It's Monday What are you Reading (31)

Since it's now the end of February and I haven't done one of these posts for two weeks I gotta play catch-up *big-style* so I can actually do some kind of round-off for this month since I think I've only reviewed two of the 12 books I've read which really ain't good :S

It's Monday What are you Reading? Is a weekly bookish meme where we get together to share what books we've read in the past week, what books we're currently reading and what new books we're planning on reading in the coming week along with any reviews or interesting posts. It's hosted by Sheila @Book Journey

Books I've Read in the Last Two Weeks

Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce (Re-read, still awesome)

Forget You by Jennifer Echols (Another Re-read)

A Lost Lady by Willa Cather 

Return to Paradise by Simone Elkeles (Fab sequel to a great story)

Alpha by Rachel Vincent (Ass-kicking end to this amazing series)

Prom and Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg (Fun, cute read)

Sing Me to Sleep by Angela Morrison (Moving, heart-wrenching book)

Books I've reviewed in the last two weeks

The Pain Merchants by Janice Hardy

Books I plan to Read this Week

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins - This was mentioned on a show I saw the other day and I quite fancy reading something different.

I'm not gonna pin down any other books since I have no idea what I'll actually read when it comes down to the wire. But hopefully I'll read *something* :P

Here's to getting back on track

LadyV

Read more...

In My Mailbox #39

Well it has been a while since I've done an IMM post! Since I've been on a book buying ban this month I've obviously had nothing to show on Sundays but I did actually buy some books the weekend I was away at the Russell Howard gig so I'm gonna tell y'all about those before we reach the end of February.

In My Mailbox is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Kristi @The Story Siren and inspired by Alea @Pop Culture Junkie



Books Acquired Recently
Changeless by Gail Carriger
Blameless by Gail Carriger
Windfall by Rachel Caine


Not much of a haul I know but I'm still rather proud of my restraint this month :P
Next week might bring a vair interesting book which I am *uber* excited for :D but you'll find out about that later.

I really am hoping to get back on track with blogging soon but this "meh" phase is really killing my reviewing mojo and with feeling the obligation to review the books I read it is also affecting my desire to pick a book at all :(
Thanks so much to all my lovely followers for being so patient with me

What's in Your Mailbox this week?
LadyV

Read more...

Covers So Lovely We'd Lick Them #9

Dude I know people are probably wondering what the heck I'm playing at leaving y'all hanging for a week and then only reappearing with a bunch of pretty covers to apologise but I've been having a little unexpected Hiatus since my blogging mojo has kinda buggered off. Although I do have a bucket load of reviews I need to write it is currently the last thing I want to do :( I will be trying to get a review done before weeks end and hopefully next week normalish posting will resume since February will be over and it's been an overall naff month.

Covers So Lovely We'd Lick Them!

The new feature co-created and co-hosted by LadyViolet and Jess hearts books where we show off a book cover which we find so damn scrumptious that we'd actually be willing to lick it!

Every week we each pick a different cover so be sure to check both blogs!

So Silver Bright by Lisa Mantchev (Theatre Illuminata #3)

I know I'm not the only person to gush about this cover in the past week but Oh My Freaking Gods this is quite possibly the most beautiful cover I have ever seen in my life. Steph Su said it first but please can I get this cover framed for my wall? Not to mention that I *lust* after that dress with a passion, I mean the cover artist even shows the embroidery detail on the bodice! *flails*

The girl herself is so damn pretty and delicate and looks simply luminous *sigh* and her expression is so heart-wrenching, I mean look at her eyes! Man I could start pulling out all the pretentious art jargon if I sat staring at this cover for too long it really is *that* gorgeous.

I will fess up to not having read any of the books in the Theatre Illuminata series and I'm hesitant to do so even though I think that all 3 covers are outrageously delectable to the eyes. As folk might have gathered from my lukewarm review of the Iron Witch there's just something about Faerie books that doesn't mesh with me. I don't know what it is but I never really love this type of book so it would be such a shame for me to pick up these fabulously presented books and not enjoy them as much as they deserve.

I defer the duty of recommending these books to people who don't have my weird bias against Faerie books, if you've read any of this series then speak up and tell others what you thought of it if you please :)

So that's what I've been lusting over this week, do hop on over to Jess's Blog to check out what cover she's Licking this week!

LadyV

Read more...

Covers So Lovely We'd Lick Them #8

Covers So Lovely We'd Lick Them!

The new feature co-created and co-hosted by LadyViolet and Jess hearts books where we show off a book cover which we find so damn scrumptious that we'd actually be willing to lick it!

Every week we each pick a different cover so be sure to check both blogs!

Shadow Hills by Anastasia Hopcus

Dude have I ever told you guys how much I love green eyes? This is the UK cover which will be coming out on the 10th of May and by heck is it gorgeous! The eye colour totally pops and there's a cool kinda netting veil-thing around the face and damn is it just infinitely more interesting to look at than the US cover! (Just Sayin'). Also the title font is pretty funky to boot.

The story itself sounds vair interesting with a good dollop of supernatural mystery and danger so this is certainly gonna be on my to-buy list when May rolls around.

So that's the Cover I'm drooling over this week, go to Jess's Blog to check out what cover she's lovin' this Thursday!

LadyV

Read more...

Book Review - The Pain Merchants

Egads methinks I might have to rethink my target of reviewing half of the books I read cos I am seriously behind now. I am not gonna review Fallen Grace fully but if people want to know my general thoughts then I can do a mini-review.

 Title: The Pain Merchants
Author: Janice Hardy
Date: 4/2/2011 PM
Source: Bought
Description: Fifteen-year-old Nya survives on odd jobs and optimism, finding both in short supply in a city crippled by war. Then a bungled egg theft and a stupid act of compassion exposes her secret to two powerful groups - the pain merchants and the Healers' League. 
They discover Nya is a Taker, a healer who can pull pain and injury from others. Unlike the League apprentices, she can't dump that pain into pynvium, the enchanted metal used to store it. All she can do is shift it from person to person, which is useless and has never once paid for her breakfast. But when a new disaster strikes, Nya finds that her talent is suddenly in great demand - but at what cost? (Description taken from GoodReads)

My Review

It's been a while since I read a high fantasy book that had a truly fascinating and original magic system and this book was simply chock-full of interesting ideas with a fab group of characters to follow through the action. I really loved how we were simply dropped into this world that has been through a great upheaval and now Nya's fellow countrymen are made to feel like second-class citizens in their own city. One thing that would have improved my understanding of the world and the shenanigans going on inside it would have been a map- y'know cos all fantasy books need a cool map right?


I really liked Nya, she was funny and savvy having to live by her wits and earning enough money to keep herself in decent rooms. She's fiercely loyal to her sister and even cares about the welfare of complete strangers especially if she has the power to affect or change it. She's not infallible and does make some morally questionable choices even though she does try her damnedest to rectify her mistakes. Her power is really cool although I'll admit to getting slightly confused at times as to how it was different to the normal healing that her sister does.


The whole idea of being able to magically draw pain from the body and store it like energy is so brilliant although I really wanna know where the heck the name Pynvium came from cos it's totally bananas! But really fun to say at the same time. Also the ability to use little blocks of pynvium like weapons by "flashing" them is super bad-ass and I really want to know more about the dynamics between the League of Healers and the Pain Merchants (who really don't feature quite as much in the story as the title might lead you to think).


There is loads of stuff that can be explored further in the next books; the political shenangians that led to Nya's country being conquered by the oft-curst Duke, the ramifications of Nya's actions in the climax with regards to the League of Healers, and the general relationships between certain characters which were mercifully unhurried in this first book (nothing more irksome than rushed romances).


Overall a wonderfully fresh fantasy read and I am excited to read more from this world and see what Nya is up to next in the second book Blue Fire which should be out at the end of March 2011. 


My Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars


Eeek I really cannot afford to let myself get so far behind as to be reviewing books 10 days after I finish them :S 


LadyV

Read more...

It's Monday What are you Reading (30)

I know this is rather late in the day but I was just not in much of a blogging mood last night so I'm playing catch-up now and bugger me I think I'm gonna have to spend most of this evening getting a bucket-load of reviews done cos I was *soo* lazy last week with everything and I apologise.

It's Monday What are you Reading? Is a weekly bookish meme where we get together to share what books we've read in the past week, what books we're currently reading and what new books we're planning on reading in the coming week along with any reviews or interesting posts. It's hosted by Sheila @Book Journey

Books I read Last Week

The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting (So amazing! Review Coming Soon)

Forest Born by Shannon Hale (Review coming soon

Yeesh I had a bad reading week but it was an odd week overall and I didn't feel like doing much of anything and that sadly included reading but I'm hoping that once we get past V-day I should find the swing of things again.

Books I reviewed Last Week

Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols

The Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney

Books I'm Currently Reading

A Lost Lady by Willa Cather - I needed something short to read last week when my brain didn't want to concentrate so I picked up this intriguing book. I'm not quite finished but I don't entirely know what to make of it.

 Books I'm going to Read this Week

Pemberley Revisited by Emma Tennant this has two books contained within one volume and I want to make decent progress with it this week before it's due back at the library.

The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness - It's been too long since I last read about this amazing dystopian world.

I dunno how much reading I'll done this week either since the next few days are gonna be a bit busy with job interviews, dentist and doctor's appts plus I has to help out my uncle with some stuff but hopefully the week will end with several issues resolved and *fingers crossed* a job. Here's hoping!

LadyV

Read more...

Silence in the Library

So this is just a quick post to say I'm sorry for the lack of posting this weekend since I'm gonna be away from my computer until Sunday evening as my sister and I are off to see the fabulously funny Russell Howard in Birmingham tonight *squee*

I know I owe you folks like a gajillion reviews (ok like 4) but I shall try my darnedest to get caught up on those over the weekend so I can get them all typed up when I get home. I've not been reading much these past few days so I'm not continually adding to my pile of stuff to write :P

Only one book for the IMM this week - a library book called Pemberly Revisited  by Emma Tennant which is a bind-up of her two Pride and Prejudice sequels and I am rather looking forward to getting stuck into it soon.

And Finally I shall leave you with a snippet of the unbelievably amazing soundtrack for Tangled which has been brightening my mood all week (dude if you could have *seen* how insane I looked dancing round my house). I defy anyone to listen to this song and *not* find themselves dancing and spinning. But of course if you don't it'll just prove how weird I really am :P



Enjoy Folks
LadyV

Read more...

Book Review - The Iron Witch

I was gonna do the two Tammy Pierce reviews before this but since they were re-reads anyway I'm gonna go back and do mini-reviews when I've got time as I reckon it's important to get the new reads reviewed before I've forgotten everything I liked about them - with re-reads I know all my favourite bits so it's easier to review them after the fact.

Title: The Iron Witch
Author: Karen Mahoney
Date: 1/2/2011 AM
Source: Borrowed from Jess
Description: Freak. That's what her classmates call seventeen-year-old Donna Underwood. When she was seven, a horrific fey attack killed her father and drove her mother mad. Donna's own nearly fatal injuries from the assault were fixed by magic—the iron tattoos branding her hands and arms. The child of alchemists, Donna feels cursed by the magical heritage that destroyed her parents and any chance she had for a normal life. The only thing that keeps her sane and grounded is her relationship with her best friend, Navin Sharma. When the darkest outcasts of Faerie—the vicious wood elves—abduct Navin, Donna finally has to accept her role in the centuries old war between the humans and the fey. Assisted by Xan, a gorgeous half-fey dropout with secrets of his own, Donna races to save her friend—even if it means betraying everything her parents and the alchemist community fought to the death to protect (Description taken from Goodreads)


My Review
Despite all the buzz about this book on the blogosphere and twitter I had reservations before I started it since experience has told me that Faerie books just don't quite push my buttons and with my Twin Jess's lukewarm review I was even more dubious. I tried to keep an open mind but I was left feeling rather underwhelmed.


Don't get me wrong, I thought the mythology of the Faeries and the Alchemists were really interesting although we don't find out a huge amount about either group in this first book (who knows what else we'll learn in the next book). It's just that I didn't really connect with Donna and I found that the book whizzed by far too quickly - I mean she meets Xan and like three days later she's practically gushing over him when she knows next to diddly-squat about him!


I reckon that the third person perspective didn't help me to connect with the characters and I think that I was kinda confused as to why Donna would just go ahead with a crazy-ass plan and not consult her aunt who *knows* about the freaky faerie stuff - seemed pretty daft to me. I also don't think it was fully explained *why* Donna had to have Star Iron melded into her skin after the Faerie attack when she was little and how it gives her bad-ass powers. 


When it came to the climax for some reason I didn't really feel the tension of the faerie threat and everything ended a little too conveniently for my liking and Donna had to deal with surprisingly little consequence for her actions which were pretty serious or so I thought.


So basically I liked the mythology and the idea of the iron tattoos was intriguing enough to lure me in but overall I was left rather disappointed by the hasty development of Donna and Xan's relationship and lack of explanation for certain aspects of the story.


Although if you really love faerie books then I reckon you'd still like this, it's just not for me I'm afraid.


My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Stars


Has anyone else ever tried a book even though they've not really enjoyed others in the same sub-genre just to see if this will be the one to break the pattern?


LadyV 

Read more...

Covers So Lovely We'd Lick them #7

Morning All! Thursday shenanigans abound!

Covers So Lovely We'd Lick Them!

The new feature co-created and co-hosted by LadyViolet and Jess hearts books where we show off a book cover which we find so damn scrumptious that we'd actually be willing to lick it!

Every week we each pick a different cover so be sure to check both blogs!

I thought I'd be a bit sneaky this week and choose a book that's based on the same fairy tale as what Jess picked. 

Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George is also based off the story of the 12 Dancing Princesses and I really enjoyed it when I read it last year. It's got a gorgeous cover and I'm sure everyone knows by now about my PDS (Pretty Dress Syndrome) - what I wouldn't give to dance the night away in ^^ that gown *wistful sigh*

Jessica Day George has written another book that features one of the twelve sisters from PofMB called Princess of Glass which as you might guess from the title is based off the tale of Cinderella. That also has a fabulously delectable cover. Just lookit that! *drools*

This is currently out in hardback but the paperback is coming out on June 21st 2011 which is what I'm anxiously waiting for *fidgets*.

If you think these covers are scrum-diddly-umptuous then skip on over to Jess's Blog and feast your eyes on the cover she's licking this week!

LadyV

Read more...

Book Review - Going Too Far

Reviews! Reviews! Never-ending stream of reviews! I really think I need to start participating in more memes just to get some variety cos it feels like all I'm posting is reviews nowadays! Let me know what you think - more variety? or are we good for the time being?

Title: Going Too Far
Author: Jennifer Echols
Date: 27/1/2011 PM
Source: Bought
Description: HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO? All Meg has ever wanted is to get away. Away from high school. Away from her backwater town. Away from her parents who seem determined to keep her imprisoned in their dead-end lives. But one crazy evening involving a dare and forbidden railroad tracks, she goes way too far...and almost doesn't make it back. John made a choice to stay. To enforce the rules. To serve and protect. He has nothing but contempt for what he sees as childish rebellion, and he wants to teach Meg a lesson she won't soon forget. But Meg pushes him to the limit by questioning everything he learned at the police academy. And when he pushes back, demanding to know why she won't be tied down, they will drive each other to the edge -- and over.... (Description taken from Goodreads)

My Review

After reading Jennifer Echols' Forget You in April last year I was really looking forward to getting my hands on this book. I love the way that her characters and their relationships are never straightforward - there is always some little twist that we don't foresee at the beginning and the development of the romance I find to be more realistic than some other YA books. There is animosity at first and over the course of the book the chemistry between Meg and John gets vair interesting.

John After is not your average high school graduate, instead of leaving this small town to go to college he decides to stay and join the Police force and catch the teenagers he used to go to school with doing to dumb-ass stuff that drunk kids do on Saturday nights. For some reason he's out at the railway bridge on patrol the night that Meg and her not-really friends decide to take a drunken walk across the bridge and bring themselves within 5 minutes of being more tragic statistics. For a good chunk of the book you don't really understand John's obsession with the Bridge but by the time we *do* find out both him and Meg have pushed each other a bit too far - with rather unpleasant results.

Despite Meg's terrible attitude towards authority figures I was really intrigued by her strange phobia of being restrained. For ages I was puzzling over the defiant way she lived her life and what the heck might have created this blue-haired hellcat but of course Jennifer Echols pulls another amazing twist out the bag and the truth comes out in the most spectacular fashion. I won't quote the revealing line but I can promise you that it's the most memorable in the entire book.

Out of the contemporary YA books I've read I gotta say that Jennifer Echols' books are some of my favourites, the mixture of brilliantly complex characters, realistic romance and unpredictable plots make for intensely enjoyable reads. I cannot wait for her next book especially if there's gonna be another guy like Johnafter or Doug from Forget You.

My Rating: 4.5 out 5 Stars

If you like the sound of Going Too Far then check out my review of Forget You also by Jennifer Echols

LadyV

Read more...

It's Monday What are you Reading (29)

Morning all this post is being written at the ungodly hour that preceeds 4am so do forgive any incoherencies it's been a while since I stayed up this late but my excuse is at least reasonable to bookish people. I just finished a seriously freaking awesome book that was a brilliant mix of murder, mystery, a creepy house chock-full of ghosts and some marvellous main characters. It was the perfect book for my mood although I do wonder if I'm gonna sleep at all tonight :S Ah well I may as well finish this post while I'm still conscious.

It's Monday What are you Reading? Is a weekly bookish meme where we get together to share what books we've read in the past week, what books we're currently reading and what new books we're planning on reading in the coming week along with any reviews or interesting posts. It's hosted by Sheila @Book Journey

Books I read Last Week

Well I thought I hadn't read that much but I still racked up 5 books despite some of the crazyness.

Shatterglass by Tamora Pierce (Review coming soon)

The Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney (Review Coming Soon)

Fallen Grace by Mary Hooper (Interesting Historical fiction but rather bland and predictable)

The Pain Merchants by Janice Hardy (Review Coming Soon)

Ghost of a Chance by Rhiannon Lassiter (Review coming Soon - literally finished it half an hour ago!)

Books I reviewed Last Week

Soulless by Gail Carriger

Other Words for Love by Lorraine Zago Rosenthal

 Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols 

I also have another review to write for the last of my January reads which I will try to get up on Tuesday.

Books I Plan to Read this week

Since the real world is currently a bit zany I'm in the mood for any book that is wholly unlike reality as I know it so methinks that carrying on with the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson is a capital idea.

Also considering how I just finished one book by Rhiannon Lassiter and loved it I might try reading the other ER book I have by her although this is the third in a trilogy so things might be a bit confusing. But we'll see how things go.

As you can see my plans are kinda in flux right now and I don't know what else I have in store for the blog this week although I do desperately need to get caught up on reviews but I may finish up the discussion-esque post I've been sitting on for over a week now.

But you guys have a great Monday now while I pass the heck out X_X

LadyV

Read more...

In My Mailbox #38- vloggity vlog!

Hey hey you lovely, lovely peoples you! This here post be the rather small but mightily tipsy edition of In my mailbox. I do apologise for my vloggy demeanor but I thought I'd treat y'all and do a vlog this week since I may not have anything to show for the rest of the month. So on with the show!

In My Mailbox is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Kristi @The Story Siren and inspired by Alea @Pop Culture Junkie



Book Acquired this Week
Just the one - Ghost of a Chance by Rhiannon Lassiter which I won from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers scheme. I've already read a little bit and it seems like it'll be a hauntingly intriguing read :)

Also as a quick reminder my Blogaversary contest is running until the **16th of February** so if you fancy a chance at winning a copy of Last Sacrifice or Crescendo then please go Enter Here it is INTERNATIONAL!!


So there we go short but sweet :D
Do let me know what you got in your Mailboxes this week my dears
LadyV

Read more...

Book Review - Other Words For Love

I definitely need to improve at writing reviews as soon as I finish reading the book so I don't have this mad scramble a week later to remember my thoughts on it.
** Warning Review contains slightly prickly rant about political correctness & safe sex and the opinions are my own **

Title: Other Words for Love
Author: Lorraine Zago Rosenthal
Date: 27/1/2011 AM
Source: Bought
Description: When an unexpected inheritance enables Ari to transfer to an elite Manhattan prep school, she makes a wealthy new friend, Leigh. Leigh introduces Ari to the glamorous side of New York--and to her gorgeous cousin, Blake. Ari doesn't think she stands a chance, but amazingly, Blake asks her out. As their romance heats up, they find themselves involved in an intense, consuming relationship. Ari's family worries that she is losing touch with the important things in life, like family, hard work, and planning for the future. 
When misfortune befalls Blake's family, he pulls away, and Ari's world drains of color. As she struggles to get over the breakup, Ari must finally ask herself: were their feelings true love . . . or something else? (Description taken from Goodreads)

My Review

I read this last week on the urgent recommendation of my lovely friend Jess and it was unlike any YA contemporary book I've read previously not least because technically it's Near Historical fiction for me (what with being a 90's child and all). It really gives you a good look into the social mindset of the 1980's without emphasising some of the periods crazy aspects (i.e. the hairstyles and clothes).


When comparing the attitudes in Other Words with today's standards I made two very interesting observations. The first being that in the 1980's people used derogatory terms that would get your ass hit with a major lawsuit today, with almost ignorant abandon. My being brought up in a society almost obsessed with political correctness made me wince when Ari's sister used the word "fags". I know to some people that's not all that bad but to me it's just something that you really shouldn't say anymore.


My other observation was how bizarrely liberal everyone seemed to be about sex and contraception in the book (although I don't know if it was an 80's thing in general). Of course they had a lot of very good reasons to talk about it with all the fear around the appearance of AIDs and other STIs. But I just don't think people are as casual about contraception nowadays - "You gonna do him? Save your parents the cost of a wedding and get on the Pill" (not actual sentence from the book but you get the idea). Everything is so damn hush-hush these days and if teens don't know how to protect themselves when they get down & dirty well then... they end up on the next season of Teen Mom or Underage & Pregnant.


Gah Preachy Rant over.


Now back to the book - Ari is the one character I consistently liked throughout the book. Although she's kinda naive she is so caring and generous with her time that you have to side with her when all her family starts to give her shit. I'll admit that I absolutely hated her sister for the majority of the book and Ari's best friend Summer slipped into my bad books pretty quickly and I don't think she ever fully redeemed herself.


As love stories go this was a very bittersweet one. There wasn't a clear-cut happy ending, just a leaning in the direction of one. Ari grows so much and you really want her to be happy in her life, thank god that other people around finally realised that as well and stopped treating her like a complete doormat *mutters sulphurously* - Yea at times I really wanted to throttle her sister and on occasions her mother.


It was a very human story, flawed and brutally honest at times. You'd be tempted to ask Ari to tone down the over-sharing occasionally when she talks about her relationship with Blake but her voice is so quietly compelling that you carry on reading right through regardless.


A deceptively mild-looking yet hard-hitting debut novel gives you an intimate slant on the 80's perspective of love and family in simplistically beautiful writing.


My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars


I know that a lot of this review was given over to my views on some very non-book related issues so if people don't want to see this kind of thing in a book review then please let me know and in future I will vent my opinions in a separate discussion post but I'll leave this review as it is like an experiment and if people want to contribute their own views on the issues I mentioned in the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs then leave me a comment.


Your feedback is much appreciated
LadyV

Read more...

Covers So Lovely We'd Lick them #6

Ah ha! Surprise! I see I've caught you unawares with a sudden appearance of another scrumptious Cover! I know it's been a couple of weeks but since my lovely co-host is able to post this week it means I get to pick out a cover that I find to be such a treat for the eyes that I have to shout about it. Shall we begin?

Covers So Lovely We'd Lick Them!

The new feature co-created and co-hosted by LadyViolet and Jess hearts books where we show off a book cover which we find so damn scrumptious that we'd actually be willing to lick it!

Every week we each pick a different cover so be sure to check both blogs!

Die for Me by Amy Plum

This is the outrageously gorgeous UK cover for this supernatural debut novel. The US cover for this is pretty enough but *this* is sublime! The dress is fabulous just from the back so I'd kill to know what it looked like from the front. I love all the curly patterns around the title and the view across Paris makes me really eager to read it (cos books set in Paris are sooo in right now dahling).

It's gonna be released on May 5th 2011 and heck knows I'll be waiting for it anxiously!

So that's What I'm Licking this Week, go see what Jess is Licking over on her blog!

LadyV

Read more...

Book Review - Soulless

Ah heck I'm terribly behind again on reviews *sigh* better get cracking then...

Title: Soulless 
Author: Gail Carriger
Date: 25/1/2011 AM
Source: Bought
Description: Alexia Tarabotti is labouring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette. Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire - and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate. With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Or will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart? SOULLESS is a comedy of manners set in Victorian London: full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking. (Description taken from Amazon)


My Review
I'd been really stoked to read this series ever since I heard about it since it just sounded so damn funky with it's mixture of steampunk tech and paranormal creatures. Admittedly it was a bit slow-going at the beginning but I could attribute that to my being a little addled with wine at the time. 


Alexia Tarabotti is the delightfully eccentric spinster who happens to have no soul and no suitors to make life more tolerable. When she gets attacked by a vampire at a dreary party (no food to be seen - how scandalous!) she ends up in the middle of an investigation into strange disappearances and even stranger appearances of new vampires who simply have no notion of the correct behaviour towards preternaturals like Alexia.


I absolutely adored the writing style of this - with all the polite turns-of-phrase and etiquette rules Alexia had a fabulously humourous voice and was excellent at wielding the complimentary insults. Her dry wit and self-deprecation made her so likeable that I wanted to grab my parasol and go bonnet-bashing with her in the park.


As romantic interests go Lord Maccon is certainly a grower. At first he seems terribly brutish and unseemly but over the course of the book you find yourself softening your attitude to this burly Scottish werewolf (yes I *do* have a bias towards Scots I can't help but love their accents!) and you are charmed by him despite his slight outbursts of temper from time to time.


Overall this book was an vibrant adventuresome romp and I especially loved it's shift onto the saucy side towards the end. Such a fantastic world and some really cracking characters that I can't wait to read more about in the next few books!


My Rating: 4 Stars out of 5


Huzzah one review down only 5 more to go! I'll probably post another one tomorrow and I might try to do a non-review post later today cos I'm sure you're all getting absolutely sick to death of reviews but I can't help it if I read so darn much :P


LadyV

Read more...