Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George

I read this a while ago and just realized I never posted the review here.
Jessica Day George won a Whitney award for Best Novel by a New Author.


Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George


Review by Emily of Deliciously Clean Reads and whimsy





The difficult thing about reviewing is finding a balance between telling about a story and not giving anything crucial away. I am finding this balance particularly difficult with Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow.
If I knew everyone would be intrigued enough to read it with a recommendation that simply said, "I love this book. If you enjoy YA fantasy, such as books by Shannon Hale, Robin McKinley, Patricia Wrede, C.S. Lewis, etc. don't pass this one by"...that is all I would write. I enjoyed the journey through this book, not having any clue about the story ahead of time. I have seen reviews since I read Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow that gave away crucial elements of the story that I am glad I didn't know.
Having said all that, here is my review. I know. Finally.

The girl, aka the pika, lives in a place that is always winter. Her family is poor. The girl, though a teenager, remains nameless. Her mother was so upset at having another worthless girl, that she refuses to name her.
Legend has it, that nameless girls are often stolen by trolls...but it isn't a troll that takes the pika away from her safe home and beloved brother. It is an isbjorn, or ice bear. The great white bear takes the girl to live in an ice castle for a year, promising that her family will be wealthy.
Many girls have been taken by isbjorns in the past, but the girl has a special quality that distinguishes her from the others.
She can talk to animals, which certainly helps when you have been taken captive by a bear.
Jessica Day George loved this Norwegian fairy tale and decided to flesh it out into a full length novel. At LTUE, she said she chose the story because it had everything...adventure, trolls, castles, mystery, romance.

You can see a video interview with Jessica Day George here.

Fool Me Twice by Stephanie Black

I finished Fool Me Twice yesterday. I absolutely loved it! I rarely give a book a 5 (out of 5) but this one got it. So far, it's my favorite read of the year.

There were so many twists and turns in the plot. First you think one person is manipulating another, then someone else gets involved, then you find out that there's a master manipulator who's been pulling strings for years. It's incredible! You can read my full review on my blog.

Here's the promo from the back:

When it comes to pleasing her twin sister, Megan O’Connor is an easy touch. She’ll do just about anything to gain Kristen’s approval, including trading places with her. After all, Kristen’s plan promises to get Megan out of a dead-end job and make them both rich. It will be a nice reward for a little genealogical investigation--something that couldn’t have happened without the help of Kristen’s new LDS acquaintances. And who could blame the twins for using a tiny bit of deceit to manipulate an inheritance out of someone as demanding as their estranged aunt Evelyn?

All Megan has to do is pretend to be Kristen, move into Evelyn’s house, and take care of the wealthy old woman until her failing health kills her. It shouldn’t take too long. It shouldn’t be too difficult. Megan’s the nice one. Except for the lie, the task is a natural fit. Everything would be perfect if she could just ignore the guilt--a feeling that only grows stronger as she spends more time with the new friends Kristen arranged for her.

But soon Megan discovers there is more to worry about. She’s living in a house of illusions where she isn’t the only one playing a part. Someone has developed a new plotline that ends with a death scene--and in this version, the victim won’t die of natural causes.

Beneath the surface of the sleepy New England town of Britteridge, deceit weaves a deadly web where turnabout is anything but fair play.

Jayhawk & Return to Red Castle by Dorothy Keddington

Dorothy Keddington is one of my all time favorite authors. These are her first two books and they are great. They are romance adventures that will keep you up late into the night wanting to find out what happens next.

Jayhawk is 1/2 Bannock-Shoshoni Indian who wants to find out why his father disappeared a few weeks before he was born. Angela Stewart arrives to visit her college roommate at her family's ranch outside the city of Dust, Wyoming. Together Angela and Jayhawk go on a wild ride to find out the truth.

Return to Red Castle is set in the High Uintas. Melissa is returning to her family's vacation spot for the first time in four years where she finds her best friend (though 11 years older than her) has become a mountain man and where drug runners are in the mountains.

NOTE: Both books are out of print but can be found at half.com.

And the Whitney Award goes to . . .

Last year, Stephanie Black educated us all on The Whitney Awards--an academy that was developed to recognize excellence in literary achievement by LDS writers. The name for the Whitney Awards comes from Orson F. Whitney, who once said, "We will yet have Miltons and Shakespeares of our own."

On Saturday, March 23, 2008, the award gala was held at the CottonTree Inn in Sandy Utah. During the event, three bloggers documented the event live.

You can read about the event as it unfolded here.

The 2007 Whitney Award winners were:

Michele Paige Holmes (Counting Stars)--Best Romance
Shannon Hale (Book of a Thousand Days)--Best Speculative
Brandon Mull (Fablehaven 2)--Best Childrens/YA
Josi Kilpack (Sheep's Clothing)--Best Suspense
H.B. Moore (Out of Jerusalem, vol. 4: Land of Inheritance)--Best Historical
Jessica Day George (Dragon Slippers)--Best New Author
Coke Newell (On the Road to Heaven)--Best Novel of the Year

Lifetime Achievement Awards were presented to:
Anita Stanisfield
Dean Hughes
Jennie Hansen

Most of these books (or authors) have been reviewed on this site. I've read all of the Whitney Award winning books and highly recommend each one.

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

THE HOST by Stephenie Meyer (Due out May 6th.)
Review by Emily of Deliciously Clean Reads and Whimsy

I never thought an author could make me cry over a dying alien...but that's Stephenie Meyer for you. I mean really, how many authors do you know who could capture the heart of the world through a vampire romance? Well, The Host's plot is every bit as cheesy-sounding. Yet, there I was, crying...enthralled...unable to put it down.

The Host started out a little rough for me. It is written from the perspective of a parasitic alien who has just entered into a human body. At first, I couldn't help but be a little turned off by the sci-fi aspect of the plot...but by about page 40, I was completely sucked in. Stephenie Meyer is talented at taking an out-there plot and making it ridiculously compelling and romantic.

Check out the rest of the review at Deliciously Clean Reads.

Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George

Today I have an interview with fabulous author, Jessica Day George, at my blog. You can see the interview here. You won't regret it. She's hilarious...and happens to be LDS, too. I am also giving away a signed copy of her new book, Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow.

Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George
Review by Emily of Deliciously Clean Reads and Whimsy...

Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George is absolutely delightful.

The story begins with this great opening: “It was my aunt who decided to give me to the dragon. Not that she was evil, or didn’t care for me. It’s just that we were very poor, and she was, as we said in those parts, dumber than two turnips in a rain barrel.”

Creel’s aunt hopes Creel will come away from the dragon with a rich husband. Creel hopes to come away with gold from the dragon’s hoard. What she actually comes away with is something nobody expected…a pair of enchanted slippers.

When she escapes from the dragon’s lair, she can’t return home, so she makes the long journey to the King’s Seat in search of a job as a dressmaker. Of course, things don’t often turn out the way we expect. Many obstacles arise, but in the midst of her struggles, she finds love, courage, friendship, and the strength to pursue her dreams.

As you can probably tell, I highly recommend this novel. It is an original fairy tale full of dragons, princes, adventures, and laughs. Nothing pleases me more than a good fairy tale.

The Lights of Mahonri Moriancumer, by Phyllis Gunderson

I got a package in the mail in early November, which included the book "The Lights of Mahonri Moriancumer" by Phyllis Gunderson. I whipped through it in mere hours, only to get an e-mail from my mother on the following morning, saying that these books were part of my Christmas box. Whoops. But I certainly don't regret opening my presents early, and especially not this one. I love mysteries and thrillers with non-traditional heroines and a good dose of humour, and this book has it all.

Archaeologist Matt (Mathilda) Howard comes across a Buddhist monk who tells her a fascinating tale about "lights that do not die." As a child in the monastery, he came across a room full of technological wonders, and one of the masters tells him it is an ancient repository, a place where the lights have been shining for thousands of years. The monk wants to find out more about these lights, having heard that such things were mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh (which includes the Babylonian version of Noah's Ark.) Matt is intrigued, even more so when she hears another legend about glowing stones while on a dig in China, and yet another legend about the same things while on a dig in Brazil.

Matt is an engaging character. She's sixty years old, overweight, and has never been married, but has an adopted daughter who, as a teenager, developed a secret language of facial contortions to signal Matt whenever she was unorthodox and embarrassing. It doesn't seem to bother Matt all that much. Neither does her weight, come to think of it. Matt knows her limits, but only regrets her extra pounds when she's in the jungle and can't carry her own pack. She's upbeat and can definitely poke fun at herself. I particularly liked it when she was thinking, "I have a voice inside that tells me when I've been stupid after the fact, but no voice to stop me before the deed is done. Someday I'll complain to my programmer."

This book is light reading in every sense of the word. The book is 176 pages long, including the epilogue, and it's very fast-paced. Even when Matt is simply sitting and thinking, there's no slowing down. The narrative starts with a story about lights, and it ends with another one, with plenty of other "illuminating" encounters in between. I enjoyed the adventures of Indiana Joan, and I'd recommend it for readers who don't want anything overly deep and ponderous to get in the way of sheer fun.