Blog Tour: The Anniversary Waltz

 

Title: The Anniversary Waltz
Author: Darrel Nelson
Publisher: Realms
My Rating: 4 Stars
Buy the Book: -HERE-


"At their sixtieth anniversary party, Adam Carlson asks his wife, Elizabeth, for their customary waltz.  After the dance they gather the family and share their story -- a story of love and courage overcoming adversity and thriving in the face of overwhelming odds.

It's the summer of 1946, and Adam has just returned from the war to his home in Reunion, Montana.  At a town festival he meets Elizabeth Baxter, a young woman going steady with his former high school rival and now influential banker, Nathan Roberts.

When Adam and Elizabeth share a waltz in a deserted pavilion one evening, their feelings begin to grow, and they embark on a journey, and a dance, that will last a lifetime."

 

When I first received an email from Glass Road Publishers asking if I would care to join in on this blog tour, I wasn't sure I would be able to commit fully with my busy schedule.  Yet, as soon as I had read the title and description of the book, I found myself responding back with a hearty 'yes'.  The first thing to catch my attention was the fact that this is Mr. Darrel Nelson's first published book.  As an aspiring writer myself, I love taking opportunities to encourage and cheer on new authors.  The second thing to catch my attention was the title itself.  With a growing passion for dance, my curiosity was piqued.  

The moment The Anniversary Waltz was taken out of its package, I began to devour it.  A lovely romance began to unfold in front of my eyes.  As the official description of the book suggests, there are many adversities and odds Adam and Elizabeth must overcome to develop their relationship.  I particularly loved the scene in which they partook in their first waltz, away from everyone's prying eyes.  It is a simple but elegant dance and paralleled nicely with the two characters new-found affection for each other. 

The writing in this book was not overly flowery or too simple for enjoyment.  While I found the pacing in a few sections to either be too long or too short, I do feel that it was planned out well for the most part.  The characters were also developed and grew throughout the course of the novel.  It can be difficult to make a romance story not seem overly focused on just the romance, but Mr. Nelson was able to build a strong case for both the couple together and the couple as individual people.  We not only were able to enjoy Adam and Elizabeth together, but as individual characters as well.  Kudos on a great book!  I will be eagerly awaiting next Spring when his new book, The Return of Cassandra Todd, hits bookshelves.

I recommend this book to women aged fifteen and up who are looking for a nice romantic love story.

I received this book for free from Glass Road  Publishers in exchange for posting a review about it. I am not required to post a positive review. Any opinions expressed are my own.

Booking Through Thursday: Harder

This week, Booking Through Thursday asks, "All other thing being equal, would you rather read a book that’s hard/challenging/rewarding or light/enjoyable/easy?"


This is a tough question, and definitely one to get the mind working for a bit. As much as I hate having to do this because I feel like it can be an easy answer, I'm going with both. It really does depend on the mood I am in. If I'm in a romantic mood, I'll pick up a book that's light, enjoyable and easy. If I'm in an adventurous mood, give me a hard, challenging, and rewarding book. Both kinds give me a different sort of reward in the end. If I had to choose which one I go to more, it would be the hard, challenging, but rewarding kind.

Happy reading folks!

2012 Outdo Yourself Challenge!

(Picture is clickable, guys! :o)

Guess who is becoming more and more interested in the wonderful world of book blogging? If you guessed Tippie, than you would most certainly be right. I've had this blog for awhile now, as the very, very few of my first followers well know. I stopped blogging for a long while due to sheer busyness. I came back earlier this year to start book blog reviewing. I've been thoroughly enjoying myself with this endeavor to read more books and write more blog posts. With that said, I'm going to take part in my first ever challenge!

This challenge is hosted by The Book Vixen.

Details:

• Runs January 1, 2012 – December 31, 2012 (books read prior to 1/1/12 do not count towards the challenge). You can join at anytime. Sign up on The Book Vixen’s blog.
• The goal is to outdo yourself by reading more books in 2012 than you did in 2011. See the different levels below and pick the one that works best for you. Nothing is set in stone; you can change levels at any time during the challenge.
• Books can be any format (bound, eBook, audio).
• Re-reads and crossovers from other reading challenges are allowed.
• Grab the reading challenge button and post this reading challenge on your blog to track your progress. Please include a link back to this sign-up post so others can join the reading challenge too. You do not have to be a book blogger to participate; you could track your progress on Goodreads or LibraryThing.

Levels:

Getting my heart rate up – Read 1–5 more books
Out of breath – Read 6–10 more books
Breaking a sweat – Read 11–15 more books
I’m on fire! – Read 16+ more books

Well, I pretty much failed in respects to reading a lot of books this year. But, hey, how much time does a busy college student have anyways? I only read 20 books this year, not including my textbooks. Eek! That's not very much at all! Like I said, I've been busy. So, I'm taking up this book challenge and going with the level Out Of Breath. Let's see if I can get my lazy butt in gear and read 6-10 more books than I did in 2011!

I have a shelf set up -HERE- for you guys to view. Most likely, I will be adding and removing books all year long. I'm challenging mysef to review as many of the books I read in 2012, as well, so look forward to more review posts! :)

The Bridge to Neverland: Book Review

Title: The Bridge to Neverland
Authors: Dave Berry and Ridley Pearson
My Rating: 3 and A Half Stars
Buy The Book:
-HERE-



"Aiden and Sarah Cooper have no idea what they're getting into one afternoon when they discover a mysterious coded document in a secret compartment of an antique English desk their father recently bought at an auction. Something about the document seems familiar to Sarah, and that night she realizes what it is: the document seems to be referring to some books she has read -- the Starcatchers series, about the origin of Peter Pan. But how could that be? The document seems far older than the books. And of course, the books are just stories...

Curious, Sarah and Aiden begin to decipher the mysterious document. At first it's a game -- unraveling the mystery piece by piece, each piece leading them to a new, deeper puzzle.

But soon the game turns strange -- and scary.
They discover that the "stories" are real, and that what they thought was a fictional battle between good and evil is still going on. And the scariest part is: They have become part of it.

Pursued by a being that can take any form and will stop at nothing to get what it wants from them, Aiden and Sarah embark on a desperate, thrilling quest for help -- a quest that leads them to some unforgettable people in some unlikely places, including one that's not supposed to exist at all. At each step they must solve new puzzles and escape new dangers, all the while knowing that if they fail, the evil they are fleeing will be let loose on an unsuspecting world."

While hunting through the library bookshelves for a completely different book one afternoon, I stumbled upon this. The title was the thing that did me in. I'm a huge fan of anything Peter Pan, so naturally, this appealed to me very much. After I had read the description, I got even more excited. It was sort of a sequel to the Starcatchers series I so much enjoyed. So, totally ditching the other book I had come to get, I got this out instead.

Unfortunately, as much as I was excited about this book, it did not turn out to be very great, in my opinion. For one, it didn't seem to have the general feeling of the previous book's writing. I took into account that this is supposed to happen a long, long time after the other book took place, but I still couldn't get into it. The pace went far too quickly, the characters didn't catch my immediate attention and draw me in, and the writing didn't stand out to me at all. I really wanted to give this the benefit of the doubt and enjoy it, but I just couldn't get into it. The adventure was fun, I will admit, but it wasn't my cup of tea.

There were several negative things that I think might have added to the feeling I came out with. First of all, I did not enjoy the general lying, stealing and treatment the children gave to the parents. It was very disrespectful and I did not appreciate that. The second thing I really did not like in the book was the fact that the Lord's name was taken in vain more than a dozen times.

All in all, the age range recommended by the publisher for this book is ages 9-12. I do not highly recommend it, though.






What's Coming Up Next?

The Horse and His Boy, by C.S. Lewis
Raising Dragons, by Bryan Davis
Skeleton Key, by Anthony Horowitz
The Inconvenient Marriage of Charlotte Beck, by Kathleen Y'Barro
Torrent, by Lisa T. Bergren
Life Support, by Robert Whitlow
Precisely Terminated, by Amanda L. Davis
And a special, in-depth review of, Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone, by J.K. Rowling