Books are Wonderful

"I have a dream,” he said slowly. “I persist in dreaming it, although it has often seemed..."

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 17:33:15 -0400

““I have a dream,” he said slowly. “I persist in dreaming it, although it has often seemed to me that it could never come true. I dream of a home with a heart-fire in it, a cat and a dog, the footsteps of friends — and you!””

- Gilbert to Anne - Anne of the Island by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Win a Winter Queen eBook and a $25 Amazon Gift Card! Since...

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 09:52:00 -0400

Win a Winter Queen eBook and a $25 Amazon Gift Card!

Since I’ve been highlighting it all week, I thought that perhaps it’s about time to do a giveaway! I haven’t done one of these in a while.

The winner will be chosen by Rafflecopter and will receive 1 Kindle eBook version of Winter Queen by Amber Argyle and a $25 Amazon Gift Card.

To enter you can tweet every day or post a comment. Be sure to log your progress below! Contest ends on July 1st!

Winter Queen Giveaway on Rafflecopter

10 Literary Restaurants for Hungry Book Nerds Around the World

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 13:26:15 -0400

10 Literary Restaurants for Hungry Book Nerds Around the World:

What’s even better than drinking while reading? Eating while reading, of course (hint: you can have a drink, too). With the news that Biblio, a book-themed eatery, was popping up in Williamsburg, F…

Review: Winter Queen by Amber Argyle Winter Queen is the first...

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 08:00:56 -0400

Review: Winter Queen by Amber Argyle

Winter Queen is the first book in Amber Argyle’s new series and I think it’s pretty great!

It’s a high fantasy novel, set in a land that’s divided into clans. Each clan produces unique products that they trade with each other. They are a relatively peaceful bunch and their main threat are the raiders. When Ilyenna (the Shyle clan mistress), her father and brother were out riding they find a wounded man from the neighbouring Argon clan lying half dead in the snow. The Argon clan was attacked by the Tyron clan and this sparked a war between the Shyle and Tyron clans during which Ilyenna is mortally wounded.

Hidden in the forest, Ilyenna is visited by the winter fairies who heal her wounds for the price of becoming their queen. Ilyenna, not wanting to abandon her clan, chooses to stay with her people, going into slavery to save them, where she’s taken to the Tyron clan and where she meets the Argon slaves (or tiams) and Rone, the Argon clan master, her brother’s best friend and her love interest.

Unlike her first two books, Winter Queens has a lot of physical violence and while it’s not extremely graphic, it’s graphic enough to cause me to cringe. Ilyenna is mistreated in the Tyron camp, she’s beaten and almost raped. Darrien (the Tyron clan master’s son) brutally beats one of his housemaids - who is pregnant. Personally I thought there was way too much violence for me, however, I appreciated the way that Amber handled the story, it wasn’t as gory as it could have potentially been.

I liked Ilyenna well enough, she was a strong and sensible protagonist, even though her reactions to Rone were sometimes groan-worthy; but I’ll forgive her, we often do silly things for love. I liked that the politics in the story wasn’t complex, but it wasn’t simplistic either. The only part that was a bit confusing was the fantasy aspect of the story. The focus was mainly on the human world and when the fairies did come into play it sometimes seemed disjointed. I would have liked to see more of their world and understand more of the Winter vs Summer aspects, but I’m assuming we’ll see more of that in the next installment.

Publisher: Starling Books || Details →

Get the book on → Amazon || Barnes & Noble || Books A Million

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An excerpt from Amber Argyle’s Winter Queen 3. Blood and...

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 13:00:47 -0400

An excerpt from Amber Argyle’s Winter Queen

3. Blood and Ashes

Blood seemed to follow Ilyenna everywhere. When she fell into dreams, she drowned in a river of it. Whenever she blinked, crimson light leaked through her closed eyelids. Even now, the predawn sky was stained the color of bloody water. No matter how many times she scrubbed her hands, she couldn’t rinse the hurt from her soul.

With tears stinging her eyes, she lay slumped against the window, blankets wrapped around her. She relished the cold against her aching head as she watched tiny frost flakes fall from the sky. For a moment, she thought they were really winter fairies dancing and spinning on the breeze—fairies who should have long ago given up winter and returned to their homes in the far north.

But that was ridiculous. Even if they were fairies, mere mortals could never see through their glamour. She sniffed and wiped her eyes. The Balance was seriously off when the seasons failed to shift and one clan turned on another. It had been two days since the Argons had arrived. She’d been unable to sleep that night. Sometime in the darkest hours, an idea had formed in her mind. A dangerous one. But after two days of people dying…

Bratton moaned and shifted in his bed. After extracting herself from her blankets, Ilyenna went to check on him. He still burned with fever. She leaned over the other bed. Her father was so unnaturally still, no matter how hard she had struggled to wake him, no matter how many medicines and treatments she had tried.

He was worse than ever. They both were. Ilyenna had been healing since she was old enough to thread a needle. She knew how close she was to losing both of them. In the end, that made the choice for her. Before she could change her mind, she tiptoed through the clan house so as not to wake the Argons scattered everywhere.

When she reached the hall where the most severely wounded were kept, she nearly gagged. The air was rank with garlic, whiskey, and a myriad of body odors. Hiking up her skirt, she stepped over a slumbering woman, her arms clutching her child—even in sleep, she was afraid to let go.

Just before Ilyenna reached the door, she caught sight of the old man with the amputated foot. He was dead. All she could feel was relief that there was one less mouth to feed. She covered his face so as not to frighten the children. “So passes a warrior,” she whispered. “So passes an Argon.”

Brushing the death from her hands, she stood. She’d have to remember to call one of the men to haul him out.

She entered the kitchen and fed the fire. Having the refugees in her home left her feeling like she slept under too many blankets. And the dying hadn’t slowed. If anything, it had increased. Already a line of shrouded, frozen bodies waited for the ground to thaw so they could be buried behind the clan house. But Bratton was right. Ilyenna couldn’t worry about burying the dead until the living had the time and strength to dig the graves.

Without waiting for the fire to take off, she wrapped her coat over her dress, braced herself against the cold, and stepped outside. The cold immediately took her breath away.

When Ilyenna was a child, Great-aunt Enrid had told her stories of the constant battle between the queens of winter and summer—two women on opposite sides of the Balance. In winter, the summer queen was always forced to retreat to her personal domain far to the south. A place where summer never faded, where no one ever died of cold and where food was always fresh.

Ilyenna thought if she ever came to such a place, she’d never return to her home in the mountains. She hated winter, hated the

sickness, hunger, and death it brought. It had tried to break her once. She’d vowed it would never come so close again.

She trudged through the snow to the slight rise behind the clan house. There, snow-covered mounds dotted the hillside far back into the trees. A graveyard was a link between the living and the dead, and she had to speak with her mother. Twilight or morning was best. The dead were tied to night’s side of the Balance, as the living were tied to the day’s. She stopped at her mother’s grave.

“Mother…” She hesitated. It was dangerous to seek the dead’s attention. Dangerous because they might just decide Ilyenna should join them. “I need you to let Father and Bratton stay with me. I know you miss them. I know you long for them. But I–I’m not strong enough to lead the clan by myself. Please. If you hold any sway with death, let it pass them over.”

Wondering if she’d been heard, Ilyenna waited. Nothing happened. It was said that the dead no longer understood the living’s fondness for life. Ilyenna’s mother had died trying to save her. Perhaps it was selfish to ask for more. Perhaps Matka wouldn’t understand why Ilyenna wished her father and brother to remain in a world of cold and cruelty.

But she had watched so many die. She couldn’t bear to see her father and brother join them. As she turned to go, a small shadow fell across her. But that was impossible; the sun had yet to rise. She glanced at the sky. Frost was still falling, but one of the flakes was acting strangely, almost as if it was moving of its own will.

Ilyenna stared as it zipped and twisted, moving horizontally instead of downward as falling frost was meant to. But it moved so fast and erratically, Ilyenna kept losing sight of it. She started when she felt a strange pressure at her feet.

In the hollows of the snow, shadows boiled like cauldrons of vapors. Ilyenna’s breath caught in her throat. The shadows surged and spilled over her feet like smoke, then stretched up, reaching for her. She cried out as they crawled up her body, covering her like a second skin.

Ilyenna scrubbed at her arms, trying to remove the shadows, but they clung to her. Her heart thudded painfully in her chest as

she stumbled and fell back into the snow. Suddenly the shadows returned to the ground. She pulled her sleeves up, revealing her pale skin, no shadows in sight.

She scrambled to her feet and ran from the graveyard. At the clan house, she hurried past Enrid and went straight upstairs to her father. She knelt beside him, pressing her fingers to his face. He shifted away from her cold touch.

Moving to the other bed, she touched her brother. His fever had broken and his color was better. Relief warred with horror inside Ilyenna. She pressed her hands into her stomach and doubled over. It was never a good idea to attract the attention of the dead. But if she was careful, perhaps they would forget about her.

Besides, she’d had no choice.

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The Actual ‘73 Giving Tree Movie Spoken By Shel...

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 12:36:26 -0400

The Actual ‘73 Giving Tree Movie Spoken By Shel Silverstein

I’m a bit baffled that some of these “for...

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 10:48:23 -0400

I’m a bit baffled that some of these “for Dummies” titles actually exist!

Omnivoracious: Uncharted Waters: Joe Hill Explores Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 14:24:28 -0400

Omnivoracious: Uncharted Waters: Joe Hill Explores Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane:

neil-gaiman:

Editors Note: As you’ll see from the first line of his introduction through to his last fantastic question, horror author Joe Hill has tremendous respect for Neil Gaiman’s work. In this exclusive discussion of Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End…

WARNING: This wonderful piece/interview by Joe Hill does contains spoilers — or at least information on things that happen in the book. But it also ends with a pancake recipe, which makes it the weirdest interview I’ve ever done. If you make the pancakes let me know how you get on…

explore-blog: In this lovely animated short from Blank on Blank...

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 12:36:50 -0400

explore-blog:

In this lovely animated short from Blank on Blank – who have previously given us David Foster Wallace on ambition and perfectionism – beloved children’s author Maurice Sendak, born on June 10, 1928, reflects on being a kid and the lifelong grip of anxiety.

Pair with this beautiful letter to Sendak from his legendary editor, the great Ursula Nordstrom, and his posthumous love letter to the world.

Amber Argyle talks about her new book, Winter Queen 1. Where did...

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 12:00:48 -0400

Amber Argyle talks about her new book, Winter Queen

1. Where did you come up with the setting for Winter Queen?

Amber: I wanted something with abrupt mountains and alpine meadows. A rocky, cold environment that made surviving a challenge, but which also provided protection from any marauding forces. Basically, a landscape that made characters as tough as it was.

I also wanted a place where winter was a dark and deadly presence, signaling the end of warmth and light. All this so my character would hate winter and see it as a sort of evil. When she’s presented with the opportunity to save her people from a war they cannot win, she must turn to this dark force to save them.

I even searched out old maps and Pinterest for such places and found Triglav National Park in Slovenia (there are lots of hints of this throughout the novel, but they are buried pretty deeply). Check out my Winter Queen Pinterest board to see some of the images that inspired me.

2. Is it true parts of the book were inspired by the movie The Last of the Mohicans?

Amber: Yes. I watched the movie as a young teenager and found myself much more fascinated with Alice’s story as opposed to Cora’s. Alice was portrayed as the weaker of the two sisters, but in reality, she was simply untried—very young, and very innocent.

The moment when she stood at the edge of the cliff, looking down the long drop below, still haunts me. She had a choice to marry and bear children for her captor, or end her life.

She chose to die, and I wanted to shout at that there was another choice. She could be strong, endure until she had a chance to change her life. To live.

But she didn’t. She dropped, silently and suddenly. And I wondered how differently that story would have been if Alice had chosen to live.

That’s the story I wanted to explore in Winter Queen. A girl faced with a similar choice: death or marriage to the murderer of those she loves. But … well, I don’t want to spoil it for you. But it’s pretty intense.

3. You also explore themes of what it means to be a man and a woman in the book. Can you tell us a little about that?

Amber: I’m not sure when I realized that boys would, for the most part, outgrow rules like “stranger danger”, “the buddy system”, etc. While I never would.

That to be a woman meant I was and always would be vulnerable. How much worse then for a woman raised in a time when all that stood between her and those who meant her harm were her kith and kin.

So what would happen if her kith and kin were presented with a choice to save her—the daughter and girl they loved—or themselves? It’s a choice that is replayed over and over again throughout the world’s history.

In ancient times, men were fighters and protectors. So what does it do to them when they fail? When they aren’t strong enough to defend what’s theirs, despite everything they could do. I explore this as well with my hero, Rone.

4. This sounds like a pretty intense book, with some difficult themes. What age to you recommend reads it?

Amber: If you’re okay with the violence level in Hunger Games and the steaminess in Twilight, you’ll be fine with Winter Queen.

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Neil Gaiman reads from his new novel The Ocean at the End of the...

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 10:48:20 -0400

Neil Gaiman reads from his new novel The Ocean at the End of the Lane

outofprintclothing: Happy Birthday, Maurice Sendak!

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 16:38:24 -0400

outofprintclothing:

Happy Birthday, Maurice Sendak!

Winter Queen by Amber Argyle Becoming a winter queen will make...

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 13:00:30 -0400

Winter Queen by Amber Argyle

Becoming a winter queen will make Ilyenna as cold and cruel and deadly as winter itself, but it might be the only way to save her people from a war they have no hope of winning.~

Mortally wounded during a raid, seventeen-year-old Ilyenna is healed by winter fairies who present her with a seductive offer: become one of them and share their power over winter. But that power comes with a price. If she accepts, she will become a force of nature, lose her humanity, and abandon her family.

Unwilling to pay such a high price, Ilyenna is enslaved by one of the invaders, Darrien. While in captivity, she learns the attack wasn’t just a simple raid but part of a larger plot to overthrow her entire nation.

With the enemy stealing over the mountains and Darrien coming to take her to his bed, Ilyenna must decide whether to resurrect the power the fairies left behind. Doing so will allow her to defeat Darrien and the other invaders, but if she embraces winter, she will lose herself to that destroying power—forever. [via amazon]

Publisher: Starling Books

Pages: 256 (Hardcover)

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Review: Olivia’s First Term by Lyn Gardner

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 16:00:58 -0400

When the story opens, Olivia and her little sister Eel are in London with their high-wire walking father. They are on their way to their Grandmother’s stage school, where Olivia’s father hopes their grandmother will allow them to attend.

While Olivia’s First Term by Lyn Gardner is a book about an arts school and how the sisters fit in to a more structured and artistic environment, as opposed to circus life, its central theme revolves around bullying. Katie, a talented (but spoilt) young actress is seen bullying Georgia, Olivia and various classmates. I found Katie’s character to be a caricature of bullying, so much so that I almost imagined her as an evil villain, standing in the corner, twirling her mustache and laughing cruelly whenever her plans succeeded. However, she is a very good bully and the feelings of despair that the girls feel whenever she’s around very real.

The story moves quickly and there are many things about bullying that parents and children can discuss - why did the girls keep the bullying to themselves and what should children do when faced with a hopeless looking situation. I wasn’t completely taken by the characters, Olivia was a little hard to like and Katie was extremely bratty. I also found that it got a bit repetitive towards the end - Katie does something bad, Katie gets away with it - and I found myself hoping that it would resolve quickly. However, in time it did and overall I think it’s a good starting point to discuss things like bullying, lying and other such behaviour with kids.

Publisher: Nosy Crow || Details →

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Audio Preview

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 12:36:33 -0400

Here is an audio preview of The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, Book 1: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood, narrated by Katherine Kellgren.

I’m currently listening to this and I think Katherine Kellgren narrates this beautifully!

heatherbat: stunningpicture: ‘Cause people seem to only post...

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 10:48:18 -0400

heatherbat:

stunningpicture:

‘Cause people seem to only post the 20-something Audrey Hepburn.

Audrey Hepburn was the granddaughter of a baron, the daughter of a nazi sympathizer, spent her teens doing ballet to secretly raise money for the dutch resistance against the nazis, and spent her post-film career as a goodwill ambassador of UNICEF, winning the presidential medal of freedom for her efforts.

…and history remembers her as pretty.

Had to reblog this one …

ishanella: sarahreesbrennan: hebeldesign: So pleased to...

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 22:43:38 -0400

ishanella:

sarahreesbrennan:

hebeldesign:

So pleased to announce Sarah Rees Brennan’s Lynburn Legacy is part of the store now! Come see what’s NEW!

Isn’t this AMAZING?

So, Viviane Hebel makes beautimous book-themed jewelry, which I think is super cool, as I live a book-themed life. I have admiiiiired Cassie’s Shadowhunter jewelries many a time. I got a Magnus ring because I help write the Bane Chronicles, and I wear it all the time, SUPER PRETTY.

Anyway like I said, I was full of admiration, but I did not dream there would be jewelry for my books. Jewelry is for FANCY people, like Cassie, and Holly Black, and Leigh Bardugo. Shiny! Bestsellin’! The TALENT.

But look look look, you guys, because I have some jewelry of my VERY OWN.

And fittingly for Unspoken, it is jewelry that promises PAYNE. Endless suffrin’. I can’t wait to wear the knife necklace and have my mum look upset about all my life choices.

Of course Sarah Rees Brennan would have book jewelry that will make you get searched at security. I’m certain this was intentional.

Wow! Stunning! Amber Argyle’s final installment in her...

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 15:30:00 -0400

Wow! Stunning! Amber Argyle’s final installment in her Witch Song series and probably her best cover yet!

Amber on Amber:

For the first twelve years of my life, I lived in a two bedroom ranch house at the base of a mountain. Besides my parents, my family consisted of three brothers—the oldest of which enjoyed beating me up. Ironically, the younger two were terrible wimps. I rode horses, moved sprinkler pipe, and mucked out barns (when they could catch me). We didn’t have a lot of money, and the part of the ranch we lived on was eventually repossessed by the bank. Subsequently, we had to move to town (I know. I should have written Westerns).

I graduated from Utah State University with a bachelors degree (English and physical education), a husband, and a two-year old. I was a member of the collegiate honor society and graduated cum laude (which basically means I’m an overachiever).

My second son had severe colic, often crying for 16 hours a day. By the time he was four months old, I was in a very dark place. I discovered that I could prop him up between my arms and type for brief periods of time. Creating stories quickly became a cathartic addiction I couldn’t function without.

It took seven manuscripts and five very long years before my debut novel, Witch Song, came out.

I currently live in Northern Utah with my husband and three children.

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Olivia’s First Term by Lyn Gardner Olivia is sad and...

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 10:00:30 -0400

Olivia’s First Term by Lyn Gardner

Olivia is sad and lonely and angry — angry that she’s been dumped with her sister Eel at her grandmother’s school, and angrier still that that school turns out to be a stage school where there’s no encouragement for her to do what she loves best: practice her circus skills. [via amazon]

Publisher: Nosy Crow

Pages: 256 (Paperback)

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Review: The Believing Game by Eireann Corrigan

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 16:18:00 -0400

I could say, “The Believing Game is a creepy book”, and leave it like that, because it’s true. I lost count of the creepy situations scattered throughout the pages and the number of times it gave me jitters. If disquieting is what you want, then The Believing Game by Eireann Corrigan is the book for you.

Greer Cannon is caught shoplifting and as punishment is sent to McCracken Hill, a school for troubled teens where they earn privileges like the use of shampoo and conditioner and meet with therapists who help them recover from troubled pasts. Then Greer meets Addison Bradley and the two fall head over heels in love with each other. Addison then introduces her to his sponsor - Joshua - and the creepy begins.

Joshua is a charismatic character who burrowed his way into Addison’s life and poses as a mentor for the troubled teen. He convinces Addison, Greer and a few of their friends to go away with him to a cabin in the woods (owned by Sophie, one of Greer’s friends from McCracken) and there he breaks them down and tells them about his plans for the future.

Joshua uses the weaknesses of each of the teens to force them to bend to his will. He uses them for their money and makes them feel guilty about being rich. He makes them feel reprehensible for assuming that he was Jewish because of his name and then for assuming that he couldn’t be Jewish because he was black. He uses everything about them to make them submissive and loyal to him. On a scale of one to ten, Joshua is a 20 on the creepster scale.

I enjoyed Corrigan’s writing style. Greer’s narrative flowed easily on the pages and I was, at many points, able to sympathize with her about her family situation. However, I can’t say I completely enjoyed Greer as much as I hoped I would. While she seemed to have a good head on her shoulder - she figured out earlier on that Joshua was not to be trusted - Addison was her blind-spot. She had a lot of opportunities to try to make him understand what was going on with Joshua, but she was too afraid of losing him so she tied her own hands and caused me frustration as a reader.

In spite of (or perhaps, because of) their flaws, I thought that the teens were likable and complex. I wish that we saw more background on each of the characters - or that we were told more about what happened to them in the end - though I must admit that the way it ended seems perfect for the story.

I should also note that while the book itself is not graphic there are a lot of references to abuse, addiction, rape and things that might not be suitable - or might be triggers - for some readers.

This book should not be taken lightly, you’ve been warned, it’s creepy.

Publisher: Scholastic Press || Details →

Get the book on → Amazon || Barnes & Noble || Books A Million

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