King Arthur Movie Tristan

title: Losing Beauty

author: Johanna Garth

genre: paranormal romance

published: 2011

pages: 315

first line: "I've been to hell and back."

rated: 4 out of 5 stars

Her beauty was the lure and what lay beneath was the trap. She wished she could warn them, tell them to run from her before it was too late, but she couldn't. That was the other part of the deal. She got to be beautiful but she never, ever got to tell the truth.

p.3

About:

When Haden Sarantos arrives in the small town of Iowa claiming he is the new librarian, something is very different about him. He knows when people will die and I wondered if he was the grim reaper.



The beautiful Persephone Campbell is well known in her small home town.
She was raised by a single mom, her father having died in a car crash before she was born.


After meeting Persey, the one thing Haden notices right away is that as the ruler of death, he cannot 'see' how she will die.
Haden knows every 'humans end', how and when they will die, yet Persey is a mystery to him.






Persey herself is not like others, people are compelled to confide their deepest secrets to her, secrets she sometimes wishes she didn't know. The darker the secret, the stronger the urge for people to unburden it on her.





As the years pass, Persey goes on bewitching everyone she meets. Aaron Strait, a high school football player, falls in love with her. The two eventually marry and Persey goes to work at a law firm in NYC. Aaron goes on to become a Wall Street investment banker.



All the while, Haden is in her life in some form or another, waiting to make her his own. He has been obsessed with Persey since he first laid eyes on her.

A lawyer named Daniel Hartnett works with Persey and is hopelessly in love with her as well, even though she is married. Soon enough Daniel realizes there is something different about Persey, and he figures out her special talent of inspiring people to confess themselves to her.




Persey comes in contact with Haden again in NYC when he is instructing her Yoga class. Little does she know, Haden has plans to make Persey his own and will stop at nothing to claim her. He wants to make her his immortal queen.

The heat of his body threatened to suffocate her with its intensity. It was more than heat. It was devastation, sorrow, musty odors from rooms where people sobbed lonely tears. His secrets were inside of her, consuming her. She could feel their darkness and the horror. Each one was more devastating than the next, and yet, something in her called to them. They were part of her, their pain and suffering belonged to her.

p.145

My thoughts:


I have to say I didn't know what Losing Beauty was about when I first began reading it.

I have been pleasantly surprised! It reminded me a bit of the film Meet Joe Black as far as Haden's character was concered.




Author Johanna Garth does an excellent job at weaving a unique and interesting story here. In the beginning I couldn't figure out whether Haden was a villain or not. And when I did see that he wasn't one of the good guys, I still liked him. He's one of those bad boys you love to hate. Haden became my favorite character in the story. I now have a new literary crush.


The interactions between Haden and Persey gave me the chills.

The first time Persey came to the library, he felt her. Her presence was a dark space—a hole where knowledge should be. She entered the room and filled it up with nothingness. He found her sitting on the carpeted floor, between the stacks of older children's books. She looked up as though she was expecting him. He crouched down in front of her and she inched away from him.

"Hello, Persey," he said, smiling at her.

"You know my name." She said it without wonder or surprise. It was as though his knowledge of her name was just another thing she expected.

p. 11

I liked Persey's character. I wondered who she was, where she got this special power from. Imagine people having to reveal their deepest, darkest secrets to you? I think that's a sad fate.


I liked that Persey married Aaron, and yet, I liked Daniel too and could see her being happy with him as well. Daniel himself was a sweet guy with a good heart. I rooted for him throughout the story and I enjoyed the interactions between Persey and him.




The paranormal and romance elements in this book were right up my alley and I enjoyed reading Losing Beauty very much.
I liked the mythology of the story as well.

Kronos—ruler of both the world and immortals—lived on Mount Titanus. From his mountain-top palace, he pulled the strings of time which governed all human life. His palace was carpeted with the ever-changing map of time. He walked over it as he observed and guided the timing of all events in accordance with the dictates of natural law.

p.197

The book took some unexpected twists and turns and I never really knew what would happen next, my interest was held throughout. I also like how the events in the story were wrapped up together towards the end, to create an exciting conclusion. In my opinion, the ending leaves the story wide open for a sequel.





Special thanks to author Johanna Garth for providing me a copy of her debut novel for review! I recommend Losing Beauty to fans of romance and paranormals, or for anyone looking for a good story to get caught up in.





On a final note, I'll also mention, I'm old-fashioned and still have yet to purchase an e-reader. I don't tend to read full length books online, mainly because I just prefer to be holding a paperback. I did make the exception for Johanna's book and am glad I did.




About the author:

Johanna Garth is a writer of urban fantasy and mythic fiction for adults who resides with her husband and two children in Portland, Oregon.

This is her debut novel.

title: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland


author: Lewis Carroll


genre: classic/fantasy/childrens


published: 1865


source: DailyLit



first line: Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, `and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice `without pictures or conversation?'



rated: 4 out of 5 stars












I don't know what took me so long to read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I think it's because I'm not a big fan of Disney's animated Alice, and that kind of put me off from reading the actual story.
I also have to admit the unsavory rumors about Lewis Carroll also steered me away from reading this one.




I put that aside and decided to finally read this classic. I found Alice's Adventures in Wonderland a delight. As soon as Alice falls down the rabbit hole, I found myself swept into Carroll's lyrical and strange storytelling and didn't stop reading until the end.


Alice herself is the one who captivates the reader.

For, you see, so many out-of-the-way things had happened lately, that Alice had begun to think that very few things indeed were really impossible.

After falling down the rabbit hole, Alice encounters some strange characters, the Chesire Cat, the Queen of Hearts and the Mad Hatter among them. The encounters Alice has with these characters are funny and strange and I enjoyed the silliness of the story. Interestingly enough, this genre is referred to as literary nonsense.

Lewis Carroll was a mathematician and that is evident as you read this story.

Let me see: four times five is twelve, and four times six is thirteen, and four times seven is - oh dear! I shall never get to twenty at that rate!

My favorite chapter was 5, Advice from a Caterpillar.


I found it amusing that Alice comes upon a caterpillar sitting on a mushroom, smoking a hookah no less.

The Caterpillar and Alice looked at each other for some time in silence: at last the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth, and addressed her in a languid, sleepy voice.

'Who are you?' said the Caterpillar.

I read this one online, but I'll definitely be grabbing a copy to add to my book collection. I know this one is best read with the illustrations included.

I almost wish I hadn't gone down that rabbit-hole--and yet--and yet--it's rather curious, you know, this sort of life! I do wonder what CAN have happened to me! When I used to read fairy-tales, I fancied that kind of thing never happened, and now here I am in the middle of one! There ought to be a book written about me, that there ought!

Read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland online free from DailyLit or at americanliterature.com.







This has been a part of Once Upon a Time

title: Memoirs Of Fanny Hill

author: John Cleland

genre: erotica/classic

pages: 106

published: 1749

first line: I sit down to give you an undeniable proof of my considering your desires as indispensable orders.

rated: naughty/X-rated





Memoirs Of Fanny Hill
has been called the first pornographic book and it is one of the most banned books ever.


I stumbled upon Memoirs Of Fanny Hill on my iTouch Classic Books app. Would I consider it a classic? I'd consider it classic porn, which is a genre I've never read.




The story is written in two parts. In the first part of the story we get to know Frances Hill and how she became a prostitute at a young age. She was born to a poor family in Liverpool. At age fifteen, both her parents died of smallpox.
She was brought to London by a family friend and is abandoned there.
Fanny is looking to work as a housemaid and stumbles unknowingly upon a whorehouse run by a Mrs. Brown who takes Fanny in and tells her her 'maidenhead' will fetch a good price.





On Fanny's first night, she has a sexual encounter with her female roommate.

Every part of me was open and exposed to the licentious courses of her hands, which, like a lambent fire, ran over my whole body, and thawed all coldness as they went.

After narrowly escaping being raped by a paying customer, Fanny is happy to be under Mrs. Browns care. Some time passes and she is told what is expected of her, the details of what she is to do with clients are explained to her by the rest of her housemates. She is afraid of sex at first, but after peeping in on a few couples having sex, Fanny can hardly wait to try it herself with a man.




Fanny unexpectedly meets Charles, a young man who is well-off, and he offers to take her away with him. She leaves the brothel with Charles the next day. She later refers to him as her Adonis and the sweet relenting murderer of my virginity.


Once Charles steps into the story, there are some romantic scenes as Fanny actually falls in love with him. Doesn't this sound like something out of the romance novels written today?

Charles had just slipped the bolt of the door, and running, caught me in his arms, and lifting me from the ground, with his lips glued to mine, bore me trembling, panting, dying with soft fears and tender wishes, to the bed; where his impatience would not suffer him to undress me, more than just unpinning my handkerchief and gowns, and unlacing my stays.




When Charles unexpectedly leaves Fanny, she is left three months pregnant, heartbroken and with no money.

Fanny continues to live the life of a prostitute, but as time passes, she becomes smarter. In the second half of the story we see a more experienced Fanny. By the end of the story, she is nineteen years old.




Throughout the book she recollects her many lovers and sexual encounters. There is plenty of sex in the plot. Same sex partners, light bondage and lashings, to a full-on orgy are all in the storyline. Voyeurism was a sort of past-time for a few of the characters in this story, they always seemed to find a peep-hole available. It's all very scandalous and shocking, especially considering this book was written in 1749. (way before my beloved Pride & Prejudice)




This was a spicy read, even by today's standards. I'm surprised that he wrote the story without any outright vile language.


I found the writing to be well done. John Cleland would definitely give some erotic fiction writers a run for their money. However, I did laugh at some of the word use. The author uses the funniest names while referring to the male form. The engine of love assaults, enormous machine, IT, staff of love and object of terror and delight, just to name a few.



He describes female pubic hair as the richest sable fur in the universe. I'm sorry, but I laughed out loud while reading that!



Like I said, some of the writing was really good, the sex scenes went on and on.
Here's an example:

Then began the driving tumult on his side, and the responsive heaves on mine, which kept me up to him; whilst, as our joys grew too great for utterance, the organs of our voices, voluptuously intermixing, became organs of the touch... how delicious!... how poignantly luscious!... And now! now I felt, to the heart of me! I felt the prodigious keen edge, with which love, presiding over this act, points the pleasure: love! that may be styled the Attic salt of enjoyment; and indeed, without it, the joy, great as it is, is still a vulgar one, whether in a king or a beggar; for it is, undoubtedly, love alone that refines, ennobles, and exalts it.

All in all, this was an unexpected read for me and I enjoyed it enough to keep reading. I finished it in two sittings. It was bawdy and scandalous and I did wonder what would become of Fanny.



I read that author John Cleland and the publishers and printer of Fanny Hill were arrested shortly after publication. The novel of course, continued to sell in pirated forms. Sex does sell, no matter what century we're in.

Lifted then to the utmost pitch of joy that human life can bear, undestroyed by excess, I touched that sweetly critical point, whence scarce prevented by the injection from my partner, I dissolved, and breaking out into a deep drawn sigh, sent my whole sensitive soul down to that passage where escape was denied it, by its being so deliciously plugged and choked up.

title: Lincoln's Yarns and Stories

authors: Abraham Lincoln & Alexander Mcclure

source: Daily Lit

genre: non fiction/history


rated: 3 1/2 stars out of 5

This 1901 collection of personal anecdotes and fables brings warmth and humanity to our image of Abraham Lincoln. Insightful and often humorous, these stories capture the essence of a man who has gone down in history as a great and heroic leader. Through these tales, many of which Lincoln loved to tell himself, we see a different, more accessible side of a legendary historical figure.

Abraham Lincoln has always been my favorite president. He served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865.




I have watched a few documentaries about Lincoln and never cease to be fascinated by him. I think his having endured a difficult childhood helped make him the man he became. He ended up suffering an unhappy marriage and having 4 sons, only to lose them all to illnesses. Lincoln suffered from depression himself. His wife wound up in a mental asylum.



The letters and speeches included in this collection are about everything from taxes and education. There's even one letter about courting a woman and another has advice for lawyers. Lincoln mostly discusses slavery. He brings up the Dred Scott decision repeatedly, which stated that people of African descent that were imported to the U.S. would never be citizens or be protected by the Constitution.

As a nation, we began by declaring that all men are created equal. We now practically read it, all men are created equal except negroes. When the Know-nothings get control, it will read, all men are created equal except negroes and foreigners and Catholics. When it comes to this, I shall prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty--to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.

-AUGUST 24, 1855

This was the type of read that I needed to get in small doses, which was what made it a perfect selection for a Daily Lit
read. It's not the type of book I'd be able to immerse myself in for a few days. I'd actually be a bit bored with it if I did that.




Lincoln's Yarns and Stories was an interesting read. I especially liked peeking at Lincoln's personal letters, the ones that were not related to politics and I wish there were more like those included in this collection.



I was happy to see the former president mention Shakespeare, and how he loved Macbeth.

AUGUST 17, 1863

Some of Shakespeare's plays I have never read; while others I have gone over perhaps as frequently as any unprofessional reader. Among the latter are Lear, Richard III., Henry VIII., Hamlet, and especially Macbeth. I think nothing equals Macbeth. It is wonderful.

Another letter that made me smile was one to his wife:

LETTER TO MRS. LINCOLN. WASHINGTON. AUGUST 8, 1863


My dear Wife, All as well as usual, and no particular trouble anyway. I put the money into the Treasury at five per cent., with the privilege of withdrawing it any time upon thirty days' notice. I suppose you are glad to learn this. Tell dear Tad poor "Nanny Goat" is lost, and Mrs. Cuthbert and I are in distress about it. The day you left Nanny was found resting herself and chewing her little cud on the middle of Tad's bed; but now she's gone! The gardener kept complaining that she destroyed the flowers, till it was concluded to bring her down to the White House. This was done, and the second day she had disappeared and has not been heard of since. This is the last we know of poor "Nanny."

This is not my usual type of read and I'm happy I ventured out a bit and learned something along the way. I enjoyed Lincoln's speeches, and see him even more now as a great man.










Here's are a few quotes from his many speeches:

For my part, I desire to see the time when education--and by its means morality, sobriety, enterprise, and industry--shall become much more general than at present; and should be gratified to have it in my power to contribute something to the advancement of any measure which might have a tendency to accelerate that happy period.


-MARCH 9, 1832

Let reverence for the laws be breathed by every American mother to the lisping babe that prattles on her lap. Let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges. Let it be written in primers, spelling-books, and in almanacs.
Let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And, in short, let it become the political religion of the nation.



-JANUARY 27, 1837

But we cannot be free men if this is, by our national choice, to be a land of slavery. Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under the rule of a just God, cannot long retain it.

-MAY 19, 1856

title: Still Running

author: Judah Raine

pages: 214

format: ebook

published: 2008

genre: romance

first line: She knew something was wrong the minute she opened the front
door.

rated: 4 out of 5






Josie Tate is left to care for Sasha Renwick's 6 year old twins after Sasha runs off with a man named Luke. Josie was caregiver to the twins for the past three years, living in Sasha's luxurious penthouse. Sasha has left a note instructing Josie to see her lawyer and make arrangements. When Josie goes to see the lawyer, he tells her that she is to take the twins, Matt and Emmy, to thier father to stay there permanently.
The twins dad is a man named Stuart Harper who lives in South Africa.

Sasha has left a deal for Josie, if she takes the twins to thier dad, the trip is all expenses paid and Josie will get a return ticket back to London.

For Josie, the idea of a ticket back to London seemed like a life-line,
a glimmer of hope. She didn’t have to stay. She could come back. She
still had the chance to reinvent herself and her life, finally make it work.
Right now the twins needed her. All she had to do was find Superdad,
get them settled, and she could come back and focus on herself. A whole
new start.

Josie however is wondering where Stuart has been all this time. He hasn't been in the childrens lives and she wants an explanation from him before she hands over the twins to him. Once they arrive in Africa, Josie decides to go and visit Stuart by herself to get some answers.

When she finds Stuart's home, she sees it is a horse ranch called 'Harper Estates'.



At the ranch she runs into a man and Josie is temporarily left speechless.

Hot damn. Josie hoped the words stayed in her head. Whatever
picture she’d conjured—something along the lines of old and weathered
like the stone in the paddock walls—this didn’t fit.
He was tall, built like a rock and with just the right amount of
muscle in all the right places. He stood there bare-chested, the missing
blue T-shirt pushed through a loop of his jeans. She was wholly
unprepared for the effect that all that lean, well-toned muscle seemed to
be having on her ability to concentrate on exactly why she’d come all
this way.

She tells him she is looking for Stuart Harper and the adonis tells her, 'My brother is dead'. Turns out this is Stuart's twin brother, Cade Harper. After the shock passes Josie tells Cade who the children are. Cade is single and lives on the ranch with his father and sister. What Josie worries over most is that the children will have a loving home and family.



And there is an instant attraction between Josie and Cade, this scares her because she is afraid of getting hurt.

Josie felt the panic rising, felt suddenly and hugely out of her depth.
She didn’t want that, didn’t want to be joined to this alarming,
disturbing, wholly unforgettable man. She was acutely conscious that
they came from different worlds, had different lives. They were poles
apart, he the larger-than-life kind and she simply one of the little people,
someone with a murky past and an even murkier future, and not much in
between.

I really enjoyed Still Running . It's just what I was looking to read right now, something light and romantic. I liked Josie and Cade, they make a good match even though Josie tries to fight it every step of the way. Josie does have some personal demons she is dealing with and no matter what Cade does to try to get her to open up to him, she fights him.

She saw Cade the minute they entered the room, as if some wayward
need within her had tuned to his vibrations like some sort of instinctive
sexual compass set unerringly to his. It rated as almost uncanny, not to
mention unsettling, how, in a room of close to two hundred people, he
was the first person she saw.

The characters are well written and the storyline was good. I finished this one up in a few days and was satisfied with the plot and ending. My one qualm is the book cover on this one. Even though this was an e-book and technically it doesn't have a real cover, I didn't like this cover image. I'm a sucker for a good book cover, and this one doesn't do this sweet story justice.


Special thanks to Judah Raine for sending me a copy of her ebook.



-------------------------

Judah has kindly taken the time out of her busy schedule to grant me a blog interview!

Bookworm: Hello Judah and thank you for taking time out to stop by my blog for an interview. Please tell us a bit about yourself.


Judah: Hi there, and thanks so much for having me along. I live in a leafy suburb of Durban , South Africa , called Westville, where I share a house on the bank of a river with my interior designer daughter and our “zoo”. I’m a “farm girl” at heart, which is why this setting is ideal for me, and when I’m not writing you’ll find me gardening, reading, and working on my current “pet project”, Classic Romance Revival – a group established to bring together authors, readers and publishers of Classic Romance that is sweet, sensual or sophisticated…




Bookworm: What inspired you to write Still Running?

Judah:
That’s a complex question, because it wasn’t really any one thing… but the character of Josie was really loud in my head and demanded exploration, and having seen the “power of the past” at work in people’s lives I quickly realized that Josie needed her story told. She’d lived in her pain for so long she could no longer find the way out, and was searching for the only thing that could change that. Love. From then on I was hooked…




Bookworm: If Still Running were to be made into a film, what actors would you pick to play Josie and Cade?


Judah: Well, for Josie I’d have to go with “SA’s own” Charlize Theron. And for Cade? Hmmm… Hugh Jackman springs to mind. He definitely has Cade’s “strong but sexy-gentle” look….





Bookworm: What got you interested in writing? How long have you been writing?

Judah:
My Dad used to say I was born with a book in one hand and a pen in the other… I’ve been writing as long as I can remember, though I only took the plunge into publishing in 2008. While growing up on a farm was an ideal childhood, it could be quite lonely, and the characters and places in my head were my “company”. I also find writing to be enormously therapeutic, and it’s been a common thread throughout my life, a place to go to explore things, work through things… looking back I suppose all of it was “growing” me to this point.





Bookworm: Are you working on any books now?
Judah:

I currently have 3 in progress, all set in SA and all contemporary romance. Being Mrs Bellamy takes a look at the “marriage of convenience” from a different perspective, The Unmaking of Missy follows the emotional journey of a young woman raised by an authoritarian grandmother as she discovers love and redefines herself, and A High, Wide Place explores love against the complications of emotional ties in estranged families. I am also currently researching a series on the British 1820 settlers to SA, a group of people who endured all kinds of incredible hardships in their journey to a new land.






Bookworm: Who are your favorite authors and what is it that really strikes you about their work?

Judah:
This is virtually impossible to answer – I have a broad taste, and will devour anything providing it is well-written. I suppose I have a strong fondness for the “classics” and will re-read these on a regular basis. I also get bored very quickly, so don’t usually stay with a single author too long. Let’s just say I could easily open my own library – gazillions of books, all of them “keepers”, depending on my current mood and which particular genre I may be into at any given time.






Bookworm: Last but not least, if you were stranded on a deserted island, and were allowed to bring 3 items with you, what would they be?

Judah:

Top of my list would be my laptop, though I guess that wouldn’t last long, batteries being the issue. So I suppose my guitar (I could finish all the songs I started out writing and never quite finished!), my old dog Keila, and a note pad and pencil (does that count as two? And if we tied them together? Hey a girl’s gotta write…)






Bookworm: Thank you for stopping by for a chat Judah! It's been fun getting to know a bit about the author behind the book. I think Hugh Jackman is a great choice for Cade's character! And I agree, a note pad and pencil are a must for a writer on a deserted island :)