Friday's Featured Freebie: Goddess Legacy by M.W. Muse

Look, look what I found!  It's been a while since I read a little mythology.  Also, I couldn't pass up a book written by a muse, I mean M.W. Muse. 

Goddess Legacy by M.W. Muse
Free at  B&N.com and Amazon.com

Legacy Kore is an average seventeen year old with your basic insane crush on the hottest guy in school... rather Adin Shepard was the hottest guy in school before he graduated a couple of weeks ago. Now it’s summer vacation and she’s not sure when she’ll get to see him again. Until he shows up at her surprise seventeenth birthday party. Cue saliva glands--it’s time to drool.

But her giddiness is cut short when her guardian delivers an emotional blow, telling Legacy her mother hadn’t died when she was baby, but that she’d left for Legacy’s protection all those years ago. After the initial shock, she expects some story about how her mother was in the Witness Protection Program or something else just as crazy, but when she’s told that her mother is a Greek Goddess and that Legacy is changing into one too, she thinks her guardian needs a trip to a mental hospital. Legacy a goddess? Um, yeah. Right. And her BFF is the Easter Bunny.

While trying to make sense out of something that was impossible to believe, Adin asks Legacy out on a date. She is thrilled that her fantasy might become a reality, but when she meets the new guy in town, River, she discovers everything isn’t always as it seems, and the legacy she wants just might not be the legacy she is destined to have.

What free finds did you pick up today?

Review: The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson

The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson

Rating: 4 Wine Glasses

The title speaks for itself and pretty much sums up the premise for this book. Allan, the main character, decides on his 100th birthday to climb out the window and disappear without an exact destination in mind. When he gets to the bus station, a young man asks Allan to watch his suitcase while he uses the restroom. While the man is using the restroom, Allan’s bus comes and he decides to take the suitcase with him. This decision leads to a chain reaction of events and begins a surprising adventure starring many unusual characters.The book flips between current day and Allan’s past, leading up to the moment he decides to climb out his window.

This book is comparable to the movie Forest Gump in the sense that Allan stumbles upon an array of political figures over the course of his life (Truman, Mao, Stalin, and LBJ) and provides readers with a glimpse into some actual political and historical events that occurred in the last 100 years across the world. It actually made me want to research and read more about these events to find out how much was real versus made up. I am sure my high school history teacher would promote this book if he knew it sparked a new interest in historical world events.

My favorite part was Allan’s relationship with his cat, Molotov. I could just picture my father having the same reaction as Allan and doing something just as crazy. It was a bittersweet moment in the book – Allan having his first close companion and it being taken away from him.

This book made me sad at times and then at other times I found myself smiling. When you look at this book from the standpoint of how society views and treats the elderly like children, this book made me very sad. Once you get past that, you see that this book challenges our beliefs and even provides a sense of hope that when I turn 100 I could step out my window and start my own adventure. I loved Allan’s “things are what they are, and whatever will be, will be,” attitude throughout the book. Regardless of the highs and lows, I found a smile on my face when I closed this book that remained the rest of the day. 

Waiting on Wednesday: Panic by Lauren Oliver

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases we can't wait to get our hands on.

Panic
by Lauren Oliver
Release Date: March 4th 2014

Panic began as so many things do in Carp, a dead-end town of 12,000 people in the middle of nowhere: because it was summer, and there was nothing else to do.

Heather never thought she would compete in Panic, a legendary game played by graduating seniors, where the stakes are high and the payoff is even higher. She’d never thought of herself as fearless, the kind of person who would fight to stand out. But when she finds something, and someone, to fight for, she will discover that she is braver than she ever thought.

Dodge has never been afraid of Panic. His secret will fuel him, and get him all the way through the game, he’s sure of it. But what he doesn't know is that he’s not the only one with a secret. Everyone has something to play for.

For Heather and Dodge, the game will bring new alliances, unexpected revelations, and the possibility of first love for each of them—and the knowledge that sometimes the very things we fear are those we need the most.

Why am I Waiting?
I love everything I have read so far by Lauren Oliver and I doubt this book will be an exception to that. I know all about growing up in the middle of nowhere so I am interested to see how Oliver portrays the little town of Carp. I also want to find out more about how the game Panic works. 

Top 10 Things on My Reading Wish List

This week's Top Ten Things On My Reading Wish List (if you could make authors write about these things you would. Could be a specific type of character, an issue tackled, a time period, a certain plot, etc.)

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke & the Bookish.


Rachel would like to see more books with:

1.) Interracial relationships/issues.
2.) YA fiction about teen bullying (from a popular person's or the bully's perspective),
3.) Books from a woman's perspective set in Egypt, Rome or Greece during their height of civilization.
4.) Retelling of biblical stories in a different time period.
5.) Inspiring YA fiction that motives teenagers and adults to do more and be better people in general.

I took a little different approach to what I would like to see more books with:

1.) It doesn't matter, write what you love to write about.  If you are passionate about the story, it will come through to your readers.
2.) Be inspired.  Listen to the voices in your head or your dreams, heck maybe even your nightmares.  See the opportunity and the story that surrounds you.  Everyone has a muse we just need to notice.
3.) Make mistakes.  Mistakes are a part of life, you just need to learn from them.
4.) If you haven't started and you want to, just do it.  Everyone has to start somewhere!  Start blogging, poetry, children's books, articles, anything!
5.) Take your time.  I would rather wait for the story to come together perfectly, then have the story forced.

What made your list?