AMAZING MUSIC!

Last year I read the book 'Hook and Jill' by Andrea Jones. The book is a story of Neverland and a love story between Captain Hook and Red Handed Jill - the girl who used to be Wendy Darling. Anyway, this isn't about the book. This is about the artist that I found. So for the first time I had a proper look around the authors website and found a link to thisand I fell in love! The first song that I listened to was Part 1 of The Wendy Trilogy. As a rule I am not too fond of guitar music - thanks to my mother trying to learn how to play it when I was younger and listening to the stuff non stop.. But this was amazing! How she tells a story through the whole song...and I couldn't help but listen to it will this very silly smile on my face...It is just so sassy... Her other songs are just as good, my next favourite being Were-Owl. The beat just got into my head and it is so haunting. I went straigh onto Itunes and bought them. Fantastic accidental find!

Outlander Book 1 - Part 3

********SPOILERS********

NO FREAKIN' WAY is that little tramp throwing herself at Jamie? She is!! Girl two words. TIME and PLACE. And after the man has just taken a beating for you absolutely ain't either of those. And she was going to get flogged for the very reason that she is draped over Jamie. HELLOOOOOO!!!!! Do you have a brain lassie? Use it!! That makes me so angry. TRAMP! (Whoops talking about Laoghaire)

I do think that it is very noble (if laughable) of Claire to try and get Jamie and Laoghaire together. Very funny! Especially knowing that Claire and Jamie are going to get together. You can't help but laugh at her matchmaking attempts. Makes me wonder if this is her trying an extreme way of denial. Make the guy unavailable even to her hehe.

Colum's aviary was pretty funky. Can't say I have ever thought of something like that being in a draughty Scottish castle. I liked that little detail.

Geilie was GREAT! I loved her. She was just so funny especially when she was telling Claire about the act that she put on for her husband. I am slightly suspicious of her actions though. Her being 'flushed' from climbing the stairs after leaving Dougal for a start. Uh huh. *wink-wink, nudge-nudge* And then there is the case of the 'bill' that Dougal just happens to be the one to deal with. Yeah whatever.

Ok, I tip my hat to Claire for keeping any kind of higher brain function. If Jamie had followed me into my room and started taking of his shirt I don't think I would be thinking about his injured shoulder. Well...for a second or two anyway *cough* who am I kidding.

KINDLE!!!

I've done it! I've ordered my kindle. Waaaaaaaaaah CAN'T WAIT!!! I very nearly put myself of getting it too when I was sitting reading through the 1 star reviews. Guys don't do that OK? Learn from me. It fills your head with horror stories. But at the end of the day it is a bit of machinery and is going to break down like any car or phone. And then when I decided to ignore the couple of hundred 1 star reviews in favour of the 5 thousand odd 5 star reviews it was a case of deciding which one to get. Don't the decisions ever end? Anyhoo, I decided on the Kindle Wireless Reading Device, Wi-Fi, Graphite, 6" Display with New E Ink Pearl Technology. So that is the one that you need a hotspot to connect to the internet... Eeeeeek. Can't wait!!!

Outlander Book 1 - Post 2

This is me trying to save on a crazy long post at the end. Yeah...It so won't work.

SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will be running my mouth of so, yes, there Will be spoilers!!!!!!!!!!

I think you get the gist.

This is only going to be short to start of with and mainly about one character. Claire's husband Frank. What an idiot!!! I just want to hit him - HARD. So your wife just scolds her hand and swears a bit. Sort out your wife's fried hand before you start making some lame apologies. But he doesn't even try to help her!!!! From Claire's narrative it doesn't seem that he even looked at her hand. GIT!

He seriously needs to get over his own sense of inflated self importance. *grumble, grumble, grumble* And I bet he had an affair during the years that they were separated because of the war! (that is just a guess on my part...but I bet he did)

And the ghosty Scotsman! Talk about setting the scene. Love it!

Sorry a bit over board with the exclamation marks.

I have to read more!

Ahhh, I have to get some more reading done. The size of my to-be-read pile isn't even funny. It's actually pretty depressing. It isn't a pile. Its very nearly 2 book shelves. *gulp*. I will over come them. I have been pretty good though I will point out. I haven't bought a book in weeks. That is a new record for me. I picked up a book looked at it thought 'ooo interesting' and then was very well behaved and put it back down because I knew I had books at home to read.

POWER TO ME!!

Goddess of Legend by P.C. Cast

CONS of the house being too warm
1. Can't sleep
2. An inexplicable urge to have a great big bowl of honey nut corn flakes at 1.15 in the morning

PROS of the house being too warm
Gets lots of reading done - which can never be a bad thing unless you have to be up for work in the morning and instead of being fast asleep in the land of nod you are writing a book review at nearly 1.30am.

On with the book.

I love books based in Camelot and around King Arthur and I can't help but feel justifiably annoyed that the film world is lacking in this area.

So, in this book we have it all. Lancelot, Arthur, Guinevere, the Lady of the Lake, Merlin and Isabel our 21st century heroine who is whisked back in time.

All in all I enjoyed this book. There were some sections where the fan fiction vibes were a bit too strong for me but I could get past them and I still enjoyed the story.

One thing though mainly bugged me - Isabel describes Guinevere as the kind of person that you would really love to hate if she wasn't so nice but I had no difficulty disliking her (up until the end anyway). She was so hypocritical I wanted to reach through the pages and slap some sense into her. It is alright for her to cheat on her husband with Lancelot but how dare Arthur find love with someone else. Uh no! Can anyone else say hypocrite. But I did come to like her by the end when she grew up a little bit and basically got over herself.

The Lady of the Lake and Merlin love story sub plot added a pretty cool slant to things to. Merlin, seeing how things are going to go down hill because of the Lancelot-Guinevere-Arthur triangle puts himself into a magical sleep so that he doesn't have to watch the people he loves being destroyed. This is all well and good. But then he leaved behind the Lady of the Lake (Water Goddess) who loves him and vows that she will set things right so that he will come back to her. Awwww ain't that just lovely?

Anyway, that's were Isabel comes in, who gets whisked into the mix when she crashes her car into a lake and is dying and fits the criteria of the spell that the Water Goddess had cast to get another woman to enter the picture so that the Lancelot-Guinevere-Arthur triangle is no longer a triangle.

And so the story begins.

I have only read one other book by P.C. Cast and that was 'Divine by Mistake' and I have to admit that I like her style of story. At least the 2 that I have read so far anyway. Having the story focused on an older women who has lived her life and has made mistakes and all that jazz is refreshing and makes a hugely nice change from YA.

One thing that kind of caught me was when someone from Camelot mentioned 'making a pass'. Now I could be wrong but I didn't think they would talk like that in ye olde Camelot...But I could be wrong?

Arthur's insecurities as he and Isabel enter their relationship was pretty darn cute - as having Guinevere cheat on him had left him with some doubts. I just thought this was a nice touch.

The supporting characters were fun and colourful and really helped to flesh out the story with their actions.

I have the next 2 in the Goddess Summoning series on my shelf and I can't wait to read them.

Its a toss up for the stars. Not quite 4 I think...Soooo 3.5 out of 5 it is.

Now I had better go to sleep...zzzzzzzzzzz

Started Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Oh my goodness!

How could I have forgotten how addictive this book is. I first read this about 5 years ago but didn't really bother with the rest of the series after getting (I think) about half way through the second.

But now, I am looking for a good series to get into (*cough*escapism*cough*) and this was really the first one that came to mind. And since I can't really remember the ins and out (in other words ANY) of the story I figured it would be a great opportunity to re-read.

Audio Book - I am not a great fan of listening to audio books, especially when you get a reader who just out you to sleep after the first three words. Not a good idea if you are driving and staying awake is a must. Hmm... I also can't help but feel that it is cheating a little bit - but I have quickly got over that as sometimes it is just more practical to plug myself into my earphones (saves me burning myself on the iron too)But the audio for this is great. I am switching in between reading and listening and have only really listened to about 20 minutes of it on my i-pod. But guys, the reader is great. And the Scottish accents are AMAZING! I would absolutely recommend this audio to anyone!

Anyway, back to the addiction. As soon as I started listening/reading I just couldn't stop. Oh, another thing I should point out is that I HATE first person narrative. Which is kind of sucky for the books that are out now since they all seem to be written like that. But I really don't mind it for this book. The narrative just sort of sucked me in from the beginning. So that is another thing it has in it's favour. Eeek, so anyway, back to the reading. I think I will be posting as I go along for this one. Save on a crazy long post at the end. Onwards we go...

The book that may have just killed my love for YA fiction for a while...

*THIS IS ONLY MY PERSONAL OPINION*

I think that this book may have just succeeded in putting me off YA fiction for a little while. I couldn't even bring myself to finish it. In fact I am getting irritated just thinking about it as I type.

Uh!

I was finding this book really hard to get into from the get go and I kept looking at it, hoping it would read itself without any input from me. Unfortunaelty it doesn't work like that. So I grabbed the bull by the horns (or the book by the binding) and was determined to sit down and not stop until I had finished this book. HAH! it didn't work...

So why couldn't I finish this book?

Well I was going to push myself to get it read and out the way until I hit page 207(ish)! DUDE!

So you are reading long, la de da de da. And then you get to 'I lead him...upstairs'. Say what? Hold the phone. Two seconds ago (and I mean 2 seconds ago. 2 seconds ago as in on the opposite page, 2 seconds ago!)you were having your first kiss and suddenly you are jumping into bed with him. Uh, nope, sorry. The lameness of the story I could have dealt with but this bit was just too much. I mean don't get me wrong there isn't anything graphic about it. As in NOTHING is described. And unless you made the mental jump when we find him kissing her bare shoulder the next morning you wouldn't think anything has happened. But it was just the way it was kind of thrown in there and it makes absolutely zero sense to me. Maybe it will make some kind of random sense by the end of the book, but considering that I could hardly even bring myself to read it before and then that bit just completely threw me for a loop I ain't waisting any more of my time reading this, that's for sure.

Maybe this just means that I am too old for YA fiction. *shrug*. I can usually look past the teenage angst in YA if I like the story but even my angst blinkers weren't working right for this one.

I think I will read a book were at least it makes sense when things happen.

Well...there's a few hours of my life gone that I will never get back...

Whoops - had to come back and put this bit in. The book was Siren by Tricia Rayburn. And tht was 1 star peeps because I couldn't finish it.

My favourite books from primary school or the rubbish I write when in book withdrawal

This isn't going to be an actual book review, book review. This is the result of boredom and being unable to get into the book I am currently reading. It is just going to be me having wee trip down memory lane and a wee think about what my favourite books were as a kid, since when I am asked these kind of questions (you know what I mean? It seems to be the standard question that you get when you are at school sitting in a boring English class and you have to write your autobiography...Just don't ask me about my first day of school because I obviously didn't think it was that exciting at the time and can't remember any of it) I can never answer them. So I figured that now was as good a time as any.

Think, think, think.

I was a Roald Dahl kid. I remember that my primary school library had a scabby hard back with it's cover falling off and many interesting stains on it and in this book were three Roald Dahl novels. 'Matilda', 'The BFG' and 'George's Marvelous Medicine'. Even at the grand old age of eight I figured the thicker the book the better!

Out of all of these The BFG is the one that has stuck with me. In fact I can still watch the film and get totally freaked and have nightmares. Isn't it funny how your mind works and how things stay with you? But back to the book. It is just such a great story and the BFG is just so lovable I couldn't help but like him.

A main weakness of mine when I was at primary school was reading the novelised versions of Disney films. I loved it especially when little bits of what the characters were thinking were included - things that weren't all too obvious in the films anyway. I thought that was great. And it as that which in a round about way lead me to reading the original novels like 'Tarzan', 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame', and 'The Jungle Book' stories.

I quickly discovered the science fiction shelves at my local public library and one of my favourites that I read (and thanks to eBay is now on my to be read shelf) was 'Acorna - The Unicorn Girl' by Anne McAffrey and Margaret Ball. I loved this book. The very idea of a girl a cross between a unicorn and a human was amazing to my young mind and I lapped it up. And I will admit to being shallow enough that the front cover got me to pick it up. Despite being a science fiction novel it just had fantasy written all over it. I am feeling a little apprehensive about reading this again though in case it doesn't live up to how I remember it... But I have since discovered that there is a whole collection of books in this series so I think I will read it and hope for the best.

Next in line was when a fiend of my mums let me raid her book shelves and I found the abridged version of 'Jane Eyre' by Charlotte Bronte. You know, the kind that sits at about 180 pages, and has all the hells and damns blanked out like this h---, d--- - pretty funny actually. I quickly discovered that I had been cheated and skipped about to my local Bargain Books and got the penguin classic. After that ever so faithful first copy died I had to get a pretty new one which is still bravely holding on.
(Left - first 'proper' copy of Jane Eyre. Middle - the 'cheat' version. Right - pretty new version (isn't it pretty))

The only other book that I can think of with any sort of fondness is 'What Katy Did Next' by Susan Coolidge. The 'Katy' books are actually on my to be read list also along with the 'Acorna' series.

So that is it for this boredom induced post. I suppose I had better try again to get into 'Siren' again...

Perchance to Dream by Lisa Mantchev

Blurb

Growing up in the enchanted Thèâtre Illuminata, Beatrice Shakespeare Smith learned
everything about every play ever written. She knew the Players and their parts,
but she didn’t know
that she, too, had magic. Now, she is the Mistress of Revels, the Teller of
Tales, and determined to follow her stars. She is ready for the outside world.

Enter BERTIE AND COMPANY

But the outside world soon proves more topsy-turvy than any stage production. Bertie can make
things happen by writing them, but outside the protective walls of the Thèâtre, nothing goes as
planned. And her magic cannot help her make a decision between—

Nate: Her suave and swashbuckling pirate, now in mortal peril.

Ariel: A brooding, yet seductive, air spirit whose true motives remain
unclear.

When Nate is kidnapped and taken prisoner by the Sea Goddess, only
Bertie can free him. She and her fairy sidekicks embark on a journey aboard the Thèâtre’s caravan,using Bertie’s word magic to guide them. Along the way, they collect a sneak-thief, who has in his possession something most valuable, and meet The
Mysterious Stranger, Bertie’s father—and the creator of the scrimshaw medallion.
Bertie’s dreams are haunted by Nate, whose love for Bertie is keeping him alive,
but in the daytime, it’s Ariel who is tantalizingly close, and the one she is
falling for.

Who does Bertie love the most? And will her magic be powerful enough to
save her once she enters the Sea Goddess’s lair?


Theatre Illuminata Act 2

Yet another amazing novel. I nearly pounced on the mail man when it arrived at my door!

This picks up just were the first book finished as Bertie, Ariel, Peaseblossom, Moth, Mustardseed and Cobweb all leave the theater in search of Nate - of course meeting up with all sorts of characters along the way - because after all, nothing is simple is it. 

Once again all of the characters burst from the page and the fairies were always there for the laugh-out-loud moments when things threatened to get a little serious.

The wonky love triangle of the first book is no longer wonky but SOLID as Bertie finds herself with both Nate and Ariel in love with her. This situation does lead to a rather funny scenario (or maybe it's just me and my ability to be easily amused at the expense of others) Poor girl - 17 years old and with 2 husbands....Hmmm who am I kidding I don't even have a boyfriend :). But really, couldn't one of them have bad breath, black teeth, pimples and a horrible personality! It would make deciding on which one I like better far easier. But no. They are both so nice, and they both care for Bertie and want to keep her safe...Awwww. 

The whole book was almost like living a dream with strangenesses and bizarre scenarios ready to pounce at you from all sides - which I thoroughly enjoyed because I couldn't predict where the story was going to go next.

I can not wait for the third (boo hoo hooo - weeps hysterically and laptop begins to send of sparks - whoops not good)  book. 

Once again 5/5

(And another fabulous front cover - they are just sooo beautiful)

Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev (Act 1 of the Theatre Illuminata)

All her world’s a stage.

Bertie Shakespeare Smith is not an actress, yet she lives in a theater.

She’s not an orphan, but she has no parents.

She knows every part, but she has no lines of her own.

That is, until now.

Enter Stage Right

NATE. Dashing pirate. Will do anything to protect Bertie.

COBWEB, MOTH, MUSTARD SEED, and PEASEBLOSSOM. Four tiny and incredibly annoying fairies. BERTIE’S sidekicks.

ARIEL. Seductive air spirit and Bertie’s weakness. The symbol of impending doom.

BERTIE. Our heroine.

Welcome to the Théâtre Illuminata, where the actors of every play ever written can be found behind the curtain. They were born to play their parts, and are bound to the Théâtre by The Book—an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of them, but they are her family—and she is about to lose them all and the only home she has ever known.

Lisa Mantchev has written a debut novel that is dramatic, romantic, and witty, with an irresistible and irreverent cast of characters who are sure to enchant the audience.

Open Curtain

I loved this book! In fact, I think I loved it that much that I have no complaints at all.

Usually I don't like reading hardback books because a) they are so dang expensive and b) they are just so hard to hold, You can't exactly curl up properly with a hardback. But this book converted me. First it was amazing and second it has such a gorgeous front cover and it just so pretty to look at.

This is the second time that I have read this as it was a re-read for this year because the third book will be coming out in September *happy fan dance*. One of the funny things about this book is that although I loved every page of it I can never explain the story line to someone when I try to tell them what it is about. On the surface it seems to simple but then when you get to the end you realise just how much has gone on.

Beatrice Shakespeare Smith (Bertie) is a fantastic heroine who comes into her own and doesn't need to be rescued. She gets herself into trouble and tries her best to get herself out of it again. She has such a colourful personality that jumped out at me and it came through reliantly in the way that she expresses herself. She is confident and witty, things I wish I had been as a teen.

Nate, a pirate from The Little Mermaid and Ariel, a spirit from The Tempest are great as corners to the obvious growing love triangle and their dislike for each other was fun to read. They also flesh out the story, giving another level to the story which made it that much more interesting to read as both of them clearly had their own feelings and issues.

The four fairies from A Midsummer Night's Dream - Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth and Mustard - had me laughing out loud more than once at their cheekiness, and they were great as Bertie's partners in crime and comic relief. Expect funny looks if you are reading this in a doctors waiting room.

The very idea of a theatre where every character from every play ever written is alive is such a fun concept but the twists and turns of the story line kept me reading from page to page and dying to know what was going to happen next and there was the added magic of the whole book being set within one building. A building that seems to be a character in itself.

5 out of 5!! And I can't wait to get my hands on the third book in September.

Oh, and on a side note I actually listened to about 75% of this book as an audio while driving. It was great. It isn't just one reader - oh no - it is a full cast of readers. With music to bridge scene changes and great readers for the parts. It brought a whole load of colour to thhis already fantastic book and I would love it if the other books in the series where recorded in the same way!

The Infinite Wisdom of Harriet Rose by Diana Janney

I loved this book. The one regret I have is that it took me so long to read. This book had been sitting on my shelf for the best part of three years - if not more - before I finally read it.

Harriet and her family were a joy to read about. The situations that Harriet constantly found herself in where both hilarious and cringingly real. One of the main things that I loved about her as a character though was that she didn't really care what people thought, as most of the time she didn't understand why they thought the way they did anyway. An example of this was when she told a girl at school that she was going on holiday with her mother and grandmother. The girl found this funny but Harriet didn't see the problem since she gets on fine with her them - so why shouldn't she go on holiday with them? I wish that the world of school was made up of more people like her.

I usually don't like books geared around young female lead that fit into the YA genre (despite reading them - yes, I know, strange, but never mind) because of the way that they are often portrayed. Shallow, I-like-this-boy-he-doesn't-like-me-but-by-the-end-of-the-book-you-know-we-are-going-to-be-together, kind of girls. You know what I mean. But all the way through this I knew that the leading man of the story liked Harriet but due to the dastardly scheming of Charlotte Goldman - Harriet's arch enemy - they hardly get to be together. I would have enjoyed it so much more if we had got to see more of Harriet and Jean Claude.

The book was filled with little moments and views that had me snickering quite happily to myself (another book I was happy to not be reading in public) and Harriet's unique opinions were great to read. It was good to see how she dealt with things throughout the book. She was fine with being reasonably invisible and trudging through her days but then when her book is published she deals with each day as it comes and does what she has to - though still having some realistic emotions throughout the novel.

Favourite line of the book (page 373) - Fourteen was too young to be disillusioned. You needed a string of broken relationships and a weight crisis for that.

Harriet's grandmother was fun to read as was her mother. Both of them were unstoppable once they had got it into their heads to make Harriet famous and they dealt with any obstacle that came their way.

Charlotte made the perfect 'baddy' of the peace. Smarmy, snooty, nasty...just evil, but with everyone else wrapped so tightly around her finger they can't see it.

Jean Claude was adorable. The perfect gentlemen, though I think a little bit more of him couldn't have gone amiss.

Over all 5 out of 5. I would love to read another Harriet story, but I don't think that will be happening unfortunately, but I will be on the look out anyway.