Tgif is a weekly meme hosted and created by Ginger at Greads. This feature lets us wrap up the week and also poses a weekly question pertaining to blogging, books and what have you. This weeks question:

Banned Books: How do you feel about the censorship of the freedom to read? Do you think the education system needs to be more strict on what children are exposed to in books?

I think most book bloggers, myself included will band together and agree that book censorship is wrong.

Adults should be able to read whatever they choose and no government or committee should deem otherwise. For instance say you're a person that likes to read "how to" manuals about molesting kids, well then you're a sick pervert and if you're doing that to kids you should go to jail were another sick pervert is reading a manual on how to molest new inmates.

And here comes the part where people wanna slap me...

There is a huge gray area when dealing with children- I am first and most importantly a parent and I believe some books can do more harm than good. I do not want a teacher or an educator to expose my child to something that she's not ready for -OR- before I've had a chance to discuss it with her first, and here is a huge reason why I read YA and the reading lists that the teachers provide. Thankfully I live in a district where many of the parents are involved and the librarian and teachers give out lists of recommended and available classroom reading, hence, why we choose this particular school district.

In all honesty- really ask this question- are there any books out there right that we can't go to Amazon and buy? Banning does not equal illegal,  I've only heard of a few book banning's in public schools and banning in schools is a community, parental and school district decision, its not an act against freedom, if a book has been pulled off a public school library shelf and you want your kid to read it....go buy it.....This could go on and on, get ugly and cause fights, so I tend to stay out of the book banning drama, but my stance is when it comes down to it-  its a parents job to decide what their kids are reading. Its also a parents job to keep up with whats being taught at school, what books your kids are picking out and what your child is exposed to. Not even the best parent can police a kid 24/7 with the culture we live in, but we can at least be involved and prepared for whats coming.

My teen (15) just finished Bitter End and The Hate List by Jennifer Brown, while both were very mature books, I felt as her mother she could handle it, after she read it, we talked about abusive relationships, the signs of an unhealthy partner, violence and sexual relationships in teen dating. But another parent may not feel the same way I do about these books, so it would not be my place to share them with another child. I expect the same respect from another adult, be it a teacher or other, concerning my children.

The Saturday Spotlight- Win Released
Faith and Fiction Discuss Forbidden
Chatting with Authors- Janni Lee Simner
Waterfall Wednesdays #5
Good Girl Movies
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Win a Copy of The Crown on Your Head Ends 10/1

Have a great weekend folks, eat popcorn and watch a good movie...Ill be reading The Faerie Ring and starting Season three of Friday Night Lights.

Welcome to Waterfall Wednesdays. A book talk event inspired by Lisa Bergrens Waterfall. For the month of September each week a host will provide discussion questions and we will chat, discuss, swoon-what have you!! There is still time join and linking up today enters you in for the Trilogy. Commenting enters you in for the Tuscan Earrings



Discussion #5- Chapters 24-28
Questions provided by Nic at Irresistible Reads

After Gabi is injured, the doctor gives her a tonic. Gabi questions the doctor several times what is in it but he refuses to tell. Would have you taken the tonic in Gabi situation?

Hard question! As the reader I can say heck no....however if I was really Gabi I probably would have drank it too, I mean we listen to our Doctors and trust that they are making good choices in health recommendations....I mean whats a 21st-century girl to do- she didn't know the doc was going to go 

all medieval on her........**wink-wink**

Before the games Gabi asks Lia to let Lord Forabosch win in the archery event as people- especially Lord Forabosch- are becoming suspicious of them. But during the games Lord Forabosch upsets Lia trying to throw her off her game. So Lia decides to win. Do you think she did the right thing by not letting Lord Forabosch bully her or do you think she took an unnecessary risk?

Total girl power! I think Lia did the right thing by winning....I think she could have even gone a little further and rubbed some stinky armpit in his face.......Muaaahahahah....

When Gabi is dying and she and Lia decide to return to the tombs so they can get the cure at home, they have to tell Marcello the truth. Even though Marcello thinks that it is madness that they are from the future, he believes in Gabi because he loves her. Do you think this is believable? What would you have done if you were Marcello?

I think its believable- due to the fact that Marcello knew from the get-go that Gabs was different.....while his first assumption was witchcraft I think he handled things pretty well. Had I been Marcello I would of sent her back too...I would rather see my love live even if that meant something sacrificial on my part.

In the end Gabi and Lia return home. Do you think Gabi will return to Marcello? Would you go back?

Oh yes! That girl will go back.....and I would go back too right after I grabbed a toilet, some hairspray, Bath & Body Works Dark Kiss, an ipod, tampons, diet coke, my Nook, tooth brush, mints, deodorant, penicillin, Advil, my collection of the River of Time Series and an endless supply of batteries and Jelly Belly's to take back with me.....

Looking back at Waterfall what was your favorite moment? 

Ohhhhhh- so many to choose from, I loved when Marcello carried Gabi to her horse and they had that intense eye moment, I also loved their first kiss and the entire Tuscan Ball the girls went to. I loved that Gabi was a great heroine for teens and even adult gals to look up to and loved that loyalty and friendship were a great core value in the book. I think my favorite part out of everything was when Marcello placed Gabis hands on the print and sent her back to her own time. It was an incredible act of faith and love to let her go. I think right about there I fell in love with Marcello.......(and yes he's a man not a teenager.....I mean he's all king-like and fighting in wars and its Medieval....he's Cheetos...young in the bag but still aged to perfection...)

Waterfall Wrap Up


This has been such a fun read-along. I got to meet new bloggers and made a few new friends and spent way...WAY...to much time talking about armpits. I love read-alongs!! Also I need to take a minute and thank the great girls who helped with this, Jenny, Joy, Serena, Nic and Missie- you guys are the best....and Lisa Bergren you are one the sweetest authors Ive gotten to know over email, twitter and the books.....because when we all say we have the hots for Marcello, I guess we all have the hots for Lisa Bergren....LOL....

Missie at The Unread Reader is keeping a tally of all the winners over this month if you want to find out who won the weekly prizes and Lisa Bergren will be announcing the Tuscan earring winner later. Please head over to Nics blog today to link up for your chance to win the last trilogy set. Its been great reading with you all and I hope you carry on with Cascade and Torrent.
**Team River of Time**




Photo Credits: Creative Commons Armpit (lol)
Henry Cavil- Tristan & Isolde (cc) 

We know our children are special, and now the incomparable Nancy Tillman expresses this universal feeling in the most touching of ways: Every child is born with a crown. The crown is everything that gives us unique value. Our crown will always be with us wherever we go, whatever we do.

Janni- welcome to the blog and thanks for stopping by today. I would love for you to share with readers a little bit about yourself.




Not a fairy tale exactly, but I imprinted on the faerie ballad Tam Lin back in college, when my roommate had a tape of it being sung that we played over and over again. That was when I began to think of faeries as a bit frightening, because of that ballad with its image of a faerie queen who would gladly turn someone into a tree, or take out their heart and replace it with one of stone, if that they didn't act as she wanted.


I'm also intrigued by the Twelve Dancing Princesses, but haven't explored that one in depth yet. And I love Sondheim's Into the Woods for its explorations of what fairy tales are really about, and what happens after the ever after.

The Faith and Fiction Round Table- hosted by Amy at MyfriendAmy, is a group of bloggers who read books dealing with faith, religion and inspirational aspects. Six books were chosen this year and at the scheduled time we discuss the book and then post our thoughts on personal blogs. This years fifth book and discussion was:

 

A terrible truth has been revealed to one man: the entire human race has been drained of every emotion, except one— fear. To bring life back to the world, Rom must embark on a journey that will end either in his own demise or a reawakening of humanity. But to bring love and passion back into existence will also threaten the powers of the world with the revolution and anarchy that had nearly destroyed them previously.

After happening upon a journal through strange circumstance, Rom's world is shattered. He learns that humanity long ago ceased to "live," that it exists today in a living death of emotions. In a terrible risk, Rom exposes himself to the vial of blood folded into the old leather of the journal. His change is fearful and fraught with mind-bending emotion. A once-pious observer of the Order's passionless statues, he is filled with uncontrollable impulses. He is filled with love. He is undone, terrified, and alone in the desolate world.

Im pleasantly used to Dekker's descriptive style, push to the limits Inspy fiction and violent gore. Forbidden is no different, plenty of blood, guts and foul things happen to the characters in this world and while I loved Tosca Lee's sensuous voice that mixed throughout the storyline, I actually found some of the violence a bit overboard- the murders and a particular "heart scene" felt forced and dare I say it- a bit contrived. And that's hard for me to say as I'm an extreme Dekker fan, theres not much he can write that I wouldn't like, however I couldn't help thinking many of the scenes (even the sexy scenes) were for shock value and not for the flow of the story........I was half surprised seeing how the book deals with dead-like people that at some point zombies didn't start popping out behind trees to start eating peoples brains........

.....alright though, this is suppose to be a discussion post, not a review, so friends what did Forbidden show me as a reader? What faith aspects could I draw parallel to?

Probably the most profound aspect I could take away was the blood issue. The characters in this dystopian set society all suffered the after effects of a government controlled disease that over time raped citizens of their human emotions, leaving them with only the sense of fear. In order for any of those senses to return, a person (or in this case the main MC's) had to drink a special vial of blood to restore those feelings. But even after the healing takes place, the disease slowly would begin to seep back in- dulling their emotions once again to robotic like beings. Just touching on this concept alone- what I read between the pages drawing this to Christianity, was the idea that only with the acceptance of Christs sacrifice and his blood rebirths a person from a dead state of sin.

And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. Hebrews 9:22

The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Romans 6:10-12

With the latter part of the issue I could see the parallel between the characters who would eventually revert back to that emotionless state with the issues that Christians face everyday living in the world. Walking with Christ is a daily commitment and many things in our walk can easily distract us, be it busyness, idleness, ministry, hobbies or sin. Even with the healing and the acceptance of Christ, daily thorns and obstacles can numb and deaden which was once an alive feeling. I guess that's why its so important to keep moving forward and staying in the Word, so we do not lose that connection. While I firmly believe we cannot lose our salvation after a true conversion, I do think we can become dead in Spirit if we do not keep vigilant and look to the end of the race God has set before us.





Forbidden even with its passionate crossroads to Christianity, from the blood aspect to the similar death decrees Christ encountered as an infant isn't an overtly Christian book, I think anyone could pick this up and enjoy the eerie doomed scenarios and gruesome violence that surrounds it. I know I will be carrying on with the series and with each authors bold takes on creation, sin, sex and violence, Im eager to see where the Dekker/Lee team takes us.

Check out the rest of the groups thoughts today:

Book Addiction, Book Hooked Blog, Books and Movies, Crazy for Books, Ignorant Historian, Linus's Blanket, My Random Thoughts, One Person's Journey Through a World of Books, Roving Reads, Semicolon, The 3R's Blog, Victorious Cafe, Word Lily, MyfriendAmy


Thanks to Sarah Reck and Center Street for Review Copy
Photo Credit: Brad Pitt- The Legends of the Fall (cc)

Welcome to The Saturday Spotlight, a weekly feature hosted here at Tinasbookreviews that celebrates Indie, self-published, debut and authors who specialize in ebook publishing. This week I have the pleasure introducing readers to:



MEGAN DUNCAN
~author of Released~
Q&A

Hi Megan! Thanks for stopping by today, to start please tell us about yourself.

I live in Vegas and have a cat named Jack that thinks he is a dog.  I am in love with sushi and science fiction.  When I'm not working, which is pretty much all the time, I write and go to the movies.

What inspired you to write Released?

I was inspired to write Released from my love of science fiction and the paranormal. There were so many zombie books out I wanted to do a different twist on an apocalyptic story.

Did you have any major research/travel or personal experience go into the book? 

I actually did. A lot the places my characters went to are places I have personally been. I also used a map to track their route for the entire story.

Why YA? 

I write YA because it is the genre that I personally love to read and it just felt natural to write. I can't imagine myself writing any other kind of genre.

If you could cast the main lead of your book in a movie who would you choose?

For Released I would choose... a teen aged Mila Jovovich. I just don't know of any actress that can do action as well as she can.

What are you reading now? 

I just finished BETA reading a YA novel for an indie author, Descended by Blood.

Can you share any future works with us?  

I just finished writing the first in my vampires series, Savor. It will be available September 1st. I am really excited about it.

-Megan Duncan is a lover of all things paranormal, fantasy, sci-fi and anything just out of the ordinary. She is continually fighting her addiction to chocolate and living in her overactive imagination.

Find out more about Megan at Goodreads. and at Meganduncan.blogspot.com

That is great about your second book, congrats!! Thanks so much Megan for stopping by today and chatting with me. Best of luck to your writing career in YA....and ps- Mila is a perfect choice!



Giveaway

Today Megan is giving an ebook copy of Released to one of my readers. This giveaway is open to everyone- just leave a comment and link to profile or email. Winner will be drawn and notified on 10/1.

Released by Megan Duncan

April 2011 by Create Space

After a demon apocalypse kills their parents and everyone they know, 17-year old Abby Phillips, her brother, Carter, and friend, Max flee their home to travel through what has become the wastelands of America. 

When radio transmissions of a resistance offering shelter and safety cease, Abby is tempted to give up. Struggling to overcome life-threatening obstacles in their dangerous journey, Abby and her companions quickly discover there are much worse things lurking in the dark than they could have ever imagined.

Photo Credit: Mila- Resident Evil (cc) 

Tgif is a weekly meme hosted and created by Ginger at Greads. This feature lets us wrap up the week and also poses a weekly question pertaining to blogging, books and what have you. This weeks question:

Reading Challenges: Did you sign up for any this year? How has your progression been?

I am a challenge-junkie, so of course I signed up for a ton.......
(my bloggie friend Missie from The Unread Reader did a post like this a few months ago- Im going to borrow her format for my progress breakdown...)

Whisper Stories in my Ear 

Bewitched Bookworms -Audiobook Challenge.

Status: 47/300 Hours Listened to

Doing pretty good...NOT. I have 3 months to listen to 203 hours worth of audio books. Call me crazy but I may not make it.

Vampire Challenge hosted by Parajunkee's View

Status: 12/20 Read

Well shiver me timbers, I think Im going to pull this one off. Vampires are never hard for me to get into....and with a mix of YA and even some CF vampires this year the selections are great.

Show Me The Free- The Unread Reader

Challenge to read free books on Kindle/Nook.

Status: 0/12 Read

Wow- Missie I suck!! I guess me and free aren't getting along right now.....EKE!!!!

Book Soulmates Zombie Challenge

Status: 3/10 Read

Not making as much progress as I thought I would...I have a few on the horizon before January hits, but more than likely I don't see myself finishing this one...and ps- that picture is scary...Im shivering a little..

Book Soulmates Host Steampunk Ahead

Status: 0/10

Epic Fail!

The Book Vixens- Nicholas Sparks Challenge

Status: 1/10 

Well fiddle sticks....I guess my intentions of re-reading all my favorite spend a year with Master Sparks has fizzled out faster than a sparkler on the 4rth of July.....

Stainless Steel Droppings- R.I.P VI

Status: 0/2 Read- 2011-Fall Event

2 books people...its 2 books.....well at least I have until November to get this one done. My favorite challenge every year and I fail every time. You can see now why I keep chocolate out of my house........

The Goodreads 2011 Challenge

Status: 131/150 Books Read

Well blow me down- I think I will complete this one. I really wanted to get 200 books in this year, but Im happy with this challenge.

The Book Junkie's- Christian Fiction Challenge

Status: 12+/12

Ok so this one was easy- I read so much Inspy fiction I knew 12 would be a piece of cake.....Hey man at least Im not a total challenge-failure.

WIN!

The Saturday Spotlight with Mike Faricy

Review- There You'll Find Me

Shelf Cravings

Waterfall Wednesdays- #4

Mini-Reviews

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Have a great weekend everyone....I know my weekend will be filled with soccer, football, lots of coffee and catching up on season two of Friday Night Lights.....

Friday Night Lights- Photo Credit: NBC