An Offer from a Gentleman by Julia Quinn

Book Review, , ,
Overview
Image result for book cover an offer from a gentleman

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.

Synopsis

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?

Thoughts

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…

<- The Viscount Who Loved Me: The Second EpilogueAn Offer from a Gentleman: The Second Epilogue ->

Image source: Julia Quinn

Attachments by Pat Murphy

Book Review, , ,
Overview
Image result for sirens and other daemon lovers book cover

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.

Buy The Book Now at The Book Depository, Free Delivery World Wide

Synopsis

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…

Thoughts

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.

<- No Human Hands to TouchIn the Season of Rains ->

Image source: Goodreads

The Beginning of the Year Without a Summer by Caitlin R. Kiernan

Book Review, ,
Overview
Image result for the monstrous ellen datlow book cover

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.

Buy The Book Now at The Book Depository, Free Delivery World Wide

Synopsis

Dark, deep and intriguing. An impossible short story to put down.

Thoughts

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.

<- Giants in the EarthA Wish from a Bone ->

Image source: Amazon

Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas

Book Review, , , ,
Overview
Image result for book cover empire of storms

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.

Synopsis

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?

Thoughts

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 Maas manages 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.

<- Queen of ShadowsTower of Dawn ->

Image source: Amazon

Act of Extermination by Cirilo S. Lemos

Book Review, ,
Overview
Image result for the mammoth book of dieselpunk book cover

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.

Buy The Book Now at The Book Depository, Free Delivery World Wide
Synopsis

Assassins in a dieselpunk world. Father and son. A network of conspiracies that will have you intrigued.

Thoughts

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.

<- CosmoboticaBlood and Gold ->

Image source: Running Press

Cleaving by Julie Powell

Book Review, , ,
Overview
Image result for cleaving julie powell book cover

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?

Buy The Book Now at The Book Depository, Free Delivery World Wide
Synopsis

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.

Thoughts

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 Powell makes 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.

<- One (Wo)man, One VoteJulie & Julia->

Image source: Goodreads

Terra Nullius by Claire G. Coleman

Book Review, , , ,
Overview
Image result for terra nullius claire g coleman book cover

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.

Buy The Book Now at The Book Depository, Free Delivery World Wide
Synopsis

‘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.

Thoughts

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.

<- More Australian authorsMore Indigenous Australian ->

Image source: Hachette Australia

Easter Trivia

Challenges

Duration: 1st April – 30th April 2020
Number of books: 6
Hosted by: My Vampire Book Obsession

Image and video hosting by TinyPic
Easter Trivia

This is a reading challenge.
No page limit
All genres welcome.
Check the Challenge Guide for more info.

Duration: April 1-30 2017

Levels
Baby Bunny – 2 books
Fluffy Bunny – 4 books
Big Bunny – 6 books

You’ll get the egg next to each task you complete.

Tasks
Image and video hosting by TinyPic The name Easter derived its name from the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eastre, which symbolizes hare and egg.
Read a book with a god/goddess, with an animal on the cover, or with a title that begins with any letter in EASTER.
Stormwalker by Allyson James

Image and video hosting by TinyPic Since time immemorial, the egg has been considered as the symbol of rebirth.
Read a book where a character undergoes a transition, a character is immortral or very old, or with a circular or oval shaped object on the cover. – Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Image and video hosting by TinyPic The custom of giving eggs at Easter time has been traced back from Egyptians, Gaul, Persians, Greeks and Romans, to whom the egg was a symbol of life.
Read a book involving Egyptians, Gaul, Persians, Greeks or Romans, where a character receives a gift, or that was recommended to you. – Eldest by Christopher Paolini

Image and video hosting by TinyPic During the medieval times, a festival of egg throwing was held in church, during which the priest would throw a hard-boiled egg to one of the choirboys. It would then be tossed from one choirboy to the next and whoever held the egg when the clock struck 12 was surely the winner and will retain the egg.
Read a book tagged historical, with a religious character or where a character takes part in a game or competition. – The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Image and video hosting by TinyPic Pysanka is the term used for the practice of Easter egg painting.
Read a book with a colourful cover, that you find fun to read, or tagged art. – Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Image and video hosting by TinyPic Each year nearly 90 million chocolate bunnies are made.
As a treat, read any book you want! – Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs

Beast’s Library

Challenges

Duration: 1st April – 30th April 2020
Number of books: 6
Hosted by: My Vampire Book Obsession

description
Beast's Library

Venture into the Beast’s Library and read by the fire.

Rules
Complete at least 2 tasks to get the heart
No minimum page count
All genres welcome
Rereads welcome
A different book must be used for each task

description

1. Read a book with a mystery – Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs

description

2. Read a book set at sea or with a pirate

description

3. Read a book with a religious character or a building on the cover – Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

description

4. Read a book with magic – Stormwalker by Allyson James

description

5. Read a book you think is special – First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung

description

6. Read a book with a scary character – The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Hilly is freaking terrifying)

2nd Quarter Challenge

Challenges

Duration: 1st April – 30th June 2020
Number of books: 8
Hosted by: Bookworm Bitches

2nd Quarter 2020
Duration: April 1, 2020 – June 30, 2020
Rules:
~Books must be read during the selected time period.
~Post a link to the book, date you finished and rating
~All books read for challenges can be used for more than one challenge.
~Books can be either Fiction or Non Fiction. Your choice.
~If you don’t have a book that matches the option on the list, pick any book on your TBR.
~Copy the blank template below and paste into a new comment to start your challenge. Update as necessary.

Completed 8/8

1. Read your most recently acquired book (library loan, physical copy, ebook, audiobook etc.) – First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones

2. Go to Random.org and type in the amount of books you have on your TBR List. Then read the book that matches the random number it gave you. (#77) – Sirens and Other Daemon Lovers edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling

3. Read a book published in the last 10 years – Surrender to the Highlander by Lynsay Sands (2018)

4. Read a book on your TBR that has a low number of reviews – Reaching One Thousand by Rachel Robertson

5. Read a book on your TBR that is a friend’s favorite – Eldest by Christopher Paolini

6. Read a book with the title starting with a D (The, An, A, etc. do not count) – Devil Bones by Kathy Reichs

7. Read the newest book on your TBR – The Five by Hallie Rubenhold

8. Catch up on a Bookworm Bitches selection or read a book you have been meaning to read for a long time – Stormwalker by Allyson James