Review - The Tree of Everlsating Knowledge by Christine Nolfi

Title and Author: The Tree of Everlsating Knowledge by Christine Nolfi

Publisher: Christine Nolfi

Publication Date: March 15th, 2012

Paperback/Hardcover: 378

Genre: Thriller

Summary:

A savage rape on hallowed ground. Secrets buried for decades by the town’s most influential family.

Now Ourania D’Andre will learn the Great Oak’s secrets as construction begins at the Fagan mansion. She can’t afford to turn down a job that promises to stir up the long-buried guilt—and the passion—she shares with powerful Troy Fagan.
She’s already juggling the most important job of her career with her new responsibilities as a foster mother for young Walt and Emma Korchek. And there’s a hard, older man on the construction crew with eyes void of emotion—cold and killing. The secrets of his brutal past will pose a grave threat to the children in her care. Will she find the courage to face him?

Review:

I have received this book from the author in exchange of an honest review and The Tree of Everlasting Knowledge turned out to be a great read.

The Tree of Everlasting Knowledge is the story of two people who are connected by a tragedy and are trying to move on without being able to forget. It is also a story about unraveling secrets and protecting the people you love.

I really enjoyed the characters in this book, how their story is well-developed, and the way their lives are all intertwined somehow. There's a love/hate relationship between Ourania and Troy that manages to be funny and sweet and at times heartbreaking. The fact they had to stop and decide how and if they wanted their relationship to continue despite everything they had gone through made the story real and the characters approachable and easy to relate to.

The whole plot of the book centers on the quest for the truth and the knowledge about the past and the fact every single one of us can choose to define family in any way we want. Ourania and ther foster kids are a proof of that

All in all, I really enjoyed this book. The author was careful enough to create a back story that enhanced the plot and the characters. Nolfi was also able to address several different cultures in and interesting and respecting way. The actiona nd mystery were also quite interesting.

The Tree of Everlasting Knowledge is very well-written and the story is extremely interesting. The characters seemed real to me and so did their struggles.

If you enjoy a good thriller, with well-developed characters and an interesting plot, I’m sure you will enjoy this story. 

Rating: Somewhere Between Worth Your Time and Must Read (4 ½ Stars)

Goodreads

Guest Post - Meeting up with an old friend: How characters are sometimes created by Sara Walsh

Guest Post by Auhtor Sara Walsh

Meeting up with an old friend: How characters are sometimes created.

I’m often asked how I create my characters. The answer is that it depends.  A character has to compliment the novel you want to write--events in the story will evolve from their choices and actions. But sometimes a character and a story simply don’t match, no matter how much you want them to. And long before I wrote The Dark Light, I created a character called Mia Stone who was a great example of that.

I’d planned to write a dark and creepy novel about a girl who makes a deal with a demon in order to save her life. That young woman was Mia. About halfway through writing, it was clear that something wasn’t working. I realized that the problem was Mia.  She just didn’t fit! She was bright and inquisitive, and could too easily shrug off the problems I was throwing at her. She had a lightness that didn’t fit with the atmosphere I wanted to create. I hated to let her go, because she was such fun to be around. And I hated to change what I loved about her, simply to make her fit the story. Not sure what to do, I moved on to write something else.

Several years later, I was on a road trip from Kansas City to Wyoming and was talking about a news event about a young boy who’d suddenly reappeared almost a decade after mysteriously vanishing. We were out on the plains, and the story got me thinking about all the ways a person could vanish in such wide open spaces. What might really be out there? That’s when I came up with the basic idea behind The Dark Light: A young boy vanishes and his sister resolves to find him. But who could that sister be?

I needed a character who didn’t have all the answers but who wasn’t afraid to do whatever it took to get her brother back. I needed someone who was independent and determined, so we could watch how she’d adapt when totally out of her element. And I needed someone who was fun. The story was going to have plenty of fantasy and romance and adventure. Someone ponderous and deep thinking just wasn’t going to fit.

That’s when I remembered Mia. Everything about the story fell into place as soon as I thought of her. Mia belonged in the The Dark Light! This was her story! So, characters can come into being in all kinds of strange ways. Sometimes, it just takes a while for them to find their right place.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The Dark Light

Jacket Copy & Author Bio

Jacket Copy

Mysterious lights have flickered above Crownsville for as long as Mia can remember. And as far as she's concerned, that's about the only interesting thing to happen in her small town.

That is, until Sol arrives. Mia's not one to fall for just any guy, but she can't get Sol--or the brilliant tattoo on his back--out of her mind.

Then Mia's brother goes missing, and Mia's convinced that Sol knows more than he's sharing. But getting closer to Sol means reevaluating everything Mia once believed to be true. Because Sol's not who Mia thought he was--and neither is she.

Bio

Sara Walsh is British, but happily lives in Annapolis, Maryland. She graduated college with a degree in psychology, but soon decided that telling stories was much more fun. When not writing, Sara is usually reading, drowning in tea, or frolicking around town with the world's cutest St. Bernard. The Dark Light is her first novel.

It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

 

This weekly meme is hosted by Sheila at One Person's Journey Through a World of Books.

 

Read this past week:

Dreamless - Josephine Angelini

Leif - Abbi Glines 

Currently Reading: 

Original Sin - Lisa Desrochers

Upcoming:

Insurgent - Veronica Roth

How was your week?

What are you reading this week and are you enjoying it

Book Series Giveaway

It's time another book series giveaway!


You can win your choice of one of the following books from the Born in Series by Nora Roberts:

All you have to do to enter is fill in the rafflecopter form below. Let me know if you have any questions.

This giveaway is open to everyone as long as the bookdepository ships to your country.  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Covers - Born In Series by Nora Robers

I found four different book covers for each book in the Born In Series by Nora Roberts and thought it would be interesting to compare them. Here they are:


Born In Fire Covers:

Born In Ice Covers:

Born In Shame Covers:

So, what do you think? Which covers do you like the most?
Personally, my favorite covers are the first ones for each book. Simple but very pretty. :)

What People Are Saying - Born In Series by Nora Roberts

In case you haven't come across this series before, here's what a few  book bloggers and reviewers are saying about Nora Roberts and her Born In Series.

Praise for Nora Roberts:

"Nora Roberts never disappoints me. Never. I love the way she tell her story, the characters she creates, the settings of her stories... in short I love everything. "

      - Ummi @ Goodreads

What bloggers and reviewers are saying about the books:

 

 

"The characters are the heart of this story. It isn't often in a book I can empathise so well with a character that I'd cry big fat tears, as if I was in there. I wanted to hug Maggie, I wanted to throw my own words at her mother. Plus this morning I wore that stupid grin on my face going "awww" when Rogan did something sweet. "

   - Ria @ Goodreads

"I would recommend this story to all who love to hear the sounds of old Erin...who love characters who challenge each other mightily, as well as the interpersonally relationships between Margaret Mary, her sister, and mother. "

   - Sandy @ Hodgepodgespv

"When it comes down to it. I just loved this one. I loved the intimacy Brianna and Grayson shared. I laughed and cried. I even yelled at it a couple of times. Scary how much this book has opened my eyes to the world of romance novels. Either way, a straight-up fantastic read"
     - Hannah @ Among Stories

"Nora Roberts at her best: awesome characters, great setting, a wonderful love story and a great deal of humor!"
     - Melissa @ Goodreads

"What an awesome conclusion to the series! I think this might even be my favorite of the series, but then Born of Ice was excellent too.
Murphy was a fantastic, yummy, dreamy, wonderful hero that I couldn't get enough of and if Shannon was a little cold, she had reasons for acting this way."
     - Fani @ Goodreads

"Funny, intense and cry-able. In a few words, loved it."
     - Katherine @ Goodreads

Book Series: Born In Series by Nora Roberts

 
This week the book series I chose to be featured is the Born In Series by Nora Roberts! This is a series I really enjoyed.

This post is an introduction to the series and the next one will showcase the opinion of serveral book bloggers about the series.

                       

Books:

Title and Author: Born in Fire (Born In 01)

Publisher: Jove

Publication Date: January 1st, 1994

Paperback/Hardcover: 340

Genre: Contemporary Romance

The Concannon sisters of western Ireland are modern women of ambition and talent, bound by the timeless spirit of their land. This is a tale of a fiery artist who can't hide from her past--or a love that is. Gifted, reclusive, stubborn, free-spirited...Maggie Concannon is a glassmaker whose exquisite works are more than mere objects of beauty, but reflections of her own true nature. One man saw the soul in her art, and vowed to help this complex woman build a lucrative career. When gallery owner Rogan Sweeney came to Maggie's isolated studio, her heart was inflamed by their fierce attraction--and her dark past was slowly healed by a gentle and forgiving love..

Title and Author: Born in Ice (Born In 02)

Publisher: Jove

Publication Date: January 1st, 1995

Paperback/Hardcover: 368

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Brianna Concannon's bed-and-breakfast became a cold and empty place. But that was fine with Brianna. She enjoyed the peace and quiet, even when the icy winds howled at her window. But this year she's expecting an unusual guest--mystery writer Grayson Thane from America. A restless wanderer with a painful past, he plans to spend the cold winter alone. But sometimes fate has a plan of its own. Sometimes a fire can be born in ice..

 

Title and Author: Born in Shame (Born In 03)

Publisher: Jove

Publication Date: January 1st, 1996

Paperback/Hardcover: 371

Genre: Contemporary Romance

A talented graphic artist, Shannon Bodine's life revolved around her job at a prestigious New York advertising agency. But her world was turned upside down whe she learned the identity of her real father: Thomas Concannon. Respecting her late mother's last wish, Shannon reluctantly traveled to County Clare. There, her loneliness and shame melted away in the embrace of the family she never knew existed. And amid the lush Irish landscape steeped in mysticism and legend, she discovered the possibility of a love that was meant to be...

You can find Nora Roberts at:

Official Website

Link Your Reviews

We all want to promote our reviews, don't we? This is a way of letting other people know about them. Just leave a link to your review below.


Go visit the other reviews and let people know what you think about them!

This will is weekly feature posted on Thursdays. :)

My Book Boyfriend

My Book Boyfriend is a weekly meme, hosted by Missie at The Unread Reader. It is a weekly meme where we talk about a literary crush including stats, a picture of what you imagine he looks like and some quotes from him that make you swoon.  If you are interested in participating please check out the My Book Boyfriend Introduction Page over at Missie's blog The Unread Reader.

This week my book boyfriend is:

Hector Delos from Starcrossed and Dreamless by Josephine Angelini

 

 

 

  

Stats

Status: Hector is a Scion able to breathe under water. He's an amazing fighter and Lucas cousin. He's extremely strong-willed.

Age:

Height: Tall

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Curly, blonde hair

More info: Hector gives the best hugs ever! He loves to fight, is fun and always says what's on hi mind. He loves his family more than anything

 

"She spun around and had to tilt her head almost all the way back to find the face above the enormous male chest that confronted her. Under golden curls, bright blue eyes drilled down into Helen's.

It crossed her mind that he looked like a blond version of
Michelangelo's Adam on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, newly released from plaster and walking around in three gigantic dimensions."

"And just so you know, I'm not about to apologize for making sure you don't get kidnapped by one of those batty women running around the island"

““Hector!”
Helen was out front, jumping into Hector’s arms along with Kate, in about half a second.
Hector picked up both of them easily, one girl to an arm. Although it usually took Hector about five minutes to say something that annoyed the bejeezus out of Helen, when he smiled and held out his arms for a hug she forgot how
much of a pain in the ass he usually was. Hanging from Hector’s neck was like reaching up and hugging the sun—nothing but nurturing warmth and light.
“I could get used to this!” Hector chuckled, holding them both up in the air and squeezing them until they were breathless.

'"Because I've been trained to think tactically and find my opponents weaknesses since the day I was born."'

 

If you are wondering what I imagine Hector to look like, Josephine posted a picture of him that I think it's almost perfect. You can find it on her pinterest HERE.

 So, what do you think? Isn't Hector great?