These Books Among Us

Hey everyone! Welcome to the new year! This year I am going to try to incorporate themes into my weekly posts for every month. So let's see how well that goes, shall we? To get us started, let's get in the mindset of fairy tales.   If you are like me, you love fairy tales. They were told to you when you were growing up, turned into awesome animated films, and probably taught you lessons about right and wrong, right? Well, same with me. Most people grow up on the Disney versions of these stories. They are often filled with happily ever afters, the villains getting their just desserts (killed-they get killed), and some variant of the animal side kick being embarrassed at the new couple kissing at the end of the film. But the original tales were a lot darker. Most of them had very heavy themes throughout and very graphic violence for being something to share with children. And that was the point, back when these were first circulated. They were to scare children into...

Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge ( 448 pages) My Rating: 4.5 Stars Date Finished: 2 October 2015 Synopsis: When Rachelle was fifteen, she was good—apprenticed to her aunt and in training to protect her village from dark magic. But she was also reckless—straying from the forest path in search of a way to free her world from the threat of eternal darkness. After an illicit meeting goes dreadfully wrong, Rachelle is forced to make a terrible choice that binds her to the very evil she had hoped to defeat. Three years later, Rachelle has given her life to serving the realm, fighting deadly creatures in an effort to atone. When the king orders her to guard his son Armand—the man she hates most—Rachelle forces Armand to help her hunt for the legendary sword that might save their world. Together, they navigate the opulent world of the courtly elite, where beauty and power reign and no one can be trusted. And as they become unexpected allies, they discover far-reaching conspiracies...