Teaser Tuesday: Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins

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!

Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins.

Isla and the Happily Ever After –
Dutton Children’s Books

I am hard on myself. But isn’t it better to be honest about these things before someone else can use them against you? Before someone else can break your heart? Isn’t it better to break it yourself? I thought honesty made people strong.
— Chapter 27

“Ugh, then who cares? You won’t lose anything you haven’t already lost.” She flicks a snowflake from the tip of my nose. “For once in your life, listen to your younger sister. She’s taller, and she knows better than you.”
— Chapter 30

First things first: It’s pronounced Eye-la ... like the first syllable of island. And now that we have that out of the way, secondly a confession: I still like Anna and the French Kiss best out of this series, but that is simple bias for the fish-out-of-water-experience the protagonist has in that book. Isla is firmly settled into her boarding school life and thus you won’t get the beautiful exploration phase of Paris in this book. Here you get the equally beautiful phase of two people quite freely admitting that they like each other and then encounter obstacles and manage them. I liked that the two didn’t have lengthy “does the other person like me at all moments” but that this story addresses the “does the other person love and accept me enough to overcome these problems”.
And the cameos of the other two couples cleverly gave both of them a great conclusion. I couldn’t stop smiling when I read that part. There were other parts of this book when I had to put it down and walk away for a few moments for love to hate this reasons, but I basically read this book in one sitting. An engrossing feel-good read with none of the shallow vapidity.
You can read this book without having read the other two books. But if you plan on reading those as well, I strongly recommend that you read them in order.

No creative question this week, just plain asking you to share your teasers in the comments. And if you celebrate this week: happy Thanksgiving to you!

Teaser Tuesday: Team Human by Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan

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!

Team Human by Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan.

Team Human – HarperTeen

Let’s examine what a prize that is one more time: no more direct sunlight ever again, no more laughter. You get eternity, but you don’t have the sense of humor to enjoy it! Also, vampires don’t eat food. You never get to eat chocolate again. Ever.
I’d rather die.
— Chapter 4

But I couldn’t tell Cathy about Francis’s undead love-weasel ways. Anyway, this was more proof that Francis really was too old for her.
It truly was for her own good.
Agreeing with Francis gave me a stomachache, so I sat there and made a face.
— Chapter 9

As I’m currently reading a few books that won’t be out until late next year and I don’t quite want to tease you too badly, I picked up a random favourite author ... and look, I got a 2 for 1 deal! You might have noticed that I absolutely adore Sarah Rees Brennan and would possibly read a shopping list she wrote with similar enthusiasm to her other writings because I can’t imagine that it would be dull. In this book Sarah and Justine Larbalestier combine their genius to poke some good-natured fun at vampires and their often doe-eyed love interests. All in the name of saving humanity and rational thinking ... or something like that. And on top of that you get a really cool main character in a story that can be read as quite thought-provoking. But I dare you not to laugh or chuckle at least once while you’re reading.

Would you be the one who dates a vampire or the one who tries to convince the friend that there are more viable options? Share ideas and teasers in the comments.

Teaser Tuesday: The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan

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 Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan.

The Blood of Olympus –
Disney Hyperion

“Of course we’re not cool! You’re as bad as Jason! I’m trying to resent you for being all perfect and hero-y and whatnot. Then you go and act like a standup guy. How am I supposed to hate you if you apologize and promise to help and stuff?”
— Chapter 12

Your voice is your identity, he’d told Reyna. If you don’t use it, you’re halfway to Asphodel already.
He hated when his own advice applied to himself.
— Chapter 29

The story how Rick Riordan first entered my reading-consciousness is in itself quite entertaining ... or so I think. It all started a few years ago with Christmas approaching and my best friend asking me what I wanted – or rather, which book I wanted – she knows me quite well, after all. I hadn’t really thought about presents for myself (an eternal problem for said best friend) and so I scrolled through book recommendations of a certain unnamed online retailer. I had recently bought something or other about Greek mythology and I kept getting recommendations about this Percy Jackson guy ... I told my friend that she could choose between a list and threw Percy on there as well. And for a reason I don’t know she purchased a boxed set of the first three books. I read them all over Christmas break and then made my tutoring kid (reluctant reader if you’ve ever seen one) read them (in English, which I was coaching him in). He loved them and we found out that there were two more books to be published ... I had never seen this boy so anxious for me to bring him a reading assignment. I also had to explain that there is a certain amount of waiting involved between two books because the next might not be written yet. And seem patient to wait even if I was anything but.
Fast forward to today: My former pupil no longer needs my help but he just finished the book and we had a really good chat about it. Not in English, but at least he read it in English (good thing his impatience won against waiting for the translation). We both loved the book and are happy/sad to see the conclusion of this series. Percy and the other Demigods have accompanied us through quite a few years and it’s a little bit like saying farewell to really good friends. The finale was almost everything I hoped it would be. Close enough to perfection to be called perfect. There is the matter of Apollo, which I’m uncertain about and which might need some clearing up, but maybe that’s just me. I would have loved to see a bit more of some characters, but I understand why I didn’t and that’s okay. I don’t know if there is any more to tell about the Greek (and Roman) demigod world, yet I hope that this isn’t the last we’ve seen of them. In that sense: αντίο and vale, demigods.

Do you have stories of how a book/author/series entered your life? Share them along with your teasers.

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.