Monday, January 31, 2011

Book of the Week : January 31, 2011

Soulless (The Parasol Protectorate, #1)Soulless by Gail Carriger

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I judged a book by it's cover on this one! I wanted to know what's up with that woman with a parasol! I was eager to read this book and glad I did.

The Synopsis, Alexia Tarabotti has no soul. (isn't that a kicker! no one would want you, heaven or hell.) She's a half Italian spinster whose father is dead and lives with her half sisters, Step-father, and Mother. At a party, while being attacked by a vampire, we learn what being soulless means and what power one with no soul has. A handsome werewolf, Lord Maccon comes to her aid. But this is just the beginning of the trouble Alexia and Lord Maccon will face.

Alexia has an interesting "power". I liked it, different then your usual paranormal romance/mystery. She was funny, in a dry kind of way. The thing that bothered me about Alexia, the constant mentioning of her complexion and her nose.
The chemistry between Lord Maccon and Alexia was good. I enjoyed the buildup of their relationship. I'm still a bit hazy on the hedgehog but I'll let that slide.

Lord Akeldama, besides the blatant stereotyping, The "promise" or "pact" he makes with Alexia toward the end was heartwarming!

This was my first steampunk novel. I have to add that because It was hard to picture the contraptions and stuff. Otherwise this book has a bit of every genre in it, so there's something for everyone!





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Monday, January 17, 2011

Fire and Cross: Pride and Prejudice with a steamy mysterious twistFire and Cross: Pride and Prejudice with a steamy mysterious twist by Enid Wilson

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


2.5 stars.a first reads giveaway.



The book was O.K. I liked the premise, 2 girls both have the same necklace, which one is the betrothed?! But the mystery is solved too quickly. I hoped that it would be drawn out a bit more. Her main characters flip flop too quickly and are way too forgiving. I really enjoyed her villains, I wish she'd pushed that envelope a little further too.





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Friday, January 7, 2011

Book of the Week : January 7 2011

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie SocietyThe Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Spoiler Alert!

One of my friends picked this book for our book club. I was nervous; it's not my usual read. But I have lived in England, understand the effect of WWII on the people there, and enjoy history. What made this book even more daunting before picking it up was the way it was written in a letter to letter form.

But I made a commitment to my book club to read it so I did. Overall I enjoyed it.

The main character Juliet, I didn't love her as much as everyone else did in the book. I wasn't connected to any one person, and I barely felt connected to the cast because there wasn't much detail to the characters. I think that had to do with the way it was written. The letter format was hard to keep straight who was talking to who, they all kind of started out sounding the same.

But still, I felt it was a good book. I guess because I could relate and enjoyed some of Juliet’s opinions on things. She was witty and immature at times. Tongue and cheek, "Was there a Burning Bush? Defense of Moses and the Ten Commandments....Word of God or crowd control???"

You could tell the author was a book lover, to the point I was worried about this book, was this a book for book lovers or readers who love to read books? She eased up on the references and "love of books" stuff, and got going with the story 20-30 pages in.

The war stories did endear me a bit to the characters and like Juliet I wanted to know more about Elizabeth.

You could totally tell when the authors changed, I think I liked part 2 better then part one because of that, but felt the ending was rushed.

Some things that really bothered me, I can't believe they let Kit stay/live with a visiting stranger (Juliet). The islanders barely knew her.

Sydney's sexuality. I don't care what sexuality he was, but during that time period I doubt he'd be so open with it, and OK with it being passed around in letters.

The end was really short, and completely out of character. It went from short letters, to journal like entries, to a log book?!

Over all I was torn between 3 and 4 stars. I did enjoy Juliet's thoughts on marriage "Lonelier spending my life with someone I can't talk to, or worse, someone I can't be silent with" , and the humor Qoute that pushed it to 4 stars for me. "...Humor is the best way to make the unbareable bearable..."



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Monday, January 3, 2011

11 in 11 challenge

Friends of mine started a book club. To make it more intresting we are doing an 11 books in 2011 challenge.
Rules for 11/11 challenge:
  • Read 11 books in the year 2011
  • extra credit if you finish by 11/11/11
  • You can read any book you like,
  • Monthly books Can be used in the 11/11 challenge.
  • 1 book per category,
  • book can only used once.

Some category ideas:
  • Fiction Book with the letter K (11th letter) in title or in Authors name
  • Non fiction
  • Animal book
  • First book in a series
  • First book by author
  • Book released in 2011
  • Book you always wanted to read but haven’t
  • Book never finished
  • Something you wouldn’t normally read
  • Least like genre
  • Sexiest cover
  • Re read of a book
  • Free Space

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Book of the Week : January 1, 2011

Crown of Crystal Flame (Tairen Soul, #5)Crown of Crystal Flame by C.L. Wilson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was the final book in a series. It's always sad when a book series ends. It never ends the way you want it to, it's always too fast or too short, and there's always questions unanswered.

If you read the series, then you'll enjoy this book. If you haven’t read this series I suggest you start with book 1, Lord of the Fading Lands! It's a Cinderella story, with a strong female heroine, who grows from a little "girl" to a strong leader throughout the series.





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