Tuesday 20 June 2017
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by Ambrosia of The Purple Booker.
To play along just do the following:
Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare.
Since this is a second book in a series I won’t say anything about the plot, because everything – and I mean everything – is a potential spoiler that’s how complex and intricately connected all of it is. Sort of blink and you miss a reference. But I will say this: If there was a possibility to safeguard my heart by keeping it outside my body while reading, I would do it. If Cassie Clare gets any better at what she does, she will obliterate me in one of her next books. And while we’re on the topic of obliteration: The word cliffhanger called and says it no longer wants to be associated with Shadowhunter books and will send its older brother suicidal free falling to take on the job. I know that things have to get worse before they get better in these books, but there is worse and there is traumatised-rocking-in-the-corner worse.
It’s been said before that you don’t need to have read all series to understand the others, but I’m completely in love with the glimpses and allusions to the other beloved characters and the glimpses into their lives. Yet at the same time that also means they are not safe. And that is one aspect that really has me worried. Yes, I want to know how they are faring, but at the same time I realise that also means in this world they will remain in danger. The same would be true if their book simply ended and I never heard of them again from a logical aspect yet this feels more immediate. Please, please, please let that one vision not be a literal one ...
And now it’s going to be an almost impossibly long wait for the final book, because Cassie is writing others before it. Perfect for coming up with ever more intricate doomsday scenarios fed by information added through the Queen of Suspense and Foreshadowing. So don’t mind me while I’m hurtling through empty space and try to come to terms with what happened. If there is one thing you need to be aware of with these books, it’s that you shouldn’t let your guard down (or let that treacherous hope off the leash) until the book is over. Seriously, this is at least the second time Cassie has done this to me on the last few pages.
What is the last book that has emotionally devastated you? Were you prepared for it or has it blindsided you? Share experiences and teasers in the comments!
To 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!
Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare.
 |
| Lord of Shadows – Margaret K. McElderry Books |
We fear things because we value them. We fear losing people because we love them. We fear dying because we value being alive. Don’t wish you didn’t fear anything. All that would mean is that you didn’t feel anything.
— Chapter 7
I think you cannot root out love entirely. I think where there has been love, there will always be embers, as the remains of a bonfire outlast the flame.
— Chapter 20
Since this is a second book in a series I won’t say anything about the plot, because everything – and I mean everything – is a potential spoiler that’s how complex and intricately connected all of it is. Sort of blink and you miss a reference. But I will say this: If there was a possibility to safeguard my heart by keeping it outside my body while reading, I would do it. If Cassie Clare gets any better at what she does, she will obliterate me in one of her next books. And while we’re on the topic of obliteration: The word cliffhanger called and says it no longer wants to be associated with Shadowhunter books and will send its older brother suicidal free falling to take on the job. I know that things have to get worse before they get better in these books, but there is worse and there is traumatised-rocking-in-the-corner worse.
It’s been said before that you don’t need to have read all series to understand the others, but I’m completely in love with the glimpses and allusions to the other beloved characters and the glimpses into their lives. Yet at the same time that also means they are not safe. And that is one aspect that really has me worried. Yes, I want to know how they are faring, but at the same time I realise that also means in this world they will remain in danger. The same would be true if their book simply ended and I never heard of them again from a logical aspect yet this feels more immediate. Please, please, please let that one vision not be a literal one ...
And now it’s going to be an almost impossibly long wait for the final book, because Cassie is writing others before it. Perfect for coming up with ever more intricate doomsday scenarios fed by information added through the Queen of Suspense and Foreshadowing. So don’t mind me while I’m hurtling through empty space and try to come to terms with what happened. If there is one thing you need to be aware of with these books, it’s that you shouldn’t let your guard down (or let that treacherous hope off the leash) until the book is over. Seriously, this is at least the second time Cassie has done this to me on the last few pages.
What is the last book that has emotionally devastated you? Were you prepared for it or has it blindsided you? Share experiences and teasers in the comments!
Tuesday 13 June 2017
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by Ambrosia of The Purple Booker.
To play along just do the following:
The Problem with Forever by Jennifer L. Armentrout.
Didn’t we all have that one kid in our class, who could have been nicknamed mouse for all they ever said? Or maybe we were the ones on the silent side? Most quiet kids have their reasons for being like that. Sometimes it’s shyness and sometimes it’s for protection and sometimes it is something completely unfathomable. Whatever the reason it’s always worth it to listen when these people have something to say even if it’s not always easy to coax it out of them.
Jennifer L. Armentrout has a talent for writing very engaging romances and adventure types, but she’s also proven that she can construct compelling realistic stories as well. This book has quite a few elements from the problem-spectrum as I like to call it (like unhappy childhoods due to money struggles or abuse or alcohol problems ...), but it manages them quite well and in addition to that also creates a capturing scenario of character development and (because it wouldn’t be a Jennifer Armentrout book without it) a very sweet love story. Add to that her trademarked charm and witty dialogues and you have what I think is one of the author’s best books to date.
Are you a person to break the silence or more a silence is golden type? Share your thoughts and teasers in the comments!
To 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!
The Problem with Forever by Jennifer L. Armentrout.
 |
| The Problem with Forever – Harlequin Teen |
“You have the power over that. People can say crap. They can think whatever they want, but you control how you feel about it”
— Chapter 17
Forever wasn’t real.
And I guessed, for me, that I was lucky it wasn’t. But for others, I wished it was real, that they had forever.
— Chapter 35
Didn’t we all have that one kid in our class, who could have been nicknamed mouse for all they ever said? Or maybe we were the ones on the silent side? Most quiet kids have their reasons for being like that. Sometimes it’s shyness and sometimes it’s for protection and sometimes it is something completely unfathomable. Whatever the reason it’s always worth it to listen when these people have something to say even if it’s not always easy to coax it out of them.
Jennifer L. Armentrout has a talent for writing very engaging romances and adventure types, but she’s also proven that she can construct compelling realistic stories as well. This book has quite a few elements from the problem-spectrum as I like to call it (like unhappy childhoods due to money struggles or abuse or alcohol problems ...), but it manages them quite well and in addition to that also creates a capturing scenario of character development and (because it wouldn’t be a Jennifer Armentrout book without it) a very sweet love story. Add to that her trademarked charm and witty dialogues and you have what I think is one of the author’s best books to date.
Are you a person to break the silence or more a silence is golden type? Share your thoughts and teasers in the comments!
Tuesday 6 June 2017
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by Ambrosia of The Purple Booker.
To play along just do the following:
We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach.
Books in general and YA in particular loves to play in extremes and what if scenarios. And which scenario could be more extreme and question-provoking as the possible end of the world combined with the total annihilation of humanity? If today you and everyone else received the message that in two months’ time an asteroid is likely going to hit the planet and possibly going to destroy it? And not in the sense that it will be really close and then pass by at a distance that seems vast to anyone who isn’t usually calculating in light years and suddenly has to think in something as puny as kilometres – a literal light blip.
What this book does splendidly is impress upon its reader this immediacy. You can’t avoid wondering if two months are enough to change, to rethink, to experience ... to live. Not if you like most people think that you have that much more time.
I haven’t read enough of it yet that I can weigh in on the discussion about this book’s overall quality, but I know that the author has a very distinct style of writing and some very interesting word choices. And yeah, the cover is pretty cool in making you look really closely for the title. What a pity that I found it spine out in the bookshop where the letters are infinitely bigger.
The obvious question would involve asking what you would do if the world was set to end in a blast in two months (as opposed to slowly fading away). And I think I’ll go for the obvious today. Share your thoughts and teasers in the comments.
To 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!
We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach.
 |
| We All Looked Up – Simon & Schuster BFYR |
“Believe what you want, man.”
“What I believe is that you shouldn’t waste your potential flipping burgers?”
— Page 30
“I mean, aren’t we supposed to care about stuff other than just dances and football? Could we maybe try to do one thing that actually matters in the real world?”
— Page 59
Books in general and YA in particular loves to play in extremes and what if scenarios. And which scenario could be more extreme and question-provoking as the possible end of the world combined with the total annihilation of humanity? If today you and everyone else received the message that in two months’ time an asteroid is likely going to hit the planet and possibly going to destroy it? And not in the sense that it will be really close and then pass by at a distance that seems vast to anyone who isn’t usually calculating in light years and suddenly has to think in something as puny as kilometres – a literal light blip.
What this book does splendidly is impress upon its reader this immediacy. You can’t avoid wondering if two months are enough to change, to rethink, to experience ... to live. Not if you like most people think that you have that much more time.
I haven’t read enough of it yet that I can weigh in on the discussion about this book’s overall quality, but I know that the author has a very distinct style of writing and some very interesting word choices. And yeah, the cover is pretty cool in making you look really closely for the title. What a pity that I found it spine out in the bookshop where the letters are infinitely bigger.
The obvious question would involve asking what you would do if the world was set to end in a blast in two months (as opposed to slowly fading away). And I think I’ll go for the obvious today. Share your thoughts and teasers in the comments.
Tuesday 30 May 2017
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by Ambrosia of The Purple Booker.
To play along just do the following:
Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor.
This is not a one sitting book, at least not for me.Not because it is stale or hard to read or anything, but simply because it is filled with a language that demands to be appreciated, to be savoured, to be absorbed. This also doesn’t mean that one sitting reads aren’t beautifully written, just ... I can’t really explain it. Anyway, so far this hasn’t been the action laden adventure, but I’m only about a third into the story and there has already been enough drama and intrigue to more than make up for it. There is quite a bit of unfairness that is heartbreaking to read and to imagine.
As an avowed language-nerd I love the words Laini Taylor invents. There are words in foreign languages that express a complete complex concept or feeling and I always find them extremely fascinating. Like the Welsh word cynefin, which has no direct English translation. And the idea that there is for example a god so petty who if the offerings aren’t adequate grants your heart’s deepest wish to someone else, possibly your very nemesis. Wouldn’t that be horrible and awesome (in every sense of the word)?
Laini Taylor is a master wordsmith and I can’t wait to see where her magic will take me next. At the moment I’m in the middle of a hostile desert with fantastic, horrific beasts. And on the way to a fearsome, foreign city with a mythical problem and mysterious inhabitants. It’s a wonderfully exciting adventure.
Do you know a foreign word that has no known translation but which expresses a whole sentence in one word? Share loved words and teasers in the comments.
To 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!
Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor.
 |
| Strange the Dreamer – Little, Brown Books for Young Readers |
It was impossible, of course.
But when did that ever stop any dreamer from dreaming?
— Chapter 2
The end of wondering, he thought, but not of wonder. That was just beginning. He was certain of it.
— Chapter 15
This is not a one sitting book, at least not for me.Not because it is stale or hard to read or anything, but simply because it is filled with a language that demands to be appreciated, to be savoured, to be absorbed. This also doesn’t mean that one sitting reads aren’t beautifully written, just ... I can’t really explain it. Anyway, so far this hasn’t been the action laden adventure, but I’m only about a third into the story and there has already been enough drama and intrigue to more than make up for it. There is quite a bit of unfairness that is heartbreaking to read and to imagine.
As an avowed language-nerd I love the words Laini Taylor invents. There are words in foreign languages that express a complete complex concept or feeling and I always find them extremely fascinating. Like the Welsh word cynefin, which has no direct English translation. And the idea that there is for example a god so petty who if the offerings aren’t adequate grants your heart’s deepest wish to someone else, possibly your very nemesis. Wouldn’t that be horrible and awesome (in every sense of the word)?
Laini Taylor is a master wordsmith and I can’t wait to see where her magic will take me next. At the moment I’m in the middle of a hostile desert with fantastic, horrific beasts. And on the way to a fearsome, foreign city with a mythical problem and mysterious inhabitants. It’s a wonderfully exciting adventure.
Do you know a foreign word that has no known translation but which expresses a whole sentence in one word? Share loved words and teasers in the comments.
Tuesday 23 May 2017
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by Ambrosia of The Purple Booker.
To play along just do the following:
The Dark Prophecy by Rick Riordan.
Remember how I said that I miss Percy Jackson? While that is still true I won’t deny and his that a certain former god and his (not always happy about it) friends are also very dear to me. But then again, Rick Riordan could quite possibly write about the mating habits of sea cucumbers and make it an adventure ... as you may recall I’m a history and mythology nerd (gasp now I’m telling you) and easily amused by ouns and clever allusions. Case in point was my discovery of the software “Nero burning ROM” (about a hundred years ago) ... it took ages for my poor friend to decipher my giggle fit.
Anyway, what’s with the ostriches on that cover you might ask and rightfully so, but I must tell you that these combat ostriches are not to be trifled with. Nor is their ... master, I suppose. But then again whenever this historical figure is mentioned I picture Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator and suddenly think that maybe we was just misunderstood. For a while and then he went off the deep end so basically what is also told about him here. Might be some truth in that.
Special love, of course, for the haikus. And several other things that I can’t really get into unless I spoil the series and we really wouldn’t want that. I think there’s a little too much monster vaporising (very sensitive word for the fighting business), but I’m possibly also looking at this askepct a tad too much at the moment due to some other ongoing discussions.
How sensitive are you to descriptions of fights in books? Do you try to avoid them or would you say they don’t really affect you? Share your thoughts and teasers in the comments!
To 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!
The Dark Prophecy by Rick Riordan.
 |
| The Dark Prophecy – Disney Hyperion |
“I volunteer for death!” I shouted.
The entire mob turned to look at me. I silently cursed my choice of words.
— Chapter 3
Ever since, I had lived in terror, wondering when and how the spirit of the Styx would punish me. Perhaps, instead of a grand moment of retribution, it would be a slow death by a thousand insults. How often could a music god hear that he had a decent voice before he crumbled into a self-loathing pile of dust?
— Chapter 15
Remember how I said that I miss Percy Jackson? While that is still true I won’t deny and his that a certain former god and his (not always happy about it) friends are also very dear to me. But then again, Rick Riordan could quite possibly write about the mating habits of sea cucumbers and make it an adventure ... as you may recall I’m a history and mythology nerd (gasp now I’m telling you) and easily amused by ouns and clever allusions. Case in point was my discovery of the software “Nero burning ROM” (about a hundred years ago) ... it took ages for my poor friend to decipher my giggle fit.
Anyway, what’s with the ostriches on that cover you might ask and rightfully so, but I must tell you that these combat ostriches are not to be trifled with. Nor is their ... master, I suppose. But then again whenever this historical figure is mentioned I picture Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator and suddenly think that maybe we was just misunderstood. For a while and then he went off the deep end so basically what is also told about him here. Might be some truth in that.
Special love, of course, for the haikus. And several other things that I can’t really get into unless I spoil the series and we really wouldn’t want that. I think there’s a little too much monster vaporising (very sensitive word for the fighting business), but I’m possibly also looking at this askepct a tad too much at the moment due to some other ongoing discussions.
How sensitive are you to descriptions of fights in books? Do you try to avoid them or would you say they don’t really affect you? Share your thoughts and teasers in the comments!
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