Teaser Tuesday: The Young Elites by Marie Lu

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.
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 Young Elites by Marie Lu.

The Young Elites –
G.P. Putnam’s Sons

Be true to yourself, Violetta once told me when I was trying in vain to win Father over. But that’s something everyone says and no one means. No one wants you to be yourself. They want you to be the version of yourself that they like.
— Chapter 8

They were the best of friends as long as they did not know they were supposed to be enemies. The truth would do its damage soon enough.
— Chapter 21

Here is how my reading of this book went: Last Thursday night I read the first few chapters but had to stop because, curse you reality, sleeping at work is frowned upon. I finished reading at approximately 2:30 am on Saturday in a state of disillusion that was not just caused by the late hour. But the disillusion was decidedly positive!
Marie Lu has done it again. After the Legend series this one takes a decidedly darker turn but still shows her expert way of creating multi-layered, complex characters and great world-building skills. Adelina is an interesting character, who is haunted not just by her ghosts but also by her own personality. The reader can hardly fault her for her actions and the origin of her darkness is comprehensible enough. And Raffaele is one of my favourite new characters of the year. I want a friend like him.
I still don’t know what to think about ... the thing ... that happened towards the end. And what I actually want to happen next because there are a lot of options and at the moment neither of them seem like a particularly good idea. Good thing that I now have a year before the next book to make up my mind ... and that’s about the only good thing of that wait.

We’re nearing the end of the year so naturally there are a lot of best-of lists cropping up at the moment. Are you listing any best-ofs? Share ideas and teasers in the comments.

Teaser Tuesday: The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.
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 Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith.

The Geography of You and Me –
Poppy

Sometimes it seemed as if his whole life was an exercise in waiting; not waiting to leave, exactly, but simply waiting to go. He felt like one of those fish that had the capacity to grow in unimaginable ways if only the tank were big enough.
— Chapter 4

But there’s no such thing as a completely fresh start. Everything new arrives on the heels of something old, and every beginning comes at the cost of an ending.
— Chapter 36

When I was younger there were always two sayings that I couldn’t quite figure out how both of them could exist at the same time: “Distance makes the heart grow fonder” and “Out of sight, out of mind.” I always kept asking myself which is it? For this novel, it’s definitely absence ... or rather distance, because even if there is half the world between them, they’re never really far from each other. Jennifer E. Smith writes happy books that don’t scream happiness at you from the very beginning and that’s what I probably appreciate most about them. If a book has the claim to be contemporary, I want it to have a make-believe reality that makes sense. As someone who has been stuck in a small lift more often than she likes to count (damn you, insufficient university funds!), it makes a lot of sense that you can feel connected to the person you were stuck with. (Always a great conversation starter that “Seems like I’m stuck with you then” line ... not really.) And since travelling is one of my other favourite things, this story is a perfect reading balm for dreary autumn days. Works also for any other kind of weather but the sun hasn’t come out at all today so please excuse the light depressive turn. Fact is, this book has quite a bit of sunshine between its pages.

We switched back to standard time this weekend and thus have early nightfall from now on, time to cosy up with books! Where is your favourite reading spot? Take a blanket and share your teasers in the comments.

Teaser Tuesday: A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.
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!

A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall.

A Little Something Different –
Swoon Reads

They sit there in the window of the coffee shop for almost an hour, not talking much, but looking at each other over the tops of their books, flirting somehow even without words.
It would be gross if it weren’t adorable.
— Chapter 5.11

“We’re going to find that boy and make him talk to you.”
“That sounds awfully threatening,” she says.
“Okay, so we’ll stake out a table with a good view over by the balcony and you can watch him from afar.”
— Chapter 6.8

Love stories can be sweet or cavity-threateningly sugary. Or they can be a little different. On the bill, this is your average boy and girl go to the same college, share a class, and over the course of a few months get to know each other well enough to start dating. Nothing too special. Of course, there is the necessary misunderstanding, the various tripping hazards, and a more or less dark secret from the past. I would have put this down in any other scenario were it not for the clever hook: The story is told from multiple perspectives but those of the couple. There is the brother, the best friend, the grumpy barista, the reluctant classmate ... a bench (I didn’t know there was so much to say about butts sitting on wood) and a squirrel. And a few others. It’s a very cute idea to show a couple in the stages of getting to that point of becoming an item with everyone but the two of them realising that they would be great together. Or maybe they realise it but the readers don’t know because they’re not in their heads. Usually you have the frustrating perspective of one person guessing what the other thinks about them. Now you have the entertainingly frustrating complete ignorance of their inner life.
I would have liked for this story and concept to be more developed. Right now it felt like quickly jotted down scenes that could be developed into something bigger ... the overall effect is that of a slightly malnourished novel where the lanky frame it could have grown into is still visible. Overall an entertaining, quick read.

What do you think of the idea of the many different points of view? Would such a concept interest you? Share opinions and teasers in the comments!

Teaser Tuesday: The Perilous Sea by Sherry Thomas

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.
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 Perilous Sea by Sherry Thomas.

The Perilous Sea –
Balzer + Bray

“You might be the scariest girl I have ever met,” he told her.
“Let’s not be dramatic,” she said drily. “I’m the only girl you can remember ever meeting.”
— Chapter 19

“May I remind you that you are speaking to someone capable of smiting you with a thunderbolt?”
“Is there any point to flirting with a girl who is not capable of that?”
— Chapter 21

This is not the same book as last week though it does have a very similar title. It’s also the second book in a trilogy. And there are changes in the narration from the first book as well. The content, however, is very different! I could have done a reading relay with several titles I have a the moment ... several Sea, some Trial and one with Fire ... but I digress (could be an interesting idea for a challenge though: Read only books in succession that share a word in their title.).
The beginning of this book was very frustrating for me, but I think that was the intention as I kept wondering how in the world the characters got to that place and why. And as can be assumed the book told the story in a backwards fashion with the two story lines neatly coming together towards the end. Thus a lot of ground was covered while hardly any time passed. I liked the alternating chapters of present “what the heck happened?”and past “how the heck will they get to where they are?” You get to know the characters a lot better and on a more diverse scale than you did in the first book and I think this expansion of character knowledge will benefit the trilogy as a whole. So a solid job on the second book. If you like witty banter between characters, you should definitely look into this.

Have you found yourself surrounded by books with similar titles? Share books and teasers in the comments.

Teaser Tuesday: The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.
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 Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey.

The Infinite Sea –
G.P. Putnam’s Sons

You never know when the truth will come home. You can’t choose the time. The time chooses you. I’d had days to face the truth that now faced me in that cold, black space, and I’d refused. I wouldn’t go there. So the truth decided to come to me.
— Chapter 13

I didn’t think it was a promise at the time. I told myself it wasn’t. Told him it wasn’t. But there’re the things we tell ourselves about the truth, and there’re the things the truth tells about us.
— Chapter 76

Here’s a truth about my reading habits: I dislike narrator changes within a series, or changes of perspective ... and especially focal changes and changes in voice within a book. It’s fine when multiple perspectives are introduced in the first book, but I have a hard time warming up to new perspectives in a second book. Or if there’s suddenly another I-narrator ... or no longer an I-narrator at all. I hope you get the idea. I like continuity ... and my favourites from book one.
Here’s another truth about my reading habits: They totally and completely change if the book can persuade them to do so.
With this book those changes actually went so far that I was annoyed when my former favourite narrator got some page time because I so badly wanted to know what was happening to the other one. Luckily, this didn’t last long and I still like my former favourite, but now I have new characters to like! And I think that this is a thing that grows when it’s divided: Liking characters. Also makes the reader more vulnerable, but who said that reading was cuddly and safe? But damn you (in the kindest possible way), Rick Yancey, for that twist ... or the other one! Still reeling. Just saying.
I understand why many people who loved the first book might not like the second, because it is so very different in plot development and pace. The writing is the same. Very deep and revealing. And beautiful even if the subject itself is anything but. Second books can do one of two things: continue in the trajectory of the first book, which can be very rewarding, but also hard, or cut out a completely new path, which isn’t any less difficult, but can also lead to amazing results. And the more I think about it, the more I think this sequel executed the second of those options rather well.

Do you have reading habits that you gladly throw out the window for the right book? Let’s hear about them and share your teasers in the comments!