Showing posts with label dragons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dragons. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Princess Adele's Dragon - Shirley McLain



Better Than Sex Cake
(Princess Adele's Favorite Cake)

1 Butter  Yellow Cake mix baked per directions. Let it cool and then poke holes in the top of the cake.

While cake is cooling combine 1 cup sugar and a large can of crushed pineapple in saucepan and bring to a boil to melt sugar.

Pour over the cake and let cool.

Mix a large box of Jello French Vanilla  pudding and place over pineapple mixture.

Sprinkle with pecans, Coconut or whatever you choose.

Top this with whipped cream  and sprinkle with pecans.  

This is a very moist cake and needs to be refrigerated.


Princess Adele's Dragon - Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat; Think With Your Taste Buds; A Book and A Dish

When she arrived at the opening into the mountainside the creature used to enter and leave the mountain, she pulled out her sword, said a prayer.  She took the first step inside the cave to face her destiny.  As she worked her way down the cavern, the heat rose from deep in the cave... She stopped to rest and heard a sound coming from below.  It sounded as if someone was crying.  It tugged at her heart for an unknown reason.  I wonder if the dragon trapped someone.  It's the saddest thing I've heard in a long time... In a moment's time, the ground trembled in a rhythmic fashion.  That meant one thing.  The beast was on the move.  At least, the crying stopped.

Princess Adele has gone in search of the dragon that has been destroying the surroundings.  Her brother King Robert has been told by his advisor Lord Ashmore that the only way to tame the dragon is to sacrifie a girl child.  Adele is determined that isn't to happen so she's gone in search of the dragon herself in hopes that she will be able to slay him.  What she finds isn't something she would have ever expected.  The dragon she finds quickly becomes "Princess Adele's Dragon."  And he will protect her as well as her brother's kingdom to the end.

Princess Adele's Dragon is a book full of treason, friendship,love and even a witch who can cast some pretty mean spells.  The real deceit comes when Adele and her brother find that two of the people they trust the most are out for one thing - to make the kingdom their own.   They must hang on but at what cost?

This book may sound deep but it is really an easy read.  It moves fast without losing your interest and attention to the events taking place.  I think it's a book young readers would enjoy.  I did.


Sunday, February 12, 2012

The Confliction - The Dragoneers Saga Book III - Michael Robb Mathias, Jr., Author

 
Porcupine Meatballs
(Mathias' Special)
 
1 package of beef Rice A Roni
1 egg
1lb ground beef
salt and pepper
take rice a roni and set aside seasoning. mix together rice, beef, egg and S&P together. roll into balls. brown in skillet then add seasoning packet and two cups of water.stir until mixed, then simmer for 20 minutes. can be served over rice or noodles.
 
The Confliction – The Dragoneers Saga Book III – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of A Book and A Dish, Think With Your Taste Buds and Stir, Laugh, Repeat
 
Jenka started looking at a charcoal sketch of a Sarax, with marks and carefully written text detailing sensitive and dangerous parts of the thing’s strange body.  Then he saw something else and pointed it out to Lemmy.  He was showing Lem a drawing of a bee’s honeycomb full of little tiny Sarax.  The queen was larger, ten times as large as the Sarax.  It was bulkier, too, formed like a larva, or a giant grub, with several long snaking limbs on each side of an elongated torso.  I wonder if they really follow that thing, said Lemmy, as he took the parchment to study it closer.  Jenka’s mind had moved on.  He was searching for anything else they could use to more effectively destroy the beasts.  He found a small wooden chest and forced it open with a sealing blade.  Inside were several hundred golden coins with a strange feline animal on one side and two lines with a slash through them on the other.  He wondered, for a long time, from where they had come.  Then he pondered where the Sarax had come from and a certain fear of the unknown began to creep into him like a chill.
 
Jenka, Aikira, Zahrellion, Rikky and Marcherion, along with their dragon mounts, are all dragoneers.  In books I and II, they have survived the Gravelbone and his magic as he waged war on their land.  Through their own magic they have survived the threats of the Sarax that had escaped from their star ship.  It was now their duty to guard the ship in hopes of preventing other Sarax from escaping.  
 
But the Sarax was just the first metamorphosis stage of these aliens.  They fed upon human met which gave them the strength to cocoon and later change into foul ivory-horned vermin masters like Gravelbone.  After becoming aware of this, the dragoneers found themselves being faced with the threat that there was something even more powerful than the Sarax.  With this knowledge also came the knowledge that the other being would be many times more powerful than the Sarax and the Gravelbones combined.  Then came their job to destroy this being before it destroyed them as well as the people they have vowed to protect.  But can they succeed before it’s too late.  And will they all survive?  The chances look pretty slim.
 
I’ve read all three of the Dragoneer books and as each came to an end I looked forward to the next.  When I saw that this was the last book I felt a bit of disappointment.  That is until I read the last line of the book telling me an new book and I hope series will be coming out in 2013.  I have to say that Author Michael Robb Mathias has one strong imagination and knows how to put it into words.  I look forward to reading any and all of his books.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Ursula's Quest - Book Two of the Witchcraft Wars - Tracey Alley, Author

 
Vegetable Puffs
(One of Trunk and Tracey's favorite dishes)

Ingredients
4 sheets of puff pastry
1 small tin of champagne mushrooms, equivalent fresh if you can get it is preferable
1 medium sized tin of corn kernels, again fresh is better but depends on supply
1 small red capsicum chopped into small squares
Cup full of baby peas - fresh or frozen as you can get
Cup of tasty cheese grated
Tablespoon of Sweet Chili Sauce

Method
Cut the pastry sheets into four squares each and set aside.
Combine all the vegetables and cheese, add sauce and mix well.
Spoon a small amount into each square and fold up the pastry giving it a small twist to the end.
Place in a medium oven and cook for about 20 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown.

Serve as an entree with extra chili sauce or as a unique way of getting kids to eat their veggies.


Ursula’s Quest Book Two of the Witchcraft Wars – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat
 
“Tell me Slade, do you know much about the legend of the Temple of Life?”  “Yes, it’s a very old legend.  It comes from Kemet I think.  Something about the gods building a temple to guard a portal that supposedly led to the realm of the gods.  I don’t remember all of it but it’s nothing more than a legend.”  “But what if the legend were true?”  Slade started to laugh until he saw how serious Nikolai was; he actually believed in the myth.  “You may well laugh but I have come across many strange things in my studies.  Strange and troubling things,” Nikolai said.  “About the Temple?”  “Yes and no.  I believe that outside the legend itself very little has ever been said or is known about the Temple.  I have, however, discovered from my research that portals from one dimension to another do actually exist.”  Slade looked hard at Nikolai, his immediate thought was that the necromancer’s brain had been addled from the blow to his head, but he could see that Nikolai clearly believed what he was saying was the truth.  “What other dimensions?  There is only this world and the realm of the gods,” Slade said eventually.  “To the sight and understanding of most people that is true but I assure you I have found that we are but one of many different dimensions.”  “I don’t understand.  Do you mean other worlds like our own or…” Slade trailed off, he didn’t even really know how to frame the question.’
 
In book one of the Witchcraft Wars, Slade, as well as several others that escaped with him, are traveling in hopes of finding the answer to his dreams where he believes his father High King Erich is talking to him.  In his first dream he was told to follow the trunk which turned out to be a human that helped him in his escape.  In his second dream his father sends him on a search for the Dragon Clan hopes of finding the Great Dragon.
 
Ursula, Slade’s sister, is having dreams of her own that she believes are coming from their father.  In her dream King Erich tells her to search the ruins for the key.  So with the help of Ming, her childhood playmate, as well as three others that join them, she finds herself deep in the Temple looking for the answers and the key.  As it turns out, there are three keys that must be found and so far Ursula knows of one while Trunk knows of the second.
 
Both brother and sister must complete their mission before the war between the kingdoms gets underway and before the witch known as Shallendara finds the key herself.  Shallendra’s quest, so it appears, is to use the key to open the portals to the gods and increase her own powers.  But, opening the portals will not only destroy the world but Shallendara too will be destroyed. 
 
As in Book One of the Witchcraft Wars, author Tracey Alley has created a story that holds you spellbound and hoping that someone will find the key soon before all is lost.  I’m again anticipating Book Three to see who the holder of the third key turns out to be.  And to see if Ursula and Slade are able to save the world from the destruction caused by Shallendara.  With author Tracey Alley, anything could happen, good or bad.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

The Royal Dragoneers - M. R. Mathias, Author

 
Popeye's Favorite Eggs:
In pan - med low heat, sauté 1/3 cup chopped shallots, 1/4 tsp thyme, and dash salt until shallots are transparent.
Quickly stir in 2 cups fresh spinach and wilt.
Beat 4 eggs in bowl with dash salt and pepper, and a splash of milk. Add a sprinkle of cajun seasoning if desired.
Stir eggs in with shallots and spinach. Cover with lid and turn heat to low. When eggs are cooked, top with a drizzle of truffle oil and serve with lightly toasted heavily buttered texas toast style bread.
 
Believe me these eggs are awesome. 
 
 
Find me and my books via the M. R. Mathias Connection Hub

The Royal Dragoneers – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat
 
‘He saw that his bow was lying back where he had dropped it.  His knife wasn’t at his hip either.  Beyond the flames, he saw the shredded remains of the stag’s carcass.  The dragon had torn half the meat away in only a few seconds.  The trolls would have the rest of it, he figured.   After they had him.  A fist-sized rock slammed into his chest, knocking all of the wind from his lungs.  Other stones followed and the primitive troll beasts soon went into a frenzied ritual of howling and savage fighting over feeding position.  Luckily for Jenka, a well-thrown chunk of stone bashed into the side of his head and spared him from having to see himself being torn to pieces.  All he could think of as he slipped into unconsciousness was that he would finally get to see his father, and he hoped his mother would never have to gaze upon what the trolls left of his body.  After that was nothing but blackness.’
 
Sixteen year old Jenka De Swasso is out on a hunt in hopes of bringing fresh meat back to his mother.  When he spotted the aging stag he knew he would have no problem bringing it down but the sun was setting which meant he would have to track the stag after hitting it with his arrow and spend the night trying to protect it, as well as himself, from the trolls that lived in the woods around his home of Crag.  Jenka’s mother was Crag’s village kettle-witch, which meant she could cast spells and at times even heal.  Jenka’s father, whom he was very proud of, had died while saving the king’s son Richard.  With his father being one of the King’s Rangers, Jenka’s dream was to become one too.  And if he could get his stag back to town, it might just give him an up on his training to serve the king.  But, fate had it that the trolls would spot his fire and come in for the kill and the meal awaiting them.  What the trolls didn’t expect was an emerald green dragon named Jade to come to Jenka’s rescue.  The bond that formed between Jade and Jenka was eternal.  Jenka would find that there were others who were bonded to the pure dragons and along with them they will sacrifice all to save mankind. 
 
The Royal Dragoneers is a book of mystery, magic and love.  It stresses the strength of love between man and his devoted friends and in this case his dragon.  I must warn you though, The Royal Dragoneers is a very graphically visual book which should not be read by nor to young children.  I see this as an adult version of Harry Potter.  And since the story has come to no end, I’m looking forward to reading the next book in this series.
 
2009
301 pages

 
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