Series Spotlight: Charlie N. Holmberg

 Hello friends! I hope that you are all having a beautiful spring and that life is amazing. I am so excited to be writing this post today. If you are a follower of this blog you may know that I am a longtime fan and follower of incredible fantasy author: Charlie N. Holmberg. I have posted about her before, but today I am here to talk about her newest series, Star Mother. If you are a fan of fantasy, romance, and immersive storytelling, Holmberg's writing is for you. 

I am a lover of mythology. Especially beautiful stories that attempt to explain something mundane and natural. For example: Echo and Narcissus, as the name tells you this myth explains the origin of echoes and the Narcissus flower. Another example: Persephone and Hades, this myth explains the creation of seasons, with Demeter grieving her daughter and refusing to allow plants to grow during her time in the underworld (Fall and Winter). The books I am talking about today do much of the same. They take place on Earth hundreds of years ago. (To be more specific, it's probably not our earth. The locations are purely fictional and Gods and Demigods are pretty prevalent, but it looks like our earth and has much of the same lifestyle that would have been seen here hundreds of years ago). The people worship the Sun, with temples and shrines built to him in most every town. With that very basic backstory, let's dive in to book one! 

Star Mother by Charlie N. Holmberg

Star Mother follows a young woman named Ceris, who is soon to be married. The marriage is arranged, but Ceris cares for the young man and hopes that he will learn to love her as well. One night she sneaks out of her home to go to him, but instead finds him hidden away in the woods with another woman. They whisper of their love to each other and their desires to be together. Ceris goes home broken-hearted, knowing that her betrothed will never love her back. Shortly after this discovery the Sun temple in town is lit by an other-worldly flame. The Sun God has chosen her town to provide the woman who will be the next Star Mother. Star Mothers are exactly what they sound like: they bear and birth new stars. When a star dies a mortal woman goes to the kingdom of the Sun God and they make a new star. The Star Mother bears the child for nine months before giving birth and dying. No woman has ever survived the birth of a star. Ceris decides to accept the task. If she becomes the next Star Mother she can break her engagement without any questions or rumors. Her betrothed will be free to marry the one he loves and Ceris will live on in fame and renown. Ceris meets the Sun God, spends her nine months in his kingdom, and gives birth to her star. Days later, she awakes. She has survived. I won't spoil the rest of the story for you, but I can honestly say that it is one of my favorite books I have ever read. The rest of the book is full of adventure and romance and everything you could wish for in a fantasy novel. It links the story to worldly things, like myths often do, which is my favorite part. It makes the story seem more real to me. I look out at the stars and I remember this story and it makes the real world seem a little more... romantic, I guess. 

Star Father by Charlie N. Holmberg

While Star Mother could easily have been a standalone novel, I will be forever grateful to Holmberg for not leaving it there. I had to know what came of the Sun God after the previous story ends. This book takes place years after the first, during a war between the Sun and Moon. This fight leads to the Sun being knocked out of the sky and landing on Earth. While the world is confused and frightened by the loss of the sun, Ai and her family are also attempting to care for a strange man that just showed up on their property one day. Hmm... who could that be? Anyways, his secret gets out, the Moon sends soldiers to try to take him out on Earth, they do not succeed, and the Sun is reinstated to his place of glory in the sky. Yay! All done, right? Nope! He managed to fall in love with Ai (a mortal) during his time on earth and she is not willing to give him up so easily. The rest of the book follows her and her eclectic group of friends at they traipse around the world attempting to reunite her with her lost love. It is beautiful and romantic and crazy immersive. We meet godlings and demons and the Moon and it's just really gorgeous. It definitely made me cry. In a good way though. 

That is my review of the Star Mother series by Charlie N. Holmberg! I highly suggest that you check it out and after you fall in love with it make sure you check out the rest of Holmberg's books as well. Thanks for stopping by to read this post, make sure you comment and let me know what you thought! Also feel free to comment or message me if you have ideas for future posts or are looking for recommendations. See you all soon! 

Top Five Favorite Books of ALL TIME

Hello fellow bookworms! Today is a special day, and for this special day I have a special blog post. Today is MY BIRTHDAY! And what better way to celebrate than with my favorite thing on earth... books!! So to celebrate my special day I decided to share with you all my top five favorite books of all time! Some of these are new books that simply swept me off my feet, and some have stayed with me for years.

Usually when I do these lists I list them without any particular order, because you and I probably have different tastes and I want you to read them and decide your favorites for yourself, but since todays list is about my favorites I will rank them from fifth down, leaving my very favorite book for last. I think that's all I have to say for now... so let's go!!

5. House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig

This incredible book caught my eye with it's gorgeous cover art. Then I read the summary and realized it was a twelve dancing princesses retelling and I was sold.  I've read my fair share of fairy tale retellings. A lot. Like, a whole lot... but this one blew my mind. It has all of the magic and romance that I look for in a fairy tale, but it also scared the socks off me. It is beautifully written with a gorgeous setting and is also one of the creepiest and eeriest books I have ever read. I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone. All of you. Go read it and then come back so we can talk about it. 

4. The Host by Stephanie Meyer

I remember reading this book in junior high at the height of my Twilight obsession. The movies were coming out, everyone was wearing Team Edward and Team Jacob t-shirts, my best friend and I had a sleepover and went to Walmart at midnight to buy Eclipse the day it was released, and a friend of my moms from work made me laminated bookmarks featuring Jasper quotes. Life was good. Then I found this book and I was SO excited. More Twilight! But it's not. It's so much better. It's wonderfully written and holds such a nostalgic place in my heart. I think this was my first taste of romance in books. I remember re-reading the conversations between Ian and Wanda and simply swooning. If you've never read this one, definitely give it a try. Not the movie. Don't watch the movie. 

3. A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

This is a recent read that quickly rocketed to the top of my favorites. If you've read any of my other posts you will know that I adore Greek mythology. (If you haven't, check it out! It's the post two down from this one!) A lot of Greek mythology retellings feature the Trojan War, (Song of Achilles, Daughters of Sparta, The Silence of the Girls, etc...) but this book brings all of those stories together into one beautiful homage to women. The book switches between characters chapter by chapter, telling all of their stories in equal format, mortals and goddesses alike, all pulled together by commentary by the muse Calliope. It is a powerful read and I highly recommend it. 

2. Star Mother by Charlie N. Holmberg 

I am a huge fan of Holmberg's work and I have my kindle set to preorder every book she puts out. I forced myself to choose only one of her books for this list, otherwise she may have taken it over entirely. This book is beautiful and romantic. It tells the story of the creation of the stars, which requires a young woman volunteering to be the star mother. Star mothers never survive the birth of their star, but they bring respect and renown to their families. Until one survives. I tore through this story in one night, finishing around three a.m. It was worth it. 

1. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

Here we are at number one!!! This book has been at the top of my favorites since I read it for the first time in elementary school. I saw myself in a character in a book for the first time and it felt amazing. I loved reading along as a girl my age, who almost shared my name (it's my middle name, but still), went on incredible adventures. And she accomplished those adventures using her talents of reading and writing, things I was also good at! This book will remain near to my heart for a long time. Please read it, I promise you'll enjoy it. There is also a movie. You may watch this movie, but read the book first. The movie doesn't stick super close to its source material, but it's good for nostalgia reasons. (It also began my celebrity crush on Paul Bettany, which continues to this day.) 

Thank you to everyone who reads this! I have loved writing on this blog for the past year or so and I hope to continue for the foreseeable future, so thank you. Let me know if you've read any of these and what you thought! See you all soon!