Summer Reading Celebration

I loved this book. Set during WWII in London during the year of the Blitz, this book shares so much more than a ring side seat to the Blitz. This was a fresh take on telling the story of the Blitz. Two friends are forced to set off for London when one is ousted from her place of rest (unfairly). In London they stay with the best friend of the ousted girls deceased mother, Mrs. Weatherford. Mrs. Weatherford is a kind soul and she gets Grace a temporary job in a bookstore with a cratchedy owner. Grace is great in business, but she isn't a reader. Enter a patron who introduces her to reading just before he goes off to eat. Grace falls in love with reading and the bookshop turns around under her able hand, as does the owner. But then begins the Blitz, and we follow this bookshop and the others in London throughout that harrowing experience.

In the fourth and final installment, Daine and Numair are in the battle for their lives. The barrier between the Divine Realms and the human realms has completely collapsed. The immortals, hurroks and Stormwings, have been unleashed upon Tortall. These immortals have aligned with enemies of Tortall and Daine and her friends are losing the fight. Daine and Numair are up against a new and horrifying threat when they are plucked from the human realms and dropped into the Realms of the Gods. Trapped in the Realms of the Gods and desperate to return to their friends, they must travels across the Realms to the Dragonlands to enlist aid in their return. Along their route they discover more immortals, spies, animal gods and a plot by enemies of Tortall to not only overthrow order in the human realms but the Realms of the Gods. The human gods are fighting against their sister the Goddess of Chaos. The goddess of Chaos has gained powerful allies in the human realms to aid in tipping the scales against her god siblings. Will Daine and Numair find a way to return to their friends and help in the fight against not only their enemies but the enemies of the gods? I love this series so much! I love Daine, Numair, Alanna and so many other characters from this series!

As someone who has experience with dealing with people in toxic relationships, this book hit a tad harder than I expected. Freddy's situation is all too familiar. It was refreshing to see her get out of it. Relationships where the people keep breaking up and getting back together are, in my opinion, romanticized far too much, so the author treating it as a bad thing was nice to see.

I've put off reading this author for so long and I'm so disappointed that I did. I really enjoyed this book. Its not heavy, but its definitely more than a "beach read." I read 28 Summers by this same author, or rather I listened to them, and Hilderbrand is my new favorite author!

Cute story. Read with Grandson.

Reading the Dragonslayers' Academy series with my grandson. He likes dragon stories, and this includes a lot of humor.

Great story about a gay romance and international intrigue.

This was a somewhat disturbing book. Disturbing in that if you don't happen to be a person if color, you learn what it is like to live in their world. That it would be so bad you would want to "cross over" is telling of the world I do not know. The fictitious story is set in a small town of very light skinned blacks. They pride themselves on their lightness. Some even have red hair and could be mistaken as being white. But as the author notes, even the boy who looks white is not allowed the same privileges that an actual white person would have. The story follows 2twin sisters born in this town. Their daddy dies young and their mothers struggles to support the family. The girls have to chip in and life is very hard for all of them. One of the twins "crosses over" in order to get a job that pays better so she and her sister can afford to live in the city they have run away to. Eventually her white boss falls in love with her. Will she tell him? What happens to the other sister? There are some rough parts in this book, but I appreciated the over all message it told.

Another read with my grandson. The super heroes are characters from the Bible. Each story includes a description of the characteristic that makes them heroic and how you can practice that characteristic and a Bible verse.

Daine is on her way to Cathak with the delegation for peace between Tortall and Carthak. In this third installment of The Immortals Quartet, Daine is summoned to the Emperor's home to heal his sick birds but the gods have other plans for her. Numair, Alanna the Kings Champion and Kit are back for another thrilling adventure filled with treachery, new animals and gods aplenty. Will Daine survive her encounter with the gods and a emperor bent on making the world bend the knee to him alone? I love these characters, especially Daine, Numair, Alanna and so many others! A great series and one of my favorite cover art!