Heart of Brass and Fated

     I just finished Heart of Brass by Kate Cross today, and Fated by Alyson Noël the day before. I enjoyed both, but I think I'll work backwards since Heart of Brass is freshest in my mind. :) 

    In this steampunk romance/fantasy novel, Arden Grey is an undercover agent in an organization of spies and protectors of England in Queen Victoria's London. Like her father before her, she has a particular brilliance for invention which she employees to the advantage of her country. She consults with Scotland Yard on murders, having devised a contraption that allows her to see the last moments of a victim's life through their eyes. She drinks like a sailor and doesn't mind putting a swear word to good use on occasion. She's a pretty nifty gal. Unfortunately, her long lost husband seems to be trying to kill her. 


    Personally, I have a love/hate relationship with Steampunk as a genre. I love the imaginative technology, the romance of the Victorian era and the whimsy of little, tiny top hats.  Who can say no to wee top hats? But sometimes it strikes a sour note with me. It's a thin line. On occasion the whimsy floats to high and becomes vapidity. All too often, the devices described are just a little too ridiculous or have names that even half of the characters in the story cannot remember or pronounce. There is such a device in this novel, but the author only presses the name upon the reader once or twice. I cannot even recall the name now.... Optical... rep.... nope. Can't remember. Anyway. There are a couple of fashions described that seem (to me) a bit too outlandish to be believable, but they are balanced by the sheer awesomeness of Lords and Ladies having tattoos beneath their jackets and laces. Outlandish, mayhap. But I just don't care. All in all, it was mostly love this go round. 


Five of six toes. 


Also, check out this fabulous, unrelated Heart of Brass T-Shirt design. 






    Fated, first in a new series by Alyson Noel, was pretty fun. I will admit that the author's previous series (The Immortals) kind of lost me at the end, prompting me to pick up the last book and (WARNING! BLASPHEMY AHEAD!!!) flip to the end. Yeah. No one tell Kelli. She'll never let me live it down. But I enjoyed the beginning of the series so... here we were with a shiny, fresh start. I gave it a go, and I'm not disappointed. 


    Noel takes genre favorite themes and makes them her own. With the Immortals she gave readers a break from vampires, choosing alchemy as her life prolonging method of choice. The Soul Seekers books revolve around magic workers, but not the witches you'll find elsewhere (For Wendy, I say, "... witches, they were persecuted/Wicca good and love the earth/And women power and I'll be over here"). Soul Seekers are shamans of Native American and Latino heritage. The first book moves fast, but centers around the main character learning the nature of dreams and visions she's been plagued with for years. It will be interesting to see what the extent of her powers are in subsequent books. Also? Freaking excellent cover art. 


Four of six toes. 

Meg Cabot Fabulousness

Underworld, the sequel to Abandon, is steamy, dark and enthralling. I couldn't put it down. I can't say how pleased I was by the open, please-have-a-third-book-in-the-works ending! It seems likely that another installment will follow, and I will be tapping my feet with anticipation until it's here. :D

Meg Cabot has another book coming out this summer, Size 12 and Ready to Rock, a new Heather Wells mystery. I LOVE the Heather Wells books and am sooooo excited for a new one. I highly recommend the series. They're crazy funny and excellently entertaining.

Next up on my Reading List is Kevin Hearne's fourth Iron Druid book, Tricked.

A Sliver of Shadow

Allison Pang's second novel, A Sliver of Shadow, is just as engrossing as the first. Full of elves, fairies, daemons, and of course Phin the naughty unicorn, there is never a dull moment. The characters are by turns humorous, witty and heartbreaking... but always entertaining. I highly recommend Abby Sinclair's exploits to anyone who enjoys a healthy dose of quirk and geekery to their urban fantasy. Watch out for the cliffhanger ending, though. It leaves you gasping and dying for the next installment.

5 of 6 toes.

Read A Brush of Darkness first. I reviewed it here.

Kiss of Frost

I finished Kiss of Frost, the second book in Jennifer Estep's young adult Mythos Academy series last night, and I very much enjoyed it. The first book came to me as an ARC at work, and I wasn't sure how seriously to take it based purely on the description. I'm a huge fan of her Elemental Assassin series, though, so I gave it a try. The Mythos books feel a little lot like a comic book universe, and that's no surprise given that the author has penned a superhero series as well. This is a fresh and interesting take on legends living in the modern world. Just as in her Elemental Assassin books, Estep has blended unexpected elements of world mythology with the technology age. Amazons and Vikings train at the Academy to fight against the Reapers, evil warriors devoted to freeing Loki from his eternal prison.

Gwen Frost is a Gypsy girl, gifted with psychometry (the ability to divine history, emotions and more through touch), but cursed with puny human strength and stamina in a school where most of the other students might bench press small cars. She's learning a little more about herself and her power, however, and she just might make it in this new and frightening world after all. There's a juicy bit of romantic drama at the core of the second book, plenty of wry humor, and a new, terribly daunting challenge for Gwen in future installments. I can't wait. :) 

Plum Crazy

Forgive the pun. But really, I did go a little crazy. Sometimes, when I start a series.... I can't stop until it's over or I run out of published books. It was so with Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum Novels. Customers and coworkers have been trying to cajole me into reading these books for years. And then heard about the movie, and I saw the trailer and thought it might be a movie I'd like to see... and you can't see the movie first. The book is always better. You have to read the book first. So I did.

Two weeks later, I finished the very recently published Explosive Eighteen. Okay. Go back, and take a look at that sentence.

"Two weeks later, I finished the very recently published Explosive Eighteen."

I am not estimating. Two weeks, to the day, is how long it took me to read all eighteen novels and even one of the holiday novelas. Eighteen and a half books, in fourteen days. I couldn't stop. In my defense, I was recovering from a minor but hindering injury during those two weeks. However, I would be lying if I let anyone believe that I actually did anything useful like, say homework, during those fourteen days. I was addicted. I kind of still am.

These books are freaking hilarious. I kind of want to be a bounty hunter now. It's on my list right after circus performer, and right before werewolf. For real. I would rather be Stephanie Plum than a werewolf.  What? It could be an option. Science advances every day. But about the books... Funny. So funny. You know those books that make you laugh out loud in public places, and then people look at you like you're goofy? These are those books. Who even cares what those people think? They need to read more funny books.

Five of five toes to the whole series. <3

Since I Locked Myself in the Store....

I guess I'll write a blog post for Jenn whilst I await the Mighty Tallest and her keys. :D

So. Um. Where to start? I've read several books since I posted last. I've begun and not yet finished several more.... I'm busy lately and it's as though my noggin just can't focus long enough to finish a whole book.

I did read and finish Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick (Hush, Hush book 3). Loved it, as usual. I am yet again pleased by Patch's ability to retain his undeniable bad boy attitude after he falls for the girl. So many bad boys turn to goo after that fateful, true-love-finding chapter. Not so with Patch. :) He is still rather naughty. So I'm still reading. Another thing I love about this series? Nary a love triangle to be found. Sure, Nora's friends with Scott and he's probably nursing a crush for her. But Norah knows what she wants, and they seem ready to remain friends without too much complication. I appreciate the saved drama. While I was thinking of giving this one only four of five toes, I think I'll go ahead and make it five. Patch wins the book an extra toe in the prologue when he beats the bloody hell out of Nora's (oh so deserving) dad. Reading it actually made me cringe, so it deserves points for unexpected badass-ery.

And also, Kitty's Big Trouble, a Kitty Norville novel by Carrie Vaughn. I've been a big fan of this series from the start, but for some reason this installment didn't get me quite as excited as previous installments have. I kind of missed Kitty's pack, I think. And it felt a bit like Kitty is loosing steam. Not that any normal person wouldn't. I did enjoy the Chinese culture and mythology that was at the core of this book, even if it kind of clashed a little with the vampire hunting cowboy beginning. So, um.... I liked it okay. It wasn't my favorite in the series, but it wasn't a deal breaker for me either. I'll still pick up the next book when it's out. 3.5 of 5 toes.

Also, I finally read The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff. Squee? So good. So creepy. So bone chillingly perfect for this time of year. The Replacement is a story about a changeling, living in a town where children sometimes mysteriously die. The town is rarely subject to any other hardships, but losing children is hardship enough. So our changeling protagonist spends his life trying to stay away from iron (not easy in this day and age) and trying to blend in because standing out could be deadly. Raised among humans, he is less than sympathetic to the plight of the creatures who abandoned him as an infant. His fight to save a little girl's life, to do what is right and not what is easy, is touching and compelling. The prose is lyrical and eerie throughout, making you feel like you're walking in a misty world full of deadly iron right beside him. Fans of Holly Black and Melissa Marr will enjoy this dark take on Faerie lore. 5 of 5 toes.



And now for the bit about Turtle Reading.

"What is Turtle Reading?" you ask. Why, I'll tell you. Turtle Reading is reading so slowly that people ask "Aren't you finished with that book yet?" and you have to answer shamefacedly, "I'm only on Chapter 14.... of 75......"

"How long have you been at it, now?" Your querulous assailant will enquire.
"Only three months," you'll reply.

This is me, reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Bit by bit, chapter by chapter, I am creeping my way through this book. Part of me does not want it to end. Part of me wants to take it in in slow motion. It's that kind of book. There are secrets and possibilities braided into every sentence, and I am enjoying picking each one apart. It's a book I want to nibble at, slowly, to better enjoy the flavor. It's not the first time I've taken so long to read a book. But with perhaps the exception of Eragon (which I found to be very slow and dull through the first half of book one), it is the only one of its kind that I think I'll actually finish some day.

I kind of want to live at the Night Circus. I'm dressing in all black and white in homage this Halloween. I think when I finish, I'll probably start it over again, to gather up the loose bits that I missed. I want to recommend it to everyone I see and talk to, but I just don't have enough faith in the general public's taste. And, too, I live and work in Griffin. So, you know... there's that. But! Jenn, I have faith in your taste, and you have to have to have to read it. :) Even though I haven't finished it, I give it all the kitten toes in the known universe.

Another book I'm inching my way through, though not as slowly, is The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan. This is hardcore, noire horror movie (the old school kind that were really scary and not just gross) grit with a truly monstrous anti-hero protagonist. Even when I'm not certain I'm reading a "scary part" it's giving me chills. Also, the book trailer (follow the link above to see it) is kind of nifty with all the creepy anagrams it reveals. Perfect Halloween read. Read it in the dark while it rains and thunders outside for maximum atmosphere. :) 5 of 5 toes (even if I'm not quite finished yet.)

And now, it's 1:00 AM (I'm home by the way. Not still stuck in the shop without my keys, thank the Tallest.) so I'm off to bed. Or maybe just off to Twitter, if I'm honest. But off to do something a little more mindless. <3

OMG

Jenn,

As you are... like... my only reader, I will do anything to keep you reading. :D New post tonight! I swear!
I'll be reviewing the new Hush, Hush book, new Elemental Assassin, lamenting the fact that Aloha from Hell is not out till Tuesday, and ...... oh wait. No. No Elemental Assassin tonight. Unless I manage to finish it. Which I may. Um.... New Kitty Norville instead. Finished that. Also! Expounding on the virtues of turtle reading certain fantastical-abulous books.

But now, I must return to work.

<3