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There's been a major update and overhaul and the blog has moved. Only posts pre-2015 are on this site. But please check out the new website here.

Peacock Flock Book Review #1 - Princess of the Midnight Ball


Sorry this is a couple days late but enjoy! :D


Peacock Flock Book Review #1



Princess of the Midnight Ball

Author: Jessica Day George

Word count: ~ 64K (270 pages)

Genre: Fantasy (Fairy-tale retelling)

Stars: 4 Stupendous Purple Stars 




Book Summary:

A tale of twelve princesses doomed to dance until dawn… 

Galen is a young soldier returning from war; Rose is one of twelve princesses condemned to dance each night for the King Under Stone. Together Galen and Rose will search for a way to break the curse that forces the princesses to dance at the midnight balls. All they need is one invisibility cloak, a black wool chain knit with enchanted silver needles, and that most critical ingredient of all—true love—to conquer their foes in the dark halls below. But malevolent forces are working against them above ground as well, and as cruel as the King Under Stone has seemed, his wrath is mere irritation compared to the evil that awaits Galen and Rose in the brighter world above. 

Captivating from start to finish, Jessica Day George’s take on the Grimms’ tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses demonstrates yet again her mastery at spinning something entirely fresh out of a story you thought you knew.


Review:

As a flock it took a few days for us to get into this book. So it's a retelling of the fairy tale 'The Twelve Dancing Princesses'. We haven't read the original fairy-tale (although we intend to) but participated in a play adapted from it so we sort of knew the story beforehand.
 We're not sure why the author chose to start the book where she did. A lot of information that we found out in the beginning (especially the back story) could've been better sparsed out more. Once we got to the part after the main guy - Galen - meets the main girl - Princess Rose - though it started to pick up. And after the scene where Galen has to defend them from dark shadow creatures beneath the Princess's window? Well we just could not put it down!
This is a different kind of romance because much of the book we see through Galen's eyes. We absolutely loved it because he is a hero who knits! Do any of you know a man who knits? We certainly don't! And to think that the fate of the entire kingdom is dependent upon his ability to knit an exceptional wool chain.
We liked the characterizations very much. Galen and Princess Rose were both done well. They had their flaws and their strengths. And they each had their own individual voice. The plot had some enjoyable twists - it had intrigue, suspense and definitely the romance we wanted. We greatly appreciated that things weren't easy and there weren't any conveniently placed escapes or people. Albeit the ending was predictable (it is a fairy-tale) we thoroughly giggled and cozied up at the end of it. Definitely a cozy up in the armchair read. We'll be picking it up again!







That's it from the flock!


Announcing Peacock Flock Book Reviews & Chapter One Release

So I promised you a big announcement and it's two fold!

First part:


Announcing Peacock Flock Book Review Thursdays

Every Thursday the 'Peacock Flock' will be reviewing either a young adult or new adult novel. Genres will mostly be fantasy, science fiction, romance, and possibly some contemporary or literary. Have a novel you'd love the Peacock Flock to review? Go to my "Review Policy" page for all the details. A word of caution the Peacock Flock can be harsh but is usually fair.

Make sure to watch for Review #1 this coming Thursday! :D










Also Announcing Chapter One Preview Release Date


On leap day of this year (Feb 29, 2012) I will be releasing the preview of Chapter One of Lasera in its entirety! Make sure to spread the word, cause I will be talking all about it for the next few weeks. Plus two weeks before the official release I'll give all my readers and fans a teaser with the first paragraph! :D Can't wait for everyone to read it!
Check out the publicity poster:





p.s. A BIG thank you goes out to my mother for her invaluable help in designing this poster and to my two sisters for their input :D

Cheers!


Big Announcement Tomorrow!

Keep your eyes peeled for the announcement coming tomorrow about a whole new flock of posts!

Cheers!





When Strong Women Cry

What's it take for a strong woman to cry? Sometimes a lot, sometimes very little.

To this day I still remember a night at the dinner table. I was a teenager, and with no idea what about or why, I saw my mom cry. She was overwhelmed about something. I remember feeling shocked and humbled. My mom was human. And occasionally just as frustrated and overwhelmed as the rest of us. I love my mother whole-heartedly and I think this scene from years back just made me love her all the more.

I've often thought back to, and remembered this instance when I've broken down and felt like everything was crumbling around me. There were times when things really were bad, and there were other times where I just over-reacted. Whichever the case, the stronger you are, (or the stronger you try to portray yourself) the harder it is to deal with when tears simply start streaming.

When women "need a good cry", from a movie or the like it's completely different than the gut-wrenching, can't catch your breath, screaming and stamping your feet kind of crying that I'm talking about.

When you see or hear another woman crying like that, or find out a woman was crying like that, there isn't a heart that doesn't ache. Each woman has different reasons for crying, but we've all cried.

It takes an even stronger woman to let herself cry, realizing that she can't do it all, see it all, or be it all.

But the strongest woman isn't the one who necessarily dries her tears, it's the woman who leaves those tears tracks on her checks to serve as a reminder that she's had those hard times, and has come through on the other side. Those woman who continue to go on despite hardship, heartbreak, or loss.

To each of those woman I say: You're an inspiration. You're a shinning example. You ARE Strong.

Cheers!


New Look. New Schedule


Lots of changes! I spent a number of hours redesigning the whole site. There's still a few tweaks I'm going to make but I'm very happy with the end result.

The plan is to do a post for the DanielleWAM blog every Friday, and then one for my Lasera blog every Tuesday. Look for the new post tomorrow!

Cheers!

Best YouTube Video EVER