Teaser Tuesday #32

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can take part! All you have to do is:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us (2) teaser sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12 (but don't give any spoilers!)
• Share the title of the book that the teaser is from...that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!

You can find out more here!

My current read: Cuckoo by Julia Crouch

Random Page: #375

Teaser:

She switched on the hall light and listened for any sound or movement. Then, carefully, holding the umbrella a little like a sword, she edged up the stairs until she was in the bed-sitting room. She hadn't been in here properly - without Polly watching her every movement - for a long while.

Happy reading everyone!

Review: Soul Beach

Title: Soul Beach

Author: Kate Harrison

Publisher: Orion Books

Publication date: September 2011

Paperback: 272 pages

Young Adult

Source: UK Book Tours

Extract

My rating: 9/10

Summary:

When Alice Forster receives an email from her dead sister she assumes it must be a sick practical joke. Then an invitation arrives to the virtual world of Soul Beach, an idyllic online paradise of sun, sea and sand where Alice can finally talk to her sister again - and discover a new world of friendships, secrets and maybe even love . . . . But why is Soul Beach only inhabited by the young, the beautiful and the dead? Who really murdered Megan Forster? And could Alice be next? The first book in an intriguing and compelling trilogy centred around the mystery of Megan Forster's death.

My thoughts:

This book absolutely fascinated me. It was just so unexpected I was sucked right into it and loved ever second.

Alice was a great character who had recently lost her big sister. At first she thought the emails sent inviting her to Soul Beach was a sick joke until she found it was a place she could talk to her sister again. Weird right? It gets better. This Soul Beach is supposed to be this virtual world where only some dead people go and yet Alice can hear the sea calling and the feel of the sand tempting her to open her laptop up and fall into this other world once more.

I felt like Soul Beach was an introduction into the trilogy it's set to be, which I normally don't like because sometimes it results in the book having no real depth to it. Not in this case though. I was literally captivated with the characters both dead and alive.

The ending really shocked me and the next book really could go anywhere from the way Soul Beach was wrapped up, which was....not at all. The ending was left wide open which shocked me a bit.

I can't really say much more without risk of ruining the story but I do strongly recommend this one.

Kate Harrison:

Goodreads|Website|Twitter

On My Wishlist #37

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where I list all the books I desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. It's also an event that you can join in with too - Mr Linky is always at the ready for you to link your own 'On My Wishlist' post. If you want to know more click here.

Logen Ninefingers, infamous barbarian, has finally run out of luck. Caught in one feud too many, he's on the verge of becoming a dead barbarian - leaving nothing behind him but bad songs, dead friends, and a lot of happy enemies.

Nobleman, dashing officer, and paragon of selfishness, Captain Jezal dan Luthar has nothing more dangerous in mind than fleecing his friends at cards and dreaming of glory in the fencing circle. But war is brewing, and on the battlefields of the frozen North they fight by altogether bloodier rules.

Inquisitor Glokta, cripple turned torturer, would like nothing better than to see Jezal come home in a box. But then Glokta hates everyone: cutting treason out of the Union one confession at a time leaves little room for friendship. His latest trail of corpses may lead him right to the rotten heart of government, if he can stay alive long enough to follow it.

Enter the wizard, Bayaz. A bald old man with a terrible temper and a pathetic assistant, he could be the First of the Magi, he could be a spectacular fraud, but whatever he is, he's about to make the lives of Logen, Jezal, and Glotka a whole lot more difficult.

School is over, not just for the year, but forever. Tiff and Kayla are free, which is what they've always wanted, but now summer is nearly at and end and that means life decisions. Tiff is hoping her job at the local paper will lead to something more... But 'The Shark' soon puts her straight on what it takes to become a hard-nosed reporter like him. At home, Reggie - the only grandad she's ever known - has quit the smokes and diagnosed himself as cactus. Then Kayla hits her with some big news. And into all this stumbles Davey, the first boy who has ever really wanted to know her.
Tiff is smart with words and rarely does tears, but in one short week she discovers that words don't always get you there; they don't let you say all the stuff from deep in your heart.

Happy reading everyone!

Teaser Tuesday #31

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can take part! All you have to do is:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us (2) teaser sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12 (but don't give any spoilers!)
• Share the title of the book that the teaser is from...that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!
  

You can find out more here!

My current read: Prisoner of the Inquisition

Random Page: #205

Teaser:

'To finance such an expedition would cost a great deal of money.'
This comment came from a man dressed in the garb of a notary. It was known that the monarchs guarded their purses against the ruinous cost of the war.

Sorry about the lack of reviews lately - been super busy - one is coming very soon though!
Happy reading everyone!

The Time Will Come #6

Jodie over at Books for Company is hosting a Thursday meme. It's really easy to join in. Here's what you have to do:

• Pick a book you have been meaning to read
  
• Do a post telling us about the book
• Link the post up in the linky
• Visit the other blogs!
  

I love the Wolves of Mercy Falls series so I thought I would buy Lament and give it a go. I'm a little apprehensive about this one though since I haven't had much luck with books based on faeries. Hopefully some time soon though!

Happy reading!

On My Wishlist #36

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where I list all the books I desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. It's also an event that you can join in with too - Mr Linky is always at the ready for you to link your own 'On My Wishlist' post. If you want to know more click here.

Rachel White is the consummate good girl. A hard-working attorney at a large Manhattan law firm and a diligent maid of honor to her charmed best friend Darcy, Rachel has always played by all the rules. Since grade school, she has watched Darcy shine, quietly accepting the sidekick role in their lopsided friendship. But that suddenly changes the night of her thirtieth birthday when Rachel finally confesses her feelings to Darcy's fiance, and is both horrified and thrilled to discover that he feels the same way. As the wedding date draws near, events spiral out of control, and Rachel knows she must make a choice between her heart and conscience. In so doing, she discovers that the lines between right and wrong can be blurry, endings aren't always neat, and sometimes you have to risk everything to be true to yourself.

As a young man, Jacob Jankowski was tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. It was the early part of the great Depression, and for Jacob, now ninety, the circus world he remembers was both his salvation and a living hell. A veterinary student just shy of a degree, he was put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It was there that he met Marlena, the beautiful equestrian star married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. And he met Rosie, an untrainable elephant who was the great gray hope for this third-rate traveling show. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and, ultimately, it was their only hope for survival.

New York City, 1882. Seventeen-year-old Natalie Stewart's latest obsession is a painting of the handsome British Lord Denbury. Something in his striking blue eyes calls to her. As his incredibly life-like gaze seems to follow her, Natalie gets the uneasy feeling that details of the painting keep changing...

Jonathan Denbury's soul is trapped in the gilded painting by dark magic while his possessed body commits unspeakable crimes in the city slums. He must lure Natalie into the painting, for only together can they reverse the curse and free his damaged soul.

Happy reading everyone!

Review: Raw Blue

Title: Raw Blue

Author: Kirsty Eagar

Publisher: Penguin Australia

Publication date: 29/06/09

Paperback: 274 pages

Young Adult: Contemporary

Source: Loan from UK Swap Shop

Extract|Video

My Rating: 7/10

Summary:

Carly has dropped out of uni to spend her days surfing and her nights working as a cook in a Manly café. Surfing is the one thing she loves doing … and the only thing that helps her stop thinking about what happened two years ago at schoolies week.

And then Carly meets Ryan, a local at the break, fresh out of jail. When Ryan learns the truth, Carly has to decide. Will she let the past bury her? Or can she let go of her anger and shame, and find the courage to be happy?

My thoughts:

I had heard loads of great things about this one so I just had to pick it up.

Unfortunately though I was a little disappointed. It was a good read but I was expecting it to be a lot better.

Raw Blue is basically about a nineteen year old, Carly, who loves to surf and so she dropped out of University to have more time to do so. She's fallen out with her family, she has this a horrible past, she has to work in a horrible cafe during the night where she's not having a great time of it.

I really liked the characters. I thought the way Carly was written made reading the whole book a great experience where I was completely relaxed reading it and I found myself forgetting about everything else going on around me and was solely focused on the story.

Kirsty Eagar made a video about Raw Blue which I've linked at the top of this post and she mentioned that normally, writing is telling a story, but for Raw Blue it was like listening to one. I completely agree with where she's coming from because reading this was like listening to Carly's story. The problem was, I didn't feel like Carly was a strong enough character for me to feel the anger she feels in the book. I knew she was angry. I just didn't feel angry for her, which is what I should have felt given her circumstances. That's where I was disappointed.

Ryan was a great character. It was great how the typical roles in novels was reversed in this one. Ryan was the one to help Carly get through obstacles and tell him her past so she could deal with it. I think normally in books it's the other way round. However, I felt that Ryan wasn't mentioned no way near enough for how important he was to the story and to Carly's development as a character.

Overall I do recommend this read. It was a quick read and despite my negative thoughts about it, it was rather memorable.

Great Quotes:

Once they know they've got a hold of your shame, they can shake it out and hold it up for the all world to see. And you become less than it. You become something disgusting.

He’s still singing to himself, eyes closed, pretending, I think, that I’m someone else.
I shout in his ear again. ‘So you can’t just lay down and die?’
He doesn’t open his eyes, but he nods. ‘You can’t just lay down and die”

Kirsty Eagar:
Goodreads|Website|Blog|

The Time Will Come #5

Jodie over at Books for Company is hosting a Thursday meme. It's really easy to join in. Here's what you have to do:

• Pick a book you have been meaning to read
  
• Do a post telling us about the book
• Link the post up in the linky
• Visit the other blogs!
  

I've already read Evermore and I quite enjoyed it so I bought Blue Moon quite a while ago. It's just a case of getting round to reading it...in fact, I should probably read Evermore again before starting this one straight after since it's been so long!

Happy reading!

Random Acts of Kindness: October

It's the start of another month so you know what that means!

For those of you that aren't familiar with the programme head on over to Book Soulmates to check out the details

Unfortunately this month I didn't send anything out to anyone and I didn't receive anything either so I'm just going to go straight to the wishlist!

October Wishlist:

(new/used paperbacks/hardbacks - no kindle)

• The Lipstick Laws by Amy Holder
  
• Fallen by Celia Thomson
  
• Immortal by Gillian Shields
  
• Blood Bound by Rachel Vincent
  
• Enclave by Ann Aguirre
  
• Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind
  
• Beautiful Demons by Sarra Cannon
  
• Trial by Fire by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
  
• Strange Angels by Lili St. Crow
  
• Perfect You by Elizabeth Scott
  

Happy reading everyone!

In My Mailbox #28

In My Mailbox idea from Kristi @ The Story Siren, all links take you to goodreads.

Hiya guys! Welcome to another In My Mailbox!

This week I got one book from UK Book Tours:

• Soul Beach by Kate Harrison
  

When Alice Forster receives an email from her dead sister she assumes it must be a sick practical joke. Then an invitation arrives to the virtual world of Soul Beach, an idyllic online paradise of sun, sea and sand where Alice can finally talk to her sister again - and discover a new world of friendships, secrets and maybe even love . . . . But why is Soul Beach only inhabited by the young, the beautiful and the dead? Who really murdered Megan Forster? And could Alice be next? The first book in an intriguing and compelling trilogy centred around the mystery of Megan Forster's death.

Happy reading everyone!

Giveaway Winners!

As part of BLB Book Tours I was having a couple of giveaways on the blog for Imperium by Nicholas Olivo and The Door at the Top of the Stairs by Alison Holt.

The giveaways ended yesterday so it's time to announce the winners!!

The winner of Imperium is:

Anita Yancey!!!

And the winner of The Door at the Top of the Stairs is:

Farah M.J Elmajdoub

Congratulations to the both of you and I hope you enjoy the reads. I've already emailed both you and the authors!

Happy reading!

On My Wishlist #35

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where I list all the books I desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. It's also an event that you can join in with too - Mr Linky is always at the ready for you to link your own 'On My Wishlist' post. If you want to know more click here.

Their love was meant to be.

When Megan Rosenberg moves to Ireland, everything in her life seems to fall into place. After growing up in America, she's surprised to find herself feeling at home in her new school. She connects with a group of friends, and she is instantly drawn to darkly handsome Adam DeRís.

But Megan is about to discover that her feelings for Adam are tied to a fate that was sealed long ago—and that the passion and power that brought them together could be their ultimate destruction.

*the cover of this one is intriguing and I definitely want to know more about this.*

Until now, high school junior, John Keats, has only tiptoed near the edges of the vortex that is schoolmate and literary prodigy, Gordon Byron. That is, until their mutual friend, Shelly, drowns in a sailing accident.

After stealing Shelly's ashes from her wake at Trinity Catholic High School, the boys set a course for the small Lake Erie island where Shelly's body had washed ashore and to where she wished to be returned. It would be one last "so Shelly" romantic quest. At least that's what they think. As they navigate around the obstacles and resist temptations during their odyssey, Keats and Gordon glue together the shattered pieces of Shelly's and their own pasts while attempting to make sense of her tragic and premature end.

*The summary of 'So Shelly' made me really want to read it - it sounds promising - hopefully it lives up to that promise!*

It’s the end of Year 12. Lucy’s looking for Shadow, the graffiti artist everyone talks about.

His work is all over the city, but he is nowhere.

Ed, the last guy she wants to see at the moment, says he knows where to find him. He takes Lucy on an all-night search to places where Shadow’s thoughts about heartbreak and escape echo around the city walls.

But the one thing Lucy can’t see is the one thing that’s right before her eyes.

*I've heard a lot of good things about 'Graffiti Moon' so I definitely need to pick this one up.*

Happy reading everyone!