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Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
On June 5th, 2010, we sponsored undefeated professional boxer, Christian Martinez (left) for his fight at the new Yankee Stadium! He was one of the 1st fights EVER at the new stadium.
title: The Queen's Pawn
author: Christy English
published: 2010
pages: 378
first line: My mother died the day I was born.
rated: 4 out of 5 stars
Looking into my father's face I saw that he believed what he said. When life was dark and the road of duty and honor was rocky and long, I remembered my father's face on that day. I remembered how he loved me and how he was a man good enough to see beyond the evils of this world into a certain paradise.
Set during the Middle Ages in England, The Queen's Pawn is the story of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine and Princess Alais of France, and the love and betrayal that occurs between these two women.
An arranged marriage has been planned for Princess Alais and Prince Richard, also known as Richard the Lionheart. Richard is the son of King Henry II and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine.
When Eleanor and Alais first meet, the two are drawn to each other and Eleanor thinks of Alais as a daughter right away. They form a mother/daughter type relationship, Eleanor teaching Alais everything she knows, and Alais looking up to the queen.
However, once Eleanor she sees how her son Richard reacts after meeting the princess, she can't help but be jealous. Richard shows emotion and lust for Alais, and sings love songs to her at court. Eleanor wants to figure out how to make sure the two of them love her more than they love one another.
I saw his loneliness then, and it called to the loneliness within me. Just as I had been alone all my life, sent to marry among my father's enemies to serve the throne of France, so had Richard been alone, except when his mother was with him. He too, served as I did. He worked always for the good of Eleanor, placing her needs and the needs of the duchy of Aquitaine above his own.
These two women have a strong bond, and you see it plainly throughout the book. Eleanor strives to teach Alais, to make her into a strong woman who thinks with her head, and not with her heart.
When I curtsied and bid her good night, Eleanor drew me close. "Lead men a merry chase," she said, "but never let them catch you."
"Not until the wedding night," I said, speaking low, so that others would not hear me over the music.
Eleanor smiled her wicked smile, and let go of my hand. "No, Alais. Not even then."
Once King Henry arrives at court, he sees Alais and is smitten with her.
Henry is used to taking lovers whenever he pleases and he becomes jealous of his own son, wanting Alais for himself. He even announces to Richard that he will never give Alais over to him for marriage. Eleanor is used to Henry's infidelities, and hasn't allowed him in her bed for many years.
Alais being well trained in how to behave at court and with royalty, plays it smoothly, always knowing just how to act and what to say to the king. This does not go unnoticed by Eleanor. As events unfold, this is where the story begins to take its turn. These two women who were once like mother and daughter, now begin to have a rivalry.
She met my eyes across the crowded hall. Everyone was pretending that they had not seen the exchange between her and the king, as if they were not speculating whether he would make her his mistress, and when.
I really enjoyed reading The Queen's Pawn. I was drawn in from page one, and I love a good scandal. The storyline was interesting, the characters were well developed and the setting was really well written. Christy English takes the reader to the Middle Ages in England. I always enjoy when an author takes fact and weaves it in with fiction.
This was my first time reading about Eleanor of Aquitaine and Alais of France, and I liked the dynamics of their relationship. There is betrayal between these two ladies, but also forgiveness. Eleanor is a complex character, it seemed she was always plotting and planning, but she did it for her survival.
She knew how to live and thrive in a man's world. Alais betrays Eleanor, yet loves her no matter what happens. Alais being young and naive, wants to believe in Henry and in his love for her. "Revenge was not the tonic I had hoped it would be."
This is the type of read you cozy up with and just kind of live within the pages for a few days. There's drama, heartache, romance and a good dose of scandal. Highly recommended, especially to fans of historical fiction.
Alais set her dog down and came into my arms as sweetly as she ever had, as if she had never cast a lustful eye at my husband, as if she had never threatened to take my favorite son from me. I had no god to pray to, but I prayed anyway. I begged a god I knew did not exist to shield this girl in the days to come, to harbor her, even from me.
Special thanks to Christy English for sending me a signed copy of The Queen's Pawn. Click here for my interview with the author.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Happy Monday everyone. I hope everyone had a nice weekend.
Quite a few books have arrived at my doorstep these past few weeks. Some of these are recent arrivals, a few arrived weeks ago but I never got around to posting about them. I look forward to reading all of them.
Here's my Mailbox Mondays: 
Tuesday Tells it Slant:
Sent to me for review as part of a blog tour for August. The main characters name is Tuesday, I like that.
Transformations: Give Up the Struggle by Renee Wiggins: Sent to me for review. This is a self-help book.
Shoulder Bags and Shootings by Dorothy Howell: Another book sent to me for review, an ARC. This sounds like a fun mystery.
The Art of Racing In the Rain by Garth Stein: I won this one over at Suko's blog. Another book that sounds like a great read.
The first 2 books in the Percy Jackson series. My little brother, age 9, was visiting from out of state and told me he loves this series. Being the sentimental sap that I am, I now want to read the books, because they will remind me of him. So I went and bought book one. Then this past weekend, hubby and I randomly stopped by at a garage sale, and guess what I found for .25 cents? The second in the series, The Sea of Monsters. The second book was just laying there, I wasn't even looking for it, so I figured it was fate.
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender: Sent to me for review. I always enjoy a good bookcover, and I like this one. Look at the cake's shadow, it's a person right?
The Spartacus Road by Peter Stothard : Sent to me by the publisher, I couldn't resist this one, it sounds so different.
Sand in My Eyes Eyes by Christine Lemmon . Another book sent to me for review. The cover alone makes me think it's a good beach read.
So there you have it. All of these books have been added to my ever growing TBR mountain. I should bake my hubby his favorite cake, chocolate cake with vanilla frosting, because he never complains about the amount of books that enter this house :) Bless his heart.
What about you? What books have arrived at your doorstep recently?
Gaining weight can be described as that body's mass gains weight because calories and fats that we take by eating foods is not burned by our metabolism.To burn calories and fats should be our first aim while we struggle with weight.Although there are many reasons for that people over weight fail in weight loss there also are certain important details that may help if you take care of.
Not sleeping enough:Sleeping is an action which our body gets rest with.After a healthy sleep,our metabolism has energy and gets ready to burn calories and fats.Otherwise a tired body would not produce energy to lose weight.
Smoking and Alcohol:Researches in the weight loss field have shown that individuals who smoke and take alcohol ,also have difficulties in weight loss.Because body is sensitive and needs energy to burn calories.When smoking or taking alcohol ,our body has problems in breathing so it causes that body could not get ready to produce energy.
Stress:One of important reasons that cause us not to be successfull in weight loss is stress.People who have stress because of also environmental factors experience physical and psychological tiredness.Consequently,the less body has energy the less you can lose weight.İt is that simple.
Friday, June 25, 2010
TGIF blog friends. Sorry I've been MIA these few days. It's been another hectic week. Both my children are officially on summer break now. My son graduated 8th grade and I watched him with tears in my eyes, hardly able to believe how fast he's growing. They both received very good grades and we couldn't be prouder.
As far as reading goes, I should have two reviews up this coming week. I'll leave you with the Rob Thomas song my sons class sang at graduation. Enjoy your weekend!
let it go,
let it roll right off your shoulder
don't you know
the hardest part is over
let it in,
let your clarity define you
in the end
we will only just remember how it feels
our lives are made
in these small hours
these little wonders,
these twists & turns of fate
time falls away,
but these small hours,
these small hours still remain
let it slide,
let your troubles fall behind you
let it shine
until you feel it all around you
and i don't mind
if it's me you need to turn to
we'll get by,
it's the heart that really matters in the end ...
May I just say R.I.P Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett, it's been a year since you legends have passed us. You's will never be forgotten.
Tomorrow is the annual Gay Pride Festival, it happens every Summer and it is always a brilliant day! Homosexuals and Hetrosexuals alike, both join forces to make a huge day to remember for everyone, while making a statement. I personally, cannot believe gay marriage is STILL, to this day, illegal in the Republic of Ireland. It disgusts me. All because the Catholic Church disagrees with it, the same church that was found guilty of abusing children? Yeah, some feckin religion Catholicism is! All religions are a fucking joke, they all cause too much conflict and false hope. It's better to be spiritual, than religious.
That has completely gone off my point, so moving on swiftly.. tomorrow we are all going in to celebrate gay pride! I'm doing my hair and make-up crazy and my friend Celia and I are buying these 'Legalize Gay Marriage' tops in American Apparel to wear, they're deadly looking! There is a parade running from O'Connol Street to Central Bank, full of floats, dancers.. everything you could imagine! So if you're in Dublin tomorrow, I'd recommend seeing it!
I've been experimenting with make-up looks lately, mostly by watching youtube tutorials! My favourite make-up artist channels are Panacea81 and PixiWoo, they're both so talented at doing make-up and all their looks are very achievable! I need to start wearing different looks myself, I've been wearing my 50s flick for like, 3 years now. I'll always probably wear it most of the time, but I'll vary it. I get a lot of questions asking me what make-up I use, so I'll be posting a blog post soon about that!
Hope everyone's Summer is going well!
There comes a time in almost everyone one’s life when certain situations seem to take the charge of their life. Before looking for the causes and ways to cope with depression, you first have to understand that you are suffering from a problem in real medical condition, and there are treatment options available for it, like medication and breathing exercises. It is actually a genuine medical ‘disorder’ caused by some chemical imbalances in the brain.
Troubles have their own place in your life and may lead to depression related disorders. It is true that there is no possible way to steer clear of the realities of life that are filled with misfortune and problems. Unluckily, it is not possible to overlook the bad situations and that probably is not the right approach, but you can of course control your responses to them. There are opportunities secreted behind misfortune, and you do not have to permit it to take you down. Just concentrate on the beauties life has to offer.
Many people around the world are suffering from anxiety which has different types.But it is not unresolvable.Looking for ways to cope with anxiety concerns that you have in life? Well, if yes, then you firstly need to take the services of professionals who can guide you on how to deal with anxieties and fears effectively. You need to realize that anxiety is a quite healthy and normal emotion, but it may cause problems when you suffer from ‘intense anxiety’ and end up affecting your life.
Take deep breath and locate something you can do to get the mind off the problem. You can listen to favorite music, watch TV, read newspaper or do what you really love to do. Keep in mind that events do not always remain the same and things change. Challenge your pessimistic thinking with realistic thinking and positive statements. When encountering the ideas that add to your anxiety or fears, challenge those ideas by asking a few questions from yourself that will surely preserve a common sense and objectivity. Remember, too much anxiety can sometime make the situations even worse. Persistence, education, patience and being devoted in attempting to solve out problems will surely go a long way in doing away with your anxiety.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Myself, Jess and Nicole stayed awake the whole of Tuesday night and left at 3am, we arrived at the queue at 3.30am and there was 17 of us then. The queue we were in was at the very back of Marlay Park and there was no shops around or anything. At 6.30am we got a lift to Tesco's and spent €33 on food and blankets. We got back to our queue for 7am and ate mostly everything then. We tried sleeping on the concrete ground, but with distractions we couldn't. We had the most annoying queuers through-out the whole fucking day. Me, Jess and Nicole nearly lost our voice telling people to fuck off back down the queue - one thing I cannot stand, is skippers. No way do they ever, ever, ever get to the front. Either we tell them to fuck off there and then or you physically force yourself in front of them. Anyways, we got moved to another part of the park on the inside at around 8am, I think. There were 3 barriers up and of course, people who only arrived 5 minutes ago jumped to the front. Me having none of that I told them to hump off. At least we were at the top of our queue - which was about a metre in width, we couldn't even stretch our poxy legs out. After hours and hours of queuing we got to move to near the stage, some group of 10 year olds running and about 20 of us in chant go GET THE FUCK BACK, with a security car in front of us to slow us down, it was bedlam. It stopped and I got fucking crushed into the car. The security there were just as shit as the ones in the o2. Hopeless.
When we were let run to the stage I fucking sprinted, and got to the best barrier position. Just to the left of the middle, where Hayley and Joan concentrated most!
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts were amazing. She is soooo sexy, holy shit. She is 52 years old, and she is looking amazing. I hadn't previously listened to the band's songs, but they were all amazing, so catchy and pure rock'n'roll! I'm going to download them all today - they literally were just fantastic! Their cover of 'I Love Rock'N'Roll'' got the crowd crazy, it was amazing!
I would like to thank GoldenPlec. com, Rebekah Flemming, Danielle Dullaghan and Clare Fitzsimon's for the amazing photos!
