Book Reviews – Page 25

The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street

Still on the “84 Charing Cross Road” high, I had managed to convince enough of my book club friends to join me in an unofficial discussion of the book last Saturday. At Flips Flipping Pages, we normally do unofficial discussions (outside of the monthly schedule) for certain books when one person (or more) ~~needs closure~~ feels strongly about it and elects to moderate.

Of course, being the highly suggestible people we are, it’s normally not a big challenge to gather up enough people for a discussion, but considering I kept having to move it all throughout March due to scheduling conflicts, I was pleasantly surprised at the turnout (I love you Flippers!).

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The Sin-Eater’s Daughter

Here’s another new release I just finished reading: The Sin-Eater’s Daughter by Melinda Salisbury.

The first book in a new series, this novel is a medieval fantasy set in the kingdom of Lormere, where seventeen year-old Twylla is the executioner. The daughter of a Sin-Eater (a villager who performs the ritual meal that will absolve the dead of their sins), Twylla was taken away at a young age to live at the palace as the embodiment of Daunen, the daughter of the gods Daeg and Naeht, and the betrothed of crown prince Merek.

As Daunen Embodied, Twylla has the special ability to kill with a single touch, which is wrought upon those charged with treason. Apart from her duties as executioner, she lives life in isolation as the entire court is careful not to come into contact with her. But when a new guard, Lief, is assigned to protect her, Twylla’s life is turned upside down, and the world she knows will never be the same again.

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Craft-a-doodle

In my quest to get those creative juices running again (and to push myself to draw by hand), I’ve been ~~amassing~~ stocking up on all sorts of books with drawing prompts and other creative exercises.

The stack has grown and I haven’t made a lot of headway through them, but my current favorite of the bunch is a book called “Craft-A-Doodle.”

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Vendetta

I had loved The Godfather when I read it two years ago, so my curiosity was piqued when I got an ARC of “Vendetta,” a mafia-themed YA romance, which I had especially reserved for a session at a nail salon (I swear, one of the best places to get reading done!)

The debut novel of Catherine Doyle, “Vendetta” (the first in the Blood for Blood series) is set in the small town of Cedar Hill, where Sophie Gracewell’s life takes an exciting turn when a family of five Italian boys move into the abandoned mansion in her neighborhood.

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World Read Aloud Day 2015

Today, March 4, is the global celebration of World Read Aloud Day, and I took some time off to celebrate it with ATD Fourth World Philippines, representing our book club, Flips Flipping Pages.

Last month, I had come across Adarna House’s book giveaway and thought we had a good chance of winning it for ATD, and I proposed the idea to fellow Flippers Gege and Sana. Sana is a long-time volunteer of ATD and has gotten me and other book club members to volunteer at the organization, too, so we quickly put the nomination form together and hoped for the best.

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