Eliza, The Life and Faith of Eliza R. Snow Blog Tour and Review

08 Apr, 2013 by in The Life and Faith of Eliza R. Snow Leave a comment

Fire and Ice is pleased to be today’s stop on the official Deseret Book blog tour for

Eliza, The Life and Faith of Eliza R. Snow
Hardcover
Published February 2013
by Deseret Book
ISBN 1609089022
Book source: publisher
5 stars
Book Description from Deseret Book.com:
Eliza R. Snow is one of the most revered women in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We hear stories of her faith and strength, and we sing her beloved hymns. She was fondly known as “Zion’s Poetess” and also as “Presidentess,” because of her leadership of Relief Society and her role in forming and directing organizations for young women and children. She has remained a legend for generations of Latter-day Saints, but we know less about her “variegated life,” as she described it—the personal joys and sorrows brought about by unfolding events in the young Church of which she was a part.
This intimate look at Eliza R. Snow, by authors Karen Lynn Davidson and Jill Mulvay Derr, reveals a more private side of this extraordinary woman. She emerges as a bright young poet in Ohio, a new convert to the restored Church, a seamstress, and a sharer in the persecutions and hardships of the early Saints. We see a member of the households of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, a dedicated temple worker, and a traveling Relief Society president with a zeal for teaching the gospel.
Her delight in nature, her love for family and friends, and her outlook of hope for the cause of Zion are reflected here through selections from some of her best poems. Photographs, artifacts, and personal letters add visual beauty to this inspiring introduction to her fascinating life.
Review: As a lifetime member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints I confess I did not know much about Eliza R. Snow before picking up this book.  I had heard her name and seen her portrait but the innermost thoughts of her heart were a mystery to me. After reading Eliza I feel I have grown to love her and revere her as an example of strength, fortitude and faith.
Eliza R. Snow was born to a New England family with strong revolutionary War roots. Her father was respected in his civic and business spheres and he often took Eliza with him to work alongside him in his duties. From a young age she was exposed to a world many women of her time never saw. Through the encouragement of her parents, she sought an education and developed a love of writing poetry which later flourished until she came to be known as “Zion’s poetess.” She left behind so much of what she loved in her childhood home of Mantua, Ohio to follow the prophet Joseph Smith- later to become his wife before the martyrdom. Then, once again she picked up her things and traveled West with the Saints making her way to Utah with Brigham Young as one of his wives.  Eliza was instrumental is organizing and leading the women, youth and children of the church as well as devoting much of her time in the endowment house doing Temple work. She was stalwart, encouraging and uplifting– often penning personal letters and verse to those she loved.
This book is a multi-media, gift quality collection of handwritten poems, antique cabinet card photos and historical documents. It gives the reader a taste of what it was like to step into each period of Eliza’s long life. Many of the pages are filled with the hymns and poems that we have come to love including one of my favorites “Oh My Father.” I even found one of my ancestors, German Ellsworth listed in a musical program copy tying my family roots to Eliza’s story. I would whole heartedly recommend this book and it is a treasure I will keep on my shelves and share with my children.
Thanks so much to Deseret Book for allowing us to be a part of the blog tour!

About the Authors:  KAREN LYNN DAVIDSON earned a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California. At Brigham Young University she was a member of the English faculty and director of the Honors Program. She has served on the General Music Committee of the Church and plays violin with the Orchestra at Temple Square. She is the author of the popular classic Our Latter-day Hymns: The Stories and the Messages and coeditor of the Histories volumes of The Joseph Smith Papers series.

JILL MULVAY DERR holds an M.A.T. from Harvard University. She was a research historian at the Church History Department in Salt Lake City and at Brigham Young University, where she was also an associate professor of Church history. She is coauthor of Women of Covenant: The Story of Relief Society and coeditor of Women’s Voices: An Untold History of the Latter-day Saints. Her many other publications include more than a dozen articles on the life and thought of Eliza R. Snow.

Learn more on goodreads/ Deseret Book

YA Book Review- Going Vintage by Lindsey Leavitt

04 Apr, 2013 by in Uncategorized 2 comments

Going Vintage
by Lindsey Leavitt
Hardcover, 320 pages
Published March 26th 2013
by Bloomsbury
ISBN 1599907879
Book source: bought
4 stars
Summary from Goodreads: When Mallory’s boyfriend, Jeremy, cheats on her with an online girlfriend, Mallory decides the best way to de-Jeremy her life is to de-modernize things too. Inspired by a list of goals her grandmother made in1962, Mallory swears off technology and returns to a simpler time (when boyfriends couldn’t cheat with computer avatars). The List:

1. Run for pep club secretary

2. Host a fancy dinner party/soiree

3. Sew a dress for Homecoming

4. Find a steady

5. Do something dangerous

But simple proves to be crazy-complicated, and the details of the past begin to change Mallory’s present. Add in a too-busy grandmother, a sassy sister, and the cute pep-club president–who just happens to be her ex’s cousin–and soon Mallory begins to wonder if going vintage is going too far.
Review:  So, Mallory and Jeremy are supposed to be working on a paper together, Mallory clicks on to Jeremy’s bedroom computer and what does she find…BubbleYum. Not the kind you chew and spit out (though I’m sure she would love to), nope,   the kind you “marry” and profess your love to online despite your real live girlfriend sitting in your computer chair.
In this world of fast paced, electronic interactions on twitter and facebook, it is so easy to see how said “boyfriend” Jeremy could get away with trying to have an alter ego AND an alter avatar girlfriend out there in cyberspace. Rather than go crazy stalker chick, Mallory pulls a move of her own and goes vintage. No computers, no cell phones, no reminders of what happened posted on her FB wall. She’s getting on her seersucker dress, hopping on a bike and getting even in her own way. The brilliant idea comes while Mallory and her dad are cleaning out grandma’s things after a move from her cute cottage to a retirement home. Grandma’s life, summed up in a  list, was so simple back then…go steady, make pep club, sew her own prom dress. No evil technological distractions.
There were so many things I loved about this book. Mallory has spunk! She is unique and loves her job sifting through other people’s storage units with her father for vintage/ antique goodies to sell. She fully immerses herself in a social experiment which could result in social suicide…but who cares! Her awesome little sister is there to back her up, and to remove her not so vintage digital alarm clock. The family relationships were realistic and true to life. There’s the super blogger mom who owns and underground couponing/ spill your families dark secrets online “support” blog. And so many families touch bases with each other but don’t know what secrets may lie hidden under years gone by and false facades.
I couldn’t quite connect with Mallory’s Pep Club President, Jeremy’s cousin Oliver. But with a woolen cap, funky glasses and his quirky sense of “who cares”, I can see why he may attract. The interactions between Oliver and Mallory are priceless. There are so many good moral messages in here about why friends without faces can be deceiving and how to be a true friend. Leavitt also ties in an underlying theme of family connectedness and forgiving past mistakes.  This is one I would recommend, though maybe not until 16, since there is a bit of content.
Overall, fun and refreshing, just like Lindsey’s YA Sean Griswold’s Head. If you haven’t picked her up on her as an author I say go!!
Content: talk of “giving away pieces” (aka virginity), lots of making out, reference to male parts and teenage pregnancy.
About the Author: Lindsey Leavitt is a former elementary school teacher and present day writer/mom to three (mostly) adorable little girls. She is married to her high school lab partner and lives in Las Vegas. She is the author of the PRINCESS FOR HIRE series (www.princessforhire.com), SEAN GRISWOLD’S HEAD and GOING VINTAGE

Learn more on Goodreads/ author’s site/ twitter

Lulu Blog Tour- Author Guest Post and Giveaway

03 Apr, 2013 by in giveaway, lulu Leave a comment

Fire and Ice is honored to be today’s stop on the official Lulu Blog Tour featuring a guest post from author Hilary McKay and a fun giveaway. First, read what Hilary has to say about her Memories of the Beach…
“Or rather, memories of the coast. I am not keen on beaches when it means those sandy banks covered in towels and temporary volley ball pitches and parasols and windbreaks and humans. I like beaches without any people (well, I can put up with a few quiet ones reading books or drawing the seagulls. I suppose).

However, although I am not fond of traditional sandy beaches, I do love to be on the coast. Until my last move, which brought me to my current high and dry position in the centre of England, I always lived near the sea.  My first coast was salt marshes, where my friends and I swam in creeks and made driftwood fires and watched the seabirds fly in at evening against an apricot and lemon sky. The skies are huge beside a salt marsh at night, and lit with stars you do not see inland. I remember the bright sweep of the milky way and someone, flat on his back remarking, “I see Jupiter and four moons.” 
 
Next I went to Scotland,  to St Andrews, an ancient and sea bound city. I was at university there, and the sea was part of our life. We battled against North Sea winds to lectures, walked the medieval pier to make wishes at the end, and waited by the castle walls to hear the eider duck gossiping in the dark. It was hard to leave that cold and salty place when the time came to go. I still have the box of sand I collected there before I left. Under a magnifying glass you can see that it is entirely made of fragments of shell.

 The next coast I found was in the west. It was a shingle beach.  We used to live so close that at high tide at night you could hear the shingle grinding as you lay in bed. That was an eerie and wonderful sound. On stormy days cloud puffs of sea foam blew down the village street. You would see them scuttering past the front door and know that the sea must be boiling.

One of the things best things about being on the coast is the edge feeling of only three directions you can go without getting wet. I didn’t realise how much I liked this feeling until I moved inland and suddenly found myself with four directions. Very disconcerting. I manage by more or less ignoring East but I have to admit it isn’t the same.

Writing is a way of remembering. Now that I am inland and missing my lovely edges, I send my characters to the places I cannot go. Then, for the time that I am writing,  I am back there again. It’s one of the perks of the job!”

About the Author: Hilary McKay was born in Boston, Lincolnshire and is the eldest of four girls. From a very early age she read voraciously and grew up in a household of readers. Hilary says of herself as a child “I anaesthetised myself against the big bad world with large doses of literature. The local library was as familiar to me as my own home.”
After reading Botany and Zoology at St. Andrew’s University Hilary then went on to work as a biochemist in an Analysis Department. Hilary enjoyed the work but at the same time had a burning desire to write. After the birth of her two children, Hilary wanted to devote more time to bringing up her children and writing so decided to leave her job.
One of the best things about being a writer, says Hilary, is receiving letters from children. She wishes that she had written to authors as a child, but it never occurred to her to contact them
Hilary now lives in a small village in Derbyshire with her family. When not writing Hilary loves walking, reading, and having friends to stay.
Learn more about the book at Hilary’s website/ Albert Whitman/ the ebook at Open Road
  
Stop by Book Aunt tomorrow: Thursday, April 04, 2013 and be sure to visit all the stops on the tour for more chances to win!
Also check out book 3 which will be available Fall 2013, and stop by here to learn more about Lulu and the Duck in the Park which is nominated for a Kiddo Award.
Thank you so much to Albert Whitman and Hilary McKay for choosing us as a stop! 
As part of the blog tour, they have offered one copy of Lulu and the Dog From the Sea for a giveaway.

Must be 13 or older and have a US or Canada mailing address. Winners will be chosen at random and prizes shipped by the publisher.

Fill out the rafflecopter form below to enter!

 Good Luck.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

YA Early Review and ARC G!veaway- Right of Way

29 Mar, 2013 by in Right of Way, Simon Pulse 7 comments

Right of Way
by Lauren Barnholdt
Hardcover, 320 pages
Expected publication: July 9th 2013
by Simon Pulse
ISBN 1442451270
Book Source: publisher
3.5 stars
Book summary from Goodreads: Can a road trip repair a romance gone wrong? Find out in this standalone companion to Lauren Barnholdt’s Two-way Street.
Here are Peyton and Jace, meeting on vacation. Click! It’s awesome, it’s easy, it’s romantic. This is the real deal.

Unless it isn’t. Because when you’re in love, you don’t just stop calling one day. And you don’t keep secrets. Or lie. And when your life starts falling apart, you’re supposed to have the other person to lean on.

Here are Peyton and Jace again, broken up but thrown together on a road trip. One of them is lying about the destination. One of them is pretending not to be leaving something behind. And neither of them is prepared for what’s coming on the road ahead…
Review:
What I liked about Right of Way:
1) The characters were well written and full of personality. I related more to Jace than I did Peyton, the female protagonist just because at times she came across as self centered and bratty. Jace was pretty mature in the way he handled the whole situation
2) I love road trip books. This one reminded me a lot of You Are Here by Jennifer E Smith and Back When You Were Easier to Love by Emily Wing Smith
3) The setting of a Yacht Club in Florida and different stops in the deep South was dreamy for a summer read. I only wish we would have learned more about them and their culture
4) The point of view was written in a very interesting way…dual point of view switching between Jace and Peyton…so you get to see into both of their heads, As well switches between present tense “the trip” and past. Flawlessly done, it is not hard to follow the storyline.
5) The side players:  BJ, hotel clerk and best friends Jordan and Courtney (the main characters in  companion novel Two- Way Street) were also fully fleshed out and easy to picture. There is humor as well as depth.
What I wish was different:
The language! Personally the amount and level of swearing was very distracting for me. Did not enjoy and can’t recommend the book for teens because of it. Why so many f-bombs? It felt forced, like the characters were trying too hard to be grown up.
I wish there was more resolution in Peyton’s relationship with her parents. The ending felt very abrupt and there is no wrapping up of ongoing issues.
All in all… a memorable read, but not one I would buy due to content.
Thanks so much to Simon Pulse for the sneak peek.
Learn more on twitter/ goodreads/ author website
I am giving away my ARC to our readers 18 and older. US mailing addresses only.
To enter fill out the rafflecopter form below. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Books and ARCs Up For Grabs

28 Mar, 2013 by in Uncategorized 17 comments

It’s Spring Cleaning time and I have over 100 books up for grabs! While I LOVE reading sometimes I receive multiple copies of the same book or know I won’t read one in the near future.

 I want to share with all of you awesome bloggers and blog readers first!

All of my books are shelved on Goodreads, so to make it easy…simply comment below the book on Goodreads to secure your pick.

Once you’ve sent $4 via paypal to heatoddgardner(at)yahoo(dot)com which covers shipping costs sent media mail, I will delete the book title and let you know (via the email address you leave) that it’s yours!

If you are interested in multiple titles; I will ship each additional for $2.

I am only shipping to the United States at this time.

Locals who live in my state… feel free to come by and grab an ARC.

Anything left over, I will donate to our local library.

Here’s the two lists with fun books to choose from… go forth and claim!

ARCs

Hardbacks and paperbacks

Divider

Blog Tour and Review Cragbridge Hall: The Inventor’s Secret

26 Mar, 2013 by in Shadow Mountain 2 comments

By Chad Morris
Hardcover, 256 pages
Published March 5th 2013
by Shadow Mountain
ISBN 1609073266
Book source: Publisher
4.5 stars
Book Summary from Amazon: Abby and Derick have been accepted to the most prestigious secondary school in the world Cragbridge Hall. Due to the inventions of their grandfather, Oscar Cragbridge, they will be able to experience history in 3D, use their minds to literally project visual interpretations of classic literature, and become animal avatars for zoology. But when their grandfather and parents go missing, Abby and Derick must follow clues Oscar left for them that will reveal a dangerous secret. Along the way, they discover there is much more to one of their grandfather s inventions than anyone has ever dreamed. Saving their family will take all of Derick s mind and Abby s heart as they come face to face with a crazed scientist who desperately seeks to change the past. If they fail, the world past and future will never be the same. This book is a page-turning, time-travel adventure that teaches powerful lessons about choice and consequence, believing you can do hard things, and valuing your history.
I’m so excited to be a part of Deseret Book’s blog tour for Cragbridge Hall, Book One: Inventor’s Secret. I heard of this book the week I recived it from my elementary aged children who had a visit from the author, Chad Morris at their school. They were so entertained and excited about his presentation that they tried to wrangle the book away from me and I’ve been in a hurry to finish it ever since so they can have their turn! It’s always  a good sign when they get book envy.

Chad spends a lot of time weaving obscure and not so obscure elements of history into his storyline which takes place at a prestigious school for brilliant students of the future. The two main heroes are brother and sister team Abby and Derick who are on a mission to find out what happened to their grandfather, the schools founder as well as their parents….before it is too late.  There is plenty of adventure packed into the quest to find clues. The team and their peers are allowed to use “the Bridge” which takes allows them to see history come to life and feel it as it is happening. Readers get sucked right along with them into scenes as horrifying as a bear attack and as thrilling as a slave escape.

I really loved the characters and my ability to relate to them. It is truly middle grade perfect. Everyone knows the annoying best girl friend who is vying for the attention of your brother, the mean girl who is trying to turn her clique of friends against you, and the teachers who you can’t tell are on your side or not. The main voice, Abby is good just the way she is and is not perfect or fatally flawed. 

My children are going to eat this one up and I am pleased to pass it on to them as it is clean and not overly violent. Well done Chad Morris for keeping me and my family fascinated with the past and the future!

About the author: Chad Morris grew up wanting to become a professional basketball player or a rock star. (Inspired by Animal from the Muppets, he’s been banging on drums since he was eight years old.) After high school, he wrote and performed sketch comedy while going to college, and eventually he became a teacher and a curriculum writer. He lives in Utah with his wife and five kids. Chad would love to teach at Cragbridge Hall.Unlike Oscar Cragbridge, however, he hasn’t really invented anything, though his son once sketched out blueprints for a machine that would turn celery into cookies

Goodreads/ Twitter/ Author Website/ Deseret Book/ Facebook

YA Book Review- Legacy of the Clockwork Key by Kristin Bailey

08 Mar, 2013 by in Simon Pulse 3 comments

Legacy of the Clockwork Key
by Kristin Bailey
Hardcover, 403 pages
Published March 5th 2013
by Simon Pulse
ISBN 1442440260 
Book Source: publisher
4 stars
more details…

Summary from Goodreads: A teen girl unravels the mysteries of a secret society and their most dangerous invention in this adventure-swept romance set in Victorian London.When a fire consumes Meg’s home, killing her parents and destroying both her fortune and her future, all she has left is the tarnished pocket watch she rescued from the ashes. But this is no ordinary timepiece. The clock turns out to be a mechanical key—a key that only Meg can use—that unlocks a series of deadly secrets and intricate clues that Meg is compelled to follow. Meg has uncovered evidence of an elite secret society and a dangerous invention that some will stop at nothing to protect—and that Meg alone can destroy. Together with the handsome stable hand she barely knows but hopes she can trust, Meg is swept into a hidden world of deception, betrayal, and revenge. The clockwork key has unlocked her destiny in this captivating start to a trilogy.
Heather’s review:  There were several things that really drew me to this title from Simon Pulse when it first came in the mail. The first was the cover, which is different form the final shown above. Mine shoes main characters Will and Meg holding the clockwork bird. You can tell Will is a handsome Scottish lad just by the dark hair and brooding face. The setting is obviously Victorian and steam punk. 
All of this rolled into a perfect read for me since I am currently tracing my family history in the Victorian era with Scottish roots. The Victorian period records I have been looking at have numerous watch makers and clock shops which you just don’t see much of  in our day and time. So I was pulled in to the idea of tinkers, inventors and clock work trinkets. I was also fascinated by the idea Will being a Scottish Tinker or traveller. And after learning that he was left an orphan by the side of the road next to his parent’s wagon and taken in as a stable hand I was so curious.You’ll have to look up the history of the tinkers after or before reading. It makes Will’s personality so much more understandable–his pride in his work and worries about social station.
Meg, the main female heroine, is headstrong and somewhat impulsive–a house maid who is forced into the service of  a hidden mysterious man who must keep his home in the same state as the night his wife died. Her prized possession is a clockwork necklace which is all that was left of her parents home the night they both died in a fire and left her without status or means to provide in Victorian society. What she finds out is that the necklace she wears around her neck is much more than it seems, and she holds the key to oh so many secrets!
I thoroughly enjoyed Legacy of the Clockwork Key with its historical base as well as the steampunky creations of the Order of the Musical Amusemantists. The setting and world building were fascinating, the various contraptions fun to visualize. I also loved the other hero of the book Oliver with his night vision goggles and unruly hair, as well as his love interest Lydia who has a tragic past of her own.  
The content is suited for 16 and up only because Meg keeps losing pieces of her clothing in “accidents” along the way, but overall the romance is appropriate for the time and refreshingly so. There is one swear word which seems misplaced. The only other little thing I wished was that Will would have kept his thick Scottish voice in his inner and outer dialogue through out the entire story.
Would I recommend this one? Definitely! It is adventurous, historically spot on steampunky goodness. Thanks to Simon Pulse for the ARC.


Kristin Bailey grew up in the middle of the San Joaquin Valley in California. As a kid she enjoyed visiting the beach, camping and skiing with her two brothers.

Now she is a military wife and mother of two young children. She is also terrible about spoiling her pets. She has one fluffy mutt, two cats who think they own the world, and a fish tank with a quartet of fat fish, and two secretive striped ninja-assassin snails.

In the course of her adventures, she has worked as a zookeeper, balloon artist, and substitute teacher. Now she enjoys writing books for teens who enjoy mystery and adventure as much as she does.
  

The Giveaway: We have one ARC of Legacy of the Clockwork Key to give away to our readers at Fire and Ice. To enter to win tell us in the comments something you know about Scotland, tinkers, Victorian London, or let us know a clockwork invention you’d like to see made. 
Open internationally to 16 and older. Ends March 24, 2013.