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!! 

200 followers winner

Thank you everyone who entered the 200 followers giveaway! I'm thrilled that we now have over 230! It's very exciting, and I hope people will get involved with commenting on posts.

Without further ado, the winner:

Anna Ch!

Congratulations Anna! You have until next Monday (25th) to get in touch to claim your prize, I have tried to email you as well. Please write to ailsa(dot)floyd(at)yahoo(dot)com

Look out for more giveaways soon, and some reviews coming up this week!

My current TBR

Well, that's me back from holiday/vacation. I realised recently just how short the time is until the end of term. I also saw how many books I have that need reading - a lot of them wont be able to come back across to Scotland with me, so I thought I'd get them in order and see what I need to get done in the next six weeks!


Physical books that I've started but not yet finished:

Most of these are things that I've almost finished with, so hopefully will be reviewing soon. Witchling, I've kind of given up on, because the writing really doesn't appeal to me, so I'm not finding the story very enjoyable. Iced, I'm just a few chapters in to, and Storm of Swords, I'm about half way through. 

Physical books I haven't started reading yet:

The top 3 were won in a contest in the fall, and I just haven't had a break in between the 'books I really really want to read' and 'review books' to get to them yet. The bottom two I bought the other day at the signing :)

Ebooks that I've started, but not yet finished:
Dead Spots - by Melissa F Olson
The Boss And Her Billionaire - by Michele de Winton
No Flowers Required - by Cari Quinn
I mostly buy ebooks for 'light' reading, so I'll come back to these when I want something fun, and I'm not trying to catch up on print books - these ones aren't going anywhere :)


Ebooks I haven't started reading yet:
None on my computer, but I have several review requests stacked up. I think, given the above amount of books, I'm not going to be taking any until I have this lot more under control, though.

So there you have it. What do your tbr or currently reading piles look like?

~Ailsa

(PS - this is the last day to enter the 200 Followers Giveaway!. Just click there to enter. :)

Feature & Follow

Once again, it's been a super busy week. I won't know until I pack my bag this afternoon and see how much space there is if my laptop is coming on vacation with me next week, so if it does, you'll get book reviews, and if not, then I will have plenty to share when I get back.

Without further ado, welcome to Feature & Follow! F&F is hosted by Parajunkee & Alison Can Read, and features a couple of bloggers every week.

The question this week is: What is a book you didn’t like that all your friends raved about or what book did you love that wasn’t popular?

For books I didn't like, I'm not sure. I wasn't a fan of Hush, Hush, but I think the audience is pretty split on that one - I'm not alone in not liking it. A couple of the blogs I usually get my romance recommendations from were raving about 'The Bro-Magnet', and I didn't get more than a couple of chapters in, and was scanning through that much - the main character just didn't appeal at all, I felt like he was a bit of an idiot. For books I like that aren't popular, I think it's not that people dislike books I've enjoyed, they just haven't heard of them. I guess that's a reason I like to blog - I want to share books I've loved with a wider audience.

If you've stopped by from the hop, feel free to follow on GFC or by email - links are on the right hand side. You could also follow me on twitter, @AilsaCF

Also, you can comment on the 200 Followers Giveaway to enter to win a book :)

~Ailsa

Maureen Johnson and Stephanie Perkins event

I was excited to find out that Maureen Johnson and Stephanie Perkins were doing a tour event in my town. Maureen was promoting her new book, The Madness Underneath, which is the 2nd book in her 'Shades of London' series. I loved the first one, and I've been following Maureen Johnson on twitter for a while - she's a very funny person to read on twitter, and was very much like that in 'real life' too.

I went along, met up with some friends from my writing group, and settled in for what turned out to be more of a stand up comedy show. It was absolutely hilarious.
They started by bouncing out after their introduction clutching Sloth and Fox, who I think came from a display in the store:

They talked about funny travelling stories, including strange hotels they had stayed in. 

It won't let me rotate this, but here, Maureen demonstrates the 'glowing orb' version of a ghost, with the aid of Fox.

After much hilarity, they took a couple of questions. I asked about their journeys to publication and how long it took, and Maureen said she liked my accent! That was kind of cool, but I think I was turning bright read. 

Yay! The store also gave out some fun Maureen-related stickers - I'll have to find good places to put them.

  

Pretty signed books!

It was a really fun evening, and if you get the chance to meet either of these authors, I'd definitely suggest it! I can't wait to read these books, and find out what happens next in the Shades of London series.

~Ailsa