Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Book Quotes I Loved

The Broke and the Bookish host a weekly meme of Top Ten Lists.

This week's question is:

Top Ten Quotes I Loved From Books I Read In The Past Year Or So (taken from my post topic from Freebie week)

Okay, I'm going to try to keep to the "past year or so" prompt, but no promises.

“Every hero is the villain of his own story.” 
― Holly Black, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

Kat: So dark, but also very very true. I always say that we're all our own worst critics.

“What a lovely display of personhood. He's like a good book cover that grabs your gaze. Read me. I'm fun but smart. You won't be able to put me down.” 

― Laini Taylor, Night of Cake & Puppets

Kat: OMG what a perfect quote about a person and about books. 

“Life doesnt need magic to be magical.” 
― Laini Taylor, Night of Cake & Puppets

Kat: OMG Laini Taylor, you speak to my soul. Write more books quickly please!

“I need to stop fantasizing about running away to some other life and start figuring out the one I have.” 
― Holly Black, The Darkest Part of the Forest

Kat: But whyyyyyy?

“I wanted to be in love like in the storybooks and songs and ballads. Love that hits you like a lightning bolt. And I'm sorry, because yeah, I get that you think I'm ridiculous. I get that you think I'm hilarious. I know, I get that you're mocking me. I get how stupid I am, but at least I know.” 

― Holly Black, The Darkest Part of the Forest

Kat: Me too, Holly Black. Me too.

“The thing is...what they don’t tell you about forgiveness is this—you don’t give it for the other person’s sake, but your own.” 
― Alexandra Bracken, In the Afterlight

Kat: Words of wisdom from my writer-spirit-guru Alexandra Bracken.

“The only way we will survive is by being kind. The only way we can get by in this world is through the help we receive from others. No one can do it alone, no matter how great the machines are.” 

― Amy Poehler, Yes Please

Kat: Yes, Amy Poehler, Yes! This is everything to me. My whole life philosophy. Also if the machines rise against us I sincerely hope they realize I've always treated them with respect.

“If we are talking about choice and regret, what has happened cannot be undone. And dwelling on the past changes nothing. You will only drive yourself to insanity if you do.” 
― Julie Kagawa, The Forever Song

Kat: I really should say this to myself every morning as I get ready for the day.

“Maybe there isn’t such a thing as fate. Maybe it’s just the opportunities we’re given, and what we do with them. I’m beginning to think that maybe great, epic romances don’t just happen. We have to make them ourselves.” 
― Marissa Meyer, Cress

Kat: At first I thought this quote was a bit sad, but then I realized it's actually pretty hopeful.

“Laugh. Laugh as much as you can. Laugh until you cry. Cry until you laugh. Keep doing it even if people are passing you on the street saying, "I can't tell if that person is laughing or crying, but either way they seem crazy, let's walk faster." Emote. It's okay. It shows you are thinking and feeling.” 
― Ellen DeGeneres, Seriously... I'm Kidding

Kat:  I honestly don't understand why Ellen DeGeneres is not my best friend yet.

Top Ten Tuesday: FREEBIE - Covers/Titles that Made me buy the Book

The Broke and the Bookish host a weekly meme of Top Ten Lists.

This week's question is:

FREEBIE

So I chose from old TTTs: Covers or Titles that made you buy the book

 The Night Circus
By: Erin Morgenstern

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called "Le Cirque des Reves," and it is only open at night.
But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.
True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead. 

Why: Well, to be honest, I wanted this book anyway (magicians, score! But the cover helped a lot with my desire to read it, it's just so well designed and cool.

Strange and Ever After

By: Susan Dennard

 Eleanor Fitt must control her growing power, face her feelings for Daniel, and confront the evil necromancer Marcus...all before it’s too late.
He took her brother, he took her mother, and now, Marcus has taken her good friend Jie. With more determination than ever to bring this sinister man to justice, Eleanor heads to the hot desert streets of nineteenth-century Egypt in hopes of ending this nightmare. But in addition to her increasingly tense relationships with Daniel, Joseph, and her demon, Oliver, Eleanor must also deal with her former friend, Allison, who has curiously entangled herself in Eleanor’s mission.
With the rising dead chomping at her every move and Jie’s life hanging in the balance, Eleanor is convinced that her black magic will see her through to the bitter end. But there will be a price. Though she and the Spirit Hunters have weathered every battle thus far, there will be consequences to suffer this time—the effects of which will be irreversible. And when it’s over, only some will be able to live a strange and ever after.

Why: I just like her dress, and the background, and her face. 

A Thousand Pieces of You

By: Claudia Gray

Marguerite Caine’s physicist parents are known for their radical scientific achievements. Their most astonishing invention: the Firebird, which allows users to jump into parallel universes, some vastly altered from our own. But when Marguerite’s father is murdered, the killer—her parent’s handsome and enigmatic assistant Paul—escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.
Marguerite can’t let the man who destroyed her family go free, and she races after Paul through different universes, where their lives entangle in increasingly familiar ways. With each encounter she begins to question Paul’s guilt—and her own heart. Soon she discovers the truth behind her father’s death is more sinister than she ever could have imagined.
A Thousand Pieces of You explores a reality where we witness the countless other lives we might lead in an amazingly intricate multiverse, and ask whether, amid infinite possibilities, one love can endure.

Why: Again, I wanted this book based on the plot. But I also loved the cover. I saw it at ALA 2014 and it immediately spoke to my soul. I went over and grabbed it to see what it was all about and I was so happy that I loved the idea of the plot as well.

Falls the Shadow

By: Stefanie Gaither

When Cate Benson was a kid, her sister, Violet, died. Two hours after the funeral, Cate’s family picked up Violet’s replacement. Like nothing had happened. Because Cate’s parents are among those who decided to give their children a sort of immortality—by cloning them at birth—which means this new Violet has the same smile. The same perfect face. Thanks to advancements in mind-uploading technology, she even has all of the same memories as the girl she replaced.
She also might have murdered the most popular girl in school.
At least, that’s what the paparazzi and the anti-cloning protestors want everyone to think: that clones are violent, unpredictable monsters. Cate is used to hearing all that. She’s used to defending her sister, too. But Violet has vanished, and when Cate sets out to find her, she ends up in the line of fire instead. Because Cate is getting dangerously close to secrets that will rock the foundation of everything she thought was true.
In a thrilling debut, Stefanie Gaither takes readers on a nail-biting ride through a future that looks frighteningly similar to our own time and asks: how far are you willing to go to keep your family together?

Why: I don't think I usually buy books because of covers. Moreso, I look at a book in the store because of the cover. That's probably why I looked at this book and the plot is kind of twisted and intriguing.

Red Queen

By: Victoria Aveyard

The poverty stricken Reds are commoners, living under the rule of the Silvers, elite warriors with god-like powers.
To Mare Barrow, a 17-year-old Red girl from The Stilts, it looks like nothing will ever change.
Mare finds herself working in the Silver Palace, at the centre ofthose she hates the most. She quickly discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy Silver control.
But power is a dangerous game. And in this world divided by blood, who will win?

Why: I kind of followed the progression of this book as it was about to be published, so I knew about it before the cover reveal. But this cover is so creepy and beautiful at the same time, I like it a lot and it hints at the story inside, which I love in any cover.

The Girl of Midnight

By: Melissa Grey

Beneath the streets of New York City live the Avicen, an ancient race of people with feathers for hair and magic running through their veins. Age-old enchantments keep them hidden from humans. All but one. Echo is a runaway pickpocket who survives by selling stolen treasures on the black market, and the Avicen are the only family she's ever known.
Echo is clever and daring, and at times she can be brash, but above all else she's fiercely loyal. So when a centuries-old war crests on the borders of her home, she decides it's time to act.
Legend has it that there is a way to end the conflict once and for all: find the Firebird, a mythical entity believed to possess power the likes of which the world has never seen. It will be no easy task, though if life as a thief has taught Echo anything, it's how to hunt down what she wants . . . and how to take it.
But some jobs aren't as straightforward as they seem. And this one might just set the world on fire.

Why: I love epic fantasies, and this book has the makings of one for sure. Plus, the cover is beautiful, I had to see what it was about when I saw that design and I was not disappointed by the synopsis. I haven't read it yet, but it's definitely on my TBR.

 Blackbirds

By: Chuck Wendig

Miriam Black knows when you will die. 
She’s foreseen hundreds of car crashes, heart attacks, strokes, and suicides.
But when Miriam hitches a ride with Louis Darling and shakes his hand, she sees that in thirty days Louis will be murdered while he calls her name. Louis will die because he met her, and she will be the next victim.
No matter what she does she can’t save Louis. But if she wants to stay alive, she’ll have to try.

Why: I saw Chuck Wendig speak at a writing conference and immediately knew I wanted to read his books. He's got a very dry sense of humor and an unapologetic way of putting his words in front of you. But at the same time his words are worth listening to. 

The Paper Magician

By: Charlie N. Holmberg

Ceony Twill arrives at the cottage of Magician Emery Thane with a broken heart. Having graduated at the top of her class from the Tagis Praff School for the Magically Inclined, Ceony is assigned an apprenticeship in paper magic despite her dreams of bespelling metal. And once she’s bonded to paper, that will be her only magic… forever.
Yet the spells Ceony learns under the strange yet kind Thane turn out to be more marvelous than she could have ever imagined — animating paper creatures, bringing stories to life via ghostly images, even reading fortunes. But as she discovers these wonders, Ceony also learns of the extraordinary dangers of forbidden magic.
An Excisioner — a practitioner of dark, flesh magic — invades the cottage and rips Thane’s heart from his chest. To save her teacher’s life, Ceony must face the evil magician and embark on an unbelievable adventure that will take her into the chambers of Thane’s still-beating heart—and reveal the very soul of the man.

Why: I like the premise of this book. I liked it before I saw the cover (like all these books apparently, hehe). But I also really like the cover because it hints at the plot and I love those kinds of covers (as I've said above as well. I suppose you guys can see a pattern here...)

Oh The Glory of it All

By: Sean Wilsey

When Sean, "the kind of child who sings songs to sick flowers," turns nine years old, his father divorces his mother and marries her best friend. Sean's life blows apart. His mother first invites him to commit suicide with her, then has a "vision" of salvation that requires packing her Louis Vuitton luggage and traveling the globe, a retinue of multiracial children in tow. Her goal: peace on earth (and a Nobel Prize). Sean meets Indira Gandhi, Helmut Kohl, Menachem Begin, and the pope, hoping each one might come back to San Francisco and persuade his father to rejoin the family. Instead, Sean is pushed out of San Francisco and sent spiraling through five high schools, till he finally lands at an unorthodox reform school cum "therapeutic community," in Italy.
With its multiplicity of settings and kaleidoscopic mix of preoccupations-sex, Russia, jet helicopters, seismic upheaval, boarding schools, Middle Earth, skinheads, home improvement, suicide, skateboarding, Sovietology, public transportation, massage, Christian fundamentalism, dogs, Texas, global thermonuclear war, truth, evil, masturbation, hope, Bethlehem, CT, eventual salvation (abridged list)—Oh the Glory of It All is memoir as bildungsroman as explosion.

Why: Legitimately bought this because of the cover and the title. I was also in a bit of a memoir kick and this one is a doozy.

Cinder

By: Marissa Meyer

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. 
Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

Why: To be honest, my cousin gave me this book. But she gave it to me in a stack of books and I immediately chose this one to read first because of the cover.

Top Ten Tuesday: To Be Read List

The Broke and the Bookish host a weekly meme of Top Ten Lists.

This week's question is:

Ten Books You Recently Added To Your To-Be-Read List

The ten most recent books I've added to my TBR shelf on Goodreads:

The Beautiful and the Cursed(The Dispossessed, #1)

By: Morgan, Page 

Published: Jan 01, 2013 

Red Rising (Red Rising Trilogy, #1)

By: Brown, Pierce

Published: Jan 28, 2014 

Monstress

By: Liu, Marjorie M.

Published: Summer 2015

Gilded (Gilded, #1)

By: Farley, Christina

Published: Mar 01, 2014 

Proxy (Proxy, #1)

By: London, Alex

Published: Jun 18, 2013

The Shadow Hero

By: Yang, Gene Luen

Published: Jul 15, 2014 

Daughter of Xanadu (Daughter of Xanadu, #1)

By: Yang, Dori Jones

Published: Dec 22, 2010 

The Fire Horse Girl

By: Honeyman, Kay

Published: Jan 01, 2013

More Than This

By: Ness, Patrick

Published: Sep 10, 2013 

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Favorite Heroines

The Broke and the Bookish host a weekly meme of Top Ten Lists.

This week's question is:

Top Ten Favorite Heroines From Books (Or you could pick movies/tv)

Karou 

Daughter of Smoke and Bone

She is a character that people can respect. She is kept in the dark for the whole first book, but she doesn't let that stop her from going after what she thinks is right. My only complaint would be that she lets things get in the way of her own happiness, but in the middle of a huge generations-long war I can forgive her for that (since there are bigger things going on around her). She also knows that sometimes the best decisions are not the easy ones (like when she has to team up with some not-so-favorable allies. Finally, she is all about breaking down prejudice (to be fair Madrigal was more about this, but Karou starts to believe in this too). She believes in a better way to live and she's strong enough that she's able to convince people around her that she's right.

Cinder

Lunar Chronicles

Cinder is a cinderella character, but unlike Cinderella she doesn't just sit back and let things happen to her (either misfortune or good things). She actually takes control of her situation when she needs to. And as she learns that she has a duty to her people she doesn't cower (or if she does, she doesn't cower too long). She fights back. And even though she makes mistakes she keeps trying. That's worth a lot in my mind.

Eve Dallas

In Death

She is haunted by a pretty rough past, but she's also smart, strong, and brave. And she overcomes a lot as the series goes on. Her biggest downfall is her inability to trust/love (also because of her past), but what makes her strong is that she learns to face that and overcome all the things that were done to her when she was too young to fight back. Also, she's really good at figuring out mysteries and murder cases.

Tessa

Infernal Devices

She starts out pretty low. She is an orphan and she is kidnapped as soon as she lands in a foreign land. But the great thing about Tessa, is that despite her circumstances (or maybe because of them) she learns who she really is. As she becomes confident in being herself by the end. She keeps getting pushed down (by villains, by people who should love her, by uncontrollable forces), but she also keeps getting back up. And the best part of Tessa is that she truly cares and loves. Also, she doesn't just run into danger without thinking, she does get into sticky situations but she is not just running into bad situations and making them worse by not thinking things through.

  

River Tam & Zoe Washburn

Firefly

Joss Whedon writes great ensemble casts. And he also writes pretty great female characters. I mean he came up with Buffy for goodness sakes. But I think the unsung heroes of the Firefly series are the girls. Because all of the female characters in the show could kick just as much butt as the boys. And I love that sense of equality. Also, River Tam is technically the most powerful of anyone on the show, so that makes her kind of awesome.

Arya

Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones)

I loved Arya since I first read the books. And she's still pretty kick butt in the TV show. She survives, but she still has this sense of purpose that some of the other Stark children have lost. I think that she doesn't always know where she's going or what she needs, but she knows that she needs to keep moving. She knows that things aren't right and she decides to take action instead of hiding like some of the other characters do (*cough* Sansa *cough*).

Choi In-Ha

Pinocchio

In-Ha has a (made up) affliction called "Pinocchio syndrome" where she will hiccup every time she tells a lie (or is even keeping a secret knowingly). So she is a very blunt heroine. She doesn't get caught up in trying to hide her feelings. She just says what she thinks is right and she have a very strict moral compass. She is the perfect foil for the main character of the show, Choi Dal-po, who is keeping a whole world of secrets. Also, they have the best chemistry and fall very sweetly in love. Also also, I love Park Shin-hye who plays In-Ha,

Im Soo-Ah

Shut Up Flower Boy Band

Soo-Ah never wavers. She knows what she wants and who she loves. She's loyal and she's smart. She's also the middle of a love-triangle. But she doesn't waffle between the two love-interests. She very plainly loves Kwon Ji-Hyuk and makes that clear even when Yoo Seung-hoon doesn't want to listen. 

Claire Abshire

The Time Traveler's Wife

There is something quietly strong about Claire. She loved the same man since she was a child. She accepted his time traveling and waited for him, and she was so sure of him and herself the whole time. Even when Henry wavered, Claire stood strong. She was his rock and she gave him something steady in his life. She had to deal with the hardship of waiting and being left behind, but she never stopped loving him. I think that the book is very well-titled. Because even though it is Henry who deals with the time traveling, it is Claire who seems like the true hero in the book.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Book Club Books

The Broke and the Bookish host a weekly meme of Top Ten Lists.

This week's question is:

Ten Books I'd Love to Read With My Book Club/If I Had A Book Club (or you could pick a specific kind of book club -- like if you had a YA book club or an adult book club or a science fiction book club etc.)

I JUST started reading books with my cousin in our own personal (two-person) book club. The theme is diverse books.

Proxy by Alex London 

Knox was born into one of the City’s wealthiest families. A Patron, he has everything a boy could possibly want—the latest tech, the coolest clothes, and a Proxy to take all his punishments. When Knox breaks a vase, Syd is beaten. When Knox plays a practical joke, Syd is forced to haul rocks. And when Knox crashes a car, killing one of his friends, Syd is branded and sentenced to death.
Syd is a Proxy. His life is not his own.
Then again, neither is Knox’s. Knox and Syd have more in common than either would guess. So when Knox and Syd realize that the only way to beat the system is to save each other, they flee. Yet Knox’s father is no ordinary Patron, and Syd is no ordinary Proxy. The ensuing cross-country chase will uncover a secret society of rebels, test both boys’ resolve, and shine a blinding light onto a world of those who owe and those who pay. Some debts, it turns out, cannot be repaid. 

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe 
by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.

Prophecy by Ellen Oh

Kira’s the only female in the king’s army, and the prince’s bodyguard. She’s a demon slayer and an outcast, hated by nearly everyone in her home city of Hansong. And, she’s their only hope...
Murdered kings and discovered traitors point to a demon invasion, sending Kira on the run with the young prince. He may be the savior predicted in the Dragon King Prophecy, but the missing treasure of myth may be the true key. With only the guidance of the cryptic prophecy, Kira must battle demon soldiers, evil shaman, and the Demon Lord himself to find what was once lost and raise a prince into a king.
Intrigue and mystery, ancient lore and action-packed fantasy come together in this heart-stopping first book in a trilogy. 

Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan

Kami Glass loves someone she’s never met . . . a boy she’s talked to in her head ever since she was born. She wasn’t silent about her imaginary friend during her childhood, and is thus a bit of an outsider in her sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale. Still, Kami hasn’t suffered too much from not fitting in. She has a best friend, runs the school newspaper, and is only occasionally caught talking to herself. Her life is in order, just the way she likes it, despite the voice in her head.
But all that changes when the Lynburns return.
The Lynburn family has owned the spectacular and sinister manor that overlooks Sorry-in-the-Vale for centuries. The mysterious twin sisters who abandoned their ancestral home a generation ago are back, along with their teenage sons, Jared and Ash, one of whom is eerily familiar to Kami. Kami is not one to shy away from the unknown—in fact, she’s determined to find answers for all the questions Sorry-in-the-Vale is suddenly posing. Who is responsible for the bloody deeds in the depths of the woods? What is her own mother hiding? And now that her imaginary friend has become a real boy, does she still love him? Does she hate him? Can she trust him?

The Shadow Hero by Gene Luen Yang (illus. Sonny Liew)

A VIBRANT HOMAGE TO A CLASSIC COMIC FROM TWO MASTERS OF THE MODERN GRAPHIC NOVEL. 
The Shadow Hero is based on golden-age comic series The Green Turtle, whose hero solved crimes and fought injustice just like any other comics hero. But this mysterious masked crusader was hiding more than your run-of-the-mill secret identity...The Green Turtle was the first Asian American superhero.
Now, exactly seventy years later, New York Times-bestselling author Gene Luen Yang has revived this nearly forgotten, pioneering character in a new graphic novel that creates an origin story for the golden-age Green Turtle. 
With artwork by the unmatched Sonny Liew, this hilarious and insightful graphic novel about heroism and heritage is also a loving tribute to the long, rich tradition of American superhero comics. 

Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld

Darcy Patel has put college and everything else on hold to publish her teen novel, Afterworlds. Arriving in New York with no apartment or friends she wonders whether she's made the right decision until she falls in with a crowd of other seasoned and fledgling writers who take her under their wings… 
Told in alternating chapters is Darcy's novel, a suspenseful thriller about Lizzie, a teen who slips into the 'Afterworld' to survive a terrorist attack. But the Afterworld is a place between the living and the dead and as Lizzie drifts between our world and that of the Afterworld, she discovers that many unsolved - and terrifying - stories need to be reconciled. And when a new threat resurfaces, Lizzie learns her special gifts may not be enough to protect those she loves and cares about most.

I Love I Hate I Miss My Sister by Amelie Sarn

Eighteen-year-old Sohane loves no one more than her beautiful, carefree younger sister, Djelila. And she hates no one as much. The two have always shared everything. But now, Djelila is embracing her life as a secular teen, and Sohane is becoming more religious.  Every choice has a price. When Sohane starts wearing a head scarf, her school insists that she remove it or she’ll be expelled. Meanwhile, Djelila is repeatedly harassed by neighborhood bullies for not following Muslim customs. Sohane can’t help thinking that Djelila deserves what she gets. She never could have imagined just how far things would go. I love I hate I miss my sister. In the year following Djelila’s tragic death, Sohane struggles with her feelings of loss and guilt, revealing a complex relationship between two sisters, each girl’s path to self-discovery, and the consequences they face for being true to themselves.

Coda by Emma Trevayne

Ever since he was a young boy, music has coursed through the veins of eighteen-year-old Anthem—the Corp has certainly seen to that. By encoding music with addictive and mind-altering elements, the Corp holds control over all citizens, particularly conduits like Anthem, whose life energy feeds the main power in the Grid.
Anthem finds hope and comfort in the twin siblings he cares for, even as he watches the life drain slowly and painfully from his father. Escape is found in his underground rock band, where music sounds free, clear, and unencoded deep in an abandoned basement. But when a band member dies suspiciously from a tracking overdose, Anthem knows that his time has suddenly become limited. Revolution all but sings in the air, and Anthem cannot help but answer the call with the chords of choice and free will. But will the girl he loves help or hinder him?

More Than This by Patrick Ness

A boy drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments. He dies.
Then he wakes, naked and bruised and thirsty, but alive.
How can this be? And what is this strange deserted place?
As he struggles to understand what is happening, the boy dares to hope. Might this not be the end? Might there be more to this life, or perhaps this afterlife?
From multi-award-winning Patrick Ness comes one of the most provocative and moving novels of our time. 

The Fire Horse Girl by Kay Honeyman

Jade Moon is a Fire Horse—the worst sign in the Chinese zodiac for girls, said to make them stubborn, willful, and far too imaginative. But while her family despairs of marrying her off, she has a passionate heart and powerful dreams, and wants only to find a way to make them come true.
Then a young man named Sterling Promise comes to their village to offer Jade Moon and her father a chance to go to America. While Sterling Promise's smooth manners couldn't be more different from her own impulsive nature, Jade Moon falls in love with him on the long voyage. But America in 1923 doesn't want to admit many Chinese, and when they are detained at Angel Island, the "Ellis Island of the West", she discovers a betrayal that destroys all her dreams. To get into America, much less survive there, Jade Moon will have to use all her stubbornness and will to break a new path... one as brave and dangerous as only a Fire Horse girl can imagine.