New Mormon Books

I had a hard time getting into this book at the beginning. I suppose I didn’t relate to Abe and Maddie as well as I did to Lizzy in Lyon’s previous book House on a Hill. Abe seemed to be too modern minded for the historical time period and that threw me off. His first point of view chapter felt too preachy for me to really get sucked into the story at the start, but I ended up enjoying his character later on. I also felt for Maddie as she tried to heal from the death of her fiancee. While on the surface this seems like the typical LDS romance plot—girl converts boy to gospel and they marry—Lyon’s characters have layers that made it feel unique and fresh.

At Journey’s End by Annette Lyon
By Gamila
Gamila’s Review: YA and LDS Fiction, July 18, 2009.
http://gamilareview.blogspot.com/2009/07/at-journeys-end-by-annette-lyon-abe.html

… perhaps his most personal novel. …Reminded me of Stephen King even though the supernatural touches are very light, I wasn’t surprised to find out he wrote this after reading Pet Semetary and wanting a different ending. I may not like his political views, but he can be a wonderful writer, at his best when showing the cracks in a strong marriage between a husband and wife put under stress. A lot of the details were based on Card’s own life (he wrote for a computer magazine that had similar Machiavellian scheming) and makes this a winner.

Moar Book Reviews!: Lost Boys, by Orson Scott Card
By MacGuffin
Darth Ennui, 18th-Jul-2009
http://mac6uffin.livejournal.com/140077.html

… as Latoya Peterson pointed out in a piece for Double X … the current crop of pointy-toothed dramas continues the genre’s fascination with sexual violence and the idealization of the chaste woman. I can’t fault her for taking issue with eroticized depictions of abuse, often against women. But she’s wrong to equate the sexual politics of True Blood with those of the abstinent, repressed Twilight. These two are not the same animal.

Rough Sex With Vampires: What Does “True Blood” Tell Us About Women and Sexuality?
By James Brady Ryan, Nerve.com.
AlterNet.org, July 18, 2009.
http://www.alternet.org/sex/141317/rough_sex_with_vampires:_what_does_%22true_blood%22_tell_us_about_women_and_sexuality/

The success behind the books stems from the ability of Stephenie to convey an array of emotion within each character, mainly Bella, from whose point of view of the books are written, with a few exceptions. Stephenie has written the books in such a fashion that readers don’t simply enjoy them; they climb into the world of the Cullen family. The books span beyond simply an interesting plot; they tug at the emotion and heartstrings of tweens, teens and adults alike.

Twilight Parents 101: Who is Stephenie Meyer?
By Kimberly Sherman, Twilight Parents Examiner
Examiner.com, July 18, 2009.
http://www.examiner.com/x-13198-Twilight-Parents-Examiner~y2009m7d18-Twilight-Parents-101-Who-is-Stephenie-Meyer

Julie is very good at writing suspense. I read this book rather quickly because I had to see if everyone made it out alive. I felt the book had a good ending, though some people have a thing against a “Happy Ever After” type ending. Personally, I don’t mind reading a happy ending once in awhile. I have had too much reality in my own life lately and like to be taken away to a happy place when I read.

Review of “All’s Fair” by Julie Coulter Bellon
By Sheila
LDS Women’s Book Review, July 18, 2009
http://ldswbr.blogspot.com/2009/07/review-of-alls-fair-by-julie-coulter.html

This book has received more award and list loving than any book of mine besides princess academy. It’s a very precious book to me and my husband’s favorite. I’m thrilled to have it coming out in paperback.

Presenting…Dashti
By Shannon Hale
squeetusblog, July 17, 2009.
http://oinks.squeetus.com/2009/07/presentingdashti.html

My ideas come from two places: anywhere and everywhere. There is no facet of my life or experience that doesn’t give me ideas for stories. It isn’t a matter of getting ideas, but of filtering out mediocre ideas and shaping those with the potential to be good. And we do shape our ideas; they don’t come in grade-A story form, and they never come complete. My stories are the result of percolation. I get ideas—fractured, isolated bits of dialogue, or theme, or archetypal emotion, and other stuff—that I write down on scraps of paper that eventually make their way onto my computer. They stay there and in my mind, where they bounce around and accrete until a genuine story concept is born. That concept I then work and build consciously, stressing conflict and the inherent emotive theme of the story. I do this until I become confident enough to begin writing.

Interview with Clint Johnson author of Green Dragon Codex
By Michelle Ashman Bell, July 17, 2009
http://micheleabell.blogspot.com/2009/07/interview-with-clint-johnson-author-of.html

It seemed to me that Strain was going for a Shannon Hale-esque cutesy chick-lit humor. But, while that generally doesn’t bother me, in this case it didn’t work. Not by a mile. The humor was grating (but then — as I’ve mentioned before — humor is such a fickle thing), as were all the “dear reader” asides. The dialogue was flat, and the vague Mormon-ness (it was published by a small LDS publisher) was awkward (either go all out, or don’t go there at all). But, what really bothered me was that Annabelle was shallow…

Previously Engaged
By Melissa
Book Nut, July 16, 2009
http://melissasbookreviews.blogspot.com/2009/07/previously-engaged.html

…then the Harry Potter comparisons started rolling out. Media pundits everywhere declared Twilight the new Harry Potter. I wondered, flabbergasted, how any person could ever believe such a thing. Potter?! Really? What I saw onscreen was soap opera trash for the tween nation. It didn’t bear anywhere near the universal appeal of the Harry Potter series. But now I’m here, explaining how such a preposterous claim is less an arguable statement and more a joke, an unfunny one at that, like Will Ferrell trying to ice skate.

Do The Math: 8 Reasons Harry Potter Is Greater Than Twilight
By Tim Gomez
Cinema Blend.com, July 16, 2009
http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Do-The-Math-8-Reasons-Harry-Potter-Is-Greater-Than-Twilight-13981.html

The book we’re reading first is The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale. It’s good, but it’s written for twelve year olds. If I were twelve, I would be so in love with this book, but at thirty-three…not so much. I’m having a hard time imagining what we’re going to discuss (I’m only halfway through it, so maybe it will surprise me).

Bad Girls’ Book Club
By Brandi Douglass
Douglass Diaries, July 14, 2009
http://douglassdiaries.blogspot.com/2009/07/bad-girls-book-club.html