Tag: YA

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#Review : Code Name Verity #YA #spy #book

Goodreads

Title:  Code Name Verity

Series: Code Name Verity #1

Author: Elizabeth Wein

Genre: Historical Fiction (WWII)

Pages: 441

Reading Level: YA

Content: PG-13 (war action and violence, intense emotion, mature themes)

This book was part of a new audio promotion, so I received it free from the distributor. I had no idea what it was about and was thoroughly pleased with what I discovered.

The story is about two female friends trying to make a place for themselves in a world dominated by men during WWII. Maddie is a pilot and the other girl has too many names for me to stick with just one, so we’ll call her Verity. Most of the story is told from Verity’s perspective as she writes to save, or at least prolong, her life once captured by the enemy. I want to say more, but I don’t want to give too much away. I’ve read a lot of books, and watched even more movies; this book, with all its twists and turns, caught me off guard and totally surprised me.

Not to give the wrong impression about this book, but it almost made me cry and not because the two main characters are female. This story feels so real that the sense of loss, which multiple characters experience throughout the story, feels all too real. To be a prisoner of war and have the choice of standing strong and die or give in and live one more day isn’t as easy as you might hope, but Verity is tougher than you ever imagine she’ll be at the beginning. In the end, though, it’s Maddie you’ll feel for the most.

Anyone, even men, who appreciate gritty stories of WWII will appreciate this book, but I think it’ll also be a crowd pleaser with women’s groups and historical clubs. I don’t know if it was written for adults, but I don’t think it really matters. These characters are so young, as are many who go off to fight wars. I would totally recommend this to my teenage nieces and nephews. After all the flying, fighting, lying, and surviving there is a strong gut-wrenching message about true friendship which should appeal to anyone.

I give this book a 5.

LoveIt

This review has been posted to GoodReads. If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link: Amazon

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

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#BooktagsBloghop

#BooktagsBlogHop No. 4: The Woodcutter by Kate Danley #fantasy #YA

Booktagbloghop

The purpose of this blog hop is for readers and writers to share what they are reading, have read, are writing, or have written with others. This is not about promoting free or discounted books though some of those may be featured. This is about book lovers sharing what they love about books. This blog hop is about the Joy of Reading and the Joy of Writing with tags of your choosing and is hosted by me, Toi Thomas, the third Monday of the month. Learn more here.

This month’s optional theme is: New Year, birth, fresh start.

Excerpt from Chapter 78

The Grandmother and Red Riding Hood stopped at the base of a mighty oak tree whose gnarled roots ate the ground and whose grand trunk could only be surrounded if ten tall men stood hand in hand. There, the Grandmother and the child transferred the body to the earth.

They stood respectfully as the Woodcutter knelt at the side of his own being. A phantom tear slid down the Woodcutter’s cheek, and it fell, landing upon the earth.

The Woodcutter buried his face in his sleeves.

But where the tear touched, a small mushroom emerged, a mushroom of red with small dots of white on its cap. It stretched and yawned and shook off the dirt and then shrank back as another tear slid from the Woodcutter and landed wetly upon its head. It shook off the tear like a dog come in from the rain, and where the spray of the second tear landed, a second mushroom emerged, waking and shaking as another tear fell. Around and around the mushrooms grew, until the tears stopped and the Woodcutter looked up.

A circle of mushrooms gazed back at him from all sides, a circle of mushrooms grown into a complete faerie circle.

202 words from: The Wood Cutter © 2010 Kate Danley

My Thoughts

Before I get started with my spiel, let me first apologize. I took a bit of a digital cleanse in the last week or so and let a few things lapse. While I will continue this blog hop regardless of outside participation, I must admit that I didn’t promote this very much this month. I will rectify that for the next post and hopefully come up with a nice list of books to sample.

Now on to the book. I absolutely adored this book the first time a read it, which is probably why I felt the need to read it again. There are so many wonderful qualities to this story- a nice balance of the traditional mixed with twists and upgrades.

In this particular scene, there are several types of awakenings happening and beginning to happen. I won’t go into too much detail about the how and why because I don’t want to spoil it too much. In any case, in keeping with this month’s optional theme, I thought the “birth” or creation of mushroom circle was a perfect fit. I must also admit that when I first read this, the dancing mushroom scene, to the music of the Nutcracker, from Fantasia ran through my mind repeatedly. I felt like a child reading Peter Pan for the first time all over again.

So there, a bit of my perspective and a trip down memory lane. If you like fairytales, mythical lore, and fairy magic, please give the Woodcutter a try. Aside from being a wonderfully told story with amazing world building, it has a subtle and positive message to it.

Find this title at Amazon | Goodreads

What are you currently reading? I’d love to know.
Next blog hop post date will be February 15, 2016.

Be sure to hop around and see what others are reading so you may continue to pile onto your TBR list.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

Categories
#BooktagsBloghop Excerpts

#BooktagsBlogHop No. 3: Strength (Mark of Nexus Book 1) by @CarrieAButler #fantasy #amreading

Booktagbloghop

The purpose of this blog hop is for readers and writers to share what they are reading, have read, are writing, or have written with others. This is not about promoting free or discounted books, though some of those may be featured. This is about book lovers sharing what they love about books. This blog hop is about the Joy of Reading and the Joy of Writing with tags of your choosing and is hosted by me, Toi Thomas, the third Monday of the month. Learn more here.

This month’s optional theme is: Winter, cold, or holidays.

Excerpt from Chapter 7

I stood up and hastily buttoned myself into my purple, clearance-special pea coat. It pleated at the waist and had big, funky buttons down the front. I’d gotten it for thirteen dollars after Christmas and wore it like a victory medal.

I slung my bag over my shoulder and merged into the line for the door. Go, people. I hate loiterers. It’s one thing to have a legitimate reason to hold up the flow of traffic—like, maybe someone is on crutches or something. That’s fine. Well, not for them. It sucks for them. But pausing to have a conversation in the doorway? I blew out an aggravated sigh. Un-ac–cep–ta-ble.

“A little impatient today?” a smooth voice cut in, interrupting my thoughts.

Was someone talking to me? I cast a quick glance over my shoulders and found a pair of amused brown eyes taking in my every move. My cheeks burned. “Uh, yeah, I guess.”

The guy grinned, studying me like he had some kind of divine insight. Laugh lines creased the corners of his eyes, and his warm gaze smoldered. “And it’s only the first day of class, sweetheart. How are we going to make it through fifteen weeks?”

I blinked. Was this guy for real? Who starts up a conversation like that out of nowhere? I wasn’t shy or anything, but the familiar language was throwing me off. “I guess we’ll have to manage.”

237 words from: Strength (Mark of Nexus #1) © 2013 Carrie Butler

My Thoughts

I’m making a point to get this review posted soon. I just finished this book and really enjoyed it. I will definitely be seeking out the rest of the series. As for why I shared this piece today, there are a few reasons.

1. I think this may be classified as YA, but for me, it has a more New Adult feel to it. The college banter here doesn’t feel as bothersome as what I usually read in YA, which is why I don’t read it much. In any case, much of the story reminds me of my own college experience, which I haven’t often felt when reading stories set in a college scene.

2. This passage goes great with the winter and cold theme for this month. This whole installment of this series takes place in winter and some of the scenes made me cold just reading them.

3. I like the way this character thinks. She’s very down to earth and her inner monolog isn’t annoying.

4. I like the originality of this story. It’s always surprising to me when I come across a story that feels truly unique. It’s hard for stories these days to be completely original, but when a story doesn’t come off cliché and there’s something I haven’t figured out by the end- I’m impressed.

Lastly, this passage is important to me because of how the story plays out at the end of this installment. I figured out something here, but I also completely missed something too. I hope you read it for yourself and see if this scene stands out once you’ve read it.

Find this title at Amazon | Goodreads

What are you currently reading? I’d love to know.

Next blog hop post date will be January 18, 2016.

I’ll be setting up a new linky soon and emailing it to past participants. Thank you to those of you who joined me on this journey so far, whether you’re continuing or not.

Be sure to hop around and see what others are reading so you may continue to pile onto your TBR list.


Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords