Letterbox Love//Stacking the Shelves

As always, Letterbox Love & Stacking the Shelves are ways to share the books you've got recently. LL is a British version of these sharing memes :)


I can't believe it's been a whole week already! I did read two fun books this week, and recieved a third from NetGalley which I'll be reading soon.

That one was 'Full Blooded' by Amanda Carlson, which apparently came out last year, but it sounds interesting: a werewolf who isn't quite normal for the species. Full description on Goodreads.

I bought 'The Mane Attraction' by Shelley Laurenston with some amazon vouchers I had, and it was worth it, a fun read and I loved the couple involved in this, book 3 in her 'Pride' series. This one features Sissy Mae and Mitch. And mmm, he is looking very nice in this cover, I think! Not sure if I'll be reviewing this one, we'll see. (Description on Goodreads.)

And then there were these two:

Down London Road, by Samantha Young. This is the 'sequel', if you like, to On Dublin Street, which I read and loved last week. Jo, the main character in this one, works at the bar with Joss from ODS, and we get to see her and Braden again, which was nice. I enjoyed this one too, and will be reviewing both soon. (Description here.)

Moon Over Soho, by Ben Aaronovitch. I have the first book in this series, and read & loved it a while ago, but hadn't got to reading the others yet. I saw one of my friends this week, and she lent this one too me, so I'll be getting to that very soon. (Description.)

As always, I'd love to hear what you think about any of these. I'm also curious about whether anyone is planning to see Samantha Young at the Edinburgh Book Festival in August - I have a ticket and it would be fun to meet other people there :)

~Ailsa

Independent Bookseller Week

It's 'Independent Bookseller Week'! This is intended to be a celebration of, you guessed it, independent bookstores. You can learn more about it here, at the website.

For those who don't know, I go to university in Edinburgh, a city full of little bookshops. Some of them are exclusively second hand, some of the second-hand ones are part of a charity shop, but almost all of them have staff who are happy to help you look for things, and will order something in if you want it. I thought to celebrate the week, I would do a little post about three of my favourites.

1) Transreal Fiction, Candlemaker Row, Edinburgh.
This lovely sci-fi/fantasy bookshop is usually my first stop when I'm looking for my next fantasy fix. They have a great range of titles and often carry the American editions if a book isn't available in the UK yet. I love browsing the 'new releases' shelf to find new-to-me books and authors, and they also have quite a selection of anthologies. Website.

2) Pulp Fiction Books, Bread Street, Edinburgh.
This one is kind of cool, because it's where I meet my writer's group, and I've seen it evolve from a brand new store to its current state: a little cafe counter on one side with great cake, and tables in the middle, surrounded by books. The owner has tried to make it a place for writer's to gather, and they run writing-related events regularly. Website.

3) Till's, Hope Park Crescent, Edinburgh
I used to walk past this shop every day on my way to class in 1st year at uni, and I still love to go in for a look around. They squeeze a lot of genres in to the little second hand bookshop, with stacked children's books just inside the door, and a table in the middle with old movie posters. If you go in to the back room, there's a little wood-burning stove, and you can warm your hands up on a rainy day while you look at the books. Website.

Do you have favourite independent booksellers in your town? I'd love to hear about them.

~Ailsa

New feature: Thoughts on Books

I'm going to start doing a new thing here, which for now will creatively be called 'Thoughts on Books'. These are going to be my thoughts on a book which I want to talk about but not write a review for - usually these will be later books in a series that I love. They're going to be a little of a discussion post, and they will contain spoilers for those books.

 Sometimes I read something which I want to excitedly discuss. I want to talk about how I'm so glad X finally happened, or that I can't believe Y did that, or how I guessed that Z was going to happen. These are fun things to talk about with a new book, but I don't always feel like they can fit in to the sort of information that I like to get across in a review.

So I'll be kicking things off later today or sometime tomorrow with talking about Heart of Obsidian, the new book in the psy/changeling series from Nalini Singh. I may or may not do one for the latest Dark Angels book from Keri Arthur which I'm reading just now, but I'm fairly sure that when Magic Rises by Ilona Andrews comes out at the end of July, it'll end up in a Thoughts on Books post. So that's a little taste of what's to come. It's not going to be a regular feature, just as and when I have a book that fits in with it.

I hope you enjoy reading these new posts!

~Ailsa

Review: It's In His Kiss, by Julia Quinn

Title: It's In His Kiss (Bridgerton Family #7)
Author: Julia Quinn
Release Date: October '09
Publisher: Harper Collins (US)/Piatkus (UK)
Source: Bought

Description from Goodreads: IF IT'S IN HIS HEART ... IT'S IN HIS KISS
MEET OUR HERO...
Gareth St. Clair is in a bind. His father, who detests him, is determined to beggar the St. Clair estates and ruin his inheritance. Gareth's sole bequest is an old family diary, which may or may not contain the secrets of his past... and the key to his future. The problem is—it's written in Italian, of which Gareth speaks not a word.
MEET OUR HEROINE ...
All the ton agreed: there was no one quite like Hyacinth Bridgerton. She's fiendishly smart, devilishly outspoken, and according to Gareth, probably best in small doses. But there's something about her—something charming and vexing—that grabs him and won't quite let go...
MEET POOR MR. MOZART...
Or don't. But rest assured, he's spinning in his grave when Gareth and Hyacinth cross paths at the annual—and annually discordant—Smythe-Smith musicale. To Hyacinth, Gareth's every word seems a dare, and she offers to translate his diary, even though her Italian is slightly less than perfect. But as they delve into the mysterious text, they discover that the answers they seek lie not in the diary, but in each other ... and that there is nothing as simple—or as complicated—as a single, perfect kiss 

My thoughts: I've been on a bit of a historical romance kick the past few months, and had heard Julia Quinn talked about by a lot of people as one of the must-read authors of the genre. Although it's the 7th in the series, this is only the 3rd I've read - I don't think it's made much difference taking them out of order, as each so far has stood on its own very well.

Hyacinth is the youngest of 8 children, almost all of whom are happily married by this point. But now it's her turn to look for a husband, her intelligence & outspoken manner, which have always been part of her character, are a little off putting to some men. However, every week she reads for Gareth's grandmother, the fierce Lady Danbury, and she's there when Gareth turns up to ask Lady Danbury about where he might be able to get the diary translated. Despite the fact they don't always get on smoothly, Hyacinth agrees to translate the diary, and soon gets caught up in the story she's discovering there. Together, she and Gareth are then launched on an adventure of trying to follow the clues in the diary to find some valuable jewellery hidden in Gareth's family home.

I love the interactions between Gareth and Hyacinth, and what they think about each other when they aren't together. Of course it's clear from the begining that they're going to end up together, but what I like about historical romance is seeing the journey unfold and watching the characters figure it out themselves. Hyacinth is very feisty, and it was fun to see her finding her place as a grown woman, not just the youngest sister of so many other people. Gareth has been affected so much by his angry, unhappy father - I was very glad when he finally stood up to the man, and that things worked out well in the end.

Although I'm fairly new to her work, this book helped cement Julia Quinn in my mind as an author who I think I'll always enjoy. 'It's In His Kiss' is a fun historical romance adventure in London, complete with society events, scheming mothers, and town gossip. It was a lot of fun to read.

I give this book 7 stars.

~Ailsa

Letterbox Love/Stacking The Shelves

 

Welcome to another Letterbox Love post! How is everyone? I know I've said it before, but this time I'm really going to get on and start posting regularly again. I can't believe my last post was the begining of the month! It feels like it's gone really fast.

Anyway, let's cut to the chase. I'm sure I'm forgetting some ebooks here, but here are some of the books I've got or read in the last few weeks. Links go to Goodreads.

Ebooks:



Frost Burned, by Patricia Briggs. #7 in the Mercy Thompson series. I've been looking forward to this for a while, but the hardbacks were just too expensive, and I didn't want something else to have to squeeze in my bag to bring home from America. Finally got the ebook, read it, and loved it. I'll do a review or discussion post on this one very soon.







It's In His Kiss, by Julia Quinn. #7 in the Bridgerton Family series. I was looking for some more historical romance, and I've heard a lot about this author, so picked this one up when I had some amazon vouchers. Review coming this weekend.








Print books:

Heart of Obsidian, by Nalini Singh. #12 in the Psy/Changeling series. SQUEE!! I was so excited to finally get this book. Definitely worth spending £12 on and waiting for months, no matter how much my mum might disagree about that for a book. I'll be doing a post with my thoughts on this soon.

Darkness Unmasked, by Keri Arthur. #5 in the Dark Angel series. As you can tell by the bookmark, I'm part way through reading this, and loving it so far. Will review soon.

On Dublin Street, by Samantha Young. Read this in one day during the week, and loved it, far more than I was expecting to. Review coming very soon.

So what about you? What did you get recently? Do you have any good recommendations?
~Ailsa

Letterbox Love/Stacking The Shelves

  

Letterbox Love is hosted by Lynsey at Narratively Speaking, and Stacking The Shelves is hosted at Tynga's Reviews. Both are ways to share the books you got this week, drama free. 

I'm back! It got very busy the past few months, with studying for finals and then travelling, but I'm home now, back in Scotland! And it's so nice to back. I've got a lovely few weeks ahead of me with plenty of time for reading. So let's cut to the books! I'm waiting for my copy of Heart of Obsidian, and in the meantime I have this to work on:

I bought it for my dad for Christmas, and now I'm back I finally get to read it too! He he.

Description from Goodreads: Seventeen years ago Stenwold witnessed the Wasp Empire storming the city of Myna in a brutal war of conquest. Since then he has preached vainly against this threat in his home city of Collegium, but now the Empire is on the march, with its spies and its armies everywhere, and the Lowlands lie directly in its path. All the while, Stenwold has been training youthful agents to fight the Wasp advance, and the latest recruits include his niece, Che, and his mysterious ward, Tynisa. When his home is violently attacked, he is forced to send them ahead of him and, hotly pursued, they fly by airship to Helleron, the first city in line for the latest Wasp invasion.

Stenwold and Che are Beetle-kinden, one of many human races that take their powers and inspiration each from a totem insect, but he also has allies of many breeds: Mantis, Spider, Ant, with their own particular skills. Foremost is the deadly Mantis-kinden warrior, Tisamon, but other very unlikely allies also join the cause. As things go from bad to worse amid escalating dangers, Stenwold learns that the Wasps intend to use the newly completed railroad between Helleron and Collegium to launch a lightning strike into the heart of the Lowlands. Then he gathers all of his agents to force a final showdown in the engine yard . . .

What books have you been reading recently?

~Ailsa

Soulless

 Soulless is the first of four parasol protectorate books which tells the story of Alexandra Tarrabotti, a half Italian spinster who also happens to be a 'preternatural' (aka soulless). A cross between PG Woodehouse and Jane Austen, Gail Carriger has created a wonderful alternative steampunk Victorian society in which werewolves and vampires are a key part of society.

After an attack from a strange vampire, Alexia, a preternatural/soulless (who has the ability to cancel out supernaturals) seeks to investigate what is happening to London's high society. However she isn't the only one as Lord Maccon, Alpha of the London pack and Head of BUR, with the help of his unflappable Beta, Prof. Lyall also seek answers to the unexpected new vampires and missing werewolves.

It's hard to put into words, how much I enjoyed this book (and it's sequels). Carriger is an extraordinary writer - she has created this wonderful world, with incredible characters, the most wickedly funny dialogue and all with a lovely dash of romance.  As an aspiring writer, reading (and rereading) this series make me want to weep because I will never write a book this well.

One of the main strengths of the book, is the characters. It is a rare (and lovely) thing when a reader becomes so attached to a set of characters - but it would be impossible not to with this book, as each individual character is so complete, it makes you want to cherish them. Even presumably 'minor' characters leap off the page and make you pay attention to their story.

So, if you enjoy intelligent and funny dialogue, excellent world-building and characters who stay with you long after you close the book - then this is for you.

But if you don't believe me - then simply read the below quotes. They show the wit and style that is the trademark of this series.And truly you'd have to be soulless not to at least crack a smile!!

 "A vampire, like a lady, never reveals his true age." 

 "My dearest girl,' said the vampire finally, examining Lord Maccon with an exhausted but appreciative eye, 'such a banquet. Never been one to favor werewolves myself, but he is very well equipped, now, is he not?' Miss Tarabotti gave him an arch look. 'My goodies,' she warned. 'Humans,' chuckled the vampire, 'so possessive'"

 "Miss Tarabotti was not one of life's milk-water misses--in fact, quite the opposite. Many a gentleman had likened his first meeting with her to downing a very strong cognac when one was expecting to imbibe fruit juice--that is to say, startling and apt to leave one with a distinct burning sensation" 

"Please, Lord Maccon, use one of the cups. My delicate sensibilities.” The earl actually snorted. “My dear Miss Tarabotti, if you possessed any such things, you certainly have never shown them to me" 

  "Hello, princess,” said Lord Maccon to the vampire. “Got yourself into quite a pickle this time, didn't you?” Lord Akeldama looked him up and down. “My sweet young naked boy, you are hardly one to talk. Not that I mind, of course" 

 "Mr. Haverbink bowed deeply, muscles rippling all up and down his back, and lumbered from the room. Miss Hisselpenny sighed and fluttered her fan. "Ah, for the countryside, what scenery there abides..., " quoth she. Miss Tarabotti giggled. "Ivy, what a positively wicked thing to say. Bravo.” "

Overall, an exceptional witty and fun read, with wonderful in-depth characters that will stay with you forever. Without further gushing, I give this book (and series) 10/10!!