BookRatMisty

I love the whimsical style of Catherynne M. Valente's FAIRYLAND series, so when The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two showed up, I just had to record an excerpt of it - which I've found pairs rather nicely with a giveaway of the whole series! 

Ends October 23rd, so go enter!

So, aside from the fact that the cicadas are screaming and the children are screaming and ALL THE THINGS ARE SCREAMING, please to enjoy: this book haul! =D

 

THE BOOKS:

United We Spy | Ally Carter

Six Months Later | Natalie D. Richards

The Dragon's Tooth | ND Wilson

Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict | Laurie Viera Rigler

Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict | Laurie Viera Rigler

The Trouble with Flirting | Claire LaZbenik

The Distance Between Us | Kacie West

The Subtle Knife | Philip Pullman

Summer and Bird | Katherine Catmull

 

Also mentioned:

The Dragon's Tooth excerpt

Laurie Viera Rigler's "Sex and the Austen Girl"

Sam @MerryGoDown and River @innocencewalker and their "Contemporary Summer Fling"

My August Rewind (up late, but better late than pregnant... Err, never. Better late than never.

 

THE BOOKS:

The Fairest of Them All | Carolyn Turgeon [review]

Mansfield Park | Jane Austen (obvs)

Among the Janeites | Deborah Yaffe [review]

The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. | Adelle Waldman [review]

Austentatious | Alyssa Goodnight [review]

 

THE CHAOS OF STARS by Kiersten White

Published September 10th 2013 by HarperTeen

 

I've said many, many times before that I think Kiersten White is a good funk-breaker author. I look forward to her stories, especially when I have a lot on my plate, because I know I'll tear through them, they'll keep me entertained, and they'll jumpstart a good reading kick. They just get me in the zone; she has this quality to her writing that draws you along and makes you keep turning pages - even when it's flawed, it goes down like candy.

 

But surprisingly, The Chaos of Stars didn't quite get there for me. It was still candy, I still devoured it pretty quickly, but it was like the candy in the vending machine that wasn't quite what you were craving, but you got anyway because at least it was chocolate...

  

Read the full review here!

 

So, this is a thing that exists and I have...
A copy of Pride & Prejudice starring ME! Dude - my Janeite takeover is almost complete. I will be assimilated...

Anywho, this company called "U Star" that customizes classics and original fiction (yes, even sexytimes fiction) contacted me about trying out one of their books, and if you think I could turn down the chance to actually BE in the pages of a Jane Austen novel, you don't know me at all.
This is a pretty neat service, and I think it has some amazing gift-giving potential, so if you agree or want to be in YOUR OWN book, you might want to check them out:
http://www.ustarnovels.com

Get more Jane Austen-y goodness in Austen in August:
http://www.thebookrat.com/2013/08/austen-in-august-welcome-schedule.html

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I'm a bad BookLikes-er... But I'm going to try to be better! Here's a vid review of Epic Fail, as part of the Jane Austen event, AUSTEN IN AUGUST, that I have going on at the blog right now. =D

I guess since I signed up for Booklikes, I should actually use it, yeah? VIDEO TIME.

Here's me reading from the most recent book I finished / loved: ANTIGODDESS by Kendare Blake!

Review will be coming soon, but until then, just know: this is definitely one to add to your to-get.

Hilarious and adorable. Highly enjoyable, review to come.

Oh, hot damn! Definitely eager to see where book 3 goes...4.5

Review to come.

Dude. DUDE....Oh man, I can't wait.

Marked for a reread, which I totally don't have time for at the moment. Worth every minute.Review on this edition.

Slightly under a 4, I guess? I had some issues with believability, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the hell out of this. Full review to come closer to the release.

School Spirits is the first in a spin-off series from the Hex Hall books. And though I own the Hex Hall series, I was worried when this showed up in my mail that I wouldn't be able to read it, since I haven't actually read Hex Hall even a little bit. Being completely buried in books right now, and heading into what is inevitably my busiest month of the year, combined with the fact that I haven't read HH, I figured the best thing would be to set this on a shelf and let it languish for a bit while I responsibly go about the things I need to get done...which is why I opened up to the first page "just to see" and then proceeded to finish it. [Don't look at me like that, I know I'm not the only one who does this.]Since I haven't read HH, I guess I can't talk about how School Spirits compares to that, but I can certainly say that it makes me more eager to read it. Though this may not go down in history as the most memorable or most original book I've read, it was pure fun throughout, and I think I may come to find Hawkins' style a perfect funk-breaker. There are those authors or works that I always recommend when someone tells me they're in a reading rut (or when I, myself, am) because they're breezy, effortless style doesn't make you work at enjoying reading. These types of books make a great break when you're stalled in something that you just can't seem to finish, because they remind you that reading can be fun; an author can be have a sense of humor; a book can be quick and light and exactly what you needed to jumpstart you when you're in a slump. I have a list of such books to use as go-to recommendations, which includes things like Kiersten White's Paranormalcy, Jana Oliver's The Demon Trapper's Daughter. I have a feeling School Spirits will be added to that list.That's the type of book School Spirits was. It's begging to be on "beach reads" lists, or "curling up in a hammock with the sun on your face reads" lists or "OMG I'm done with finals, give me something fun!!1" lists. It was breezy and cute (not cutesy), with just the right amount of fluff to it to make it quick and compulsively engaging, but keep it from being a throwaway. The story is pretty standard paranormal fare, but Izzy - and a number of the other characters - are so engaging that they make the story shine. Hawkins has done a really good job of setting up the series, giving us all the basics to dive into the world, engaging characters to lead us through it, and enough mystery and openness to keep us coming back for those unanswered questions. And because two - at least - of those questions are pretty big ones, I have a feeling that the tension in this series is going to build quite nicely, and make each book stronger than the last. (At least, I can hope!)So if you're in a rut and in need of a funk-breaker, or just love a good damn fun book, School Spirits might be just the one to pick up. And if you're like me, and still have Hex Hall sitting on your shelves, unread, then you may just want to have a summertime Rachel Hawkins binge...

CARNIEpunk? OMG.

3.75ishThere's an interesting thing that happens with me and Mette Ivie Harrison's writing, in that I tend to have one big problem with something (often something hard to pin down or explain), and I find myself dwelling on it, even when I like the book/story/character/ideas or whatever else I may really like. I talked about this before in The Princess and the Hound, but essentially, I fall into her writing really easily and find it readable (I think some may find it slow, but to be honest, I like that unhurried quality to it), and I always find myself appreciating her worlds and remembering them and her characters for longer than I generally do with books. I liked The Princess and the Hound, though I think perhaps less in hindsight, when my overwhelming impression seemed to focus on the things I wanted more from; but I liked The Rose Throne even more, which makes me curious how I'll feel about it down the line. I find Harrison's world and concepts really intriguing, and her two princesses, Issa and Ailsbet, believably distinct. They played well off of each other, and the changing POVs in the narration actually benefited the story, whereas I normally find things like this risky, gimmicky and sadly flow-breaking. I'm glad to say this was not the case for The Rose Throne. I also had very concrete images of the characters and various settings, but without ever feeling like I'd just had to wade through a ton of detailed world-building and info-dumping, and that makes me very happy as a reader. It makes it all seem a little more natural and effortless.But that doesn't change the fact that there's always that one thing in her stories that causes a disconnect for me, and that I can't help but dwell on. And I think, with The Rose Throne, I've figured out what it is: there is a bit of a passiveness in Harrison's writing when it comes to the characters and with the way the story is structured.  For example, there is a part where one princess slaps another, and you'd expect that to be a very tense, exciting moment. But the tension was dramatically lessened by the way in which the scene is written. It's not "I raised my hand and slapped her," which is active and felt more powerfully by the reader; instead, it's written as "Issa raised a hand, and the sound of the slap rang in the room like music." Pretty, yes, but it's one step disconnected from Issa's action: it's not "Issa slapped Ailsbet, and the sound rang in the room like music," which still captures the feeling of violence and beauty, mingled. Instead, Issa raises her hand, a slap is heard, and the reader connects the two - but Issa is removed from the power of immediate action. I know this may sound silly to some people, but subconsciously, things like this do make a difference in the way a reader reacts to a story. I think this is the "elusive something" that I couldn't put my finger on in my review of The Princess and the Hound, when I said that bones of the story were there, but it was missing something in the connective tissue.The other part of the disconnect is that sometimes the reactions - or at least, the transitions into them - don't seem natural. They tend to either seem really understated and passive, or they blaze up to extremes, seemingly out of nowhere. In the case of The Rose Throne, I would say this is meant to mimic the two different magics, the neweyr and taweyr, but the same was true of The Princess and the Hound, so it seems to be more of a stylistic thing. And even if it was intentional, that doesn't necessarily make it the best choice... There's just not always a consistent, recognizable flow to characters and their actions, and though it's not necessarily something that's readily noticeable, it does cause a bit of a disconnect between the reader and the story. This means that I didn't always believe the characters' romances, emotions, and motivations, or their sudden insights - if they can figure each other out at a glance, why can't everyone else around them see through them and their schemes? But either I eventually got used to it and went with it, or things went on long enough in this vein to make it seem more natural, because by the end of the book, I didn't have as much of an issue with this. I think it goes back to the suddenness of their emotions and reactions - Issa and Kellin, seemingly in love upon first contentious encounter, Ailsbet's waffling on using her magic and ruling, or abandoning everything and everyone in pursuit of music, etcNow, here I find myself, once again, giving this weird, overly-analytical review of Harrison's style, and I'm afraid that it ends up coming off that I didn't like the book. Fact is, I did. I found it intriguing and memorable, and in some of the ways I reacted to it, it sort of reminded me of Chalice by Robin McKinley (which itself was a bit of a problem book for me, but again, one I think highly of... It's all very confusing.); I even see why Harrison made the stylistic choices she made, and how they do make sense, in a way. And I find myself both liking it and puzzled by my not liking of it.  And so, I think the reason I dwell on these things the way I do is because I see potential for a book I could really love, and I see real skill in the storytelling that is being held back by this thing, whatever it may be, and I just want to fix it.So what I'm saying is, I doubt most of you will focus on these aspects of Harrison's storytelling, which means you probably won't take issue the way I have, and will be able to enjoy it unfettered. It think it is definitely worth the read for its complexities and the way that Harrison explores characters and themes. And if you do read it, I'd love to discuss it with you![Side note: I just saw the comparison to Cassandra Clare in the synopsis, and I just want to say: I think they're way off on that, AND I'd choose Mette over Cassie any day.]

Not that I don't already have a million copies of JA works, but I bought this gorgeous set as a birthday present for myself. =D