Showing posts with label paranormal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label paranormal. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Review-Beholding Bee, by Kimberly Newton Fusco

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Beholding Bee

by Kimberly Newton Fusco

Published by: Knopf Books for Young Readers
February 12, 2013
Hardcover, 336 pages
978-0375868368
Lexile: 790L




Review by Wisteria©


Beeholding Bee will engage readers from the first page.  Life has not been fair to Bee who at eleven became an orphan when both parents were tragically killed.  She was born with a disfiguring facial birthmark which causes her to hide and withdraw inwardly.  However, fortunately,  Pauline, a carnival worker who knew her parents has befriended her.  They both work for Ellis, the sleazy owner of the traveling carnival.   By day Bee cuts onions and works with Pauline at the hotdog concession.  Her home is the back of a hauling truck used by the carnival. She fears Ellis, who lurks around with threats to include Bee in his freak side show act.  

Kimberly Newton Fusco uses precise descriptive prose to setting and place for readers to fully realize.   Characters are multi-dimentional, descriptively real thus a perfect novel to have students focus on character traits.  The novel is written in first person through Bee's voice an important author strategy that makes the reader feel Bee's pain and low self-esteem.  Bee would rather be a shadow, hidden and forgotten.  Another devastating break forces Bee to take charge, in order to find a new place to live.  Readers will adore her spunk and vulnerability, a memorable and relevant character to identify with. 

Beholding Bee lends itself to classroom discussion and literature group study in elementary and early middle school.  A perfect classroom read aloud with themes reminiscent of Wonder, by R.J. Palacio. 
Themes that emerge for discussion-difference, acceptance, bullying, special needs, courage and perseverance, women's roles/rights and more. 

Beholding Bee, by Kimberly Newton Fusco is an essential first choice purchase for school and public libraries, and consider a classroom set purchase grade 3+. I'm sure this will be a student favorite...highly recommended. 



View all my review on Goodreads

Disclosure: This book was borrowed with no compensation. 

© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2008-2015]. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner] with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.



Monday, December 12, 2011

A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES GIVEAWAY!!


Soon to be released in paperback!!

Penguin is due to release the enormous best-seller, A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES, by Deborah Harkness on December 27, 2011. If you haven't read this part historical fiction, part paranormal romance, you need to mark your calendar, or pre-order this compelling novel.  I became hooked from the beginning and now I am restless waiting for the sequel. 

Several posts back I summarized recent reads from my bookstand. One of my favorite books in that list was A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES, by Deborah Harkness.  The setting is Oxford University and below I have a clip with Harkness giving a walking tour of Oxford. The story centers around the characters of Diana Bishop, a researcher who descended from a brilliant notable ancestry of witches. She has known she has some unique sorcery capabilities, but has been in a cloud of denial her whole life. She calls up a book called Ashmole 782 from the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library with unexpected results. Her hands sense the power within the pages and quickly sends the book back to the ancient stacks. Matthew Clairmont has observed this from a distance, anything but an ordinary geneticist, he is a vampire with a long history with seemingly endless resources and a strong interest in Ashmole 782.  Matthew is only one of countless daemons, witches and vampires who covet the same book. Harkness speaks of their first date in the video. It is myth busting for Diana and provides a challenge to her as she must create a menu that will please a vampire.  She learns that his taste in fine wine is paramount to food, but that's about all. A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES is part of the ALL SOULS TRILOGY, SHADOW OF THE NIGHT due to be released in the summer 2012. 

Deborah Harkness-Walking Tour of Oxford




Book Giveaway Details

My readers will be thrilled to have the opportunity to win a copy of the the paperback edition of A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES that will be released by Penguin on December 27th. 

Contest runs from today through December 31st. 
To enter you must:
1. Leave your email address in code and follow my blog. 
2. Extra chance if you post on facebook and/or twitter, leave link. 
3. Extra chance if you blog about it, leave link. 
4. Leave a comment about the video, question for the author, or general comment about the book and contest. It's up to you. :)
5. Contest limited to participants in US and Canada.

Good Luck to all!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Its All About Children Thursday-Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater









This week on All About Children Thursday, I have the much talked about Young Adult book, Shiver.



SHIVER
by Maggie Stiefvater
Scholastic Paperback (June 2010)© 2009
978-0-545-12327-3
400 pages
Young Adult

Summary
As a young girl, Grace was attacked by a pack of wolves in her back yard in Mercy Falls. She was saved by one wolf with yellow eyes. She has never forgotten her wolf and often she sees them gather on the fringe of her woods. She thinks of them often with curious interest. Sam lives his life in two forms. Part of the year, when the temperature is cold he is wolf. When the warm weather returns he is Sam again. When Grace meets Sam, she is convinced he is the wolf who saved her for his eyes give him away. Grace is drawn to Sam and they fall in love, but the cold weather is coming and life will change for both of them when Sam must return to his pack.

Review
This paranormal romance held my interest and I was curious enough to breeze through the story. It reminds me of Beauty of the Beast meets Twilight, a fairy tale without a castle and forbidden love, or rather what seems an impossible love. Grace and Sam share a precious young romance that is sweet and you want everything to work out. There are strangely no parental obstacles, because Grace is independent, her parents oblivious to her daily routines. The challenge the two face is Sam’s physiological dilemma and the occasional questions from classmates. It is difficult to review this with enough depth without giving out spoilers, but I liked this book. As a young adult book, I know this will draw an audience. Stiefvater has written an engaging story full of your typical teenage drama of love, with a paranormal dimension. A host of questions to answer and a problem to solve keep the pace moving forward. I will leave the ending a mystery for the readers. I won’t tell. Meanwhile, sitting on my nightstand is Linger. This sequel is a story I am anxious to continue as Shiver was an entertaining read.

What were they thinking.....
Grace:
“I glanced out the window at the woods, the pale lines of the trees phantoms against the dark. If my wolf was out there, I couldn’t see him. “Mom, you’re the one who told me over and over and over again: Wolves are usually peaceful.” Wolves are peaceful creatures. This had been Mom’s refrain for years. I think the only way she could keep living in this house was by convincing herself of the wolves’ relative harmlessness and insisting that my attack was a one-time event. I don’t know if she really believed that they were peaceful, but I did.” (Chapter 5)

Sam:
“I could still smell her on my fur. It clung to me, a memory of another world.” “The smell of summer on her skin, the half-recalled cadence of her voice, the sensation of her fingers on my fur. Every bit of me sang with the memory of her closeness. Too close. I couldn’t stay away.” (Chapter 7)

Author’s Website
http://www.maggiestiefvater.com/shiver/index.php





Saturday, July 10, 2010

Book Giveaway-The Prince of Mist, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Another great book giveaway! I can't believe I actually have four copies of The Prince of Mist, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón to raffle off. I couldn't wait to read this book. When I spoke to the publisher, she generously offered four copies to give away. If you have ever read my header, one of my favorite quotes appears under my blog title. It is from one of my very favorite books, Shadow of the Wind. Before his internationally best selling book Shadow of the Wind, and his recent best seller, The Angel Game, were published, he wrote YA literature. The Prince of Mist was actually his first novel.

I just finished The Prince of Mist and it is an adrenaline releasing read, an evil ghostly mystery for young adults. Adults will want to read this one too, especially if you are a fan of Zafón's gifted writing talent. I will have a review shortly, in the meantime check out his website and then leave a comment below for a chance to win one of the copies in this giveaway.


Here is the synopsis from Zafón's killer website.
"In 1943, Max Carver's father - a watchmaker and inventor - decides to move his family to a small town on the coast, to an abandoned house that holds many secrets and stories of its own. Behind the house Max discovers an overgrown garden surrounded by a metal fence topped with a six-pointed star. In the centre is a large statue of a clown set in another six-pointed star.

As the family settles in they grow increasingly uneasy: Max’s sister Alicia has disturbing dreams while his other sister, Irina, hears voices whispering to her from an old wardrobe. With his new friend Roland, Max also discovers the wreck of a boat that sank many years ago in a terrible storm. Everyone on board perished except for one man - an engineer who built the lighthouse at the end of the beach.

As they learn more about the wreck, the chilling story of a legendary figure called the Prince of Mist begins to emerge..."


By the way, the author's website is a treasure of surprise with trailers, audio readings by the author and soundtracks. Here is a link to the Prince of Mist page of fun stuff. It really is fun to explore. My favorite page is listed as his top ten, but is actually in his words, "A list of random stuff that cheers me up." I really like that idea, I may have to include a page like that on my blog.

With much gratitude I thank Little Brown, The Hachette Group for my review copy and the four copies for this promotion.

Contest Rules:

Contest ends on July 31, 2010.

Contestants must be from the US and provide an email address for notification.

Comment why you would like to win this book. (one chance)

Tweet about the contest. (one chance)

Become a follower of Bookworms Dinner. (one chance) Mention this contest on your blog. (two chances)

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Tuesday's Tablet-Debut Novel by M.F.Bloxam

Welcome to my first issue of Tuesday's Tablet. I will post reviews here that are the new releases, upcoming releases, debut novels and less familiar titles out on store bookshelves. Books falling below the rating scale will not be featured on this blog, rather in my Library Thing collection. I really like your comments, whether you have read the book or not. If you agree or disagree, please add your thoughts. Thanks for reading....Wisteria




The Night Battles

by M.F. Bloxam

A brief note about the author from the jacket of the book:
M.F. Bloxam has lived in Sicily and on both US coasts. She is the author of prize-winning short fiction and creative non-fiction. A background in anthropology and museum work informs her writing. She lives with her husband and two cats on New Hampshire's seacoast. This is her first novel."

My Review



The Night Battles by M.F. Bloxam
The Permanent Press
$28.00
260 pages,hc
ISBN1579621716

Reading The Night Battles, evokes dark forgotten memories from the past when monsters lived under beds and in closets. Psychologically awakening this book will stimulate your neurons to that time long ago when fantasy fogged reality.

Joan Severance, an anthropology professor at Brown University has reached an impasse in her career, her future in academia tenuous. Granted a sabbatical, she accepts a position in Valparuta, Sicily, to work as an archivist under the tutelage of Signor Chiesa. She soon becomes engrossed in her work, unearthing historical records. She begins reading about Piero Quagliata his life and then his untimely, unnatural death in 1552. Abruptly the files she sifts through lead no where, something is missing.

Joan becomes attracted to Chiesa. As their relationship deepens, she comes to know his horror with the night battles. In Valpurata you are either benandanti or malandanti, the workers of evil. The benedanti spend four times a year battling the witches. One morning she witnesses the leftover carnage from one of these night battles. Joan senses her appearance in Sicily is not coincidental.

The thrill of The Night Battles is reading the book and imagining the fantasy. It is illusion, mystical, magical and personal to the reader. Valpurata becomes Joan's rabbit hole, with fantasy and reality obscured as she learns the history of Piero and his relationship with the benandanti.

The author’s strength is her beautiful poetic phrasing. For example:

“Outside, the wind saws against the building like a train taking a curve.(103)
“I miss him so terribly that it seems he must have only set like a moon, gone below a certain horizon. I still feel the pull of his body.” (238)

The Night Battles commands your attention with mesmerizing intrigue and alluring appeal. M. F. Bloxam's novel is distinctly unusual, a thriller, tightly taut with tension. Bloxam is a sensualist with an acute sensory awareness that makes this book live.


Wisteria Leigh

Thanks to The Permanent Press for the ARC of this novel.
This review was first published on Blogcritics.org