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Hazel (1853 KP) rated The Smoke Thieves in Books
May 8, 2018
Review This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
From the author of the popular fantasy trilogy, Half Bad comes a brand new historical-fantasy series: The Smoke Thieves. Featuring a princess, a traitor, a soldier, a hunter and a thief, Sally Green’s fictional world is a dangerous place for these five teenagers. From demons to tyrannical fathers, they must do their best to overcome every obstacle placed in their way to survive a world that is destined for conflict.
The five main characters are a mixed bag of personalities and status. Princess Catherine is preparing for her arranged marriage, which aims to politically unite two nations, or so she believes. Her brutally ambitious father, on the other hand, has other ideas. Ambrose, Catherine’s guard and a traitor to her father, escapes death by chasing after Catherine with news of her father’s real plans.
Meanwhile, March, a soldier whose entire family and heritage were wiped out in a war, aims to get revenge by finding his king’s illegitimate son and only heir, however, he does not anticipate the prince being the naïve thief, Edyon. March and Edyon travel through the country in the company of an elderly man until they are ambushed by a demon hunter and his thirteen-year-old assistant, Tash. All Tash wants to do is hunt demons, collect their drug-like smoke and sell it so she can buy a pair of boots, but fate has other plans, and it is all because of demon smoke.
Coming from all walks of life, the unlikely characters join forces at the conclusion of the book, preparing to face the biggest battle of their young lives. The first book of the series is an exciting introduction to the action promised in the following novels. Slow to start but growing increasingly interesting, The Smoke Thieves is an engaging story with fantastic main characters.
As a work of historical fantasy, The Smoke Thieves is a welcome change from the contemporary fantasy Sally Green has previously written. This book suggests the author has great ideas to come in the near future.
From the author of the popular fantasy trilogy, Half Bad comes a brand new historical-fantasy series: The Smoke Thieves. Featuring a princess, a traitor, a soldier, a hunter and a thief, Sally Green’s fictional world is a dangerous place for these five teenagers. From demons to tyrannical fathers, they must do their best to overcome every obstacle placed in their way to survive a world that is destined for conflict.
The five main characters are a mixed bag of personalities and status. Princess Catherine is preparing for her arranged marriage, which aims to politically unite two nations, or so she believes. Her brutally ambitious father, on the other hand, has other ideas. Ambrose, Catherine’s guard and a traitor to her father, escapes death by chasing after Catherine with news of her father’s real plans.
Meanwhile, March, a soldier whose entire family and heritage were wiped out in a war, aims to get revenge by finding his king’s illegitimate son and only heir, however, he does not anticipate the prince being the naïve thief, Edyon. March and Edyon travel through the country in the company of an elderly man until they are ambushed by a demon hunter and his thirteen-year-old assistant, Tash. All Tash wants to do is hunt demons, collect their drug-like smoke and sell it so she can buy a pair of boots, but fate has other plans, and it is all because of demon smoke.
Coming from all walks of life, the unlikely characters join forces at the conclusion of the book, preparing to face the biggest battle of their young lives. The first book of the series is an exciting introduction to the action promised in the following novels. Slow to start but growing increasingly interesting, The Smoke Thieves is an engaging story with fantastic main characters.
As a work of historical fantasy, The Smoke Thieves is a welcome change from the contemporary fantasy Sally Green has previously written. This book suggests the author has great ideas to come in the near future.
Lee (2222 KP) rated I Feel Pretty (2018) in Movies
May 21, 2018
Pretty Average
Renee Bennett (Amy Schumer) feels average, and anything but pretty in this world. Clothing store workers sneer at her choice of fashion, suggesting that she should instead venture in the direction of the plus size clothing. Supermarket customers mistake her as just a downtrodden employee, focusing instead on the 'perfect' girl standing beside her. In busy bars, workers favour the pretty girls ordering drinks over her, and in her exercise class she's made to feel uncomfortable at her larger than average footwear needs. She's also part of a small group of 3 friends, who all struggle to attract dates in this superficial world, and wish they were prettier.
Then one day, Renee falls off her exercise bike and bangs her head. When she comes round, she believes that magic has made her beautiful, and she thinks that all her friends are seeing someone completely different. Only they're not, they're seeing exactly the same person as before.
This perceived change gives Renee a new found confidence. She believes that men are trying to hit on her, and in one of the movies funnier moments, she believes she can win a bikini competition. She also pursues her dream of becoming receptionist for the large cosmetics company she works for, moving from the dull, dark office of their online division all the way up to their big shiny head office where all the beautiful people work. And where her idol and boss, Avery LeClaire (Michelle Williams) works. Eventually, another bang to the head reverses the 'spell' and Renee has to try and deal with the sudden realisation that beauty really is only skin deep.
With Amy Schumer onboard for this, I guess I was expecting it to be a lot funnier than it actually is. While I didn't not like it, I've got to say I was pretty disappointed overall. There's obviously a strong message to this movie, but it gradually becomes muddled as the movie progresses and isn't effectively executed, which is a real shame considering. I wondered if being a man, I was maybe missing the message and failing to appreciate it as much as a woman might, but my wife actually felt the same way.
Then one day, Renee falls off her exercise bike and bangs her head. When she comes round, she believes that magic has made her beautiful, and she thinks that all her friends are seeing someone completely different. Only they're not, they're seeing exactly the same person as before.
This perceived change gives Renee a new found confidence. She believes that men are trying to hit on her, and in one of the movies funnier moments, she believes she can win a bikini competition. She also pursues her dream of becoming receptionist for the large cosmetics company she works for, moving from the dull, dark office of their online division all the way up to their big shiny head office where all the beautiful people work. And where her idol and boss, Avery LeClaire (Michelle Williams) works. Eventually, another bang to the head reverses the 'spell' and Renee has to try and deal with the sudden realisation that beauty really is only skin deep.
With Amy Schumer onboard for this, I guess I was expecting it to be a lot funnier than it actually is. While I didn't not like it, I've got to say I was pretty disappointed overall. There's obviously a strong message to this movie, but it gradually becomes muddled as the movie progresses and isn't effectively executed, which is a real shame considering. I wondered if being a man, I was maybe missing the message and failing to appreciate it as much as a woman might, but my wife actually felt the same way.
ArecRain (8 KP) rated Haunted on Bourbon Street (Jade Calhoun, #1) in Books
Jan 18, 2018
I downloaded this novel free from Amazon because I was looking for a lighthearted paranormal romance to distract me. I assumed it was along the same vein as other paranormal romances I have made like Karen Chances Cassandra Palmer Series or Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson series. I wasnt too far off.
My favorite part of this book had to be the diversity of characters. Each character had their own personality, that it felt like you were reading about real people instead of caricatures. It seemed to come naturally too. There were no page long paragraphs tediously describing each character. You picked up bits and pieces along the way.
The world and story that Chase created were also pretty interesting. I am partial to ghost stories, which is what drew me to the book in the first place, so that whole aspect and how they dealt with the ghost was fantastic. The rest of the Chases mythology, however, is what was really interesting. After looking at future novels in the series, however, I feel that the series will become way to complicated and in depth for me. I also dont enjoy reading about angels v. demons.
The novel has a couple twists. The one concerning the ghost didnt feel like a twist to me. I figured it out much earlier in the novel so when it was confirmed I really didnt even notice. The secret surrounding Kane, however, was pretty surprising. I wasnt expecting it even though I knew he had a secret.
All in all, Haunted on Bourbon Street is a well-rounded novel with engaging characters, an interesting world, and plot that keeps you reading til the very end. I cannot think of a single thing I didnt like about the novel. I am not sure I will read the rest of the series, however, after reading the synopsizes and seeing where the story is headed.
If you are looking for an enjoyable quick read, I highly recommend downloading it, especially since its currently free!
My favorite part of this book had to be the diversity of characters. Each character had their own personality, that it felt like you were reading about real people instead of caricatures. It seemed to come naturally too. There were no page long paragraphs tediously describing each character. You picked up bits and pieces along the way.
The world and story that Chase created were also pretty interesting. I am partial to ghost stories, which is what drew me to the book in the first place, so that whole aspect and how they dealt with the ghost was fantastic. The rest of the Chases mythology, however, is what was really interesting. After looking at future novels in the series, however, I feel that the series will become way to complicated and in depth for me. I also dont enjoy reading about angels v. demons.
The novel has a couple twists. The one concerning the ghost didnt feel like a twist to me. I figured it out much earlier in the novel so when it was confirmed I really didnt even notice. The secret surrounding Kane, however, was pretty surprising. I wasnt expecting it even though I knew he had a secret.
All in all, Haunted on Bourbon Street is a well-rounded novel with engaging characters, an interesting world, and plot that keeps you reading til the very end. I cannot think of a single thing I didnt like about the novel. I am not sure I will read the rest of the series, however, after reading the synopsizes and seeing where the story is headed.
If you are looking for an enjoyable quick read, I highly recommend downloading it, especially since its currently free!
FilmIntuition (33 KP) rated All We Ever Wanted in Books
Jul 6, 2018
Timely & Compelling
Determined to get to the second book in the series that everyone I knew had assured me was "the best," over the years, I must've picked up and earnestly started my paperback copy of Emily Giffin's Something Borrowed dozens of times but just couldn't relate to the characters.
And while I feared the same would be true for Giffin's latest novel All We Ever Wanted, especially considering that the first chapter of the book – which divides the storyline into three alternating first person points-of-view – began from the perspective of the wealthy one percenter wife from Nashville's elite, Giffin quickly replaces first world problems with real world problems.
Shocked to her core upon discovering appalling decision made by her Princeton bound son, in trying to get to the bottom of what exactly happened and what on Earth he was thinking, Nina Browning is forced to take a good hard look at her life and marriage as well as her past when she found herself at the other end of a similar horrific situation.
Continuing the action from the perspective of the two main other parties involved including her son's younger classmate, Lyla and Lyla's protective single father Tom, Giffin deftly balances her richly compelling drama with timely issues of economic inequality, racism, and sexual harassment in the digital age.
Surprising her readers with a few well-earned twists, while despite the narrative roller-coaster, we're pretty sure we know precisely who's to blame, ultimately it's in Lyla and Nina's journey toward accepting and understanding the truth that made the book increasingly hard to stop reading, particularly in its second half.
An ideal property for HBO to look into adapting as part of its annual miniseries exploration of twenty-first century women in literature, All We Ever Wanted might have been my first Emily Giffin work but it's just the right one to make me want to pick up Something Borrowed again for good.
Note: I received an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this title from Bookish First in exchange for an honest opinion.
And while I feared the same would be true for Giffin's latest novel All We Ever Wanted, especially considering that the first chapter of the book – which divides the storyline into three alternating first person points-of-view – began from the perspective of the wealthy one percenter wife from Nashville's elite, Giffin quickly replaces first world problems with real world problems.
Shocked to her core upon discovering appalling decision made by her Princeton bound son, in trying to get to the bottom of what exactly happened and what on Earth he was thinking, Nina Browning is forced to take a good hard look at her life and marriage as well as her past when she found herself at the other end of a similar horrific situation.
Continuing the action from the perspective of the two main other parties involved including her son's younger classmate, Lyla and Lyla's protective single father Tom, Giffin deftly balances her richly compelling drama with timely issues of economic inequality, racism, and sexual harassment in the digital age.
Surprising her readers with a few well-earned twists, while despite the narrative roller-coaster, we're pretty sure we know precisely who's to blame, ultimately it's in Lyla and Nina's journey toward accepting and understanding the truth that made the book increasingly hard to stop reading, particularly in its second half.
An ideal property for HBO to look into adapting as part of its annual miniseries exploration of twenty-first century women in literature, All We Ever Wanted might have been my first Emily Giffin work but it's just the right one to make me want to pick up Something Borrowed again for good.
Note: I received an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this title from Bookish First in exchange for an honest opinion.
Reiko LJ (126 KP) rated The Psychology of Time Travel in Books
Aug 13, 2018
Engaging, fully formed world (1 more)
Complex female characters
This book had my interest on the premise alone, enough to give it a shot - but I didn't expect it to be such an enjoyable ride.
Usually when fiction tackles time travel concepts you get glaring paradoxes, intentional blurring of details or overdone tropes but this book actually pulled it off well. Rather than focusing on the usual quandaries faced by time travelling instead we had a plethora of content I'd never even considered before!
From the humble beginnings of the four 'pioneers' in the '60s (which most books would have kept focus on) we jump forwards to the modern era and have what happened between was filled in through very natural exposition and character discovery. The result is a rich and vast world I wanted to know more and more about. What a fantastic concept to show modern day Britain with a history knocked off course by the creation of the conclave and decades of shared knowledge.
I was repeatedly impressed by the level of detail that Mascarenhas took things to (the time travel terminology/slang definitely being one of them!) and the areas she covered.
Over the course of reading this book I found myself bringing up the book in conversation at work and home. I couldn't help but talk about it. It was also at this point, in describing the book, that I suddenly realised there were no male characters of note in the book at all. This absolutely took nothing away from the story. The women in this story were fully formed and real enough to be flawed. Such a refreshing experience in sci-fi! I was pleasantly surprised by the romantic sub-plot between two women as well. This was such a natural progression of the story, with no fan-fare or overdue focus - it was just right and wonderfully depicted.
The themes covered by the book are equal parts beautiful and painful - just like life itself. What an incredible debut novel from a voice I am keen to hear more from.
----
Thank you to NetGalley and Head of Zeus for an ARC of this book in in exchange for an honest review
Usually when fiction tackles time travel concepts you get glaring paradoxes, intentional blurring of details or overdone tropes but this book actually pulled it off well. Rather than focusing on the usual quandaries faced by time travelling instead we had a plethora of content I'd never even considered before!
From the humble beginnings of the four 'pioneers' in the '60s (which most books would have kept focus on) we jump forwards to the modern era and have what happened between was filled in through very natural exposition and character discovery. The result is a rich and vast world I wanted to know more and more about. What a fantastic concept to show modern day Britain with a history knocked off course by the creation of the conclave and decades of shared knowledge.
I was repeatedly impressed by the level of detail that Mascarenhas took things to (the time travel terminology/slang definitely being one of them!) and the areas she covered.
Over the course of reading this book I found myself bringing up the book in conversation at work and home. I couldn't help but talk about it. It was also at this point, in describing the book, that I suddenly realised there were no male characters of note in the book at all. This absolutely took nothing away from the story. The women in this story were fully formed and real enough to be flawed. Such a refreshing experience in sci-fi! I was pleasantly surprised by the romantic sub-plot between two women as well. This was such a natural progression of the story, with no fan-fare or overdue focus - it was just right and wonderfully depicted.
The themes covered by the book are equal parts beautiful and painful - just like life itself. What an incredible debut novel from a voice I am keen to hear more from.
----
Thank you to NetGalley and Head of Zeus for an ARC of this book in in exchange for an honest review
Whatchareadin (174 KP) rated The Scent Keeper in Books
Jun 21, 2019
Scent is the strongest sense tied to memory. One smell can conjure up a whole moment in your life, that you thought you had completely forgotten about. "When you change a scent, you change the memory..."(Quote taken from advanced copy)
Emmeline and her father live on a remote island. It's just the two of them and Emmeline has learned all she knows from her father, but the greatest thing she has learned, is how to use scents to determine what is going on in the world. Cut off from the rest of society, people are just objects in books, and her father is the only other physical person she knows. When she turns 13 and is forced into the "real" world, she quickly discovers that it's more than scents that she will need to make it in life.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.
When I first heard about this book, I was quite intrigued. A whole book about a cottage filled with drawers of scents. How was this going to play out? Would it hold my attention? Boy did it ever. will admit, when I started reading, I was skeptical about which direction the book would take me. The journey was exciting and thrilling and it left me wanting more.
The Scent Keeper is the first book I have read by Erica Bauermeister, but I do look forward to reading more books by her. This is the type of book that is kind of hard to review without giving too much of the story away. This is a story that you will feel in your heart. You will start to understand and smell scents in a different way.
This book has something for everyone in it. A little bit of magic, thrills, just a touch of romance, and scents from all over. I think that if you pick up this book you will enjoy it. I wasn't sure after the description and reading the first couple of chapters, but this story really grew on me and it will stay with me for a while.
Emmeline and her father live on a remote island. It's just the two of them and Emmeline has learned all she knows from her father, but the greatest thing she has learned, is how to use scents to determine what is going on in the world. Cut off from the rest of society, people are just objects in books, and her father is the only other physical person she knows. When she turns 13 and is forced into the "real" world, she quickly discovers that it's more than scents that she will need to make it in life.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.
When I first heard about this book, I was quite intrigued. A whole book about a cottage filled with drawers of scents. How was this going to play out? Would it hold my attention? Boy did it ever. will admit, when I started reading, I was skeptical about which direction the book would take me. The journey was exciting and thrilling and it left me wanting more.
The Scent Keeper is the first book I have read by Erica Bauermeister, but I do look forward to reading more books by her. This is the type of book that is kind of hard to review without giving too much of the story away. This is a story that you will feel in your heart. You will start to understand and smell scents in a different way.
This book has something for everyone in it. A little bit of magic, thrills, just a touch of romance, and scents from all over. I think that if you pick up this book you will enjoy it. I wasn't sure after the description and reading the first couple of chapters, but this story really grew on me and it will stay with me for a while.
Phil Leader (619 KP) rated The Big Over Easy (Nursery Crime, #1) in Books
Nov 8, 2019
After the success of his Thursday Next books, in which the heroine can enter works of fiction and interact with the characters, Fforde dusted off a previous idea for a novel: a town where nursery rhyme characters are real. Humpty Dumpty is found in pieces at the bottom of his wall, but did he fall or was he pushed?
Investigated by detective Jack Spratt (usefully the name Jack is quite common in nursery rhymes) and his new partner Mary Mary we meet a number of characters from nursery rhymes, songs and myth and legend. As the body count rises Jack and Mary must do what all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't, and assemble the pieces of Humpty's demise to find the culprit.
The world Fforde creates - a fictional version of the town of Reading (and strongly implied to be the same world that Thursday Next lives in, in the book-within-a-book Caversham Heights) works suprisingly well, perhaps because other than the traits inherited from their nursery rhymes the characters are otherwise conventional. So Jack can't eat any fat and is destined to sell something for beans, but at the core is a straightforward detective.
This contrasts with, say, The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse by Robert Rankin which again is a detective story populated with nursery rhyme characters (and poor Humpty is again a victim, but in a very different murder) where the setting is in Toyland so doesn't have the grounding of reality that The Big Over Easy does.
The plot itself is very complex - there are red herrings, theories and suspects galore - and Fforde enjoys playing with the reader as much as with Jack. And there is of course humour aplenty, both simple gags from the story and characters and also some good knowing winks to the reader when events mirror the characters' nursery rhymes. Above all Fforde never forgets that this is after all a detective novel.
Probably not quite as good as the Thursday Next books but definitely a good read and will entertain from the first to the last page.
Investigated by detective Jack Spratt (usefully the name Jack is quite common in nursery rhymes) and his new partner Mary Mary we meet a number of characters from nursery rhymes, songs and myth and legend. As the body count rises Jack and Mary must do what all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't, and assemble the pieces of Humpty's demise to find the culprit.
The world Fforde creates - a fictional version of the town of Reading (and strongly implied to be the same world that Thursday Next lives in, in the book-within-a-book Caversham Heights) works suprisingly well, perhaps because other than the traits inherited from their nursery rhymes the characters are otherwise conventional. So Jack can't eat any fat and is destined to sell something for beans, but at the core is a straightforward detective.
This contrasts with, say, The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse by Robert Rankin which again is a detective story populated with nursery rhyme characters (and poor Humpty is again a victim, but in a very different murder) where the setting is in Toyland so doesn't have the grounding of reality that The Big Over Easy does.
The plot itself is very complex - there are red herrings, theories and suspects galore - and Fforde enjoys playing with the reader as much as with Jack. And there is of course humour aplenty, both simple gags from the story and characters and also some good knowing winks to the reader when events mirror the characters' nursery rhymes. Above all Fforde never forgets that this is after all a detective novel.
Probably not quite as good as the Thursday Next books but definitely a good read and will entertain from the first to the last page.
Phil Leader (619 KP) rated Taylor's Plight (The Sanctum Series #3) in Books
Nov 26, 2019
Taylor's Plight is the third book in The Sanctum series of pre-teen adventure novels by Katrina Cope. Once again Jayden, Eva, Robert and Aaron are attempting to stop terrorism by using 'surrogates' - robots they can control remotely that appear to be human.
This installment starts with a bang (quite literally) and just keeps going. The previous two books took a little while to lay the groundwork for both characters and plot but there is no need to do that here, especially as the story continues essentially from the end of the second book, Scarlet's Escape.
Once again someone is moving against the Sanctum, trying to stop their fight against terrorism, attacking their infrastructure in an attempt to bring down Scarlet, the computer intelligence that controls much of the Santum's functions.
Liam and the other pupils at Ernest College are also involved, and seemingly on a course to uncover the Sanctum's meddling at their school. But are they working towards the same cause, or against? As the two groups of students converge on the truth, the stakes have never been higher and the danger never more real.
This really is a fantastic read. From start to finish it grips the reader, drawing them along. The threads of Ernest and the Sanctum play off of each other, each giving a slightly different view of what is really going on. Most of the second half of the book is a breathless rush towards the final climax as the children on both sides uncover the truth. The phrase 'I couldn't put it down' is overused but is totally justified in this case.
Not everything in their world is safe and cosy and this is one of the great things about Cope's books. She is not afraid to put her characters through the mill, but they are always shown to be able to overcome adversity through quick wits and to come out stronger the other side. As usual the strong role models are well in evidence.
This is a book I would unhesitatingly recommend to any reader from about 9 upwards, although reading the first two books will be necessary to introduce the characters involved and the world of the Sanctum.
This installment starts with a bang (quite literally) and just keeps going. The previous two books took a little while to lay the groundwork for both characters and plot but there is no need to do that here, especially as the story continues essentially from the end of the second book, Scarlet's Escape.
Once again someone is moving against the Sanctum, trying to stop their fight against terrorism, attacking their infrastructure in an attempt to bring down Scarlet, the computer intelligence that controls much of the Santum's functions.
Liam and the other pupils at Ernest College are also involved, and seemingly on a course to uncover the Sanctum's meddling at their school. But are they working towards the same cause, or against? As the two groups of students converge on the truth, the stakes have never been higher and the danger never more real.
This really is a fantastic read. From start to finish it grips the reader, drawing them along. The threads of Ernest and the Sanctum play off of each other, each giving a slightly different view of what is really going on. Most of the second half of the book is a breathless rush towards the final climax as the children on both sides uncover the truth. The phrase 'I couldn't put it down' is overused but is totally justified in this case.
Not everything in their world is safe and cosy and this is one of the great things about Cope's books. She is not afraid to put her characters through the mill, but they are always shown to be able to overcome adversity through quick wits and to come out stronger the other side. As usual the strong role models are well in evidence.
This is a book I would unhesitatingly recommend to any reader from about 9 upwards, although reading the first two books will be necessary to introduce the characters involved and the world of the Sanctum.
My Spacecraft – Rocket Science for Kids
Education and Book
6.0
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10, 9, 8, 7... Engines running - go! Get suited up, take a photo and take your best friend with you...
Galaxy Wars:Empire
Games, Entertainment and Stickers
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In the year 2503, humanity exhausted Earth's resources. In desperation, humanity sent their colonial...