My Husband's cousin recommended this book to me a while ago, and I finally got around to reading it this last week. I read the whole book within 24 hours and then started reading it again the very next day because it was THAT good. "Edenbrooke", by Julianne Donaldson, is written in the Regency period and is about a young girl named Marianne. Marianne is living with her grandmother in Bath and is hating every minute of it. She longs to be back at her home in the country, but knows that it is impossible.
When her twin sister invites her to stay with her and some family friends at their country estate, Marianne could hardly get there fast enough. On her journey, after a terrifying encounter with a highway man, she stops at an inn and unintentionally claims the attention of a gentleman there. Thinking that she would never see the man again, she throws propriety out the window and decides to simply be herself. She wasn't embarrassed about it one bit until the next day when she reaches her destination and realizes that the gentleman at the inn is also the son of the family that she is supposed to be spending her summer with. The same son that her twin sister is supposedly going to 'catch' as her husband. Then to top it off Marianne beat her sister there by a week, so she has the next seven days to spend alone with him. Will she be able to rein her heart in before her sister gets there?
Marianne is a character that you will fall in love with from the first page, and her story is one that you won't be able to put down. She reminds me a little of Elizabeth from "Pride and Prejudice", because they are both independent young ladies who would rather live as a spinster than marry for anything other than love. If you are any sort of romantic then this is a book that you will eat up and then read over and over again. I am putting this on here with my highest recommendation for you to read it. Let me know what you think!
This is the exciting finale of "The Giver" quartet. "Son", by Lois Lowry, takes us back to the first community where Jonas is training to be the Receiver. Only this time we learn the story of Clair, the young woman who gave birth to Gabe. Clair is unique because she feels. In a community where feelings do not exist no one is there to help her through the loss she feels after her son is taken from her, or the unexplainable love she feels when she holds him for the first time. When Jonas takes Gabe and escapes, Clair is left with only one option - leave with the strange people from elsewhere on their boat. That is her best chance of finding her son. Things don't go as planned though and Clair ends up washed up on a beach in a remote village where the only exit is to climb an impossibly high cliff. She is not about to let that stop her though and her determination to find her son is stronger than ever. She will do whatever it takes to make it back to Gabe.
This book shows what true love is and will definitely pull on your heartstrings. It brings all of the characters from the previous three books back together for one last hoorah, and is the perfect ending to the story. I've said this before, but Lowry ends her books without really ending the story. All four books in this quartet are like that. She leaves a lot for the readers imagination to fill in. It's something that I don't really enjoy, but if you have read her other books then you will know what to expect with this one. However that is not enough to deter me from recommending this book. It will probably take a week or so to get through, but it's definitely worth reading. Be sure to read "The Giver", "Gathering Blue", and "Messenger" before starting this one though. Then get back on here and let me know what you think!
"Messenger", by Lois Lowry, is the third book in "The Giver" quartet. This book is where the content from the first two books finally comes together and you start to see the ties between the stories. Instead of focusing on either one of the main characters from the first two books, the author chooses to share Matt's story - the little boy from "Gathering Blue". He is now living with Kira's father, Seer, in a place called Village. Matty's role in Village is to deliver messages to the people that live there, as well as to the people in other communities. He is the only one who can travel through Forest safely and he hopes that when he receives his true name it will be Messenger. He's not sure if he will ever get it though because Village is in turmoil and Forest has been acting strange and attacking people. Matty is tasked with traveling to the other communities and telling them that Village will no longer be open to new comers. Seer asks him to visit Kira during his travels and bring her back to Village with him. As soon as Matty enters Forest he feels a change in the air. What was once warm and inviting is now sinister and cold. Matty knows that this will be the last time Forest allows him to travel through, if it lets him live that long.
Lowry does it again with "Messenger", and shows us just how creative she can be. This book is the shortest one out of the four, it will only take a couple of days to get through, but that's not the reason I read this one so fast. It was because of how good the book is! I definitely recommend "Messenger" to all readers. I've heard people say that these books in "The Giver" series can be read separately or together...I would say that only applies to the first two books. The last two have content and characters that you won't understand unless you have read the first two. So if you are thinking about reading "Messenger", be sure to read "The Giver" and "Gathering Blue" first. Then get back on here and let me know what you think!
The book "Gathering Blue", by Lois Lowry, is a sister book to her book "The Giver". There are actually four books that comprise The Giver story, and while the stories don't actually intertwine until the third book I think it's important to read both of these first so that you fully understand what is going on later in the tale. "Gathering Blue", the second book, is about a young physically handicapped girl who, after losing her mother and finding herself alone in the world, has to figure out how to survive on her own. The village she lives in is not a friendly one. If women die then their children are given away because the dads don't want the responsibility, if babies seem weak then they are left in a field to die, if a person doesn't have a way to contribute then they are left out in the field to die. It's basically every man for himself. Fortunately our leading lady, Kira, has a way to contribute to the community after her mom dies. She has an incredible talent with weaving, and is chosen to make repairs on a special robe that is sacred to the community. Once she moves into the Council Edifice she slowly picks up hints that her community is not what it seems. She is determined to find the truth and make it a better place, with the help of her young companion, Matt, who acts as her protector in his own little way.
This book adds to The Giver story, but it is also really good all on it's own. My only qualm with it is that the author doesn't finish the story. The book ends as if there will be a sequel, but the next book in the series picks up in a different place and you never really learn about what happens to this community. I almost wish she would have made this story it's own series instead of tying it into "The Giver". However, I still think it is worth reading. This book will probably take a couple of days to get through, and is definitely appropriate for readers of all ages. (I read it for the first time when I was in fifth grade). Let me know what you think!
Do you ever find a book you love so much that you read it two or three times in the space of a few months? That's exactly what I did with the book "Blind Side", by Clair M. Poulson. I read it over and over and then I loaned it out to family members so they could read it too. I've already said that Poulson is my favorite author, and "Blind Side" is probably in my top favorite three of his books. It's about an incredible young woman, named Noletta, who takes her dog for a walk and becomes the only eye witness to a murder. She's not very much help identifying the murderer though because he shot her too and took away her sight, but her dog, Taffy, remembers. She goes back to college with her dog, now trained to be her eyes, and tries to live a normal life. Everything seems great until Taffy starts acting weird around one of Noletta's classmates, and then just a few days later he goes missing. Noletta goes on a hunt to find her missing dog and in a terrifying twist of events, finds out what Taffy was trying to warn her of.
This story is full of intrigue, suspense, and plot twists that will keep your head spinning and your eyes glued to the page. Be prepared to lose some sleep because you will not want to put this book down. Poulson is an LDS author so all of his books are clean, which makes this the perfect read for all ages. Whenever a friend asks if I have any good books to read, this is usually the one that I lend to them. Go out and get your own copy and then let me know what you think!
