Rescued by Arlene Lam, Kristin N. Hamm, Dawn Austin

Synopsis: Amelia has a problem: she is set to marry a man twice her age and though she does not love him, she aims to please her domineering aunt and do what is expected of her. This changes when she meets Jordan Bradford, her handsome white employer.

A man with everything—Jordan Bradford is interested in Amelia instantly and cannot for the life of him figure out why she lets those around her treat her as they do. He is determined to make her see herself worth but never dreamed that the pretty little maid could cause him such grief. Yet as time passes and they encounter each other more it is near impossible for him to keep his hands off the brown-skinned maid.

My thoughts: Love it, love it, love it! We are presented to Amelia, a colored young woman that works as a maid at Jordan Bradford’s house, but she never really saw him since he was always traveling abroad. Amelia takes care of his little sister Georgia, a smart girl that sometimes advices Amelia.

                Unfortunately, life for her isn’t perfect. Mistreated by her aunt and set to marry an old, grumpy man, Amelia doesn’t know what is to be able to make her own choices. Until Jordan comes home. They start seeing each other, but she knows that they would never work out.

                What I liked the most is that this romance isn’t like 50 Shades of Grey, it doesn’t talk only about sex etc, it has a story. You get angry at Jordan for being blind about his feelings, you feel sorry for Amelia because she knows that they would never get together in a time when segregation and racism were very strong and common. It’s sweet and soft, romantic but not dumb; it has some sensuality in it, but it’s very subtle.

                Jordan and Amelia go through a LOT to finally understand that they love each other despite their differences. Actually, she realizes before him. He shows her that she has a voice that was meant to be heard and she showed him that he was able to love again after a tragedy in his previous marriage. A new fact turn their life upside down, as Amelia tries to hide it and Jordan finds out and get really pissed about her attitude.

                A character that really amused me was Georgia. Despite of her age, she is extremely smart and wise, sometimes wiser than the adults. She is sweet and clever, and I loved her crazy temper. Really recommend it and you can find it as ebook at goodreading.com.

 

               And last, but not least, the cover. It’s a pretty simple one with the couple together, but she seems to be trying to run away, whether is because she knows they can be together whether is because she has something to hide – feelings, etc. Their skin tone is exposed in order to show their social differences at a times of segregation – as I already said. Really liked it, but it isn’t my favorite one.

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10 Nights by Michelle Hughes and Karl Jones

Synopsis: After graduation, twenty-four-year-old Leah was determined that no man would destroy her plans for the future. Or so she thought. Her best laid plans and well-ordered life were turned head over heels after her best friend, Janie, invited her to a “coming-out” party.

One look at Rhett and all previous thoughts went straight to hell. He made an unbelievable offer to her: “Give me 10 nights and I’ll show you pleasure beyond your wildest dreams.”

Was this an invitation to paradise or would his request destroy her mind, body and soul?

From virgin to courtesan in 10 nights? Was Leah even willing to consider it?

In a game of cat and mouse in which 10 nights, 10 choices and 10 fantasies could change everything, who would declare victory?

My thoughts: Well, If I ever meet these authors I would DEFINITELY say: LESS SEX AND MORE STORY! That’s the problem of this book, besides the strong language used.

                We are presented to Leah, a twenty-four-year-old woman that just graduated and wanted a “free life”. But when her friend presents her to Rhett, she is instantly drawn to him. He offers her then 10 nights to show pleasure to her. I started reading this story because of that part, which I thought that was very creative, but when I found out that he was a sadomasochist and was planning to turn her to a sex slave, I got shocked. And got more shocked when she accepts the invitation! I mean, girl, you’re supposed to have pleasure and not him.

                As usual, the two are completely blind because they fall in love, but don’t realize it until the end of it. She gets humiliated by his plans, and she KNOWS it, but she just let it go and say that it’s all right. For God’s sake, I had to look for the dictionary to know what the hell BDSM was – and when I discovered the meaning, I got really embarrassed and I really don’t know if I would be ok if someone ordered me to do it.
                The strong language in the book really ruined it, and the fact that the authors can describe perfectly sex scenes but can’t write a normal day in Leah’s life without repeat at every page that she is curious to know what Rhett will make her do. I believe that most likely girls and women are going to read this kind of romance so you need to slow down things and relax on the cursing thing. Having pleasure for 10 days isn’t only sex, I, for an instance, have pleasure when I’m in a big hot tub with bubbles, or reading a book, or watching a movie with a guy, going out for a romantic dinner and that kind of stuff. Leah becomes a courtesan – not to say worst – and she is OK WITH THAT!

                I got really uncomfortable and was a happy when it came to the end of it.

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Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit by Nahoko Uehashi

Synopsis: You've never read a fantasy novel like this one! The deep well of Japanese myth merges with the Western fantasy tradition for a novel that's as rich in place and culture as it is hard to put down.
              Balsa was a wanderer and warrior for hire. Then she rescued a boy flung into a raging river -- and at that moment, her destiny changed. Now Balsa must protect the boy -- the Prince Chagum -- on his quest to deliver the great egg of the water spirit to its source in the sea. As they travel across the land of Yogo and discover the truth about the spirit, they find themselves hunted by two deadly enemies: the egg-eating monster Rarunga . . . and the prince's own father. 

My thoughts: Nahoko Uehashi had A lot of creativity writing this one! We are presented to Balsa, a warrior for a hire, that receives the mission to protect the Second Prince of the kingdom of New Yogo. Apparently someone was trying to kill the boy, and his mother, the Second Queen, asks Balsa to protect his son. But the prince Chagum has more things about him. He is (Spoiler) the Moribito, aka the Guardian of the Spirit, and he has within him a water spirit and he has to deliver it.

                Nahoko has a very simple way of writing, almost as if it were for teenagers or child, but it’s actually quite good. She describes every scene, every thought, every character as you go through the reading, so you are able to see their differences and don’t get so confuse. What I liked most was the fact that she created a whole new world based on ours – like the empire of New Yogo, the yakoos and everything else – and because she put a women as the main character. Balsa is tough and never runs away from her responsibilities. She learns forgiveness from the boy and he learns how to BE a normal kid and to actually love someone as well. Ok, he loved his mother but most of his life he never got real contact, you know?  Another thing that I liked is the connection the author made with all the cultures she created. It kind of shows us that we are all connected and that the world moves in one single flow. It has a lot of wisdom, I have to say.

                However, nothing is perfect right? It lacked, in my opinion, a little bit of romance. I mean, Balsa and Tanda – her childhood friend – obviously have an attraction to each other, but they don’t even share a small kiss!! I get that Balsa feels the need to save eight lives in order to repay her master’s “debt” – because he killed eight people to protect her – but come on! A little kiss won’t hurt!

                About the cover, I really liked it. The way it has been drawn reminds me of an ancient Japanese painting, and Balsa looks so stunning in that cover it gave me the line of thought to imagine every fight scene with her fierce face!

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 and a half

Rapture by Lauren Kate

Synopsis: THE SKY IS DARK WITH WINGS . . .

And time is running out for Luce and Daniel.

In order to stop Lucifer from erasing the past, they must find the place where the Fall began. Only Luce can break the curse, and it is her choice alone that will decide all their fates.

But as Dark Forces gather, great sacrifices will be made in this final epic struggle . . .

In the fight for Luce, and for love, who will win?

The thrilling conclusion to the international bestsellers FALLEN, TORMENT and PASSION.

The fourth and final book in the FALLEN series hits stores on 12 June 2012.

My thoughts: OMG, I just can’t believe it’s the end. In this one, the group of angels have nine days to stop Lucifer from erasing their history from the face of the earth, and that includes Luce’s and Daniel’s love.

                To stop Lucifer, they have to find the place where the angels fell from Heaven, but how will they find it if none of the angels remember where it was? They have to be fast. Through these nine days, there were “timequakes”, when the world seemed to tremble and split, and then get together and become quiet. Those were the parts that really confused me, because in those “timequakes” the past and the present get mixed up and you get a quite big interrogation point inside your head!

In this adventure, Daniel and Luce need to find three relics that are supposed to indicate the place of the Fall, but it won’t be easy – nothing is easy for those two – and they have to be strong one more time for their love.

                When I read the synopsis, I saw that Luce might be arranged to be with another person instead of Daniel. Well, I won’t tell who it is, but thing is that he – the men – was in love with her and still have feelings for her. She needs to find out who she really is – she isn’t just a regular girl, otherwise she wouldn’t see the Announcers and wouldn’t reincarnate over and over again – in order to save not only the one she loves, but all of her friends.

                One last decision has to be made, and Luce might be the one to tip the scale between Heaven and Hell. But who or which side will she choose? Her choice may have a high price. Is she willing to sacrifice it in order to be together with Daniel?

                This reading was a real joy to me, not only because of its story – because I absolutely love angels and romance – but of its turnings. You get to see a whole different view of the fallen angels that turned to Lucifer’s side, of the Outcasts, and even of the Throne – Heaven – itself. The ending was the cutest thing ever, and if I were Lauren Kate, I would have picked this very ending.

                There were a few things that really interested me: Cam’s love, Arriane’s love. The author, during the novels, never wrote about it, but I believe that it might have something in that extra book, Fallen in Love, that may answer these questions.

                Finally, I have to wrap this up with the book’s cover. Just like the others covers, this one has its dark beauty, and I absolutely loved it – from a girl that adores Tim Burton’s work and loves skeletons, it is quite predictable. I hope you all get the chance to read this book. I always thought that Luce was a girl that took Daniel for granted – a little – but this last one showed me that she can have some guts to fight for him. And that no matter what, they will always find each other – (SPOILER!) even if they forget about their history together.

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Tiger's Quest by Colleen Houck

Synopsis: Back in Oregon, Kelsey tries to pick up the pieces of her life and push aside her feelings for Ren. But danger lurks around the corner, forcing her to return to India where she embarks on a second quest--this time with Ren's dark, bad-boy brother Kishan, who has also fallen prey to the Tiger's Curse. Fraught with danger, spellbinding dreams, and choices of the heart, TIGER'S QUEST brings the trio one step closer to breaking the spell that binds them.

My thoughts: I wasn’t very motivated to read this book, but after the first chapter, I really couldn’t put it down. Of course, the beginning was VERY depressing and it felt as if I was reading Bella Swan’s suffering in “New Moon”, but with a different scenario. Only after Ren appears at her door that things starts getting interesting.

                After about two months dating, Ren is kidnapped and Kelsey starts a new adventure, this time with Kishan, a hot-super-cute black tiger that suffers because he believes that he is the principal cause of their tiger-curse. He is a beautiful man, and I completely fell in love for him! But, nothing is perfect, and since I’m not a character nor I’m Kelsey, I don’t have the lucky to find a guy like him to fall in love with me! ;) Yes, Kishan falls in love with Kelsey, but she loves Ren. Nonetheless, Kishan promised to help her find Ren, so they talk to the goddess Durga to protect Ren. But she has a high price for it.

                Well, I can’t tell a lot about this book, otherwise you won’t read it. But it really, REALLY, blew my mind away. I panicked for Ren, Kelsey and Kishan, hated Kelsey because she didn’t want Kishan, suffered for the black tiger, that loved her but would never have her love. I screamed the WHOLE reading, saying like “Kelsey, for God’s sake, can’t you see how Kishan is suffering?” or “Ok, girl, so just kill yourself, since your heart is THAT broken. Get a grip!”.

                Readers won’t be disappointed, since, in my opinion, this sequel was better than the first one. Now I have to wait to get my hands at the third novel.

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Harriet Taylor Mill: A Fighter of Women's Rights

Day of Birth:         October 1807

Place of Birth:       Walworth, south London

Day of Death:        3 November 1858

Place of Death:      Avignon, France

            Taylor was an English philosopher and early advocate for women's rights, who is often overshadowed by her husband, the philosopher John Stuart Mill.

            Harriet Hardy was the daughter of a surgeon. Educated at home, she enjoyed writing poetry. In 1826, she married John Taylor, a prosperous merchant and together they had three children. The Taylors became active in the Unitarian Church and in 1830 a Unitarian minister introduced Harriet to the philosopher John Stuart Mill. Harriet and John met for the first time in 1830. Their meeting was arranged by the leader of Harriet's Unitarian congregation, the Reverend W. J. Fox. There is no way to know whether Fox anticipated that passionate feelings would spring up between John and Harriet, but whatever his intention, the two young people did very quickly fall in love. Their conduct during the long period in which Harriet was married to John Taylor would be scandalous by contemporary standards, let alone Victorian ones. Their affair was to last for more than 20 years, and was generally tolerated by Harriet's husband. From 1833, the couple largely lived apart, enabling Harriet to see Mill more easily. Their behavior scandalized society and as a couple they were socially isolated. But they inspired each other intellectually and often worked together.

            Mills' 'The Principles of Political Economy' (1848) has a chapter attributed to Harriet called 'On the Probable Future of the Labouring Classes' in which she argues for the importance of education for all in the future of the nation, both economically and socially. Her essay, 'The Enfranchisement of Women' (1851), considered one of her most important works, was published under Mills's name. The essay strongly advocated that women be given access to the same jobs as men, and that they should not have to live in 'separate spheres' - views more radical than those of Mills himself. “The Enfranchisement of Women,” published in The Westminster Review in 1851, is the best candidate for a significant philosophical work authored primarily or even solely by Harriet (H. T. Mill 1998, 51ff). Occasioned by a series of feminist conventions in the United States, it makes a case not merely for giving women the ballot but for “equality in all rights, political, civil, and social, with the male citizens of the community” (H. T. Mill 1998, 51). This essay contains many of the same lines of argument as The Subjection of Women, written by John and published in 1869, although it expresses a somewhat more radical view of gender roles than the later essay (see Rossi 1970, 41ff). It maintains that the denial of political rights to women tends to restrict their interests to matters that directly impact the family with the result that the influence of wives on their husbands tends to diminish the latter's willingness to act from public-spirited motives. Further, it contends that when women do not enjoy equal educational rights with men then wives will impede rather than encourage their husbands' moral and intellectual development. And it insists that competition for jobs will prevent most of the problems that admitting women into the workforce would putatively cause from materializing. All of these points are common to “The Enfranchisement” and The Subjection. The major point of difference between the two is that while the Subjection rather notoriously suggests that the best arrangement for most married couples will be for the wife to concentrate on the care of the house and the children, a position that John also takes in an early essay on marriage written for Harriet (J. S. Mill 1984b, 43), the “Enfranchisement” instead argues for the desirability of married women's working outside the home.

            Harriet's husband died in 1849 and in 1851 she and Mill were finally married. In the autumn of 1858, the couple travelled to France where the climate was better for Harriet's tuberculosis. She died of respiratory failure in Avignon on 3 November 1858. John Stuart Mills' most famous work 'On Liberty', which they had written together, was published in 1859 and was dedicated to Harriet.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Synopsis: The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

My thoughts: you know, I’ve read a lot of books, but this one is one of the best! First of all, we are presented to the whole circus, a dream come true place where everything that you wish might exist. Then, we’re presented to their “staff” and the people who made it came true: Alexander, the men in the gray suit; Hector Bowen, aka Prosperus, The Magician; Chandresh, the “owner” of the circus; Celia and Marco, our “main” characters; Poppet, Widget, Tsukiko, the Burgess sisters, Tante Padva and many others. Alexander and Hector made an agreement years before the circus was created: a challenge, and Le Cirque des Rêves would be the local of the challenge. Celia is Hector’s daughter and Marco is an orphan adopted by Alexander. They are the opponents.

                As the story goes, you just keep wishing that the circus actually existed, and that you were a VIP guest, with an invitation like Bailey’s “This card gives the bearer unlimited admission”.

                The sad thing is that I can’t say too much about this novel, otherwise I’ll just keep writing and writing until I tell the whole book, and no one will buy it. ;) What I have to say to future readers is: Read this book VERY carefully. As a illusion, nothing is what it seems. It is as if Celia were really taking care of the circus, and manipulating what you are reading. You can see things like the bonfire in the center of the circus and smell things like those hot chocolates.

I had to keep a calculator by my side at all times to see how old were the characters during the reading. That was the only flaw I could find: the author wrote the years on each chapter, but they don’t follow a correct timeline, so you have to keep calculating the ages of everyone.

                There are so many magical places inside the circus main tent that it’s almost impossible to choose your favorites. Mine are the Illusionist – Celia’s tent – (OF  COURSE!) and the Ice Garden. But the circus is much more then the local of a fight, it represents the dreams of many and the love letters of the opponents. Yes, despite all things, Celia and Marco fall in love, and it’s soo beautiful! Marco is such a romantic! Every tent that he did was only for her. He did the Ice Garden; in return, She did the Tree of Wishes. That was the only way they could be together, since he couldn’t abandon London to travel with the circus and because their love wasn’t meant to exist. Their love is so simple, humble and delicate that I couldn’t stop cheering for them.

                Another story is of Poppet, Widget and Bailey. Bailey goes to the circus during daylight because of a “true or dare” game and meets Poppet when they were 10. Six years later, they meet again, this time inside the circus. Poppet and Widget are twins and have special powers – she has the power to read the future through the stars and he has the power to see peoples past, and it makes sense since Widget was born before the bonfire was created and Poppet was born after the bonfire was done – and they invite Bailey to travel with them.

                Erin Morgenstern writes, as I said, without following a correct timeline, but incredibly, everything connects and everybody gets together.

                So, don’t forget: keep attention during the whole reading because it may seems like there is no sense at all, but don’t trust on your senses because since it’s a illusion, nothing is what it seems (as I already said).

Opens at nightfall,

Closes at dawn.

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