Wakela Runen's World

Book Description   It's always been just Kate and her mom—and her mother is dying. Her last wish? To move back to her childhood home. So Kate's going to start at a new school with no friends, no other family and the fear her mother won't live past the fall. Then she meets Henry. Dark. Tortured. And mesmerizing. He claims to be Hades, god of the Underworld—and if she accepts his bargain, he'll keep her mother alive while Kate tries to pass seven tests. Kate is sure he's crazy—until she sees him bring a girl back from the dead. Now saving her mother seems crazily possible. If she succeeds, she'll become Henry's future bride, and a goddess. Book Review   When I first read the description of this book, I was all excited.  I absolutely love reading the various myths.  Greek and Celtic myths are my absolute favorite.  And when I realized that its Hades and Persephone revisited, I was ecstatic. The story was pretty decent.  It just didn’t live up

Book Description   All paths lead to war... Marcus' hero days are behind him. He knows too well that even the smallest war still means somebody's death. When his men are impressed into a doomed army, staying out of a battle he wants no part of requires some unorthodox steps. Cithrin is an orphan, ward of a banking house. Her job is to smuggle a nation's wealth across a war zone, hiding the gold from both sides. She knows the secret life of commerce like a second language, but the strategies of trade will not defend her from swords. Geder, sole scion of a noble house, has more interest in philosophy than in swordplay. A poor excuse for a soldier, he is a pawn in these games. No one can predict what he will become. Falling pebbles can start a landslide. A spat between the Free Cities and the Severed Throne is spiraling out of control. A new player rises from the depths of history, fanning the flames that will sweep the entire region onto The Dragon's Path

Mother’s Day is coming up in less then a month on May 8th.  It brings back so many wonderful memories of my mom.  Plus my mom’s birthday is right after Mother’s Day on May 18th. One thing my mom taught me was that no matter what is thrown at you, you just have to keep going.  My mom had persevered through so much in her life. When she was only 12, her parents got divorced and moved to different sides of Canada.  Her sister and her dad stayed in Ontario.  While she went with her mom over to live in Alberta.  My mom only stayed with her mom for about a year more. At the tender age of 13, my mom got a job and moved out on her own.  She lived in a boarding house in Ontario.  Thankfully, the owners of the boarding house were really nice and they watched over her.  You have to understand, that back in the 1940s things were much different.  Child labor laws were completely different then they are now. My mom didn’t have anything past a seventh grade education due to the fact that you had to p

Image via Wikipedia Edgar Allan Poe has always been my favorite author.  I absolutely love everything he has written. I remember one year, my friend Beth and I went to Barnes & Nobles because they were having a reading of his works to celebrate his death.  Not only did they read some of his works, but they also told about his life.  And since the anniversary of his death is the day before my birthday, we made it an extra special outing. At the end of the reading, they had a leather bound gild edged book of his works that they were giving away.  Everyone had to write their name on a slip of paper and put it in a box.  Then they randomly pulled a name out.  I was ecstatic when they called out my name.  That to me made it the most special birthday ever. I still have that book and it will always hold a place in my heart. It has everything he ever wrote.  All of his poems, short stories, novels, reviews, and newspaper articles. And just a little trivia for you.  John Cu

Book Description   Already a sensation around the world:  family life meets historical romance in an astonishing novel about two people who find each other when abandoned by everyone else, marking the signal American debut of a writer who richly deserves her international acclaim. On the outskirts of a small town in Bengal, a family lives in solitude in their vast new house.  Here, lives intertwine and unravel.  A widower struggles with his love for an unmarried cousin.  Bakul, a motherless daughter, runs wild with Mukunda, an orphan of unknown caste adopted by the family.  Confined in a room at the top of the house, a matriarch goes slowly mad; her husband searches for its cause as he shapes and reshapes his garden. As Mukunda and Bakul grow, their intense closeness matures into something else, and Mukunda is banished to Calcutta.  He prospers in the turbulent years after Partition, but his thoughts stay with his home, with Bakul, with all that he has lost – and he knows tha

Book Description   King Theodicar of Borgund needed an heir. When his wife, Queen Piacenza, became pregnant, he'd hoped for a boy. His wife, along with her nurse, Salvagia, had other plans. With each cast of the runes, Salvagia's trusted divination tools yielded the same message: "A girl child must rule or the kingdom will fall to ruin." As such, the women were convinced that the child would be a girl. When the queen finally gives birth, the nurse and the king are equally surprised. The king is faced with a terrible choice, and his decision will determine the fate of his kingdom. Will he choose wisely, or will he doom Borgund to ruin? Book Review   At first I wasn’t sure what to expect because it is very difficult to write a fantasy novella.  However, Kelly A Harmon did exactly that and she succeeded.  The book starts with Queen Pia pregnant.  Her nurse, Salvagia, can see that the life is being drained away from her during this pregnancy.  During this ti

  Product Description   Great Day is Milkshake ’s fourth CD for kids and kids at heart. In keeping with the bands desire to grow with their own children, the songs on Great Day touch on issues of friendship, age, self-esteem, goals and desires among other things--things that matter to a 6 - 10 year old. In Milkshakes short seven years together, the band has released three award-winning CDs, a Parents Choice Silver Award for their DVD Screen Play, and had music videos on Noggin, PBS KIDS and Discovery Kids Emmy-winning ToddWorld. As Parents magazine says: If kids don't push the replay button, parents will. Product Review   If you are ready to have your kids leave behind the sickening kids music that runs rampant then this is the music for you.  Milkshake introduces your kids to more adult sounding music while still delivering the messages that help to shape them into emotionally healthy people.  This album has twelve songs on it that have a very wide range in the