Teaser Tuesday: An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm.
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!

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir.

An Ember in the Ashes –
Razorbill

I don’t need to believe in the supernatural. Not when there’s worse that roams the night.
— Chapter 11

The words are out before I can stop them, but I don’t feel particularly regretful. Multiple attempts on my life have taken a toll on my manners.
— Chapter 30

On the off chance that you haven’t encountered this brilliant book on any of your forays into a bookstore let me warmly recommend this to you. I could have sworn that I already talked about it when it was first published, but my records say otherwise. This is the book for you if you enjoy fabulously crafted story universes with a rich background and multiple layered characters woven into a complex plot of intrigue, betrayal, deadly trials, and questions of trust and what it means to remain human in the face of the inhumane. The dual perspective allows for a very interesting view on the proceedings with sometimes overlapping parts that simultaneously manage to clear things up and confuse them in the best possible way. I especially liked that the author took her time for the two protagonists not only to meet but to actually talk and then trust each other. There is an instant interest, but it still remains wary as the other must prove to be trustworthy first.
The best books for me at least are those that make you feel and this doesn’t mean that that make me cry. I raced through parts of this and didn’t feel that I was reading fast enough because I absolutely had to know what happens next. I haven’t felt so anxious, angry, afraid or agonisingly panicked while reading with many books ... and I think that is a quality only the best writers exhibit. You can’t imagine how happy I am that there will be a second book.

Fantasy with a dystopian feeling is not really a Christmas setting, but then again the story of  expecting parents who have to take shelter in a stable because there wouldn’t fit anywhere else and then have to flee that place as well because they are prosecuted isn’t in itself a happy one. Whether or not you’re celebrating Christmas this week I wish you a peaceful and tranquil couple of days with joy and happiness wherever possible. And as always please share your teasers in the comments.

Teaser Tuesday: Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm.
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!

Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen.

Saint Anything – Viking

As I spoke, I realized I’d held these words in for so long and so tightly that I felt the space they left empty once released. It was vast enough that I could think of nothing to follow them.
— Chapter 5

“Not everything. Just candy, French fries, and love.” She smiled at me. “All the important stuff.”
— Chapter 6

Readers, this book made me crave pizza. And not in a fleeting way but in the sense of I can almost feel the cheesy goodness and I want it now! And after I’ve said this I can safely say that this is shaping up to be my favourite Sarah Dessen book yet. Even though I don’t have a delinquent older brother and didn’t go to an entitled high school it is so easy to understand Sydney and empathise with her. Parents in YA literature often disappear or do crappy at their job, but here you can tell that they are just as overwhelmed by the situation and trying to hold on and hold everything together as best as they can ... even though the ship has already met the iceberg.
I also like that the first focus is not on a romance aspect but rather on a friendship. Layla is basically the perfect friend a girl could wish for and I’m just so curious to read what her brother is up to ... and if that feeling about the creepy guy is valid. Rule of thumb: If your gut reaction tells you that a guy is fishy, chances are that your gut is right. The human race would not have survived this long if our instincts weren’t somehow reliable ... given that you’re not an anxious person who suspects the trees might be plotting against them.

We’re entering the run up to the end of the year (cue mild panic), how are your goals and challenges tallying up? Despite the fact that I thought I wouldn’t be able to read as many recordable books this year that one is looking nicely. Share statistics (if you like) and teasers in the comments!

Teaser Tuesday: Spinning Starlight by R. C. Lewis

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm.
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!

Spinning Starlight by R. C. Lewis.

Spinning Starlight – Disney Hyperion

One wrong move during a delicate experiment. One mistake. One accident.
One is such a deceptively small number.
— Chapter 2

Great. These two can’t talk to each other, and I can’t talk at all. This should be fun.
— Chapter 18

Off the top of the head how many fairy tales can you name? Now subtract all that have been adapted into a Disney movie of some sort. The good news: Disney and Co. won’t run out of material any time soon. This book is adapted from a tale most people won’t have named, because it’s one of the lesser known ones. But even then you won’t necessarily find the wild swans in the story unless you look for them very hard. At its heart, this is a sci-fi coming of age story with a hint of romantic love but mostly family and what one is willing to do and endure for them. This book is only for readers who like to get very close to the main character as almost all of the book is inner monologue and observations since the heroine cannot speak. Or should I say mustn’t? Anyway, she eventually finds means of communication but let me tell you how much I am now an advocate to keep writing by hand a vital part of our culture. Typing is nice and easy but how soon will be completely rely on voice commands? And boy are we in trouble if that suddenly doesn’t work anymore.
I had a few issues with the story, mostly because of missed connections and failed communication ... or lacking trust. But if we can’t trust our neighbour to be a reasonable human, how should the main character trust complete strangers (from different species) to behave in an honourable way?

Do you read sci-fi? At which point is it too out there for you? I personally don’t appreciate being bombarded with technical details and being expected to remember how a certain thing worked some fifty odd pages later. Let’s hear from you in the comments!

Teaser Tuesday: Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm.
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!

Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch.

Snow Like Ashes – Balzer + Bray

Focus on the goal. Don’t get sidetracked. Don’t let fear take hold of you – fear s a seed that, once planted, never stops growing.
— Chapter 3

Holding on to some part of your past even if it means also holding on to the pain of never again having it. That pain is less horrible than the pain of forgetting.
— Chapter 14

In honour of the first serious snowflakes last weekend here is one of the few books where Winter is not the enemy! At least when the other seasons are involved as well, winter usually gets cast in the more unpleasant role. Must have something to do with its sunny and warm disposition. But I digress. First book in a proposed trilogy with a few really nice touches so far. Keeping in mind what I said about the unnecessity to reinvent the wheel when the wheel is a perfectly good invention I have no objection to building new chassis to hold said wheels. I liked a lot of things about this book, for example Meira as a main character with strengths and weaknesses ... I can’t resist stubborn girls who don’t accept their fate at face value. Even if she was a tiny bit thick to grasp something I had been wondering about since about page ten. But she was running for her life and other things, so maybe that’s an excuse. And then there is that thing with another geometrical form which I’m so not a fan of ... I really hope it dissolves itself somehow. Pleasantly preferably, but don’t ask me how.

Does anyone else picture fear like that nasty weed in the garden you can’t get rid of no matter what you try? I know there isn’t just one of those, but I like to think that every garden has its own kind that could symbolise your personal fear. What’s your most effective fear-weedkiller? Let’s hear from you in the comments!

Teaser Tuesday: Angels Twice Descending by Cassandra Clare and Robin Wassermann

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm.
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!

Angels Twice Descending by Cassandra Clare and Robin Wassermann.

Angels Twice Descending –
Margaret K. McElderry Books

Don’t do this because you think you have to. Do it because you want to.
Only if you want to.
— 53%

Not someone you chose—someone the fates assigned you, someone who, under any other circumstances, might never have given you a second look, nor you him. Someone you would die for and kill for without a second thought, because he was family.
— 66%

The very last short story in the Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy series and as the back cover says someone lives and someone dies. In true Cassie fashion it’s not unreasonable (in a way as there were signs and all that jazz) but it’s still a swift kick and double punch in the feels. There were also other aspects about this story that I liked seeing as for example how Magnus’ flat has changed due to a certain addition to the family. And Izzy, fierce, fabulous, lovable Izzy with her tender warrior heart. I’ll dearly miss having the TMI cast as main characters and will hunt for every morsel of information in the books to come. But at the same time I can hardly wait for the new characters to take over the scene and tell their story.
This short story collection was a perfect way to tie up a few loose ends and give a proper good bye to the characters. Now the wait for the new full book begins in earnest. Is it March yet?

While we all want the next book in a series sooner rather than later sometimes things get in the way. What is the longest you’d be willing to wait between books? 18 months? 2 years? Longer? Share your opinion and teasers in the comments.

Teaser Tuesday: Breakaway by Kat Spears

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm.
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!

Breakaway by Kat Spears.

Breakaway – St. Martin’s Griffin

“That’s the problem with you rich kids,” I said, hearing myself turn snide. “You’re never prepared for life when it happens.”
— Chapter 23

“If you kiss me, I promise I won’t hit you,” she said.
“Wow. That was almost … romantic,” I said.
— Chapter 26

There are a great number of things I want to say about this book, but the first thing that comes to my mind and vehemently demands to be said is “unexpected”. I don’t quite know what I was expecting from Kat Spear’s new book and therefore I cannot with all certainty say if the story honestly surprised me ... but it’s fair to say that this was quite different. Sure, there is the troubled male character I already knew she can write well, but his troubles were very different from those of Jesse “Sway” Alderman. For one instance, they are not self-made, at least not all of them. No one can choose the family and circumstances they are born into or whether or not they are the in the centre or on the margins of the family’s attention. But a few things are influenceable, like the choice of friends and how they are treated.
When is anyone ever truly prepared for the moment life happens? Yes, there are measures one can take to cushion the blow, but in the end if one wants to live, it will be necessary to find an acceptable balance between the amount of hurt one is willing to risk and the possibility to experience life. There are some hard truths in this book. There is no guarantee for a fulfilled life, no matter how much it is deserved or struggled towards. Sometimes reality is just furiously unfair. And I also think that is why this book is able to elicit so many different responses, because for example either the reader recognises and accepts that it is a contemporary depiction of one possible truth or they reject the story for its very nature. I have to admit that it took me a while to accept the end as it is very true to the story: where it begins right in the middle of something it also left me as a reader feeling as if I was yanked right out of it again. The edges are very frayed and raw. Life, as depicted, is messy and seldom neatly tied up, not matter where or when the observation begins or ends.
And while I know that it is extremely unlikely that it will all turn out well with rainbows and unicorns for all the characters, I really hope that they will be able to find a way to live their life to the fullest within the mostly limiting parameters they find themselves in. There is always hope and the aspiration to make to most out of the hand one is dealt. Anything less makes characters in stories and people in general uninteresting.

Writing this actually helped me appreciate the book more. It probably won’t make it onto the same shelf as Sway, but I understand the story better. Has there been a book that suddenly clicked for you the longer you thought/wrote about it? Let’s hear about it and your teaser in the comments!

Teaser Tuesday: Dead of Winter by Kresley Cole

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm.
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!

Dead of Winter by Kresley Cole.

Dead of Winter –
Simon & Schuster

I take no actions that I wouldn’t publicly recount. If you can’t speak your deeds, then don’t do them.
— Chapter 27

In our first meeting, you skewered me with your sword. In other words: you started it.
— Chapter 29

Third book in the Arcana Chronicles ... and not a trilogy, which wasn’t unexpected, but the end still completely gutted me. Luckily for me I managed to wait this long to read this one so the next won’t be a year away. That would have been brutal and everyone already suffering has my complete sympathies.
Without spoiling the first two books there isn’t much to be said about the plot of this, but the more I think about it the more I love the fact that I completely changed my mind about several of the characters from when they were first introduced up until now. Usually this could be a sign of bad characterisation skills yet in this case it’s actually a great way of showing how first impressions and prejudices (in the story as well as introduced by tropes) can influence character perception. The author uses a very subtle way to shift these perceptions – or I at least thought so, because I can’t completely pinpoint when I started liking one character and mistrust another one. Or when I started caring so much for one (or two) of them that the last few pages turned me into a total mess.
I absolutely liked the news that this series will be at least five books (even if that means at least one and a half years of turmoil, but when am I not hanging from at least one cliff – not literally!). Not sure what to make of the movie/TV announcement though as I am growing more and more sceptical of the conversion of books I love into movies and the likes. Burnt child dreads the flame syndrome.

Are you currently hanging from a book series cliff? Or having feelings about book-to-screen adaptions? Share both or any along with your teasers in the comments.

Teaser Tuesday: Lock & Mori by Heather W. Petty

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm.
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!

Lock & Mori by Heather W. Petty.

Lock & Mori –
Simon & Schuster

“You think you’re more clever than me.”
It was true, but I supposed I should show him a bit of deference. “I am female. That comes with a few advantages.”
“Such as?”
“Understanding and perception, a unique worldview, and the power that comes with being constantly underestimated.”
— Chapter 10

“I don’t understand the need for power, really. There are more important pursuits.”
“Only those who have never felt powerless can afford to think like you.”
— Chapter 10

Two teasers from the same chapter. But I really couldn’t choose between the two and while there are other brilliant sentences in the book, these two really encompass all that I love about it. Yes, Sherlock is crazy smart and a savant genius, but who’s to say that Moriaty isn’t as well and can give him a run for his money? I also enjoy that the explanation of how the two became mortal enemies is that such a deep feeling must be born from another deep feeling and a severe betrayal of trust. Very clever and admirably executed. I feel so sad on behalf of them, because they would have been absolutely amazing together. Here we have a perfect tragedy (as opposed to a tragic event) where the protagonists are set on a path to ruin from the very beginning either by fate or in this case their family history and very nature. There was a minimal chance that this could have been solved differently, but then the characters wouldn’t have been true to themselves and therefore believable.
Confession: The plot doesn’t reinvent the wheel. But honestly, why should anyone have to reinvent it when the wheel is a perfectly fine tool? Only get back to me about that when someone has finally managed to build an affordable hover-board or a functional teleportation device. Until then wheels are just splendid. And this series will use your heartstrings as a harp. Can have the next one, please?

Down to business: Benedict Cumberbatch or Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock? And if you have no idea what I’m talking about, name your favourite detective along with sharing your teasers in the comments!