Thursday 4 October 2012
Sunday 10 June 2012
Guest Review: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her own Making by Catherynne M Valente
Image from Goodreads Author: Catherynne M ValentePublisher: CorsairPublication Date: 7 June 2012Source : Review CopyRating: 5/5Synopsis from GoodreadsGather up your courage and your wishes; grab a little pinch of luck - and prepare to be swept away, in a ship of your own making, to a land unlike any other. September is a twelve-year-old girl, Somewhat Grown and Somewhat Heartless, and she longs for adventure. So when a Green Wind and a Leopard of Little Breezes invite her to Fairyland - well, of course, she accepts (mightn't you?).
When she gets there, she finds a land in crisis and confusion - crushed by the iron rule of a villainous Marquess - she soon discovers that she alone holds the key to restoring order. Having read enough books to know what a girl with a quest must do, September sets out to Fix Things.
As September forges her way through Fairyland, with a book-loving dragon and a partly human boy named Saturday by her side, she makes many friends and mistakes; loses her shadow, her shoes and her way. But she finds adventure, courage, a rather special Spoon, and a lot more besides .
When this book came through my letterbox I think I fell in love just a little bit as the cover is just so beautiful and it really makes you want to dive straight in.
REVIEW BY SHELLY
The book is about September who is a 12 year old girl living in Omaha with her Mum. Her Dad is off fighting a war in Europe and her Mum is working all hours in a factory leaving September feeling very lonely. This is where the fairytale starts. She is whisked away by The Green Wind and The Leopard of Little Breezes to Fairyland where she is set to have many adventures.
Once there she finds herself on a quest for the mean Marquis, a good deed for some Witches and making friendships along the way. One of my favourite being A-Through-L, a Wyvern whose dad is a library so Ell, as September calls him, only knows about things beginning with A to L. He looks like a dragon but can't fly as the mean Marquis has made it law that no fairies or Wyvern's are allowed to fly so his wings have been chained up with a lock and key. Their friendship is at the heart of the book and the author really makes you care about them both to the point where later in the book it gets a little bit emotional! The characters you meet are as varied and colourful as you would expect from a fairytale but the author really makes you believe in them and this is coming from 40 year old Mum!!
This book is truly a great fairytale. The author describes Fairyland in such vividness that you feel as though you are there with September. In fact throughout the book I kept feeling how great this would be as a Tim Burton film with bright colours and slightly odd characters. I would highly recommend this to any age of reader. I say dive on in you won't regret it and you will certainly enjoy the ride.
Saturday 9 June 2012
On My Library Wish-List
The pupils in my library just adore gory covers with the premise reminiscent of Dexter I think this book would be perfect for the gore lovers in school. Confirmed by this brilliant review From Matt Teen Librarian HERE
Image from Goodreads Title: I Hunt KillersAuthor: Barry LygaPublisher: Bantam PressPublication Date: 12 April 2012Synopsis from Goodreads
You’re seventeen years old and your father is the most notorious serial killer America has ever produced.
He brought you up. Taught you everything he knows. Everyone in your ordinary American town knows who you are. So even though Dear Old Dad is safely behind bars, when the killing starts all over again, you are the first person the police come to see…
They don’t know whether it’s nature or nurture. And neither do you…
The next one was reviewed by The Book Smugglers (HERE) It sounds like a brilliant addition to the library.
Image from Goodreads Title: ChangelingAuthor: Delia ShermanPublisher: FirebirdPublication Date: 17 July 2008Synopsis from GoodreadsA determined heroine, a quest adventure galore!
Neef is a changeling, a human baby stolen by fairies and replaced with one of their own. She lives in "New York Between," a Manhattan that exists side by side with our own, home to various creatures of folklore. Neef has always been protected by her fairy godmother until she breaks a Fairy Law. Now, unless she can meet the challenge of the Green Lady of Central Park, she'll be sacrificed! Neef is determined to beat the rap but time is running out . . .
The wonderful Darren at Book Zone for Boys is my go to guy for all things gory. Thank you to Darren for recommending this one, check out his review HERE
Image from Goodreads Title: Doom Rider
Author: David GatwardPublisher; Hodder Children's BooksPublication Date: 5 July 2012Synopsis from Goodreads
Seth Crow has lived a thousand lives, and in each one he's been murdered before he turns thirteen.
And now he's being hunted again. But this time it's different.Enter Lily, who tells him of his fate: Seth is CONQUEST. The first of the four riders of the Apocalypse. And people want him dead, before he can fulfil his destiny.
Seth's only hope lies in finding the other riders - Strife, Famine and Death.
Together, the fate of the world lies in their hands ...
Friday 8 June 2012
Tantilizing Trailers:Chronicles of Nick by Sherrilyn Kenyon & Give-Away
Image from Goodreads Title: Infinity
Series: The Chronicles of Nick #1Author: Sherrilyn KenyonPublisher: AtomPublication Date: 3 Feb 2011Synopsis from GoodreadsAt fourteen, Nick Gautier thinks he knows everything about the world around him. Streetwise, tough and savvy, his quick sarcasm is the stuff of legends. . .until the night when his best friends try to kill him. Saved by a mysterious warrior who has more fighting skills than Chuck Norris, Nick is sucked into the realm of the Dark-Hunters: immortal vampire slayers who risk everything to save humanity.
Nick quickly learns that the human world is only a veil for a much larger and more dangerous one: a world where the captain of the football team is a werewolf and the girl he has a crush on goes out at night to stake the undead.
But before he can even learn the rules of this new world, his fellow students are turning into flesh eating zombies. And he’s next on the menu.
As if starting high school isn't hard enough. . .now Nick has to hide his new friends from his mom, his chainsaw from the principal, and keep the zombies and the demon Simi from eating his brains, all without getting grounded or suspended. How in the world is he supposed to do that?
Image from Goodreads Title: Invincible
Series: The Chronicles of Nick #2Author: Sherrilyn KenyonPublisher: AtomPublication Date: 29 March 2011Synopsis from GoodreadsJust when he thought things couldn’t get any worse...
Nick Gautier’s day just keeps getting better and better. Yeah, he survived the zombie attacks, only to wake up and find himself enslaved to a world of shapeshifters and demons out to claim his soul.
His new principal thinks he’s even more of a hoodlum than the last one, his coach is trying to recruit him to things he can’t even mention and the girl he’s not seeing, but is, has secrets that terrify him.
But more than that, he’s being groomed by the darkest of powers and if he doesn’t learn how to raise the dead by the end of the week, he will become one of them..
I really enjoyed the first book in the series Infinity (Review HERE) although I did feel I would have benefited from knowing more about the Dark Hunter books to fully appreciate the nuances of the plot. Unfortunately due to time constraints I haven't had the chance to read the second book in the series Invincible
. Instead of it sitting on my bookcase waiting patiently to be read I would love to share it with one of my fabulous followers.
(Review HERE) although I did feel I would have benefited from knowing more about the Dark Hunter books to fully appreciate the nuances of the plot. Unfortunately due to time constraints I haven't had the chance to read the second book in the series Invincible. Instead of it sitting on my bookcase waiting patiently to be read I would love to share it with one of my fabulous followers.
Image from Goodreads Title: InfamousSeries: Chronicles of Nick #3Author: Sherrilynn KenyonPublisher: AtomPublication Date: 13 March 2012Synopsis from GoodreadsThe world has fallen in love with Nick Gautier and the Dark-Hunters. Now Nick’s saga continues in the next eagerly anticipated volume...
Go to school. Get good grades. Stay out of trouble. That’s the mandate for most kids. But Nick Gautier isn’t the average teenager. He’s a boy with a destiny not even he fully understands. And his first mandate is to stay alive while everyone, even his own father, tries to kill him.
He’s learned to annihilate zombies and raise the dead, divination and clairvoyance, so why is learning to drive such a difficulty? But that isn’t the primary skill he has to master. Survival is.
And in order to survive, his next lesson makes all the others pale in comparison. He is on the brink of becoming either the greatest hero mankind has ever known.
Or he’ll be the one who ends the world. With enemies new and old gathering forces, he will have to call on every part of himself to fight or he’ll lose everyone he cares about.
Even himself.
Thursday 7 June 2012
Guest Mini-Review: Dearly Departed by Lia Habel
Image from Amazon Title: Dearly Departed
Series: Gone With Respiration #1Author: Lia HabelPublisher: Corgi Children'sPublication Date: 7 June 2012Source: Review CopyRating:Synopsis from Goodreads
Love can never die.
Love conquers all, so they say. But can Cupid’s arrow pierce the hearts of the living and the dead—or rather, the undead? Can a proper young Victorian lady find true love in the arms of a dashing zombie?
The year is 2195. The place is New Victoria—a high-tech nation modeled on the manners, mores, and fashions of an antique era. A teenager in high society, Nora Dearly is far more interested in military history and her country’s political unrest than in tea parties and debutante balls. But after her beloved parents die, Nora is left at the mercy of her domineering aunt, a social-climbing spendthrift who has squandered the family fortune and now plans to marry her niece off for money. For Nora, no fate could be more horrible—until she’s nearly kidnapped by an army of walking corpses.
But fate is just getting started with Nora. Catapulted from her world of drawing-room civility, she’s suddenly gunning down ravenous zombies alongside mysterious black-clad commandos and confronting “The Laz,” a fatal virus that raises the dead—and hell along with them. Hardly ideal circumstances. Then Nora meets Bram Griswold, a young soldier who is brave, handsome, noble . . . and dead. But as is the case with the rest of his special undead unit, luck and modern science have enabled Bram to hold on to his mind, his manners, and his body parts. And when his bond of trust with Nora turns to tenderness, there’s no turning back. Eventually, they know, the disease will win, separating the star-crossed lovers forever. But until then, beating or not, their hearts will have what they desire.
In Dearly, Departed, romance meets walking-dead thriller, spawning a madly imaginative novel of rip-roaring adventure, spine-tingling suspense, and macabre comedy that forever redefines the concept of undying love.
GUEST REVIEW BY MADISON
Nora is attacked one night and carried away by an army of the living dead. don't get me wrong, these are the good guys sent to protect Nora from another group of living dead that want her well dead. The evil zombies want to kill Nora and are willing to feast on anyone in order to increase their numbers. Bram, one of the good undead, tries to earn Nora's trust but she wonders if she will ever be safe again.
My favorite part of the book was when Bram trying to earn Mora's trust uses the locks on his door. This is where they first started to bond, getting to know each other better and trust is built between them. I didn't like Bram's boss at all, he was cruel and unfair however his character was necessary to the plot.
I really enjoyed this book, it was thrilling and I am looking forward to reading the next one.
Wednesday 6 June 2012
Musical Moments: Guest Post: Character Play-list by Ellie Phillips
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| Image from Goodreads |
Review HERE
Dads, Geeks and Blue Haired Freaks Blog Tour
I thought I'd start my blog posts on this tour with a Hairstyle of the Day. In Dads, Geeks and Blue-haired Freaks my main character, Sadie, gets given a calendar for her birthday called 'A Hairstyle a Day, One Year of Original Styles'. So I thought I'd do the same on my blog posts. I must add that I haven't actually tried any of them out!
Wednesday 6th June
Hairstyle of the Day:
I think if we're mentioning post-rock then we need to look at boys' hair and so I think today's hairstyle should be something around bald and beardy like these guys here: |
| Source |
PLAY-LISTS
Wow - the iPod play-lists of my characters. I know my characters inside out, but it took me a while to think about what they might be listening to. Obviously Billy has very particular tastes, being an embryonic Post-rock god, but Sadie's playlist I thought would reflect her character which is understated but stealy and determined. Aunt Lilah - well I thought her taste would reflect her youth - as well as the playlist for her hairdressing salon - so nothing too exciting there.....Here we go:Sadie :
Links to YouTube:
Katy B Katy On a Mission
Yasmin Light Up (The World)
Lewi White Young Guns
M.I.A. Paper Planes
Ciara Love Sex Magic
Amy Winehouse Back to Black and Stronger Than Me
Gyptian Hold You
Soundgirl Don't know why
Billy
YouTube Links:
Mogwai White Noise
Explosions in the Sky Your Hand in Mine
This Will Destroy You Quiet
Red Sparowes In Illusions of Order
Sigur Ros Glosoli
65daysofstatic Radio Protector
Aunt Lilah:
YouTube Links:
Whitney Houston Saving All My Love for You
Phyllis Nelson Move Closer
Diana Ross Do You Know Where You're Going To
Luther Van Dross Never Too Much
Thank you to Ellie for coming up with such fabulous and diverse play-lists. I hope you have enjoyed.
Tuesday 5 June 2012
Guest Mini-Review: Dads, Geeks and Blue Haired Freaks by Ellie Phillips
Image from Goodreads Author: Ellie PhillipsPublisher: Electric MonkeyPublication Date: 4 June 2012Source: Review CopyRating: 3/5Synopsis from GoodreadsSadie Nathanson spends her life trying to survive the excruciating embarrassment of simply existing. It’s hard enough being a bit of a shrinking violet within a loud and outspoken extended family, but the unexpected card from ‘Dad’ on her 15th birthday is the last straw.
As ‘Dad’ was an Internet sperm-donor, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that this is a bad joke, probably set up by her ex-best-friend Shonna. But it starts Sadie wondering – just who was her father? Is he the cause of her worry crinkle and wonky bum? What would happen if she tracked him down?
So she decides to do just that. With help from her nerd cousin Billy, his friend Nodding Tony and a regular dose of ‘Haironomics’ (Sadie’s own hairstyle-related philosophy system), they uncover a lot more than they bargain for...
REVIEW BY MADISON
Although getting a birthday card from your Dad on your birthday should be completely normal, for Sadie it is anything but. You see, Sadie's Mum had artificial insemination via a sperm donor website. Therefore, you can imagine how surprised Sadie is to receive this particular birthday card.
At first Sadie thinks it is some kind of cruel joke, but then she starts wondering what it really would be like to meet her biological father. The things that go through her mind are completely understandable after all we all have certain traits that can be attributed to our parents, Sadie only has one half of the equation in order to figure out who she is.
I really enjoyed this book, it was a fun, light-hearted read that was refreshing. I especially liked the use of the different hairstyles Sadie's associated with each day, a quirky little trait that she used to show how her day had gone.
I really liked how this book made me giggle out loud at the things that happened and the things Sadie said.
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