Booking Through Thursday - Jan-16th

Hosted here.

I must say, I love the questions this week.

All other things (writing quality, story, etc), which would you rather read?
1. Something written by a man or a woman?
          I really don't care. I've read great books by both genders and horrible books by both genders. So, if everything is equal in quality, it doesn't matter to me at all what gender the writer is.
2. Something with a male or female protagonist?
          I'm not really that fussy. I guess, right now, I'd have to say a male protagonist. It seems like I just don't read as many of them as I used to.
3. Something funny or something tragic?
          Something funny. I much prefer a small dose of understated humor in my stories - unless the writer completely gets my sense of humor - over tragedy.
4. Something short or something long with many parts?
          Long. I like the added time to get to know the characters.
5. Something simple or something layered?
          Layered. I like continuing stories that always challenge what you know about the people and if there are a few Xanatos Gambits thrown in for good measure, all the better.

Review: Lady of Devices by Shelley Adina

Lady of Devices by Shelley Adina
Series: Magnificent Devices #1
Published by Moonshell Books
Pages: 193
Genre: Steampunk (YA)
Rating: Good
Add on Goodreads

When lady Claire Trevelyan's father commits suicide, instead of traveling to the family's meager country estate with mother and young brother, Claire decides to prove her resourcefulness by staying, alone, in London. However, after the house that was to be hers upon marriage gets set alight by a angry mob, Claire finds herself in the worse part of London: Whitechapel!

Being a young lady of intellect and courage, she takes what could have been the worst moment of her young life and turns it around. Before long, a new leader rises in the London underworld - one known for certain scientific methods - know simply as the Lady of Devices

Quote
'"It would be helpful if you told us why the compounds should not be mixed."'

Right from the first sentence, this book had me captured. The book starts off with a bang - literally - when our titular Lady Claire Trevelyan caused an explosion in Chemistry class. Claire proves herself an intelligent and curious young lady when the expectations of the times was for her to simply marry well and preside over tea and gossip. Early on, Claire demonstrates that is not the life she wants - determined as she is to enter university.

Honestly, I think the majority of the reason I liked this book so much was because of Claire. She's smart and brave and witty and pretty much everything I wanted to be when I was seventeen. (Still kinda want to be all those.) She's not perfect though, she makes choices that aren't the best. She tends to jump into things without thinking about them and puts herself in more danger than she truly needs to. And all those things are part of the reason that I adore her.

As for the other characters… James Selwyn. Oh, how I loathe that guy. He is the requisite 'bad-boy love interest'. Actually, he's a controlling little creep. I remember saying at his and Claire's first or second meeting that I would be so ticked off if they were the couple. Well, the good news is that isn't dealt with in this book, Claire remaining fancy-free for awhile longer. I will note than I am so sick of romance's with these type of guys. He's just…ugh.

The other love interest is Andrew Malvern, a young scientist. Honestly, as soon as I met this guy, I was quite taken with him. He's really intelligent and kind of has an all-work-and-no-play mentality that I find endearing. He also isn't the most socially adept, usually being quite adorable when conversations of anything besides his work comes up.

No question at all which of the two I support, now is there?

The rest of the cast of characters is rounded out by a herd of down-on-their-luck orphans. I won't say more about them or their circumstances to avoid spoilers. What I will say is that their characters were very well done in my opinion and seemed rather realistic.

There's not really much of a plot, the story being more of a coming of age setup for the rest of the series. However, that doesn't mean it's slow paced as lady Claire isn't the sort to let grass grow under her feet.

I would like to note that a blurb on the back cover had me slightly concerned. '[An author] who looks at the darkness as well as the light'. Having never read anything by Ms Adina before, I wasn't sure how that would translate to a story. There were several moments early on in the book that could have taken a very nasty turn - a turn that I wouldn't want to read about. But, the moments walked the line and never became what I was afraid they would.

The story didn't shy away from things it wanted to say, but it also didn't revel in gratuitous violence. Or anything else for that matter. The story did have its tense moments, but it didn't degrade as I was half worried it would.

Final note: I cannot believe I almost forgot. This is what drew me to the book in the first place. The cover. Oh my gosh, it is just gorgeous. I love it so much. Unfortunately, Claire wasn't often described the way this young lady looks - but the picture is just so lovely.

Fairy Tales Retold Challenge

Hosted here.

Aiming to be a Devilish Wolf: 4-6 books

As I've never really read many fairy tale retellings, I wanted to start off small and not try to do too much. Besides, I'm not sure how this will relate to the other challenges I've got going. (Line through means I've read it. Link takes you to my review.)

Books Planned:

1: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

2: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

3: Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

4: The Wild Orchid by Cameron Dokey

5: Heart's Blood by Juliet Marillier

6:

Musing Mondays (1-13-14)

Hosted here.

Question: Are “best” and “favorite” the same thing? If someone asked you “What’s the best book you ever read?” would the answer be the same as for “What’s your favorite?”


Simple answer: no. To me, best and favorite are two separate things. 'Best' is a book that is well-written, makes you think, is deep and challenges the status quo - or just perhaps your own beliefs. It is also something that I never feel as though I can actually answer.

'Favorite' is simply the book I enjoyed the most, had the most fun reading. That doesn't necessarily preclude all the requirements I have for 'best' but it is also more than just that. For me a favorite book is one that I could re-read many times, one that made me laugh, put me on the edge of my seat, perhaps even made me cry - but always left me saying 'I'll go to bed as soon as I finish this chapter'.

For me, I would liken 'best' to a hard-hitting documentary or a gritty true story and 'favorite' to a super hero movie. Or, maybe, the difference between Elvis Presley and Breaking Benjamin.

Bingo Reading Challenge

Bingo. For books. Okay, I'm convinced. Hosted here.

Unfortunately, I had to customize the board a little as I could never read fifteen new releases.

Instead, I made it 'new authors' - authors that I've never read before.

TBR Stack

The Emerald Storm (Riyria Revelations #4) by Michael J. Sullivan
High King's Tomb (Green Rider #3) by Kristen Britain
Falling Kingdoms (Falling Kingdoms #1) by Morgan Rhodes
A River in the Sky (Amelia Peabody #19) by Elizabeth Peters
The Shard Axe by Marsheila Rockwell
Men at Arms (Discworld #15) by Terry Pratchett

Mix-it-up

The Girl in the Steel Corset (Steampunk Chronicles #1) by Kady Cross (Steampunk)

Series

Clockwork Princess (The Infernal Devices #3) by Cassandra Claire
Curtsies & Conspiracies (Finishing School #2) by Gail Carriger
Invoking Darkness (The Passing of the Techno-Mages #3) by Jeanne Cavelos
Wintertide (Riyria Revelations #5) by Michael J. Sullivan
Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2) by Sarah J. Maas

Genres

Tymora's Luck by Kate Novak and Jeff Grubb (fantasy)

New Authors

The Emperor's Edge (The Emperor's Edge #1) by Lindsay Buroker

Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1) by Sarah J. Maas

The Beautiful and the Cursed (The Dispossessed #1) by Page Morgan

Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer

Throne of the Crescent Moon (The Crescent Moon Kingdoms #1) by Saladin Ahmed

I'll update at the end of the month, until then I'll just put the books in the most likely category.

I'll draw a line through them after I've put them on the board.

(I'm going after "the overachiever".)

Key Word Challenge

Host page here.

JAN- Angel, Secret, Clock, Black, Day, Wild

Book read: Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Claire

FEB- Her, Life, Night, Red, Dark, Island

Book read: Invoking the Darkness by Jeanne Cavelos

MAR- Forever, Inside, Storm, Sky, Flower, Stay

Book read: A River in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters

APR- Star, Light, Never, Princess, Break, Clear

Plan to read:

Wings of Twilight by Hans Cummings

MAY- Dawn, Death, End, Lost, Beautiful, And

Plan to read:
The Treachery of Beautiful Things by Ruth Francis Long

JUN- Color, Beyond, Found, Place, Grave, Road

Plan to read: Either/Or
Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon

JUL- Crash, Ship, Prince, Whisper, Sun, Of

Plan to read: Either/Or
Secrets of the Sands by Leona Wisoker
The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan
The Laughter of Dead Kings by Elizabeth Peters
Wings of Twilight by Has Cummings
The Empress of Mars by Kage Baker
Star of the Morning by Lynn Kurland
A Matter of Magic by Patricia C. Wrede

AUG- Forgotten, Down, True, Run, Danger, Me

Plan to read: Either/Or
Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh

SEP- Number, Take, Shadow, Ice, Who, After

Plan to read: Either/Or

Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling

OCT- Ocean, Blood, Still, Out, The, Fate

Plan to read: Either/Or
A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee
The Clockwork Scarab by Colleen Gleason
Into the Dark Lands by Michelle Sagara West
The Black Lung Captain by Chris Wooding
The Spirit Thief by Rachel Aaron
The Crown Tower by Michael J. Sullivan
Secrets of the Sands by Leona Wisoker
The Friday Society by Adrienne Kress
The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan
The Laughter of Dead Kings by Elizabeth Peters
The Wizard Hunters by Martha Wells
The Red Wolf Conspiracy by Robert V.S. Redick
The Empress of Mars by Kage Baker
The Burning Sky by Joseph Robert Lewis
The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima
The Dark City by Catherine Fisher
Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling
The Shattered Alliance by Jeff Grubb

NOV- Into, Sound, Blue, House, My, Last

Plan to read: Either/Or
Into the Dark Lands by Michelle Sagara West
A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee
My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century by Rachel Harris

DEC- Kiss, Fire, Ruin, White, Promise, Infinity

Plan to read: Either/Or
Firelight by Kristen Callihan
The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan



(A partial list. These are just the books I have on my 'want to read' list on Goodreads that popped up when I searched the keywords. I might find a new book for one or more of the months - or re-read something. Also, as I own a few of these books, I might read them before the date.)

Friday Finds (1-4-14 thru 1-10-14)

Hosted here.

I just ordered a bunch of books - guess you could call it a late New Year's gift to myself.

Anyways, some of these have been on my 'want to read' list at Goodreads for a long time, others I just picked out the day I ordered. Here's to keeping my fingers crossed that they aren't a disappointment.

The Girl in the Steel Corset

The Emperor's Edge

All the Paths of Shadow

The Beautiful and the Cursed

The Seduction of Phaeton Black

Curtsies & Conspiracies

Throne of Glass

Kiss of Steel

I also found some books on Goodreads and added them to my 'to-read' list.

Firelight

Unnatural History

Seduction & Scandal

Cinder

The Clockwork Scarab

A Lady Can Never Be Too Curious

Wanted: One Scoundrel

I've been searching for more steampunk books to read and I found a few more. Really surprise that a romance novel (seldom read those) made its way to this list.