Title: Disillusioned Author: Lawrence Schimel & Mike Resnick In: The Mammoth Book of Dark Magic (Mike Ashley) Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!) My Bookshelves:Dark fantasy, Magic Dates read: 5th March 2020 Pace: Fast Format: Short story Publisher: Robinson Year: 1995 5th sentence, 74th page: Vivian sighed, wishing she were elsewhere, but she displayed no outward sign of her boredom, laughing along with the other assembled members of the Thirteen Families.
The world is run by those with powerful magic. Members of the Thirteen Families. But, when do the illusions end and reality begin? When does it become something much, much more?
This is a great story that reminds us – even when we get everything that we want, it might not be what we actually need. Vivian manages to rise to the top of her society, she uses all of her cunning and intelligence. Yet, once she’s there… there is nothing. No feeling of excitement no feeling of accomplishment. Just. Total. Disillusionment.
I found this short story quite a poignant reminder – sometimes the thing that you are working towards (power, prestige) isn’t necessarily what you need to be happy. Sometimes it is just empty and meaningless. Especially if you have a split moment in which you realise that it is all just an illusion. A figment of reality that is constructed by others.
This story is a little bit funny, a little bit dark and definitely one that will draw you in from the very beginning. It is intriguing and engaging. And not one that I am likely to forget anytime soon.
Title: An Offer from a Gentleman: The Second Epilogue Author: Julia Quinn Series: Bridgertons #3.5 In: The Bridgertons (Julia Quinn) Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again) My Bookshelves:Historical romance, Regency romance Dates read: 5th March 2020 Pace: Fast Format: Short story Publisher: Avon Year: 2001 5th sentence, 74th page: “She said that Mr. Fibberly called.”
Did you wonder what happened to Posy after she finally stood up to her mother? Did she finally find her own happily ever after? Find out in this second epilogue.
At the end of An Offer from a Gentleman, all I could think was “I hope that Posy gets her happily ever after”. After all, she tried to be a good sister to Sophie for years. And, ultimately, stood up for her at the detriment of the possibilities of her own future. Which all made me exceedingly happy when I started the first sentence of the second epilogue…. And found out that it was about Posy.
Sophie and Benedict do make an appearance throughout this short story. Which is good, because it’s nice to know that a few years after their marriage, they are still happy and have a few boys to show for their nuptial delights. But, mostly it’s about finding Posy her own happily ever after.
I love that lightning strike, infatuation at first site moment that happens when Posy does find her true love. I love that Sophie and Benedict thought to set them up because he has a nice smile. And, I love that although Posy is finally happy in and of herself, she still has some issues of self image. Mostly through her eating habits. It shows that the damages of her childhood don’t miraculously disappear, but they do diminish and let her, too, have her happily ever after.
Title: An Offer from a Gentleman Author: Julia Quinn Series: The Bridgertons #3 Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again) My Bookshelves:Historical romance, Regency romance Dates read: 23rd February – 5th March 2020 Pace: Medium Format: Novel Publisher: Avon Year: 2001 5th sentence, 74th page: A rather attractive, extremely fashionable blond woman in her forties glided into the room.
Will she accept the offer before the clock strikes midnight?
Sophie Beckett never dreamed she’d be able to sneak into Lady Bridgerton’s famed masquerade ball. Though the daughter of an earl, Sophie has been relegated to the role of servant by her disdainful stepmother. But now, waltzing in the strong arms of the debonair and devastatingly handsome Benedict Bridgerton, she feels like royalty. Alas, she knows all enchantments must end when the clock strikes midnight.
Who was that extraordinary woman? Ever since that magical night, a radiant vision in silver has blinded Benedict to the attractions of any other – except, perhaps, this alluring and oddly familiar beauty dressed in housemaid’s garb. He has sworn to find and wed his mystery miss, but this breathtaking maid makes him weak with wanting her. If he offers her his heart, will he sacrifice his only chance for a fairy-tale love?
I absolutely adored this little ode to Cinderella. One of the things that I’ve always questioned about the original fairy tale is the fallout when the prince marries a woman who is socially beneath him. In a time when class was very much an issue. Quinn deals with that question kind of perfectly. With a great sense of style and wit. A great dose of humour. And just generally, a great storyline. One that had me giggling and going to my happy place all the way throughout.
Sophie is completely adorable throughout this story. She is sweet and kind of innocent, less outspoken than the women in the first two Bridgertons books. But she’s also got a backbone of steel. A total knowledge of who and what she is. And a great ability to be who she is without apologies. The fact that she turns down the man that she loves because she knows what he is asking of her (even when he doesn’t) just made me love her all the more. She doesn’t think that everything will be okay just because there is love in their relationship, she knows that there is something more that is required for a happily ever after.
Benedict is kind of silly – especially when he doesn’t understand what asking someone to be his mistress truly entails. But, he’s also really sweet. And I love that he constantly wants to be something more than just the “Second Bridgerton”. He falls for the only woman who can figure out just who he is. And then accepts him, flaws and all. I also love that he is an artist and totally willing to follow his heart – even if it takes him a little while to figure out what his heart truly desires.
This is a great, humorous story. A especially loved the constant referrals to the fact that this wasn’t a romance novel… it had a great little turn of wit including those little comments that made the story seem both more realistic, and more fantastical. I finished this story with a giant smile on my face and a happily beating heart. Now I get to move onto the next beautiful instalment of this fantastic series…
Title: Attachments Author: Pat Murphy In: Sirens and Other Daemon Lovers (Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling) Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect) My Bookshelves:Romance, Twisted romance Dates read: 5th March 2020 Pace: Medium Format: Short story Publisher: EOS Year: 1998 5th sentence, 74th page: She laughed as she tossed a corner of the blanket over his face to hide his staring eyes.
They’ve always been attached to one another. But that’s not truly how they want to be. Especially when one brother loves the others’ wife… things tend to get a bit awkward there…
I’ve always wanted a twin. Never wanted a conjoined twin though. That’s just WAY too much closeness. I really wasn’t expecting to find a story about conjoined twins in a collection about daemon lovers though. And, it does kind of make sense – it’s a collection of romances between those who are different. But it was still far less mystical than I was expecting.
There’s kind of a bit of an incestual feel to this story… two conjoined brothers marry two sisters. One falls in love with the other brother’s wife (who is also HIS wife’s sister). It’s kind of sweet in that whole forbidden love way… but also just incredibly complex and… yeah, incestual.
I did absolutely love the ending of this story though. There was just something about it that kind of worked… in a weird and unexpected way. It wasn’t the happily ever after that I was expecting, but it was a great ending nonetheless.
Title: The Beginning of the Year Without a Summer Author: Caitlin R. Kiernan In: The Monstrous (Ellen Datlow) Rating Out of 5: 3 (On the fence about this one) My Bookshelves:Dark fantasy Dates read: 5th March 2020 Pace: Fast Format: Short story Publisher: Tachyon Year: 2015 5th sentence, 74th page: Me and my mom both found them.
Dark, deep and intriguing. An impossible short story to put down.
There is something dark and intriguing about this short story. Which I’m starting to recognise as a bit of a hallmark of Kiernan’s writing. There is a sense of vagueness in the story, but one which worked brilliantly. It gave an even darker, more mystical feel to the storyline.
Although this short story stood well on its own, it would have also been fantastic as the introduction to a novel. It felt like there was so much more behind the scenes of this story. So much more that could have been teased out.
I loved the feel of this story. I also loved the fact that I read it late at night, with a glass of wine in hand and the dogs on my lap. It kind of helped to build that feeling of mystery and darkness that Kiernan does so well. Definitely one that I’ll go back and read again soon.
Title: Empire of Storms Author: Sarah J. Maas Series: Throne of Glass #5 Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again) My Bookshelves:Fantasy, Romance, Strong women Dates read: 11th January – 4th March 2020 Pace: Fast Format: Novel Publisher: Bloomsbury Year: 2016 5th sentence, 74th page: His mother and younger brother were still ensconced in their mountain residence in Ararat.
BLOOD WILL RUN. DREAMS WILL SHATTER. AN ARMY MUST RISE.
The assassin-queen has sworn not to turn her back on her kingdom again. Especially when she might be the only one who can raise an army to keep the Dark King from unleashing his beasts upon them all. But Erawan will wield Aelin’s past, her allies, and her enemies against her.
With a poewrful court trusting Aelin to lead them, and her heart devoted to the arrior-prince at her side, what – or who – is she willing to sacrifice to spare her world from being torn apart?
This is an “oh my heart” book. And it’s like that from the very beginning. I’ve been putting off reading it for a while since I always get ridiculously hooked on Maas’ writing. Normally that’s not such an issue because I can read the whole book cover to cover in just a day… this book is a little longer, and I had to be an adult. But I finally put aside a day to read it. And… oh my heart.
There is just something about Aelin’s story that is both tragic and intriguing. From the very beginning of the story nothing seems to work out for her… her triumphant return to Terrassen? Not so triumphant. Her court? A little bit frayed. And the end battle? I had tears streaming down my face. It was just… hurtful and tragic. And just… wow.
As soon as I finished this book I rang my sister. She’s read this… I had to have somebody who understood the many, many feelings that this book inspires. I also had to clean the house because I needed happy, non-tragic thoughts. Don’t get me wrong, this book is amazing. But it will punch you in the heart. Be prepared to have your jaw drop. Continuously. As Maasmanages to systematically rip your heart to shreds. Every time you think that something is going to go right… it doesn’t. Hopes are dashed again and again and again. Yet, it is done in such a way that you still walk away from this book feeling somewhat… happy. Which makes absolutely zero sense. Because, as I keep saying, this whole thing is a tragedy from beginning to end. But there is still this sense of hope at the very conclusion.
I really wanted to pick up Tower of Dawn as soon as I turned the final page. Yet, I also felt like I needed to take a step back and be a little more productive. I know that once I open the second to last book, I’m going to get sucked right back into this amazing, impossible to forget world. One that is impossible to walk away from and forget.
Title: Act of Extermination Author: Cirilo S. Lemos In: The Mammoth Book of Dieselpunk (Sean Wallace) Rating Out of 5: 3 (On the fence about this one) My Bookshelves:Dieselpunk Dates read: 4th March 2020 Pace: Slow Format: Short story Publisher: Robinson Year: 2015 5th sentence, 74th page: He obeyed.
Assassins in a dieselpunk world. Father and son. A network of conspiracies that will have you intrigued.
I loved the break up throughout this story. The way it was structured and how it was almost a series of small stories which created the bigger one. It was a nice, easy read late at night between other, more intense stories.
However, I didn’t really get thoroughly into the storyline. It was good, I enjoyed reading it. But I kind of skimmed through most of the story. It was well written, fun and broken up in a beautiful manner. But it was also not one that could entirely grasp my attention.
Actually, even writing this review, I’m not entirely sure what it was about this story that I did enjoy. Or what I didn’t. It was just kind of mediocre and not overly enthralling. But it also wasn’t badly written. It just was. A nice way to spend ten, twenty minutes… but that was about the extent of it.
Title: Cleaving: A Story of Marriage, Meat, & Obsession Author: Julie Powell Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!) My Bookshelves:Food, Marriage, Memoirs Dates read: 22nd February – 1st March 2020 Pace: Slow Format: Novel Publisher: Back Bay Books Year: 2009 5th sentence, 74th page: Why do I more often than not decline Josh and Jessica’s invitations to dinner, Aaron’s elaborate weekend agendas?
Julie Powell thought cooking her way through all 524 recipes in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking was the craziest thing she’d ever do – until she embarked on the voyage recounted in Cleaving.
When her marriage is challenged by an insane, irresistible love affair, Julie decides to leave town and immerse herself in a new obsession: butchery. She finds her way to Fleisher’s, a butcher shop in upstate New York, where she buries herself in the details of food. She learns how to break down a side of beef and French a rack of ribs – tough, physical work that only sometimes distracts her from thoughts of afternoon trysts.
The camaraderie at Fleisher’s leads Julie to search out fellow butchers around the world – from South America to Europe to Africa. At the end of her odyssey, she has learned a new art and perhaps even mastered her unruly heart.
I wanted to love this book. I wanted to know more about the amazing woman who wrote Julie and Julia. I was seriously unimpressed with the woman who wrote this. Don’t get me wrong, the writing was still fantastic and made it an interesting journey to go on… but the journey. Not really my cup of tea.
I found the detail of the butchery kind of fascinating. In that disgusting, I can’t believe I’m watching this sort of way. Whilst I’m not a vegetarian, I’m also not really much of a meat eater. So the graphic details of how the meat that I eat is broken down… I did find that a little intense. Including recipes throughout of how to cook the cuts that Powell was slicing up was quite an interesting, intriguing way to go about moving the narrative forwards though.
I just can’t understand the need to cheat – the reasons why. The choices people make. And, more importantly, I really don’t get why Powellmakes the decisions that she makes. Not only does she have an affair, but she does so in a way that systematically tears apart the man that she loves. He also hangs around and does something similar, but still. There is nothing in her actions that made me feel kindly towards her. Where Julie and Julia was something I could understand – that manic need to find meaning in life, and that constant, weird voice in your head making you constantly question your worth. Her thoughts and actions in this were completely foreign to me. Deplorable. And, honestly, in writing about her experiences, I found her to be a little self-indulgent about her own downfalls.
This isn’t the kind of book that I would normally enjoy. As I said, Powell is just WAY too self-indulgent and forgiving of her mistakes. Of the hurts that she puts on other people. But it is also exceedingly well written. And it was a book that I couldn’t stop talking about the whole time that I was reading it… it was a kind of insane experience. One that I probably won’t repeat, but also one that I won’t be throwing into the giveaway pile. Super mixed feelings in this corner.
Title: Terra Nullius Author: Claire G. Coleman Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again) My Bookshelves:Adventure, Dystopia, Indigenous Australians, Science fiction Dates read: 17th February – 1st March 2020 Pace: Medium Format: Novel Publisher: Hachette Australia Year: 2017 5th sentence, 74th page: If only they would stay put – stay in the camp they had established for utterly mysterious reasons of their own – he would find it easy to beat a path around them and back to the road.
‘Jacky was running. There was no thought in his head, only an intense drive to run. There was no sense he was getting anywhere, no plan, no destination, no future. All he had was a sense of what was behind, what he was running from. Jacky was running.’
The Natives of the Colony are restless. The Settlers are eager to ahve a nation of peace, and to bring the savages into line. Families are torn apart, re-education is enforced. This rich land will provide for all.
This is not Australia as we know it. This is not the Australia of our history, This TERRA NULLIUS is something new, but all too familiar.
This is an incredible debut from a striking new Australian Aboriginal voice.
I figured this would be a pretty good and intense book – it’s apparently won quite a few awards. Plus, Coleman is an Indigenous Australian woman. So she was probably going to write about things and topics which I am constantly trying to find out more about being a white Australian woman and all… I DID NOT realise how intense this was going to be… or how unforgettable. And well, kind of life changing.
For the first half of this book, I didn’t really get how this was a science fiction story. It honestly just felt like a retelling of the horrors that Europeans enacted upon Indigenous Australians. There were the Natives and the Settlers and everything they did was exactly what the first settlers did to our First Nation Peoples. There was nothing really fantastical about that. Mostly, it just gave a face and a personality to some really horrendous acts. But then you get to the halfway point… and everything changes.
I love that the beginning of this story feels very human, very typical and very expected. But then you reach that turning point, when the quotes start to talk about alien life forms, future dates and interplanetary colonisation. Suddenly the horrors are inflicted upon all humans. Racism seems incredibly stupid when the entire human race is fighting for survival – our differences apparently just aren’t so bad.
This is a book that everyone should read. It has a potent message, and a great storyline. It is especially important for Australians – we need to acknowledge and accept our past, so that we can find a way to begin to heal the wrongs of the past. It isn’t the kind of book that you will read through insanely quickly. At least, it wasn’t for me. Rather, it is the sort of book that you will mull over and consider as you digest it. Giving yourself time to absorb and understand the intensity of what Coleman is trying to say.
War is upon the half-bloods as they prepare for battle against the Titans, knowing that the odds of victory are grim. Kronos’s army is stronger than ever, and with every god and half-blood he recruits, the evil Titan’s power only grows.
While the Olympians struggle to contain the rampaging monster Typhon, Kronos begins his advance on New York City, where Mount Olympus stands virtually unguarded. Now it’s up to Percy Jackson and an army of young demigods to stop the Lord of Time.
Except Percy is running out of time as the long-awaited prophecy surrounding his sixteenth birthday finally unfolds. And as the battle for Western civilization rages on the streets of Manhattan, Percy faces a terrifying suspicion that he may be fighting against his own fate.
I already knew what was going to happen in this story – I’ve read the novel that it was based on. But it was still beautiful and stunning. Almost impossible to forget. There is just something so beautiful about this graphic novel. It’s a lot lighter than some of the graphic novels that I tend to read. It’s also great to see a graphic novel interpretation that actually envisions things like I did. It didn’t ruin my perceptions by being something so totally different.
Spending the night reading this graphic novel made me want to go to my shelves and grab yet another Rick Riordan novel. I kind of need to finish / start the Kane Chronicles, so it’s definitely something that is insanely tempting… but I probably need to finish some of the series that I have already started.
I found the Last Olympian novel a bit of a darker storyline than the rest of the series. Yet, somehow, this was quite a nice, light book. Both in the gorgeous colours and the way that the storyline is set out. The more horrible parts don’t take up a large portion of the storyline, but they do still feature. In a way that makes the tale a little more uplifting and bright than what I was expecting.
This was a great, easy finish to the graphic novel adaptations. It was a good way to spend an hour just drifting back into an amazing world that I’m not all that keen on leaving most of the time.
