#5FandomFriday: Make-Up Friday - 5 Characters I'd Name My Kids After

5 Fandom Friday is a weekly prompt challenge for female geek bloggers hosted by The Nerdy Girlie and Super Space Chick. You can learn more about the Female Geek Bloggers group here. This week, I'm catching up with a #5FandomFriday prompt I missed: characters I'd name my (future) kids after.

1. Emma - I've fallen in love with Once Upon a Time over the past couple of years, and while my favorite character was originally Mary Margaret, her daughter Emma Swan has taken first place in my heart. First of all, Jennifer Morrison is beautiful and a wonderful actress who deserves to win all the awards. Emma Swan is tough, clever, and fiercely protective of those she loves, and those are all qualities I would be proud to see in my future daughter. She also shares her name with my favorite Jane Austen novel.

2. Luna - One of my favorite Harry Potter characters by far is dreamy Ravenclaw, Luna Lovegood. Even though she's suffered horrible tragedy followed by being the object of bullying in school, Luna remains sweet, kind, and always willing to help. She is humble and hardworking. In the books, I love the grounding effect she has on Harry, and the way he values her advice and spirit and chooses to be her friend no matter what others may think.

3. Claire - I love escaping into history and romance through the Outlander books, and Claire Randall/Beauchamp/Fraser is one of my favorite narrators of all time. Raised to be strong and confident, she served as a field nurse during World War II, endured all sorts of hardships in 18th century Scotland and France, because a successful doctor in America, and showed herself to be stubborn and brave throughout it all. She's sassy and intelligent and I absolutely adore her.

4. Carter - Carter is basically the best name ever for a baby geek - there's John Carter of Mars, SHIELD director Peggy Carter, and, for country music geeks like me, the Carter family from Virginia. But my first beloved Carter was Dr. John Carter, played by Noah Wyle on E.R. Oh, how I loved that man despite his many flaws. He was patient, kind, and devoted to saving the world in order to fight his inner demons.

5. Sawyer - I love a rogue - think Han Solo, Mal Reynolds, and Killian Jones - and one of my all time favorites is James "Sawyer" Ford from LOST. Even though he did some despicable things, I was rooting for him and the knight in shining armor I knew he could become throughout all the dark and twisty seasons of that crazy show.

valentine's book tag.

Book tags are by far one of my favorite solutions to blogger writing block. When Ashlee from Her Geekery posted her answers to this tag, I knew I had to get on board, even though we're a little past V-Day now.

Standalone Book I Love

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater - Maggie is my favorite YA fantasy author, and in The Scorpio Races she takes the Celtic myth of the water horse and creates a tiny, magical world: the island of Thisby, where brave and foolish men race the dangerous creatures each November. The main character, Puck, is a tomboy who dreams of racing and hopes to hold her family together.

Dystopian Book I Love

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld - I fell in love with this series while I was still in college and I'm still amazed that it's not more popular. In the society where Tally lives, teenagers receive plastic surgery that makes them perfect and beautiful - but not everyone is on board with the procedure or the society's ideals. I loved that the series is really about Tally's relationships with her friends and how those ties are challenged as teenagers develop their own interests and passions and try to create an "image" for themselves in an world that is obsessed with appearances. I also enjoyed the standalone book Extras, which complements the series and serves as a commentary on our social media addicted society.

A Book That I Love But No One Else Talks About 

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi - This YA science fiction series is romantic and creative - Aria, a girl from the most technologically advanced part of society, where life is lived basically in virtual reality and people are protected from the elements, must brave the wilderness to find her missing mother. She meets and falls in love with Peregrine, who lives in a tribal society "Dwellers" like Aria consider savage. The worldbuilding, and the romance between Aria and Perry, are so compelling, and this series deserves just as much acclaim and fame as The Hunger Games and Divergent.

My Favorite Book Couple

Jamie and Claire from Outlander by Diana Gabaldon - I don't think I'll ever get tired of gushing about the Outlander series or my darling Mr. and Mrs. Fraser. These two are completely protective of and devoted to each other, and they don't hesitate to put each other in their place when needed. 

They have an electric love that spans time and distance, from the Scottish highlands to the royal court of Paris, and a romance that is both tender and passionate. Diana Gabaldon is one of few authors that can get me to read 800+ pages at a time, and I keep coming back for more.

A Book That Other People Love But I Haven’t Gotten Around To Reading

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson - I added this book to my to-be-read list after listening to Kristin from My Life as a Teacup's review on her YouTube channel. Just based on the cover art alone, it looks awesome, and the fact that it's about a supervillain's sidekick is so creative and unique - as much as I love swords and sorcery, I always enjoy sarcastic takes on the genre. I suppose until I do finally get my hands on the book, I should check out the original webcomic by Noelle Stevenson.

A Book with Red on the Cover

The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank - One of my all-time favorites, I discovered this bildungsroman, in the form of a collection of short stories, when I was in college, and the timing was perfect because I identified so much with a lot of what the main character, Jane, was going through. In the book, she deals with childhood friendships, changing relationships with her parents and brother, her first career in publishing, and several relationships. Bank's writing style is simple and funny, and Jane's voice came through as if the book was a memoir.

A Book with Pink on the Cover

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling - The book of essays that officially made me want to be Mindy Kaling's best friend. From her lack of athletic ability, to her move to New York, to "types of women in romantic comedies who are not real," to Irish exits, I laughed out loud so many times while reading this one The fact that I cannot currently call Mindy Kaling from my bathtub and share stories and giggles with her proves that we live in a fundamentally unjust world.

You Were Given A Box Of Chocolate, What Fictional Boyfriend Would Have Given Them To You?

Carswell Thorne from the Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer - Although the chocolates would probably be stolen and Captain Thorne would surely have some sort of ulterior motive in giving them to me, how can anyone resist a character who is basically a younger, sassier version of Malcolm Reynolds?

You Are In The Book Store, All Of A Sudden You Get Shot With An Arrow By Cupid. What New Release Will You Love? 

Nicole Burstein's Othergirl - this book came out in 2015 and sounds adorable. From Goodreads: "Louise and Erica have been best friends since forever. They're closer than sisters and depend on each other for almost everything. Just one problem: Erica has superpowers. When Erica isn't doing loop-the-loops in the sky or burning things with her heat pulse powers, she needs Louise to hold her non-super life together. After all, the girls still have homework, parents and boys to figure out. But being a superhero's BFF is not easy, especially as trouble has a way of seeking them out. Soon Louise discovers that Erica might be able to survive explosions and fly faster than a speeding bullet, but she can't win every fight by herself. Life isn't a comic book - it's even crazier than that."

#5FandomFriday: {Geeky} Holiday Wish List

5 Fandom Friday is a weekly prompt challenge hosted by The Nerdy Girlie and Super Space Chick. You can see the upcoming prompts here at the Female Geek Bloggers community. For this week's #5FandomFriday topic, we're sharing our holiday wish lists, so I decided to share five geeky things I'd love to receive under the tree this year!

1. The Force Awakens tickets - Okay, so I'll be needing these before Christmas, but I love that we are living in a season of total Star Wars mania - if someone had told my 11-year-old self that someday the entire country would be geeking out about Star Wars, I wouldn't have believed them. Even though I'm a little sad about the Expanded Universe being cancelled out, I have high hopes for the film after seeing all of the trailers and clips.

2. Harry Potter Coloring Book from Scholastic - Why didn't this come out sooner? I haven't gotten in on the adult coloring craze yet, but it's Harry Potter!

3. Peggy Carter Funko Pop - Another craze I haven't gotten into that the #5FF community seems to be obsessed with are Funko Pop figures - they're cute, and I love seeing which ones my local Barnes and Noble has in stock, but I try to minimize the amount of trinkets and knick-knacks I bring into my house. However, this has been the year of Agent Carter for me and I know it would put a smile on my face to see Peggy on my bookshelf.

4. Outlander Season One DVD/Blu-Ray - I watched the first season marathon-style when we had a free weekend of Starz, but I'd love to own the episodes so I could watch them any time I want. I think the casting is perfect and I really love the costumes.

5. Raven Boys swag - Maggie Stiefvater has been one of my favorite YA authors for years, but she never really had a fandom until The Raven Boys. I love Emgrav's designs on Society6, especially the t-shirt covered with doodles inspired by the series.

What geeky things are on your wish list this year?

Book Review: The Curiosity Keeper by Sarah E. Ladd

A good Regency romance usually has several standard elements: an emphasis on good manners and high society, activities Jane Austen would have been familiar with (carriage rides, dinners, garden walks), and a hint of mystery. Sarah E. Ladd's The Curiosity Keeper features a headstrong heroine and a humble gentleman navigating their class differences and a quest for a stolen ruby which takes them from the gritty, gaslit streets of London to the pastoral countryside. 

Camille Iverness was raised on her grandfather's country estate, but when her mother deserted her family to return to her native Portugal, Camille and her father returned to London, where together they ran a curiosity shop full of mysterious treasures valued by "collectors" - people like explorer and gambler Ian Gilchrist, whose mansion, Kettering Hall, houses a study packed with treasures. When the story opens, Ian has summoned his son, James, in the middle of the night: a precious family heirloom, the large rare ruby known as the Bevoy, is missing. When Ian and a family friend travel to London to investigate, they discover a crime in progress at the curiosity shop - the shop is being ransacked and Camille is being attacked. Concerned for Camille's safety, James finds her a position at a charity boarding school in the countryside town where he prefers working as an apothecary to lording over the estate he stands to inherit - if the ruby is found.

It took a few chapters for me to really get into The Curiosity Keeper, but I did enjoy following along with James and Camille as they searched for the missing ruby and became more and more intrigued by each other. Camille is not a typical Regency heroine - she prefers ancient art to drawing-room drama, and while she is kind, she isn't naive. Ladd creates a foil for Camille in James' sister, Penelope, whose dowry and social standing depend on the Bevoy being found. Rather than being a villain, Penelope's values are very much aligned with the society in which she was raised, in contrast with Camille's purer motives. Despite a few typographical errors, I found The Curiosity Keeper easy to read once I was engrossed in Camille's dilemma - to trust James, or to be loyal to a father who may cast her aside.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Book Review: The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest: A Medieval Fairy Tale by Melanie Dickerson

So y'all know I'm a little bit of a medievalist and that I love a good fairy tale retelling (even if it's set in space!). With Once Upon a Time on summer hiatus, I needed something to fill my longing for castles, balls, and horseback rides through forests, and The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest was the perfect fit. I was intrigued when I saw the gorgous cover art and the description of the book as "Swan Lake meets Robin Hood," and this charming story really is the best of both fictional worlds.

As a former dancer, I was really excited to read a book that was not a retelling of one of the Grimms' fairy tales, but instead a retelling of a famous ballet! The plot of Swan Lake was derived from German and Russian folktales,  and Dickerson places her Odette in a fourteenth century German village that was devastated by the Black Death. Odette has been taken in her uncle, a wealthy merchant, who provides her with a tutor and books to read, but she remembers what it was like to be a hungry orphan and spends her nights poaching on royal forest land to feed the village's starving children.  When she finds out that Jorgen Hartman (perfect naming), the handsome man she dances with on Midsummer's Eve, is the forest's groundskeeper, she knows she should stay away from him - his adoptive father was killed by a poacher and he will stop at nothing to punish whoever is stealing game from the forest. Although the mayor's son is courting her and seems to offer her the life she dreams of, her thoughts keep coming back to Jorgen.

The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest was an easy, quick read, and Odette's German village was a nice change of scenery - I think I was picturing the Oktoberfest area at Busch Gardens while I read, and Dickerson includes a few German terms and phrases that make sense in the context of the story without being distracting. The only historical anachronism that stood out to me was the characters' concern about a wound becoming septic - based on other books I've read, I don't think 14th century villagers had that level of understanding of germs and infection. 

One of Swan Lake's major themes is the desire of young people to marry for love, and that thread runs through The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest as well, with Odette and Jorgen trying to balance their strong affection for one another with their concern for each other's best interest. Even Jorgen's romantic rival, Mathis, though certainly no hero, is patient and considerate of Odette's feelings, unlike the mustache-twirling villains one encounters in a lot of historical romances! The ballerina in me was delighted that there was a little nod to the character of Odile (better known as the Black Swan) as well. One of Dickerson's strengths as a writer is giving each character, including the secondary figures, a distinct personality. This is a Christian novel, and I found the characters' desire to apply scripture to their struggles very realistic - Odette, for example, knows that stealing is a sin but justifies her actions through verses that exhort Christians to care for the poor. Overall, Dickerson presents a lovely fairytale love story that makes for a great summer escape appropriate for readers of all ages.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

my early summer in entertainment.

concerts.

Ashley Monroe at Dr. Pepper Pavillion - Breeze and I jumped at the chance to see one of the Pistol Annies perform live for an affordable price in a venue that is brand new. Ashley took the stage with just a guitar player backing her up and performed a lot of songs from Like a Rose as well as some songs she has written that have been recorded by artists like Miranda Lambert and Jason Aldean. She manages to be cute as a button and sassy at the same time. The new venue (located at the Bridges in Roanoke) was really cute and included cornhole boards, local food trucks, local breweries, and free Dr. Pepper.

books.

Voyager by Diana Gabaldon - I recently finished the third book in the Outlander series and really preferred it to the second book, Dragonfly in Amber. For me, Voyager was faster-paced and held my attention better. In the "present" of 1968, time traveler Claire and her daughter Brianna are researching what happened to Bree's father, Jamie Fraser, after the Battle of Culloden. Alternately, we find out what Jamie has been up to in the twenty years since Claire left 18th century Scotland - hiding from the Redcoats, imprisoned and in servitude, and finally finding work as a printer - and traitor - in Edinburgh. Of course Claire goes back, but life with Jamie is never calm and happy for long, and soon they are bound for the West Indies, encountering pirates, magic rituals, and people they each thought they'd never see again. I can't wait to read Drums of Autumn, but I try to pace myself through this series because it's ruining my progress toward my 2015 reading goal (870 pages should really count as multiple books!).

movies.

Avengers: Age of Ultron 3D - As you know, I'm a total geek when it comes to comic book movies, so I was literally counting down the days to Age of Ultron. The movie tied in nicely to the preceding Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D episode, opening with the Avengers raiding a HYDRA base in Eastern Europe. In very quick succession they take out a lot of HYDRA operatives, show off some crazy motorcycle tricks, fight the Maximoff twins Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, and retrieve Loki's staff. Back at Avengers tower, Tony Stark and Bruce Banner are keeping a secret from the rest of the team - an A.I. called Ultron that they can use Loki's scepter to bring to life. If you haven't been under a rock, you know that doesn't go well. While some of the film's beats are very similar to the first Avengers (a character we've just met falling victim to mind control, Steve Rogers' mistrust of the Science Bros) there's also some new ground (Hawkeye's secret family, Paul Bettany as Vision), plus Black Widow subverting the Damsel in Distress trope all over the place AND a Peggy Carter dream sequence. Ultron failed to be a really scary villain, in my opinion, but the idea of the Avengers creating their own enemies is an interesting one that hearkens back to the theme the first Iron Man movie.

Pitch Perfect 2 - Another movie that I've been looking forward to since the first trailer was released, since I've practically got the first one memorized. While I enjoyed the sequel from beginning to end, I didn't like it quite as much as the first movie - maybe my expectations were just too high.  I liked the introduction of Hailee Steinfeld as a legacy Bella and Benji's cute crush on her, Keegan-Michael Key as Beca's record-industry internship boss, Beca's rivalry with/girl crush on a scary German a capella lady, Fat Amy's courtship by Bumper, and Aubrey's post-college job running a team building camp (of course!). Some of the negatives for me were Chloe's ridiculous storyline (purposefully not graduating so she could stay a Bella - wouldn't she have been kicked out of school for failing three times?), no real development in Beca and Jesse's relationship, and all of the other returning Bellas getting the shaft, story-wise. Pitch Perfect 3 is already on deck, and I will definitely be watching.

television.

Orange is the New Black - So I'm super lame and just started watching this bonkers show. The third season came out last night and I am so excited to continue my journey into the twisty world of Litchfield Penitentiary. I thought the Season 2 finale was perfect (Rosa!) and I'm going to try my best not to watch all of Season 3 at once! I want to read the book, as well, but y'all know my to-be-read pile is already about a mile long so it may be a while.

So You Think You Can Dance - Mary Murphy is gone, so no more Hot Tamale Train, but Paula Abdul and Jason Derulo (who I guess had no summer plans/wanted to make heart eyes at all the female contestants) have joined Nigel on the judging panel and this season there will be two teams: Travis Wall's Stage team and Twitch's Street team. Last week's tap-heavy auditions gave me hope. I'm not sure what I think of the "Stage vs. Street" setup (personally, if I was a good enough dancer to consider trying out, I would take EVERY DANCE CLASS IN TOWN to get ready), but I'm watching because it's SYTYCD.

MasterChef - The friendlier side of Gordon Ramsay is back, along with Graham Elliot and new judge Christina Tosi. I love following along with this show every summer and it inspires me to do more cooking. I don't have a favorite contestant yet but I did totally predict that this week's mystery ingredient was corn.

Book Review: Deception at Sable Hill: A Chicago World's Fair Mystery by Shelley Gray

Since several of the best books I've read as a BookLook Blogger have been historical romance, I decided to get back into that genre this month. Since one of my reading goals this years is to read more mysteries, Deception at Sable Hill was the perfect choice, especially considering that I've been a fan of the Victorian era since elementary school. Set in the fall of 1893 as the World's Fair comes to an end in Chicago, Deception at Sable Hill presents a likeable heroine in Eloisa Carstairs, who comes from a wealthy and well-connected family but seems determined to shatter her mother's dreams by not marrying any of the suitors she is constantly presented with - most of whom seem determined to lure her into shady corners. 

Eloisa's society friends are abuzz because a dangerous slasher is on the loose, seeming to target the most eligible debutantes in town. Detective Sean Ryan, having worked his way up through the ranks of the Chicago police despite his background in a poor Irish family and dangerous neighborhood, meets Eloisa when he is chosen to provide security at a fancy ball alongside his partner, Owen Howard. He discerns the dark secret she's haunted by - an assault she's convinced will ruin her reputation if anyone finds out - and convinces her that she is blameless. Soon, she feels more comfortable with Sean and in his world than at the society functions where attacks continue to occur, but even as they grow closer the two know that neither will be accepted in the other's sphere. As the fair's closure on Halloween draws near, Sean and Owen must find the Society Slasher before the attacker gets to Eloisa.

I enjoyed reading about Chicago at the end of the Gilded Age, and appreciated that Gray's female characters represented a diverse range of well-developed personalities - from Eloisa's protective, traditional mother, to her sweet maid Juliet and Sean's spunky sister Katie, who dreams of being a journalist à la Nellie Bly. Rather than a will-they-or-won't-they, Eloisa and Sean's romance is a compelling how-will-they, despite a little jealousy on Sean's part and some stubbornness on Eloisa's. Finally, the Society Slasher presents an intriguing mystery - just when I thought I'd solved the case, I realized that I'd been wrong all along. I hope that Shelley Gray will write more about these characters - I'd be interested to learn how they face the turn of the century, and their differences, together.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Book Review: An Uncertain Choice by Jody Hedlund

I've been obsessed with the medieval period since I was a kid (I went from being a three-year-old who only wanted to draw castles to a twenty-year-old who only wanted to read Chaucer), so when I read the description of Uncertain Choice, he first book in a new YA historical fiction series, I bumped it to the top of my TBR pile.

An Uncertain Choice is set in the fictional English village of Ashby in 1390, and Rosemarie, the lady of Montfort Castle following her parents' death to plague, is about to come of age. Rosemarie's most prominent quality in the story is her compassion for others, particularly the poor and sick peasants of Ashby, which she attributes to her parents' example; she gives her meals to beggar children and cannot tolerate the torturous methods of punishment favored by Ashby's sheriff and bailiff. Her mentor, Abbot Francis Michael, cautions her not to overextend the manor's financial resources in her charitable giving as he plans a new cathedral and abbey for the parish.

Against this fairly realistic background, Hedlund introduces a fairytale element: at her birth, Lady Rosemarie's parents made a sacred vow that she would enter a convent upon her birthday - or die. Since learning of their promise, she has prepared, with the abbot's help, to become a nun. Unexpectedly, her godfather, the Duke of Rivenshire, comes to visit and explains that he has found a loophole - if Rosemarie finds true love and marries by midnight on her birthday, she will be exempt from the ancient vow. He brings with him three handsome young knights who fought alongside him in the border wars. At first, Rosemarie is reluctant to veer off the course she has finally accepted as her destiny, but when the duke makes her question whether the sheriff and her people will respect her rule from behind the abbey walls, she agrees to accept his challenge. While the romance is predictable (two of the knights are charming and ebullient and shower her with extravagant gifts, the other is brooding and difficult to read but shares her sense of justice and compassion for the poor), Rosemarie's choice isn't the story's real conflict - it becomes clear that someone in Ashby doesn't want the lady's suitors to succeed in winning her hand and will resort to murder to control her destiny.

Overall, I enjoyed reading An Uncertain Choice - as a wannabe medievalist, I appreciated the detail Jody Hedlund put into Rosemarie's village - from the arched doorway of Ashby's guildhall to the smell of roasted boar turning on spits, Hedlund has a gift for description. The amount of appropriate medieval vocabulary used in the book is just right - enough to be realistic, but not confusing or distracting. The tension created by Rosemarie's choice to rule as the lady of the manor or as a member of a religious order is also interesting and apt for the time period - the church was just as powerful as the nobility and often more so, and many intellectual, upper-class women were consigned to convents in the middle ages. 

However, there were a few factors that kept me from completely loving the book. Rosemarie constantly reminds the reader how important her people are to her, but doesn't mention them by name unless they are her personal servants, making supporting characters, even those like the sheriff with whom she interacts often, seem more like extras. Most of the book is told from Rosemarie's viewpoint, but a few scenes narrated by one of her suitors, and I found the sudden shift at the beginning of the seventh chapter confusing and unnecessary. I also saw shades of Bella and Edward from Twilight in Rosemarie and her chosen knight - she's described as stunningly beautiful, intelligent, and gracious, yet has a very hard time making her own decisions, and is convinced that the moody knight hates her even though he acts like Westley from The Princess Bride every time they are alone together.  I still enjoyed their banter and eventual honesty with one another. While the outcome of Rosemarie's "love square" is fairly predictable, I think YA readers will still enjoy reading about the various ways in which the three knights attempt to woo her, and get caught up in the mystery of who is trying to sabotage Rosemarie along the way. The story's overall theme - that there are different kinds of strength and leadership - is one I think many readers can relate to.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”