Tuesday, 1 November 2016
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Books And A Beat.
To play along just do the following:
How to Hang a Witch by Adriana Mather.
Lots of witches in my reading feed at the moment – must be the season! I actually read this one a while ago but thought I’d share it a little closer to the darker time, even though it certainly has no defined seasonal ties ... but I still think that a release date in July was not the most opportune choice for the book. It also very definitely seems to be the first of at least two books, but I have not yet found any information about the sequel. It’s all very mysterious.
The book takes the reader to modern day Salem, where history is not only very much alive but also prone to repeat itself. Imagine moving to a town where your ancestors used to hang the ancestors of the people living there ... and be sure that those people know how to hold a grudge. Running the gauntlet sounds almost pleasurable in comparison. Especially if it’s taking place in high school. Now add to that a mixture of snark and attitude for the new and accused, and the two sides are almost certain to eat each other alive ... unless something extraordinary happens.
And can I just add that Jaxon is one of those great best friends literature has to offer? My friends are all very wonderful and I wouldn’t hand them over for the world, yet sometimes fictional best friends are pretty amazing as well.
Who is your ideal fictional best friend and where can this person be found? Let’s hear from you 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!
How to Hang a Witch by Adriana Mather.
 |
| How to Hang a Witch – Alfred A. Knopf |
Like most fast-talking, opinionated New Yorkers, I have an affinity for sarcasm. At fifteen, though, it’s hard to convince anyone that sarcasm’s a cultural thing and not a bad attitude.
— Chapter 1
“I’m not trying to shut people out. It’s just, no one really likes me here.”
“Jaxon does. And if you let him in, you might find something worth knowing under all that bravado.”
“I don’t have any bravado,” Jaxon says from the hallway. “I’m just naturally awesome.”
“Jaxon, eavesdropping is a terrible habit,” she says, “made common by swindlers and little old ladies.”
— Chapter 10
Lots of witches in my reading feed at the moment – must be the season! I actually read this one a while ago but thought I’d share it a little closer to the darker time, even though it certainly has no defined seasonal ties ... but I still think that a release date in July was not the most opportune choice for the book. It also very definitely seems to be the first of at least two books, but I have not yet found any information about the sequel. It’s all very mysterious.
The book takes the reader to modern day Salem, where history is not only very much alive but also prone to repeat itself. Imagine moving to a town where your ancestors used to hang the ancestors of the people living there ... and be sure that those people know how to hold a grudge. Running the gauntlet sounds almost pleasurable in comparison. Especially if it’s taking place in high school. Now add to that a mixture of snark and attitude for the new and accused, and the two sides are almost certain to eat each other alive ... unless something extraordinary happens.
And can I just add that Jaxon is one of those great best friends literature has to offer? My friends are all very wonderful and I wouldn’t hand them over for the world, yet sometimes fictional best friends are pretty amazing as well.
Who is your ideal fictional best friend and where can this person be found? Let’s hear from you in the comments!
Tuesday, 25 October 2016
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Books And A Beat.
To play along just do the following:
Frost Like Night by Sara Raasch.
Back from the book fair with lots of impressions, sore feet, lovely meetings, and quite a few inspiring books ... and of course the obligatory fair head cold. Now I can finally dive into this final book of yet another amazing trilogy. I’ve not made it terribly far into the book (as you can probably tell) yet I’m already convinced that it will be a worthy end. I didn’t expect there to be so many shifts in points of view, but at the moments it’s adding a great pace and suspense to the book, which I can only appreciate.
I quite love the world the author has created for this series with its complex mechanics and geographic specifics. And obviously the laws and rules of its magic. I am a little (read very) afraid for the characters, but I also have hope that there will be a solution that won’t involve carrying it to extremes. Hopefully. Please? Otherwise I might have to apply for bookish therapy.
Are you finishing up a series at the moment, n the middle of one or starting a new one? Or do you (currently) prefer a stand-alone? Let me know in the comments and share your teasers alongside your preferences!
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!
Frost Like Night by Sara Raasch.
 |
| Frost Like Night – Balzer + Bray |
“Why would we trust you?”
The woman scoffed. “And you have so many options at the moment?”
— Chapter 2
I’ll tell you everything, as I promised I would. Every detail, every reason, every flutter of a curtain that brought us to this moment. Well, not every curtain—some of them have been right gaudy.”
“But . . . why?”
“Tassels, mostly.”
— Chapter 4
Back from the book fair with lots of impressions, sore feet, lovely meetings, and quite a few inspiring books ... and of course the obligatory fair head cold. Now I can finally dive into this final book of yet another amazing trilogy. I’ve not made it terribly far into the book (as you can probably tell) yet I’m already convinced that it will be a worthy end. I didn’t expect there to be so many shifts in points of view, but at the moments it’s adding a great pace and suspense to the book, which I can only appreciate.
I quite love the world the author has created for this series with its complex mechanics and geographic specifics. And obviously the laws and rules of its magic. I am a little (read very) afraid for the characters, but I also have hope that there will be a solution that won’t involve carrying it to extremes. Hopefully. Please? Otherwise I might have to apply for bookish therapy.
Are you finishing up a series at the moment, n the middle of one or starting a new one? Or do you (currently) prefer a stand-alone? Let me know in the comments and share your teasers alongside your preferences!
Tuesday, 18 October 2016
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Books And A Beat.
To play along just do the following:
Witch’s Pyre by Josephine Angelini.
A very quick and very emphatic shout-out to this final book in a definitely-not-dusty-stuffy witch trilogy which promises to culminate in a great wonderful showdown. I’m not quite there yet, but the preparations are running at full speed. I also already had one big character shock moment and I don’t know if I’ll be able to stomach another one. Just saying.
I don’t even know how the definition for a this-ended-well-certificate would be in this case, but I’m certainly looking forward to finding out. I have a feeling that there is another twist headed my way.
I’m headed for the Frankfurt Bookfair this week. Have you ever been or are you attending? And if Frankfurt is too far, have you maybe been to another book fair? Let me know about your 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!
Witch’s Pyre by Josephine Angelini.
 |
| Witch’s Pyre – Feiwel & Friends |
I’ve made one or two girls angry enough to throw things at me. Never had a girl try to throw a whole ballroom at me before, though.
— Chapter 3
“Is that the person you want to be?” Juliet asked gently.
“No. But I haven’t figured out how to be anyone else yet.”
— Chapter 4
A very quick and very emphatic shout-out to this final book in a definitely-not-dusty-stuffy witch trilogy which promises to culminate in a great wonderful showdown. I’m not quite there yet, but the preparations are running at full speed. I also already had one big character shock moment and I don’t know if I’ll be able to stomach another one. Just saying.
I don’t even know how the definition for a this-ended-well-certificate would be in this case, but I’m certainly looking forward to finding out. I have a feeling that there is another twist headed my way.
I’m headed for the Frankfurt Bookfair this week. Have you ever been or are you attending? And if Frankfurt is too far, have you maybe been to another book fair? Let me know about your experiences and teasers in the comments!
Tuesday, 11 October 2016
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Books And A Beat.
To play along just do the following:
Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas.
The best kind of books are those that leave you gasping for breath, clutching your poor shredded heart, and wondering how on earth black markings on paper are able to affect you so much. I thought I was prepared. I thought I had girded my metaphorical loins. I thought I could read this and emerge relatively unscathed. I was wrong. I had been warned and I had an inkling, but this book looked at my expectations and tore them to shreds like a wyvern (or seadragon) would a flimsy dinghy.
I don’t usually drop books and whisper “no, no, no” even if I figure out a heavy piece of foreshadowing in advance. Especially not in public. Yet Sarah J. Maas has already made me do this twice. Once I actually threw the book across the reading nook because it really ripped into me ... the writing is so immediate and gripping that you can almost feel and smell the place in addition to seeing it in your head.
Yes, there are issues, but show me the book that doesn’t have a single flaw and is perfect on every account of political correctness, representation, gender, plot holes, you name it ... and I will be probably half asleep by the second page because of it. There is such a thing as analysing a book to death and no book with such an impact deserves that. Critical reading yes, but slaughtering it for the sake of finding flaws no.
What does deserve analysis and praise are the development and direction this series has taken. With the first and second book it started out as a nice, well-written story about an easy to handle cast of characters that I cared for in varying degrees, but from the third and especially fourth book onwards the scope has become so much broader, the cast so much bigger and the overall impression so much deeper. You can clearly see how the author has grown with these books and at the same time (and that is something I truly admire) the foundation for all of this has always been present in the back-stories. I absolutely love how all of it is coming together and adding up. I love this series. Period. And I absolutely hate that it sure as daylight is going to break my heart in one way or another. Or in many ways actually.
Which author have you been following long enough to notice and appreciate their learning curve? Share them and your 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!
Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas.
 |
| Empire of Storms – Bloomsbury |
Rolfe let out a low laugh. “The talk of young idealists and dreamers.”
“The world,” Aelin said, “will be saved and remade by the dreamers, Rolfe.”
— Chapter 28
Because she made a bad choice, trying to heal a wound she couldn’t ever mend. Trying to avenge the people she loved.
— Chapter 60
The best kind of books are those that leave you gasping for breath, clutching your poor shredded heart, and wondering how on earth black markings on paper are able to affect you so much. I thought I was prepared. I thought I had girded my metaphorical loins. I thought I could read this and emerge relatively unscathed. I was wrong. I had been warned and I had an inkling, but this book looked at my expectations and tore them to shreds like a wyvern (or seadragon) would a flimsy dinghy.
I don’t usually drop books and whisper “no, no, no” even if I figure out a heavy piece of foreshadowing in advance. Especially not in public. Yet Sarah J. Maas has already made me do this twice. Once I actually threw the book across the reading nook because it really ripped into me ... the writing is so immediate and gripping that you can almost feel and smell the place in addition to seeing it in your head.
Yes, there are issues, but show me the book that doesn’t have a single flaw and is perfect on every account of political correctness, representation, gender, plot holes, you name it ... and I will be probably half asleep by the second page because of it. There is such a thing as analysing a book to death and no book with such an impact deserves that. Critical reading yes, but slaughtering it for the sake of finding flaws no.
What does deserve analysis and praise are the development and direction this series has taken. With the first and second book it started out as a nice, well-written story about an easy to handle cast of characters that I cared for in varying degrees, but from the third and especially fourth book onwards the scope has become so much broader, the cast so much bigger and the overall impression so much deeper. You can clearly see how the author has grown with these books and at the same time (and that is something I truly admire) the foundation for all of this has always been present in the back-stories. I absolutely love how all of it is coming together and adding up. I love this series. Period. And I absolutely hate that it sure as daylight is going to break my heart in one way or another. Or in many ways actually.
Which author have you been following long enough to notice and appreciate their learning curve? Share them and your teasers in the comments!
Tuesday, 4 October 2016
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Books And A Beat.
To play along just do the following:
Last Seen Leaving by Caleb Roehrig.
This is one of the books where saying just one word too many can ruin the whole surprise so I’ll tread very carefully. I’ll just say that I’m usually not a big fan of crime and thrill books. Not for any particular reason I just don’t really like reading them. And as for everything there has to be an exception and I made mine for this book.
Ask yourself this: How well do you know your partner? Do you really know everything about them? How well do you know them really?
Pretty well one wants to say since you have been together for a while and not without reason. Flynn probably would have said something similar about his girlfriend January ... Until he comes home one evening before Halloween and the police are waiting for him, accusing him to be involved in January’s disappearance.
That he hasn’t seen her for almost a week must be kept secret, because Flynn has a secret of himself that he wants to keep hidden from the police, his parents, and most of all from himself.
But then the search for January comes to an abrupt dead end and evidence appears that January wasn’t exactly the girl Flynn believed her to be. Flynn is determined to find out what happened. Because he feels guilty and because he has to prove that he isn’t the culprit.
I love how fitting one of my favourite Sherlock Holmes quotes is for this book: There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact. Because here nothing is as it seems, everyone has an agenda, and no one can be more mysterious than the person you think you know best.
I have seen comparisons to Gone Girl and Thirteen Reasons Why. They aren’t wrong, but I think this debut can very well stand on its own, too, and shine quite brilliantly.
Which is your no-go genre and have you made an exception for any particular book? Let me know about them and share your 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!
Last Seen Leaving by Caleb Roehrig.
 |
| Last Seen Leaving – Feiwel & Friends |
It was the last time I saw her. They were the last words she spoke to me.
— Chapter 2
My thoughts splintered as I stumbled up the slope, abject fear making an icy slush of my bloodstream, certainty and denial kicking in simultaneously. I told myself no, no it isn’t, it can’t be, no, but I knew.
— Chapter 9
This is one of the books where saying just one word too many can ruin the whole surprise so I’ll tread very carefully. I’ll just say that I’m usually not a big fan of crime and thrill books. Not for any particular reason I just don’t really like reading them. And as for everything there has to be an exception and I made mine for this book.
Ask yourself this: How well do you know your partner? Do you really know everything about them? How well do you know them really?
Pretty well one wants to say since you have been together for a while and not without reason. Flynn probably would have said something similar about his girlfriend January ... Until he comes home one evening before Halloween and the police are waiting for him, accusing him to be involved in January’s disappearance.
That he hasn’t seen her for almost a week must be kept secret, because Flynn has a secret of himself that he wants to keep hidden from the police, his parents, and most of all from himself.
But then the search for January comes to an abrupt dead end and evidence appears that January wasn’t exactly the girl Flynn believed her to be. Flynn is determined to find out what happened. Because he feels guilty and because he has to prove that he isn’t the culprit.
I love how fitting one of my favourite Sherlock Holmes quotes is for this book: There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact. Because here nothing is as it seems, everyone has an agenda, and no one can be more mysterious than the person you think you know best.
I have seen comparisons to Gone Girl and Thirteen Reasons Why. They aren’t wrong, but I think this debut can very well stand on its own, too, and shine quite brilliantly.
Which is your no-go genre and have you made an exception for any particular book? Let me know about them and share your teasers in the comments!
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