Jan. 21- Jan. 29

 Title: Wild Geese
Designer: Jim Killen Sunset Cross Stitch Kit
Fabric: Dove Grey Aida 16 ct.


I am really liking the depth which is showing on this piece. The trees in the background compared to the birds is pretty cool. It is done by using a different number of strands and both full and half stitches.

 Title: Starrett House
Designer: Nancy Spruance Designs
Fabric: White Aida 14 ct.


I am enjoying how clean the stitches feel on this one. I think it might be because it has been awhile since I have used this large of a count. Everything feels smooth as I stitch it.

Title: Scarlet (Scarlet #1)

Author: A. C. Gaughen

Genre: Young Adult, Fairytales

Published: February 14, 2012

The book is a retelling of Robin Hood from the point of view of a female Will Scarlet.

I was suckered into this book because of the cover. It is really pretty and I really wanted to love this book. I'm not sure if that is what colored my negative reaction or if the book really was just meh.

Things I disliked:

    1. The love triangle. I really am sick of love triangles. In this case it felt like one of the guys was going after the girl because she was a girl and she hadn't slept with him yet. The other guy spent the entire book being fickle about his attitude towards the girl.

    2. Scarlet was really good at fighting. She was amazing as a thief, with knives, martial arts, and the ability to climb. She was raised as a lady the daughter of a lord. Where did she get the skill set put forth within the story? This was never touched on and I don't think I was supposed to find it weird, but I did.

    3. For most of the book I felt as if the story was following a pattern. A: talk to Robin, B: talk to John, C: steal something, D: fight someone, E: this would be a variety of different things. Then they would go back to A. I really was not surprised when a character would do something.
Things I liked:

    1. The action was really good. The fight scenes were well choreographed and thought out.

    2. The characters were interesting. We were given snippets about the character's pasts, enough to be informative but not enough to make it boring.

    3. The story did intrigue me enough I really do want to read the next one in the series. I am curious what is going to happen to the people of the different towns. I wonder if Much will learn to use his new knife. How will the relationship with Robin and Scarlet fare? What is John going to do now?

I did like it enough to read the next in the series. Overall I gave this book 3 stars out of 5.

Title: Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow

Author: Jessica Day George

Genre: Fairytale, Young Adult, Fantasy

Published: January 20, 2009

This is a novel based on the legend East of the Sun, West of the Moon.

The story is a lot like Beauty and the Beast, which is one of my favorite fairy tales. I  liked how the lass, the main character, didn't judge anyone she encountered. The only type of creature she didn't like was the trolls, which would be because they were the bad guys.

Even though the lass didn't think things would end well she did what she thought was right just because she felt someone should. She hoped for things to end well. She wanted her brother to be happy. She wanted her isbjorn, enchanted bear, to be free. I was impressed with how unselfish she was.

More than once in the book it was mentioned the conversations the lass and the isbjorn had during dinner. I would have liked to hear more of the stories they told each other. The part of the conversations we heard was the lass asking questions the bear was unable to answer. I think if more of the stories had been there the relationship between the two would have had more depth.

Overall I gave this book 4 stars out of 5.

Review: Unlocking the Spell

Title: Unlocking the Spell (Wide-Awake Princess #2)

Author: E. D. Baker

Genre: Children, Fairy tales

Published: October 2, 2012

This book starts about a week after book number one finished. Annie and company set off to try and break the curse and turn Beldegard back from a bear into a human.

I must say I did not enjoy this one as much as the first mainly because I find Gwendolyn to be annoying. The main difference was Gwendolyn was awake in this book. There was all the fun glimpses of fairy tales with little twists just like the first book. I would have liked to see Annie and Liam's relationship build more.

I do look forward to the third book in the series and plan on reading more of this author.

Overall I gave this book 3 stars out of 5.