Mythology Monday: Famous Mythological Twins

Artemis and Apollo

Name: Artemis. Apollo.

God/Goddess Of: The Hunt, Forest, Hills, Moon and Archery. The Sun, Music, Poetry, Archery, Plague, Medicine, Light, Knowledge, Art and Oracles.

Appearance: Eternally young woman, short dress to leave her legs free. A young man with curly blond hair and sometimes sun rays emitting from his head.

Symbol: Bow, Her Hounds and the Moon. The Sun, The Lyre, The Chariot and the Bow.

Weakness/Flaw: Dislikes men and opposes marriage. Too eager to enjoy women and nymphs.

Strengths: Physically strong and able to defend herself, protector of all wildlife and women in childbirth.  Creative and handsome and supportive of all creative arts.

Parents: Zeus and Leto

Birthplace: The Greek island of Delos under a Palm tree.

Spouse: None she rejects men and marriage. Many encounters but no formal marriages.

Children: None she is a virgin goddess. Orpheus the semi-divine singer and Asklepios the god of healing.

Author Interview: Carrie Jones

Author: 
Carrie Jones
Author Picture:

3 Other Books By Author: 
After Obsession
Tips on having a gay (Ex) Boyfriend
Girl, Hero
Book In Question:  
Endure (Need #4)
Book Cover:
 
Goodreads Description:
Zara is at the center of an impending apocalypse. True, she’s successfully rescued Nick from Valhalla, but it simply isn’t enough. Evil pixies are ravaging Bedford, and they need much more than one great warrior; they need an army. Zara isn’t sure what her role is anymore. She’s not just fighting for her friends; she’s also a pixie queen. And to align her team of pixies with the humans she loves will be one of her greatest battles yet. Especially since she can’t even reconcile her growing feelings for her pixie king . . .

Unexpected turns, surprising revelations, and one utterly satisfying romantic finale make Endure a thrilling end to this series of bestsellers. 


Interview:
1. Out of all of your characters who is your favorite?
This question is made of pure evil. I think Issie is my favorite because she tries so hard to be good and she's just human. Plus, she Can't tie her shoes and I can completely relate to that. So, as of today, this second, Issie is my favorite in the NEED series.

2. What inspired you to change Nick from being a sweet caring guy to someone very jealous and controlling by the end?
I love Nick, but he always had signs of some control issues. I mean, he's an alpha wolf, it's his nature. Plus, his parents are dead. He is stuck protecting his friends and his town and he's used to being in charge. But, I think lots of times relationships make us better and sometimes worse. For Nick and Zara, his controlling nature, which morphed into a jealous nature, did not work out. She is no beta girl.

3. If you had a dinner party and could invite any celebrities dead or alive, who would you choose?
I am not really into celebrities. I mean, what if they are disgusting eaters? Or divas? Or just not awesome. Should I go for the hot  factor or the intellectual. THIS IS SO HARD! I think I would go with Maya Angelou, Angela Davis, and Shakira. OR I would go with Alexander the Great, Hephaistion, and Jesus. Those count as celebrities right? I like that I have a girl choice and a boy choice. Wow. I should probably actually think before I answer these. :)

4. What inspired you to choose Norse mythology over all other aspects of mythology?
I love Norse mythology and at the time Thor (Marvel) wasn't super popular so I felt pretty safe doing it, like I wasn't treading on other writers' turfs. Plus, giant wolves? Loki? It's hard to resist, really.

5. Can you tell us a little about one of your other series please?
Sure, my next book is with TOR and it's about a girl who has to save her mom (and eventually the world) from some hostile aliens. Sort of like X-Files meets Buffy meets Doctor Who meets um... Attack on Titan? Only no giant monsters or anything. But there is a lot of friend bonding stuff going on. Then Steve Wedel and I have another book that's coming out with TOR, which I hope hope hope will become a series since we've already written the second and third ones. It's about two kids who meet up in Oklahoma when the girl's father investigates a report of a BIGFOOT that the boy saw. Turns out it isn't a bigfoot though. And my third series/project I can't announce yet, but I will be able to soon AND I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT IT! Seriously, caps excitement going on.

Endure Book Review

Review: Endure (Need #4)

Title: Endure (Need #4)
Author: Carrie Jones (See Interview Here)
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Genres: YA, Fantasy, Romance
Release Date: May 8th 2012
Pages: 272
Where Acquired: Amazon
Buy at Amazon Here
- Best Book Price: £2.25 Kindle Price: £3.60 (as of when posted)

UK Cover:


My View on the Cover:This cover is stunning, as said in my recent Top Ten Tuesday, I do love swirls and shiny bits.  The orange iris is bright and eye catching (Excuse the pun!) and the gold represents the pixie dust and magic of the novel perfectly. I am also a fan of the font, it's simple and elegant but also pretty. I am a fan of some of the other covers in the series more however as even though the orange iris is beautiful I am not so sure about the chopped, sideways face....

Goodreads Description:
Zara is at the center of an impending apocalypse. True, she’s successfully rescued Nick from Valhalla, but it simply isn’t enough. Evil pixies are ravaging Bedford, and they need much more than one great warrior; they need an army. Zara isn’t sure what her role is anymore. She’s not just fighting for her friends; she’s also a pixie queen. And to align her team of pixies with the humans she loves will be one of her greatest battles yet. Especially since she can’t even reconcile her growing feelings for her pixie king . . .

Unexpected turns, surprising revelations, and one utterly satisfying romantic finale make Endure a thrilling end to this series of bestsellers.

My Review:
This review has been a long time coming so I'm sorry for the delay. I have had this book on my shelf for a long time but I was reluctant to read it as it means putting a great series away for good... However, I did finally find the courage to read this novel, and although it is sad to see another series go this year after already loosing Morganville Vampires, Wings, Divergent and Heroes of Olympus later in October, I was glad to have read it and finally seen a resolve to Bedford's pixie problem, the looming apocalypse but more importantly the love triangle. It is probably well known by now that I am a great hater of love triangles that seem to be everywhere these days so I was very glad to see it resolved early on in this book. Zara finally got with Astley, the guy I was rooting for all along, so that left me all happy inside. Especially because Astley is such a boyfriend worthy, sweet, gentleman and Nick turned out to be an annoying, jealous, control freak!  However the romance did take a small step back in this book because our characters were too busy fighting an army of evil pixies and Ragnarok. For this I was grateful as the plotlines surrounding these major problems were spectacular and well deserved the full attention of the reader. The pixies are, as always an interesting race, not shown often in the world of YA. Therefore I was interested from the start of the series, the more original book, the more I like it! However the pixie problem seemed small compared to the end of the world, apocalyptic, Ragnarok. The self sacrifice it took Zara to end Ragnarok made her into one of the bravest, strongest and one of my favorite heroines. One of these sacrifices meant that she had to give up a meeting with her dead father in order to get an idea how to end the apocalypse. However one of the most touching and heart breaking scenes, in my opinion, insured from this when she was allowed to see her father anyway. I literally had tears in my eyes! That's not the only thing that manage to touch my heart however, I also loved the strong, loving, friendships that dominate this novel. They are so sweet and amazing that I really wish to have my own friendships like that! My favorite thing about this novel for me though was the Norse mythology. You all know how much I love my mythology and Norse was one rarely explored even by Rick Riordan the self proclaimed Myth Master who Isn't starting his Norse series until next year. So that explains why I was so pleasantly shocked to find a strong mythology plot in a book I primarily picked up for the already original theme of Pixies. The Norse theme was stronger in this book than in the others of the series (Excluding Entice which held Odin and Thor among others) with the theme of Ragnarok and Loki! (Ok...Ok... I admit I read all of Loki's dialogue in Tom Hiddleston's Voice)

 

Norse mythology is an old part of our heritage so it was interesting to learn more about it, but even better to see it come alive in the form of fiction surrounding some very strong characters. To be honest I loved all of the book, put together it was very original and captivating and this series held me from the start.

Quotes:

“We teleported," Issie finishes. "Like in Star Trek or Harry Potter, sort of. No! Like in Dr. Who in that episode with the Sontarans and the brilliant human boy, or really any Dr. Who ever if you think of the Tardis! Holy canola! That is just the coolest thing ever! Wowie, wow, wow!”

 “I give a little wave back because it's more mature then giving him the finger.”

“Zara White, since when has love ever not mattered?” 

Rating:

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How Did You Find It?
Why Don't You Leave Me A Comment, Or a Link To Your Own Blog?
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-The Reading Rose

Top Ten Tuesday

This is a weekly Meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish Where Fellow Book Bloggers Share The Top Ten of The Given Subject.

Ten Things That I Like/Dislike On Book Covers

Like

1. A cover where the image clearly represents the plot line of the book.

Entice - Pixies that leave gold dust, cold setting, love & romance all shown

Earthfall - Aliens

Forgotten - Past is blank but can tell the future.

Wings - they are Flowers!

2. A cover with text that stands out against the background.

3. Swanky fonts.

4. Swirls, I'm a sucker for swirls!

Iron King, House of Night and Morganville (Above) are all also very good at having swirls on their cover.

5. Shiny, I do like a book that is shiny! But saying that I think I must be half magpie because I do love shiny things...

 

6. Pretty Dresses

Dislike

7. Artwork, I prefer photographs or computer generated images (Unless it's done really well A.K.A Harry Potter & Percy Jackson)

8. Boring square font placed at the top/bottom of the cover sometimes in a coloured box.

9. Images that do not represent the genre of the book

Queen of babble is an Young Adult/Adult novel.... It looks like a children's book. Air Head is another example of this, a YA book that looks like Children's. The Fire looks like an adult novel to me where in reality it is aimed at Young adults and older children.

10. Too Cheesy that it makes me shudder!

Mythology Monday: Irish Folk Stories

Finn McCool and the legend of the Giants Causeway

There once was a giant called Finn McCool. He had heard stories of a competition in Scotland that battled out the biggest and fiercest giants against eachother in areas such as tree trunk throwing and bolder carrying. Finn decided this would be great fun so he decided to build a road across the sea so he could walk right over to Scotland. He flipped mountains into the ocean until the road began to take shape. A few days later one of Finn's friends walked over to him bringing a message. "There is gossip that a giant is on his way to your house, he lept over the sea from Scotland and has as much strength as ten men put together." Finn began to feel uneasy so he left his road half finished and went back home to his wife Oonagh. Oonagh laughed at Finn's fear and told him to follow what she does and leave everything to her. They first put some round flat stones on a plate with one single oatcake and they made a Giant cradle that Finn McCool laid in dressed as a baby. Shortly after a huge giant knocked on their front door asking for Finn McCool and Saying that he will "Rip him apart when I find him" Oonagh told the giant that her husband was away building his bridge but the giant is welcome to come in and have something to eat. She handed him one of the rocks disguised as oatcakes and when he bit into it all of his teeth fell out. Oonagh told the giant that these oatcakes were her babies favorites and headed over to the cot which held Finn McCool and fed him the real oatcake. The giant was shocked at the size of Finn's 'baby' as Oonagh boasted that he already had his teeth. She prompted the Giant to put his finger in Finn's mouth and see. The giant did as he was told and Finn bit down biting the end of his finger off. The Giant screamed "If this is Finn McCool's baby i don't want to meet him!" and he ran off into the day. Finn never did finish his road as he decided he would much rather stay with his clever wife instead.

 

Now For Something Different: In The Flesh

 

Media Review

-Because sometimes it's good to have variety

TV

Title: In The Flesh (Series 2)

First Air Date: 4th May 2014

What Channel: BBC3
Genres: Horror, Drama.

Amazon Box Set Price: £15.00 (as of when posted)

Poster:
 

IMDB Description:

Four years after the Rising, the government starts to rehabilitate the Undead back into the society including teenager Kieren Walker, who returns home to his small Lancashire village to face a hostile reception as well as his own demons.

Starring:

Luke Newberry - Kieren Walker
Emily Bevan - Amy Dyer
Emmet Scanlan - Simon Monroe
Harriet Cains - Jem Walker

Writer:
Dominic Mitchell

Director:
Jonny Campbell 
Jim O'Hanlon
Damon Thomas
Alice Troughton

Review:

MAJOR SPOILER ALERT IN THIS REVIEW
 
For one of the most inhuman and supernatural idea in a show it has one of the most human plots that I have any seen. The first series was good and set the scene perfectly but it was a shame that it was only 3 episodes long. That was why I was so glad that when series 2 came along it was 6 episodes long instead. In this series the former zombies or PDS (Partial Dead Syndrome) suffers face the anger, prejudice and discrimination of the human race resembling the struggles that ethnic minorities and LGBT's have faced in the past. They are not accepted into society and treated as a lesser species so in this show they attempt to get their own back and be accepted into society through the very religious ULA (Undead Liberation Army). The main theme in this series along side with the very human issues is the fight for a second rising and the discovery of the first risen. We also see the fight that the humans like Kieren's sister Jem are facing too, trying to accept the PDS Suffers and forget the times where they had to kill the Rabids and Kieran's parents struggle to accept their undead son. Amy and Kieren's relationship was as brilliant as ever but is was great to see our favorite characters begin to find romantic relationships. Amy and Phillips relationship was sweet but it was Kieren and Simon's relationship that stole the show. It was complicated but all so lovely, Amy was at first in love with Simon but it turned out that her BDFF (best dead friend forever) Kieren was the real love interest to Simon. Simon gave up on his religious path to kill the first risen (Kieren) and even took a bullet for him! The new character of the town mayor was really creepy, she looked so nice and kind but turned out to be the most hateful person I have came across in a TV show! I loved the way we got to see Simon's back story as being the first cured Rabid and his time in the treatment center as it helped with the world building immensely. 
Another outstanding part of this series though was when Kieren was forced to take the tablets that turned him Rabid and he faced his family dreaming of eating them, however he managed to force the urge thanks to his family finally realising their acceptance of him. It was one of the most bittersweet moments of the show!
The most stand out moment for me in this series however was Amy's healing and her devastating death. Amy began to turn human again, for the most of the series she was ill and fearing becoming rabid but all of a sudden she could feel and her heart began beating again. It was amazing and lovely and under mentioned to peak our curiosity. However before anyone other than Phillip could find out she was stabbed horrifically by the mayor and due to her human again status it proved to be fatal. This was so sad and I actually had tears in my eyes (rare occurrence for me!). This cut the whole healing story short and left it all unsaid and ready to be a main theme in the next series if I guess correct. This is an amazing series full of desperation, heartbreak and love. It is worth a watch.

 

Quotes:

"Who’d want someone like me?” Kieren

 "It’s fate Kieren Walker. Everything happens for a reason. You’ve got to start believing that.” Amy

 "The Undead Liberation Army is about protecting The Redeemed from the Living. Because no one else will.” Simon

"I can’t put a bullet through me mock exams. Unfortunately.”  Jem

 "The PDS Sufferer in your home, in your shop, in your pub, is one missed dose away from ripping your head apart.”Maxine

 Rating:

 

Have You Seen This Show?

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I Would Love To Hear Your Views!

-The Reading Rose

Review: Jonas

Title: Jonas (Beautiful Dead #1)
Author: Eden Maguire
Publisher: Hodder Children's Books
Genres: YA, Fantasy, Romance, Mystery
Release Date: April 2nd 2009
Pages: 279
Where Acquired: Book People Box Set of 3
Buy at Amazon Here
- Best Book Price: £1.49 Kindle Price: £2.99 (as of when posted)

UK Cover:


My View On The Cover:
I do like the cover as it is haunting and beautiful with the colours summing up the sad and morbid tone this book holds. The pink of the title and the title font is also beautiful and I love the contrast of the pink on the grey.

Goodreads Description:
Something strange is happening in Ellerton High. Phoenix is the fourth teenager to die within a year. His street fight stabbing follows the deaths of Jonas, Summer and Arizona in equally strange and sudden circumstances.
Rumours of ghosts and strange happenings rip through the small community as it comes to terms with shock and loss. Darina,Phoenix's grief-stricken girlfriend, is on the verge. She can't escape her intense heartache, or the impossible apparitions of those that are meant to be dead. And all the while the sound of beating wings echo inside her head! And then one day Phoenix appears to Darina.
Ecstatic to be reunited, he tells her about the Beautiful Dead. Souls in limbo, they have been chosen to return to the world to set right a wrong linked to their deaths and bring about justice. Beautiful, superhuman and powerful, they are marked by a 'death mark' - a small tattoo of angel's wings. Phoenix tells her that the sound of invisible wings beating are the millions of souls in limbo, desperate to return to earth.Darina's mission is clear: she must help Jonas, Summer, Arizona, and impossibly, her beloved Phoenix, right the wrong linked to their deaths to set them free from limbo so that they can finally rest in peace. Will love conquer death? And if it does, can Darina set it free?

My Review:
This book had a very promising plot with a great mystery so it was such as shame that I found the writing style terrible and completely hated the main character! Darina was pathetic, who fall in love that desperatly in just 2 months! she was whiny and immature and just so annoying I hated the whole book! Darina was also very disrespectful to her mum who I thought was very kind and caring, just looking out for her daughter! The writing style was also really bad as it skipped all the details and there was no explanations or world building at all so it made the novel very confusing. There was no character building so I lost track of who was who a lot of the time. The mystery was the only good bit, the only reason I finished this book was that i wanted to know what happened and who killed Jonas! I would not recommend this book to anyone and annoyingly I have another 2 of these books to read as it came as part of a set....uh!

Rating:

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-The Reading Rose

Review: Daylighters

Title: Daylighters (Morganville Vampires #15)
Author: Rachel Caine
Publisher: Allison & Busby
Genres: Paranormal, Vampire, Fantasy, YA
Release Date: November 5th 2013
Pages: 368
Where Acquired: Christmas Present
Buy at Amazon Here
- Best Book Price: £2.80 Kindle Price: £4.19 (as of when posted)

UK Cover:


A Cover From Elsewhere (US):
 

What I Like About The Covers:
I prefer the UK cover with the trademark beautiful swirls and the clear image on the front which is easily identifiable as Eve.The US cover depicts Claire I think and I do like the sky image behind them with bright daylight symoblising the name of the book but I am not a fan of the font it's not as striking as of that on the UK cover.

Goodreads Description:
While Morganville, Texas, is often a troubled town, Claire Danvers and her friends are looking forward to coming home. But the Morganville they return to isn’t the one they know; it’s become a different place—a deadly one…

Something drastic has happened in Morganville while Claire and her friends were away. The town looks cleaner and happier than they’ve ever seen it before, but when their incoming group is arrested and separated—vampires from humans—they realize that the changes definitely aren’t for the better.

It seems that an organization called the Daylight Foundation has offered the population of Morganville something they’ve never had: hope of a vampire-free future. And while it sounds like salvation—even for the vampires themselves—the truth is far more sinister and deadly.

Now, Claire, Shane and Eve need to find a way to break their friends out of Daylighter custody, before the vampires of Morganville meet their untimely end

My Review:
This review has been a long time coming so sorry for the delay considering I finished this book back in April. I am so, so, so, so, so, so, so sad to see this series go as it has been one of my top 5 since i started reading it a few summers ago. It is also one of the only series that I kept up with in the sense that I baught ever novel as it came out. Rick Riordan's books are the only other series I do that with. I loved every part of this book from the plot to the characters and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing how far the characters have come since we first met them all that time ago in Glass House. Claire especially had grown the most throughout the series going from a wimpy but outstandingly clever young girl to a brave, independent and determined (But still outstandingly clever) woman.The idea of the Daylight Foundation was one of my favorites yet as Claire and the gang have fought many supernatural creatures such as vampires and draug but this novel saw them facing the biggest battle yet, but the only threat was humans. I adore the way that you can see how the vampire/human relationship has evolved throughout the series going from humans terrified of vampires, gruding peace to vampires terrified of humans and through to mutual friendship by the finale of Daylighters. It was heart wrenching and touching how Claire and the gang have gone from fighting vampires to putting their lives on the line and fighting their own species for them. The personal battles that Claire, Shane and Eve face throught this as to whether to betray their own kind to save their friends or betray their friends to save their species. However in my opinion they picked the right side in the end, me being a big fan of the vampires Myrin, Michael, Amelie, Jessy, Oliver and a few other minor characters. I loved the drama in this book and there were many times in it where I questioned myself on how on earth they will escape this situation without being killed, and therefore this book had me hooked until the end. I loved the way it ended with an epilogue! I do love a good epilogue! It was so sweet and lovely that I was nearly crying that I had to leave! I loved Caines list of music that was placed at the end of the book with a song dedicated to every main character. The only fault I could find in this series was that there was no novella dedicated to Myrnin. I need more Myrnin in my life and will probably miss him the most as he is my favorite character in any book! Luckily for all of you morganville fans out there, there is a TV show in development. It is independently funded and small budget. A short series with very short episodes but who cares! Morganville is coming to life all under the watchful eye of Rachel Caine!

Quotes:

"You brought me grenades. You are officially the best girlfriend ever.” Shane

"If anyone comes to bite you while I'm gone - well, try not to attract attention. Die quietly.”  Myrnin

“But if these past years in Morganville have taught me anything, it's that sometimes you have to just . . . jump. It's not safe. It's never safe. But sometimes you have to live dangerously.”  Calire

Rating:

 

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-The Reading Rose

HAPPY BIRTHDAY THE READING ROSE

OK, It's a day late but due to a BBQ yesterday I couldn't find time to come online.

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY THE READING ROSE

Thank you to all my readers and followers for the support the last year, I hope you all continue to Enjoy my blog!

Review: Bridget Jones's Diary

Title: Bridget Jones's Diary
Author: Helen Fielding
Publisher: MacMillan
Genres: Chick Lit, Comedy, Romance, Adult
Release Date: October 26th 1996 (One year younger then me!)
Pages: 310
Where Acquired: The Works

Buy at Amazon Here
- Best Book Price: £1.49 Kindle Price: £3.59 (as of when posted) 

UK Cover:


A Cover From Elsewhere (Spanish):
 

Goodreads Description: 
Meet Bridget Jones—a 30-something Singleton who is certain she would have all the answers if she could:

a. lose 7 pounds
b. stop smoking
c. develop Inner Poise


"123 lbs. (how is it possible to put on 4 pounds in the middle of the night? Could flesh have somehow solidified becoming denser and heavier? Repulsive, horrifying notion), alcohol units 4 (excellent), cigarettes 21 (poor but will give up totally tomorrow), number of correct lottery numbers 2 (better, but nevertheless useless)..."

Bridget Jones's Diary is the devastatingly self-aware, laugh-out-loud daily chronicle of Bridget's permanent, doomed quest for self-improvement — a year in which she resolves to: reduce the circumference of each thigh by 1.5 inches, visit the gym three times a week not just to buy a sandwich, form a functional relationship with a responsible adult, and learn to program the VCR

My Review: 
I have always loved the film and as a recent reader of pride and prejudice I just adore this book. It's light and quick to read with a very British and quirky sense of humor that offset the novel perfectly. There is a little bit of Bridget in all of us especially when it comes to relationships, after all, who wouldn't want their own Mr. Darcy! Mark Darcy was the captivating, kind and beautiful man we expect him to be, his character matched Bridget's perfectly. I loved the way that they waited right until the end of the novel - Just like Austen did - for Darcy and Bridget to get together. It always adds to the romance and yearning of the reader when authors do that! I did enjoy the blast to the past a little bit too much with VCRs and lack of mobile phones as it reminded me of my childhood! I loved the problems in this book that Bridget faced and the cooking scene with the blue soup has me literally dying! If you need a book that can make you laugh, head straight to your nearest shop and buy this book if you don't own it already!

Quotes: 

“Can officially confirm that the way to a man's heart these days is not through beauty, food, sex, or alluringness of character, but merely the ability to seem not very interested in him.” 

 “Tom has a theory that homosexuals and single women in their thirties have natural bonding: both being accustomed to disappointing their parents and being treated as freaks by society.”

“Sink into morbid, cynical reflection on how much romantic heartbreak is to do with ego and miffed pride rather than actual loss” 

Rating: 

 

Have You Read This Book?
How Did You Find It?
Why Don't You Leave Me A Comment, Or a Link To Your Own Blog?
I Would Love To Hear Your Views!
-The Reading Rose