Review: The Goddess is in the Details: Wisdom for the Everyday Witch

The Goddess is in the Details: Wisdom for the Everyday Witch by Deborah Blake

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Good book, a lot of things in here I already had a grasp on, but I did learn some new things. I liked how there were "Things to Think About" and "Things to Try" at the end of most chapters. Gave me something to use in order to reflect on the chapters and the information presented.



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Review: Lover Awakened

Lover Awakened by J.R. Ward

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



If I could give this book 10 stars I would. Zsadist had my heart from the other books, but in this one all my emotions were tapped into. J.R. Ward is one helluva writer and she knows how to keep the readers turning pages. The quick scene changes from the lesser's story to Zsadist and Bella had me reading this in a day.

Zsadist and Phury make leeway and the other plot twists involving Tohr are killers.

I will be honest. This book made me cry. A lot. And scream, and laugh a little too. Mostly it made me desperate to read the other books in the series.

10 stars indeed.



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Review: Lover Eternal

Lover Eternal by J.R. Ward

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Delicious book! Rhage and Mary's struggles broke my heart and their union made my day. I stayed up almost all night reading this one.





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Review: Dark Lover

Dark Lover by J.R. Ward

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



J.R. Ward does an amazing job at introducing readers to The Black Dagger Brotherhood. The book is well-written, full of suspense and has all the romance that one could want!

I had heard about this series a while ago from a fellow book reviewer so I decided to pick up both books 1 and 2. I just now finished the first, after hanging onto it for months! I'm so glad that I met Wrath and Beth and I can't wait to read about Rhage.



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Coven VS. Solitary Practice

So, I'm a few days late in this Thursday Pagan Blog Prompts thing, but real life has been throwing a few lemons at me. However, I checked in on PBP's site and I see that the topic is about Coven study vs. solitary study in your pagan/wiccan practice.

Here's the actual prompt text.
"Please forgive me if this prompt has been done, but coven vs. solitary practice is something I have always been interested in. I practice in a coven myself, but spent a many good years doing my own thing as a solitary, so I have felt first have the benefits and drawbacks of both situations.
How do you all feel? Do you practice in a group or solitary? Which do you prefer? If you chose one over the other, why do you feel that way? If you are a coven member, would you ever go back to being solitary? If you practice alone, would you ever join a group? Just something to think over. :)
I look forward to reading your thoughts!!"

Right now I like to think of me as both a Coven member and a solitary witch. I do have a coven and, actually the prompter that wrote this post is a Coven sister of mine. Love you, Ivy! 

But, I also do a lot of practice on my own. I've been on this path for 4 years going on 5 I've read a lot of blogs, articles, websites and the like about Wiccan practice (since that's how I identify - as a Wiccan.) Many people seem to think that once you start practicing in a Coven, if you ever do, then you have to do all of your practice with your Coven. Not so. I think that practicing with your Coven for a majority of the time, say for the Sabbats and for some Esbats are ideal, but you can't do ALL of your practicing with the Coven. 

Unless you all live together in a huge house, which would be cool, you can't share all your magickal moments together. Like drinking your morning cup of tea while feeling the cool breeze on your front porch. Or practicing your visualization skills while you take a morning shower (tropical waterfall in the amazon where there are no bills to pay anyone?) Or how about that extra moment you take to look up at the sky and wave to the moon when you take out the trash at night? 

These moments are just as magical as the ones you have in Coven circle time, if not more so - because they are intimate, they are yours and they are your moments with the Divine. In a way I prefer my solitary moments over Coven time. Yes I love my Coven to bits and I'd do anything for my girls. I can't imagine not having them in my life and the moments we have are so special. However, I also cherish those moments that I have alone, where I know that I'm right in my ways, where I'm not nervous as hell that I'm going to cast incorrectly or what have you. 

I guess I'm in the air. 50:50. I guess it's a good thing I'm a Coven member and a solitary witch. :)

~Ristoria. 

Review: Poison

Poison by Bridget Zinn

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



#Poison is one of the best books I've read.

Zinn did an amazing job at keeping the story interesting, funny and down right GOOD. Kyra, Fred and Ariana are hilarious and the dialogue is perfection. There was amazing description throughout the entire novel, which makes me so happy. Normally the first few chapters are strong and then they start to fade. Not with Poison. I was drawn in from word one and I was even scolded for reading at work - I literally couldn't put it down.

I'd love to see more, and was highly depressed when I saw that the incredible author has left us. She was an amazing writer and the world is sorely missing out..



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Review: Shade

Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



I never thought that this book would be one of my all time favorites when I picked it up. But, this book and the entire series for that matter, are the ALL TIME favorites. They are amazingly written, have real, believable characters that are extremely relate-able to today's youth - which may or may not be a good thing.

I say this because in this book some real issues are presented such as drug use and sex. Gasp! teens thinking about having sex. For most people it's a fact of life that we wish to throw under the carpet and forget about. However Jeri Smith-Ready shows us that yes it does happen, yes teens are PEOPLE too. Just because they're young doesn't mean that they're stupid (as we can see from Aura, the main character.)

Aura and her boyfriend of the time Logan, are planning to consummate their relationship when things go bad. Like, really bad. Logan dies when he does what many teens might do - mix drugs and alcohol. He didn't know any better and he died because of it.

Fast forward a tiny bit and Aura meets Zachary the new Scottish exchange student at her school. There are instant sparks between then but Aura feels like crap because, wait for it, she can see/hear/speak to ghosts and Logan is one of them. So because Logan isn't gone, not for Aura at least, she feels super guilty for falling for Zach at the same time that her recently dead boyfriend is hanging around. And, they still have a relationship, kinda.

This book is amazing. While it is sci-fi(y) and has huge elements of paranormal romance in it, it's still got real contemporary issues that many teens will face in their lifetime. It's a real eye opener and will make you laugh, then make you cry.

Perfect book, I highly recommend it to anyone.



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Pagan Blog Prompts

So, lately I've just been posting my book reviews and that's fine and dandy, but I think that I'm also going to be doing a weekly post on Paganism.

I am Wiccan and my faith is a huge part of my life. I used to be Christian and my faith meant little to nothing for me. I went to church every Sunday and that was about it. In the summer I went to Vacation Bible School and taught a class here and there, but nothing more. When I was 13 I decided to leave the church. I didn't want to go to VBS in the summer, I didn't want to go to Sunday School. Sadly the church I went to was cliquish, if you can believe that. Everyone there had been going since they were born, and I was raised without religion until I was 7.

My mother is Protestant and my father was Catholic. When he passed away my mother had a religious turnabout, and since she wanted to make sure her children got into Heaven, she decided to have us baptized. Even from the age of 7 I couldn't understand the Christian faith. I thought that the Christian God sounded hypocritical on top of many other things. Luckily my mom is amazing and let me make the decision to stop going.

For a year or two I was content without being religious. I was trying to get through middle school, and then high school and sleeping in was more important to me than getting up and going to church. When I got to be 15/16 though I started to do some research. By the time I was 17 I identified with the "Pagan" label, and then later on I discovered Wicca.

When I was 18 I found the woman who is now my high priestess in my coven and we started that together. I've come a long way in the past few years when it comes to my faith (I'll be 21 in less than a month) but I still have a lot to learn and a lot to think about. That's where Pagan Blog Prompts comes in. Every Thursday they have a new Pagan themed prompt and one of my Coven sisters just so happens to be a co-admin now. So, in addition to my book reviews and any other random posts I decide to throw on here, I am also going to try to faithfully (hah, pun) blog about the prompts that the ladies on PBP provide.

In love and light.

Ristoria.

Review: Elemental

Elemental by Emily White

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



It was super interesting, although it was hard to wrap my head around some of the aspects of the novel. I don't usually enjoy sci-fi novels, but this one had enough romance in it to keep me satisfied.

A lot of this was hard to keep straight because of all the made up names and the fact that the races of people seemed to be human with normal English language but had some extras thrown in. Still not sure if the Kofra is like an emperor or more like a human-like god.

Still, enjoyed this enough to be waiting for the second book "Fae."



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