Author: cherylmahoney

I'm a book review blogger and writer. I have published four novels, The Wanderers; The Storyteller and Her Sisters; and The People the Fairies Forget; and The Lioness and the Spellspinners. All can be found on Amazon as an ebook and paperback. In my day job, I'm a Marketing Specialist. Find me on Twitter (@MarvelousTales) and GoodReads (MarvelousTales).

Book Review: Parallel

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews, Science Fiction1 Comment

I slipped one more parallel universe book in just before reporting on my challenges: Parallel by Lauren Miller.  This is another one that does a beautiful job exploring how different decisions can radically change a person’s life…while being totally different than the previous two parallel universe books I read this year!

The story begins just before Abby’s 18th birthday, and her life has gone all off of her careful plans.  Due to a freak combination of circumstances, she’s been cast as a supporting character in a Hollywood action movie, putting college on hold.  But then she wakes up the next day–in an unfamiliar dorm room at Yale, with two sets of memories for her 17th birthday.  In one she took an acting class; in the other she wound up in astronomy–and now she’s living the consequences of the alternate choice.  But she only gets memories of the intervening year as she lives forward a year later–and nothing in set in stone because that other Abby is still making her choices.

In focus this is closer to Pivot Point than to A Thousand Pieces of You, in terms of being about the changes in one person’s life, rather than epically different worlds where entire societies are re-shaped.  Likewise, this focuses on how our choices–sometimes seemingly small ones–can change everything.  And that was awesome. Continue reading “Book Review: Parallel” →

Friday Flower Fairies

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations3 Comments

Something a little different this Friday…I wanted to share a recent craft project that my fellow readers of fantasy will appreciate!  I got together with a craftier-than-I friend a little while ago and spent the afternoon making flower fairies.

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These were lots of fun, but I had even more fun with my next one…bringing to life my Good Fairy Marjoram, who adores pink and sheds sparkles everywhere she goes!

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Movie Review: The Walk

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews1 Comment

The WalkI’ve been working my way through the movies I didn’t watch last year, and picked up The Walk on impulse from Redbox the other day.  I finally found one I wish I’d seen in theatres!

The Walk recounts the story of Philippe Petit, real-life daredevil and stuntman who in 1974 hung a high-wire and walked between the World Trade Towers.  Philippe is played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt (with a slightly awkward French accent, but I adjusted), telling the tale while standing in the Statue of Liberty’s torch.  He recounts his days performing stunts on the streets of Paris, of falling in love with a photo of the Towers, and of gathering accomplices to help him achieve his dream of walking the wire between them.

Basically, this is a heist movie.  Only instead of a robbery, Philippe is trying to achieve a dream.  They have no permit, no permission to do this, and he has to figure out surveillance of the towers, find an inside man, and orchestrate a complicated plan to make all this happen.  Because it’s his dream.

Philippe goes up to the roof of the Towers earlier on in the movie, and Philippe as narrator describes it, “But somehow I gather the strength to whisper, whisper so the demons won’t hear.  ‘It’s impossible…but I’ll do it.’ ”  And that’s really what the whole movie was about—doing the impossible. Continue reading “Movie Review: The Walk” →

Exploring My Bookshelves…for Absent Dust Jackets

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations2 Comments

Exploring My Bookshelves For EveryoneAnother fun question this week for Exploring My Bookshelves hosted by Addlepates and Book Nerds.  Each Friday, bloggers are invited to post a picture of their bookshelf, and write in response to a prompt about said-bookshelf.

Today’s prompt is…a hardback missing its dust jacket.

I have a lot of very old hardbacks with no dust jackets, but I’m not certain all of them had dust jackets to begin with.  In the case of Silver Woven in My Hair, though, I know there used to be a dust jacket.

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It’s not altogether accurate to describe the dust jacket as missing.  It didn’t just got lost–I threw it out.  I hated the cover, and I thought the book looked far more elegant without it!

Book Review: The War of Words

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, ReviewsLeave a comment

I was intrigued primarily by the premise of The War of Words by Amy Neftzger – because how cool is the idea of words used as magical weapons?

Set in a fantasy world mid-way through a war, the story begins with Kelsey, a young soldier fighting in that war.  A sorcerer has cast a spell over the kingdom to spread confusion, while endless shadows attack the king’s army in a series of battles.  Kelsey hears a legend of a hidden book no one can read which holds the secret to winning the war.  With her friends, she sets out to find the book and unlock its mystery.

The words as weapons idea did turn out to be very cool, especially as it grows increasingly literal by the end of the book.  The sorcerer uses words and the distortion of words to fight, creating increased confusion and challenges to communication—and eventually, words as literal weapons with all the power of arrows.  Kelsey and her friends have to find clever ways to fight back, first by preserving the meaning of words and then by magically spreading truth. Continue reading “Book Review: The War of Words” →