Giveaway: River of Time Extravaganza

Small Review is having a giveaway for the River of Time series written by Lisa T Bergren. She is giving away an autographed set of the whole series, t-shirts, signed bookmarks and your choice of one book in the series: Waterfall, Cascade or Torrent. You need to hurry because this giveaway ends Sept. 28! Click here to head on over to Small Review and see how you can win!

I highly recommend these books to any YA lover!

Waterfall Wednesdays Read A-long: Chapters 18-23

 Welcome to week four the Waterfall Read-Along! For those of you who don't know, the wonderful ladies behind Tina's Book Reviews, Edgy Inspirational Romance, Irresistible Reads, The Unread Reader and Supernatural Snark are hosting a read-along of Lisa T. Bergren's time-travel young adult novel Waterfall. Each week we'll pose and answer five questions about the book and then hop around to the other blogs who have signed up to check out everyone's answers!You will find this week's link-up and questions at Supernatural Snark.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR CHAPTERS 18-23

1. Gabi and Lia both face several life and death situations in these chapters, having to pick up weapons in defense of those they love and experiencing first hand the brutality of close combat. If you had the choice between picking up a weapon and standing on the front lines or staying behind to tend to the wounded as necessary, which would you choose?

I would do whatever I feel I was best at and most helpful at the time being. I'm a go get them kind of girl so if I was good with a bow or sword, I would so be picking them up.

2. Both girls get to wear extraordinary gowns to their victory celebration; what would your dream medieval gown look like?

I loved looking up gowns, medieval ones are my favorite! I loved the sleeves so much I had to have them on my wedding dress. :)



3. Gabi has crude stitches put in and must endure both their removal as well as the cauterization of the wound. How is your threshold for pain? Do you think you would have simply gritted your teeth as Gabi does?

Well I was induced with both my children with pitocin and had natural births with no pain meds. That was hard. So that makes some say my tolerance for pain is high, I beg to differ. I was just not willing to take the ricks that comes with the pain medication during birth. I did scream loud enough for everyone inside and outside the hospital to hear. lol  As far as the stitches, after the baby was out I did not want to feel them stitch me up so I got stuff then and with my second I had to get two shots and I still feel the needle (hurts thinking about it!) So if I were Gabi I would drink a lot of wine and hope I passed out!


4. Marcello wants to properly court Gabi after they express mutual feelings of affection, wanting to speak with her mother about his intentions. What do you think is the most romantic aspect of medieval courtship?


How the man pursues the woman and wants to protect her purity!

5. Gabi and Lia find themselves with conflicting desires toward the end with Lia wanting to return home and Gabi hoping to stay. Do you think that Gabi is being unfair to Lia for wanting to stay, or is Lia being unfair to Gabi for demanding they go? A little of both?

I think a little of both! They should be wishing for the others happiness, or find a way to have both?! I am proud of Gabi for her willingness to go home for Lia when she really does not want to. 

On another note, Gabi really needs to tell Marcello the truth! He says he wants to marry her so if she is planning to go home she needs to stop leading him on!
I'm not able to write any extras this time around, I have been away from a computer and just now trying to catch up. I'll combined with next post. :)

 

On My Wishlist (#1)

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where we list all the books we desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. It's also an event that you can join in with too. If you want to know more click here.

 Second Grave on the Left
(Charley Davidson #2) by Darynda Jones

When Charley is rudely awakened in the middle of the night by her best friend who tells her to get dressed quickly and tosses clothes out the closet at her, she can’t help but wonder what Cookie’s up to. Leather scrunch boots with a floral miniskirt? Together? Seriously? After dragging Charley out the door and trying unsuccessfully to stuff her into a trunk—mostly ‘cause Charley pitches a fit—Cookie finally explains that a friend of hers named Mimi disappeared five days earlier and that she just got a text from her setting up a meet at a coffee shop downtown. They show up at the coffee shop, but no Mimi. After a brief investigation, Charley finds a message on the bathroom wall. Mimi left a clue, a woman’s name. They head to the parking lot only to be accosted by a frantic husband with a gun. After some soothing words and a few deep breathing exercises, the husband, aka Warren Jacobs, hires Charley to find his wife. He explains that his wife had been acting strange since she found out an old friend of hers from high school had been found murdered a couple weeks prior. The same woman Mimi had named in her message.

Meanwhile, Reyes Alexander Farrow (otherwise known as ?-left out because it is a spoiler if you have not read the first book) has left his corporeal body and is haunting Charley. He’s left his body because he’s being tortured by demons who want to lure Charley closer. But Reyes can’t let that happen. Because if the demons get to Charley, they’ll have a portal to heaven. And if they have a portal to heaven…well, let’s just say it wouldn’t be pretty. Can Charley handle hot nights with Reyes and even hotter days tracking down a missing woman? Will Cookie ever get a true fashion sense? And is there enough coffee and chocolate in the world to fuel them as they do?

Cascade (River of Time #2) by Lisa T Bergren

Mom touched my underdress—a gown made six hundred years before—and her eyes widened as she rubbed the raw silk between thumb and forefinger. She turned and touched Lia’s gown. “Where did you get these clothes?” 

Gabi knows she’s left her heart in the fourteenth century and she persuades Lia to help her to return, even though they know doing so will risk their very lives. When they arrive, weeks have passed and all of Siena longs to celebrate the heroines who turned the tide in the battle against Florence—while the Florentines will go to great lengths to see them dead. 

But Marcello patiently awaits, and Gabi must decide if she’s willing to leave her family behind for good in order to give her heart to him forever.

Waterfall Wednesdays Read A-long: Chapters 12-17

You can find the link up for this weeks questions at Edgy Inspirational Romance

Discussion Questions for Chapters 12-17

1. In Siena, on her way to the ball at Palazzo Pubblico, Gabi likened her experience to being on the red carpet at the Academy Awards, the goal being "to see and be seen." If you were a peasant, watching from the crowd, what would you be thinking as this procession passed by?  

 Jealous for sure!I would wonder why I could not be one of them and what it would be like to be one. What could I do to change things around for myself?

2. Though quite nervous about dancing at the ball, Gabi discovers a strange feeling of connection to the time, the people, and the society through the unified beauty of the dance. Have you ever been in a position where you felt out of your element, but, in one, pinpointed moment, became a part of or connected to something bigger than your fear?  

The closest example I can come up with would be motherhood. No matter how much you read and prepare you still have a big responsibility to raise a child, scary. But as you encounter each stage things just seem to come together and naturally fall into place. Okay, maybe not the best example but the best I could come up with. :)

3. The kiss. Oh, the kiss. When Marcello finally kisses Gabi, he believes the experience to be proof that they are meant to be together. What did you think about his assumption? Were you surprised at Gabi's reaction to it? Have you ever experienced a kiss that seemed to be prophetic in a similar (or opposite!) way?

I'm glad he sees the light! I was surprised that he is was able to brush the alliance away so easily, thinking of other possibilities available. All I know is Gabi better hurray to tell him the truth before he changes his life around for her. At this point Gabi does not see herself staying in his time so I think Gabi is right to try and remind him of what is at stake, if he lets Lady Rossi go, and starts a courtship with her.

 

I did like this turn of events, Marcello now pursuing Gabi. I had to re-read it twice!

4. Many go through their teen years with a subdued sense of immortality. Do you think Gabi has a sense of this teen feeling? And did you think Gabi's converse observation, "Sometimes death came hunting and there was no way to cut it off at the pass." was informed more by the experience of losing her father, her self-admitted closet hypochondria, or the forced maturation of being transported to a different time? How does this observation show Gabi's growth as a character? 

I would say it has to do with both, the death of her father and the forced maturation of being transported to a different time. If anything she has learned that things happen that are beyond our control and we have to make the best of it. 

 

5. In the span of a few moments, Gabi goes from sword-wielding teen beauty to man-killing warrior. Did you think her realization of the finality of death -- and her justification for its necessity -- was realistic? And, in her slippers, could you have done the same? 

For me, I think the decision to follow Marcello and Luca after being put in a safe place to hide would have been hard for me. But once I got there and saw it was their life or the enemy's that had my sister and if we did not win it would mean all our deaths then I would not hesitate to do what I could. Once of out the heat of the moment I too would act the same as Gabi, needing what Marcello and Luca said. War is war, some times killing the bad people is only way.

 

Extra thoughts:

How can we just stop at these chapters when things are starting to happen?!  There were so many moments I liked in these chapters to point them all out I would be typing out everything we read! I cringed back and grimaced when Gabi was touched by the enemy. I sighed and held by breath at each touch of Marcello's, his tender eyes looking at her, cupping her face, his kisses, hands on her hips and calling her beloved....*sigh*.

 

I have started to notice more how the people of Castello Forelli talk about God. It makes me wonder if they are just religious or have a personal relationship with Lord? How will this affect Gabi?   

 

One line that really stuck out to me was on page 188, when Gabi is pulling together all her courage to fake kill the guards that will start everything. Gabi thinking-

 But it was remembering my dad talking to me about bravery in life that pushed me onward. We'd been on a rare father-daughter walk, and I had shared my fears about something. He'd said, "I read once that courage is not the absence of fear, but the decision that something is more important than that fear."

 

   

 

Giveaway: Torrent by Lisa Bergren

Katie at Legacy of a Writer is hosting a giveaway for Torrent by Lisa T. Bergren. This is the third book in The River of Time Series. I am currently reading Waterfall, the first book, and I'm really enjoying it. I already know I have to get the others too! Katie also had an interview with the author so click here to hop on over to her blog, read the interview and sign up for the giveaway.

Waterfall Wednesdays Read-Along: Chapters 7-11

Waterfall Wednesdays, a read-along of Waterfall by Lisa T. Bergren, is hosted by Tina at Tinasbookreviews, Joy &Serena at Edgy Inspirational Romance, Nic at Irresistible Reads, Jenny at Supernatural Snark, and Missie at The Unread Reader.

Join us for discussion at anytime. Follow THIS LINK for more details and to sign up. Anyone who participates will have a chance to win the complete River of Time series, signed by the author. 

Discussion Questions for Chapters 7-11

1. Gabi's search for her sister is made increasingly difficult by the fight for territory between Castello Forelli and Castello Paratore. At this point, do you think the rivalry is warranted? Why or why not? Yes, I think it fits the time period. It also gives Gabi a chance to shine all her talents.
2. Gabi aids Fortino by having his sickroom cleaned out and using steam to loosen the phlegm inside his lungs so he could breathe better. Have you ever found yourself in a situation that required you to rely on home remedies to aid yourself or another? What are some of your favorite home remedies? I can't wait til the book brings us to back to Fortino so we can see how Gabi has helped him!  An aloe plant is always good to have on hand for burns. 
3. Marcello and his men don't hide their surprise when they learn that Gabi is skilled with a sword. What did you think of this development? Has your initial impression of Gabi changed? Do you have any secret skills? I'm thinking go Gabi! I like Gabi so much more. It shows how she spent time with her father and the good relationship she had with him. No secret skills for me. Every time I read about a women being good with a sword, gun, horseback riding or a special talent, it makes me want me want to try and learn too.
4. "Our lips were so close, I could feel the heat of his breath on my skin." Gabi and Marcello's feelings for one another are beginning to stir. What do you think of Marcello as a romantic interest thus far? What do you think of his intended? At first I did not like Lady Rossi at all and I did not think Marcello really liked her. After these chapters I am feeling a little different. Lady Rossi starts to be nice and we see that Marcello cares for her, just not sure how much. I am very torn, I want Marcello to be able to do what is right for his family and honor his word for marriage. But I also want him and Gabi both to find love and happiness. Putting myself in Lady Rossi's shoes, I feel the moments between him Gabi betray her a little, even though Marcello has not acted on his feelings. For me, I want something to happen or go wrong so Marcello can persue Gabi.
5. Marcello and Luca take turns teaching Gabi the dances of Toscana. Would you have liked to attend a ball like the one Gabi was practicing for? Do you like to dance? Do you know any cool dance moves? Extra (not really) points if you YouTube yourself dancing and share the video. Come on, it will be fun! :) I love how Marcello steps in while Luca is teaching Gabi to dance. I would love to dress up and go to a ball! I really want to learn how to dance, but I have not been able to get my husband to agree. I like watching Dancing with the Stars. I do not know any cool dance moves, especially any that are YouTude worthy. ;) I did see a couple's wedding dance on YouTube a while back that I thought was cool and wish I would have done something like it, so I have posted that link. YouTube

Favorite extras:

Chapter 9 Luca and Gabi

"If I may ask m'lady, where'd you learn to wield a sword?"

"My father," I said

"Ahh," he said, sorrow shadowing his eyes for a moment. "No sons, eh?"

"My father would've taught me to wield a sword, and my sister to shoot her arrows, whether or not he had sons." I nudged the gelding's flank and moved away from him, toward the others.

"Your sister is an archer?" he asked, by my side in seconds, unperturbed by my irritation.

"She is quite accomplished," I said. Took State, last year, in the juniors....

"I must say, I like how they breed women in Normandy," he said, cocking a brow. "I do hope we find her in Siena with your mother so we might be properly introduced."

Chapter 10

Marcello to Gabi "You are, " he whispered, "uncommonly stirring."

Chapter 11 Dance lesson

His hands left me, but then slid back in place, at my waist, but wrapping a bit more behind my back this time, as if a tiny bit more possessive. My eyes fluttered open. And encountered Marcello.

I do like when the men show possessiveness toward their women! 

Waterfall Wednesdays- Waterfall Read-Along Chapters 1-6

Waterfall Wednesdays is a read-along of the book Waterfall by Lisa T. Bergren hosted by Tina's Book Reviews, Edgy Inspirational Romance, Irresistible Reads, Supernatural Snark & The Unread Reader. There still time to join us and enter a drawing to win all three books in the series just by participating, link up at Tina's Book Reviews.

Discussion Questions for Chapters 1-6

1. Waterfall opens with the introduction of Gabi, shes depressed, a little angry and is dealing with feelings of loneliness. Are you connecting with her this soon in the novel? Do you see things you like or dislike?

A. I cannot relate, I just understand. Gabi is acting like I think any teen would, she has just lost her father and is trying to allow her mother space and time to cope as well. I know the mom is going through a hard time too but it does not seem like she is in tune with her girls. At first I thought the book was starting out slow, but it is picking up now and I'm having a hard time putting it down.

2. Gabi gets to time travel back to 14th Century Italy- The Dark Ages in its prime. Is there anytime in history that fascinates you and would you travel back if you could? 

A. Oh, I don't know........ I have always been fascinated by the medieval times, I love the castles, clans, their dresses and dances. I don't think I would survive, I'm too much of a modern bred girl.

3. Most of the men, including Marcello have a very set opinion about a woman's place. Gabi gets manhandled a bit in these first few chapters, and even gets asked if shes a witch. The men are shocked when Gabi rides a horse like a man and shimmies down the castle walls. What do you think of mens mentality back then? Gentlemanly, chauvinistic, simple-minded?

A. In the right circles, men definitely seemed more gentlemanly and respectful of women. I think it is just because of the way things were. Society had set rules of what they thought should be a women's place and what was acceptable. I don't think that made men simple-minded, I bet a lot were very smart because they had to think for themselves without the help of all our modern technology. If anything, women were viewed as being simple-minded and it opened their eyes to see if allowed what a woman could do.

4. When Gabi becomes a part of this era, the people are immediately intrigued but suspicious of her. Many judge her by her difference. Do you think this is fair? Have you ever been in a situation where you felt like an outsider or that others were misjudging you?

A. No, it is not fair. Everyone deserves a chance to prove themselves before being judged. I have had go to a new school, new job, new church and at each of those there have been groups of  friends already established. Women can be mean! If you don't have the right clothes, house or job you're not welcome. What happen to getting to know people and looking on the inside? 

5. What do think the coolest thing would be about living in the Dark Ages? What would be the worst?

A. I would love to run a castle and have someone else to cook and clean for me, where all women have to worry about are social calls and dances. But I would probably end up being the one to change the chamber pots. The worst? Arranged marriages, cruel men, no indoor plumping, meds, and other modern tech wonders. Society viewing women as just a purpose to have a son in order to carry on the family name.

A few lines that stuck out at me:

Marcello gave me a small smile and handed me a leather band. "At least bind your hair behind you," he said lowly. "It won't do for the women of the castello to see you riding through the gates, hair loose as a maid's on her wedding day. You'll never find a moment's peace. Nor shall I." 

I looked up into his warm eyes, searching for a glimpse of judgment. There was none. Only warning. And a tinge of...admiration. 

Gabi's thought- I finally meet a guy who's interesting, and who seems to have a half-interest in me, and it is TOTALLY the wrong time and place. I glanced up to the sky. If You're out there, God, this is COMPLETELY unfair.

There is a scene in next weeks chapters that I felt kinda goes with some of these questions. I did not know how it would go over putting it in this week so I'll just wait and point it out in the next post. :)