Opal Moon book review

I am fascinated with anything historical in time. Whether it is from the U.S. or another country, I just crave to learn more about the historical way of life, customs, etc. That is one of the reasons I was drawn to this book aside from the mysterious woman on the cover. It promised a great love story, suspense, and the chance to learn of historical customs in China.

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• Paperback: 180 pages
• Publisher: Dorrance Publishing Co (November 11, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1434912183
• ISBN-13: 978-1434912183

From the back of the book::

The land of China is under the rule of Emperor K'ang-his. As an upright and efficient leader, he favors his fourth son, Yin-chen, a young man of upstanding character, over his corrupt heir apparent, Yin-jeng, who brings nothing but trouble to the family. The latest is an attempt by Yin-jeng on the life of Opal Moon, a teenage orphan girl whom Yin-chen rescues with the aid of his chamberlain.

Captivated by Opal Moon's beauty, he takes her under his care and presents her as a boy to ensure her safety as his ward. But the pretense cannot suppress their feelings and they eventually give in to their hearts' desires, setting off a course of events they could not have foreseen.

My Thoughts::
This book didn’t turn out to be what I thought it would be. There are a lot of events that disturbed me in this novel, and if you surprise easily I wouldn’t recommend it. One of the most disturbing to me was Prince Yin-jeng’s sexual encounters with young boys. I couldn’t hardly stomach the details in which the events were explained, even though that is how things were done in imperial court back then. All in all I felt it was a very sad novel, and I was very upset by the ending. I felt the book focused on more carnage than anything. Without spoiling the novel I will just say that there was no way I could have at all predicted how things would turn out for our characters so the unpredictability of the novel was what kept me reading. The one thing I did like about this novel is Opal Moon’s will to overcome all obstacles thrown her way. Having been abandoned by her mother at a young age and raised by foster parents serving as their maidservant, she had to learn at a young age to be independent and diligent. This shows through her character and it was easy to admire her at times despite her young age. Even though she succumbed to her passions with Prince Yin-chen eventually, and despite her ardent Christian beliefs she continued to try to do the right thing. The problem arose when there became too many obstacles for her to try and overcome all alone and instead of seeking wiser help she tried to take things into her own hands.
I wouldn’t recommend this book for anyone under the age of eighteen due to sexually graphic/disturbing content. Despite the fact that this novel wasn’t quite what I expected it was very well researched, and very well written. I was hooked in by Opal Moon, and I couldn’t wait to see how things would turn out for her in the end.


All in all I would rate this book: 4/5 stars


 I rated this book 4/5 stars on Goodreads.

This book is available in Paperback, Kindle, or Nook
You can also purchase this book in print or ebook format by CLICKING HERE



DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this book for review as a member of the Dorrance Publishing Book Review Team. All opinions expressed are mine alone.

The Big Book of American Trivia Review

First I’ll start by saying that I love to challenge myself. Because of this I have always been a fan of trivia and such. What I really love about trivia aside from challenging myself is that it becomes such a great learning experience. After all we can never learn too much right? So I was pretty excited to get the chance to review:




Paperback: 368 pages

Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers; 200 Anv Cm edition (December 30, 2011)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1414364547

ISBN-13: 978-1414364544


It’s a really fun read that can keep you, family, and friends occupied for hours. Such a great way to spend some down time and test your knowledge. My hubby and I sat down a few nights when the kids were in bed and tested each other on various topics. It was pretty fun. This book has over 3,000 questions on a wide variety of topics from entertainment, history, music, literature, art, memorials, holidays, politics, landmarks, culture, and even some unpredictable miscellaneous things. My two personal favorites were the topic on scandal, and there’s a great chapter that has ten questions about each state. There are also chapters on America Month by Month, as well as, Doing It By The Decade which is pretty intriguing. Because there is such a wide variety of questions added to the fact that they can range from simple to hard this book can be a challenge for even the most well skilled trivia buff. It’s truly a book for everyone.
The only thing I didn’t like about the book was the fact that answer pages can get a bit chopped up due to the lack of amount on some of the pages. Not always but here and there throughout the book. But I did like that questions are on one page with answers on the other side. It gives you more of a motive to challenge yourself in trying to answer the questions, and it makes the perfect set up for a good trivia game. I would recommend this book for high school students and ages up. Particularly fun for adults. Since this book is in honor of the two-hundredth anniversary of our national anthem it would be really fun to even implement it on Independence Day, and would make a great bring along on road trips. I wouldn’t recommend trying to read this book from cover to cover straight through, it’s more meant to be read randomly and easy to skip around from section to section depending on what your most interested in.

Want to check out my star rating of this book on Goodreads? CLICK HERE
Take a peek inside this book HERE


Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of the book for review purposes from Tyndale House. All opinions expressed are mine alone.

Dangerously Courageous

Isabella
The Belle Of Ironwood
A Novel by: Andrea Wren

I must admit this novel came as a huge surprise to me. At first it was very slow and sort of boring, but then it really picked up. And once it picked up I was pleasantly surprised that I just DID NOT want to put it down! It is definitely a book that you want to give the chance even though it takes awhile to really pick up. You won’t regret it. This novel is definitely making a place on my bookshelf of favorites. Now there are some parts that I just did not understand or follow well. For instance there are parts that sort of just skip ahead without much warning, and then the main character finds herself reminiscing on times past and it sort of throws you back and forth. Usually I don’t like this, and find it a huge downer of any novel, but surprisingly when happening in this novel I didn’t find myself lost at all. It was really easy to understand what exactly was going on, and I didn’t feel like I was way off track. Once the novel picked up I was totally immersed. I dreaded putting it down, and looked forward to picking it back up again. There are many things one can gain from reading this wonderful debut novel: strength, courage, respect, perseverance, faith, etc. I think the author, Andrea Wren, did a wonderful job, and I am mightily surprised that this is her first novel. I look forward to any other novels she may write, and hope there are more in the future from her.

In this debut novel we follow Isabella Carbet from the age of fifteen throughout her entire life. Sent away by her parents in hope of protection in a drastically changing world and a better life her journey starts rather unfortunately when she is kidnapped and sold into slavery before she even really gets the chance to begin her life’s journey. Isabella becomes sold into slavery and experiences heart-wrenching hardships and misfortunes, as well as finds friendships and love that sustain her through terrible times. Persevering through what most believed the impossible Isabella doesn’t give up the hope or fight for freedom nor does she allow herself to be browbeaten into giving up her passion for teaching. At all costs she remains herself and lives life the best she can, carving out a life for herself. This book holds intrigue, romance, struggle, a great sense of history, courage, admiration, and you will literally feel as if you are right there with Isabella the entire journey. Due to Isabella’s suffering there is placed a generations long curse that needs to be lifted, and the journey to find those responsible and seek forgiveness is truly something to behold.

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this book for review as a member of the Dorrance Publishing Book Review Team. All opinions expressed are mine alone.To purchase your copy of this book please visit this LINK