Teaser Tuesday: The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

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 Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness.

The Knife of Never Letting Go –
Walker

You cheat even if you don’t mean to and everybody means to.
And then one day Mayor Prentiss decided to burn all the books, every single one of them, even the ones in men’s homes, cuz apparently books were detrimental as well
— Chapter 2

A knife says yes or no, cut or not, die or don’t. A knife takes a decision out of your hand and puts it in the world and it never goes back again.
— Chapter 8

Suddenly I sat there with a 1000+ pages trilogy and I can’t quite say how that happened. I’ll have to admit that the sheer size of it is daunting, especially considering that my grammar-perfectionist brain is silently suffer-struggling against the writing. Maybe if I didn’t know more about English language rules than I probably do about my native language ... maybe not. I’m not far enough along to say anything substantial about the book or the series apart from mentioning that the style is definitely something of an acquired taste and that the idea puts an interesting spin on the dystopian theme. (I also realise that I’m somewhat late to the party as the first book was published in 2008 and already received a bunch of prizes.)

Let me know if you have read the Chaos Walking trilogy and what you thought about it. And let’s hear about your teasers in the comments.

Teaser Tuesday: This Is What Happy Looks Like 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!

This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith.

This Is What Happy Looks Like –
Poppy

Childhood memories were like airplane luggage; no matter how far you were traveling or how long you needed them to last, you were only ever allowed two bags. And while those bags might hold a few hazy recollections—a diner with a jukebox at the table, being pushed on a swing set, the way it felt to be picked up and spun around—it didn’t seem enough to last a whole lifetime.
— Chapter 7

He didn’t want to be half asleep the first time he kissed Ellie. For that, he wanted to be wide awake.
— Chapter 10

How many spam mails do you get ... should I say per day or per week? In my case, I would have to say per week because that’s about as often as I check mine to see if I missed something. And with that I’m more than unlikely to find myself in a story like this. Well that and the fact that my address isn’t a slightly obscure combination of letters and numbers. But imagine you got a legitimate not spam mail from a stranger. Would you be curious about the content? Would you write back?
This is a really cute and nonthreatening romance. A falling-in-love-story. Maybe a little too forced at some points in terms of plot, but that’s quite easy to accept within the overall feel of the book. And the writing is beautiful. A great comfort-read which I would have loved to go on for a little longer, if only for the reason that I didn’t want to leave the two protagonists to themselves just yet, to see more of their happiness.

Have you ever missent an email (and did you get a reply)? Or have you responded to a missent email? Tell me about your email stories or just your teaser choice in the comments.

Teaser Tuesday: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

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!

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell.

Eleanor & Park –
St. Martin’s Press

Park noticed the new girl at about the same time everybody else did. She was standing at the front of the bus, next to the first available seat.
— Chapter 1

There was something about the music on that tape. It felt different. Like, it set her lungs and her stomach on edge. There was something exciting about it, and something nervous. It made Eleanor feel like everything, like the world, wasn’t what she’d thought it was. And that was a good thing. That was the greatest thing.
— Chapter 2

Welcome back and a slightly belated happy 2014. I hope the first couple of weeks have treated you well enough. I had everything on my mind but the Internet for the past week, but I hope you’ll forgive me. I read this over the break because I’d heard so many good things about it. And it is good. The writing is beautiful and the characters are just so likable in their outcast way. It also has the amazing 80s charm complete with mix tapes and vinyl records. I liked it a lot, very much so. I believe in this love story: it’s not elaborate or achingly sweet or over the top incredible, but very realistic and sweet and ... I don’t want to say wholesome because that would make it sound like healthy food, but it is so refreshingly not love at first sight. I understand why so many love it. This book deserves to be loved.

What did you read the last few weeks? Let’s hear from you in the comments with your teasers.

Teaser Tuesday: World After by Susan Ee

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!

World After by Susan Ee.

World After – Skyscape

My sister’s face changes instantly from a blank slate to a growling animal as she snaps at the man. Her razor-grafted teeth flash as she moves, emphasizing the threat.
— Chapter 1

Paige and I are used to being stared at. I would just ignore it while Paige always smiled at the gawkers from her wheelchair. They almost always smiled back. Paige’s charm was hard to resist.
Once upon a time.
— Chapter 2

This series has the main title Penryn and the End of Days and considering the feeling one currently gets while entering the vicinity of any shopping outlet (or just attempting travel, but that might just be me – I have seriously bad karma when it comes to trains) I found this oddly fitting. Not because of the post-apocalyptic scenario, it has not come this far ... I hope. But the contrast of these angels with the angel-stores that are also in high demand at this time of year. I’m not very far into this second book at the moment but I hope that it will pick up a little on the plot side and clear up a few holes I noticed in book one. I think this could be a great scenario as the narration itself is already very good. There are only a few plot issues that could have used as little smoothing in book one, but maybe they’ll be covered in this second book. The beginnig makes me very optimistic that I’ll enjoy this.

This will be my last regular post of 2013 ... I’ll hopefully find the time during the holidays for a recap/best-of list like last year. In the meantime, let me wish you all a very merry Christmas if you celebrate it. Have a great week and please share what you are reading in the comments.

Teaser Tuesday: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

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 Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown –
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

The Ten Most Important Things To Bring To Coldtown

1. Cash and lots of it. You can barter for lots of things inside, but cash is still the most important tool for bribing guards and getting what you want. You’ve been saving up, right? Bring every last penny. It’s not like you’re coming back.
...
10. A buddy. Trust me, you’ll need one.
— Chapter 14

I promised myself a treat for my Christmas break. And then I decided to take a peek and see if there were any teasers to share within the first few pages. There would have been. I could have teased you from here to Sunday, but that would have meant putting down the book. This is a forced break at the beginning of chapter 14 because it’s a break in the narration as well and it also shows what you can expect from this book. I adore Holly Black’s writing and as you can see it sucked (pun sort of intended) me right in. Other people might suffer from insomnia, but I don’t think I’m fooling anyone.

Most likely this won't last until Christmas ... it’ll be a miracle if I don’t finish this by tomorrow. Share your teasers in the comments, I’ll be in need of something to last me on a 7+ hour train journey on Saturday. Happy Tuesday, and best wishes for your pre-Christmas week.