Svetlana's Reads and Views

Name of Book: The Queen of Sparta Author: T.S. Chaudhry ISBN: 978-1-78279-750-0 Publisher: Top Hat Books Type of book: Sparta, Greece, Persia, viking, 480 PME-477 PME, wars, Rome, Valkyrie, Saka, Indus River, kings, the 300, Sparta vs Athens, Argos, battles between city states, alliances, politics, Oracle of Apollo, 327 PME Year it was published: 2014 Summary: Xerxes, the Great King of Persia invades Greece in 480 B.C. at the head of over a million barbarians. 300 Spartan’s led by King Leonidas die heroically blocking the Persian advance at the pass of Thermopylae. The Persians are poised to conquer all of Greece. The only one standing in their way is a woman – Gorgo, Queen of Sparta. Though history has relegated her role to an interested bystander, what if she played a central part at the heart of the Greek resistance to the Persian invasion. What if she kept her true role a secret in order to play it more effectively? What if she was hiding other secrets too –...

Name of Book: Blood Mission Author: Joni Parker ISBN: 978-1-5029618-4-6 Publisher: Village Green Press Part of a Series: The Seaward Isle Saga Type of book: fantasy, action, elves, half elves, water elves, figuring out things, soldiering, missions, blood mission, siblings, friendship, male vs female tasks Year it was published: 2013 Summary: When the lives of the two most powerful Elves on Seaward Isle are threatened in a plot by the rogue Elf Mellen, Prince Darin of the Water Elves and Lord Odin of the Tree Elves charge Alex, a young female tracker with a Blood Mission—to hunt him down and kill him, or die in the attempt. Blood Mission puts the fate of the kings and the safety of the inhabitants of Seaward Isle in the hands of a teen-age half-elf warrior. Can Alex survive her mission long enough to discover her own true destiny? Characters: For me personally, the characters were a bit more developed and interesting than in previous books, and to an extent, ...

Title of the book:  The Art and Science of Healing with Light; The 7 principles of healing chronic pain Author: Mark J Rogers, Nike Azoros Publisher: self published? Publishing Date: 2014 ISBN: 9781500995607 Summary: Chronic pain has reached epidemic proportions but it is not a disease. Chronic pain is a genuine physical problem and its epidemic is being spread by the very treatments the doctors are prescribing. Over thirty percent of patients across the world present with back, neck, or head pain, the majority of whom are in chronic pain, but all doctors offer is a prescription for painkillers and a referral for intensive physical therapy. The patients never improve, in fact they get worse. Instead of receiving empathy and understanding they are often accused of being dishonest about the severity of their pain. Some are even sent for psychotherapy. 'The Art and Science of Healing - with Light' breaks that vicious cycle. Within it is explained to patients how th...

Name of Book:   Guy Erma and the Son of Empire Book I Kidnap Author: Sally Ann Melia ISBN: 9781508945956 Publisher: Self published Part of a Series: Guy Erma and the Son of Empire Type of book: Science fiction, aliens, politics, fighting, determination, kidnapping, manipulation, friendship, threats, modeling, destiny, class Year it was published: 2015 Summary: KIDNAP: Book 1 of Guy Erma and the Son of Empire An Action Adventure set a long time ago on a planet far far away... The new serialisation of Guy Erma and the Son of Empire! "Guy Erma and the Son of Empire by Sally Ann Melia is a fast-paced and exciting YA military sci-fi read. Don't miss this one!" — Brent LeVasseur, author and illustrator of the Aoléon The Martian Girl series. I don’t want to go… Do I have to go? 13-year-old Prince Teodor of Freyne knows his duty to the memory of his father and his kingdom. Always, he must help those less fortunate than himself. Yet a frightening n...

Name of Book: Diamond Head Author: Cecily Wong ISBN: 978-0-06-234543-1 Publisher: Harper Type of book: Hawaii, red string of fate, 1900s-1964, funeral, China, WWII, relationships, family, father/son, husband/wife, mother/daughter, Guandong, mistakes, wealth, soul mates, destiny Year it was published: 2015 Summary: A sweeping debut spanning China to Hawaii that follows four generations of a wealthy shipping family whose rise and decline is riddled with secrets and tragic love—from a young, powerful new voice in fiction “Diamond Head takes the family saga to a new and very high place. . . . Readers will follow the fortunes of this family breathlessly, hungry for more.” —Mary Gordon, author of Circling My Mother At the turn of the nineteenth-century, Frank Leong, a fabulously wealthy shipping industrialist, moves his family from China to the island of Oahu. But something ancient follows the Leongs to Hawaii, haunting them. The parable of the red string of fate, t...

Name of Book: Godwine the Kingmaker Author: Mercedes Rochelle ISBN: 978-1-78279-801-9 Publisher: Top Hat Books Type of book: England, Harold Godwineson, Vikings, Saxons, Danes, 1016-1052, kingdom, Edward the Confessor, religion, Normandy, division, common vs nobility, battles Year it was published: 2015 Summary: Harold Godwineson, the Last Anglo-Saxon King, owed everything to his father. Who was this Godwine, first Earl of Wessex and known as the Kingmaker? Was he an unscrupulous schemer, using King and Witan to gain power? Or was he the greatest of all Saxon Earls, protector of the English against the hated Normans? The answer depends on who you ask. He was befriended by the Danes, raised up by Canute the Great, given an Earldom and a wife from the highest Danish ranks. He sired nine children, among them four Earls, a Queen and a future King. Along with his power came a struggle to keep his enemies at bay, and Godwine's best efforts were brought down by the m...