Hey readers!  Somehow my summer escaped me.  Somewhere between the rainy, dreary weather that sucked up most of it and the crazy, whirlwind of August, I never quite mustered the steam to post on my blog.  I did read - of course, as it is as important as breathing to me - but I didn't get a chance to fill you in on the details.  So, my apologies for abandoning you to the digital netherworlds.  Now that school has started and I'm gradually figuring out my new routines, I hope to pop in more often.

I hope all of you enjoyed your summer and are having a great back-to-school season.  I am teaching kindergarten this year.  Quite a change from 6th grade in some ways.  Very much the same in others.  :-)  I sure do miss my 6th graders though.  Although, I'm sure I would get in trouble for calling them 6th graders since they are actually 7th graders now! :-)  I hope you are all doing well in middle school, having fun, making friends, and DOING YOUR HOMEWORK.  :-)

Ok, now on to books.  I've decided to jump in with the book I just finished a few minutes ago.  It is called Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore.  Excellent story!  Magic is woven through the story in a way that it doesn't take over the plot.  The heroine is strong, fiesty, but still discovering exactly who she is.  The last paragraph of the back of the book reads, "For fans of Libba Bray and Charlotte Bronte, this is a mesmerizing novel of deception, magic, and true love that will leave readers hungering for more."  They aren't kidding.  I read the last few pages and thought I might cry if she didn't write a sequel.  Thankfully, the sequel comes out in April.  This book has the heartwrenching pull of love similar to Twilight, for those of you who are fans.  And for those of you who are not, don't worry, it's a completely different story.  No vamps or werewolves at all.

Before I give you all the usual fun links, I want to share with you a couple of lines from the story that I think are masterful pieces of writing.  I love lines like this and wish I had wrote them.  :-)

Here they are:

"I listened and heard nothing but the slow creaks of an old house turning in for the night.  I blew out the  candle.  Sleep crept in with the darkness."  (pg. 27).

Isn't that great?  So visual and it pulls me right in.  When I was little, our house made tons of noise and I was prone to nightmares.  (I have a great imagination - sometimes too great).  My mom told me it was just the house settling after all the work of the day.  This line reminded me of lying in bed late at night listening to those noises and feeling comforted by the thought that our house took care of us and rested at night like we did.  See, I told you I have quite the imagination.

Ok, so here is the author's website:  http://www.jaclyndolamore.com/   I have to say her website doesn't give quite enough information on her books.  I'd like to see more about the books themselves.  But her blog is pretty good.  I enjoy her humor and her writing style.  You can find her blog here: http://jaclyndolamore.blogspot.com/

Here is a fun link to a theater company that works in automatons.  The video of the "spaghetti eater" is interesting.  http://www.cabaret.co.uk/

Here is a bio on Charlotte Bronte (classic author mentioned on the back of the book):  http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/bronte/cbronte/brontbio.html

In her blog, Jaclyn Dolamore mentions that she did a slight "nod" to Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte in Magic Under Glass.  Here is a link to the actual text of Jane Eyre.  Being a classic, it is in the public domain for copyright, meaning it can be published and read online for free.  http://www.literature.org/authors/bronte-charlotte/jane-eyre/

If you get a chance, Magic Under Glass is definitely worth the read!  She's a great writer and the plot is much better than the cover implies.  (I'm not a fan of real photographs on covers, as a general rule).

Well readers, it's time for me to hit the sack.  Past time, really.  I'm off to dream of silver keys and the agony of love.  Good night.  :-)

Mrs. H