Feature & Follow #23

 

Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

 

 

What books would you give to newbies in your favorite genre?

 

I don't have one favourite genre so here are some recs from my 2 favourites:

 

Urban Fantasy:

 

 

Historical Fiction:

 

 

and though it has elements of time travel mixed in with historical fiction, it is mostly set in the 1700s so I have to recommend

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday 56 #35

This is a fun meme to do hosted by Freda's Voice If you'd like to join on the fun go to The Friday 56 

 Rules:

 

 *Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader.
*Find any sentence that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Link it

 

Summary:

 

As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. When the police arrive, they find only one of the children gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled sneakers, and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours.

Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret. But when a twelve-year-old girl is found murdered in the same woods, he and Detective Cassie Maddox—his partner and closest friend—find themselves investigating a case chillingly similar to the previous unsolved mystery. Now, with only snippets of long-buried memories to guide him, Ryan has the chance to uncover both the mystery of the case before him and that of his own shadowy past.

Richly atmospheric, stunning in its complexity, and utterly convincing and surprising to the end, In the Woods is sure to enthrall fans of Mystic River and The Lovely Bones. And look for French's new mystery, Broken Harbor, for more of the Dublin Murder Squad.  

Summary & Cover taken from Goodreads.com

Length: 448 pages (Hardcover)

Publication Date: Published May 17th 2007 by Viking Adult (first published January 1st 2007)                   

 

Pg. 256

 

"All these people deserve to know what happened, Mr. Devlin." I said quietly. "And it's not just for their sakes, either. We've been working on the assumption that the two cases are connected. If we're wrong, then we need to know that, or Katy's killer could slip straight through our fingers."

 

 

Waiting on Wednesday #134

 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine and is where we can talk about books we are looking forward to being released.

 

 

 

Summary:

 

A teenage girl secretly competes in her city's prestigious athletic competitions in this high-fantasy adventure that can be pitched as Game of Thrones meets The Hunger Games meets Little Women.

In this imaginative escape into an enthralling new world, World Fantasy Award finalist Kate Elliott's first young adult novel weaves an epic story of a girl struggling to do what she loves in a society suffocated by rules of class and privilege.

Jessamy's life is a balance between acting like an upper class Patron and dreaming of the freedom of the Commoners. But at night she can be whoever she wants when she sneaks out to train for The Fives, an intricate, multi-level athletic competition that offers a chance for glory to the kingdom's best competitors. Then Jes meets Kalliarkos, and an unlikely friendship between a girl of mixed race and a Patron boy causes heads to turn. When a scheming lord tears Jes's family apart, she'll have to test Kal's loyalty and risk the vengeance of a powerful clan to save her mother and sisters from certain death.

Summary & Cover taken from Goodreads.com

Length: 448 pages (Hardcover)

Expected Publication Date: August 18th 2015 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

 

Why I'm Waiting:

 

I've been wanting to read a book by Kate Elliot for a few years now, but I've been hesitant to try her adult fantasy stuff so I'm really excited about how this YA debut sounds.

 

 

Summary:

 

For readers of A Game of Thrones and The Hunger Games comes an epic new series.

The night Quin Kincaid takes her Oath, she will become what she has trained to be her entire life. She will become a Seeker. This is her legacy, and it is an honor. As a Seeker, Quin will fight beside her two closest companions, Shinobu and John, to protect the weak and the wronged. Together they will stand for light in a shadowy world. And she'll be with the boy she loves--who's also her best friend.

But the night Quin takes her Oath, everything changes. Being a Seeker is not what she thought. Her family is not what she thought. Even the boy she loves is not who she thought.

And now it's too late to walk away.

Summary & Cover taken from Goodreads.com

Length: 448 pages (Hardcover)

Expected Publication Date: February 10th 2015 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers

 

Why I'm Waiting:

 

The cover is what caught my eye at first and then I read the summary which is a little vague but I like how it leaves the story a mystery. This is one I'm definitely looking forward to getting my hands on in the new year.

 

 

 

 

 

Library Loot #40

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Linda from Silly Little Mischief that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries.

 

The Haul:

 

 

 

Top Ten Tuesday #81

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

 

 Top Ten Books To Read To Get In The Halloween Spirit:

 

 

All of my picks this week have monsters in them. Some are human, most aren't.

 

 

Teaser Tuesday #66

 Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

 

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers

 

 

Summary:

 

When it comes to jobs in hell, being a succubus seems pretty glamorous. A girl can be anything she wants, the wardrobe is killer, and mortal men will do anything just for a touch. Granted, they often pay with their souls, but why get technical?
But Seattle succubus Georgina Kincaid's life is far less exotic. At least there's her day job at a local bookstore--free books; all the white chocolate mochas she can drink; and easy access to bestselling, sexy writer, Seth Mortensen, aka He Whom She Would Give Anything to Touch but Can't.

But dreaming about Seth will have to wait. Something wicked is at work in Seattle's demon underground. And for once, all of her hot charms and drop-dead one-liners won't help because Georgina's about to discover there are some creatures out there that both heaven and hell want to deny. . .

Summary & Cover taken from Goodreads.com

Length: 343 pages (Paperback)

Publication Date: March 1st 2007 by Kensington (first published February 27th 2007)

 

 

Pg. 43

 

Teasing laced his words. There had always been an unspoken mystery between Peter and me concerning which of us was the oldest of the mortals-turned-immortals in our little circle. Neither of us would openly admit our age, so we'd never really determined who had the most centuries.

 

 

Tuesday Jams #33

 

Tuesday Jams is a meme where you share your favourite songs. bands and the current song you're feeling and is hosted by Sharonda from Salacious Reads

 

 

 

 

 

Because P!nk is hilarious and so is the song.

 

The Clockwork Dagger (Clockwork Dagger Duology #1) by Beth Cato

 

Summary:

Full of magic, mystery, and romance, an enchanting steampunk fantasy debut in the bestselling vein of Trudi Canavan and Gail Carriger.

Orphaned as a child, Octavia Leander was doomed to grow up on the streets until Miss Percival saved her and taught her to become a medician. Gifted with incredible powers, the young healer is about to embark on her first mission, visiting suffering cities in the far reaches of the war-scarred realm. But the airship on which she is traveling is plagued by a series of strange and disturbing occurrences, including murder, and Octavia herself is threatened.

Suddenly, she is caught up in a flurry of intrigue: the dashingly attractive steward may be one of the infamous Clockwork Daggers—the Queen’s spies and assassins—and her cabin-mate harbors disturbing secrets. But the danger is only beginning, for Octavia discovers that the deadly conspiracy aboard the airship may reach the crown itself.
Summary & Cover taken from Goodreads.com
Length: 368 pages (Paperback)
Source: Toronto Public Library
Available Formats: Print/E-book
Publication Date: September 16th 2014 by Harper Voyager

I'm going to be honest and say that I haven't read many steampunk novels, in fact I can count on one hand how many I've read so for me The Clockwork Dagger by  Beth Cato was kind of a re-introduction to the genre and what an introduction it was.

I was reading this one on a deadline, but that just made it all the more enjoyable because then I had even more of a reason to block the rest of the world out and immerse myself in the world that Beth Cato created. I liked the fact that the world this was set in wasn't so much an alternate reality of London but a new world unto itself. I found it refreshing and interesting to read about since it means it added that much more to the over all story itself. Plus I liked the fact that there was some mystery to it, I enjoyed reading about the politics in the story and really am looking forward to seeing how things turn out for everyone in the end.

My favourite thing about the book was the characters though. They were very well written and fleshed out in a way that didn't reveal all of their secrets and still left some mystery for me which I'm hoping to see in the next book.

Octavia was great and I thought it was refreshing to see a healer in a country being torn apart by a war that's been going on decades. I've gotten quite bored of the lady fighters (though they are wonderful) and wanted to see someone in a different occupation and situations which I got with her. Octavia is a Medician, a healer who is reportedly the most gifted of any other which has the unfortunate side effect of her being target not only by the people her country is at war with, but her country itself. She's smart, quick thinking and empathetic and everything I love in a main character. She isn't pretentious but she does know her own mind and her worth and she won't let anyone tell her different when she sets her mind to something.

Alonzo, was another good character. He's living in the shadow of his father's mistakes and I feel bad for him for it but he doesn't make you pity him as a character. He knows he's not responsible for his father's failures but he want's to make up for them in whatever way he can which is commendable really, because he's got a lot on his plate. Like Octavia, he has a strict moral compass and is very compassionate and a really loveable kind of guy. I liked that he wasn't afraid of responsibility because Octavia can be a handful and I love that he's a spy that still has some modesty, I think the fact that he's prone to blushes is adorable.

The relationship between the Alonzo and Octavia is fast moving but it is not, I repeat is not one of those dreaded insta-love relationships. No this is more like two people who know their time may be limited and give into the fact that they like each other and there could be something more. The romance isn't a huge part of the story over all but it does it's part in softening the story up from all the adventure and assassination attempts that occur.

For a first novel I'd say Beth Cato hit it out of the ball park.This was a fast paced, well thought out read that reminded me why I do enjoy Steampunk novels, even if I haven't read that many. It was literally full of high flying adventure, mystery and murder attempts and I cannot wait to see where the second book in this duology will find this duo next. I'm curious to learn more about the world the story is set in, as well as more about the Lady who is a deity whom it is thought to have blessed Octavia with her healing gift. As well as seeing what kind of roles Leaf the baby gremlin and Viola play in the next book.

Really Enjoyed It!
★★★★

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