? You may be wondering this. I teach using hand gestures, props, PowerPoint slides and lots of repetition. I don’t speak Chinese at all and the student must speak only English in class. We have great fun and at times it is difficult but I love it. The best part? I work from home on my own schedule! I’m a stay at home mom so it’s great to be able to continue with my current routine for my children. Anywho, if anyone is interested, let me know. I can walk you through the process. The requirements are a Bachelors degree in any field and some experience with children. You don’t have to have taught them so if you babysat or tutored. Anything. We leave tomorrow for the beach and I’m hoping to get some reading done…we will see. I hope to add more book reviews soon. Don’t give up on me yet. Just trying to get used to the schedule now. Since we are 12 hours time difference from where I live to Beijing, my work schedule tales place during night or early morning hours. Anywho, I’m off to rest before early classes and hopefully beautiful ocean waves!

I received an ARC of “The Map That Leads to You” from St. Martin’s Press and cannot wait to start it. I am going in blindly and not even looking up what it’s about. From what I can see, it looks like a romance. It is set to release on 6-13-17.

And then the Game of Thrones graphic novel was a Goodwill find for $10! It’s at BN for $25. I’m excited about it as I’m a huge GoT can and the artwork is stellar from what I saw when I skimmed it. I am not currently reading as much and I hate that but I have a job prospect that I am hoping pans out and I’ve been devoting so much time to the process that there hasn’t been much time left for reading. Hoping that changes soon though because we will be heading to the beach on the 19th and I will be reading to my heart’s content. 😗

I’m also currently reading Dragonwatch by Brandon Mull(sequel series to Fablehaven which is bae❤) and ACOTAR by Sarah J. Mass which I like better than Throne of Glass so far.

Thats all I got for this post. 🤗Any suggestions for good beach reads?

Death Jars of Broams Eld by Jennifer Cano is such a fantastic story. This is a sequel to Hinges of Broams Eld. I adored this book and found it to have a memorable cast. It’s full of magic and fun. The story takes place the following year after Livy’s first year at Broams Eld. Basically, the story is about humans and elves going to school in a magical realm. It is similar to the Harry Potter books in that there is a special school with magical training available to school tu dents so they can honestly their skills and become stronger in their fieldaily of study. I don’t want to give much away considering it is book 2, but trust me if you love fantasy, it’s worth it!

Livy is returning for her second year at Broams Eld, a school where students go to learn about magic. Some of the students are Terran or human like her and some are Elven and already live there. This year, Livy’s twin, Hugh joins her. They take classes that involve cool subjects like Shimmersinging and even study ancient runes. I can’t give away much more without spoiling it but it’s such a fun read.

I was gratefully given a copy of this book by the author herself and while I greatly appreciated this, I want to make it known that my opinions are not influenced because of this. I give it a 4/5 and eagerly await a book 3!