I don't have a full review this week- didn't quite have time to finish reading a sci-fi/fantasy book. I can tell you that I'm in the middle of
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, and totally loving it! I loved it from page one- the writing is superb. The prose is almost lyrical in it's flow, and the plot is totally engaging in it's mystery. I know that it's an older one; has anyone else read it? Are there any parts that you especially loved or hated? Tell me anything and everything except the very ending!
I always have at least two books going at once, so I'm also listening to
The Dakota Cipher by William Dietrich in the car on the way to and from work. It's the third book in the Ethan Gage series, which is sort of a historic fiction readalike to
The DaVinci Code. Really good!
The last update from my reading life.... I'm trying to complete the PopSugar Reading Challenge 2016.
You can see my latest progress here. There are a couple items on the list that I could totally take recommendations for! I've got less than four months left to complete this. Leave a comment to recommend a book set in South Carolina, a romance set in the future, a book becoming a movie this year, a book published in 2016, a book and it's prequel, or a book about a road trip! I thank you in advance for the recommendations!
I'll be back next Thursday with my final thoughts on
The Night Circus. See you then!
Hello all! I have, unfortunately, not finished a sci-fi/fantasy book this week to share with you. I am, however, in the midst of two! May I tell you about them, and about how they are going so far? Then you can have a full review from me next Thursday! (In my defense, I am quite pregnant. I may not have finished a book, but I have finished a nursery.)
First book:
Ice Whale by Jean Craighead George. This book features a relationship between an Eskimo family and a pod of whales. In 1848, a young Eskimo boy witnesses the birth of a whale-a
very rare sight-and he names the whale. Then he unwittingly leads a group of whalers to the whale pod. For generations afterward, the Eskimo and his descendants are cursed until a young girl can rectify the whole situation. What makes this book extra cool (aside from the Eskimo culture and the curse, both of which are cool enough on their own) is that the story is told in alternating points of view from the Eskimos and the whales! So there's "whalish" (I just made up that name for the whale language) in the book! Here's part of a page (no spoilers):
Don't worry- there's not so much whalish that you can't follow the story. Such a unique thing in a book!
Second book: Ptolemy's Gate by Jonathan Stroud. It's the "third and final" book in the Bartimaeus "trilogy." Why all the quotation marks? Because five years after this was published, Jonathan Stroud ended up writing one more Bartimaeus book... so it's not really the "final" book in the "trilogy" as the back of the book proclaims. I'm not complaining- I love, love, love the snarky dry-humored Bartimaeus and look forward to the series continuing at least one more book! I'm listening to this one on CD in my car and it's such fun. I literally laugh out loud at parts! Poor Nathaniel the magician, bumbling through his government bureaucracy job while trying to keep a handle on his often-wayward djinni, Bartimaeus. Also in this book: Kitty. She's not gone after all! She's so super smart; I totally enjoy reading about her jobs and her research, and how she manages to get so much done in a time period when girls/women were expected to be quiet and keep home. In this installment, the three of them will end up working together to try to create world peace between magicians and the public and djinnis. I'm only about halfway through, so I have no clue if they survive each others' company, or succeed at their task! ;)
So, that's what I'm up to! I hope everyone has a great week. I'll be back next Thursday with a legit review, I promise!
I'd like to take a moment to wish a Merry Christmas to everyone celebrating today :)
I hope you have a wonderful time with family and friends!
Here's my little Lily-Ann singing Let It Go from the Frozen movie. Note that my daughter doesnt speak English, hense the majority of babbling LOL
You might haven't notice (or maybe you did?) I've been away for about 3 weeks now and I thought I would update you on the matter ^^
First, I am happy to announce that baby Gabrielle arrived in our lives on February 23rd! Born at 7pounds 7oz she was a healthy baby, bigger then we anticipated! lol
Lily-Ann simply adores her and she is very nice to her so I am really happy!
Unfortunately, Lily-Ann had pneumonia when Gabrielle was born, and even though the doctor said she wasn't contagious, Gabrielle got sick.
I spent the last week at the hospital with her, including two days in intensive care unit because she has a lot of trouble breathing. 
I am happy to tell you that we were released on Tuesday and that she is getting better and better everyday.
So this is why I haven't been around much, and probably won't for some more time. But I still love you and I'll be more active soon, I promise :D
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In the name of Team Tynga's Reviews, I'd like to wish you all Happy holidays
May you have a special moment filled with love amongst your families and maybe I little reading in there too ^^
My family is already having a great time with all the snow we got in the past few days ^^
That's right! Last Friday we learned that we are expecting a second little princess :)
Daddy was a tiny bit disappointed because he has always wanted a son, but I have to say I am pretty happy with a second girl. Not only girls rocks, but my daughters are both spring babies so I will save on clothing haha!
Now we set on the very important quest of finding a second perfect girl name. Your suggestions are welcome! My main criteria is that it doesnt end with an 'A' (because French Canadians fail at pronouncing final As correctly) and that it doesn't start with Mary (because that are waaayyy too many French names starting with Marie).
The pregnancy isn't going that well. In fact, as you read this I am at the hospital running tests for my heart, which isn't handling the additional work very well. Hopefully they'll find a safe way to help me because I still have 20 weeks to go!
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Hey guys!
This is totally not book related but my favorite eyeshadow store re-opened after being closed for over a year and they have an amazing opportunity to try their products for free and I wanted to share the news with you!
The company is called Orglamix and I'm simply crazy for their products!
If you wanna try it, visit the website and there is this image sayin' Try Orglamix For Free, click it.
You'll see a 10$ price tag when adding it to your cart, and you'll have to pay it, BUT you will get a 10$ Gift Card for your next purchase :)
She also has a pretty amazing deal right now called 'Goodie Bag' and for only 35$ you get 10 (!!!) random eyeshadow. I would purchase it without second thought if I didn't already own over 85 shades and was bound to get doubles hehe. There's also goodie bags for smaller quantities of eyeshadow, the discount is just not as impressive.
Let me know if you decide to give them a try!
Here's an image of a challenge I completed with them back in 2010. Every look was created with their colors :)
With baby #2 on the way, hubby and I started talking baby names and I must confess, character's name are a big inspiration for me! I wanted to talk with you guys and maybe get a little inspiration from you. I know some of you aren't old enough for kids yet, but just play along ^^
When looking for a name for Lily-Ann, we had a lot of discussion and one of the names I liked best was Faythe (from Rachel Vincent's Shifters series) but unfortunately it didn't sound all that great with my husband's family name so we didn't keep it on our list. We also had Joshua in mind (because we were first told it was a boy), and this inspiration wasn't from a book, but from the TV show So You Think You Can Dance. After many month's of thought, we chose Lily-Ann and my inspiration was a little girl called Lilianne I had in day camp when I was a teen.
Choosing a baby's name is such a great responsibility because it will follow them all of their lives, you want it to sound right when they are tiny but also when they grow up. I'm sure authors also feel the same way when naming their characters and they put so much thought into it that it feels like a great inspiration. Especially if, like me, you care so strongly about the characters you like!
Right now,
if we have a girl I like the name Emma-Lynn (inspired by Kresley Cole's Emmaline). I changed the spelling to fit Lily-Ann's name (I would like to have a link between their names ^^) but my husband isn't crazy about it unfortunately. If we have a boy, we thought of Jacob (NOT in honor of Twilight, but still), Dimitri (yes, Mr. Belikov himself!) and Noah. I have to say I like Noah best and my inspiration was from The Notebook, my favorite movie EVER!
Now my questions to you are:
- Have you ever liked a character so much that you thought of naming your kid after that character?
- Did you actually name one of your kid after a character?
- Or is there a character's name you like very much (even though you might not like the character all that much) and you'd name your kid like that?
- Do you have any name suggestions for us?
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I've
been hanging onto that little bit of news for weeks now and it's time to finally share with you all :) Baby #2 is now underway and due March 3rd, 2013!
I had an ultrasound yesterday (that's when those shots where taken) and everything seems perfectly fine!
The technician wrote the gender on a piece of paper for me, but I haven't peeked yet. I can't make up my mind! lol They were wrong with their prediction for Lily-Ann (told me she was a boy) and I don't want to live the same situation again :/ We'll see lol
What it means for the blog? Right now I'm extremely exhausted and I'll admit it, in a foul mood (lol) and I'm on sick leave from work. I'm not getting much reading done between caring for Lily-Ann, napping everyday and going to bed at 7:30 so I might skip some reviews (like this week) unfortunately. I'm sure you'll understand.
I just came back from my daughter’s lunch party and I thought you’d like to see some pictures :) She’s fast asleep right now after ‘partying hard’ lol
Birthday girl!
homemade strawberry cupcakes *miam*
Blowing her first candle ^^
Eating delicious cupcake for the first time!
A sweet hug lol
*yes I had whipped cream in my hair…*
Lily-Ann and her 2 cousins :)
We had a great time! She’s such a big girl now :)
