Cress

Cress The Lunar Chronicles #3 Marissa Meyer 4.5/5	Published 2014 First Sentence "Her satellite made one full orbit around planet Earth every sixteen hours."
Publisher's Description: In this third book in the Lunar Chronicles, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, now with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they're plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army. Their best hope lies with Cress, a girl imprisoned on a satellite since childhood who's only ever had her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker. Unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice. When a daring rescue of Cress goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has.
Dear Reader, Cress is now my favorite, I know I said that about Scarlet but I really mean it. Watch me get attached to Winter next... the characters AND the books get better and better. The writing is improving and I'm completely invested. I loved the complexity this book has surrounding Cress... having been left alone in a satellite for her whole life, with little contact with anyone. She is so isolated with only a younger version of herself keeping her company as a computer simulation. The journey she goes through in this book is pretty fascinating because we grow with Cress, we get to see what the world looks like from the eyes of someone who has only read about it. What does a forest look like? Water? Animals? How the world opens up... you can only imagine getting a little wigged out. Cress is so much more than that though, she is that computer nerd who thinks in codes, she is that techy girl I love. Now we have Cinder (the mechanic with courage), Scarlet (the brave warrior), and Cress (the geeky, odd computer genius)... fantastic cast of characters if you ask me. I love that any teenage girl reading this series will be able to connect with one of them and relate to their personality. I'm completely digging the girl power of this series, you can't deny that the heroes of this story are the females. This is not to say that I would consider this a book only for girls, absolutely not! The sci-fi aspect will really appeal to anyone and the otherworldly fantasy element is perfect for anyone willing to escape to a different world. I can't help feeling that not only is Meyer improving in her writing but the story is flying by smoother. These open endings are killing me, I've caught up (other than the next inbetween book 'Fairest') and now I don't want to wait until November! The torture... I hardly ever get addicted to series like this, but I'll admit, this one has me. I'm patiently (NOT) waiting for "Winter" to come out now. Happy Reading, AmberBug

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The Barefoot Queen: A Novel

The Barefoot Queen: A Novel Ildefonso Falcones 5/5	Published 2014 First Sentence "Port of Cádiz, January 7, 1748 Just as she was about to set foot on the dock at Cádiz, Caridad hesitated."
Publisher's Description: A historical epic full of bravery and romance that follows two women as they make a life for themselves in 18th-century Spain. It's January of 1748. Caridad is a recently freed Cuban slave wondering the streets of Seville. Her master is dead and she has nowhere to go. When her path crosses with Milagros Carmona's-a young, rebellious gypsy-the two women are instantly inseparable. Milagros introduces Caridad to the gypsy community, an exotic fringe society that will soon change her life forever. Over time they each fall in love with men who are fiercely loyal and ready to fight to the death for their rights as a free people. When all gypsies are declared outlaws by royal mandate, life in their community becomes perilous. They soon find themselves in Madrid-a city of passion and dancing, but also a treacherous one full of smugglers and thieves. Caridad and Milagros must help in the gypsy's struggle against society and its laws in order to stay together; it's a dangerous battle that cannot, and will not, be easily won. From the tumultuous bustle of Seville to the theatres of Madrid, The Barefoot Queen is a historical fresco filled with charaters that live, love, suffer, and fight for what they believe.
Dear Reader, This was so epic, and I love epic. It reminded me of how I felt after reading Les Miserables, completely fulfilled and wanting MORE (even though both books are pretty large). Unfortunately this book took me a little longer than I had hoped and I didn't get to post this review closer to the publication date, but what has me most upset is that Netgalley has archived it so quickly and I can't get to all my kindle notes. I get frustrated when it comes to the note taking capability of these devices out there now, PLEASE someone... perfect this!? WHY can't there be a way to read the notes you took during reading on your kindle and read them on the desktop (where I always write my reviews) instead of going back and forth from the device?! Anyways, I don't want to get sidetracked here. I loved this book. Every character was brought to life with deep thought and imagination. We got to bounce from one to the other and I didn't mind at all. I'm sure you've experienced those books where you like one narrative over the other, you skim through to get to the "good" parts. I felt this book and the characters were so well balanced that you wanted to play along with everyone. If that isn't a compliment, I don't know what is. The Barefoot Queen follows a gypsy family and the freed slave that happens to stumble into their life. The Grandfather, Melchor, is a wise, proud, strong, revered but very stubborn man who spent his younger years in jail. His daughter, (Ana, mother of Milagros) is the wife of a lout but gathers her own strength and charm as the story grows, you learn how very important she really is. Milagros, the precious girl in the eyes of her Grandfather Melchor, born as a Vega with a fun loving spirit that slowly gets crushed along this thing we call life. Finally, one of my favorite characters, Caridad, the freed slave with no sense of self, grows within the gypsy tribe and her personality slowly starts to shine. These are but a few from the large cast of incredible characters we meet along the way, although I would surmise them to be the most important. I haven't read too many books on gypsy life and history and I'm kind of glad this was an introduction for me. Yes, I know that this is "historical fiction" but the Author knows his stuff and brought many of the characters to life based on tales from the past. The gypsy struggle reminded me quite a bit of the struggle during the Holocaust and what the Jews had to endure. All gypsies were gathered up and either thrown into workhouses or jails (children, mothers and elderly, essentially ALL of them). The conditions were horrendous and those who didn't comply were executed. This is the story of our world, over and over and over again. They say we can learn the most about ourselves by searching into our pasts. How scary is that? The more I learn of the bigotry from our past, makes me scared for what comes next, the event that'll send people to their graves for what they believe in. Okay, I'd like to end on a brighter note though. The romantical way of gypsy life is hidden within this book, some of the communal ways they do things made me so giddy. I really want to jump through time and space to be amongst the gypsies. Now... when someone asks me if I had a time machine, where would I go? Back to 1748 to meet Caridad off the ship that sailed her straight into the arms of the most celebrated, romantic and honorable people around. I want to dance with them, sing and clap, smoke cigars with them, pretend objects mean NOTHING and nobody owns ANYTHING. Live free. Doesn't that sounds romantic? Magic, gypsy magic, it's what I want. Happy Reading, AmberBug P.S. - I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review. Here are a few resources about the book: More Info About the Author

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