Silver Thistle

Book Review - The Reapers are the angels by Alden Bell

2012-01-12T23:01:00.000Z

Hardback: 302 pages
Publisher: Tor
Publication date: September 3rd 2010
ISBN13: 9780230748644

First Line - "God is a Slick God."

God is a slick god. Temple knows. She knows because of all the crackerjack miracles still to be seen on this ruined globe...Older than her years and completely alone, Temple is just trying to live one day at a time in a post-apocalyptic world, where the undead roam endlessly, and the remnant of mankind who have survived, at times, seem to retain little humanity themselves. This is the world she was born into. Temple has known nothing else. Her journey takes her to far-flung places, to people struggling to maintain some semblance of civilization - and to those who have created a new world order for themselves. When she comes across the helpless Maury, she attempts to set one thing right, if she can just get him back to his family in Texas then maybe it will bring redemption for some of the terrible things she's done in her past. Because Temple has had to fight to survive, has done things that she's not proud of and, along the road, she's made enemies. Now one vengeful man is determined that, in a world gone mad, killing her is the one thing that makes sense.

I have a love hate relationship with zombies. On the one hand I hate them because they scare the bejeesus out of me. On the other hand though, I love them because as soon as the zombies arrive I'm 99% guaranteed that the story takes a turn towards one of my most favourite genres. Apocalyptic. I LOVE end of the world scenario's!

It's catch 22. I WANT to read about the fall of civilisation but I'm not so keen on the resulting nightmare's which usually involve me fending of a pack of stinky dead guys who are keen to disembowel me and are smacking their lips at the prospect. I'm usually a bit wary of starting a zombie book. However, I'd read a lot of reviews for The Reapers are the Angels that mentioned that the zombies were not the focus of this book so I gamely gave it a whirl.

Soooo glad I managed to man-up! LOVED it! So much!

It's true, it's not about the zombies. They're there, and they're just as stinky and dead as you'd imagine but I felt 'safe' walking amongst them because I had Temple with me. Temple is so amazing. From now on in my nightmare's I'm going to take Temple with me. Temple has fear of nothing and/or nobody and despite being just a little girl, a teen, she's one of the most kick-ass heroine's I've read about in a long time.

She hasn't known any other way of life as she was born after the dead started rising and has been pretty much alone her whole life. We're told that she spent some of her early life in an orphanage and that she's had a few companions on her journey through the wasteland but when we meet her she is on her own. Having Temple as a guide made me just relax and enjoy the ride. She's Street-Smart and infinitely capable. She takes everything in her stride, doesn't freak out and above all get's the job done. Always. In a way she's even more deadly than the zombie's.

Along the way she meets two men who are to become central to her story. Maury is a grown man with the mental age of a very young child and Temple takes him under her wing and looks after him (initially unwillingly), and their relationship is very touching. Moses is an older, male version of Temple herself and their relaionship is based on friction but there's some grudging respect there too.

I'll be honest, I thought I was going to hate this book for the simple reason that within the first 2 pages I spotted my pet hate in written text. THE WORST TEXT CRIME. The word 'of' instead of 'have' - "I should of known that was wrong" instead of "I should have known that was wrong". I kept going though and quickly realised that it's mostly told from Temple's point of view and is written exactly as if spoken, text crimes and all. Having said that though, the story was so good and I was so engrossed in it that I was halfway through before I noticed there's nothing to indicate speech. Sound's crazy but I honestly didn't even notice that to begin with and when it suddenly dawned on me I didn't even miss a beat. It's weird but I didn't have a problem with it...which in itself is weird because that sort of thing usually rubs me up TOTALLY the wrong way.

Anyhoo, it's a fantastic story and I really, really wish it could be the first in a series. I know that's not possible though, due to the ending and I'm quite sad about that. I'd happily have read more of Temple's adventures.

I'd recommend this as a great read if you're into zombie apocalype, road-trip type books. I really, really liked it.

***I'm very pleaseed to count this as my first book read as part of my 2012 TBR Challenge ***

If you have reviewed THE REAPERS ARE THE ANGELS and would like to share your review, please consider adding your review page link below so I can come visit you and see what you thought of it.

Book Review - Hollowland by Amanda Hocking

2011-12-08T22:06:00.000Z

Paperback: 312 pages
Publisher: Amanda Hocking
Publication date: 6 Oct 2010
ISBN13: 9781453860953

First Line - "This is the way the world ends - not with a bang or a whimper, but with zombies breaking down the back door."

Nineteen-year-old Remy King is on a mission to get across the wasteland left of America, and nothing will stand in her way - not violent marauders, a spoiled rock star, or an army of flesh-eating zombies.

Had I known that this book was about a zombie apocalypse I'd have been all over it a LONG time ago. How could I not know that?! I thought it was the usual YA fare and admit that the cover had a lot to do with that. That's a lovely cover and not a hint of zombie about it. It seems it's true what they say about covers, and judging... I'm not sure how long I've had this one but it seems like an age. I wish I'd gotten to it sooner. The only reason I looked at it when I did was because I just read an article on the Daily Mail about Amanda Hocking. I recognised the name and thought, "Hmmm, I've got one of her's here somewhere I think". The rest is history. Read it - Loved it!

It's a very satisfying story and right from the very first line the reader is hauled slap-bang into the thick of it. These zombies are not the slow, lumbering moaners from the usual zom-fests, these zombies are jacked up crazies and can pick up a bit of speed. All the action scenes are pretty frantic.

I felt I really connected with Remy, the main character and liked her a lot. Some of the other character's didn't impress me as much (ie, Blue - although it's a cute name) but I still liked them. Really liked Ripley too, if you can call a lion a character? Yeah, a lion! A very cool lion, actually.

There's a tiny bit of romance and sexual chemistry but I do mean 'tiny'. That's not the main focus of the story though so it makes a nice change from the usual YA boy/girl storylines.

There are some creepy character's in here too and I thought they were dealt with really well. Not TOO creepy for the YA market but 'just' creepy enough to make this adult shudder.

I loved the dialogue, it always felt so natural and suited each character perfectly. Amanda Hocking does character interaction very well, I thought.

I can't believe no publisher wanted this one! It's great. Judging by the money she's making from self publishing I'd say I'm not the only one that thinks that way. In the words of Kevin Costner..."Build it and they will come".

Now for the good news..If you're in the UK you can download this for your kindle for FREE! Amanda is offering a kindle copy of Hollowland for nada, zilch and gratis and I'd advise you to run like the wind to go get it...it's really good!

Book 2 in the trilogy, 'Hollowmen' is already out and I'll definitely be reading it to see what lies in store for Remy!

If you have reviewed HOLLOWLAND and would like to share your review, please consider adding your review page link below so I can come visit you and see what you thought of it.

Book lending. To do or not to do, that is the question.

2011-12-06T10:56:00.001Z

A post over at Book Chick City struck a chord with me earlier. The question is a simple one. "Do you lend books?" The answer dredges up an examination of my relationship with books (and my mother).

Me? I don't lend books. But, I do give books.

I've got quirks when it comes to books that have been bought or recieved as 'new'. Although, they don't seem quirky to me. To me they seem normal. I've got different levels of 'normal', depending on the state of the book when it reaches me but overall my reading style appears unnatural compared to those around me. My nerves couldn't handle it if I lent books to anyone who didn't have the same quirks. Trouble is, those people are few and far between in my circles. They're non-exixtent in my circles to be honest, so it's just toruture to lend with the expectaion to get them back in the same state as they left me.

I just plain give my books now, once I've read them. I never expect to see them again once they leave me.

My mum mostly gets them. She's a book criminal. Folded pages, spines cracked so she can lay them opened and face down to keep her place, pages used to write telephone numbers on while she's on the phone (it's not unheard of for her to write the tel number on the cover, either), left lying in the conservatory on a scorching summer day so that the cover bleaches and the plastic peels a little ...you name it, she does it.

She loves to read though so I keep my lip buttoned. Besides, it would just give her one more reason to rip into my character flaw's if I mentioned how I felt about what she was doing to my books so I just gift them, call them hers and move on. She thinks I'm a book weirdo. She is quite judgemental of things/people that are alien to 'her way' so my book idiosyncrasies are best kept to myself for the most part. Don't want to give her any more ammuniton than she already has.

I'll give her a book I've finished and she'll say "Did you not read this one, it looks brand new?..."

Yeah, mum, seeing a pattern here?

So now I just give. It's her's as soon as it leaves my hands. It's hers to read, enjoy and mangle.

I have a few book's that I wouldn't dream of letting out of my sight and for those sacred books I usually buy another copy and give that out instead.

Then there are the books that come to me in less than pristine condition. Sometimes from friends but mostly from the UK swap site READ IT SWAP IT. Those I just read, enjoy and pass on. Sometimes to friends or family but mostly back into the system on RISI. They don't leave me in any worse shape than when they arrived but they're not treated with kid gloves either.

When all is said and done, it's just a book. Some books are more than the sum of their parts though and those are the books that are safely shelved and touched by nobody but me. Whatever someone does with their book once I've passed it on isn't my concern.

How does everyone else feel about lending? Do your book quirks get in the way of your book sharing? I'd love to know if I'm the only one with book peculiarities.

Book Review - Edinburgh Dead by Brian Ruckley

2011-12-01T22:52:00.002Z

Paperback: 369 pages
Publisher: Orbit
Publication date: 4 Aug 2011
ISBN13: 9781841498652

First Line - "The corpse sat in a simple, high-backed chair"

The year is 1827. For Adam Quire, an officer of the recently formed City Police, Edinburgh is a terrifying place. It is a city populated by mad alchemists and a criminal underclass prepared to treat with the darkest of powers. But nothing can prepare him for the trail of undead hounds, emptied graves, brutal murders and mob violence that will take him into the darkest corners of the underworld and to the highest reaches of elegant Edinburgh society.

Wow! 2011 is drawing to a close and I think I just found my favourite read of the year. Edinburgh Dead by Brian Ruckley! Totally brilliant! It's rare that I can use the term 'unputdownable', but I definitely can say it about this one. Read it in less than 48 hours, which for me is pretty much unheard of. Could NOT put it down.

I'm fond of Historical fiction (albeit usually romantic) but to say I'm not usually a crime/mystery reader is an understatement, not a single murder mystery comes to mind that I've read but the lure of the area around where I live used as a backdrop, coupled with zombie dogs just sucked me right in. There are zombie humans too but I mostly wanted to see the zom-dogs loose on Edinburgh's streets and closes.

I really, really loved that I knew all the places mentioned in the book. I'm in Edinburgh about once or twice a fortnight and all of the places and building's are familiar to me. Loved that. The people of the story are familiar 'faces' too...even the non-famous one's. Go to certain parts of Edinburgh on any given day and chances are you'll rub shoulders with just the sort of people mentioned in the pages. There's maybe 200 years seperating them but their banter hasn't changed that much. As for the famous 'faces' well, in particular Burke and Hare the infamous body snatchers or 'Ressurectionists' as they were also know are common knowledge for anyone who spends any time in or around Edinburgh and I loved reading about them. Fictionalised in parts but great fun to read nonetheless.

And zombie's. Let's not forget the zombies. They're the reason that I wanted to read this so bad in the first place, although I did wonder how a person could fit the undead into an Historical murder/crime/mystery. The whole book has a dark, gritty feel to it and the air of supernatural 'going's on' didn't seem out of place or contrived at all. In fact, as unlikely as it all sounds Mr Ruckley writes in such a way as to have me think it was all quite plausible. It's very well done.

I loved all of the characters and really felt like I got to know them. Some of them I'd like to know even better and REALLY want there to be more cases for Adam Quire to solve... I'd read any and all stories if this were made into an ongoing series.

There's a bit of a twist in the tale at the end and being as unfamiliar with crime mystery as I am, I'm not sure if that's usual but whether it is or it isn't, the twist at the end just sealed the deal for me. It was a brilliant end to a brilliant story and I just hope I can find more stories like it.

I can't say enough good things about this, I'm all over the place but I just really, really liked this one. I only finished it half an hour ago so it's all still running through my mind. I'll probably think of a dozen things to say after I hit 'publish', but for now I'll just close by saying again....

Really liked it! A lot!

Brian Ruckly has a great website where you can find out more about his books, and a really interesting photo trailer section where he has added his photo's from a lot of the area's mentioned in the Edinburgh Dead. It's quite cool.

If you have reviewed EDINBURGH DEAD and would like to share your review, please consider adding your review page link below so I can come visit you and see what you thought of it.

Book Review - Darkness Falling by Peter Crowther

2011-11-29T17:26:00.001Z

Darkness Falling (Forever Twilight - #1) By Peter Crowther

Paperback: 464 pages
Publisher: Angry Robot
Publication date(first UK): 6 Oct 2011
ISBN: 978 0 85766 168 5

Synopsis taken from Angry Robot:

It was a typical all-American backwater – until the night the monsters came.

When four employees of KMRT Radio investigate an unearthly light that cuts off communication with the outside world, they discover that something has taken the place of their friends and fellow townfolk, and imbued them with malign intentions. Little do they know, the phenomenon is not unique to the town of Jesman’s Bend…

Hoo boy! This is a good one! Haven't read anything similar in years! I'm not talking about subject matter though (although I will get to that in a moment), I'm talking about writing style. LOVED it. I've never read anything by Peter Crowther before and if I'm honest I've never even heard of him before this boook caught my attention but right from the very first page of the prologue I felt like I was meeting an old friend after a long absence.

Why? How? Because it's like this guy is channelling my coming of age book hero, Stephen 'The Man' King! It's uncanny!

They both have this 'way' of writing, I'm sure if you've ever read King then you'll know what I'm talking about...if you've never read King then it's like the books are written in a first person POV but with a third person narrative. I can't explain it, I'm positive there must be a term to describe that writing style but I just don't know what it is. There are a lot of inner monologues where someone will be describing how they're feeling or what they're thinking but they use words like 'he' or 'she' to describe themselves insead of 'I'.

Ack! I just can't put it into words...all I know is that I associate it with King and I like it.

So anyway, the book...

Darkness Falling is the first part of Peter Crowther's Forever Twilight trilogy. I think it's considered to be Science Fiction but it's also probably easily slotted into the Horror genre. Maybe Apocalyptic fiction too. To keep with the King connection I'd compare it to having a bit of 'The Langoliers', 'The Stand', 'The Tommy Knockers'..actually, I could probably find a lot of bits from a lot of novels to compare this to. It's quite hard to pigeon hole. Invasion of the body snatchers with zombie aliens is kinda close.

It's very character driven and the whole story is told via multiple 'survivors' and while I love all that, it was a bit frustrating to get caught up in one person's story only to have the chapter end and have to remind myself of a new person's story-to-date and catch up with their portion again for the new chapter. I'll admit to enjoying the story of some characters more than others too, which made things all the more frustrating when a really good bit ended and I had to get through a character I wasn't enjoying as much to get back to the good stuff. It's all good, I just really wasn't that 'connected' to the radio station guys (and gal), which is a pity because they're sort of central.

There a LOT of 'name dropping scattered throughout. Pop culture, movie references, actors, etc and it's not that it bothered me exactly it just got tedious after a while. There's a section where one of the characters 'Ronnie' tells the character 'Karl' that he looks like the actor Paul Giamatti, now while that's great for me to get a visual of how Karl looks it felt like lazy writing. There's that mantra for writers that I've seen mentioned here and there, "Don't 'tell' me, 'show' me" but here 'showing' me involved a side-step to google images to find out what Karl looked like. In case anyone is un-savvy as I am, that's Paul on the left there (he's the one who played the Ourangatang in Planet of the Apes, I think).

Did I mention how scary it is yet? No? Well, it's scary. I had to stop reading it last night and lay it aside to finish today during daylight hours. I'm not a huge devourer of the horror genre and don't claim to be an authority on what constitutes a successful scare but all I know is that when reading certain bits my brain was saying "No no no no no...omgomgomgomg". I think I'm probably quite wimpy as far as 'easily spooked' goes but to coin a Disney rating, it's worse than "mild peril".

I found it hard to find any kind of in-depth synopsis for this book and I don't know if that's intentional but just in case it is I won't spoil anything by going into a deep analysis of the story line. The author has a web presence at petercrowther.com and you may find some more info there and on his blog, if you're interested in finding out more, but for now I'll just end by saying - I. LIKED. IT!

If you have reviewed DARKNESS FALLING and would like to share your review, please consider adding your review page link below so I can come visit you and see what you thought of it.

2012 reading challenge's

2011-11-28T15:07:00.005Z

2011 isn't even over yet but I already know how my 2011 reading challenges will end....MADE OF FAIL!

I know I won't complete any of them as I'm too far behind and it's too late in the day to catch up but it doesn't matter. Well, not to me anyway. It's not the winning that's important, it's the taking part. Right? Right. At the end of the year I can say I read some books. Can't say fairer than that.

Sooo, that being said I've got my eye on 2012 already. I chose a few new challenges yesterday that I liked the look of and only picked ones where I'd already decided to do that particular thing anyway, even before knowing there was a challenge for it.

There are 5 altogether (so far). Two challenges are similar to each other, another two are things I try to do every year anyway, with varying levels of success so maybe the official challenges will be that nudge I need to succeed, and the last one is an idea that I was toying with to try and achieve in 2012 so I've taken the challenge as 'a sign' that I'm supposed to do this :D. All of the challenges can be overlapped with other challenges so I'm all set.

The first challenge is being run by The Lit Bitch and involves the series of books I use to judge all others...

Rules: Read all SEVEN (7) books in The Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon

Books in Series Order:

Cross Stitch
Dragonfly in Amber
Voyager
Drums of Autumn
The Fiery Cross
A Breath of Snow and Ashes
An Echo in the Bone

Easy. (famous last words?) Read all the books in the series. I had planned on doing this anyway as Diana has her new book 'The Scottish Prisoner' published next week (here in the UK) and I want to get up to speed and have a total series re-read before I get to it. I re-read them all in order roughly every two years (usually to co-incide with the release of the newest book) so I'm looking forward to this challenge as it's been a while. Do-able I'd say, on the 'how-likely-o-meter'

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This next challenge is being hosted by Literary Escapism and is an extension really of the above challenge. It too involves re-reading the whole Outlander series BUT also includes the additonal Lord John series which I also plan on reading as the aforementined 'The Scottish Prisoner' is the next title in that series and has links to the Outlander series.

Again, do-able on the 'how-likely-o-meter'

Books in series order:

Lord John and the Private Matter
Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade
Lord John and the Hand of Devils
The Scottish Prisoner

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This next challenge is definitely Do-able... but just how do-able will depend on how I get on with the final challenge below. At the moment this challenge all hinges on my success rate with challenge number 4.

Here's what the hosts have to say about the TBR challenge:
"We all have those books. We buy them, win them, they're gifted to us.. Then we put them up on a bookshelf and there they stay, collecting dust, waiting for the time when we'll finally decide to pick them up..

Join us on a quest to dust off your TBR Pile and read all the books you've been telling yourself you'll read next time you'll get a chance.. This is your chance! And we've got PRIZES!!! :D"

Levels:

1-10 - A Firm Handshake
11-20 - A Friendly Hug
21-30 - A Sweet Kiss
31-40 - Love At First Sight
41-50 - Married With Children

I'm signing up for the 'Freindly Hug' as I can move up a lvl but not down one and thought that even if I only manage one a month that would fall into the 11-20 category.

Sign up at any of the host's blog's below -

Evie from Bookis
Nicole from All I Ever Read
Bonnie from Hands and Home
Donna from Book Passion For Life
Caitlin from WatchYA Reading
Rie from Mission To Read
Vicky from Books, Biscuits & Tea
Christa from Hooked On Books
Jenna from Fans Of Fiction
Angel from Mermaids Vision

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I might need all 12 months to get this one in the bag. The Sookie Stackhouse (True Blood) books are a bit of an enigma to me. I like them, I enjoy them and I have them pre-bought and sitting on the shelf but I just can't seem to conjure up any kind of love for them. Doesn't really make any sense. I like them enough to have read the first six books but not enough to WANT to read the ones that follow. Any other series by the time I've made it though a half dozen books I'm desperate to see where it all leads. These one's...not so much. BUT, I do like them. Can't explain. Anyhoo, the challenge...

The 2012 Sookie Stackhouse Reading Challenge is being hosted by Darlene's Book Nook.

There are four levels for this challenge:

a. Level 1: Read 1-4 books in the series.
b. Level 2: Read 5-8 books in the series.
c. Level 3: Read 9-11 books in the series.
d. Level 4: Read all 12 books in the series!

Since I've already read the first 6 books I'm signing up for Level 1: Read 1-4 books in the series. As the year goes on I'll know better if I'm able to up that estimate and read all the remaining 6 books but for now I'll stick with Level 1.

That means I'll be reading from books 7 to 12. Or hoping to...

Maybe this challenge is the push I need to get the series finished.

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And finally... This challenge, hosted by Butterflyometer Books is going to be my toughest challenge ever, I think. EVAAARR!

My resoloution is to challenge myself to not spend a penny on buying books for the 12 months from 1st Jan 2012 to 31st Dec 2012! Do-able? Who knows, but I'll give it a whirl.

Sounds scary!! I hope I'm up to the challenge. I can recieve books as gifts (which is not so bad..I've got a birthday during the year), I can WIN books (so entering a gazillion comps for me then), I can swap my books with friends etc for other books and I can even borrow books from people and/or the library BUT I'm not allowed to buy a single book. Doesn't matter if it's brand new or used I MUST NOT BUY!!

That's going to be easier said than done and I think it might impede on my other joy (other than books and reading) which is rumaging in charity shops for things to tart up for my house, either by recyling or upcycling or just general things to give a makeover to. Those sorts of shops invariably have a book section so I'll either have to go in wearing blinkers or not go in at all :(

MUST STAY STRONG!

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I'll particularly need all the help I can get with that last one, so please wish me luck! :D

**All linked Challenge Buttons also appear in my blog footer**

Black Friday Book Bonanza WINNER!

2011-11-28T12:02:00.000Z

My Black Friday Book Bonanza giveaway has ended and I was blown away by how many book lovers entered! 157 entries! I expected about a tenth of that! Delighted at how many entered.

One lucky winner gets to choose a book up to the value of £10 from The Book Depository and that lucky bookworm is...

Cassy!

Congratulations Cassy! Random.org picked your comment as the winner and I've emailed you to let you know.

Thank you to everyone who entered. I'm just sorry you couldn't all win.

Black Friday Book Bonanza [Giveaway]

2011-11-25T14:56:00.003Z

*THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED*

I'm taking part in the Black Friday Book Bonanza Giveaway which is running from today, Nov 25th until Nov 27th. Thank you to our hosts
Heather from Book Savvy Babe, Jenn from The Bawdy Book Blog, and Lisa from Alive on the Shelves.

For my giveaway I am giving away a book of your choice up to the value of £10 from the Book Depository. Please make sure they ship to you!

Giveaway is open internationally and the only thing you need to do is leave a comment and let me know you'd like to be included in the draw. It's that easy :)

I'll be announcing the winner here on the blog but please also include a way of getting in touch with you, if you're a winner I'll email you.

Enjoy the giveaway hop and be sure to visit all the participating blogs - you can find a list of book blog's taking part here.

Good luck!

Thin Air by Lynn Seresin - Character Interview with Delilah and a Giveaway!

2011-10-15T00:01:00.001+01:00

Today, I'm very excited to have one of the main characters of Lynn Seresin's debut novel, THIN AIR, with me on The Bookshelf Chronicles to answer a few questions. Read on for the interview and a giveaway! The blog tour is being organised by Bree at The Awesome Magic Attic.

Allow me to introduce, Delilah!

For those who haven't already had the pleasure to meet you, can you tell us a little about yourself?
Certainly. My name is Delilah. My last name is unimportant; you don’t really need to know it.
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Ok, well, let's talk about Daniel. What first attracted you to him and how did you meet?
How did we first meet? Let’s just say I met Daniel on a camping trip. I was immediately attracted to him, basically because he’s positively gorgeous. I mean, how many tall, well-built guys with auburn hair, green eyes, and features to die for do you see walking around?
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Was Daniel your first boyfriend?
Of course not. Men have always been drawn to me, like moths to a flame.
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What were your first impressions of Alice?
Do we have to waste our time talking about that slow-witted, little phoney? Maybe Daniel and his friends didn’t see through her little act, but I sized her up the moment we met. She likes to play the damsel in distress—all “I don’t know how to do anything, and I need help”. Her type makes me sick. She knows exactly what she’s doing, so don’t be fooled. She came to steal my boyfriend because she couldn’t find one of her own.
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You're both very different but yet similar in that you both have feelings for Daniel. Do you think you and Alice could have been friends, if meeting under different circumstances?
Never. I can’t even stand being in the same room with her. As far as I’m concerned, she can go back to where she came from—and stay there.
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No offence, but you seem like a High Maintainance girlfriend. Were you surprised when Daniel took an interest in Alice?
Me? High Maintainance? I don’t know what you’re talking about. I gave Daniel a great deal of freedom when we were together. I mean, just because I have certain requirements, it doesn’t necessarily make me demanding. So what if I don’t want to live in the city? It’s not like I’m denying Daniel his right to an education. What’s the big? He can transfer out of NYU and go to another university. Somewhere we both can be happy. And is it too much to ask that he spend a little less time playing guitar and pretending to be a rock star, and a little more time focusing on
something more practical, like getting a “real” job? I don’t think so.
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In hindsight is there anything you wished you'd done differently?
I should have resolved the situation with Alice more quickly. I tried talking to her, but she wouldn’t back down. She kept saying that Daniel wanted to end things with me, but how did she know what Daniel truly wanted? I was his girlfriend for two years. I think I’m in a better position to know Daniel’s mind than she is. Who does she think she is, anyway?
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What is the one thing you wish other people knew about you?
I wish people would realize I’m not a bitch. I’m just a simple girl fighting for her man. Alice is the one at fault here. She’s the one making all the trouble. I just wish people would stop criticizing me for doing whatever it takes to make sure I hold onto Daniel. What we have together is special. I gave up a lot to be with him, and I’m not about to walk away just because some insipid, little skank comes along and wants to take what doesn’t belong to her. I’m not a bad person, really. But I’m also not afraid to do whatever is necessary to make sure Alice doesn’t come between Daniel and me.
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Finally Delilah, is there anything you'd like to say to your author Lynn Seresin?
I’d like to tell Lynn that I don’t like the way she’s represented me in the book. I hope I’m wrong (I mean, an author should act impartially toward her characters, right?) but I really think sometimes she’s on Alice’s side. She’s not being fair to me, always showing me in a negative light. What about all the good things I’ve done for Daniel? I saved his life, didn’t I? She just touches on that, but she’s quick to point out how hot-headed I am. So, what’s wrong with being passionate? And she makes sure that readers know Daniel’s friends don’t exactly like me, either. Ask me if I care if a bunch of losers don’t want to hang out with me. I think Lynn should examine her own motives and ask herself why she paints me in such a negative light. What’s her issue, anyway? Maybe she has a problem with strong female characters. Well, Lynn, do you?
---------
Okaaay. Thanks for stopping by Delilah, it's been lovely to have you here.
Thanks for letting me tell my side of the story — not that it’s going to change anything. I mean, Lynn isn’t even in my camp. She’s been duped by Alice, just like all the other characters in the book. I just hope I’ve made some of your subscribers realize I’m not the villain here. Alice is.
---------
I'm sure everyone is itching for a chance to read your side of the story Delilah, and thanks to a stellar giveway they can be in with a chance to win their very own copy of Thin Air! I loved it and I think others will too!

Time for a Scavenger Hunt Giveaway!

Blog Tour Grand Prize: The winner shall receive a signed, Paperback copy of Thin Air and specially made earring similar to Alice's, shown here

To win, all you need do is find the red letters scattered about the participating blog's on the tour. Not all the blogs will have one, but they will pop up from time to time in the tour posts and when they do, the letter will be in bold and will be red.

To get your hands on these great prizes, enter to win by simply collecting all of the bold red letters from the blog post's on the blog tour. Once you have found them all they will spell out two word's which you can enter (along with your details) on this FORM!

The tour began October 3rd at The Fairytale Nerd and runs until October 31st.
Make sure you visit each blog on the tour to collect all the letters needed. Participating blogs are listed here.

In the meantime, if you'd like to find out more about Thin Air and Lynn Seresin, go to any of these links:

Goodreads | Barnes and Noble | Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Facebook

Waiting On Wednesday - The Future of Us by Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler

2011-09-28T10:17:00.005+01:00

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating.

This Weeks Choice:

THE FUTURE OF US by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler.

Expected Publication Date:
November 21, 2011 (US)
January 5, 2012 (UK)

Blurb taken from Goodreads:

It's 1996, and less than half of all American high school students have ever used the Internet.

Emma just got her first computer and an America Online CD-ROM.

Josh is her best friend. They power up and log on--and discover themselves on Facebook, fifteen years in the future.

Everybody wonders what their Destiny will be. Josh and Emma are about to find out.

Sounds BRILLIANT!!

I really have no idea how I heard about this book (probably through Goodreads), but it sounds like just the right book for me!

I can't wait to get my hands on this one!

What are you anxiously waiting for?

Pinterest! Anyone have any invites left?

2011-09-21T20:00:00.001+01:00

Purleeese!!

~~I really would love a Pinterest invite, if anyone out there has one? Please, please, please?~~

Strike that, I got one!! Thank you mystery Pinterest invite giver!!!!

Final layout change....evar. Probably. Maybe.

2011-09-19T17:39:00.000+01:00

I liked the old header and layout, kinda, but it just wasn't really 'me'.

This new one I've made probably isn't either....but I like it more :D

Even though it hurts my eyes and I have to wear sunglasses to look at it - it's staying. Forever maybe.

Maybe.

*Just taking a head-shot for posterity*

Cover Reveal - Wicked As They Come by Delilah S Dawson

2011-09-17T11:04:00.007+01:00

OMG! I want to read this book so bad, I can almost TASTE it! Due to be released in Spring 2012 and I CAN NOT WAIT!.

So I'm trawling google for book reviews, news, cover pics... and this pic hover's onto the radar

WOW! Meet Criminy Stain.

Steampunk, Vampire's, Top hat's, Circus Freak's.... Oh yeah, sound's like a keeper!

WICKED AS THEY COME, Book #1 in the Blud series.

When Tish Everett forces open the locket she finds at an estate sale, she has no idea that a deliciously rakish Bludman has cast a spell just for her. She wakes up in a surreal world where Criminy Stain, the dashing proprietor of a magical circus, curiously awaits. At Criminy's electric touch, Tish glimpses a tantalizing future, but she also fore...sees her ultimate doom. Before she can decide whether to risk her fate with the charming daredevil, the locket disappears, and with it, her only chance to return home. Tish and Criminy battle roaring sea monsters and thundering bludmares, vengeful ghosts and crooked Coppers in a treacherous race to recover the necklace from the evil, Blud-hating Magistrate. But if they succeed, will Tish forsake her fanged suitor and return to her normal life, or will she take a chance on an unpredictable but dangerous destiny with the Bludman she's coming to love?

Holy! I want to read that soooo bad! Not sure why it's grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and hauled me into fangirl territory... all I know is that it Spring seems like a looooong time away.

I've trawled all over the interweb to find out as much as I can about this little gem and soaked up everything I can find about Delilah S Dawson and her new book and am REALLY excited about finding out more.

I'm going to ~~stalk~~ follow on
Blog | Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook and have put in a Pre Order at Amazon UK

There's not a lot of info to be found yet, other than the blurb (taken from Delilah's Facebook page) but I'll be first in line to read any news about Wicked As They Come because Spring next year can't come fast enough for me.

I CAN NOT WAIT!! Did I say that already?...

Oh! And, as if all that's not enough to get your juices flowing... There are also vampire bunnies! WTH?! That in itself is worth buying the book for!

Twilight - Breaking Dawn- Official Trailer

2011-09-14T13:16:00.000+01:00

I'm looking forward to this but only because I hate to leave a series unfinished... Breaking Dawn was my least favourite of the Twilight series but I'll still watch it. Obviously :D

Just one thing though - WTH?!?! Carlise? Where did the uber hot Dr Cullen go? And, I know that (in the complexion department) the Cullen's have all been a bit 'pale' in the previous films but now they look all waxy and clammy. So not hot.

Bella and Edward, plus those they love, must deal with the chain of consequences brought on by a marriage, honeymoon, and the tumultuous birth of a child... which brings an unforeseen and shocking development for Jacob Black.

In The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1, Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson), plus those they love, must deal with the chain of consequences brought on by a marriage, honeymoon, and the tumultuous birth of a child... which brings an unforeseen and shocking development for Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner).

With more of the romance, passion, intrigue and action that made Twilight, The Twilight Saga: New Moon and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse worldwide blockbusters, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1, based on Stephenie Meyer's bestselling book series, begins the conclusion of the tale of vampire love, boundless friendship, acceptance, and finding your true self.

Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1 hits theaters November 18th

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

2011-09-13T22:08:00.006+01:00

Dead Until Dark {The Southern Vampire's - #1}

Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Gollancz
Publication date(first): 2001
ISBN-13: 978-0575089365

Synopsis taken from Goodreads:

Sookie Stackhouse is a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. She's quiet, keeps to herself, and doesn't get out much. Not because she's not pretty. She is. It's just that, well, Sookie has this sort of "disability." She can read minds. And that doesn't make her too dateable. And then along comes Bill. He's tall, dark, handsome - and Sookie can't 'hear' a word he's thinking. He's exactly the kind of guy she's been waiting for all her life.

But Bill has a disability of his own: He's a vampire. Worse than that, hangs with a seriously creepy crowd, with a reputation for trouble - of the murderous kind.

And when one of Sookie's colleagues is killed, she begins to fear she'll be next.

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

Opening Line:"I'd been waiting for the Vampire for years when he walked into the bar"

I bought this book more than 2 years ago when it came as part of an eight book set from the Book People for just £9.99. Nine pounds ninety nine!! For eight books. Bargain!... and then they just sat on the shelf, unopened and gathering dust. My bad.

Some time later I started to hear murmers about a great new show called True blood based on the books so I dusted off 'Dead Until Dark' and settled down to see what all the fuss what about. I got about a quarter of the way through and found it to be a real slog. Sookie just seemed way too kitchy for me and the Southern drawl that was written into every passage of speech grew old really fast. I love to listen to the down South accent, but to read it just grated on my nerves. I couldn't stand Bill and he seemed like all he did was mope about and I couldn't figure out what Sookie liked about him, and to have every miniscule fashion decision that Sookie made detailed for me in minute detail was just one big yawn. I couldn't visualise Sookie or any of the other characters and it just all seemed really unmemorable. I was thoughoughly underwhelmed but it all. I set it aside and started to wonder about the wisdom of my £9.99 'bargain'.

I did start to watch the show though. I wanted to see if it was any better. It was. It was great! I loved it! I couldn't get enough. Loosly based on the books and sooooo much better. And then season 1 ended and I was left hungry for more. OMG! How would I survive until season 2?!!

Then my eye's strayed to the bookshelves and unfinished book 1 sitting there, all dusty and unloved.

Without expecting much I set in to restart it where I left off to try and fill the gap until season 2 came around and within a few pages the strangest thing happened... I started to get sucked into it! I could finally 'see' and 'hear' Sookie and Bill, Eric and Pam, Arlene and Sam and all of the characters just came to life!

Now that I knew Sookie and could 'see' her I loved reading all about her little outfit choices and how she kept a nice house and what she spent her meagre earnings on. In fact, all the little details is what made the book readable for me. I felt like I knew Sookie now and I loved hearing all her news. Still didn't know what she saw in Bill though.....that still remeains a mystery.

Since that epiphany I've went on to watch season's 2, 3 and am part way through current season 4. I have also worked my way thorugh books 1 to 5 and am currently enjoying book 6. Without watching the show I know I'd probably never have gone back to the books. The show is only loosely based on the books so it actually feels like I've got twice as many stories to enjoy as the storylines are similar but quite different.

I'm trying to pace myself with the books though, I don't want to get too far ahead of the tv show. It's really hard, I'm enjoying them so much I just want to plough through them all!

Oh, and Eric Northman...Two words - Bite me!

If you have reviewed DEAD UNTIL DARK and would like to share your review, please add your review page link below.

Blog overhaul time again...

2011-09-10T15:02:00.002+01:00

Time for another blog design overhaul.

Got a bit fed up with the old, leery design so I made something a bit more retro this time for my blog header.

One thing....every time I change my layout the 'followers' widget reverts back to zero :/
Why it do that? I no like :(

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon - Youtube Vid - Do the book thing?

2011-04-15T11:47:00.003+01:00

Over on The Outlander Book Club there's a post about the noises that Jamie makes thoughout the books and what they might sound like. It's hard to imagine a 'sound' when it's written down and I laughingly suggested I'd try to get my hubby to make a youtube vid of himself reading Jamie's lines (since he has the required Scottish accent), but not surprisingly he didn't jump at the chance.

Undeterred though, I took the idea and ran with it and made my own vid for a laugh. No speaking as such, just a little skit about how things might go down for a woman with a desire to 'hear' Jamie speak...

Just my twisted sense of humour.....

The link to watch it in youtube is... Do The Book Thing?

If you haven't already read the Outlander series, you MUST get yourselves over to your nearest bookshop to snag them!

You'll find more info over at Diana's website and blog Voyages of the Artemis

and at Goodreads - Diana Gabaldon author page

Review - Never Go Back by Robert Goddard

2011-04-12T18:29:00.002+01:00

Paperback: 369 pages
Publisher: Corgi
ISBN-13: 978-0552152112
Publication Date: 6 Nov 2006

Synopsis taken from Amazon:

For a group of ex-comrades, it is to be the reunion to end all reunions: a weekend in the Scottish castle where they were guinea pigs in a psychological experiment many years before. They haven’t seen each other since. But the convivial atmosphere on the journey north is quickly shattered by the apparent suicide of one of their party.

When a second death occurs, a sense of forboding descends on the group. It appears that the past is coming back to haunt them, a past that none of them have ever spoken about. Their recollections are all frighteningly different. So what really happened?

Then when one of them uncovers an extraordinary secret, he becomes convinced that they will never leave the castle alive…

My Review:

The rear cover has all the usual best seller buzz words, 'gripping', 'page turner', 'twists', 'unputdownable', etc......but it was a bit of a let down. I didn't really feel for any of the characters. In fact, the only characters I wanted to read about were the few that were only briefly mentioned, the key characters were only mildly interesting.

I kept going because the whole book was hinting that what they thought they remembered from the experiment in 1955 wasn't acutally as it appeared and I wanted to know why. What happened to them en-route was just page filler.

The trail that leads to the truth is littered with too many lucky breaks for the hero and seemingly 'being in the right place, at the right time' moments.

It's not the worst book I've read, but it's far from the best so while I'm glad I've read it, it's not one I'd go back to.

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

If you've reviewed NEVER GO BACK by Robert Goddard, I'd love to see what you thought of it. Please use the MR Linky below and add the link to your review....

Review - Storm Front (Dresden Files #1) by Jim Butcher

2011-04-08T22:45:00.018+01:00

Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Orbit
ISBN-10: 1841493988
Publication Date: 1 Sept 2005

Synopsis taken from Goodreads:

HARRY DRESDEN — WIZARD
Lost Items Found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates. No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or Other Entertainment.

Harry Dresden is the best at what he does. Well, technically, he's the only at what he does. So when the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal creativity or capability, they come to him for answers. For the "everyday" world is actually full of strange and magical things—and most don't play well with humans. That's where Harry comes in. Takes a wizard to catch a — well, whatever.

There's just one problem. Business, to put it mildly, stinks. So when the police bring him in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with black magic, Harry's seeing dollar signs. But where there's black magic, there's a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry's name. And that's when things start to get interesting.

Magic. It can get a guy killed.

My Review:

Well now, I very nearly didn't read this. After the first two or three chapters I started to pick holes in it and wasn't really 'into' it very much and thought I should maybe quit while I was ahead.... Laziness was the decider in the end and I stuck with it because it was either that or traipse downstairs to get a replacement from the bookshelf....

Anyway, it got a bit better after those first few chapters. Or at least I think it got better, I'm not altogether sure if it did actually. Maybe it was just more of the same and I got used to the style. That's the thing with this book, I'm not sure what to make of it or what to think.

Harry Dresden is a wizard. But a crappy one. Or is he? I don't think he's meant to seem crappy but that's how he comes across to me.

He's got a gumshoe/Philip Marlowe/Sam Spade thing going on but he's also got wizardy powers and you'd think that would be a huge advantage to him, but no, he doesn't know what he's doing half the time or even HOW to do it (and if sometimes he does know - he's too scared to do it).

If you took out the wizard stuff then this is just a detective story. Without magic he's just Columbo (minus the razor sharp mind). He even has a ratty duster coat which he eats, rests and plays in.

It's a book about a down on his luck Private Eye who is useless with women (although women seem to go for him, for some reason) and he's got special paranormal powers. That's it in a nutshell really.

So, why then do I like it? I have no clue. I honestly don't know - I just do. I wouldn't recommend it to others, I won't stay up 3 nights running to devour the rest in the series and I don't even particularly like Harry Dresden as a character. Doesn't make any sense but it is what it is. I like the book.

I want to read the next few, and I will, but I'm not desperate for them. And if he would just stop defining women by how much make up they use and what clothes they wear, he and I will get along a lot better in later books.

If you've reviewed STORM FRONT by Jim Butcher, I'd love to see what you thought of it. Please use the MR Linky below and add the link to your review....

Review - INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE by Anne Rice

2011-02-09T13:28:00.002Z

Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Futura Publications; New edition edition
ISBN-13: 978-0708860731
Publication Date: 31/12/1981

Synopsis taken from Amazon:

In a darkened room a young man sits telling the macabre and eerie story of his life - the story of a vampire, gifted with eternal life, cursed with an exquisite craving for human blood. Anne Rice's compulsively readable novel is arguably the most celebrated work of vampire fiction since Bram Stoker's Dracula was published in 1897. As the Washington Post said on its first publication, it is a 'thrilling, strikingly original work of the imagination ...sometimes horrible, sometimes beautiful, always unforgettable'.

My Review:
I first read this about 20 years ago and tore through it. I loved it! It has remained on my 'fave read' list ever since. Recently though, I have started a re-read of those early 'fave reads' and The Vampire Chronicles is the latest to come under renewed scrutiny.

When I first discovered these books, there wasn't the glut of vampire fiction abailable that there is today. From the handful on the shelf at the time, this was in my opinion the best. Since those days I've read countless supernatural/paranormal books and dozens of vampire novels and was curious if Interview with a vampire had stood the test of time and was still as good as I remembered it to be.

In short, yes, it's still a good story. I didn't rattle through it as quickly as I did the first time around but that's got more to do with reading time constraints than it has to do with content. Anne Rice's writing style is flowery and evocative and searching and those are not really things I would rate highly in my usual reading choices, but maybe nostalgia is making me sentimental and I'm prepared to put up with a lot more from an old friend than I would be from a new aquaintance.

The book was slower than I remember it being but perhaps the notion of sexy, sensual, flawed vampires was new and exciting back then and caused me to get so wrapped up in the moment that time just flew. Now, there are any number of vampires who share those qualaties and the idea doesn't seem so fresh and exciting any more. However, for all that, Rice's vampires still seem to have an 'edge' to them. Something compelling that makes them stand out from the crowd.

It's hard going into this without expectations, because I've already read the others in the series, but even knowing what is to come I loved Louis all over again in this first book and hated Lestat. I know that after a few more books I'll regard Louis as a whiny bitch and I'll adore Lestat with a passion but for now Louis is a tortured soul and Lestat is a selfish brat.

The story itself is really a setting up of what's to come. It's a vehicle to introduce us to the main characters and to world build but the core story is a solid one and although I suppose these could be read out of sequence I don't think it would be quite such an enjoyable saga that way.

I'm counting this read on a few of my challenges:-

Read all TEN (10) books in the Vampire Chronicles series (books titles below).

Completed 1/10
Books in Series Order:

1) ~~Interview with the Vampire~~ ( Finished - 5/2/11)
2) ~~The Vampire Lestat~~ ( Finished - 24/2/11)
3) ~~The Queen of the Damned~~ ( Finished - 16/3/11)
4) ~~The Tale of the Body Thief~~ ( Finished - 10/4/11)
5) Memnoch the Devil
6) The Vampire Armand
7) Merrick
8) Blood and Gold
9) Blackwood Farm
10) Blood Canticle

I'm going for Reliving the Past (4-8 books) and so far the books I have in mind are:

Completed 1/8

1.~~Interview with the vampire by Anne Rice~~ (Finished - 5/2/11)
2.On Raven's wing by Morgan Llywelyn
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Any books published BEFORE 2009 . All Genres included
Completed 2/20

1. Darkfever - Karen Marie Moning - 2006

2. If Angels Burn - Lynn Viehl - 2005

3. Pleasure Unbound - Larissa Ione - 2008

4. Kiss Of Fire - Deborah Cooke - 2008

5. Magic To The Bone - Devon Monk - 2008

6. Secret Vampire - L J Smith - 2008

7. Magic Bites - Ilona Andrews - 2007

8. Poison Study - Maria V Snyder - 2007

9. Nightlife - Rob Thurman - 2006

10. Blood Price - Tanya Huff - 2004

11. Way Of The Wolf - E E Knight - 2003

12. The Smoke Thief - Shana Abe - 2006

13. Midnight's Daughter - Karen Chance - 2008

14. ~~Beyond The Highland Mist~~ - Karen Marie Moning - 2004 (FINISHED 12th Jan 2011)

15. ~~Interview With A Vampire~~ - Anne Rice - 1991 (FINISHED 5th Feb 2011)

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

Boredom prompts new blog design

2011-01-19T19:46:00.001Z

Bit bored today, housework wasn't very appealing, and I'm saving the last of Spirit Bound until bedtime so I did a total blog overhaul instead. Got really fed up of the old design which I've had for an age so I went in completely the opposite direction and this is what I've come up with.

Too leary?

Earth's Children by Jean Auel

2011-01-17T16:44:00.006Z

I was excited to hear that Jean Auel is releasing a further installment to her Earth's Children series this year on Mar 29th. It's called The Painted Caves/ You can read the first 3 chapters of Painted Caves HERE on Jean's site. There's also some free wallpapers etc to download.

It's been almost 25 years since I read the very first one, Clan Of The Cave Bear, so a re-read is almost mandatory in order to re-cap the story so far. One of the problems her fans have is the length of time in between books. I think the longest gap has been about 12 years. The last one, Shelters of Stone was 9 years in the making. Or something like forever. Must be worth the wait though, judging by how many fans she still has, even after all this time.

I actually started re-reading these last year (before I knew about the newest one) but was taking it slowly as there's quite a lot of story to take in. So far I've made my way through the first three books again - Clan of the cave bear, Valley of Horses and The Mammoth Hunters. I was just about to start the fourth one Plains of Passage when I heard of the new release. I'm finding that they're still great stories but I'm just not gripped like I was the first time around. Maybe it's because my reading preferences have changed, although not that much I wouldn't have thought, but I suspect that maybe it's because my younger self didn't have a lot of epic books to compare with. In the last 20+ years I've read hundreds of books (both good and bad) and have a better measuring stick when it comes to what I like.

Anyway, I'm going to get up to speed and get through the next couple so I'm ready to go when number 6 arrives. The only thing that's bugging me so far about them, is that everything seems to be repeated a million times. It's as if Jean thinks her reader's have the memory of a hen. Perhaps she thinks that we don't re-read and so need countless re-caps throughout. Might be true for some, but it just bugs me no end to have to go over old ground all the way through.

There was even a movie made of the first book and although it was pretty dire (the movie, not the book) I still watched it at the time. On my travels last night to find out the new book's release date I stumbled on a site where you can watch the movie for free (if you're in the UK). It's highly edited from the book, there's virtually zero dialogue and all in all it's a pretty poor movie but Daryl Hannah does her best with what she's got to work with. Might only appeal to fans of the book but a free movie is a free movie - right? I had to get the hankies out and had a bit of a blub at the end there... I'm such a softie for stuff like that in movies. Maybe I'm hormonal :D

Anyway, get the free Clan of the Cave Bear movie HERE

Details of Earth's Children and the newest release is on Jean Auel's website

Book reading order as follows:

Earth's Children Series:
1. The Clan of the Cave Bear (1980)
2. The Valley of Horses (1982)
3. The Mammoth Hunters (1985)
4. The Plains of Passage (1990)
5. The Shelters of Stone (2002)
6. The Land of Painted Caves (2011)

Review - THOSE THAT WAKE by Jesse Karp

2011-01-13T16:16:00.002Z

I'm probably one of the slowest readers I know. I usually take my time with a book and go at my own pace. What follows though, is an exception to the rule...

THOSE THAT WAKE - Jesse Karp
ISBN-13/EAN: 9780547553115
ISBN-10: 0547553110
Hardcover ; 336 pages
Publisher : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication Date: 03/21/2011
Age Range: Young Adult (12+)

Synopsis taken from publishes site:

New York City’s spirit has been crushed. People walk the streets with their heads down, withdrawing from one another and into the cold comfort of technology. Teenagers Mal and Laura have grown up in this reality. They’ve never met. Seemingly, they never will.

But on the same day Mal learns his brother has disappeared, Laura discovers her parents have forgotten her. Both begin a search for their families that leads them to the same truth: someone or something has wiped the teens from the memories of every person they have ever known. Thrown together, Mal and Laura must find common ground as they attempt to reclaim their pasts.

Plot

Set in a New York of the near future people are mostly oblivious of each other and the world around them. Instead they choose technology as a constant companion. Cell phones in particular have become essential in their day-to-day existance. Electronic devices have replaced human interaction and people are now reliant on digital media.

A terrorist attack some time after 9/11, called Big Black, caused huge explosions and power outages across New York and the resulting damage (both physical and mental) has never been repaired. The ground level damage has simply been covered over with a huge dome which can be seen for miles around. People say it now contains toxic substances, although there is no concrete evidence. The easiest way to deal with the decay and devestation is to keep their heads down and their eyes averted. The only thing guaranteed to get a person's attention are the huge HD screens which have replaced the windows in the old subway cars. These screens constantly bombard captive audiences on the transport system with advertising campaigns, slogans and infomercials. Corporations now run the entire world and the audiences, who are hooked on digital media, are easy targets.

The story is told from the perspective of 4 unconnected characters. Each has their own story to tell and gradually, by piecing each persons tale together, we come to realise they're all hold answers to help comlplete the big picture. Mal's brother Tommy has disappeared without a trace, Laura has ceased to exist for everyone who has ever known her - including her parents, Mike has found a door in the basement of his school which appears to lead to a place that can't exist and Remak is a secret agent investigating strange occurances in the neighbourhood. These four people are thrown together in strange circumstances and find themselves in a terrifying and bizarre situation and they will all have to work together if they are ever to discover what's really going on....and how to stop it.

My Review

I read this as a review galley and had no idea what to expect. The cover is gloomy and depressing and judging by cover alone it looked like it was right up my street. There wasn't a lot to go on, but the blurb led me to believe it might be on the dystopian side so I jumped at the chance to give it a go. This is a debut title from Mr Karp so I went into it with an open mind and no high hopes...

It's the kind of book that makes you take a step back and think. It seems to be a cautionary tale and I couldn't help but compare the world I was reading about and our own that I live in. How many gadgets and electronic devices do you use on a daily basis? How quickly would you fall apart without them? Yeah. Me too.

This is a very hard book to pigeon-hole. It's a dystopian, dark fantasy, horror story with liberal doses of science fiction and weirdness thrown in.

From literally the first few pages I was grabbed by the scruff of the neck and flung into the story. As mentioned above I am the slowest reader. Usually. I read this whole book, all 300+ pages of it, in a few hours and could not put it down.

I'm a huge dystopian fan, and I liked that this book had that feel to it. In fact, I thought it was purely dystopian at the beginning. As I read on though, things started to take on a menacing air and the horror started to seep in. However, it's not scary blood and gore type horror it's more of a sinister background horror that you only see glimpses of.

The character development is great and I really felt the terror that was bubbling just underneath the surface for each person as their story unfolded. I really felt like I knew these people. I cared about what happened to them and had my fingers crossed that things would work out for them. Likewise the world building is full and realised. I got a real feel for how hopeless and lost everything was. It all seemed dark and grey and dismal but by seeing it through the eyes of Mal, Laura, Mike and Remak I was hopeful that soloutions were just on the horizon if only they could piece together the puzzle. Their characters grew right before my eyes and even Mike (who I wasn't that fond of for most of the story) developed a depth of character that I hadn't seen in the beginning.

I was left guessing all the way through the story. Some new piece of info would be shared and I would think "Ah ha! That's what's behind it all. I bet I know what's coming...." Only to be foiled by another piece of info and taken back to square one.

Now then, the ending, the conclusion and the reveal of all... I have no clue what the hell happened there at the end. Not. A. Clue. It all sort of whooshed over my head and I had a hard time understanding what was said, far less what was happening. I think that has more to do with me than with the story though. The ending is really, really complex and to stop and re-read passages over and over again until I got it would have torn me out of the story so I just trusted that Mr Karp knew what he was on about and took things on trust. (*whispers* In truth though Jesse, I was completed confused there at the end). Better just to surrender to it and let things unfold.

The only little niggle I have with any of it was that it felt a little preachy at the end. A little bit... The internet and all things globally interactive seem to put us in a great position to interact with each other and broaden our horizons, but actually the world is shrinking and we're becoming even more isolated than when we started. Carry on the way we're going in this age of the internet and all hell will break loose. I get it.

This title is billed for ages 12+ but I think it may hold more appeal for a slightly older audience.

I give it 5/5 and would definitely read more by this author.

Tour Info for AWAKENED . Coming to a Waterstones near me!

2011-01-10T12:22:00.010Z

Awakened by P.C & Kristin Cast is coming to Scotland!

From their blog, they say... (actually, it's PC that's doing the saying...)

First, let me start by saying that Kristin and I are not touring in the US for AWAKENED. We are launching in Tulsa at fabulous Will Rogers High School on Tuesday, January 4th, 6:00 p.m. We'll also be doing lots of interview and probably some live chats, etc., but our US publisher, who makes the decisions about touring, decided the weather in January is just too questionable for a tour.

Also, let me reiterate - Kristin and I DON'T CHOOSE WHERE WE TOUR. Our publishers set up our tours, keeping in mind things like weather, market, and our writing schedule. What this means is asking us "please oh please will you come to ___________ some day?" or "you never come to my town, why not?" are questions I can't answer. I'd love to travel all over and tour, tour, tour - but 1) I'm not in control of that (like I just said) and, 2) If I toured all the time I'd never write and there would be no more HoN books...

However, I am going to Scotland with Seoras to visit family, and I've agreed to three events while I'm there. Kristin can't come with me this time, and I did not choose the three venues, my UK publisher did. Below is where I'll be and when. Scotland is a second home to me, and so I'm really looking forward to returning and meeting with my lovely UK fans!

See y'all in January!

XXXOOO
PC

TOUR DATES AND PLACES:

Thursday, January 13th
10:30 a.m.
Scottish Book Trust, Edinburgh (Talk/Reading/Q&A and signing)
Venue: 55 High St., Edinburgh, Midlothian EH1 1SR
For more info see: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/meet-out-authors/individual-events-programme/pc-cast

Monday, January 17th
7:00 p.m.
Waterstone's Stirling (Talk/Reading/Q&A and signing)
Venue: Cowane Centre, Cowane Street, Stirling
For more info contact Waterstones Stirling 0843 290 8615

Thursday, January 20th
6:30 p.m.
Waterstone's Glasgow (Talk/Reading/Q&A and signing)
Venue: Waterstones, 153-157 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G2 3EW
For more info contact Waterstones Glasgow 0141 332 9105
---------------------------------------------

Well now, that's a turn up for the books! It's not often there's an event like this that's so close to home. Last time that happened I was front and center for Diana Gabaldon at the Edinburgh book festival. That woman is my hero! Or or should that be heroine? Whatever.

So, the Awakened Tour. I haven't checked ticket availability yet, but the Stirling event is a 40 min drive from here so is maybe do-able (if other commitments allow). Edinburgh is on the doorstep but there's no tickets left for that one :(
Glasgow I probably wouldn't consider because it's a right pain to get into the city center and find parking...

I'm only on book 2 of the House of Night series so far, but who can resist a signed copy when the opportunity arises? Not me. Just need to see what's afoot for next Monday and take it from there...

TRAILER FOR AWAKENED

Is there such a thing as 'Challenge Addiction'?...

2011-01-08T23:20:00.001Z

Challenge addiction? I haz it!

Can't help myself. I think it's an illness. Send help, please. Thank you.

Two more challenges added to my list, and I'm 99.9% sure they're my last for 2011 (but don't quote me on that).

I have been looking over my goodreads 'read' list and there are a few on the list that I would dearly love to read again because it's been many, many years since I first enjoyed them. With all the great new reads I've got planned for this year I couldn't really justify going back over old ground though...

And then it struck me. If I were 'challenged' to read them then that would be, like, different. It'd be rude not to accept a challenge. Right? Yeah, challenges are the way forward. Trust me.

And that's why there HAS to be 2 new challenges. See, some of the re-reads I want to do are from the Anne Rice Vampire Chronicles and since the challenge has a cute graphic for the sidebar I HAD to sign up. I think it's actually against the law to NOT sign up for challenges when you come across them. Or did I dream that?

Anyhoo, Job done.

I'm joining in with -

Read me baby one more time, hosted by Midnight Book Girl

Read Me Baby, 1 More Time is for those of us who love to re-read our favorite books or those of us who want to re-visit a book from our past. The rules are simple, for a book to qualify we simply have to have read it at least once before, and the re-read has to be complete.

Timeline: 1st Jan 2011 ~ 31st Dec 2011

Here's the tiers for you to choose from:

Trip Down Memory Lane: 1-3 re-reads
Reliving the Past: 4-8 re-reads
Back To The Future: 9-12 re-reads
Groundhog Day Reader: 13-20 re-reads

I'm going for Reliving the Past and so far the books I have in mind are:

1.~~Interview with the vampire~~ by Anne Rice (Finished - 5/2/11)
2.On Raven's wing by Morgan Llywelyn
3.
4.

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

As mentioned, my next challenge involves The Vampire Chronicles and is hosted by Book Chick City

Challenge Details

• Timeline: 01 Jan 2011 - 31 Dec 2011

• Rules - Read all TEN (10) books in the Vampire Chronicles series (books titles below).

• The reading challenge can crossover into other challenges you have on the go

Books in Series Order:

1) ~~Interview with the Vampire~~ ( Finished - 5/2/11)
2) The Vampire Lestat
3) The Queen of the Damned
4) The Tale of the Body Thief
5) Memnoch the Devil
6) The Vampire Armand
7) Merrick
8) Blood and Gold
9) Blackwood Farm
10) Blood Canticle

Will have to find a copy of Blood Cantlicle as I don't have that one, but the rest I have and will slot into my reading year.

Vampire Academy - Last Sacrafice winner!

2011-01-06T09:37:00.000Z

That would be me! I entered a giveaway that was kindly offered by Stephanie at Books are a girl's best friend and I was one of the three winners! Go me!

The prize was a choice of book 1 of the Vampire Academy series or the last book in the series by Richelle Mead. I picked the last book as I'm already part way through the series and I'm thrilled to have won.

I like the cover so much more on the new reprints. I hated the older versions with the faces on.
The first one kept reminding me of Angelina Jolie every time I picked it up...

The second cover reminds me of Chanelle from one of the Big Brother series...

After those first two I tried to not look at the covers when I read them. To be honest, I still don't have a definite picture of Rose in my mind. I'm not really sure what she looks like and that's the sort of thing I really need to help me connect with a character.

I'm not long finished Blood Promise and will start Spirit Bound shortly. Just as soon as I can bring myself to get over what Richelle did to poor Dimitri.

Twilight - How it should have ended,..

2011-01-02T10:39:00.001Z

I love the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. Books and movies. LOVE THEM.

I love this youtube vid too though, even though it's a dig at the books. SO funny! I watch it at least once a week and still laugh out loud at the end - "Lets go eat some people!"
LOL

S.O.S I Spy Title Reading Challenge

2010-12-31T11:44:00.005Z

Goodreads S.O.S (Serious Overload of Series) group - I SPY TITLE CHALLENGE

1/24

In the TITLE of a book, find a word that fits the categories:
Duration: One year from the date started.
A scavenger hunt through our TBR to find books that fit. This one is a TITLE search challenge.
Anthologies & rereads are ok. Most should be along the paranormal/fantasy theme. May use the series name if it is printed on the cover of the book.

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

Duration- Jan 1st 2011 to Dec 31st 2011.

1. Colour - White Cat (Curse Workers #1) - Holly Black

2. Number - The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella - Stephenie Meyer

3. ~~Things That Grow~~ - Kiss of the Rose (Tudor Vampre Chronicles #1) - Kate Pearce (FINISHED 8th Jan 2011)

4. 4 Seasons - The Autumn Castle (Europa Suite #1) - Kim Wilkins

5. First Name TBC

6. Places - Kitty Goes to Washington (Kitty Norville #2) - Carrie Vaughn

7. Body Part - Magic to the Bone (Allie Beckstrom #1) - Devon Monk

8. Weapon - Poison Study (Study #1) - Maria V Snyder

9. Body of Water TBC

10. Form of Water - Beyond the Highland Mist (Highlander #1) - Karen Marie Moning (FINISHED 12th Jan 2011)

11. Product of Fire - If Angels Burn (Darkyn, #1) - Lynn Viehl

12. Heavenly Body- -Fool Moon (Harry Dresden #2) - Jim Butcher

13. Architecture TBC

14. 5 Senses TBC

15. Royal Title - Thorn Queen (Dark Swan #2) - Richelle Mead

16. Family Member - Midnight's Daughter (Dorina Basarab #1) - Karen Chance

17. 4 Elements - Kiss of Fire (Dragonfire #1)) - Deborah Cooke

18. Time of Day - Nightlife (Cal Leandros #1) - Rob Thurman

19. Metal TBC

20. Emotion - Pleasure Unbound (Demonica #1) - Larissa Ione

21. Animal - Way of the Wolf (Vampire Earth #1) - E E Knight

22. Something to Read TBC

23. Gender Identifier - Some Girls Bite (Chicagoland Vampires #1) - Chloe Neill

24. Paranormal Being TBC

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

I'm struggling a bit with some of the categories but I'll get there...

Dystopia Reading CHallenge 2011

2010-12-30T16:23:00.001Z

I've got my paranormal and time travel challenges for 2011 sorted, but wanted to find an apocalyptic challenge somewhere too... The closest I could find was the Dystopian challenge hosted by bareadingchallenges and it's close enough. I might have to just challenge myself to get some of the 'end of the world/last man standing' stuff off my TBR pile and into the 'finished' heap.

Meanwhile, the dystopian challenge is as follows:

Starts one minute past midnight, 1st of January 2011 and end the 31st of December 2011.

Challenge Levels

1. Asocial– Choose 5 books to read
2. Contagion – Choose 15 books to read
3. Soldier – Choose 30 books to read
4. Drone – Choose 50 books to read
5. Conditioned – Choose 75 books to read

For extra hard challenges

1. Brainwashed – Choose 76-125 books to read
2. Totalitarian – Choose 126-200 books to read
-----------------------

Since I've got my work cut out with my other challenge commitments, I'm going for ASOCIAL = 5

1. Gone - Michael Grant

2. Wither - Lauren DeStefano

3. Awaken - Katie Kacvinsky

4. The Traveler - John Twelve Hawks

5. Inside Out - Maria V Snyder

As reference, this is the dystopian list given on goodreads...

Time Travel Reading Challenge 2011

2010-12-30T14:03:00.003Z

I'm a huge Time Travel fan when it comes to books. LOVE them. One of my all time favourites is Cross Stitch (AKA Outlander) by Diana Gabaldon. I first read it 20 years ago and have read countless books since but it still holds the number one spot on my 'Best ever Book' list.

I have a few TT's on my TBR shelf that I need to take care of but with sooooo many other books also clamouring to be picked up I thought I could use some help to get to them so I've joined in with Alyce's challenge at her blog At Home With Books.
It's a very informal and flexible challenge and as long as it's completed within the timescale of Jan 1st 2011 to Dec 31st 2011 it's all good. I'm tentatively signing up for 5 books but this may increase as the year goes on. We shall see. Five is a good starting place.

Completed 1/5

1. Who's That Girl? - Alexandra Potter

2. The Mirror - Marlys Millhiser

3. The Accidental Time Machine - Joe Haldeman

4. The Summerhouse - Jude Deveraux

5. ~~Beyond The Highland Mist~~ - Karen Marie Moning (FINISHED 12th Jan 2011)

These are all books I already own so no excuse for me not to get to them.

Into the old World reading challenge 2011

2010-12-30T11:52:00.006Z

About the challenge:
Hosts : Splash of Our Worlds and My Love Affair With Books
Starts: 1st January 2011
Ends: 31st December 2011
Eligible Books: Any books published BEFORE 2009 . All Genres included

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

Totally do-able because the majority of the books I read are pre-2009. I like a new release as well as the next person but my TBR has been growing for years so there's a lot of 'oldies' languishing there and patiently awaiting their turn.

So. My provisional list (Which will be amended as I go and may grow or shrink as the mood takes me):

Completed 1/20

1. Darkfever - Karen Marie Moning - 2006

2. If Angels Burn - Lynn Viehl - 2005

3. Pleasure Unbound - Larissa Ione - 2008

4. Kiss Of Fire - Deborah Cooke - 2008

5. Magic To The Bone - Devon Monk - 2008

6. Secret Vampire - L J Smith - 2008

7. Magic Bites - Ilona Andrews - 2007

8. Poison Study - Maria V Snyder - 2007

9. Nightlife - Rob Thurman - 2006

10. Blood Price - Tanya Huff - 2004

11. Way Of The Wolf - E E Knight - 2003

12. The Smoke Thief - Shana Abe - 2006

13. Midnight's Daughter - Karen Chance - 2008

14.~~Beyond The Highland Mist~~ - Karen Marie Moning - 2004 (FINISHED 12th Jan 2011)

15. ~~Interview With A Vampire~~ - Anne Rice - 1991 (FINISHED 5th Feb 2011)

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

Paranormal/Fantasy Romance Challenge 2011

2010-12-28T20:05:00.004Z

Paranormal/Fantasy Romance Challenge:
This challenge is hosted by Nitty Gritty - Romance and Erotica reviews. To read 12 Paranormal/Fantasy Romances between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011.
Cross-overs from other challenges are okay. *Whew*

----------------------------------------
Completed 1/20

1. Darkfever - Karen Marie Moning

2. Shiver - Maggie Stiefvater

3. Evermore - Alyson Noel

4. Beyond The Highland Mist - Karen Marie Moning (FINISHED 12th Jan 2011)

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

Paranormal Addicts & Newbie 2011 New Author Challenge

2010-12-28T19:46:00.002Z

New to You Authors

Duration 1st January 2011 to 31st December 2011

How many new authors are you going to read this year? Challenge yourself! Take your pick from three levels of challenge:

Beginner: 5 new authors
Dedicated: 10 new authors
Obsessed: 25 new author
-----------------------------------

New to You Authors
Level: Obsessed
Completed : 1/25

1. If Angels Burn - Lynn Viehl
2. Mind Games - Carolyn Crane
3. Pleasure Unbound - Larissa Ione
4. Kiss Of Fire - Deborah Cooke
5. Infinite Days - Rebecca Maizel
6. Queen Of Shadows - Dianne Sylvan
7. Darkfever - Karen Marie Moning
8. Shiver - Maggie Stiefvater
9. Daughters Of Dracula - Kailin Gow
10. Some Girls Bite - Chloe Neill
11. Magic To The Bone - Devon Monk
12. Evermore - Alyson Noel
13. Secret Vampire - L J Smith
14. Magic Bites - Ilona Andrews
15. Poison Study - Maria V Snyder
16. The Native star - M K Hobson
17. Nightlife - Rob Thurman
18. Blood Price - Tanya Huff
19. Secret Lives - Gabriella Poole
20. Grave Witch - Kalayna Price
21. Way Of The Wolf - E E Knight
22. The Smoke Thief - Shana Abe
23. Kiss Of The Rose - Kate Pearce - (FINISHED 8th Jan 2011)
24.
25.

Paranormal Addicts & Newbie 2011 New Series Challenge

2010-12-28T19:28:00.006Z

New to You Series

Duration 1st January 2011 to 31st December 2011

How many new series are you going to read this year? Challenge yourself! Take your pick from three levels of challenge:

Beginner: 5 new series
Dedicated: 10 new series
Obsessed: 25 new series
----------------------------------

2011 "New to You Series" Challenge
REQUIRED: Minimum 1 book of each series
Level: Obsessed

2/25

1. If Angels Burn - Darkyn - Lynn Viehl - 0/7
2. Mind Games - The Disillusionists - Carolyn Crane - 0/2
3. Pleasure Unbound - Demonica - Larissa Ione - 0/5
4. Kiss Of Fire - Dragonfire - Deborah Cooke - 0/5
5. Infinite Days - Vampire Queen - Rebecca Maizel - 0/2
6. Queen Of Shadows - Shadow World - Dianne Sylvan - 0/2
7. Darkfever - Fever - Karen Marie Moning - 0/5
8. Shiver - Wolves Of Mercy Falls - Maggie Stiefvater - 0/3
9. Daughters Of Dracula - The Stoker Sisters - Kailin Gow - 0/3
10. Some Girls Bite - Chicagoland Vampires - Chloe Neill - 0/5
11. Magic To The Bone - Allie beckstrom - Devon Monk - 0/6
12. Evermore - The Immortals - Alyson Noel - 0/5
13. Secret Vampire - Night World - L J Smith - 0/10
14. Magic Bites - Kate daniels - Ilona Andrews - 0/4
15. Heart Of The Dragon - Atlantis - Gena Showalter - 0/5
16. Midnight's Daughter - Donna Basarab - Karen Chance - 0/2
17. Nightlife - Cal Leandros - Rob Thurman - 0/6
18. Blood Price - Victoria Nelson - Tanya Huff - 0/6
19. Secret Lives - Darke Academy - Gabriella Poole - 0/3
20. Grave Witch - Alex Craft - Kalayna Price - 0/2
21. Way Of The Wolf - Vampire Earth - E E Knight - 0/8
22. The Smoke Thief - Drakon - Shana Abe - 0/5
23. Poison Study - Study - Maria V Snyder - - 0/3
24.Kiss Of The Rose - Tudor Vampire Chronicles - Kate Pearce - - 1/3 (FINISHED 8th Jan 2011)
25. Beyond The Highland Mist - Highlander - Karen Marie Moning - 1/8 (FINISHED 12th Jan 2011)

Reed All About Me - Oliver Reed

2010-10-25T22:52:00.005+01:00

Out of step, out of time, Oliver Reed
rollicks the world's headlines as a hellraising chauvinist who doesn't give a damn. 'Thank God,' said an awed Russell Harty on TV, 'there are people like you through whom we can live vicariously.'
Now, in Reed All About Me, the man who does it his way tells it his way in a delightfully funny autobiography that is happily free of the usual show-business genufiexions.
From the marvellous opening line - 'My father found me through a ration book' every page is a surprising revelation. His granny May gave his grandfather, Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, six love childrenincluding Sir Carol Reed - and gave Oliver a direct bastard descendance from Peter the Great.

But he ignored family influence, ran away from home, and made it to the top as an international film star with successes such as Women in Love and The Devils.
Oliver Reed bows to no man, only to the ladies. And he writes about them with devastating charm: 'I never cease to be fascinated by naked women or by a new kiss, a new romance or a new flirtation,' he says. 'But 1 don't have many women as platonic friends. 1 prefer my relationships to be far more direct than that.'
Read about how Oliver clashed with Bette Davis; the night Shelley Winters poured a bottle of whisky over his head on a TV show; the antics which resulted in him being barred from the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Hollywood; and how he took away Lee Marvin's drinking cloak.

What more can we Billy Walter Mitty Liars ask of a true man other than true grit and a delicious sense of the absurd.

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

Sadly no longer with us, but......

What a guy!!

The Innocent - Posie Graeme Evans

2010-10-07T22:47:00.003+01:00

1450. The high Middle Ages, and a baby is born in the deep forest of western England. Powerful forces plot to kill both mother and child, but somehow the newborn girl arrives. 1465. England has a charismatic new king, Edward IV, as the country wakes from the nightmare of the War of the Roses into the dawn of a fragile but hopeful new age. When Anne, a young peasant girl of fifteen, joins the household of a wealthy London merchant, her unusual beauty soon provokes jealousy, lust, and intrigue, but Anne has one special quality that saves her--her knowledge of herbs and healing. News of Anne's remarkable gift spreads, and after saving Edward's queen from death during childbirth, Anne is moved to the palace. It is here that Anne finds her destiny, and the man who will become the greatest love of her life--the king. The meeting between them will change both of their lives, for at such an uncertain time in England's history, little as it seems. Least of all this shy servant girl, whose power extends far beyond her healing hands...

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

I really liked 'The Innocent'. It was a light read but enjoyable with just enough intrigue and romance to keep it moving and I wanted to keep turning pages to see what would happen next. I really liked Anne too but at times I feel she was just a little bit too 'nice'. There's nothing wrong with being nice, but at times I wished she had a little bit more dimension to her.

Sometimes I felt that her beauty was overplayed though. Everyone she meets, and I mean EVERYONE, is struck dumb by her beauty and even if someone is in a foul murderous mood, one glance at Anne and they're turned into a blithering idiot who is willing to do her bidding no matter what. It's a bit overdone.

I'd recommend the book though, especially if you like a good costume drama, it's easy to get into and as long as you're not put off by a few rough sex scenes, it's a good book.

I'm looking forward to the second and third books in the series.

Idlewild - Nick Sagan

2010-09-26T22:42:00.002+01:00

From a bold new talent comes a smart, stylish near-future thriller that fuses the fierce imagination of The Matrix with the chilling social vision of Minority Report.

Set in the day after tomorrow, Idlewild opens as a young man awakes with amnesia: He cannot remember who he is and doesn't recognize anything around him-all he knows for sure is that someone is trying to kill him. Not certain whom he can trust, he becomes reacquainted with eight companions, all of whom are being trained at a strange school run by an enigmatic figure named Maestro. Working to uncover the identity of the person who has attempted to murder him, the young man quickly starts to unravel a series of truths, making it clear that much more than just his life is at stake.

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

Idlewild is very Matrix-esque. It starts when we meet a confused young man, who appears to be in a dark sinister place, and who seems to know as little about his world as we do. It's all very confusing (for him, and for us) but also intriguing. It seems to be a chilling place on the one hand, but as things develop we see that it's actually a place of friendship and fun......until things start to go Pete Tong.

The confused young man we meet on the first page is Halloween (how cool is THAT for a name?!!) and in his little corner of the world everything is orange and black. The colours are his 'call sign' or 'gimmick' and help distinguish him from his friends who each have their own colour combo's and quirky names.

However, his circle of friends and the world as he knows it are about to become thrown into disarray and come crashing down around him. He comes to the realisation that his survival depends on what amounts to nothing more than computer pixels. He realises that his world is actually a lot smaller than he first thought. A LOT smaller.

He's not who he thought he was, his friends and teachers are not who he thought they were and his life depends on being able to work out what's real and what's not.

Confused? So was I......but it's a great confusuion! I loved this book! I haven't read anything like it before and I'm so glad it's a three-part'er. I like the character Halloween a lot in this first installment and can't wait to see where he goes from here. This is a great book to lose yourself in. It's one of my favourite subjects in works of fiction; apocalyptic, end of the world scenario with a bit of plague and 'last man standing' thrown in for good measure.

I didn't realise when I read this that Nick Sagan was Carl Sagan's son (how could I NOT have known, with a name like that? Duh!), but I don't think it would have made much difference if I'd known in advance because I've never read any of his dad's books to compare with. He's a talented author and regardless of who his dad is, he's got a book here that holds up well against some of best SF writers around.

Year Zero - Jeff Long

2010-09-16T22:39:00.002+01:00

An archaeological manhunt is raging in the holy land -- a hunt for the historical Jesus. For Nathan Lee Swift, a young American field researcher and expectant father, the line between noble discovery and the plunder of ruins is sacred -- until the night he crosses it. At a Roman landfill beneath the crucifixion grounds known as Golgotha, Nathan Lee yields to his professor's greed and turns common grave robber. His world -- his unborn daughter -- seems lost to him.

Hundreds of miles away, on the remote Greek island of Corfu, a wealthy collector pries open his latest black-market purchase -- a fourteen-inch holy relic containing a vial of blood dating back to the first century -- and unleashes a two-thousand-year-old plague. As the pandemic explodes from the Mediterranean basin and threatens to devour humankind, Nathan Lee gets a chance at redemption. He embarks on an Odyssean journey back to the United States to find his family.

Skirting the edges of the world, Nathan Lee's path finally leads him to New Mexico, where the greatest minds of science have converged at Los Alamos to find a vaccine. There Nathan Lee meets Miranda Abbot, a nineteen-year-old prodigy. As the cure continues to elude them, Miranda launches a desperate final strategy: the use of human lab rats cloned from the year zero. Nathan Lee, the thief of bones, comes face-to-face with men made from the very relics he looted, one of whom claims to be Jesus Christ, but may also be Patient Zero.

Combining the scientific precision of The Andromeda Strain with the intensity of classic adventure epics, Jeff Long takes readers on a riveting voyage through the rubble of earthquake-torn Jerusalem, the serenity of the high Himalayas, and the eerie sanctuary of Los Alamos. With Long's characteristic originality, Year Zero races against the apocalyptic clock, creating a maze of twists, astonishing atmosphere, and the clash of science and faith.

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

I think I read a different book to the one that was advertised on the back cover blurb. The book sounded really interesting and a bit different to most other 'end of the world' scenarios I've read but mostly it's just not that gripping once you get into it. It's a steady story which kept me turning pages - but only to try and get to the tale that was promised.

The first few chapters are really promising but very quickly I lost interest in the main character, which isn't really what you're looking for in a book. My indifference to Nathan Lee (for some reason even his name grates on me) meant that I never really got involved with his struggles and/or experiences.
There are also a few characters we meet and I'm still not sure why or how they figure in the story. They're given fairly large chunks of storyline but if they were removed I can't say that it would take much away from the tale.

It's not the worst book I've ever read, but I'm a bit disappointed that the fabulous story I was looking forward to wasn't forthcoming. I think that if I wasn't misled into looking for a story that wasn't there, then I might have got involved more. Before I knew it I was at the end and left wondering if I'd missed a chapter or 3. The conclusion when it comes seems so rushed that I had to go back and re-read the last few chapters because I was sure I'd missed a crucial pivotal moment. I hadn't....and there wasn't...

It's a bit of a mish-mash of ideas going on actually and not all of it gel's when thrown together into a single story. The worst part is the the virus itself, which the book revolves around....it's just madness.

For fans of apocalyptic plague fiction though, give it a whirl....just don't expect what's written on the back cover.

It's not a book I'd go back to, but since it belongs to a genre that I'm very fond of, I'm glad I read it.

Across the Nightingale Floor - Lian Hearn

2010-09-04T22:36:00.002+01:00

In his black-walled fortress at Inuyama, the murderous warlord, lida Sadamu, surveys his famous nightingale floor. Constructed with exquisite skill, it sings at the tread of each human foot. No assassin can cross it unheard. Brought up in a remote mountain village among the Hidden, a reclusive and spiritual people, Takeo has learned only the ways of peace. Why, then, does he possess the deadly skills that make him so valuable to the sinister Tribe? These supernatural powers will lead him to his violent destiny within the walls of Inuyama - and to an impossible longing for a girl who can never be his. His journey is one of revenge and treachery, honour and loyalty, beauty and magic, and the passion of first love.

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Across the nightingale floor was a little step away from my usual reading material but the rave reviews intrigued me so I gave it a shot. I rashly bought all 5 books in the series and now I'm doubting the widsom of that.

Just because it's aimed at a lower age group, doesn't mean it has to be childish but if I'm honest, I found it quite slow despite the killing and violence and love interest. The lead character finds he isn't the person he thought he was and discovers special talents he didn't know he had. He falls in love with a girl he shouldn't and loses most of what he holds dear.

I'm not actually sure how I feel about the book. I liked it enough to get through it and I kept turning pages to see where it was going but I never really connected with the charcters and I'm not left hungry to find out what happened next. Considering I've already spent money on the remaining books, I expect I'll get around to finding out eventually though.

It has a feel of feudal Japan to it and reminded me in parts of 'House of Flying daggers' (which is one of my favourite films), and that may be why I persevered with it.
It's aimed at younger readers but has adult themes running though it and perhaps that's where my ambiguity is coming from....it's adult enough to make it enjoyable, but not enough to make it engrossing.

I don't know. I'm torn.

Fatherland - Robert Harris

2010-08-22T22:29:00.002+01:00

Fatherland is set in an alternative world where Hitler has won the Second World War. It is April 1964 and one week before Hitler's 75th birthday. Xavier March, a detective of the Kriminalpolizei, is called out to investigate the discovery of a dead body in a lake near Berlin's most prestigious suburb. As March discovers the identity of the body, he uncovers signs of a conspiracy that could go to the very top of the German Reich. And, with the Gestapo just one step behind, March, together with an American journalist, is caught up in a race to discover and reveal the truth - a truth that has already killed, a truth that could topple governments, a truth that will change history.

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I thought Fatherland was such a good read! Alternate history intrigues me and I think this particular point in history is one of the most speculated about when it comes to 'what if's'.

To begin with I found it hard to lose myself in the alternate reality because my mind kept trying to correct what I was reading and saying 'No, no, no, that's now how it was/is'. But several chapters in and I was sucked into the pages and loving it.

Some might say the characters are a bit hackneyed; loner cop, dumped by his wife for overworking, estranged from his kid, meets much younger feisty heroine who he hooks up with no problem, antagonist is a bad bully with no redeeming features....and, and, and. You get the idea. But really, why fix it if it isn't broken? All those very things and more are what make this book great. The alternate ending to WWII means we're taken out of our comfort zone and those other constants give us something familiar to work with.

That's where the familiarity ends though, the story itself is slick, well constructed and highly enjoyable but imaginative use of 'what if' takes us to places that I for one am glad I'll never see. In this fantasy regime, things are grim. There's everything to hope for and nothing to lose.

I gave this to my dad to read and he loved it too. He lived through things the first time around and says Robert Harris has put into words everything he feared at the time and he's glad he only had to read about it.... and not live it.

Flowers In The Attic - Virginia Andrews

2010-08-10T22:25:00.003+01:00

The novel that launched Virginia Andrews' superselling career: the tale of four children locked in an attic by their once-loving mother! It was a game of happy families. The four children lived such perfect lives in such a happy, golden family. It was a game of hide and seek. Their father died suddenly. The children now lived alone, hidden in the airless attic. It was a case of tender, loving murder. Their mother promised that they would stay only long enough to inherit her family's fortune. But gradually she forgot how much she adored those children. Millions of readers have been enthralled by this gripping story of a family's betrayal and heartbreak, love and revenge -- which then sows the seeds for the future.

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It's been 30 years since I first read this!! Seems like yesterday, the story is still so clear.

This was the first adult novel I read as a teenager and I can't believe that after all this time the story is still with me. I can still vividly recall the attic and the children and their story as if I read it last week.

I think it was a 'coming of age novel' for a lot of teenage girls at the time of it's release. I know when speaking to my friends now, the majority remember reading the Flowers saga around the age of 14. I think it's one of those rare books that can cross over from adult to young adult and appeal to all ages and is relatively timeless. It seems as popular today as it was three decades ago when my friends and I all devoured it.

It's a harrowing story and at the time I was so caught up in it I don't think I ate or slept much until I had turned the last page. I have given a lot of thought to whether or not I should give it a re-read but so far I've resisted for a couple of reasons - Firstly, I'm worried that the fantastic storytelling I remember from my youth may not hold up under the scrutiny of my adult self. Sometimes it's just better to rememer things as they were.

The second reason I can't bring myself to read it again, is because now that I have children of my own, I think I may come at it from a different angle. I don't think I could put my maternal feelings aside for a re-read. If I was coming across this for the first time now, having read the back cover I wouldn't even give it a moment's consideration. It just isn't my kind of book anymore. In fact it's exactly the type of book I avoid ....'cruel and selfish mother, imprisoned children, neglect'..... It's just not for me anymore.

BUT, I still give it 10/10 because a page turner like this, which has stayed with me so long deserves at LEAST a 10. I'd go so far as to pinpoint this book as the one that started me on the path of ravenous bookworm. Flowers In the Attic (and all the follow on books from the series) were the first books I ever bought with my own money, and it was money well spent. Funny how things like that stay with you. (On the same note I remember the first vinyl single I bought with my own money too.....Green Onions by Booker T and the MG's, ;P

This is a a great book and I'm just glad I read it all those years ago.

Threads: The Reincarnation of Anne Boleyn - Nell Gavin

2010-08-01T22:19:00.001+01:00

It's 1970. Anne and Henry still have issues they need to address. It's been 434 years since they parted - on bad terms - and they haven't spoken since. Henry now has problems with alcohol, drugs and irresponsibility, and Anne is still holding onto a grudge.

They don't know they were married 434 years ago. They don't know they parted on bad terms. Anne has no idea why she has a compulsion to punish him, a man she's only just met, and Henry has no idea why he can't be near her without falling in love.

Threads, a reincarnation fantasy, opens with Anne's death in 1536. Her husband Henry, seemingly in defense of Anne (but more likely acting out of "stubborn perverseness," she observes), has terrorized England and decreed murder after political murder to protect her. Ultimately, to Anne’s horror, he made the decision to have her executed as well.

Anne’s fury at her husband’s betrayal has enough momentum to survive centuries, but in "Threads" she learns that she has been assigned a hard task: she must forgive him. This may prove difficult and take some time. The husband in question is Henry VIII. The narrator is the stubborn, volatile Anne Boleyn, who is not at all inclined to forgive. .

It is a very unusual love story.

2000 William Faulkner Competition Finalist for best novel.

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This is an unusual love story. Strictly speaking, it's not Historical romance and it's not just about the Tudor's, but because the main character is Anne Boleyn you'd be forgiven for thinking so.

It's all a bit far fetched and confusing... but in a good way. It's a new slant on Anne and Henry, iconic 16th century lovers at war.

The main storyteller is Anne Boleyn, she has to go through a series of reincarnations to learn her 'lesson'. Obviously she has to forgive Henry VIII, who it transpires has been her husband over many lifetimes. It always ends the same way, Henry lets Anne down and Anne dissapoints Henry. They have issues that they need to work through and it's taking centuries to get to the bottom of the problem.

The problem is, whilst living the life (any and all of the reincarnations) Anne and Henry have no notion of what they are here to do.

It's heartbreaking and rewarding and frustrating all at the same time, for us the reader AND Henry and Anne. I got so involved with the story and kept wanting to shout and tell them what they needed to do to be happy, to save them further heartache.
I can't do it justice in a few paragraphs, I wouldn't know where to start. There's Anne and Henry from Tudor times, there's egypt, the circus, modern America....it's all here.

I loved it. It's different to most books with a Tudor theme and it's an unusual book with just enough familiar things to make it enjoyable, and just enough unfamiliar to make it exciting.

Before I Fall - Lauren Oliver

2010-06-09T20:18:00.003+01:00

They say ‘live every day as if it’s your last’ – but you never actually think it’s going to be. At least I didn’t.

The thing is, you don’t get to know when it happens. You don’t remember to tell your family that you love them or – in my case – remember to say goodbye to them at all.

But what if, like me, you could live your last day over and over again? Could you make it perfect? If your whole life flashed before your eyes, would you have no regrets? Or are there some things you’d want to change...?

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It's been mentioned a few dozen times before in reviews, but I have to agree..... This is a mix of Mean Girls and Groundhog Day and it's a brilliant mix of the two.

The lead character isn't likeable. She's hateful, but by the end of the book I was cheering her on to succeed in what she was aiming for. What she is aiming for isn't exactly clear in the beginning (not to her and not to us either) and as things start to unravel and fall into place it makes for uncomfortable reading in some places. She (Sam) goes on a journey of self awareness and by the end I was ripping through the pages to see if she could make ammends.

The story spans 7 days and each day has it's own chapter. Each day a little more falls into place and things that made no sense or seemed insignificant the day before take on a much greater meaning when we begin to see the big picture. Sam's seeing the big picture right along with us though and it's bittersweet to see her put things right one day, only to have to start all over again the next day. She takes with her from day to day, the knowledge from the previous day(s) though and it's a steep learning curve for her as she realises that changes need to be made if she's going to get through this.

It wasn't until the very last chapter that I half guessed what her goal was and when the realisation hit me I was desperate for her to succeed and I read into the wee hours just so I could sleep easy as it's impossible not to go over and over and over the events in the book and think how it could turn out differently with different actions....... Which is exactly what Sam is experiencing too and it's wonderful to see her make and re-make the changes that shape each day.

Brilliant book and I highly recommend it. It's the first book in ages that I haven't been able to put down. I just wanted more days and then more days.....poor Sam would have been stuck in a loop forever but I just didn't want it to end......

I wish more books could be as good as this one and I'll definitely look out for more books by this author. I hope there are many, many more to come.

A Brief History Of The Dead - Kevin Brockmeier

2010-05-12T20:15:00.002+01:00

'Remember me when I'm gone' just took on a whole new meaning ...Laura Byrd is in trouble. Three weeks ago she and her friends found themselves alone in one of the coldest, most remote places on earth. Her friends set out in search of help, and now Laura realises that they are not coming back. So she gathers her remaining supplies and sets out on an extraordinary journey. Meanwhile in another city, more and more people arrive every day. Each has a different story to tell, but their accounts have one thing in common -- it was their final journey. For this is the city of the dead. And the link between this city and Laura's journey lies at the heart of this remarkable novel. The Brief History of the Dead tells a magical story about our lives -- about our place in the world, our c

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The premise is wonderful and exactly the kind of story I usually love. I thought the beginning few chapters were great and I loved hearing all about the world of the departed (although not the part of 'how' they got there....that was a bit psychadelic).

I was probably more interested in the dead than I was in Laura Byrd, although even the chapters given over to Laura were interesting at the start, just not 'as' interesting. As chapters went by though, I was tempted to skim her sections because there's only so much I need to know about an abandoned woman in the Antarctic with only herself for company and little in the way of resources.

By three quarters of the way in I was finding the afterlife sections disappointing too. The religious zealot's chapters were too 'out there' for me to relate to and some of the other characters were neither hateful nor loveable...they were just filler.

But it's the ending that is the most dissatisfing. It was a letdown of an ending but by the time I'd reached it I was almost past caring what happened anyway.

It was a quick, short read that seemed to be far more 'wordy' than was necessary. It's also quite a deep book, considering it's size, but that's not really what I look for when
I read....I want to be entertained by a story and am not necessarily looking for a deeper meaning.

Grave Sight - Charlaine Harris

2010-04-04T20:11:00.002+01:00

Harper Connelly had a lucky escape when she was hit by lightning: she didn't die. But sometimes she wishes she had died, because the lightning strike left her with an unusual talent: she can find dead people - and that's not always comfortable. Everyone wants to know how she does it: it's a little like hearing a bee droning inside her head, or maybe the pop of a Geiger counter, a persistent, irregular noise that increases in strength as she gets closer. It's almost electric: a buzzing all through her body, and the fresher the corpse, the more intense the buzz. Harper and her brother Tolliver make their living from finding the dead, for desperate parents, worried friends . . . and police departments who have nowhere else to look. They may not believe in her abilities, but sometimes the proof is just too much for even the most sceptical of police chiefs to deny. But it's not always easy for someone like Harper, for the dead *want* to be found - and too often, finding the body doesn't bring closure; it opens a whole new can of worms.

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This is the first Charlaine Harris book I've read so didn't know what to expect. Story-wise it's a good mystery and I didn't guess the ending until...well, the end. I just never really felt connected to the characters though. Harper is really hard to figure out, one minute she's streetsmart and mouthy, the next she's a wreck and can't function because she's like a little-girl-lost. I'm not sure if this will be explained a little more in the next books but so far she's not that likeable. Her brother Tolliver is a bit of a mystery too and I'm still not sure what makes him tick.

It's a good book but I'm hoping it will become a bit more fleshed out in the rest of the series. I was hoping for more of her special ability of being able to 'speak' to the departed and the story did revolve around this, but there wasn't very much of that side of things this time.

It held my interest to find out where things were headed all the way through so I'd recommend it, but it's a fairly quick read and if I'm honest not a lot happened in this one.

Memory Zero - Keri Arthur

2010-03-31T20:09:00.001+01:00

Sam Ryan has no memory of her past. All she has is a crayon drawing of a woman with the word 'Mummy' scrawled underneath. For the ten years Sam's been with the State Police, she's used their resources to search for any clues to her identity. But it's as if all mention of her family has been deliberately wiped off the system, and no one knows why. Everything changes the night her missing partner, Jack, attempts to kill her. Charged with his murder, Sam finds herself accepting help from Gabriel Stern - a shapeshifter with secrets of his own. As Sam delves into her partner's death, she discovers that not only is he very much alive, but he's involved with an organisation that plans to destroy the human race. Worse, someone knows the truth about Sam's past, and it appears that they'd rather see her dead than have her uncover it.

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This was my first Keri Arthur book so didn't know what I was going to get. Turned out I got a good story.
It's paranormal, yes, but the thriller catagory is a better fit.

It'a a thriller first and foremost and that's what makes this paranormal book a little different to the countless others out there. There's a spot of romance thrown in but mostly it's about police murder investigations, a framed cop and a villain trying to outwit and aviod the law. Everything a good thriller should be.

However, it's set in a time and place where otherworldly creatures are the norm in society (even if society doesn't know about them) and so the characters are shape shifters/changers and monsters of indeterminate origin and vampires (and not the sparkly, cute kind either).

This is the first in a trilogy so there's a lot of world/character building but there's still a lot of story packed in too. I have a couple of critisisms though. As good as the story is, I found some of the charcters a bit confusing because it was hard to keep tabs on who the shape changers were at any one time. The ability of some characters to 'change' into another character kept things interesting but made it hard to know 'who was who'. Also, the ending seemed very rushed and didn't keep the same pace as the first three quarters of the book which jarred a bit.

I would recommend this book as a good and solid story though and if you're into thrillers and/or paranormal then this is for you.

I'm looking forward to part 2.

Ripple me relaxed...

2010-03-27T20:47:00.003Z

Crochet ripple blankets (or throws/afghans, whatever they're called) are very relaxing to hook. There's something very zen about the repetitiveness of them. It's easy to get addicted to them and I've been working on several lately. They work up pretty quickly, once you get the pattern straight. After a row or 3 it becomes automatic and is a breeze. I'm at a standstill with these though, because I seem to pick the wool's from hell for my ripples. I always manage to pick a colour/maker that my wool shop likes to discontinue as soon as I get a few rows under my belt. Grrr. They all look a bit bumpy and uneven, but that's because they've been ~~stuffed~~ folded neatly into bags because I'm out of wool for them.

Anyway, here's where I'm up to with my tribute to Cath Kidston...

I've run out of the pale blue which is a James Brett 400g aran and (stupidly) I threw away the band so have no idea of the shade I need to order more now that my local shop stopped stocking it.

My next ripple has a Halloween theme and uses black, orange, purple and vari purple DK.

The shop picked the orange wool to stop stocking for this ripple and (again) I don't have a label so don't even know who makes this one. Double Grrrr.

My final ripple isn't really a problem to find wool for, as it's my oddment ripple. I just use whatever is leftover from other projects. Easy.

I'm not really loving this one though. The colours are anything but complimentary together. However, I AM loving 'doing' it because there's something very relaxing about ripples.....oh wait, I already said that.....well, it's so relaxing it's worth saying twice.

Free Kelley Armstrong....

2010-03-19T13:39:00.007Z

That title sounds like a protest poster, hah! "FREE KELLEY ARMSTRONG!"

It's not though, it's Kelley Armstrong, for free. Well, not Kelley herself for free...obviously...but a Kelley Armstrong book for free. Free is good. Books are good. Free + book = GREAT!!

I'm a big book hound and read every single day (or night, depending on moods/circumstances). Sometimes to wind down at bedtime, sometimes in the car at school-run time but I'm guaranteed to read a chapter or three every day.

I've recently read Bitten by Kelley Armstrong and really enjoyed it. Not to everyone's taste but I liked it. Long story short - Story of the only female werewolf in the world.

Anyway, there's a lot of follow on books so I was checking out which order to read them in at Ms Armstrong's website and saw she has quite a few from that series to work through (which is fantastic), but she also has some online Novella's too so was browsing through those and found this..........

The Summoning the complete first novel in a YA trilogy.

Browse Inside this book

It's a widget to let you read one of her books from your own website. I love it! I read the first handful of chapters at the main site, before I noticed the widget, but now I can load it direct from here. Couldn't be easier.

Haven't actually tried it out yet, from here, but I shall go do that now.........

Edit: Just tried it out and it's working like a charm. The internet's a wonderful place! From the comfort of my own blog I can click a button and a whole book is there for my reading pleasure. Marvelous.

Just noticed also, it's free for a limited time so I'm going to whizz through it, just in case it's already been free for some time and I'm late to the party....

Keeping It Real - Justina Robson

2010-02-22T20:04:00.001Z

The Quantum Bomb of 2015 changed everything. The fabric that kept the universe's different dimensions apart was torn and now, six years later, the people of earth exist in uneasy company with the inhabitants of, amongst others, the elven, elemental and demonic realms. Magic is real and can be even more dangerous than technology. Elves are exotic, erotic, dangerous and really bored with the constant Lord of the Rings references. Elementals are a law unto themselves and demons are best left well to themselves. Special agent Lila Black used to be pretty but now she's not so sure. Her body is now more than half restless carbon and metal alloy machinery. A machine shes barely in control of. It goes into combat mode, enough weapons for a small army springing from within itself, at the merest provocation. As for her heart . . . well ever since being drawn into a Game by the elven rockstar she's been assigned to protect, she's not even sure she can trust that anymore either.

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A bit of fantasy, a bit of sci-fi, a bit of mystery and a bit of romance. It's got it all.

It's maybe got a bit too much going on though, if I'm honest. I did really like it, but sometimes it felt like it wasn't sure what it wanted to be. It's got science and tech stuff which is good for the sci fi fan but is a minus for me because in truth I can do without knowing the 'why's' and 'how's'. Then it's got the fantasy stuff which I'm more comfortable with (elves, demons, fae...otherworldly types), but the parallel otherworld thing was a bit confusing because I never really worked out who belonged where and/or why. Then there was the mystery part which kept the story moving and I enjoyed that part but at times even that failed to deliver and I was left wondering the significance. More than all of that though, it was the romance which seemed out of place and incomplete. There was a bit of the 'will they, won't they?' going on and more could have been made of that to keep tying things together but every time it looked like it was going somewhere and had a point....it fizzled out and went flat.

I think (expect) that side of things will take off in further books and I do plan on reading them, I'm looking forward to them actually, but I just wish there had been more of a connection for the two main characters in 'this' one.

I never really felt like I got to know the full story here, all the way through I kept thinking there was something I was missing or something I wasn't being told. It's quirky and unusual and you'll have to open your mind and just accept it for what it is but sometimes 'what it is' isn't that clear.

However, for all my misgivings I'd definitely recommend it. It's a good story which I'm hopeful will flesh out over the rest of the series.

Blood And Chocolate - Anette Klause

2010-02-10T20:01:00.000Z

Vivian, at 16, is a beautiful young werewolf with all the young wolves in her pack howling for her. But then she falls in love with a human. If she reveals herself, will he be able to relish the magic of her dual nature? Then squabbles with her pack lead to a brutal murder.

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I've bypassed this book quite a few times and it's been overlooked because of one thing....I didn't realise it was about werewolves. Had I known that, I'd have snapped it up long before now. How I missed this one I'll never know.

I was drawn into this within a few pages and the story just grabbed me. It's a story about teen angst and love and decisions and betrayal and loyalty and just generally growing up and coming of age.... but with werewolves. I very easily got caught up with the story of Vivian, who has as many problems, if not more, then your average teen.

This book may be geared towards a young adult audience, but it can definitely be enjoyed by those of us who are young at heart and can still remember their youth. Klause pulls off a sensual story about the supernatural without making it seem cheesy. The characters are believable, the shape shifter culture is well rounded and Vivian's world comes alive on the page.

Wall quote for pennies!

2010-02-08T10:13:00.008Z

I'm so proud of myself! I managed to get a look I wanted for pennies! 250 pennies to be exact!

Everywhere I look lately there are those wall quotes popping up. I've seen them on websites, blogs, ebay, etsy, magazines .... everywhere. They look so cool but they are also fairly expensive. I wanted an inspirational quote to break up a big stair wall, but for the size I wanted it wasn't really do-able with my current spending ban. The more I thought about it though, the more I thought, "I could totally do that myself". How? I wasn't quite sure, but where there's a will there's a way!

I wanted it to be brown to go with the colours of my upstairs hall which is done in shades of creams and golds and I wanted it to be inspirational and fun but above all I wanted it to be free or as close to free as I could get it....

I used to watch a kids show when I was little called 'Blue Peter' and they were always making things from nothing and mostly they used what's known here as 'sticky back plastic', nowadays it's called self adhesive vinyl and I think that's what they use for the commercial quotes. Probably an upmarket specialist vinyl, but still.... Soooo, I forked out £2.50 for 10 sheets of A4 brown sticky vinyl and got to thinking how to go about my quote.

I found that the trick lies in mirroring the text, after that it's just a steady hand and lots of snipping. I typed up my quote in Word (I used a font size of about 350 I think), put a bit of fancy font in, mirrored it, printed onto the reverse of the vinyl and got to cutting. And cutting and cutting and cutting.....

Those little thin bits of font were a nightmare to snip round, but not so much a nightmare as trying to get it onto the wall and evened up! Each individual letter, comma and squiggle was cut out one at a time. Trying to get the backing paper off of those fiddly little dots for the letter 'i' in the words ability and choices....OH MY! Finally though I was done and I'm so proud of what I ended up with. It's about 3 feet high by 3 feet wide and looking at the prices for that size I saved myself a ton of money! Plus, I got it exactly how I pictured it in my mind, it would have been tricky finding just that quote in just that size and just that layout.

I tried to get the lines coming down at the same angle as the stairs and I think it all worked out great, even if I do say so myself! It's a thing of beauty and brings me joy :D

Tiny Icon dump - Pic spam graphics

2010-01-22T16:27:00.000Z

I've got a gazillion graphics on my laptop that I've made over the years for various fansites and forums etc and while looking for something completely unrelated I found their folder and had a moment of 'blast from the past'. I debated deleting them to free up space but I had fun making them and I'd hate for them to disappear into the ether so I'm posting them here first so I can still see them if I ever feel the need and also maybe someone else might stumble upon them here and see some they'd like to use as an avatar somewhere...

If anyone would like to use any of these, please do. My only request is that they not be taken in bulk to add to any other collection sites. If you would like to share them please link back to this post.

I still have a ton left and might post up some more when the notion strikes me. There's every chance I may not though..

These are from 2005/6 (so the folder tells me). Some are rubbish, some I still love.

+ Spirited Away = 1~7
+ Iceage = 8~31

1	2	3	4

5	6	7	8

9	10	11	12

13	14	15	16

17	18	19	20

21	22	23	24

25	26	27	28

29	30	31

The Gluten-free Cookbook for Kids - Adriana Rabinovich

2010-01-20T19:58:00.003Z

Having to follow a gluten-free diet can be a daunting prospect for children and young adults - they feel isolated at a time when their friends are enjoying everything from bread, pizza and pasta, to crisps, cakes and biscuits. Yet with supermarkets now stocking many gluten-free ingredients, you can make versatile, healthy and enticing gluten-free meals that will appeal to all the family. Based on recipes created for the author's own daughter, The Gluten-free Cookbook for Kids includes: Over 100 recipes from crispy chicken nuggets and quick pizza to birthday cupcakes and peanut butter cookies; Top Ten kids' favourite dishes; A list of store cupboard essentials; Creative ideas for special treats, healthy snacks and lunchboxes; Top tips for eating out, travelling and school trips. The Gluten-free Cookbook for Kids will solve many of your mealtime dilemmas and help your child to learn what they can and can't eat. An essential guide for any gluten-free family.

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This is such a great little book. Easy to make recipies that really are tasty and perfect for kids......just like the title says.

I own a lot of gluten free receipe books and usually can pick one or two ideas from each to tempt my son with but the majority of those other cook-books (as good as some of them may be) focus on dinner party menu's for those with gluten intolerance and consist of meals and dishes that wouldn't look out of place at a soiree catering for guests with a discerning palate. This little gem though, well and truly caters for younger gluten intolerants and covers everything from snacks and nibbles through to parties and complete meals. It also has some nice little tales/snippets that go with some of the recipies, to let you know how they came about, which is interesting.

The BEST thing about this book however, is that although it's brilliant for the gluten intolerant in your family it also works as a general child friendly cookbook that everyone can benefit from, even those in the family that can tolerate gluten will find little to object to with these dishes. It's impossible to tell that the finished recipies cater to a dietary requirement, it all just tastes and looks like good home-made food. The recipies are healthy, tasty, fun, easy AND gluten free. It's brilliant.

Even if you're just looking for a great cookbook for kids menu's I'd recommend this one, it's filled with yummy stuff.

Operation Decrapification...

2010-01-18T17:34:00.001Z

Jan 2010
No excuses needed, required or expected, I know. Life happens. Blogs seem like the thin edge of the wedge sometimes.

2010 is all fresh and shiny and new so I've been filled with an urge to re-evaluate and ditch what isn't working for me. Life is just too short.

Some things need to be cut dead, some things need to be beefed up and some things are doing just fine and the only changes needed are small 'tweaks'. My little corner of the web here is something that I actually really enjoy(ed) so it's something that I plan to give a 'tweak' or 3 to.

I cross stitch, yes, but there's so much more that interests me and depending on my mood on any given day, cross stitch may or may not feature very much. Sometimes the days can turn to weeks, usually because one of my many, many other interests have taken my attention. That's where I think I got out of the habit of blogging. This was my cross stitch blog so on the days (weeks/months) when I didn't cross stitch, I didn't blog.

So, since this is my blog and since I'm probably talking to myself anyway and since I'm ok with that....I shall blog when I am jazzed with a recent charity shop bargain (treasure), or when I make a card or scrapbook page or crafty project I love (beacause I've managed to use up some of my stash without spending a penny), or whenever I read a book and want to share my review or if I have saved money by being thrifty (cheap) AND I shall probably blog about managing a few stitches as I plough my way through my WIP's. Pretty much if I'm into it then it's likely I may post about it. I may not, but that's ok too because where's the fun in blogging because I think I 'should'?

So, no obligation, no set topics and no stressing. Sounds do-able.

I woke up on Jan 1st 2010 with a determination to make changes. Nothing big, just a gradual shift of focus. Top of the list is probably DECRAPIFICATION. Having a lot of interests is a good thing (I think), but the downside is that those interests bring with them an inordinate amount of 'stuff'. I may as well strike while the iron is hot and I plan on trimming down the 'stuff' (crap/clutter) and one way or another I WILL get rid of anything that is surplus. If I haven't looked at it or used it, or in some cases even noticed it in 6 months or more, chances are I won't miss it and I don't need it. Anything that isn't nailed down and doesn't immediately have a use or purpose will go to the charity shops or be sold or given away. I'm determined this time. Something's gotta give!

I've also imposed a spending ban on myself. Not a total ban, because I'm not brave enough to go the whole hog yet, but I spend money like it's going out of fashion and I actually shudder to think of some of the rubbish I waste cash on so a major cut back is where I'm headed. I'm really relishing the challenge of trying to get/have what I want without breaking tenners. I love charity shops and I'm a creative type so surely I must be able to cobble something together so that I get the best of both worlds? Have what I want but spend little or nothing....sounds like a challenge and I'm all over it.

I've made a new blog header to get the ball rolling. It used to say 'home of a cross stitcher', now it says Crafter, Cross stitcher, Thrifter, Book lover and BLOGGER. I hope I find enough time to be a blogger, in amongst all the activity I've got planned.

Vampire Beach: Bloodlust - Alex Duval

2010-01-07T19:48:00.004Z

Jason and his sister have just moved to Malibu - to a town full of rich kids whose lives revolve around money, fashion, cars and parties. Jason gets swept along by the excitement and is flattered to be included - and also very flattered by the apparent interest of the stunning Sienna. But these rich kids hide a dark secret and soon Jason finds that their parties involve a little more than the usual alcohol and music! When their secret is revealed, Jason has to decide if he can accept the status quo. Everyone else seems to be able to... and it might just mean he could get closer to Sienna... A fabulously glam and sexy take on the classic vampire story - these vamps can live pretty normal lives, no garlic or coffins for them!

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This is a book which is aimed at teens/young adults yet still manages to entertain and hold the attention of older readers too. This is a really easy, quick read but there's plenty packed into the pages to make it a solid story.

Vampires seem to be 'on trend' at the moment and there are countless vamp books out there to choose from, for anyone on a paranormal kick, but Vampire Beach - Bloodlust (which is the first in the series), has enough differences from those other works to make it seem new. It's a cross between 'The Lost Boys' and 'The OC' and if you like either of those then this is definitely for you.

Because this is the first book in the series a lot of time is spent on character and world building, but it still manages to weave in an interesting story and pull off a few twists and turns which lead nicely onto the second book in the series 'Initiation'.

I'm about to start the second in the series and I look forward to getting to know the characters better as each book progresses. Bloodlust is the start of a very promising series.

Succubus Blues - Richelle Mead

2009-12-17T19:44:00.001Z

When it comes to jobs in hell, being a succubus seems pretty glamorous. A girl can be anything she wants, the wardrobe is killer, and mortal men will do anything just for a touch. Granted, they can often pay with their souls, but why get technical? But Seattle succubus Georgina Kincaid’s life is far less exotic. Her boss is a middle-management demon with a thing for John Cusack movies. Her immortal best friends haven’t stopped teasing her about the time she shape-shifted into the Demon Goddess getup complete with whip and wings. And she can’t have a decent date without the sucking away part of the guy’s life. At least there’s her day job at a local bookstore – free books; all the white chocolate mochas she can drink; and easy access to bestselling, sexy writer, Seth Mortensen, aka He Whom She Would Give Anything to Touch but Can’t. But dreaming about Seth will have to wait. Something wicked is at work in Seattle’s demon underground. And for once, all of her hot charms and drop-dead one-liners won’t help because Georgina’s about to discover there are some creatures out there that both heaven and hell want to deny…

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The way to tell if a series is any good, is to get to the end of the first part and ask yourself "Will I be reading the follow on parts?". Well, I probably will be reading the rest of the Succubus books, but I'm not desperate to do it right now.

It's an ok book. It's got some intersting characters (I really like Carter), it had a bit of suspense (although I sort of guessed who-dunnit about half way through), it's got a nice mix of otherworldy goings-on and it's got a bit of romance thrown in.....although Succubii don't normally go for the 'romance' side of things really....usually.

Anyway, I'll read the next in the series for one main reason. The ending! Or rather, the beginning, because the first chapter of the next book was tacked onto the end of Succubus Blues and that was the clincher. Blues is an ok book, but nothing out of the ordinary, but the teaser chapter of the next book sounds great..... If that preview chapter hadn't been there I probably would call it a day at book one.

I liked it but it's not unlike a hundred other paranormal books out there at the moment. It's just a variation on a theme and if I'm honest I've maybe done them to death and they're all getting a bit 'samey'.

Must have something going for it though, I was ready to throw in the towel with this series but just at the final bell I got hooked back in....

Maybe it'll turn out to be my favourite series ever.

Give it a go, if this is your sort of genre. Good series are hard to find and this one has potential.

Numbers - Rachel Ward

2009-12-07T19:39:00.002Z

Since her mother's death, fifteen-year-old Jem has kept a secret. When her eyes meet someone else's, a number pops into her head the date on which they will die. Knowing that nothing lasts forver, Jem avoids relationships, but when she meets a boy called Spider, and they plan a day out together, her life takes a new twist and turn. Waiting for the London Eye, she sees everyone in the queue has the same number - something terrible is going to happen.

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I believe this is a childrens book, since Chickenhouse are a children's publisher, but I didn't realise that when I read it. For the record, I'm not in the target audience for a children's book. It's a book that can cross over from one age group to another and everyone will be able to take something away from it. It's worth pointing out though, that while it's in keeping with the situations and characters in the book and is relevant to the story, there is a bit of colourful language and some adult themes running through this so while it's aimed at a younger audience, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone under 12.... I know that some below that age-group will be mature enough to deal with this sort of content, but as a parent myself this is just a head's-up to any other parents who want to check content suitability before buying.

The concept of this story sounded like it had just enough weirdness to keep me interested...a 15 year old girl has the ability to see a person's date of death just by looking them in the eyes. Creepy. She has spent most of her life avoiding people as best she can, so she doesn't have to deal with the knowledge that she possesses. However, she is drawn to another loner and a bittersweet friendship evolves, and that's where the story really starts.

It's set in inner city London and although a lot of it is very dark in places and populated by some unsavoury characters, there's a sweetness about it too in parts.

Two streetwise young teens with disadvantaged backgrounds, thrown into difficult circumstances and yet they seem to both have an innocence about them that's quite touching. It's difficult to explain. They seem to be very young and yet very mature at the same time.

As the book progresses it throws up a lot of questions for lead character (Jem), which leads the reader to ponder those same questions. One of the questions I'm still left with is along the lines of 'which came first? The chicken or the egg?' Just by the fact that Jem saw the dates, did that mean they were destined to happen? Can she change things? If she didn't see them, would they still come to pass? If she saw the date and knew it was coming, did she then lay in place the chain of events that would cause the action?

She has the same thoughts and it's mindbending for the reader to get to grips with that puzzle so for Jem it must be torture.

I think that's the whole point to the story - it's torture for her and she's making do the best way she knows how, with what she's got.

The ending gave me chills and I'm glad to note that there is a follow on book which picks up where this one left off. I can't wait to read it as it sounds every bit as good as Numbers, if not better.

Marked - P C Cast

2009-11-21T19:35:00.002Z

When sixteen-year-old Zoey Redbird gets Marked as a fledgling vampire she must join the House of Night school where she will train to become an adult vampire. That is, if she makes it through the Change. But Zoe is no ordinary fledgling. She has been chosen as special by the Goddess Nyx and discovers her amazing new power to conjure the elements: earth, air, fire, water and spirit. When Zoey discovers that the leader of the Dark Daughters, the school's most elite group, is misusing her Goddess-given gifts, Zoey must look within herself to embrace her destiny - with a little help from her new vampire friends. Not suitable for younger readers.

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I did like it. Enough to want to read the next book, probably the others too, but it's just.....missing something. Maybe it's because it's part one of a long story and so it feels like not a lot happened in this one. But maybe it's because it's similar to another book I read, which seemed to have a lot more story to it. And no, I'm not talking about Twilight. The only similarities this has with Twilight, is that there are vamps in both storylines.

I'm thinking it's more like a series I read which has a boy lead....and he's a wizard. Zoey's been marked on her forehead with a crescent to let her know she's special, she's moved to a new boarding school full of other 'marked' kids, they're all special but she's uber special, her parents are a total waste of space but she's got a nice older mentor at the school to look out for her, she picks up a few outsiders as friends and they all hate the blonde, mean kid who hates them right back..... it's been done before. OK, that time it was magic and a lightning bolt on the forehead, but still.....

I actually like the diagloge though.....Well, apart from the word 'poopie', that's REALLY bad. The 'Oh Hell!' and 'Nu uh' language made it easier to get the feel of the characters but it's very obviously a YA novel. I'm not in the target audience probably, but that shouldn't be a barrier to me liking it more....I wasn't in the Harry Potter age bracket either but I lapped that up.

I think it's just that when all is said and done, this is just an ok book with some interesting ideas. I don't think it would matter what age I was, to me it still would be only 'ok'.

I'd recommend it to anyone who likes multi book series, vampires, Harry Potter and/or teenage angst. Although, having said that, the much talked about early scene between a boy and a girl caught in an 'act', isn't really for anyone under the age of 16....legally speaking.

I Spied A Pale Horse - Mark Timlin

2009-11-11T19:30:00.003Z

As the new millennium approaches, it is the end of the world for John in more senses than one, for his wife and child are dead, and society lies in ruins as a plague devastates the world. When a pregnant young girl enters his life, he finds he has more to fight for than he imagined. By the author of DEAD FLOWERS.

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I read a lot of Apocalyptic/Post Apocalypse books but for some reason this one has been flying below my radar and it was only by accident I found it. How have I missed this one for so long?! I'm so glad I chanced upon it because it's brilliant! I don't know why this doesn't have a bigger following and isn't better known and fans of this genre are missing out if they haven't read this because it's one of the better ones I've read lately.

One of the reasons I really got into it is because it's set in the UK, which is a nice change from the usual American setting. It makes for a more realistic read if I have half an idea of the places and practices that are written about. I think that the 'realism' is what really makes this book though, there's no supernatural reasoning for the end of the world, there's nobody with special powers or abilities, there are no mutations or freaks of nature...it's just a group of people trying to survive an event of apocalyptic proportions. It's great.

I loved the main character and his companions too. I hated the people they hated, I really liked the people they liked, I was scared for them when they were in danger and I was sad alongside them too. I'm amazed that such a small book could have packed so much into it. I was really sad when I reached the end. Although, the end makes me want to believe that somewhere in the future there will be another book to follow. I think it ends here though and I'll have to imagine what the future holds for the lead character, but I can hope....

I wish there were more books like this one. Good, old fashioned, last man standing type stories with no monsters or otherworldly beings or souped up mental powers. Just a person/people with just the clothes they stand up in, trying to rebuild a semblance of a life with what is left over from their old world. I love all that.

I definitely would recommend this! It's worth noting that while it's not littered with four letter words, there are a few choice one's used but if you're an adult it won't be any you've not heard before......Personally, I think that given the circumstances in the book, I'm surprised there's not more swearing, if I'm honest :D

Darkangel - Meredith Ann Pierce

2009-10-30T19:24:00.002Z

The Darkangel, a vampire of astounding beauty and youth, can only summon his full power when he finds his 14th and final bride. But for Aeriel, whom he kidnaps to serve his brides, there is something about him - something beyond his obvious evil - that makes her want to save him rather than destroy him.

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This is a fairytale in the truest sense of the word. However, it's main 'un'fairytale-like quality is that one of the two main characters is a vampire. The other is a girl who falls for him but don't make the mistake of thinking it's going to be an angsty teenage fantasy the likes of which Ms Meyer offers because it's not. You'll be disappointed if that's what you're after. The cover makes it look like any other ten-a-penny vampire fantasy but it couldn't be more different if it tried.

This was first published in 1982 and it feels a bit dated now. Not because of the writing style and definitely not because of the subject, but by association. Because other - more recent- novels in this genre are edgy and fasionable with urban settings and situations and they use language that you'll come across every day in life, Darkangel just seems to miss the mark if you're more used to the modern vampire romance.

It was republished in 2007, no doubt to soak up some of the popularity that vampire fiction has generated in recent years, and there's nothing wrong with that. Especially since Darkangel was actually a forerunner of all those other urban vamps. But it does tread a fine line. It's counting on the purchasers of Twilight and The Vampire Diaries and House of Night books to also show interest in this one and there's every chance they will, (afterall, I did), but I want to add a word of caution too...

It's not what we've come to expect from vamp literature. It's not worse though....it's just different. Go into it expecting a fairytale and enjoy the weirdness of it all and it's a good story. From what I hear it gets better in the next two books in the trilogy, but I can't comment on that because I haven't read those. Read it for what it is, a cutting edge (at the time) dark fairytale. Like all good fairytales it has a bit of spook in it and there's a couple of bits where it gets scary and you'll hope it turns out well but it's not 'edge of your seat' type stuff and neither is it a 'will they, won't they' romance, it's just not that kind of book. I don't have a mad hunger to find out what happens next, if I'm honest, so I'm still not sure if I'll try the follow on books but if you're in the mood for a nice traditional fairytale with a nice untraditonal vampire then this might be the book for you.

Crochet a-plenty....

2009-10-04T19:21:00.008+01:00

Building work, alterations, plumbing, and joinery for weeks and weeks.....lots and lots of noise and mess.....but no stitching

However....

I've been churning out the crochet :D

This is one of 2 identical granny square blankets I made for the sofas in our front room. The colours don't show very well but IRL it has SouthWestern style colours - turquoise, brown, rust etc.

This one I made for Baby's bed. The colours are really bright IRL. Orange, barbie pink, green, blue, yellow....really bright.

This is one of 2 that I made for my bedroon. One sits at the bottom of the bed, the other sits folded up on the dressing table stool.

I also made a couple of beanie hats. The first is a REALLY bright red and the second is a streamer hat with cream, pink and lilac.

Fallen - Lauren Kate

2009-10-02T19:18:00.003+01:00

What if the person you were meant to be with could never be yours? 17-year-old Lucinda falls in love with a gorgeous, intelligent boy, Daniel, at her new school, the grim, foreboding Sword & Cross . . . only to find out that Daniel is a fallen angel, and that they have spent lifetimes finding and losing one another as good & evil forces plot to keep them apart. SOME ANGELS ARE DESTINED TO FALL...

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I liked it. It's an ok book. I can see why it's compared to Twilight a lot though. It's got a girl and she in an unfamiliar setting and one she's not that keen on ....but she puts up with it because she likes a boy there ....but he doesn't like her much.... or does he? Then there's this other boy, who does like her and tells her the first boy is no good, and she sort of likes him.....but not as much as the first boy..... but maybe she sort of does.... and the 2 boys don't like each other so are pitted against each other to win her....and then there's these other characters who all close ranks on the first boy to protect his mystery.....

It's familiar and similar to counless other YA fiction on the shelves lately. But it's still ok. I'd say give it a go. Just know what you're getting into.

My only problem with the book is this - I'd have given it 5 stars but for one reason. If only the first 300 pages had been condensed into around 50 and then the rest of the story could have continued from page 300 as usual, then it would have been great. I liked the first chapter and then it all...went.... sort...of.....drawn..... out....longer..... than...... it ...... needed...... to......

The back story could have been summarised in well less than 300 pages. I think that's why the ending is so unsatisfying. After such a long drawn out story about not much we get to the REALLY good stuff that we're looking for and it was all crammed into a chapter or 3 at the end and if I'm honest, it was a bit GetItAllOverAsFastAsPossibleBecauseItsRanOnForLongEnoughAlready.

It can make the transition from YA to adult and mostly it's an easy read but don't expect to be raving about it to your friends next day because for all it's a good story, it's just ok, it's not fantastic.

Having said that, I'll be reading the next one 'Torment' when it comes out and hoping that it's all story with no drag factor.

Graceling - Kristin Cashore

2009-09-15T19:13:00.001+01:00

In a world where people born with an exceptional skill, known as a Grace, are feared and exploited, Katsa carries the burden of a skill even she despises: the Grace of killing. She lives under the command of her Uncle Randa, King of the Middluns, and is expected to carry out his dirty work, punnishing and torturing anyone who displeases him. Breaking arms and cutting off fingers are her stock-in-trade. Finding life under his rule increasingly unbearable Katsa forms an underground Council, whose purpose is to combat the destructive behaviour of the seven kings - after all, the Middluns is only one of the Seven Kingdoms, each of them ruled by their own king and his personal agenda for power. When the Council hears that the King of Liend's father has been kidnapped Katsa investigates . . . and stumbles across a mystery. Who would want to kidnap him, and why? And who was the extraordinary Graced fighter who challenged her fighting skills, for the first time, as she and the Council rushed the old man to saftey? Something dark and deadly is rising in the north and creeping across the continent, and behind it all lurks the shadowy figure of a one-eyed king . . .

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

I liked this book, although I didn't realise it was Young Adult fiction when I bought it. It wasn't a huge problem but you can tell it's YA which results in it being a bit tame compared to the usual fantasy books. If I was in any doubt that Graceling was a fantasy novel, I need look no further than the naming of locations. As usual the land is split up between rulers and the place-names have arrived at their monikers by virtue of compass direction. I forget exact names because they're not that memorable but if I said North town, West town, East town and South town then I wouldn't be far off the mark.

However, the idea of Graces more than makes up for the unimaginative geography. I love the idea of people with superpowers that are everyday talents boosted to infinity. A grace can be anything from brilliant pastry chef to pitch perfect singer or someone might find themself graced with the ability to spot a lie at 50 paces. It's difficult to blend in though if you find yourself with a grace, because you also find yourself with different coloured eyes....a dead giveaway.

I thought the story itself moved along pretty fast but the romance element that ran through it wasn't really much of a romance and there wasn't enough spark to make what little there was believable.

I liked the ending and it got quite nailbiting towards the finale and the book is not without some really hateful characters who make you root for the heroine.....but it's not a book I'd go back to.
It's worth reading though, just for the novel idea of the Graces.

If You Could See Me Now - Ceclia Ahern

2009-09-09T19:09:00.002+01:00

From the internationally bestselling author of PS, I Love You and Where Rainbows End comes an enchanting novel -- with more than a little magic! What if love was right there in front of you -- you just couldn't see it? Elizabeth Egan is too busy for friends. As a reluctant mother to her sister Saoirse's young son Luke and with her own business to run, every precious moment is made to count. But with Saoirse crashing in and out of their lives, leaving both her sister and her son reeling, Luke and Elizabeth are desperately in need of some magic. Enter Ivan. Wild, spontaneous and always looking for adventure, in no time at all Ivan has changed Elizabeth in ways she could never have imagined. But is Ivan too good to be true? Has Elizabeth opened her heart only to risk it being broken again? As for Ivan, he thought he was there to help Luke not Elizabeth -- or himself!

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All of Cecelia Ahern's stories seem like fairytales but this one particularly so.

I really liked this and read it in one sitting. I wasn't that fond of Elizabeth for most of the book, it's true, she's just too rigid and clinical. But by the end I was shedding tears for her and loving the tale. I wish I had an imaginary friend just like Ivan too.

I was a bit unsure of Ivan initially because there's something a bit squirly about a 6ft man playing and acting like a little boy but I soon got over that and he grew on me. I actually felt really sorry for him at the end too. It must be a good book if I'm feeling sorry for a figment of a book character's imagination......

All in all a really good book and I would recommend it for anyone that likes a weepy but feel-good book. And it's just perfect for a beach or garden read.

The Cat Kin -

2009-08-31T18:58:00.002+01:00

Everyone who came across the strange gym class was looking for something else. What they found was mysterious Mrs Powell with her silent feet and unnerving stare and pashki, a lost art from an age when cats were worshipped as gods. But Ben and Tiffany wonder: who is their eccentric old teacher? What does she really want? And why are they suddenly able to see in the dark? Meanwhile, in London's gloomy streets, human vermin are stirring. Ben and Tiffany may soon be glad of their new gifts. But against men whose cunning is matched only by their unspeakable cruelty, would even nine lives be enough?

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What an interesting book. It's aimed at children but has enough going for it to hold the older generation's interest too. It's a bit different to others which are on the shelves at the moment.

The premise is that a group of misfit kids sign up for various activities at the leisure center - but upon getting to their first classes they somehow get sidetracked into a pashki class that they didn't intend to go to, without realising it. They're all very different and they don't know each other before that first meeting but somehow the pashki class brings them all together and makes them look out for each other outside of the classes. Pashki is an ancient art which involves invoking their inner cat and finding skills they didn't know they had. Sounds suspect but it's all put together really well and keeps you turning pages to find out where it's headed.

There are some pretty nasty villians in the book, which might not be suitable for under 10's and the cruelty to animals might distress those with a soft heart. The violence inn't major, but it's maybe too much for younger age groups. There are a couple of loose ends left at the end, although the story ends neatly enough, and it's those loose ends that will be further developed in the follow on book, which I plan to read.

Rollback - Robert Sawyer

2009-08-20T19:05:00.002+01:00

Dr. Sarah Halifax decoded the first-ever radio transmission received from aliens. Thirty-eight years later, a second message is received and Sarah, now eighty-seven, may hold the key to deciphering this one, tooif she lives long enough. A wealthy industrialist offers to pay for Sarah to have a rollback a hugely expensive experimental rejuvenation procedure. She accepts on condition that Don, her husband of sixty years, gets a rollback, too. The process works for Don, making him physically twenty-five again. But in a tragic twist, the rollback fails for Sarah, leaving her in her eighties as the second message arrives. While Don tries to deal with his newfound youth and the suddenly vast age gap between him and his wife, Sarah struggles to do again what shed done once before: figure out what a signal from the stars contains. Exploring morals and ethics on both human and cosmic scales, Rollback is the big new SF novel by Hugo and Nebula Award-winner Robert J. Sawyer.

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I really do like Mr Sawyer's books, but the 'formula' is getting tiresome. It's not a plot formula that leaves me weary - it's the pacing.

I always think the premise sounds great. Always. I can't wait to start and the first part is great and fairly rips along, forcing me to spin through the pages. Then around the middle it all drops a gear and starts flagging as it reaches towards the conclusion. However, I plow on to the ending and it starts to pick up again, but only briefly because before I know it.....it's the end and I'm left thinking, "Hang on..Wait.... No. What?"

Although the book -like his others - is deemed sci-fi, it's still within the realms of 'maybe that could happen' but the ending just left me with a WTH moment, which I also find is my common reaction to Mr Sawyer's books. Sometimes in a good way, sometimes not. This is a not so good moment.

I wasn't fond of Don much either, which didn't help. I'm not saying I only like books featuring nice people but surely just because he ends up physically younger doesn't mean he's leaping in and out of bed with the first piece of baggage to flap her eyelashes at him. All the while his loving wife of umpteen years is sitting at home watching his dinner burn. It just doesn't make sense. His history with his wife must count for something and his mental age must mean he's got more sense. Maybe it's true what they say about guy's in that age group though and his brains were in his trousers.

It sounds like I didn't like it, I know, but I did really. I'd even go so far as to say I'd recommend it. It's a quick and fairly gentle sci-fi read and the sort of book that you come away from thinking about how you would react in that situation. But go into it prepared for his usual pacing and 'out there' conclusion and you won't be disappointed.

Dime Store Magic - Kelley Armstrong

2009-08-10T19:01:00.002+01:00

Forget the cackling green hag in The Wizard of Oz, forget Samantha from Bewitched. Real witches are nothing, NOTHING like this. For years real witches have hidden their powers, afraid of being persecuted. They have integrated so well into the community, you could have a witch living right next door and never know about it. Take Paige, for instance, whom we first met in Kelley Armstrong's novel Stolen. Just an ordinary twenty-something who runs her own website design company, worries about her weight and wonders if she'll ever find a boyfriend. Okay, so she's leader of the American Coven and guardian of Savannah, the teenage daughter of a black witch. Really, life is ordinary. But then a telekinetic half-demon, Leah O'Donnell, shows up to fight for custody of Savannah. And although Paige is ready for her, she's not quite so prepared for the team of supernaturals that Leah brings with her, including a powerful sorcerer who claims to be Savannah's father.

When all hell breaks loose -- literally -- and Paige is accused of witchcraft, Satanism and murder, the Coven, fearing exposure, abandons her. Cut off from her friends, Paige is forced against her better judgment to accept the help of a young sorcerer lawyer. And she quickly comes to realize that keeping Savannah could mean losing everything else.

Breathtakingly thrilling, hip and funny, this new novel is another page-turning triumph from an author who is going from strength to strength.

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This third book in Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series moves away from the Werewolves Clay and Elena and switches to the story of Paige the Witch.

To be honest, I wasn't that crazy for Paige's story. Not because I wanted to stick with the Werewolves (although that would have been fine too), but because I just didn't really like Paige much as a character. She was tasked with parenting the 13 year old Savannah, daughter of the recently deceased Eve, and the way the story tells it Savannah is a brat. Actually, I thought Savannah had the right end of the stick in most of the escapades and Paige would have done well to just suck it up and listen to her now and then. Not only is Savannah a more powerful witch, she's quicker on the up-take and it would seem that despite only being 13 she's also more adept at reading the 'signals' where romance is involved. Paige just strikes me as a really weak woman.

However, in her defence she did come good at the end.....barely. She appeared to have a normal, loving relationship with her caring (late) mother, so why did she find it virtually impossible to show affection for Savannah the child in her care? She wasn't cruel but she was hardly the demonstrative type. Would a cuddle now and then have killed her?

Overall I get the impression that although this is the 3rd book in the season, this was actually written first. It doesn't seem to have the same style as the first 2. For all the subject is different, it just feels less well crafted.

At the end I'm left wondering what the people round here would make of Paige, if the story was set here.....I'm pretty sure nobody would take any notice to be honest. Some crazy woman who it's claimed is a witch with evil powers? Riiiight. That would have the whole town camped on her front door round here.......I don't think. People just wouldn't and don't care about that stuff enough, I don't think.

But still - I'm definitely going to read the next follow on's. Just because I didn't love Dime Store Magic doesn't mean I'm giving up. It was an OK story and I didn't hate it, plus I expect I'll need the info in this one in order to enjoy the others.

Flashforward - Robert Sawyer

2009-08-07T18:53:00.002+01:00

What would you do if you got a glimpse of your own personal future and it looked bleak? Try to change things, or accept that the future is unchangeable and make the best of it? In Flashforward, Nobel-hungry physicists conducting an unimaginably high-energy experiment accidentally induce a global consciousness shift. In an instant, everyone on Earth is "flashed forward" 21 years, experiencing several minutes of the future. But while everyone is, literally, out of their minds, their bodies drop unconscious; when the world reawakens, car wrecks, botched surgeries, falls, and other mishaps add up to massive death and destruction.

Slowly, as recovery efforts continue, people realize that during the Flashforward (as it comes to be called) they experienced a vision of the future. The range of visions is astounding--those who would be asleep in the future saw psychedelic dream landscapes, while others saw nothing at all (presumably they'd be dead). But those who saw everyday life 20 years hence have to come to grips with evidence of dreams forsaken (or realized). Soon, the physicists who caused the Flashforward are struggling to help the world decide whether the future is changeable--and whether the experiment is worth repeating. Robert J. Sawyer has captured a truly compelling idea with Flashforward, and he fully explores what such an event might mean to humanity. Fans will find this to be his best work to date, although the ending seems rushed after a detailed buildup.

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Robert Sawyer always finds great stories to write about. His ideas always draw me in and I think I'm in for a fantastic tale. Then I reach the end and I feel like it could have been more.

Flashforward had a great pull - See your own life 20 years into the future for 2 minutes and try to work out how to get there.

It was a brilliant start and a real page turner. I loved reading about everyone's flashforward, I was rivited by all the connotations that flashforward threw up. Even the loss and devestation caused by the flashforward made for interesting reading...The first half is about the here and now. It's great.

When we reach the second half, it's all about edging towards the 20 year future that had been predicted. Getting there takes a lot of technical info that frankly I could have done without. The why's and how's don't really interest me. Also the two leads at this stage become a bit whiney. Lloyd simcoe wants to be with his girl, then he's got doubts, then he's sure again, then he has doubts again....and Theo is so wrapped up in himself that he gets tedious really fast. It's all me, me, me with Theo. THEN we get to the future and it's all wraped up in a paragrah or 3. It was a bit of a let down.

The ending left me with a bit of a 'whaaat??' moment and I imagine for the hard-core sci-fi fans it was the best bit, but I just wasn't feeling it. The conclusion was over in a flash.

.....And it's nothing like the tv show...... just sayin'

Mary Wigham......Non starter...

2009-07-21T17:14:00.004+01:00

See this little, insignificant piece of stitching here? That took me 5 hours!

I've been following a lot of other ladies progress with Mary Wigham's sampler, it seems like everyone is stitching it just now. It's so pretty and I wanted to give it a go, even though I really shouldn't as I've got way too may other pieces in the works just now. Anyhooo, I picked out some colours and a bit of fabric and off I set....

I stitched, frogged, stitched, frogged, stitched, frogged, over and over. I honestly don't think I've unpicked ANY piece as many times. To begin with I was going to just stitch it as it came, unsymetrical and errored as it came. I couldn't bear it though so had to restart. Then I tried to fix the mistakes as I came to them, but that didn't work as I ended up confusing myself about what was right and what was wrong. Resart. Miscount. Restart. Wrong page of pattern (don't ask). Restart. Restart. Restart.

I honestly could hurl the whole lot against the wall. I don't see me stitching this any time soon. It's beautiful but if I'm making this many mistakes so early on, then I'll take it as my cue that this isn't for me.

From UFO to WIP to FINISHED...Eventually

2009-07-18T12:19:00.006+01:00

'My Angel' has been a WIP/UFO for way too long. 8 years or more I've been working on her. Much, much too long. Back in the day I made a post about the Angel Likeness and why I was stitching her.

So, I've joined a great new SAL blog that encourages getting your UFO's to WIP status and finally finished and I'm looking forward to getting going with her regularly. There are 20 pages to the chart, 3 have been completed so far and another 4 are almost completed. There's also a couple of pages started but not a lot of grid crossed off yet.

If you've got a project that for one reason or another has lapsed into UFO status, come on over to 'I've started so I'll finish...Eventually' and take the first step to completion. Even if you only commit yourself to a 10x10 section of stitching every 2 weeks it'll be a 10x10 section closer to a finish.

MTM - Day 18

2009-07-04T20:37:00.001+01:00

Medieval Town Mandala by Chatelaine. Here we are on day 18.

I tried to get a bit done while I was watching Big Brother but unfortunately I spent more time shouting at the screen because of all the horrible housemates than I did actually stitching, hahah. I can't help myself from screeching at the telly though because most of all, I CAN'T ABIDE LISA!!!! Still, progress is progress so it's all good.

I've almost finished the gold in this corner and I'm enjoying every stitch so it doesn't really bother me that I didn't get a lot done this session. It's so pretty in real life and the colours are so lush and vibrant.

One - Conrad Williams

2009-06-27T18:49:00.002+01:00

This is the United Kingdom, but it's no country you know. No place you ever want to see, even in the howling, shuttered madness of your worst dreams. You survived. One man. You walk because you have to. You have no choice. At the end of this molten road, running along the spine of a burned, battered country, your little boy is either alive or dead. You have to know. You have to find an end to it all. One hope. The sky crawls with venomous cloud and burning red rain. The land is a scorched sprawl of rubble and corpses. Rats have risen from the depths to gorge on the carrion. A glittering dust coats everything and it hides a terrible secret. New horrors are taking root. You walk on. One chance.

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I'm not sure what to make of this.

I'm no stranger to apocalyptic fiction, and this one was a new path to venture down. It's gritty, unforgiving and brutal. What a nightmare.

But it isn't complete, I don't think. I understand that our 'hero' doesn't know what happened to cause the apocalypse, therefore we the reader don't know either, but there's more to it than that. We find out who the biggest threats are, and we're told how they came into being and what they're about. We're told what a struggle it is for humans to function and what makes things difficult to survive. We're even told how the rats have somehow thrived and taken on a new mantle of bold and fearless hive mentality. But there is a bit of cloak and dagger going on with the mysterious people with white scarfs and tattoo's and six fingers that seem to be lurking in the background. Who are they? Where did they come from? Are they good or bad? Why? What is their story? Should I pay them more attention. It's just doesn't add up.

At the conclusion I'm left wondering what actually happened. I sometimes like a bit of ambiguity at the end of a story, where you wonder if it will all come right in the end, beyond the final page - but with this tale I'm actually wondering what happened DURING the final pages. Was it the human survivors that ran to the rescue? Or the mysterious white scarfs? Or a combination? Seriously, if you know, please let me in on it because it's annoying the hell out of me.

So, in summary......I liked it enough to keep turning pages but I'd have liked it more if I wasn't asked to guess certain element's significance and role in the story.

Read it, it's quite good. But then come back and fill me in on all the missing bits. Please.

Cross Stitch - Diana Gabaldon

2009-06-24T18:33:00.003+01:00

The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon--when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient stone circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach--an "outlander"--in a Scotland torn by war and raiding Highland clans in the year of Our Lord...1743.

Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into intrigues and dangers that may threaten her life...and shatter her heart. For here she meets James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, and becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire...and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.
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I first found this book by accident close to 20 years ago. My local (miniscule) library had a very poor selection and I'd read practically every book of interest they had on the shelves. I lived a good distance from the library and was looking for books that might last a while to save me a trip every other day. Cross Stitch was newly published and was FAT in hardback. That'll do for me I thought! I read the inside cover and thought it sounded dubious, but it was FAT......so it came home with me.

It was the best book I could have stumbled across. Regardless of how lengthy it was, I tore though it in record time because it's just the best tale EVER. I love this book so much. It's the book by which I judge all others.

For something that is obviously so far fetched, it just seems so real. The descriptions of characters, events and surroundings are so fleshed out as to make you feel as if you are right there with it all. That's what makes this book (and all the others that follow) so readable, it's all to easy to fall into the pages and lose yourself.

To date there are 7 books in all and the worst part about this series for me was the 2 year wait between each! It has taken me 14 years to get to this far, and it's not over yet......

It helped that I live within driving distance of all of the Scottish places mentioned in the book and spent many a happy day trawling round the settings, soaking up the atmosphere. I've lost count of the Close's in Edinburgh that I've peered into, looking for 'THE' print shop (and Jamie of course :D )

I have gone back to these books again and again over the years and they never fail to entertain me. I recommend these to everyone I come across that asks for book recommendations and have yet to hear that the books were not liked. Sometimes I feel that there couldn't be anyone left that hasn't read this series because I tell so many people about them! "Pssst! *LOOKS LEFT.... LOOKS RIGHT* ....Wanna read a book?!"

I wholeheartedly reccommend these books!

I'm even more obsessed with these books than I am with Twilight and my Twilight obsession is BIG!

I have all the books in all the different covers (UK & US versions and a few foreign versions too), all on audio cassette, all on audio cd, I won a replica of Claire's wedding ring in a competion where Diana ACTUALLY drew my name with her OWN hand from the hat ..... I've met Diana on 2 occasions (and turned into a right fangirly in her presence, lol)..... AND I named my children after characters in the books...... like I said - obsessed much?!

Fluffy birdies...

2009-06-15T19:39:00.004+01:00

I bought a mixed bag of hand dyed fabric (evenweave, laguna, linen etc) from ebay ages ago and have only used little pieces here and there for little fobs and such, but thought that one of the bigger pieces would work with the Heritage Stitchcraft Harmonies 'Chorus line'. It wasn't quite big enough to use with my Q-snap so I sewed a length of scrap fabric on each of the four sides and it worked out great.

Not a lot done so far, only the little birdie in the middle, without his 'fluff'. Nice fun project though that will look so sweet when I (finally) get it finished.

MTM - Day 17

2009-05-05T19:08:00.001+01:00

Medieval Town Mandala, day 17.

Not a huge lot done, but every little helps.

The little speciality stiches seem to take up a lot of time with not a lot to show for it, but they're worth it. They look so pretty mixed in with the cross stitch.

The Queen's Fool - Philippa Gregory

2009-04-18T18:04:00.000+01:00

A stunning novel set in the Tudor court, as the rivalry between Queen Mary and her half-sister Elizabeth is played out against a background of betrayal, conflict and passion. The savage rivalry of the daughters of Henry VIII, Mary Tudor and Elizabeth, mirrors that of their mothers, Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. Each will fight by any available means for the crown and future of the kingdom. Elizabeth's bitter struggle to claim the throne she believes is hers by right, and the man she desires almost more than her crown, is watched by her 'fool': a girl who has been forced to leave her homeland of Spain, as a Jew fleeing the Inquisition. In a court where truth is wittily denied and lies are mere games, it is the fool who can speak plainly: in these dangerous times, a woman must choose between ambition and love. Elizabeth will not make the same mistakes as her mother.
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Long story, cut short.....Hannah Verde, Spanish, Jewish, settles in England with her father after their flight from the Spanish Inquisition, given over to the Royal court of young King Edward as his Holy Fool, on his death she transfers to Queen Mary as her fool and here the story begins.....

This is my third Philippa Gregory and as expected it is a solid story, but not on the same par as her Bolyen books. I felt as though I learned quite a lot about Queen Mary, who as the book progressed seemed to get more and more unhinged, and it's no surprise she earned the name 'Bloody Mary'. Elizabeth was portrayed as thouroughly unlikeable and self serving and I don't doubt that she was all that and more and even the main players at court were just as I imagined them to be; fickle, scheming, underhand, greedy and manipulative, but it was the main character who really spoiled things for me. No matter what situation was unfolding, Hannah was always right there in the thick of things and after a while she really started to grate on me.

She didn't have a bad word to say about anybody, regardless of how horribly they treated her, and she kept going back for more of the same. I realise she wouldn't have had a lot of say in matters regarding how she was put to use by her employers but one minute she's litterally wetting herself as she's about to be tortured as a heritic because Mary has a bee in her bonnet (to put it mildly) about non Catholics, even though she considers Hannah her trusted friend....then the next minute Hannah is all doe eyed at Mary's feet and defending her against any critics....it just doesn't make sense. She has the means to escape and put it all behind her, but she does everything in her power to stay.

She can't seem to make up her mind about where her loyalties lie for most of the book and dithers from one plot master to the next, depending on what's afoot at any given time. Mary, Elizabeth, Lord Robert Dudley, her betrothed, John Dee...and, and, and. I just couldn't relate to her because she just didn't seem to have the wit to remove herself from danger when the opportunity arose. The exit was right there for her, and she chose not to take it.

Having said that, the story itself was interesting and enjoyable, if a little slow. The pace wasn't as fast as in her other books but overall the story was a good one.

I haven't been put off and I still plan to work my way through her other books, but if this is your first try of Philippa Gregory, this isn't her best.

The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite - Beatrice Colin

2009-04-17T18:29:00.001+01:00

As the clock chimed the turn of the twentieth century, Lilly Nelly Aphrodite took her first breath. Born to a cabaret dancer and soon orphaned in a scandalous double murder, Lilly finds refuge at a Catholic orphanage, coming under the wing of the, at times, severe Sister August, the first in a string of lost loves. There she meets Hanne Schmidt, a teen prostitute, and forms a bond that will last them through tumultuous love affairs, disastrous marriages, and destitution during the First World War and the subsequent economic collapse. As the century progresses, Lilly and Hanne move from the tawdry glamour of the tingle-tangle nightclubs to the shadow world of health films before Lilly finds success and stardom in the new medium of motion pictures and ultimately falls in love with a man whose fate could cost her everything she has worked for or help her discover her true self. Gripping and darkly seductive, The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite showcases all the glitter and splendour of the brief heyday of the Weimar Republic, and the rise of Hollywood to its golden age. As it foreshadows the horrors of the Second World War, the novel asks what price is paid when identity becomes unfixed and the social order is upended.

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The Luminous Life of Lily Aphrodite opens with Lily's birth. Her mother could be described as Bohemian and unconventional but her homelife is soon to be replaced by the 'family' she inherits as an orphan in a Berlin orphanage. Lily eventually befriends the streetwise Hanne who shows her life outside their home. When the orphanage closes Hanne and Lily lose touch (a recurring theme) and Lily has to grow up in a hurry as she struggles to survive in a brutal, war torn Germany.

This is where the real story begins and life for Lily just seems to be one trauma to deal with after another.

Things are bleak, depressing, grim and hopeless. Through it all though, Lily seems to keep her chin up, while all around her people are dropping like flies and making poor choices. There's not a lot of luminosity in Lily's life though, despite what the title tells you. I had thought that Lily would make a name for herself as an actress and I'd be able to revel in the success she enjoyed, but mostly there isn't a lot to celebrate. Any success she has is accidental or brought about by being in the right place at the right time and I never got the impression that Lily was very instrumental in getting to where she was.

Most of her good luck stems from the fact that she was breathtakingly beautiful with haunting eyes and a voice like a caress.....at least that's how everyone else sees her, Lily herself doesn't know what the fuss is about.

I didn't hate the book, but it's difficult for me to really love a book when things are so bleak. I was hoping for the payoff at the end, where some sort of reward was waiting for Lily, to compensate for all the hardship and fight she had to contend with, but No, the end is the worst part of all.....for Lily at least.

Beautifully written, and very well researched, it's brings the German era surrounding the first world war and the Weimar rule startlingly into focus.
I suppose it's content can be best summed up by the cover artwork .... it's very Film-Noir.

The Quiet Place - Richard Maynard

2009-04-17T17:52:00.002+01:00

Set in the future, this story concerns a group of astronauts who return to Earth after what they believe is 60 years. They do in fact arrive centuries after they set off, to a land of savage hunting tribes whose only link with the lost culture is a crude version of former language.
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I wasn't sure how I'd like this, based on the fact that usually I find older novels dated and stale. I was happy to find that this wasn't the case on this occasion. Granted, the cover looks like an old B-Movie poster with it's colouring and skyline and naked woman, but get beyond that and you'll find an engaging read.

The concept is one that fascinates me - astronaughts travel into space for what is thought to be a short jaunt......due to a malfunction they return home to find that time hasn't elapsed on earth as it has for them in space and centuries have come and gone.....for reasons unknown the population has been all but wiped out and civilisation is no more.

We never really get to a point where we know exactly what has happened to the planet, but that's only because we learn/know things as they are learned/known by the heroes. They never really reach a point of understanding therefore neither do we. The closest they (we) come to knowing is mention of the time known as 'Nowell time' to the few remaining humans, and that's as good as it gets.

That's what makes it gripping though. It's the not knowing. It could be waiting to happen, just around the corner from where we are now. It's a grim, brutal world they have returned to and the skills and knowledge they have don't count for very much in this new world. It was automatic to put myself in their position and wonder how I would cope, or if I COULD cope. There are no clues to what happened, there is no-one alive that remembers the period from which the heroes came, time has ravaged almost everything that could help with finding answers and it's like an itch that can't be scratched. So they resign themselves to starting again. With nothing. They quickly learn that it's not going to be an easy ride.

The writing style is such that the pace seems slow, but before you know it the ending has crept up on you and you're wishing there was more.

The story stayed with me long after the last page was read because in this climate of global change, the world could be closer to 'the quiet place' than we realise and if the end of the world is anything like this story, we'd better 'Man-up' and prepare for the worst.

Bucket bag mini

2009-04-17T12:12:00.000+01:00

On my big tidy up of the gazillion folders on the laptop I found this pic from last year(?) of a little bag I made for Barbara to send a little gift in. It's a mini bucket bag and was the first time I'd tried it. It was fiddly, but I quite like how it turned out.

Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse

2009-04-06T17:48:00.000+01:00

Famine, death, war, and pestilence: the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, the harbingers of Armageddon - these are our guides through the Wastelands...From the Book of "Revelations to The Road Warrior"; from "A Canticle for Leibowitz to The Road", storytellers have long imagined the end of the world, weaving tales of catastrophe, chaos, and calamity. Gathering together the best post-apocalyptic literature of the last two decades from many of today's most renowned authors of speculative fiction, including George R.R. Martin, Gene Wolfe, Orson Scott Card, Carol Emshwiller, Jonathan Lethem, Octavia E. Butler, and Stephen King, "Wastelands" explores the scientific, psychological, and philosophical questions of what it means to remain human in the wake of Armageddon.

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I'm not really a short story fan...... usually. I am however, a fan of post apocalyptic/end of the world/last man standing type fiction, so chose this book hoping to find a few good stories to tide me over until I found my next 'currently reading'.

The stories have been well selected and although they all follow a similar subject matter, they're all so different and even the very, very short stories stay with you after you've read them. It was interesting to find a few new takes on the genre and for this reason I'm glad I read 'Wastelands'. These stories have helped me find a few new branches to head along and broaden the subject for me.

This is the perfect book to have by your bedside, for those times when you only want to dip into a book....but be warned, even with the best intentions of "I'll just read one story to wind down before I drift off" can turn into ".....maybe I'll just read one more little story THEN I'll call it a night......or perhaps just a couple more....."

This is a great book for anyone familiar with the genre, but equally if you're new to this type of subject it's a gentle lead in to some of the best SF writers around.

What I really liked was the index at the end which gives further suggested reading lists. All books should come as standard with one of these. I had already found and devoured most of the further reading list given, but there were a couple that have now been added to my 'to be read' list.

Get this book whether you're familiar with the subject and looking for new paths or you're new to the subject and looking to explore it. There's something for everyone here.

The Dechronization of Sam Magruder - George Gaylord Simpson

2009-03-23T17:43:00.002Z

The Dechronization of Sam Magruder is one of the stranger works of fiction that has appeared in recent years. Its author, George Gaylord Simpson, was widely regarded as the greatest paleontologist of the twentieth century. He died in 1984, but the manuscript of this intriguing novella about a twenty-second-century scientist was not found by his daughter until ten years after his death.

Did Simpson want this time-travel story eventually to be published? Was Sam Magruder Simpson's alter-ego, the scientist of his imagination who was able to observe dinosaurs the way they really were?

No one will ever be sure of these answers, but what we do know is that Sam Magruder, a fortyish researcher chronologist, vanished on February 30, 2162, as he was working on a problem of quantum theory. Thrown back in time eighty million years to the prehistoric Jurassic era, Magruder, endowed with the intelligence of a modern man, discovers that he is the only human being in a valley filled with dinosaurs. Magruder, inventive and resourceful, keeps a stone-slab diary and struggles mightily to survive by feeding on lizards and scrambled turtle eggs, even as menacing tyrannosaurs try to gnaw off his limbs.

Filled with magnificent descriptions of dinosaurs the way they were just before the great floods, The Dechronization of Sam Magruder is not only a classic story told in the tradition of H.G. Well's The Time Machine, but a philosophical work that astutely examines the reality of modern existence against a backdrop of our prehistoric past.

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This is such a great little story! The bright pink cover is at odds with the storyline but don't let that put you off, I actually quite like it...it's 'quirky'. A very quick read and therein lies it's only flaw....it ended too soon. I hung on every word and would have liked to see many, many more of them.

The book was only ever intended as an amusement for the author, but by chance was it found after his death and published, and lucky for us that it was.

Short synopsis would be that an academic (Sam McGruder) from the far future (the year 2162), travels back in time to a place in prehistory where dinosaurs roamed, with no chance of ever getting back. Now, it's not JUST the story that hooks the reader, it's all the thought provoking ideas that the story presents too. What would 'I' do? How would 'I' cope? Would I cope?!

I wanted it to go on and on and on......

It's very short so any details I give are likely to be spoilers but suffice to say it's a great book and one not to be missed. From the moment you pick it up it will draw you in. Even if it's not your usual type of reading material, it's still worth the read.

Remember....don't let the pink cover put you off!

Wash day blues...

2009-03-23T13:39:00.001Z

Well, yesterday was Mothering Sunday and this is the card I made for my mum.....

but then I looked at it critically and decided that this wasn't really the message I wanted to send.....mum's are not always elbow deep in suds and clothes pegs. So I made another. A classy one which was all black and white chic and sparkly diamonds. The card my mum deserves. Only problem is, I made it at the last minute and didn't get time to photo it before it was given. Oh well, nevermind.

I still like the card here, but it just wasn't the card I wanted my mum to have. I still love the stamp too, which is a Hanglar, but I don't know the name as it was gifted to me.

I've had this paper for probably a couple of years and I finally got around to using it because it has the circle design that I thought went with the image. I got it in a stack of 6x6 from ebay so have no clue who made it I'm afraid. I cut out a few of the circles and raised them up on pop dots but they don't show much on the pic. I also embossed white card with the bubble folder by cuttlebug, again because I thought the bubbly feel was right for the card, lol.

I love the sentiment but as it's unmounted I don't know where it came from, which is a pity because I'd love to get some others too. (not having a lot of luck with the 'naming' thing today, hahah).

I coloured the image with my derwent coloursoft pencils and blended with stumps and OMS (odourless mineral spirit- I use Sansodor which is the same as Gamsol across the pond I believe).

A couple of bits of ribbon (the blue one has a texture not unlike.....you guessed it...bubbles, lol) and some American crafts rub ons for the little border completes it.

No sketches followed, I just flew by the seat of my pants for this one. I suppose it's sort of basic as layouts go but I'm happy with it.

*EDIT*
Just remembered....I used a little drop of 'ice' stickles on the washtub suds too :D

Basic Grey Birthday....

2009-03-14T21:47:00.001Z

The sketch for my last card was so easy to work with that I used it again for this one, it's so versatile.

The base layer is just white card that I randomly stamped and embossed using an unmounted retro motif stamp from Cats Pyjamas. The Martini image is also from there. They do such cool retro stamps, I always see another I'd like to add to my collection.

Patterned paper is Basic Grey from the Urban Prairie range and I LOVE this range so much!! I think it's my favourite to date.

The 50 was made with some die cut numbers I recieved in a swap few years ago but they were silver so I used a craft knife to cut round them in the same colour as I used for the scallop circle.

Thanks for stopping by.

Recipe:
Paper: Basic Grey - Urban Prairie
Stamps: Cats pyjamas (unmounted)
Ink: Stazon Jet Black, Colourbox blue
Extras: Nestabilities Circle and Scallop Circle, Kanban bling gem (for the cherry in the Martini), ribbon from stash, corner rounder, clear embossing powder.

Robin's robin

2009-03-09T10:26:00.000Z

I made this for a friend as a thank you gift. It's been a while so I've forgotten who the chart is by but it fitted this little silver trinket jar I had perfectly. I was really pleased with how it turned out....it took an age to get the little edge turned under and trapped beneath the clear plastic cover and I really thought I'd made a good job of it, so I took the pic, packed it up and sent it on it's merry way......then took another look at the pic......YIKES!! I forgot to stitch his little beak!! Oops! LOL!

Ah well, those are the quirky little things that make me love handmade pieces even more. :D

A Homely Birthday...

2009-02-26T08:31:00.002Z

I hope the colours of this show properly because they're so bright IRL and look lovely (even if I DO say so myself :D ). I tried to take a 'side on' photo to show the little bit of bling on the flowers but I don't know how successful that was, I was trying to show that the main image was raised on pop dots but again......not working for me.

I used standard (cheap) pink and black cardstock with a touch of colour and I'm so happy with how it turned out.

The swirly doodles are American Crafts rub ons and while I love rub ons, these seem to be a lot of hard work. The acetate they're on seems to be really tough to get the motifs to rub off and it curls something fierce and wants to jump around a lot. It just seems a bit stiffer than most rub ons I've tried. I like the designs...just not the materials :(

It looks to me sort of like the old fashioned cards that my gran used to love.....except those cards didn't feature Barbie pink much, as I recall, hahah.

I LOVE these crafty secrets stamps and have some more sets that I'm itching to use too. They make such lovely vintagey themes.

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe:
Paper - Basic Grey 'Urban Prairie'
Stamp - Crafty Sectets 'Home Sweet Home'
Extras - Nestabilities Circle and Scallop Circle, ribbon from stash, kanban bling gems, American Crafts rub on's 'mini marks'
Colour - Derwent Coloursoft pencils blended with sansodor and tortillions

Deletions..

2009-02-16T13:33:00.000Z

I just went through 2 years + worth of old posts and deleted a ton of stuff. Mostly non stitchy stuff but some other bits too that were just in the way.

It's been an age since I stitched anything but I'm slowly getting into it again and hopefully will be able to post progress pics for some of my neverending WIP's, to try and give myself an incentive to actually finish a few of them......

Betrayel At Falador - T S Church

2009-01-30T17:01:00.001Z

With over 100 million active accounts, RuneScape is widely recognised as the world s most popular MMORPG. Betrayal at Falador is the first ever tie-in novel to RuneScape. In the kingdom of Asgarnia, though the Knights of Falador defend the land and protect the people, they face threats that clamor from all sides and from within. Enemies mass at the borders, and a killer stalks the night, killing innocents and slipping away unseen. When a young woman appears in the teeth of the storm, her sudden arrival launches a chain of events that endangers the very fabric of magic. And unless the knights can solve the riddle of Kara-Meir, everything they hold close may be lost. Their one hope may lie in the hands, not of a knight, but of an untested squire named Theodore.

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

I'm an adult who has enjoyed playing Runescape for many years. I assume that this book is primarily aimed at teens/young adults but couldn't resist seeing Runescape brought to life in the pages and hoped some familiar faces got a mention. I wasn't disappointed - Sir Amik Varse (Ceramic Vase), Sir Vyvin (surviving), Doric and Sir Tiffy (to name a few) played big roles and some new characters were introduced too.

For anyone who has played Runescape, the book's appeal will be that you are familar with the landscape and characters mentioned, however, this is a stand-alone story so can be enjoyed even without prior knowledge of the game.

If you like the Fantasy/Military genre then this may be the book for you. For me however, the fantasy was too little and the military too much. It started well and promised to be an interesting 'page turner', but as soon as the 'monster's' story was revealed (about a third of the way through) it just seemed to be one battle after another between warring knights. Perhaps I'm left with feelings of disappointment because whilst the fight scenes were well written, there just wasn't enough focus on Runescape's fantasy element. Pitched battles for page after page made it hard to keep going at points and I'm not sure that the character side stories went far enough to hold interest.

For me, it read as if the authour ran out of ideas half way through and relied on swordplay and military strategy to see things to the end. The last chapter in particular was disappointing as so much was left unanswered in those pages.......unless there's to be a sequel?

As Runescape's first work of fiction though, I'm glad I read it. Despite my misgivings, I hope there will be more to follow........

Star boy!

2009-01-24T12:56:00.002Z

Here are a couple of cards I've found time to make. I've just been flying by the seat of my pants with the card making and not following any sketches or formula. I just have a bit of a shuffle around with the papers and bits, and if it looks ok to my untrained eye, it's gets stuck down, lol.

THis is a really bright card and I love how it pulled together. The stars were actually a 'fix' for a couple of careless smudges. I must have got a little bit of pigment on the paper and rubbed it thinking it was a bit of lint.......mistake, it left a tiny (but HOOGE to my eye) mark on the white card so I cut a few stars with a punch and strategically (is that a word? lol) hid the evidence. (for enquiring minds...the big star on the right, and the small star in the top right *wink*).On my monitor the colours on the little boy look really washed out and faded, but IRL they're bright, bright, bright :)

I've decided not to put sentiments on my cards until I have a definite use for them. Mostly I'm just making cards for the fun of it, with no clear occassion in mind. I try to leave a place for where I'd like the sentiment to go, for when I decide what it's for, but it will make some of them seem a bit bare in the photos. They look like something's missing......

My second card just seemed to fly together by itself. I don't know if the image dictated the colours or vice versa, but either way I'm liking very much how it turned out. The stamp is from Hero arts and I think I'll use this set a lot, it's so cute. The little border at the bottom is from another Hero ARt set (four dolls), stamped onto the cardstock and carefully hand cut to give a scallop edge. Her little outfit is just stamped onto the red card, cut and paper pieced over the original stamping

With both of these I'm trying to stick to my 'use what you have, before you go running out and buying any more' mantra. I don't think I'll ever have need to buy any more papers EVER, so I'm trying to use up what I have to lighten the load. Of course I'm tempted by new and shiny things but mostly I'm sticking to my plan.

Both of these cards used only a little, single scrap of patterned paper that I found in my stash.

Card one ingredients:
Paper: from stash
ink: stazon jet black
Stamp: Hanglar
extras: Derwent coloursoft pencils blended with sansodor fluid, EK star punch, kanban bling stars, stickles, ribbon from stash

Card two ingredients:
Paper:from stash
ink: stazon jet black
stamps: Hero ARts dolls, hero arts four dolls border
extras: red diamontes from stash, nestabilities circle and scallop circle

Birthday Girl

2009-01-07T10:41:00.002Z

Everyone is back to school and back to work here, and everything is back to normal again. Well, as 'normal' as it gets round here.

I don't excpect to have as much time to surf as I've been used to these last 2 weeks, but I'm going to try and keep up as best I can. If I get up earlier, and go to bed later I might just pull it off, lol.

My card today is for a friend's daughter. I just shuffled things about until it felt right.

I used another of my gifted images (I think it's Penny Black again, a lot of them are but I could be wrong) and coloured it with my Coloursoft pencils and Sansodor. I love those pencils. Like Prismacolor but readily available here in the UK. I see a lot of lovely cards that have been coloured with copics, and I did wonder if I should try them.....but why fix it if it ain't broken? lol. The pencils are just grand for my needs at the moment.

The paper is from my stash and doesn't have a makers name on it anywhere so I think it must be cheapo stuff I picked up somewhere. Lovely colours though and matched exactly with my image and occasion. The sentiment is actually cut from a store bought card that I got for my birthday last year. I thought the bling was too nice to throw away and it's worked out great for my card here. I used my corner rounder on all sharp edges to give it a softer feel.

Stamp: Penny Black (I think)
Sentiment: bling cut from store bought card (Eeek!)
Ink: (for the number 8) Stazon purple ( but it looks black in the photo)
Sentiment #2: 8 stamped with an unmounted red rubber
Coloured with: Derwent Coloursoft pencils, blended with paper stumps and Sansodor fluid
Extras: Nestibilities - scallop and circles, corner rounder punch

Simple Birthday......Again

2009-01-04T22:17:00.002Z

I think this is a Penny Black image, but I'm not sure as it's one of the images that were given to me. The scalloped edge on the bottom is actually cut by hand (Martha's punches are needed, I feel, lol.) I had a little nestabilities rectangle scallop frame that was given to me, so I traced one side of it onto the card and moved it along to fill the length, then just cut it out with scissors.

I wasn't sure if I liked it or not, it looked a bit bare, but I added some faux stitching round all the edges with a white gel pen and it's working for me now :)

Stamp: Penny Black (I think - it was stamped for me)
Sentiment: Cuddly Buddly unmounted
Ink: Stazon jet black
Extras: Nestabilities -scallop and circles, ribbon from stash, inksentials white pen by ranger, coloured card from stash and stickles.

Smiley sunflower....

2009-01-02T23:01:00.003Z

This photo taking business is hard work, lol. Almost 30 photo's to try and get a good one....and I'm still not sure this is the best, hahah.

Just look at the little sunflower ...it looks like it's got a little smile, lol.

Stamp: Magnolia
Paper: Old, old, old from stash
Ink: Stazon timber brown
Extra: Stickles
Colour: Derwent Coloursoft pencils and Sansodor

2 For 1

2009-01-01T18:59:00.002Z

2 cards in one day!

I love how they turned out, although I'm a bit upset that my photo skills don't do them justice. I'm so proud of these.

My second card.

I decoupaged the roses top and bottom and the sentiment is also on foam dots to raise it.

All in all, easy, quick and immensley satisfying.

I love cardmaking! :D

Sketch 1
Papers: American Crafts
Ink: Stazon timber brown
Sentiment:Hero ARts
Extras: Cuttlebug embossing folder (swirls), Nestabilites (scallop and circle), Kanban Bling dots

Sketch 2
Papers: Basic Grey Lolipop shop Marzipan
Ink: Stazon jet black
Sentiment: PSX
Extras: Nestabilities (scallop and circle), stickles, Derwent coloursoft pencils

Colour Inspirations

2008-12-31T23:46:00.002Z

I'm not sure, as I type this, if it's going to be a last small one squeezed in for 2008....or a first small one of 2009.

It's 10 minutes to midnight here.

These are the colours that I just did my bedroom in and I love, love, love them.

Anyway, this is my card

I got a couple of Nestibilities this week (the scallop and circle) and couldn't wait to try them out. I've got a 'Zipe'mate' cutting machine and they work great in that.

The stamps are SU separates which were given to me and they look so cute together. I don't know if they came together as part of a set, but they look like they belong.

I got a new camera from Santa and I haven't figured out all the settings yet, so the photos are pretty poor so far.....but I'm working on it :D

Happy New Year.

2008-12-30T23:24:00.002Z

Firstly, thanks to everyone who visited and left kind and encouraging comments to yesterday's post, I was touched. Thank you. :)

Today's card is a bit...'Meh'... As I imagined my card in my head it looked fab! Lol. Pity that when I sat down to create, I realised that I didn't have most of what I'd need to make the card from my minds eye....so I had to make do with what I had and this is what I came up with. Nothing like what I imagined and it just seems lacking.

For this card I just flew by the seat of my pants and stuck bits to other bits without any real plan and it kinda shows I think.

Oh, and I know the monkey isn't your typical New Year type fellow, lol, but I didn't have much to choose from and he's actually growing on me, the more I see him with his cute little balloons, :)

Ink: Stazon - Jet Black
Sentiment: Dovecraft
Image: Great Impressions
Paper: Unknown from stash
Coloured using Derwent coloursoft pencils and puffy glitter glue.

First Card.

2008-12-29T20:40:00.001Z

This is my first card.

I was given a pile of stamped images which I've been steadily colouring in, in preparation for my foray into cardmaking, but I'm afraid I don't know who they're by or what they're called. Sorry. I do have a few stamps of my own and where possible will name them when used, but for the gifted ones I'm in the dark over makers. I think this one is a Penny Black image. Maybe?

Ink: Stazon - Jet Black & Timber Brown
Sentiment: Hero Arts- Happy Hello
Paper: My Mind's Eye - Wild Asparagus
Ribbon: MME - Wild Asparagus
Coloured using Derwent coloursoft pencils and sandodor.