finding a new home

    Hello, everyone!

    Just wanted to hop on here and let you know I've switched blogs!

    Below is the link to my new home on the internet. Hope to see you there!

https://withjoyforthework.blogspot.com

Come Find His Rest | A song review

   

"Come Find His Rest" 

Favorite line:

"I came to Jesus as I was so weary, worn, and sad / I found in Him a resting place and He has made me glad."

    This song has such a peaceful feeling to it. Especially when they sing the line: "Take His yoke upon thee / for He is gentle and lowly in heart". Ugh, it's just so good!! 

    Along with this song being for worship purposes, I also think it's good for writing as well. Perhaps for a scene where a lone voice rises to encourage the masses to trust in Christ despite whatever great darkness they are facing. And then the encouragement ripples out to more and more people!🤍

 

    What do you think of this song? And have you ever heard it before today? I'd love to hear from you in the comments below! (Also, the choir, conductor, etc. info is in the YouTube description box!)

WINTER FAVORITES 2024 (December-February) | books, films, and music

    Hey, everyone! Today I'm going to be sharing a collection of art I've enjoyed this past winter. Without further ado, let's begin!

📚Books 📖

 Adorning the Dark by Andrew Peterson

 

    🌿The chapters were a tad disorganized, but I still really enjoyed a lot of what he had to say here. It's definitely more akin to him sitting across from you and having a chat over coffee, than fully structured essays on the writing craft. Different than what I expected, but not necessarily bad because of that.
  

Dearest Josephine by Caroline George

 

Picture by me

✉️This one was really good! Admittedly, I wasn't obsessed with it, but it was still a genuine work of art. I have a review elsewhere on the blog with a bit more of my thoughts, which you can read here.

 

Of Fire and Ash and Of Sea and Smoke by Gillian Bronte Adams

 

                                              

 

    🐎Eagerly, eagerly awaiting the final book in this series!!! I already have a review for the first book "here", (the link color is malfunctioning, apologies!) so in speaking about the second one, I'll just say I have much the same thoughts. Which was that this series was EXCELLENT!!!! Characters: vivid. Prose: gorgeous. World building: imaginative. Plot: riveting. Can't say enough good things, please read these two books!!!

🎬Films and Shows🎥

 Percy Jackson and the Olympians (TV show)

 

    🖊️🗡️I think the fandom is divided on whether or not they liked the new Disney plus series. I know I really loved it! I loved the soundtrack, Walker Scobell's acting in the last couple of episodes, and that they allowed him to be a Main Character. And I don't mean the the definition of a MC I've seen online over the past handful of years, or even the technical definition. But what it used to mean before that, in many of the action and adventure stories of the early 2010s and 2000s. A person who grows to be kind and wise and strong and confident, but is still human through it all. A genuine, selfless hero who not only characters within the show or film can look up to, but also us, as the audience. A leader who looks after his or her group and ensures to the best of their ability that no one is left behind, and if someone is, it's going to be them. 

    I could genuinely just be watching the wrong films, but I haven't seen a character allowed to be this kind of hero and leader in almost anything that's come out within the last several years. Probably no one on the big screen since some of the original Marvel superhero characters, e.g., Cap and Spider-Man. (If you know of a character, feel free to mention them below) 

    I also really loved getting to look forward to each new episode dropping every Tuesday. I loved the anticipation!

The King's Daughter (Film)

 

    🌊I first watched this a year or two ago when it came out, but re-watched it this winter. It has an interesting backstory which is that it was actually filmed in 2014, but released in 2022. As a result, the cinematography and score have that gentle, early 2010s, fairy-tale movie vibe. So just very sweet and dreamy.

🎧Music🎵

   "𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 | can't take my eyes off you (classical, dreamy strings, Piero Piccioni) [reupload]"  uploaded by buu

    🎻I just love the instrumentals in this playlist from YouTube! 😍😍🥰🥰 My favorite song starts at 32: 12.

"a light academia calming piano playlist to study to" uploaded by sky

    🎹This is a collection of gentle piano pieces, lovely to have in the background while you work. My favorite song is the first song!

"M83 & STAR WARS | My Tears Are Becoming A Sarlacc Pit (mashup)" uploaded by Anything Vintage

    🎧(You're gonna want headphones for this one!) Oddly enough, I found this song on a funny video that it looked like two adult sons filmed with their dad. While I did find the video hilarious, I spent the next 10-15 minutes trying to track down this song!! Finally, I had M83 and Samuel Kim's separate songs, but I couldn't find THIS. A search or two later, and I finally found the actual edit. This mashup is just incredible and I don't have any worthwhile commentary to actually add. It's just awesome!

     

    Fin.

 

    Well, that's all for today's post! Have you read, watched, or listened to anything I talked about here before? What were your thoughts? Or was any of the art new to you? Also, let me know what art you enjoyed this past winter!

    Thanks so much for reading!

    With love,

    the hopeful pen.

HAPPY EASTER!! + sharing one of my all-time favorite easter worship songs

     Good morning, everyone, and happy Easter! I hope you all have a lovely time today celebrating Jesus Christ's resurrection with family and friends. Really quickly, I just wanted to pop on here and share one of my favorite Easter worship songs with you, "Arise, my love" by Newsong. I got to here the band perform it live Winter Jam 2017, and it was the first time I can remember ever hearing it. Once again, have an awesome, rejoicing-filled day, guys. HE IS RISEN!

 

Here's a link to the song on YouTube

 

And for Spotify

Happy Book Release Day to Aliferous by Alissa J. Zavalianos!!

Title: Aliferous

Subtitle: A Collection of Fairy Tales, Adventure, Romance & Whimsy

 I’m so excited to announce that today is the release day for Aliferous by Alissa J. Zavalianos!! This book is a collection of short stories and poems, all relating to birds and nature. Perfect for cozy fantasy lovers and those who just love a good adventure story. 

 

 

 You can purchase the book through the links here: linktr.ee/alissajzavalianos. It's available in paperback, hardback, ebook, and on Kindle Unlimited. And if you'd like additional information about the author, you can visit her website here.

This looks like it's going to be a really sweet and comforting read, so definitely adding to my own TBR!

 

Talk to you soon!

 

 

With love,

The Hopeful Pen.

Of Fire and Ash by Gillian Brontë Adams | A Book Review

 

    I was originally thinking I would only give this book four stars. Everything was objectively excellent, I just wasn't obsessed with it. However, it's getting four and a half because of the final few paragraphs of that epilogue. If you know, you know, lol! That was incredibly boss!

    SPOILERS MOVING FORWARD! 

    The Feeling: From the first page, this book made me aware we were about to journey into an epic tale filled with steeds, battle, courage, duty, and honor. And even if I didn't read the first page, the cover tells you all that as well, haha! 

    The Writing: I really loved the courage it took to write in such a lyrical tone for the story. There were so many metaphors and poetic inner dialogue. And though it's my preferred writing style as well, I do know that way of storytelling is not always liked by everyone. I think I saw one review for this book or the next in the series where someone was saying they wished the author had gotten to the point of ideas quicker. On a similar note, the audio-book is quite long ( 15h and 35min) and it took me about three weeks to read it. To be fair, I didn't read every day, but that may be a deterrent for some readers.

    The Characters: Rafi and Finnian were my favorite characters. Rafi, because he was hilarious and I relate to using humor to calm one's self when things are disastrous!😅 And watching his approach to life change from run and hide to stand and fight, was truly amazing. Finnian was a favorite because he was so incredibly loyal, while still having a world and life apart from Ceridwen, who I'm hoping will be his love interest in the next book!! 

    I felt really bad for both Ceridwen and Jakim. I hated the disrespect constantly thrown Ceridwen's way, and felt she really didn't deserve most of it. And for Jakim, I just really hope he gets a peaceful, happy ending since he's suffered so much.

     There were many other characters who I really enjoyed, but there were also so many who infuriated me because they were either disrespectful to Ceridwen or were the actual villains of the story.

   Flaws I noticed: One issue I had with the book was that character backstories were alluded to, but we were never given details. Granted, the author may not have had the time (the book is huge), but there was so much about Bear's personality and life we never touched on, so much of Jakim's travels from master to master we only briefly heard about, and so much of Rafi's escapes and years on the run that weren't fully flushed out. There were sentences that mentioned something here and there, but I would've liked to have a solid timeline to place events and to better get to know Bear since so much of the story surrounds the tragedy that happened to him. 

    Because I didn't think Bear was given much as a character he felt like just a filler for a dead brother. I would have liked to know why he was the father's favorite. More of what his relationship with Ceridwen was like, and more tidbits of simply who he was. Not knowing the details behind Jakim's journey from master to master didn't harm my enjoyment of the story, but I simply would have liked to know it. But it was not knowing the timeline of Rafi's years on the run that ended up confusing me the most since I thought he'd lived with his village for the full seven years, but I think the book said toward the end that he'd been taken in by the older man only two years prior to the story beginning. 

The author probably did this to avoid information dumping since she already has so much to bring us up to speed on with the world and politics, the magical system, characters, etc. Thus, it's not a huge deal, it was just a bit disorientating at times.

    A second issue was that, unless I missed it, characters' ages were never said. I can only guess that everyone is somewhere within the range of 16-22. I didn't expect that to bother me as much as it did, but just like being able to place events on a timeline, I also like to place characters' ages within the context of others around them.

    A last issue was that it was difficult to remember who everyone was and all the different houses of chieftains. For instance, there's a certain individual who betrays them halfway through the book and I barely realized it was the same person who we'd been talking to earlier because I was having trouble connecting each name to each event and conversation they were a part of. However, this is a pretty standard and expected problem when reading a book with a large cast and lots of moving pieces, so this isn't an issue that lowers the star count for me.

    The content: There are three religions within the book. One seems to be a reflection of Christianity, one is a religion with several goddesses, and one is an evil cult. I am curious to keep reading and see where the author is going to go in this department. That being said, the names of the different deities are used as swear words by the characters, and there is also quite a lot of violence. 

    To conclude: Overall, it was a very good book and I'm already halfway through the second! I'm most excited to see Ceridwen and Finnian hopefully fall in love!    

 

    Have you read Of Fire and Ash? What did you think of the characters? Do you ship Ceridwen and Finnian as I do😁? Feel free to comment below this post, even if it's older by the time you read it! I love hearing from you and will always try to reply!

 

With love,

the hopeful pen.