Tolkien Blog Party 2017 ~ Tag

Hamlette over at The Edge of the Precipice is once again hosting A Tolkien Blog Party!!  And I almost forgot about it!  My life's been kinda crazy.  Anyway, here a is lovely tag she put together.

1. How long have you been a Tolkien fan?

  I've been a Tolkien fan for 4 years now.  Gosh, that doesn't seem right!

  2. Has your love of Middle-earth affected your life?

  Yes, in too many ways to count!!  

Keith Parkinson ~ Minas Tirith

  3. If you had to take the One Ring to Mordor, which character would you choose for your sole companion?

  Seriously?  Ummm, I think Sam.  Maybe Merry.

  4. Which is scarier, Shelob or the Balrog?

  Well I personally find Shelob scarier.  It's a giant spider!!

  5. Which two towers do you think Tolkien was referring to in the title The Two Towers?  (i.e. Orthanc, Barad-dûr, Cirith Ungol, Minas Morgul, or Minas Tirith)

  I believe he was referring to Orthanc and Cirith Ungol.

  6. Whose wardrobe would you like to have?

  Eowyn's.  She wears a lot of my favorite colors, plus I really like the style.  Although, Elrond's wardrobe would be cool too, especially his armor in The Hobbit.  All gold and glimmering!

This dress.  Gimme.

And this one, so simple but sturdy.

Simple, but elegant.  Totally love the belt.

I MUST HAVE THIS!!!

  7. What do you think an Ent Draught would taste like?

  Well, it says that it has a very earthy flavor, so maybe something like Celestial Seasonings Tension Tamer tea, or maybe nettles tea.  (I hate the stuff) 

  8. Where in Middle-earth would you like to live?

  Rohan.  Horses, wide open plains, and wind!!

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  9. Do you have any Tolkien-related opinions that surprise other people?

  I don't think so...but I might.  I really don't know.

  10. List up to ten of your favorite lines/quotations from the books or movies.

  Now, these aren't my top ten favorite quotes.

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  And an extra meme that is so true.

 

Water Princess, Fire Prince: Kendra E. Ardnek ~ Review

When Clara Mandras and Andrew Stevenson are thrown into the world of Rizkaland and told they must save it from an evil Sorceress, neither one is very happy.  But as they come to know the people of Rizkaland, they find themselves wanting to help.  Clara and Andrew must go through many things together and alone, before they achieve their goal...banishing the Lady Dragon to her island.

A lover of Portal Fantasy, I found Water Princess, Fire Prince a very well done portrayal that had depth without being a deep read.  The main characters were well written and easy to connect with.  I liked Clara's spunk and strength- mental and physical - but that she also had fears to overcome.  Her personality is similar to mine, and it was easy to put myself in her place.

With Andrew, I have younger siblings so I understood very well the sense of responsibility he feels towards them and then the panic when he realizes he is no longer there for them.  I really admired how he rose "from the ashes" of his old life, and became a strong, dependable Fire Prince.

My favorite minor characters were Jasmine, the Leaf Princess, Jill Anna and Jakob.  I enjoyed Jasmine's non-stop chatter, the Leaf Princess's sweetness and mischievousness, Jill Anna's quiet, but strong and loyal personality, and how understanding, caring and protective Jakob was of the women in his life.

The science-y side of things was very intriguing: the cylindrical world, the seven different colors of water and their uses, and the leaves aren't green.

There was also a strong faith in Alphego (God) that underlined everything without being preachy.  On the whole, I think what i liked the most was how Kendra realistically portrayed the struggles - emotional, mental and physical - that we all go through at different time in our lives.

I give this book 4 stars and I would not recommend it to anyone under 14.

Kendra E. Ardnek ~ Bookshelf Overhaul ~ Cover Reveal.

  I am very excited to bring to you today...

The new covers of Kendra E. Ardnek's published books!!!  I have been looking forward to revealing these for a while and they are absolutely gorgeous guys!

But first, let me introduce you to Kendra.

Kendra E. Ardnek loves fairytales and twisting them in new and exciting ways. She's been or acting them on her dozen plus cousins and siblings for years. "Finish your story, Kendra," is frequently heard at family gatherings. Her sole life goal has always been to grow up and be an author of fantasy and children's tales that glorify God and His Word.

You can connect with Kendra on her website, blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

Now for the beautiful, lovely covers!!

Two twins in a fairy tale world must find their Fairy Godmother before their eighteenth birthday, lest they forever be stuck with the other’s gift. 

As some of you may know, Kendra just re-released Sew with new content.  Now it also has a darling new cover and I'm totally loving it!  To be honest, the old cover irritated me because the photo-shopping was pretty amateur (not that I could have done any better!) and while it fit the story...it just didn't fit.  So I really, really love this one.  The way the sword is stuck through, and how the font turns into thread on a needle that's wrapped around the hilt of the sword making it look like the leather wrapping?  Totally cool!  And the pink!  It's Robin's pink.

You can find the book on Goodreads, CreateSpace and SmashWords.

And for those of you who don't know what has been revised, here's how Kendra put it.

"I sent this book to my kindle, tore it to shreds, then retyped the whole thing, making every word fight to stay in the book. I completely rewrote one chapter, and added/expanded several scenes, focusing on character development and pacing, in particular Robin’s character."

And now on to the next one!!

A prince’s quest for allies against his misery uncle and a madcap race to get home for a wedding.

Now, Kendra is planning to re-release all of the rest of these books, but so far only Sew has been, so the only links I have for the rest, are 'Add on Goodreads'.  But this cover though...while it's not my favorite of the new Bookania covers, it's still pretty good.  I really liked the swords in the cake on the previous cover and is it really bad or what that I only noticed what the above painting is while I was typing this?  Sorry, guess that shows how out of it I've been!  Okay, now that I've realized what the painting is, I like this cover a lot more!!  Still not my favorite though!!  I do like that she has Maddie on the cover, because she does play a fairly big role in the story.

For those of you wondering what Kendra plans to update in this one, here's what she said.

"This book has one added chapter, a few (potentially) added scenes, and a severe edit. Again, focus is going to Robin’s character development. I hadn’t the maturity to completely handle her emotional situation when I wrote this book, and now I intend to fix that."

As someone who has been privileged to read a fair amount of the updates for Take, I think I can safely say that you won't be disappointed.

And...

Prince Arthur’s quest to take back his kingdom, and Casperl’s quest to find out how, exactly, he’s a prince.

I'm trying to decide whether I like Sew or Kingdom's new cover more.  I really don't know!!  The updates to Kingdom though are the ones I'm most excited about.  Mainly it's just additions like Part 2 AKA book 3.5 The Quest for a Quince AKA Casperl's story!!  I got to beta read it guys, and let me tell you IT'S SOOOOOOO COOOL!!!!!  More importantly....I WAS RIIIIGHT!!  I WAS RIIIGHT!!!  Okay, enough bragging!!  I really like how Kendra used the same font for the titles on all the books.  I think it gives the series a unity that it didn't have before.  Plus all the covers now have a whimsical feel to them (which is what Kendra is aiming for) that none of them possessed before.  Previously, what you found inside wasn't really what you would expect from the cover design.  Now it does, and I believe your cover having the same feeling as your story is very important. 

Goodreads

And now for the other books!!**

Jen knows she had an imagination once – how far will she go to get it back? 

Now, this is my least favorite of the new covers.  I think does look more professional then the old cover, but it doesn't really grab me.  Pretty much the only 'revision' this will be receiving, is a thorough edit.

Goodreads

When two teens are pulled into another world, fire and water must work together to defeat a dragon.

This cover!!!  I was (still am a bit) partial to the old one, but WOWO!!!  This is totally amazing!!  Those of you who have read the book will know what I mean when I say "Isn't it cool how she has the Blue and Orange and has them mixing into the Purple!!!!  Tooooooo cool!!!

Mostly this will just be receiving a thorough edit, but she will be adding a bonus scene at the end.

Goodreads 

Only the Tela Du stands in Amber’s way for ruling Rizkaland forever. Petra would much rather find her long-lost sisters than fight a Lady Dragon.

And this!!!!  *swoons, falling off the chair and hits head on wall which revives me*  Again, I really didn't like the old cover, I disliked it only a leetle less then the old Sew.  But this, THIS!!!  FANTASTIC!!!  And once again, she used the same font on both books in the series.  Thumbs up.  This too will just be receiving an edit.

Goodreads

We all love giveaways, don't we?  Well, this cover reveal is part of Kendra's Bookshelf Overhaul...the Grand Prize?  Signed hard-copies of ALL her books!!  Is that some Grand Prize or what?  Comments on this post DO count for points.

Well that will be all for right now, Folks!  See you later!!

** The below covers were designed by Alea Harper over at Elvish Pens, Fantastical Writings 

Also, my apologies for low quality on this post.  I should be asleep, the formatting keeps acting up and my internet keeps blipping out.