In the Library of LadyViolet

Egads! Strangers!

2011-11-13T02:20:00.000Z

Don't worry I was sober when this was taken :P

So... Hi...

Dammit now I've freaked you all out, stop shrieking folks I'm not that shocking to see I hope. Bah maybe I am it's been so long I'm surprised I still remember what my blog looks like. I can't really make a sincere apology for my absence as that'll require me to promise not to bugger off without warning again for several months and I'm not entirely sure I can do that.

Reality is truly a bitch and it's very sad that I've essentially cut myself off from something that I really used to enjoy doing. But work is such that my brain literally can't think creatively or constructively outside of the office, I'm still managing to read thank god but it's becoming more of a life raft to stop myself from turning into a hideously boring person who does nothing but talk about work.

I worry that if I tried to kick-start my blogging again then I'll distract myself too much from work and since the internet (and Nanowrimo) factored largely into my breakdown of interest in University then I don't want to get myself fired because my sometimes addictive personality has me checking twitter every hour when I'm at work. I don't even dare to open the card games on my computer for fear I dissolve into a Freecell junkie once more :S

So where do we go from here? I did actually start a review post the other week after I read the third book in the Beka Cooper trilogy by the incomparable Tamora Pierce (the draft got incredibly gushy and due to a saving error I lost the gushiest chunk of it - a blessing perhaps?). The major thread of the review was that I'm now desperately in love with Farmer Cape and I seriously want to marry him when I grows up :D Oh and Mastiff was fecking awesome although Tammy did break my heart a little (why him?) but in the end everything that happened only helped to make it a fantastic end to a fantabulous trilogy. Oddly Beka is the character I feel most similar to, if that makes any sense (except for the pigeons, god I hate pigeons *shudders*). She's a pragmatic lass who won't take no nonsense on the job but is as shy as a dormouse without her baton. But I digress.

What do people reckon? Should I start posting the odd review now and then? I don't think they'll be anything extraordinary unless of course I read a book that blows me away, just brief thoughts and a rating perhaps? I find myself watching a lot of dvds at the moment since it requires a lot less concentration to stare at a screen than to process words. I'm a serious Downton Abbey convert (with the nerdy advantage for me that the company I work for has actually done mugs for Highclere Castle where they film the show so I got to squee just a little) I just finished earlier tonight watching the second season and God knows I'm going to be on tenterhooks until the Christmas Special and then Season 3 because IWILLNOTBEABLETOCOPEIFMATTHEWANDMARYDON'TGETTOGETHERINTHEENDARGH!

*ahem* Tangent should be my third middle name. Anyway if I stay in the right mood I'll post something with an updated list of what I've read in the past few months, some corkers I remember and an actual DNF I'm sad to say (luckily it was a library book so I'm glad I didn't buy it first). If people want more detailed thoughts on anything leave me a comment and I'll try to do some mini-reviews or something. Oh and the point of the last paragraph was that I may do the odd TV/DVD review if it's something I really get into. Don't be too surprised if a post appears in the future that is an Ode to Matthew Crawley and his drop-dead quirk of a smile. You've been warned.

Now this has rambled and raved long enough, it's 2am and I'm two glasses of wine worse off. But it's certainly been cathartic to just type for a while and I hope that you lovely folk might motivate me into posting a little more because I really need to do something more productive with my time than just bulk digest CSI re-runs every evening.

It's been good to tread the boards again, here's hoping they're not all rotten through.

Night
LadyV

In Despair of not quite being there

2011-08-29T21:51:00.000+01:00

Yes I realise that I have totally dropped off the face of the planet for nearly a month and a half and I apologise for doing so without notice. While I was on holiday I was all optimistic that I could have a decent work-play routine that actually left me with enough energy to so much as switch on my laptop when I got home. Well, you can all see how brilliantly *that* plan turned out.

I'm rather at a loss to understand where August and in fact Summer has gone, I'm somewhat doubtful that Summer even exists at the moment since I'm wearing a hoodie as well as a dressing gown and thick bed-socks- oh and not to mention the fact that the central heating is on - IN FREAKING AUGUST! Bah anyways I didn't dig myself out of my hermit hole merely to rant about how effing cold it is right now.

Basically I've realised something recently - I am getting ever closer to my 21st birthday (bricking it btw) and I have yet to find the niche in this world where I feel like I truly belong. This revelation of sorts came to me this weekend while I was in Oxford with my family for a Bank Holiday weekend break. Back when I was still with my boyfriend I went down to Oxford to visit him at uni several times so I knew my way around the town reasonably well. As we walked about I found myself wishing I could live in this gorgeous town since it's chock-full of bookstores and coffee-shops, which are pretty much the two best things I could hope for in a
place to live. Yet for some bizarre reason I felt like I shouldn't be there, like I was invading an intellectual nest where I wasn't welcome.

Before I ended up at Aberystwyth Uni, I had applied to Oxford university (although in retrospect it really was a crap idea and a waste of a uni choice) and when I got rejected I couldn't help feeling like it was a massive door slammed in my face which really quite upset me at the time. It was like being told that I wasn't smart enough to deserve to go to Oxford when I'd been told waaay back in primary school that I was in fact *that* smart.

After I left uni last December I did actually reapply to do a totally different course which at the time I thought I'd really enjoy, ironically enough the best place in the country to do that course (Publishing media if you're interested) was at Oxford Brookes - Oxford's little sister uni as it were. In the months after applying I slowly lost all enthusiasm for the course and when I finally got the email saying I'd been unsuccessful in my application I really wasn't massively bothered (bear in mind that it was on the day of my Grandad's funeral and I had just got a job that morning after 5 months of being tediously unemployed so I was a tad hysterical) but this weekend I came to the conclusion that perhaps I'm supposed to stay away from Oxford since neither of the universities want me there so as much as I'd like to live there I just don't ... belong there.

I've been feeling somewhat the same at work recently, it gets remarked on frequently that I use a lot of big words - my production manager kept asking me to repeat the word "eviscerate" most days for nearly 3 weeks. Whenever someone asks me what I was doing at university there's always a quiet moment after I say "French & Spanish" like they don't quite know what to make of me. My love of Harry Potter is gently mocked on a regular basis by one of the directors (whose 16 yr old son got onto to Pottermore early) like my enthusiasm about the books is something to find amusing.

I have a bad habit of launching into long-winded explanations for things that could really be summed up in a few short sentences (this blog post for example) - although I try to improve myself on this front it's pretty dang hard so I do waffle on a bit at work. However I find it rather hurtful when my production manager (who I end up pestering for large portions of the day so I know that jobs are getting done and that I'm not going to have angry customers ringing me up wanting to know where their mugs are), blatantly tunes me out when I'm trying to talk to him and maybe making a hash of it. It's bad enough that my own sister does it to me if I'm waxing lyrical on something vaguely nerdy but when my employer does it to me when I'm trying to do my job then it does make you feel pretty shit.

At the risk of sounding terribly snobby I feel like no one at work is quite on the same intellectual wavelength as me. Don't get me wrong most of the people I work with are lovely in their own quirky way but I feel like I'm masquerading in a boxful of round pegs when I am secretly a octagonal one - I can't help but wonder if there are some other weird pegs like me in jobs that don't entirely satisfy.

All in all I'm not altogether happy with the turn my life is taking right now - yes, I have a stable job which on it's less stressful days I do enjoy. But the next few months are going to get progressively more insane and I worry that the day will actually come I that do stay so late at the office that I fall asleep there. At my age I *really* don't find that prospect appealing, I need a job that won't keep me stressing all weekend because I know everything is going to go horribly wrong the next week when half of the factory staff is on holiday (this will soon become a reality so don't ask me how my week's been on Friday - it's for your own safety). I need a job that I can switch off from in the evenings, one that doesn't keep me late and take up my lunch hour. I need a job that doesn't lump a massive amount of pressure on me and leave me with inadequate managerial support. I need employers who respect and appreciate how freaking hard I work sometimes and don't just bitch about how infrequently I make the tea.

Basically I need a new job - but considering how long it took me to get this job I'm obviously very wary to just hand in my notice and jump ship blindly. I'd actually have to have another position secured without a doubt before I could say "cheerio" and in these times that's next to bloody impossible.

So my dilemma is eating all of the brainpower I've got left at the end of a day, I'd read almost nothing for a week until this weekend. I've not blogged since I was on Holiday, I've not made a youtube video since the same time, I'm barely on facebook or twitter anymore. It seems like I've living for work, food and sleep with odd moments of sociability on Friday nights - I cannot spend the next year like this, I just can't.

Help. Please. I need to get off this merry-go-round of highs and lows. Hell I just need this whole year to become a faint memory - it's times like these that I get mightily nostalgic for high school.

You may now go back to your lives (thank you if you were dedicated enough to reach the end of this - I owe you a cookie or something).

LadyV

Hogwarts and Horrendous Weather

2011-07-10T19:56:00.000+01:00

Thursday was a mixture of Awesome Nerdy times and seriously insane rain. To my extreme joy we went to Universal's Island of Adventure which if you don't know is the home of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!! Last time I'd been to Florida the park was still being built so I've been dying to visit it for *aaages*!

The day started off looking bright enough although it still took a beastie-sized cup of coffee to de-zombiefy my lazy ass. When we got to Universal it was batshit-crazy busy in Hogsmeade, seriously there was a line that looked nearly an hour long just to get into Ollivanders! That's not even mentioning the 75 minute line to get into the Hogwarts Castle ride.

We first hit up the Triwizard Dragon Challenge ride (formally the Duelling Dragons ride) which is a fab way to make yourself light-headed early in the morning. Strangely the queue for this ride was tiny in comparison to the Hippogriff ride which was nothing more than a glorified runaway train, being the adrenaline junkie that I am I found that odd since who'd pass up the chance to get flung around upside down and instead sit and go round and round in speedy circles with a bit of steep banking?

After retrieving our bags from the teeny-tiny-omg-why-are-they-so-small? lockers we wandered towards the castle, shuffled our way through the *extremely* packed shop by the exit to the ride, drooled enviously over purdy scarves, ties and $50 Marauder's maps (yipes that was crazy), before escaping to freedom in the baking sunshine. That's when we noticed the cart selling wands.

Spot my Mommy in Hogsmeade!

Now before this trip I knew that what I wanted most from TWWoHP was a wand, so that I could finally stop messing about like a pathetic muggle with the crappy wand I made from K'nex donkey's years ago (no, really). So my sister and I had a nosy at the different character's wands and decided that we both really liked Ginny's and Luna's wands so we batted our eyelashes like suck-ups and the rentals agreed to let us have them *happy dance*. We also got Hermione's wand for a very special Twin of mine - Jess m'dear we are gonna Accio nerdytimes like nobody's business! I think we should mock-duel in the middle of the cinema when we meet oui?

Ahem, moving on. Thus wandified we then had to decide what to do next and with a choice of humungous queue for Hippogriff ride or humungous queue for the Hogwarts Castle ride... Hogwarts won out. Once again we had to stuff our bags into lockers I swear someone had hexed to be that tiny and useless, and join the endless queue which snaked *outside* of the normal park area into hidden, special staff only areas because it was *SO FREAKING LONG*.

For an hour we shuffled round all the queue lanes, getting baked by the sun (which later became sunburn), and fanning ourselves frantically with maps so our entire faces didn't melt off. It was actually kinda cool being in the queue as you end up in the Herbology greenhouses just before you enter the actual castle, there were mandrakes behind a little cage thing and what I think might have been a Venomous Tentacula but alas there were no staff around to ask and I'd hate to reveal my extreme nerdiness by asking the general queue-folk.

The House Points system

This is my sister and I just as we get to the castle entrance (praise be to sweet, sweet air conditioning), please ignore how hideous I look as I am not suited to hot climates :S

Inside was super-cool and chock-full of awesome Hogwarty stuff as we continued queueing to the actual ride. Check out ze pics.

Entrance to Dumbledore's Office

The ride itself was an awesome amalgam of a simulator ride with a big-ass projector screen (like Soaring at Epcot) and a crazy coaster. You have to run down one of those conveyor belts and jump into the four-seat box thing and chuck your harness down as everything keeps moving the whole time so you gotta be quick!

Then you get lifted off the ground and away you go! There's an awesome bar on the front of your harness which you hold like you're on a broom and it seriously feels like your flying round Hogwarts. Occasionally the scene changes and bam! You're in the Forbidden Forest and there's fecking SPIDERS EVERYWHERE! Then everything goes back to nice and normal for a while... wait no NOW THE DEMENTORS ARE COMING FOR YOU!!! *Freaks the frick out*

Sorting Hat!

I will hands-up confess to being genuinely scared when the Dementors appeared because damn... that's one thing the movies did perfectly *shudders*. I will also own up to being a major spaz and yelling "Expecto Patronum" like it would bloody do something, oy vay I'm an idiot.

Overall the ride was absolutely amazing and dang if you didn't feel like you were really flying (I know I was leaning forward to go faster), it was a total rush and *so* worth the hour's queue time. If we could have I would have ran back round and rejoined the line as I wanted to live in that castle!

By the time we got finished in Hogwarts we were starved so we went and sat at the back of the Three Broomsticks and ate our sandwiches whilst cooing over our wands (Beth and me that is, our parents just thought we were mental :P). We still had a few more places we wanted to go in Hogsmeade, like Honeydukes so after lunch we joined the crush in the sweet shop. There were so many awesome looking sweets in there (although jeepers they were pricey) but we eventually got a chocolate frog and some Bertie Bott's beans for my sister and I to share. Later however when my sister butchered the poor frog we realised that the chocolate wasn't all that great so we still haven't finished it *oops*. On the bright side we got Rowena Ravenclaw as our Wizarding Card.

Beth & Me outside the Post Office

As the day was getting on we had to finally try and do some other rides cos we'd done only two so far and we'd been in the park for 3 hours or more. So we started walking round toward the Hulk ride but as we got into the Jurassic Park area it started. The Rain. The Torrential Monsoon Season Rain. The OMG Will It Ever Stop Rain.

We were stuck inside a restaurant for probably getting on for an hour waiting for the downpour to ease off, in the end we just manned up and got out there in our super-cool yellow ponchos (I was lucky enough to have my special pink mac instead :P). With how shit the weather was the two rides that we'd wanted to go on (Hulk and Dr Doom's Fearfall) were now closed cos of the lightning risk so we decided to schlep our way to the exit and went for an early dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe (the food was really nice btw).

So that was our Epic-turned-Epicly-Wet day at Universal's Island of Adventure where we managed an amazing TWO rides due to the horrific turn in the weather. But in my eyes it was totally worth it because we got to go to HOGWARTS for crying out loud! I kinda wish that the other shops in Hogsmeade were actually accessible instead of just being cool shopfronts with "just popped out" signs on the doors cos that would have been super-awesome. I also think that it would rock if they built a full-size Hogwarts Express that you could travel round the outside of the park on cos then you could sit with other Harry Potter nerds in the compartments and revel in the awesomeness! (Alas I realise that Universal has like no space for expansion unlike Disney who have practically a county to themselves).

But yea, it was a fab day and I gots to say thanks very muchly to my parentals for tolerating my nerdiness enough to take us to the park (not that they'll read this but at least the thought is there).

Has anyone else been to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter? If so what bit did you like best? Do you think that it could have been even more awesome? What HP goodies did you buy? Let me know!

Witchily Yours
LadyV

In My Mailbox #53 ze magical one!

2011-07-10T08:00:00.001+01:00

Hola mis chicas! (or chicos I dunno what the female:male ratio is for ze blog). Tis the end of the first full week of my stay in Florida and it's kinda scary that in just a week I'll be going home again, gawd knows how I'm gonna adjust to having to go back to work *sad face*. Just as I've got into a routine of responsible adultness this holiday has set me back at least three years on the maturity ladder, so although I'm inching ever closer to my 21st birthday right now I'm feeling rather like a sixteen year old on her summer vacation. Ugh, why can't I just stay here and work at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter? I would *kill* to be able to spend all day dressed in Hogwarts robes and to buggery if I'm sweltering in the heat- I'd have the best job EVER!

But anyways digressions are the bane of my life. To business!
In My Mailbox is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Kristi @The Story Siren and inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie

Books Acquired this week
Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
Princess of Glass by Jessica Day George
The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May and June by Robin Benway

**AND**
Luna Lovegood's Wand *squee* (I did want to maybe get a Ravenclaw scarf but the shops were so crazy-cakes busy that it was a challenge to move around in there so escaping was the sensible option)
Hermione Granger's Wand - for the Darling Jess of Jess Hearts Books (So we can be nerdy witchy nutters when we go see HP7 Pt2 later this month)

My post detailing the awesomeness of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter avec pictures will hopefully be up later today so keep your peepers peeled for that!

So do let me know what Y'all got in Your Mailboxes this week!

Magically Yours
LadyV

Book Review - Words

2011-07-04T17:08:00.000+01:00

Cripes, I started this review over a week ago :S I gotta sort myself out.

Title: Words
Author: Ginny Yttrup
Date: 7/6/2011 PM
Source: Received for Review from LTER
Description: Ten-year old Kaylee Wren doesn’t speak. Not since her drug-addled mother walked away, leaving her in a remote cabin nestled in the towering redwoods-in the care of a man who is as dangerous as he is evil. With silence her only refuge, Kaylee collects words she might never speak from the only memento her mother left behind: a dictionary. Sierra Dawn is thirty-four, an artist, and alone. She has allowed the shame of her past to silence her present hopes and chooses to bury her pain by trying to control her circumstances. But on the twelfth anniversary of her daughter’s death, Sierra’s control begins to crumble as the God of her childhood woos her back to Himself.
Brought together by Divine design, Kaylee and Sierra will discover together the healing mercy of the Word. (Description taken from LibraryThing)

My Review

I never thought I'd find myself reading a Christian Fiction book but when I got a message saying I'd won an ARC of Words, I thought why not give it a fair shot? The story sounded genuinely interesting despite my concerns about how strong the religious overtones were going to be.

The two main characters Kaylee and Sierra are remarkably developed for a debut novel, they both have complex histories and are wonderfully flawed. Although very mature for a ten year old Kaylee still has a childish personality that comes across in her POV chapters. She's got a quirky sense of humour which considering the horrors she's been through shows her amazing strength of character.

Sierra is a very admirable woman for actually taking it upon herself to help Kaylee out of her awful situation when so many people in this day and age would just walk away and stay out of what isn't their business. It gives a hopeful message that there are some truly good people in a world where evil people often get away with the terrible acts they commit in their isolated corners of society.

On occasions the religious aspects of the book got a tad intense, I don't quite care for being told over and over that Jesus is the only way to find the truth/only way to forgiveness etc. but as it wasn't continuous through the whole book it didn't detract from the enjoyment of the story too much.

Overall it was an interesting and uplifting book with realistic and unique characters that make for enjoyable yet serious read.

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Stars

Gawsh it's taken me *waaay* too long to get this review done. I really shouldn't watch tv and blog cos blogging will inevitably be procrastinated.

Hopefully the next few reviews won't take so long
LadyV

In My Mailbox #52

2011-07-03T08:00:00.000+01:00

Morning all, tis very bizarre to be posting 5 hours behind my usual schedule but what the hey that's what post-scheduling is for right? Holidays are a dangerous time for a book addict like myself especially when there are book shops to be found so the next couple of IMMs might be a bit crazy (unless my parents put an embargo on my spending :P).

In My Mailbox is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Kristi @The Story Siren and inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie

Books Acquired this week
Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead (I needed the US edition :P)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
Mistwood by Leah Cypess
Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson
Shadow Hills by Anastasia Hopcus
Heist Society by Ally Carter

A pretty decent haul for two days, I will be slightly concerned about going home if I buy too many more books though :S

What's in your Mailbox this week?
LadyV

June Round-Off

2011-07-02T20:50:00.000+01:00

Aft'noon Folks!
June has been a very quiet month for the Library so this post will be pretty quick. We're now half way through the year and I'm kinda curious to know what the next 6 months will bring, but considering what has already happened in 2011 I seriously doubt that it can get any worse. What will be in store for the blog I don't yet know.

Here's what happened in June.

Books Read
June
75. Ultraviolet by R.J. Anderson (2/6/2011 AM)
76. Words by Ginny L. Yttrup (7/6/2011 PM)
77. The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell (11/6/2011 AM)
78. What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen (12/6/2011 AM)
79. A Map of the Known World by Lisa Ann Sandell (13/6/2011 AM)
80. Last Chance by Sarah Dessen (14/6/2011 AM) Re-Read
81. Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (15/6/2011 AM)
82. The Scorch Trials by James Dashner (19/6/2011 AM)
83. The Truth about Forever by Sarah Dessen (19/6/2011 PM) Re-Read
84. Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway (25/6/2011 PM) Re-Read

Book Reviewed
As I am woefully behind on my reviews June boasts the lowest count of reviews ever! And this one was a month later than I'd planned to boot so Fail-Rachel all round methinks!
Random Magic by Sasha Soren
Must.Do.Better :S

Favourite Book of the Month
If I discount re-reads I'm only left with 7 options for favourite book of the month but thankfully it's not too difficult a decision to make.

Ultraviolet by R.J. Anderson was a completely unexpected gem, I had no inkling of what the story really was about after reading only the blurb but as the book unfolded so did the fascinating layers of plot and character and boy what a fab read!

The other favourite of June (I'm changing the rules slightly cos these were both awesome in different genres) was What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen. I love Sarah Dessen's books and this latest one was simply fantastic. It's definitely gonna be tough to decide which Dessen is my all-time fav when it comes down to it.

What to Expect in July
It's very hard to say what might happen as the best laid plans often go awry. I may say that I'll post more reviews and it never happens so to avoid disappointment I won't promise anything and it'll be a pleasant surprise when you get something ;-)
But what I do want to happen is something involving Harry Potter. With the end of the films looming everyone has been feeling rather nostalgic and lamenting it as the end of an era, which is perfectly true in some respects. The end of the films is almost like the end of our childhood, so many fans of the books and/or the films (I'm more a book fan for reasons we won't go into now) grew up with this series that when it's all over we'll have the horrible feeling that we have to move on from Harry Potter and everyone at Hogwarts just like we have to do with High School and the other pillars of childhood and teenagehood.

So there may be some wittering, lengthy posts about Harry Potter coming in the near future, let's just say that I'm gonna have a hard time letting go of that hope that my letter is still coming ten years later :P

Nostalgicially Yours
LadyV

I'm crossing the pond!

2011-06-27T00:11:00.000+01:00

Oh Hai there folks, I know, I know I am totally failing at getting a blog routine going but with work kicking my ass mentally I just have no energy to write reviews :S But fear not as things might pick up around here in three short days when I hop a flight to the wonderful US of A!!

It's been nearly 3 years since I last got to go on a family holiday to Florida so you can understand that I am super-excited to be going for two and a half weeks. We're gonna be hitting up all the parks (cos we're crazy like that) and by damn if I'm not going to the Harry Potter park! They were still building it when I was last at Universal so I'm gonna be running round that place with the dorkiest grin on my face and I *will* be coming out of that place with at least a wand :P

What I'm also seriously looking forward to is actually not a park but the bookstores! There are a few bookstores near our villa which I will be dying to raid (luggage allowance permitting) so there will be some pretty cool IMMs over the next few weeks.

In the time when we're not at the parks we'll be chillin' at the villa so hopefully I'll be able to get quite a few reviews done, not to mention getting some good chunks of reading done. Heck knows I need to chill after two months of full-time work (I know there are people who work way crazier hours than I do but this is the first full-time job I've had so I'm still adjusting).

So just thought I'd update you lovely folk and let you know that I've not entirely left the blogosphere :D

See y'all on the flipside
LadyV

It's Monday What are you Reading (40)

2011-06-13T07:00:00.001+01:00

Another week gone and it's now just over two weeks until I hop over the other side of the pond for a much-anticipated holiday in Sunny Florida! Man I cannot *wait* to go, it's been 3 years since I've been with being at University and all I wasn't able to go with my parents and sister. But now since I've dropped out of Uni I get to once again visit all the awesome theme parks and raid the beyond-awesome bookshops that are rife in Florida, excited is just one word I'd use to describe how I'm feeling. Seriously fecking excited are three :P

It's Monday What are you Reading? Is a weekly bookish meme where we get together to share what books we've read in the past week, what books we're currently reading and what new books we're planning on reading in the coming week along with any reviews or interesting posts. It's hosted by Sheila @Book Journey

Books I've read in the Past Week

Words by Ginny Yttrup - Surprisingly enjoyable despite occasionally over-done preachiness, will be doing proper review soonish.

The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell - Fascinatingly mysterious historical read.

What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen - LOVE LOVE LOVE!

Book I reviewed in the past week

Finally I've got my long-overdue review of Random Magic by Sasha Soren posted. This should have been a vlog review but Youtube was adamant that every time I tried to film it that it would eat my footage and after several attempts you kinda get demotivated so it's a written review. Enjoy.

Books I'm Currently Reading

A Map of the Known World is so far a beautifully written story and I'm enjoying it. Will probably have it finished in a day or so.

Reading Like a Writer - I starting reading this non-fiction on the train to see Jess on Saturday, it's quite interesting although how much help it'll be to me on an informative level I don't know yet.

Books I'm Planning to read this week

Erm not sure really, probably will put a fairly short book in my bag to read on my lunch break, if I actually take one this week since I ate my lunch at my desk every day last week :S I really don't wanna drop too much on my reading intake or I'll never meet my target for the year.

So are you Reading anything interesting this week?

LadyV

Book Review - Random Magic

2011-06-12T21:19:00.000+01:00

Ahoy there maties! This 'ere review is part of my contribution to the swash-buckling Random Magic blog tour. Twas supposed t'be a video review but with the blogger downtime and my own issues in trying to film the videos for my stop I've decided to do my review of the book in written form.

Title: Random Magic
Author: Sasha Soren
Date: 9/5/2011 PM
Source: Received for Review from the author
Description: When absent-minded Professor Random misplaces the main character from Alice in Wonderland, young Henry Witherspoon must book-jump to fetch Alice before chaos theory kicks in and the world vanishes. Along the way he meets Winnie Flapjack, a wit-cracking doodle witch with nothing to her name but a magic feather and a plan. Such as it is. Henry and Winnie brave the Dark Queen, whatwolves, pirates, Struths, and fluttersmoths, Priscilla and Charybdis, obnoxiously cheerful vampires, Baron Samedi, a nine-dimensional cat, and one perpetually inebriated Muse to rescue Alice and save the world by tea time. (Description taken from Goodreads)

My Review
I got asked if I wanted to review Random Magic because Sasha thought it's quirky nature would be something I would enjoy, being of a kooky persuasion myself. I mean a book about literary characters, mythology, magic, pirates and randomosity? Doesn't that just sound right up my street?

The story starts off in a lacksidaisical fashion as we are introduced to various characters who while being amusingly eccentric don't actually feature in the story except in the first and last few chapters. The scene setting is lavishly descriptive and oddly hunger-inducing (believe me you'll be hankering for a cup of tea and teeny sandwiches after reading about a tea party). It does take a couple of chapters to get into the main swing of the story but it's certainly a quirky way to begin.

The two main characters are Henry Witherspoon and Winnie Flapjack and I gotta say that Winnie is my kinda gal; wise-cracking, no-nonsense with a creative bent towards profanity. She tends to keep Henry at a distance but occasionally you do get a glimpse of her softer side which I love. Henry is rather adorable in a dorky way and I really enjoyed seeing him mature over the course of the book. I also loved all the back-and forth banter between Henry and Winnie although at times it did get a little confusing as to who exactly was speaking.

Trying to explain what happens in a book like Random Magic is nigh on impossible as it's like a trippy train of thought that skips through a variety of different literary worlds, greek myths, russian folklore, hell it gets pretty "Treasure Island" around Chapter 26 and there's apparently a sneaky anagramatical homage to Douglas Adams in Chapter 42 (I didn't spot it myself but I know it's there somewhere). The simple explanation for the adventures of Henry and Winnie is that they're searching for Alice and have to trek here, there and bloody everywhere to find her. What passes in the pages of this book is like a massively out of control game of hide and seek where Alice is totally winning.

Sasha has created a really quirky and fascinating world and while it may at first seem befuddling, the further you tumble down the proverbial rabbit hole the more everything starts to make sense, especially when Winnie delivers a perfectly serious line that *would* seem ridiculous if it was in another book but in Random Magic it makes you think "huh, of course she's right!"

I am super grateful for being given the chance to read this book as it was a terrifically fun romp with a cast of zany characters through a lavishly described world that kept surprising me with what weird and wonderful creature came jumping out from the hedges next. Sasha is a seriously cool gal and I'd be vair interested to read whatever she writes next as I'm sure it'll be delightfully quirky.

My Rating: 4 out 5 Stars

Holy cow! I cannot believe how late I am with getting this review done, my original tour stop was on the 13th May and it's taken me until now to actually finish the fracking thing with all the crap Youtube was giving me and just my general lack of blogger mojo making it impossible to string my thoughts together. I have apologised a gallon already to Sasha for being ridiculously delayed with posting but I'll say it again - Sooo Sorry! :S

Next time I will have to be *Far* more organised with expected reviews as I cannot be this bad a second time.

LadyV

In My Mailbox #51 - the icky rainy one

2011-06-12T17:06:00.000+01:00

Dude have you *seen* how disgusting the weather is today?!? It has literally rained non-stop since I woke up this morning (so for at least 6 hours :P) and there's no sign of it letting up any time soon. Tis definitely the type of day you'd spend curled up in a quilt with a book and a hot drink - I know I'm gonna be busting out a book shortly. Anyways on with business!

In My Mailbox is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Kristi @The Story Siren and inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie

Books acquired this week
Plague by Michael Grant
What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen (I stayed up til 3am reading this - SO GOOD!)

Also got a super-cool notebook with all sorts of funky sections, it's pretty!

I was really happy that I got to spend Saturday with my awesome bestie Jess since I hadn't seen her since January. Excepting a slight downpour and one hella creepy old guy, the day was perfect and we didn't even spend loads of money on books! :O Man I often wish that I lived closer to Jess and my other blogging bestie Ellie as it takes a lot of pre-planning to see them because of us all working and living about an hour away from each other *sad face*

One day maybe things will work out so we're all near enough to each other that it won't be so difficult to hang out on a regular basis.

Anyhow do let me know what you got in Your Mailbox this week
LadyV

It's Monday What are you Reading (39)

2011-06-06T07:00:00.000+01:00

Howdy all, another week ahead and I have something pretty awesome to look forward to - next Saturday I'm gonna be heading off on a train to see my bestie Jess (of Jess Hearts Books fame) for the day. We were gonna be heading off the Northern Blogger Meet-up in Manchester but due to unexpected occurrences our plans are now scaled-down to just us, drinks of varying levels of caffeination and Nandos so I am *vair* excited!

Books Read this past week

Ultraviolet by R.J. Anderson - my 75th book of the year and wow what a corker! A fantastic blend of several genres with a very surprising turn of events at the end. I had very little idea of what the book was going to be about before I started reading and it became quickly apparent that it is nearly impossible to describe what it's about without resorting to adjectives and metaphors that don't even come close to doing it justice.

Simply put, this book is a multisensory phenomenon that very nearly blew my mind and I seriously suggest that y'all read it ASAP cos I'm damn sure that you'll be savouring every beautifully crafted sentence for days after you're finished. Dang I wish I could hear colours.

Books I'm Currently Reading

I'm still chugging through Jane Austen's Minor Works and The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell although progress has definitely been slow this past week (*coughnoprogressatallcough*). What I have been reading a fair bit of over the weekend is an Early Review book I won from LibraryThing a few months back.

Words by Ginny L. Yttrup - Technically this is a Christian fiction book which is not my usual fare but as I requested it understanding the fact that if I won it I would be obliged to review it I thought that I ought to start reading it before the Almighty Algorithm which decides who wins which books each month punishes me for my tardiness in reading my LTER books.

Oddly enough I'm actually rather enjoying it (no offence to any people who do read Christian fiction on a regular basis) as it feels more spiritually Christian than out-and-out evangelically so. I was a little wary at first as I've heard a few stories from friends about their iffy experiences reading overly intense Christian fiction but so far my experience is quite pleasant and mild. Here's hoping it remains that way.

Books I Plan to read this week

Darn it I just don't know, I read one book in the whole of last week which is truly terrible by my standards. I really need to stop eating my lunch at my desk and actually take a break or I will get barely anything read for the rest of the year. I want to finish The Vespertine at least as I've promised I'd lend it to Jess once I'm finished and since I'm going to see her this Saturday it would be rather sensible to have read it by then n'est-ce pas? God I hope I can get some reviews done but the mojo has gone fishing again it seems, the brief monologue above may be as close to a review of Ultraviolet as I'll get for a while so enjoy it folks! (ack sorry late-night posting means I write crankily)

Anyways let me know What You're reading this Week!

LadyV

In My Mailbox #50 - dang so many?

2011-06-05T08:00:00.000+01:00

Holy crappola how did I get to 50 IMMs? I would be rather terrified to add up exactly how many books I've bought over the course of those posts but hey *party poppers and cake all round*. This week is fairly mild on the book buying front so here we go!

In My Mailbox is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Kristi @The Story Siren and inspired by Alea @Pop Culture Junkie

Book Acquired this week
Just the one acquisition this week from a charity shop at a bargain price of 99p! I've never read a Holly Black book and I've heard really good things about this series so I thought what the hell?

Also arriving through the Mailbox this week was my next dose of the Gilmore Girls in a handy two season chunk. Since I devoured the first Season in an alarmingly short period of time I decided to wait a little while before buying the next installment (just so my parents didn't confiscate my debit card). Now I'm glutting on Season Two, I must say although I'm terribly envious that Alexis Bledel got to spend copious amounts of time locking lips with Jared Padalecki, I can't help but hope that Rory and Jess get together cos dude he reads! *swoons*

I owe all the credit for my newly fledged addiction to my dear friend Ellie of Musings of a Bookshop Girl who totally piqued my interest with her post about a Gilmore Girls Book and Movie project that she was working on. A show with *that* many references to literature and other cool things has gotta be worth a watch. Not to mention the fact that it's hilariously witty and chock-full of wonderfully quirky characters. If you've never seen an episode, watch one ASAP although I recommend starting from the beginning as I think it is rather confusing to jump in at a random point (Not like Friends where you can literally find any episode playing and watch it without a single "wuh?" moment).

So after this semi-random segway into a gush-fest over the Gilmore Girls thus I end this post (at a hideously late hour post-wine). Anyhow do tell what you got in *your* Mailbox this week.
LadyV

May Round-off

2011-06-01T19:30:00.000+01:00

I know I say this at the start of every montly round-off but dude it is true every time - WHERE HAS THE MONTH GONE?!? Honestly I have no clue what happened to the last two weeks, as far as I'm aware it's only the 15th of May. This month has been a *terrible* reading month for me, seriously bloody awful - I've only read 8 books, I know for some people that's a perfectly respectable total but as someone who normally reads at least 15 books a month it's rather disappointing.

After a full month of working five days a week I think it's now apparent that I'm gonna have a fair bit of difficulty keeping up with my usual pace of reading without exhausting myself by staying up later after work so I shall have to resign myself to the more modest intake I can get through reading in my lunch breaks and at home.

I have literally reviewed only two books all month and since I read them in March and early April respectively I am thoroughly ashamed of myself. Book blogger indeed! Lazy mother-clucker more like! In June I am gonna start afresh and review the last couple of books from May and then try and keep up with June's cos there's now no way in hell I'll get caught up with April's reviews.

Books Read in May
67. Beastly by Alex Flinn (4/5/2011 AM) Re-read
68. Random Magic by Sasha Soren (9/5/2011 PM)
69. Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Philips (10/5/2011 PM)
70. When it Happens by Susane Colasanti (12/5/2011 AM)
71. The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell (14/5/2011 PM)
72. Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon (17/5/2011 PM)
73. Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen (22/5/2011 PM)
74. Die for Me by Amy Plum (29/5/2011 PM)

Books Reviewed in May
The Lady in the Tower by Marie-Louise Jensen
Pretty Bad Things by C.J. Skuse

Other Posts of Note
You might have heard me talk about the Random Magic blog tour quite often last month so I reckon you've wondered where the heck my posts have been about it, well my Pirate Queens post went up on time but I'm still owing my vlog review and the video reading so... I'm a bad blogger :S But I'm determined to have both done by the end of this week.

Fav Book of the Month

I'd been pretty darn excited to read this since I'd heard about it so when I saw it in a 3 for 2 offer last week I just couldn't resist picking it up and devouring it. I'm a sucker for books set in Paris and the concept behind the Revenants is fabulous. I will be getting my review done for this soonish along with an as yet undefined post waxing lyrical on my love for Paris through the YA books I read.

Honourable Mention goes to Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon - a book that makes learning Latin actually sound like fun has got to be pretty awesome. I will also be trying to get a review done for this.

What I'm looking forward to in June
Well I'm gonna be spending this month waiting to get to next month as I'm heading off to Sunny Florida on the 29th with the family for what could be the last family holiday we have together. I'm gonna be taking my laptop so I will still be posting while I'm away (expect some crazy videos as my sister and I stalk the bookshops :P). Otherwise in June I'm gonna simply try and keep up with my reviewing and read more than ten books as I'm horrified by just eight :P Hopefully I can also do some other non-review posts that won't bore the pants off y'all.

Anyways I hope everyone has a great June and here's to hoping the year keeps getting better
LadyV

RMT - The Parting Glass (Wrap Day)

2011-05-30T14:00:00.001+01:00

May 30
The Parting Glass
Today’s the wrap day for Random Magic Tour: Pirates! (May 10-30).
Click the link to see the full schedule with all the myriads of fascinating posts from the whole tour.

As one of the mates - ahoy, matey! - sailing with this 'ere crew of buccaneers, I would like to say thank you for visiting the blog on the 13th o' May although I know that not all of what ye were expectin' has appeared - that be though the bad luck of Blogger and Youtube and a good dose of lily-livered laziness from me. I hope that the posts from the rest of the fine folk in this crew made up for my lack of participation.

Since my vlog review of the book is still forth-coming (it *will* be making an appearance I assure you), why not check out this fabulous review done by Tara @ Fiction Folio. It is literally her first ever vlog and dang if it ain't a bucket-load more coherent and articulate than mine was :P

Also check out the video reading of Random Magic that Christina the Book Addict did for her tour stop as a small reparation for the delay with my piratically themed reading. (That will be turning up soon as well)

And not forgetting a massive thank you to Sasha herself for being such a stellar Captain of this tour and for being so wonderfully patient with daft old me when frankly I should have been sent to the brig for my desertion when I was supposed to fulfil my duties. The amount of time and effort that she's put into making this tour happen is astounding and I seriously hope that she spends June chilling out every day with a cup of tea in a quiet corner cos heck knows she deserves a good rest.

For the wrap day of the tour, we’re just going to raise a final pint o’ grog to say thanks for the good company. Smooth seas be ahead o’ ye!

Song of the Mermaid Queen

Message in a Bottle: visit Liana's Paper Doll Blog to see the Pirate Queen Sasha and read more about her at Moonlight Gleam's Bookshelf.

Fair thee well ye fine folk!
LadyV

It's Monday What are you Reading (38)

2011-05-30T08:00:00.000+01:00

Morning folks! Don't look at me like you've seen a ghost I know it's been a while (again). It's not like you've missed much so I don't have a lot to update you with. If you're also wondering if you've wandered into the wrong place check out this post here and that should clear up any confusion. On with business now!

Books Read in the past 3 weeks

Random Magic by Sasha Soren (I am *massively* delayed with my review for this, it will be up this week PROMISE)

Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Philips (quirky read involving the Greek gods in Modern London)

When it Happens by Susane Colasanti (Cute YA read)

The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell (Fun look at Pre-SatC Carrie)

Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon (Dark and mysterious and enticing read)

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (My 4th Austen read)

Die for Me by Amy Plum (Fab Supernatural read - Review Coming Soon)

Currently Reading

The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell - rather mysterious so far, I do love the historical setting.

The Minor Works of Jane Austen - Some of the stories she wrote as a young girl are truly hilarious (in the biting socially observant manner she excels in). Really enjoying this volume.

Books I plan to read this week

Not entirely sure yet but I would rather like to get stuck into one of my new purchases - Ultraviolet by R.J. Anderson which sounds vair intriguing and mysterious. So watch this space.

What You Reading this Monday?

LadyV

Hows about a Fresh Start?

2011-05-29T21:06:00.000+01:00

So regular visitors to the Library will have noticed that 2011 has been a bit of a bat-shit crazy fest for me and as a result my blog has suffered with frequent lapses in posting followed by short-lived binges.

Now as we're coming to the beginning of June I've had the realisation that I might need to shake things up around here - seriously - to get myself back into a proper routine. My new job has left me with vastly reduced reading time (unless I get chance to read during my lunch break) and in the evenings I tend to plump for tv/dvd watching in lieu of spending more time on a computer after 8 hours of staring at a screen and answering phones. Don't get me wrong I am *immensely* glad that I have a job but I'm not wholly chuffed with the idea that I might literally become glued to a keyboard if I try to follow up work with blogging every day.

So what's the plan I hear you ask? Well first up shall be a good redecorating, I hope I can find another blog template that I love as much as this one but I think I need to change it not only for practical reasons (the centre column is just too narrow) but also for aesthetic ones. It feels quite dark and brooding and God knows I don't need to keep my blog looking almost funereal after what's happened this year.

After that I think I need to re-evaluate how often I post, and more importantly *what* I post. I continually run into problems with book reviews as I tend to read so quickly that by the time I get round to reviewing a particular book I've read 4 or 5 more since that one and my thoughts about the book are not as distinct. But I don't really make up for the general lack of reviews with other quality posts, I very rarely do discussion posts because I don't feel wholly confident in my ability to articulate my opinions on topics that I feel strongly about and because more often than not the topic has been covered by better bloggers than I.

The solution to this problem? I don't have a concrete plan as yet but I reckon if I try to do double-barrelled review/topic posts that are related somehow then they might add more depth to each other and I get two posts stemmed from one idea. I hope to think of more ways to add quality to my posts as I discover more of this new side of the metaphorical leaf.

I gotta give a massive thanks to the people who have been there for me during these past few months, I may have completely lost the plot without your support and while I may not have my shit together entirely just yet I know y'all will be at the ready to patch me up when cracks appear.

You guys rock, don't forget that.

Get ready for change
LadyV

In My Mailbox #49- the crappy excuses one

2011-05-29T16:41:00.000+01:00

*mumbles some pathetic excuse about being demotivated and tired*
Dude I know I have no excuse, I have massively ballsed up these past two weeks and I have let people down - in particular Sasha Soren who has been so lovely to me and has been waiting on me to fulfil my part of the bargain in the Random Magic blog tour. I am exceedingly sorry for how royally I have buggered up and I hope you can forgive me dropping off the face of the earth when I had things I needed to do.

Right now this post is for a different reason and it's been two weeks since I last did one of these as well :S
In My Mailbox is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Kristi @The Story Siren and inspired by Alea @Pop Culture Junkie

Books Acquired in the Past two weeks
Ultraviolet by R.J. Anderson
Die for Me by Amy Plum (loving this so far!)
Forgotten by Cat Patrick
The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell (also really enjoying this)
Outside In by Maria V. Snyder

Also bought but not entirely bookish - I bought the first season of the Gilmore Girls last week and I may have watched it all before the weekend was over :P What can I say? I am a sucker for quick-witted intelligent humour and I am practically in love with how GD Adorable Jared Padalecki is in this show. Rory is my kinda girl although her reading tastes put me to shame as I may own lots of classics but bugger knows I've not read many of them :S

Something else important you should know
Today is my good friend Ellie's birthday!! She is the darling behind the blog Musings of a Bookshop Girl which y'all really should check out not least because of the fact that she owns a second-hand bookshop with her mum. Seriously I wish I had her job every freaking day! Although there are sometimes crazy customers to deal with, she does share some hilarious stories from the shop on her blog and her eclectic reading tastes mean that there are reviews for almost everyone who drops by. Go say Happy Birthday and check out her fabulous blog!

So although I know I have some serious making-up to do it will have to be done later as this post is now at an end. I hope I've not put off all my followers with my flaky blogging and I am gonna be trying a lot harder in June. Starting with getting my review up for Random Magic - I think the lesson I can take from this is that I am seriously shit at keeping up with commitments and probably shouldn't participate in a blog tour again.

Have a great Sunday folks and let me know What's in Your Mailbox
LadyV

In My Mailbox #48

2011-05-15T08:00:00.001+01:00

Blimey the past week has gone quickly! I honestly didn't notice the time passing with being at work all day and I've been generally pretty knackered when I get home. I really need to get used to coming home and *not* simply slobbing about until I go to bed. And dang if I ain't turning into a right anti-social sod, dude I need to get out the house more :S

*Ahem*
So anyway it's Sunday and y'all know what that means.
In My Mailbox is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Kristi @The Story Siren and inspired by Alea @Pop Culture Junkie

Books Acquired in the past week
20 Years Later by E.J. Newman (Received for Review from LTER)
0.4 by Mike Lancaster
A Storm of Swords: Blood and Gold by George R.R. Martin
The Spell book of Listen Taylor by Jaclyn Moriarty

A pretty good haul this week although I definitely shouldn't be making trips to WHSmiths every week if they are gonna have 3 for 2 offers on or I am gonna be very quickly broke :S

Lemme know what you got in Your Mailbox this week
LadyV

RMT - Pirate Queens #2 of 10 Lai Choi San

2011-05-13T20:13:00.000+01:00

Lai Choi San was a 20th century Chinese pirate, who prowled the South China Sea during the 1920s and into the 1930s.

She commanded not only a ship but a fleet of a dozen junks based in the South China Sea, sailing also through the East China Sea and even into the Sulu Sea near the island province of Palawan in the Philippines.
She was reportedly the inspiration for the character of the beautiful but ruthless Dragon Lady in 1930s U.S. comic strip, Terry and the Pirates.

An interesting account of the otherwise little known Lai Choi San’s life and times is recounted by Finnish journalist Aleko E. Lilius, a freelance writer and adventurer who ranged through China, Morocco and Mexico, reporting back on his travels.

Lilius describes the pirate queen of the Macau and her comrades from an insider’s perspective in this excerpt from I Sailed with Chinese Pirates:

Here was I…getting the chance of a lifetime, to sail with Chinese pirates to the central nest of the most merciless gang of high-seas robbers in the world, in an armored junk commanded by a female pirate…
What a woman she was! Rather slender and short, her hair jet black, with jade pins gleaming in the knot at the neck, her earrings and bracelets of the same precious apple-green stone.

She was exquisitely dressed in a white satin robe fastened with green jade buttons, and green silk slippers. She wore a few plain gold rings on her left hand; her right hand was unadorned. Her face and dark eyes were intelligent…and rather hard. She was probably not yet forty.

Every move she made and every word she spoke told plainly that she expected to be obeyed, and as I had occasion to learn later, she was obeyed. What a character she must be! What a wealth of material for a novelist or journalist! Merely to write her biography would be to produce a tale of adventure such as few people dream of.

That evening I heard from an American who had sailed the waters around Macau for fifteen years the following story about this remarkable woman:

‘Her name is Lai Choi San. So many stories center about her that it is almost impossible to tell where truth ends and legend begins. As a matter of fact, she might be described as a female Chinese version of Robin Hood. They have much in common.

Undoubtedly she is the Queen of the Macau pirates. I have never seen her. I have almost doubted her existence until you told me of meeting her. She is said to have inherited the business and the ships from her father, after the old man had gone to his ancestors “with his slippers on” during a glorious fight between his men and a rival gang.

The authorities had given him some sort of refuge here in Macau, with the secret understanding that he and his gang should protect the colony's enormous fishing fleets and do general police duty on the high seas. He even obtained the title of Inspector from somebody in authority, and that, of course, placed him morally far above the other pirate gangs.

He owned seven fully-armored junks when he died. Today Lai Choi San owns twelve junks; nobody seems to know how or when she acquired the additional five, but it is certain that she has them. She has barrels of money, and her will is law.’

‘You may ask,’ he continued, ‘why I call them pirates, since their job is only to “guard” the numerous fishing craft. However, the other gangs want the same privileges as the present “inspectors” have, therefore they harass and plunder any ship or village they can lay their hands upon. They kidnap men, women and children, hold them for ransom, ransack their homes and burn their junks and sampans. It is up to the protectors to undo the work of these others and to avenge any wrong done them. Naturally, there is bitter and continuous warfare between these gangs.

This avenging business is where the piratical characteristics of the “protectors” come in. There is frequent and profitable avenging going on wherever the various gangs meet.

Lai Choi San is supposed to be the worst of them all; she is said to be both ruthless and cruel. When her ships are merely doing patrol duty she does not bother to accompany them, but when she goes out “on business,” she attends to it personally. When she climbs aboard any of her ships, there is an ill wind blowing for someone.’

The historical pirate queen Lai Choi San also inspired a radio series and a U.S. TV series in the 1950s, also called Terry and the Pirates, based on comic artist Milton Caniff’s Dragon Lady character.

The campy and now dated 1950s portrayal of the sleek anti-heroine became somewhat of a pop culture stereotype of the beautiful but ice-cold villainess, often of Asiatic descent, who was enigmatic, savvy and indomitable. The phrase ‘dragon lady,’ in contemporary slang, can be a either a dubious compliment or a grudgingly respectful insult, depending on the context.

Meet more dastardly pirates in Random Magic!

Book trailer for Random Magic

Pirate quote from Random Magic:

Winnie peered through the spyglass.
"Yep," she agreed. "Those are pirates, all right."
"What are we going to do?" Henry said, eyes bulging.
Winnie pondered the question briefly. She shrugged.
"Let them capture us," she said, and headed back down into the galley.
"Yes, that's very sensible as always, we should just let them -- what?"

Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed reading about this kick-ass pirate queen. Here's another interesting tour feature you might also wanna check out:

The main Rum + Plunder treasure hunt is open internationally! Here’s a fun way to win something piratey and cool:
Browse prizes or join the hunt…

Bonus: Find even more pirate plunder with Little Pirate Prizes. The Little Pirate Prizes are cute and cool -- but they're not marked, so they could be ANYWHERE on the tour.

You're welcome to find some buried treasure, if you like: Follow the tour

Also if you fancy taking a look at the fabulous Paper doll design of Lai Choi San's robe described above, then check out Liana's Paper Doll Blog where you can enter for a chance to win one of her designs!

Have fun and good luck!
LadyV

Random Magic Tour Schedule Ahoy!

2011-05-11T21:30:00.000+01:00

Random Magic Tour: Pirates!
May 10-30, 2011
About: Random Magic
Tour organization: Lyrika Publicis
Triton Tavern proprietress and guest relations: vvb32
Contact the tour: @RandomMagicTour

Rum + Plunder Treasure Hunt (May 11-30)
Win some marrrrrvelous plunder!
Browse prizes
and
Bonus: Little Pirate Prizes
Cool surprise treasures scattered throughout the tour…

May 10
Mermaid’s Cove Musical Blog Hop

Shiver me timbers! Here be a round
of jolly tunes about the sweet trade.

My Love Affair With Books
Twitter: @Misha_1989
Songs for: Bold pirates

Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell
Twitter: @blodeuedd83
Songs for: Gloomy pirates

Elbit Blog
Twitter: @MeriGreenleaf
Songs for: Accidental pirates

vvb32 Reads
Twitter: @vvb32reads
Songs for: Saucy pirates

True Book Addict
Twitter: @truebookaddict
Songs for: Scary pirates

Willowdust Reviews - Tina’s Book Reviews
Twitter: @BooksAtTinas
Songs for: Pirate queens

Diary of a Bookworm
Twitter: N/A
Songs for: Poetic pirates

Cerebralicious
Twitter: @cerebrate
Songs for: Brave seafarers of every kind,
and a moment for all the lost ships.

Eating YA Books
Twitter: @eatingyabooks
Songs for: Jovial pirates

Vampires and Tofu
Twitter: @vampiresandtofu
Songs for: Ominous pirates

Songs and Stories
Twitter: @LiederMadchen
Songs for: (Delightfully) campy pirates

May 11
Liana’s Paper Doll Blog
Twitter: @lianaleslie
Design doll: Queens of the Sea: #1 of 10
Voting: May 26-27

and

vvb32 Reads
Twitter: @vvb32reads
Triton’s Tavern opens: Tour updates
Rum + Plunder tour hunt opens
Rum + Plunder: Join the hunt

May 12
The Fluidity of Time
Twitter: N/A
Feature: Discussion: Seafaring culture and beliefs
Feature: Pirate Queens: #1 of 10: The Lioness of Brittany

and

Liana’s Paper Doll Blog
Twitter: @lianaleslie
Design doll: Queens of the Sea: #2 of 10

May 13
Lady Violet - MY STOP
Twitter: @ladyviolet3
Video review, Random Magic
Feature: Video reading, Random Magic
Feature: Pirate Queens: #2 of 10: Lai Choi San

May 14
Giada
Dr. Stravagante’s Traveling Circus
Twitter: @hatshepsut0011
Review (Dual language: English, Italian)
Feature: Arrrgh! How to talk like a pirate
Plus: Random Magic and unusual grub
Bonus: Free audio book, The Pirates Own Book
(Contemporary usage: The Pirates’ Own Book)

and

Liana’s Paper Doll Blog
Twitter: @lianaleslie
Design doll: Queens of the Sea: #3 of 10

and

vvb32 Reads
Twitter: @vvb32reads
Feature: A Dandy in Distress (Part 1 of 3)

May 15
Moonlight Gleam
Twitter: @MoonlightGleams
Review
Interview
Feature: Cinematic Swashbucklers
Bonus: Free audio book, Buccaneers and Pirates of our Coasts

and

vvb32 Reads
Twitter: @vvb32reads
Triton’s Tavern meet-up
Tour tidbits and pints o’ grog
Feature: A Dandy in Distress,
the preposterous piratical melodrama continues (Part 2 of 3)

May 16
The Book Swarm
Twitter: @marybrebner
Review
Feature: Pirate Queens: #3 of 10: Jacquotte Delahaye
Bonus: Pirate puzzle

and

Liana’s Paper Doll Blog
Twitter: @lianaleslieDesign doll: Queens of the Sea: #4 of 10

and

vvb32 Reads
Twitter: @vvb32readsFeature: A Dandy in Distress (Part 3 of 3)

May 17
Cecilia
The Epic Rat
Twitter: @theEPICrat
Review
Feature: Grub and Bumbo
Feature: Pirate Queens: #4 of 10: Anne Bonny
Bonus: Free audio book, Among Malay Pirates and Other Tales of
Peril and Adventure

and

Liana’s Paper Doll Blog
Twitter: @lianaleslieDesign doll: Queens of the Sea: #5 of 10

May 18
Miss Page-Turner’s City of Books
Twitter: @MPTsCityofBooks
Review
Feature: Gallery: Sailing the Seven Seas
Feature: Pirate Queens: #5 of 10: Grace O’Malley

and

Songs and Stories
Twitter: @LiederMadchen
Review
Feature: Finding Starboard
Bonus: Color-Me-Pirate

Liana’s Paper Doll Blog
Twitter: @lianaleslieDesign doll: Queens of the Sea: #6 of 10

May 19
vvb32 Reads
Twitter: @vvb32readsFeature: Music: Takes on pirate tunes
Feature: Pirate Queens: #6 of 10: Awilda

and

The Life (and Lies) of an Inanimate Flying Object
Twitter: @haleymathiot
Feature: Under the Black Flag

and

Liana’s Paper Doll Blog
Twitter: @lianaleslieDesign doll: Queens of the Sea: #7 of 10

May 20
Fiction Folio
Twitter: @TaraMQ
Video review, Random Magic
Feature: Post Like a Pirate
Feature: Pirate Queens: #7 of 10: A Salmagundi of She-Pirates

and

Liana’s Paper Doll Blog
Twitter: @lianaleslieDesign doll: Queens of the Sea: #8 of 10

and

vvb32 Reads
Twitter: @vvb32readsTriton’s Tavern meet-up
More tour tidbits and pints o’ grog.

May 21
Bibliophilic Monologues
Twitter: @Nafizaa
Review
Feature: Literary Brigands
Feature: Pirate Queens: #8 of 10: Anne Dieu-Le-Veut
Bonus: Free audio book, The Frozen Pirate

and

Snowdrop Dreams of Books
Twitter: @snowdropdreams
Review
Feature: The Lost Ship
Bonus: Free audio book, Treasure Island

May 22
Book Lover - Book Chicks
Twitter: @LexieVamp666
Feature: Discussion: (Video) Real-life pirates
Bonus: Free audio book, Great Pirate Stories

and

Vampires and Tofu
Twitter: @vampiresandtofu
Review
Feature: Casting Random Magic
Feature: Pirate Lairs: Ocracoke Inlet and the legend of Blackbeard’s ghost
Bonus: Pirate karaoke

May 23
Liana’s Paper Doll Blog
Twitter: @lianaleslieDesign doll: Queens of the Sea: #9 of 10
Review
Bonus: Quiz: Find your Random Magic twin

and

vvb32 Reads
Twitter: @vvb32reads
Feature: Radio show: Captain Blood

and

I <3 Reading (I Love Reading)
Twitter: @iheartreads
Review (Dual language, Flemish/English)
Bonus: Video lecture about pirate queen Grace O’Malley
Bonus: Game: Blackbeard’s Gold

May 24
La Femme Readers
Twitter: @lafemmereaders
Feature: Kick-Ass Women

and

Bookish Ardour
Twitter: @Bonnie_Sparks
Review
Feature: By Land or Sea (Vintage maps)
Feature: Pirate Lairs: Tortuga, Port Royal,
New Providence and the Brethren of the Coast
Bonus: Game: Pirate Chains

and

Liana’s Paper Doll Blog
Twitter: @lianaleslieDesign doll: Queens of the Sea: #10 of 10

May 25
Gofita’s Pages (Heather)
Twitter: @Gofita
Review
Feature: How-to: Pirate makeover
Bonus: Free audio book, The Sea Hawk
Bonus: (Video) Pirate movie night

and

Beyond Strange New Words
Twitter: N/A
Review
Feature: Songs from the Sea (Sea shanties)
Feature: Pirate Queens: #9 of 10: Winnie Flapjack
Bonus: The Pirate Modiste (Dress-up doll)

May 26
Books, Sweets and other Treats
Twitter: @lindsiking
Video review
Feature: Grog and Sangaree
Feature: Pirate Queens: #10 of 10: Mary Read
Bonus: Color-Me-Pirate

and

The Book Addict
Twitter: @christina_622
The Book Addict video channel
Video review
Feature: (Video) Top five Random Magic quotes
Feature: (Video) Reading from Random Magic
Bonus: The Mermaid Maker (Dress-up doll)

and

Liana’s Paper Doll Blog
Twitter: @lianaleslieDesign dolls: Queens of the Sea
Voting for favorite design doll
(May 26-27)

May 27
This Miss Loves To Read
Twitter: @MissIrenneFeature: Discussion: Top 10 fictional corsairs and buccaneers
Bonus: Free audio book, Captain Blood
Bonus: Pirate karaoke

and

Liana’s Paper Doll Blog
Twitter: @lianaleslieDesign dolls: Queens of the Sea
Voting for favorite design doll
(May 26-27)

May 28
Splash of our Worlds
Twitter: @SplashOOWorlds
Feature: Video discussion, Random Magic and pirates
(Int’l: Greek language, English transcript)
Bonus: Free audio book, Howard Pyle’s Book of Pirates
Bonus: Game: Pirate’s Quest

and

Liana’s Paper Doll Blog
Twitter: @lianaleslieDesign doll: Queens of the Sea:
Fave design revealed, winner selected
(May 28)

May 29
Sea Wolves Reading Circle

Ahoy, matey! Here be a treasure chest of
great piratey reads, plucked from shelves
by a scandalous crew from near and far.

The Fluidity of Time
Twitter: N/A

This Miss Loves To Read
Twitter: @MissIrenne

What Book Is That?
Twitter: @heynocupcake

Cerebralicious
Twitter: @cerebrate

My Love Affair With Books
Twitter: @Misha_1989

vvb32 Reads
Twitter: @vvb32reads

Willowdust Reviews - Tina’s Book Reviews
Twitter: @BooksAtTinas

Songs and Stories
Twitter: @LiederMadchen

The Diary of a Bookworm
Twitter: N/A

May 30
The Parting Glass
Tour summaries and a pub sing

Wrap day! Feel free to visit all the cool
blogs on tour to browse wrap day posts.

Rum + Plunder : Final tallies
Little Pirate Prizes: Final tallies begin
Winners announced: June 6

Yearrrgh me Hearties! This 'ere tour be under way! Check back 'ere on Friday for my stop - I'll have a couple o' videos posts for ye and a load o' interestin' faaacts about a scurvy Pirate Lass!

LadyV

It's Monday What are you Reading (37)

2011-05-09T07:00:00.000+01:00

Howdy y'all I know that it's been a *vair* long time since I did a Monday post so this is gonna have three weeks of books mentioned (although it's not a terribly large number). Let's rock 'n' roll!

Books read in the past three weeks

Changeless by Gail Carriger (Review coming soon)

The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong (Review Coming Soon)

Prisoner of the Inquisition by Theresa Breslin

Don't Judge a Girl by her Cover by Ally Carter

The Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller

Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty (Awesome re-read)

Beastly by Alex Flinn (Re-read after watching that god-awful film)

Books Reviewed in the past three weeks

The Lady in the Tower by Marie-Louise Jensen

Pretty Bad Things by C.J. Skuse

Currently Reading

I'm very nearly finished with this whimsically magical read and as I'm going to be part of the Pirate-Themed Blog Tour from May 10-30th you'll be seeing my review ahead of the April books I've yet to catch up on.

I've sort of been reading this for a while but I read a large chunk yesterday and I should get it finished soon.

I'm not even gonna try and make a decision on what other books I'll read this week because I don't know how much reading I'll actually get done so I may only finish the two books above.

Let me know what You're Reading This Monday

LadyV

In My Mailbox #47 Back again!

2011-05-08T08:00:00.000+01:00

Hello my fine followers! It sure has been a long while since I did an IMM post dontcha think? But never fear I am back again and I bring vlogginess with me :D

In My Mailbox is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Kristi @The Story Siren and inspired by Alea @Pop Culture Junkie

Ze Vlog

Books acquired in the past Two Weeks
Birthmarked by Caragh O'Brien
Only the Good Spy Young by Ally Carter
Divergent by Veronica Roth (Thanks Jess!)
Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon (Your fault Jess :P)
The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

I bought the last two books after I filmed the vlog hence the additional picture. Buy One, Get One Half Price offers are just too much temptation to resist :P

Now that I have a job I worry that I'm gonna be tempted to buy loads more books when I really ought to start seriously saving up for the day that I can finally move out of my parent's house. Hopefully I can balance the two well enough to make things work out. Although realistically since I have much less reading time I won't get through my books so quickly so I don't need to keep buying more! But that relies on me being sensible and we *all* know that's bollocks :P

Anywho that's what I got in My Mailbox this week, What's In Yours?
LadyV

Book Review - Pretty Bad Things

2011-05-07T22:17:00.000+01:00

Evening all, I did start this back on Wednesday or something but when I watch TV while on my computer I never get anything bloggish done cos my brain can't concentrate on US crime shows and think up a coherent review at the same time, Grissom, Gibbs & Co. invariably take precedence :P

Title: Pretty Bad Things
Author: C.J. Skuse
Date: 11/4/2011 PM
Source: Borrowed from the Library
Description: Sixteen-year old twins in Candy-Store crime spree. Twins, Paisley and Beau Argent are in the headlines again. Last time, they were the 'wonder twins', when as six-year-olds they were found alive in woods after three days missing following their mother's death -three days spent looking for their dad. Now at sixteen, life's not so wonderful. Out-cast and exploited by their money-grabbing grandmother, they're still clueless about their dad's whereabouts. Until they discover an old letter from him. That's when they decide to hit the road - and make headlines again. Holding up fast-food joints might seem extreme but if they can get on the news, and tell their dad they need him, they might get the dream reunion they thought could happen. (Description taken from Goodreads)

My Review
I took this book out the library after reading the rave review of Rockoholic over on Jess Hearts Books. This is C.J. Skuse's debut novel and boy is it one heck of a joy-ride! Full of sass and sweet-toothed criminality!

Paisley and Beau were all over the news when they were just six years old after their mother killed herself and they went missing in the forest behind their house. Now ten years later Paisley is a somewhat maladjusted teen with a whole lotta "couldn't give a shit" attitude that has invariably led her to be expelled from numerous schools over the years. Her bitch of a Grandmother keeps her as far away from her brother as possible by sending her to the East Coast but after Paisley gets expelled from the posh boarding school she attends in Philadelphia she has to go back West to Skankmother's house in LA.

Now after reading pretty much the first chapter, I wanted Paisley to be my new psycho BFF. She is so dang cool and quick-witted that she can turn almost any situation to her advantage even if that means she has to deck someone or pull a gun on them. Her behaviour is so outrageous that I was literally laughing out loud and totally rooting for the Grandmother's downfall cos dude if that woman ain't a world-class bitch!

Beau was adorkable as the more straight-laced twin who was always a tad sceptic about the whole Vegas crime-spree idea but I gotta give props to the guy for being hard-core enough to still go along with it all while maintaining some sense of morality (I worry that Paisley's got lost a *looong* time ago). I also loved how clueless Beau was about his own good looks, oh if I were 5 years younger... :P

C.J. Skuse has created a fantastically bonkers story that has a really good message at the heart of it - Paisley and Beau are so determined to find their father after being estranged from him for so many years (partly through Buddy being in prison but also cos the Skankmother's maid hid his letters to the Twins), that they're willing to do almost anything to reunite with him- in this occasion that means getting onto the news by holding up a series of Candy Stores. Family is so important to Paisley that she would literally kill to keep her father and brother close to her, although obviously she's not gonna shed any tears if she has to off her Grandmother to achieve this.

The writing is crackling with humour and wit and you feel so endeared to Paisley and Beau that you don't bat an eye at how angry and insane Paisley is at times. I ended up reading this at a time when I myself was seriously angry and pissed at the world and its unfairness so I really empathised with the Twins and all the crap they got dealt in life.

Between this book and C.J's sophomore novel Rockoholic (which I read two days later) I found a way to laugh during a time when I thought I would never want to laugh again and the world seemed so unfair for taking away my grandfather so suddenly. I was able to at least function and keep a sense of perspective while still being whisked away to a different reality where my situation didn't feel so devastating.

So a massive thank you to C.J. Skuse for writing two fabulous books which really helped me to hold onto my sanity during a truly hellish week that I would give anything to have it so it never happened. But as life is shit like that sometimes I've had to accept it and just try to keep moving forward with my good memories to comfort me when I think about that day one month ago.

C.J. you rock. Your book rocks. Your other book rocks (I'll be reviewing it as well soon). And damn I can't wait to read your third book in 2012 cos I'm sure that'll rock too.

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

I know this review has veered into slightly personal territory but I'm sure y'all can understand that at the time of reading I was in a severely emotional state and that affected my reading and interpretation of the book so obviously that inter-relation is going to come across in my review.

LadyV

Book Review - The Lady in the Tower

2011-05-02T14:11:00.000+01:00

So sorry it has taken me this long to get this review done. I started it ages ago and just couldn't get it finished before the end of April. Now I'll actually be able to write April's reviews although being a month behind sucks big-time. Ah well at least I'm not gonna run out of books to review any time soon :P

Title: The Lady in the Tower
Author: Marie-Louise Jensen
Date: 25/3/2011 AM
Source: Gift
Description: "Spring 1540 I am afraid. You are in grave danger. Mother, will you run away with me if I can free you?" The servants call it the Lady Tower: the isolated part of the castle where Eleanor's mother is imprisoned after a terrible accusation. For four years Eleanor's only comfort has been their secret notes to one another. A chance discovery reveals a plot to murder her mother. Now Eleanor must free her before it is too late. But with danger and betrayal at every turn, she can trust no one. Especially not her father. Eleanor must use all her cunning to survive. For she soon realises that it is not just her mother she needs to save ...but also herself. (Description taken from Goodreads)

My Review
I hadn't heard anything about this book when I picked it out of a massive bag of books that my friend Jess was culling from her library but since I feel that one can never have too many historical fiction books I decided to keep it and one lazy morning last month I devoured the whole thing in one sitting.

It's been a while since I read a historical fiction book set during the Tudor period, I had a Phillipa Gregory phase which fizzled out when I heard that her books were rather more frivolous with factual inaccuracies than other books, not to mention the diabolically bad film adaptation of the Other Boleyn Girl being terribly off-putting of the genre. This book was rather refreshing in that it doesn't focus on King Henry and his shenanigans although he does feature in the story.

Eleanor Hungerford is a young noble whose family lives away from Court, she lives to ride her horse and practice jousting although she'll never be able to actually compete in a tourny. Her father is a rather cold, ruthless man who had his wife locked away for witchcraft just so he could bring in a new woman to take her place, although his plan to have his wife poisoned failed so he can't yet remarry.

I really quite liked Eleanor although she was somewhat naive and overly trusting of her father's new woman which caused a heck of a lot of trouble for her and her mother who she was trying to rescue from her Tower prison. But her determination to free her mother even if it put herself in danger was really admirable and brave especially for a young girl surrounded by men who will not care who they remove to achieve their goals.

I also really liked Stanton who was the young Lord who was arranged to be married to Eleanor. For a large portion of the book she disliked him immensely as she didn't know who to trust with all of her father's plotting and scheming. I thought she was rather hard on him considering all he did for her and he was so sweet sometimes! I'm glad Eleanor came to her senses eventually :P

The story itself was really interesting as it's based off of true events (although I can't say as to which parts are historical or fictional). I really loved all the jousting mentioned as I'm wierdly nerdy and love all the knightly stuff - Eleanor's own tilting escapades were really enjoyable to read about and I got such a fab Shero vibe as it reminded me of Kel from Protector of the Small who spent loads of time working on her tilting.

One thing that amused me was when the story moved to Bath, I won't say exactly how we end up there as it's spoilerish but I will say that I got a distinct Jane Austen vibe a la Persuasion during that part of the book. I know this is set during the Tudors and not the 19th Century Regency but it really felt like an Austen book with the romance storylines taking centre stage in Bath of all places. If anyone else who has read this book got this vibe please tell me so I don't feel quite so nutty.

Overall it was a thoroughly enjoyable read which has put me back into a historical fiction mood as I really want to get stuck into the mounds of Elizabeth Chadwick books I have hoarded away. The characters were all really interesting and the book flowed nicely. The mix of political intrigue and romance was balanced really well and it was generally an all-around good book.

My Rating: 4 out 5 Stars

At last I have done all the reviews I wanted to write for my March books, if anyone wants to know my thoughts on a book that I haven't reviewed then do take a look at the 2011 Reading List and leave me a comment about it.
LadyV

April Round-off

2011-05-02T12:31:00.000+01:00

With being away from home this weekend I almost completely forgot that April was ending, even more strange was how I kept forgetting that May comes after April - for some reason I thought it was gonna be June instead :S.

April has been the hardest month, quite possibly of my life, with the death of my grandfather coming out of the blue back on the 7th. The two weeks that followed was the most bewildering time for my family as we tried to sort out all the bureaucratic bullshit that people just don't think about when you think of losing someone - you almost don't have time to grieve properly when you're running about making sure that all the accounts that were once in his name are now in my grandmother's and that anything that can't be transferred is cancelled.

When we had the funeral we finally had the chance to really reflect on how much Grandad meant to us, and although we would miss him terribly that we were thoroughly blessed to have had him in our lives. Despite the sombre occasion it was a beautiful day and it was wonderful to see how many people turned out to celebrate his life - my grandfather was a very popular man and it was wholly apparent in the number of sympathy cards that my Grandma received from people who had known him through Church or Choir.

I think that the day of the funeral marked the turning point of fortunes for this year as it was on that morning that I got a call offering me a job to start the very next day. In the midst of such a sorrowful event came a ray of hope that things might now get better and although I've yet to work a full five-day week with all the bank holidays and Royal Wedding shiz going on, I feel that in the last two weeks of April I have been in far better state of mind than I have been in months. I finally have a job and I'm really enjoying it although it does mean that I have neglected my blog for a while but I'm hoping that once I'm settled into a routine and gotten used the early mornings and long days that I can still keep up somewhat with my reading and reviews.

Now that I have rambled on considerably I shall get to the point of this post - rounding-off this month's reading and what few other things I've posted.

Books Read in April
51. City of Glass by Cassandra Clare (1/4/2011 PM) Re-read
52. Mostly Good Girls by Leila Sales (3/4/2011 PM)
53. City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare (9/4/2011 AM)
54. Princess for Hire by Lindsey Leavitt (10/4/2011 AM)
55. Alanna: the First Adventure by Tamora Pierce (10/4/2011 PM) Re-read
56. In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce (11/4/2011 AM) Re-read
57. Pretty Bad Things by C.J. Skuse (11/4/2011 PM)
58. Rockoholic by C.J. Skuse (13/4/2011 PM)
59. A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow by George R.R. Martin (15/4/2011 PM)
60. Wood Angel by Erin Bow (17/4/2011 PM)
61. Changeless by Gail Carriger (18/4/2011 PM)
62. The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong (20/4/2011 AM)
63. Prisoner of the Inquisition by Theresa Breslin (23/4/2011 PM)
64. Don't Judge a Girl by her Cover by Ally Carter (24/4/2011 PM)
65. The Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller (27/4/2011 PM)
66. Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty (28/4/2011 AM) Re-read

Alas I have not reviewed *any* of those books yet which I know is appalling but I will try my best to review the ones that aren't re-reads in the coming weeks.

Books Reviewed in April
Tortall and Other Lands by Tamora Pierce
Where She Went by Gayle Forman
Temeraire by Naomi Novik
Lament by Maggie Steifvater

Other Posts of Interest in April
Braaaaains, Rock Salt and other bizarre ways to cope - My slightly off-kilter post about odd methods of coping with grief and other difficult situations.

Fav Book of the Month

So soon after my Grandad's death I at first wondered if reading this would really be a good idea as on the very first page it's mentioned that Jody's grandfather has just died. Thankfully this book was so full of light and laughter that it lifted my mood right out of the gloom. C.J. Skuse you're officially one of my new favourite people. Thank you so much for writing such an awesome book.
Honourable mention goes to Wood Angel by Erin Bow which was a beautiful and heart-breaking read.
Oh and if you didn't know both of these books were published by Chicken House which in my opinion is one of the most awesome UK children's publishers (no I am not being coerced to say this, I just really love the books they publish), y'all should really check out their books :D

What to expect in May
As you may remember way back at the start of April I got a super-amazing package full of goodies from the lovely Sasha Soren for my participation in the Random Magic blog tour which will be kicking off in a couple of weeks. For this tour I will be reviewing Sasha's book Random Magic (in both written and vlog form) and I'll be doing a reading from the book to fit the tour theme of Pirates. There's also going to be other fab and funky piratically themed posts to entertain y'all and who knows what else? I don't currently have a schedule of who else is going to be posting what and when but as soon as I know I'll post about it so anyone who is interested can have a nosy round all the different posts going up over the tour.

So that's been April and I'm sorry this post is so long. Here's to May being a better month for everyone.
LadyV

Look! Still Sort-of Here!

2011-04-28T20:38:00.000+01:00

Hey folks just thought I'd best put in an appearance before someone sent out a search party. I know I have been extremely lax with my posting of late but since I started my new job last week I have been so tired when I get home that I'm basically passing out straight after dinner.

Eventually I should be able to get a routine sorted so I can manage both work and my blog but at the moment that remains to be seen so y'all are getting short shrift and I'm sorry about that.

Coming up in May I do have some stuff going on for the Random Magic Blog Tour which I'm rather excited to be taking part in (pirate theme, hello? Awesome much?) so even if I totally flake on getting normal reviews and posts up I will be doing my damnedest to get my tour obligations met on time.

Although this weekend is a long weekend what with all the Royal Wedding hullabaloo going on (me personally, couldn't care less as I got bored stiff of all the media coverage months ago) I'm still gonna be MIA from the blogosphere because my sister and I are hitting the road for a mini-holiday away from the rentals. We're heading over to Warwick and the general area to hit up the Castle (cos we're super cool like that) and whatever else we feel like doing.

So please continue to be wonderfully patient and some sort of normal service may resume in due course although I think with my 9-5 working days my reading is gonna be substantially lessened (even with me taking a book to read in my car during my lunch break :P).

Love y'all to bits
LadyV

It's Monday What are you Reading (36)

2011-04-18T07:00:00.000+01:00

Morning folk, my how the weeks are mashing together! Already half of April has gone and I'm utterly baffled as to where it went. This week is gonna be kinda tough so bear with me if posting drops off sharply, I am gonna try and get a review or two up but don't be surprised if it doesn't happen quite how I plan.

Books I read this past week

In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce (Re-read)

Pretty Bad Things by C.J. Skuse (Review coming soon)

Rockoholic by C.J. Skuse (Review Coming Soon)

A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow by George R.R. Martin (Another great read)

Wood Angel by Erin Bow (Review Coming Soon)

Books Reviewed in the Past Week

Lament by Maggie Stiefvater - Review

Books I'm Currently Reading

I loved the first book in this steampunky paranormal series and I'm enjoying this second book so far.

Books I plan on Reading this Week

No really I will try to get this read this week cos I'm sure Jess will be wondering if I'm ever gonna return it :P

The rest of this week's reading will be pot luck so hopefully there'll be some good reads coming up.

What are you Reading this Monday?

LadyV

In My Mailbox #46

2011-04-17T08:00:00.000+01:00

Hello and welcome to this 'ere blog on this 'opefully lovely Sunday (I've not got much faith in the English weather but who knows it could turn out nice). I'm not doing a vlog again this week because I was out for a good chunk of Saturday and I didn't want to film it late in the evening cos I was beyond the valley of exhausted and y'all don't need to see uber-sleepy Rachel. By next Sunday I should be back in the vlogging mood so don't worry.

In My Mailbox is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Kristi @The Story Siren and inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie

Books Acquired This Week

Chill Factor (Weather Warden #3) by Rachel Caine

Dead in the Family (Sookie Stackhouse #10) by Charlaine Harris

The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong

Blue Fire (The Healing Wars #2) by Janice Hardy

I realised after I took the photo and uploaded it onto my computer that last week's books were all orangey/pink colours and this week it's all bluey/greens. Just a random observation for ya :P

I bought all of these and it's kind of a miracle that I didn't buy more because I was tempted by *so* many books that are next-in-series but the majority of them I've not read the most recent one anyway so there was no point buying them just yet.

A modest haul which could have been much bigger if I hadn't restrained myself :P

What have you got in your Mailbox this Week?

LadyV

Book Review - Lament

2011-04-16T18:27:00.000+01:00

Evenin' all, this is gonna be rather an interesting review since most folk should know that when it comes to my YA Paranormal preferences, Faery books are pretty low on my list of favs. However this one was different...

Title: Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Date: 22/3/2011 PM
Source: Gifted by Jess
Description: Sixteen-year-old Deirdre Monaghan is a painfully shy but prodigiously gifted musician. She's about to find out she's also a cloverhand—one who can see faeries. Deirdre finds herself infatuated with a mysterious boy who enters her ordinary suburban life, seemingly out of thin air. Trouble is, the enigmatic and gorgeous Luke turns out to be a gallowglass—a soulless faerie assassin. An equally hunky—and equally dangerous—dark faerie soldier named Aodhan is also stalking Deirdre. Sworn enemies, Luke and Aodhan each have a deadly assignment from the Faerie Queen. Namely, kill Deirdre before her music captures the attention of the Fae and threatens the Queen's sovereignty. Caught in the crossfire with Deirdre is James, her wisecracking but loyal best friend. Deirdre had been wishing her life weren't so dull, but getting trapped in the middle of a centuries-old faerie war isn't exactly what she had in mind . . .(Description taken from Amazon)

My Review
It has taken me quite a while to get round this book since I acquired it from the lovely Jess back in August and I actually tried to read Ballad last April cos I got confused about which book was first so that I managed to figure out which way up to hold the book is a miracle in itself :P

I'll own up to feeling slightly confused again when I started reading this because after the very cryptic prologue and how we were launched straight into Deirdre's meeting with Luke I had a hard time grasping when Dee was supposed to have dreamt about Luke (unless the prologue *was* her dream in which case it could have been a tad clearer). I also usually have slight quibbles with how quickly the girl seems to fall for the faery/half faery boy but this time it didn't bother me as much since Dee has enough sense to admit that it's kinda odd how much she's drawn to Luke when she barely knows him.

A big factor of what made me really like this book was Maggie's writing and the work she put into all the Faerie lore and Celtic influences. As with Shiver & Linger, Lament has such beautiful descriptions and it makes it a real pleasure to read. Add all the gorgeous Celtic songs and it creates a haunting atmosphere which is so perfect for the disturbingly ambiguous nature of faeries.

The other thing which also made me laugh and endeared the book to me was James. He's cute, funny and really cares about Dee like the poor best-friend-in-love that he is. He has some of the best lines in the book which really cracked me up. My fav moment with James is this -

"I can show you some things he can't, as well." James let the shop door close behind him. "Lovely." James' attire was a bit strange- he had accessorised a t-shirt that read You: Off My Planet with an iron fireplace ash scoop, which he held over his shoulder like a rifle. The combination was oddly appropriate. (Pg 171)

Seriously isn't that the *best* bit of description ever? I can literally see James strolling in looking all bad-ass with the ash scoop and it really tickles me. Kudos to Maggie for being so awesome with her character creation.

The story moved along rather nicely and the tension definitely racked up a bit leading up to the climax. I did really like the ending as everything was wrapped up neatly enough that it could stay as a stand-alone book although I'm still looking forward to picking up Ballad again. I know it features James more and since I love that boy it'll be sooner rather than later :P

For the normally anti-faerie person like me reading Lament was a refreshing experience with its fab combination of scrumptious writing, detailed lore and complex characters. I thoroughly enjoyed this book although I don't think I could ever dislike anything Maggie Stiefvater writes cos that woman is just pure awesomeness.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

I technically started this review back on Thursday but it's taken me a pathetically long time to finish so apologies. Enjoy your Saturday night my lovelies!

LadyV

Braaaaains, Rock Salt and other bizarre ways to cope

2011-04-11T20:55:00.000+01:00

Yea you read that post title correctly, I promise you I've not gone totally barmy but I reckon some folk might think I'm slightly touched in the head by the end of this post. If you've not seen my In My Mailbox post from Sunday then you might not know that my Grandfather died suddenly last Thursday and instead of taking time off from blogging like saner people might do, I'm gonna be blogging through my grief as it were as I think keeping my mind occupied on something I love is better than being sat ruminating on how bleak life seems right now.

In explanation of the post title; last night I watched the first episode of The Walking Dead on Five. I know this series was shown in the US several months ago but it's taken it's sweet time in getting over the pond so when I saw the adverts for it I got majorly excited (this was maybe over a week ago).
Now you'd think that after a death in the family that you'd want to avoid any and all TV shows that involve death and gore, me... well I'm a little odd and I love shows like that so I sat myself down last night and revelled in the serious creepiness of the spectacular zombie SFX in The Walking Dead. Oh and maybe drooled a wee bit over Andrew Lincoln cos I really rather liked him in Love Actually :P

I also have been binging on another TV show recently and just this morning may-have-kinda-sneakily ordered the third season boxset off Amazon. Yea I'm talking bout them Winchester brothers in Supernatural :P
Normally I consider myself to be pretty wussy when it comes to horror films and other scary shit like that but with Supernatural there's enough humour and non-scary stuff to balance out the terrifically creepy beasties that Sam and Dean come across every episode. So I get the thrill of being scared without being so terrified that I have nightmares for weeks afterwards, plus the added bonus of Jensen Ackles & Jared Padalecki being adorably bitchy with each other and suavely wasting ghosts like the bad-ass pros they really are.

I realise that my choice of comfort TV is probably rather disconcerting (at least it is to my parents) but my reasoning is that the more shocking and scary it is, the smaller the chances of me bursting into tears at some random moment. If I watched some fluffy rom-com I'd most likely spend half the film getting misty-eyed and to be perfectly honest I look hideous when I cry and it exhausts me like hell so I'd rather avoid a crying jag if possible.

I wonder if I'm the only person who has turned to seemingly "inappropriate" TV shows or films in times of grief - I'm hoping that if I drown myself in vivid imagery of things worse than I've seen it'll overwrite the memories that at the moment are seared onto my mind. I would love to have nothing but pleasant reminders of my Grandad and to have that Thursday night erased from my visual memory but I reckon it will take more than a few zombies and demons to shift it.

So I'd like to know, has anyone else got a bizarre choice of movie/tv show/book that they turn to when they need comfort whether it be merely after a bad day, or after the loss of a loved one, that other people would consider as odd?

I swear I'm only half-mad
LadyV

It's Monday What are you Reading (35)

2011-04-11T07:00:00.000+01:00

Morning folk, this week will hopefully hold a little ray of positivity as I have job interviews today and Wednesday so... *crosses fingers*

Books Read in the Past Week

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare (Review Coming Soon)

Princess for Hire by Lindsey Leavitt (Cute & Funny MG read)

Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce (Comfort Re-read)

Books Reviewed in the Past Week

Where She Went by Gayle Forman - Review

Temeraire by Naomi Novik - Review

Books I'm Currently Reading

About half-way through this and will steadily keep munching through the chapters. I do so love this series.

I'm three-quarters done with this and dang if Paisley isn't the craziest teen ever to go on a crime spree!

I have already read the first book in this Song of the Lioness omnibus and I'm almost done with the second book. I haven't decided yet whether I'll re-read the third yet or just skip to number four.

Books I Plan to Read this Week

I think with how bat-shit crazy-awesome Pretty Bad Things is turning out to be I really ought to be picking C.J. Skuse's other book up real soon no?

Other than that I'd rather like to just finish what I've already started.

So What are You Reading this Monday?

LadyV

Book Review - Temeraire

2011-04-10T18:22:00.000+01:00

Disclaimer - I wrote this review early last week at a stupidly late hour so any incoherency is due to that fact.
I thought I should post something to bring some levity to the blog after my IMM post this morning.

Title: Temeraire
Author: Naomi Novik
Date: 21/3/2011 PM
Source: Bought
Description: Aerial combat brings a thrilling new dimension to the Napoleonic Wars as valiant warriors rise to Britain’s defense by taking to the skies . . . not aboard aircraft but atop the mighty backs of fighting dragons.
When HMS Reliant captures a French frigate and seizes its precious cargo, an unhatched dragon egg, fate sweeps Capt. Will Laurence from his seafaring life into an uncertain future–and an unexpected kinship with a most extraordinary creature. Thrust into the rarified world of the Aerial Corps as master of the dragon Temeraire, he will face a crash course in the daring tactics of airborne battle. For as France’s own dragon-borne forces rally to breach British soil in Bonaparte’s boldest gambit, Laurence and Temeraire must soar into their own baptism of fire. (Description Taken from Goodreads)

My Review

I was intrigued enough by the mere premise of this series - dragons in the Napoleonic wars - to get the first book as soon as I could find a copy. As you start reading it you almost feel sad that it's historically-based fantasy and not purely historical fiction because heck knows *I* would have loved History lessons even more if it involved Dragons!

The whole mythology surrounding the origin and usage of dragons in warfare etc. is so well though out that it makes a hell of a lot of sense and fits really well with the time period. A century or so later and I reckon that even dragons would become outmoded and antiquated as the Industrial Revolution swept through Europe.

As far as characters are concerned there is a whole host of colourful persons in this book. I really liked Will Laurence for how well he stepped up to the task of handling a dragon despite having to give up his naval career. He's brave, smart and has an excellent moral compass especially when it comes to the treatment of dragons and not just his own. His sense of duty is strong enough that he'd risk offending his fellow aviators to ensure the well-being of the dragons he meets.

Speaking of dragons, Temeraire is possibly the most fascinating creature I've read about in a long time - he's fiercely intelligent, extremely quick at learning and far more articulate than any human can ever hope to be. I also believe that he has a pretty decent sense of humour as far as dragon humour must go :P. The mystery behind his origins was really intriguing and when all is revealed it's not wholly unexpected but still seriously cool nevertheless.

Overall it's a fabulous adventure and a most exciting start to what seems a very promising series and I can't wait to continue with it in the near future. I'm sure that warfare with dragons can only get more fascinating and Laurence and Temeraire still have lots to learn about being in the Corps with a long war ahead of them.

So if dragons are your thing or even just historical fiction then I really recommend giving this series a look-see as it's a fab mashup of two of my favourite genres.

My Rating: 4 out 5 Stars

I wouldn't usually post a review on a Sunday but I still am so backlogged with reviews and I'm not reading a whole lot at the moment (well I am but since I'm juggling several books I'm not finishing much) so I thought why not get this posted since I did technically write it on Tuesday or something but extenuating circumstances delayed my being able to type it up.

Has anyone else read this series? Let me know if you please...
LadyV

In My Mailbox #45

2011-04-10T07:00:00.000+01:00

Lovely followers I would say that this was the worst week of my life but that wouldn't be true, up until Thursday afternoon this week was pretty great actually. Then everything fell apart when my Grandad died. I'm sorry to be so horrifically blunt about it but I'd rather not dance about the fact that it happened although I'm still so utterly shell-shocked and devastated it's amazing I'm even doing a post today.
I am sorry to start this on such a bleak note but I felt you guys needed to know why there is no video showing all of this week's books - I cannot sit in front of my webcam and act like everything is normal when it most definitely is not.

In my Mailbox is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Kristi of The Story Siren and inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie

I did make a video on Wednesday when I received the most amazing package from Sasha Soren, the author of Random Magic, and despite what's happened since then I still want to show it to you guys because it was genuinely wonderful moment and I am so grateful to Sasha for taking the time to send me such a lovely gift that really was the highlight of my week.

What was inside the Package

A copy of Random Magic by Sasha Soren
Two Random Magic Postcards
An Awesome letter full of loveliness from Sasha
A little square of raspberry-filled dark chocolate
A packet of peppermint tea leaves
A oldy-worldy illustrated bookmark
A PURPLE DUCK!

Books I also acquired this week

Pretty Bad Things by C.J Skuse (Borrowed from Library)

Princess for Hire by Lindsey Leavitt (Borrowed from Library)

Prisoner of the Inquisition by Theresa Breslin (Borrowed from Library)

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare (Already finished it)

So that is what I got in my Mailbox this Week, Apologies for the earlier bombshell I will not be talking about it again on the blog but I am determined to continue blogging with a reasonable amount of normality although I can't guarantee that my posts are going to have anywhere near their usual amount of crazy peppiness. I'm hoping that this blog and all you awesome folk will keep my mind occupied during this incredibly difficult time.

What's in your Mailbox this week?

LadyV

Book Review - Where She Went

2011-04-05T21:03:00.000+01:00

Good evening my dears, I would have liked to have done this review for yesterday but it is proving to be quite a difficult set of thoughts to pin down so apologies for any general vagueries and incoherency.

Title: Where She Went
Author: Gayle Forman
Date: 17/3/2011 PM
Source: Borrowed from Jess
Description: It's been three years since the devastating accident ... three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life forever.

Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Julliard's rising star and Adam is LA tabloid fodder, thanks to his new rock star status and celebrity girlfriend. When Adam gets stuck in New York by himself, chance brings the couple together again, for one last night. As they explore the city that has become Mia's home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open their hearts to the future - and each other. (Description taken from Goodreads)

My Review

When I read If I Stay last year I was utterly amazed at how one small book could be so beautifully moving in the face of its tragic subject matter. Needless to say I was desperately excited to read this book and leapt at the chance to borrow a finished copy before it's official release day (Which is today I believe - although I saw copies of it in a bookstore last week :S).

What I loved most about this book from the outset was having it from Adam's POV - I want to give that lad such a big hug it's unreal. Seeing how he has tried to protect himself from hurt in the three years since Mia left him does make him come across as a bit of a Rockstar Douche but you can feel how much pain he hides under that exterior and my heart really went out to him. I especially loved all the song lyrics at the start of certain chapters (I think it was the "present" ones).

Another thing I really like about Gayle's writing - besides how darn gorgeous it always is - is how wonderfully we drift from what's happening in the present with Adam and Mia back to memories of how things were before and after she left. I also really liked how the blanks between Where She Went and If I Stay get slowly filled in from Adam's side over the course of the book and you can begin to understand why Adam is the person he is at the start of the book.

Although I know that it was Mia who went through the incredibly harrowing experience of being in the car accident and all the long months of recovery after she woke up from her coma, I can't help but feel like Adam got a pretty raw deal too. He had to spend three years wondering why the girl he loved so much he couldn't bear to lose her, just left him without any sort of explanation. That was some major heart-stomping shit right there and it actually made me dislike Mia a bit (although I'll grant you her reasons for doing what she did are somewhat understandable).

The setting of New York for the present sections of the story really made me wish I could visit the city since I am kind of in love with the idea of pulling an all-nighter whilst wandering the streets of Manhattan as I'm sure there's endless amounts of cool stuff to see when the majority of the people have gone to sleep - although I won't deny that I'd probably be just a wee be terrified of what else may lurk in the dark :P

Overall I really enjoyed how Adam and Mia reconnected over this one night although it didn't move me to tears like If I Stay did (but that could have been down to my mood when I read it cos normally I'm a big baby and cry at everything :P) it was still a truly wonderful read and I highly recommend it. If you've not read If I Stay then seriously what have you been doing? Yes this review may have spoilered the ending but the existence of the book at all kind of does that as well so just get on and read it already!

My Rating: 4.5 out 5 Stars

*sigh* I am so glad I've got that done, it was one of those books that you kinda need review with some sense of eloquence and I find that really darn hard sometimes. If I pulled it off then hurrah, if not well I'm sorry but it's my thoughts either way.

Now if you'll excuse me I have some Supernatural to be watching

LadyV

It's Monday What are you Reading (34)

2011-04-04T07:00:00.000+01:00

Howdy folk now I know it has been a looong while since I did one of these posts but as we're now in a new month I'm not gonna bother listing the books I read in the last two weeks of March if you want to know then check out my Round-off post here - I'm in the process of catching up on several of the reviews so there are a couple of review links but more shall be forth-coming in the near future *knock on wood*

Books Read in the last week

The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks (Review coming soon)

City of Glass by Cassandra Clare (Re-read in time for CoFA :P)

Mostly Good Girls by Leila Sales (Review coming soon)

Books Reviewed in the last week

Rosebush by Michele Jaffe - Review Here

Desires of the Dead by Kimberly Derting - Review Here

Tortall and Other Lands by Tamora Pierce - Review Here

Books I'm Currently Reading

I've been wanting to knock several of my uber chunky fantasy books off my TBR pile and yesterday I picked up this one. Lord I hope he doesn't kill off more of my fav characters (but it's likely that at least one might bite the dust)

Books I plan to read this week

Since I've borrowed this off the lovely Jess methinks I need to get cracking on with actually reading it so I can get it back to her along with Where She Went (which I should be reviewing next). I'm kinda wondering when Chicken House are gonna print their edition of this since The Maze Runner was released last year and I wants my copy to match *bats eyes prettily*

Dunno what else I might read this week but with the release of City of Fallen Angels being this week it's likely that I might by getting my mitts on a copy and devouring that ASAP. Either that or I'll re-read either City of Bones or maybe Clockwork Angel.

So what are *you* reading this Monday?

LadyV

In My Mailbox #43 & #44

2011-04-03T08:00:00.001+01:00

So last week while I was having my off-phase I did actually record a vlog for IMM but I never actually posted it therefore this week y'all get two vlogs for the price of one! How fab eh?

In my Mailbox is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Kristi of The Story Siren and inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie

Books acquired last week
Abhorsen by Garth Nix

Books acquired this week
The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman
Wood Angel by Erin Bow
The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson
Rockoholic by C J Skuse

Supernatural Season 1 box set
Supernatural Season 2 box set (Yes I do rather like those Winchester Brothers :P)

So that's what I got in My Mailbox in the last two weeks, what have you guys got?
LadyV

Book Review - Tortall and Other Lands

2011-04-03T01:09:00.000+01:00

Evening Folks! Another review for y'all today since I'm on a bit of a roll with posting right now.

Title: Tortall and Other Lands
Author: Tamora Pierce
Date: 9/3/2011 AM
Source: Bought
Description: This collection of fantasy stories contains all the tales from Tamora Pierce's land of Tortall. In addition to pieces previously published in anthologies, Tortall & Other Land contains two new stories. The collection encompasses stories about characters both old and new. (Description taken from Goodreads)

My Review
Now normally I don't tend to read short story collections since they're often a bit hit & miss with me but obviously if Tamora Pierce has a collection of short stories then I am guaranteed to pick it up because I fangirl over Tammy's books. So in the interest of expediency I shall review each story in the collection in one sentence.

The Dragon's Tale - Loved this story! Kitten is the cutest baby dragon ever and being able to see through her eyes is so fab.

Elder Brother - An interesting look at what happened after Numair turned a mage into a tree and somewhere else a tree turned into a man.

The Hidden Girl - A good moral but not my favourite story

Huntress - a genuinely creepy contemporary story with a fantastical element.

Lost - Another fab story with an appearance from my favourite Tammy creatures - darkings! Gotta love those cute little buggers

Mimic - Interesting story about a peculiar lizard.

Nawat - I personally love the Trickster books and Nawat is one of my fav characters, in this story you get to see a very different and almost worryingly crow-like side of him as he struggles to cope with his new role as a father.

Plain Magic - Amusing story about a girl whose village try to sacrifice her to a disgruntled dragon

Student of Ostriches - Story about the life of a character mentioned in an Alanna book. Liked it.

Testing - This was more autobiographical than fiction. But interesting nevertheless

Time of Proving - Very short and generally forgettable story.

Overall I liked the collection although there were a couple of stories I didn't care for much. The stories I liked the most were the ones that featured characters or creatures I already knew and loved.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Ok so this review took me longer than expected since it is apparently impossible for me to concentrate on my computer while I'm watching TV (I know it would be sensible to not have the tv on while writing reviews but I'm not a sensible person am I? :P)

LadyV

March Round-Off

2011-04-01T10:00:00.000+01:00

Holy Cannoli where does the time go?! Seriously we're now one quarter of the way through 2011 and I'm still wondering how it's happened! Yes I may have spent a good part of this month in a rather down and unmotivated corner of Blah thus resulting in an entire week of no posts and an overall lack of reviews this month. But I am now back onto my feet (metaphorically speaking as I'm currently sat down) and determined to kick things back into gear and not let this blog which I have put so much work into, fester from neglect. *pounds chest*

So while this Round-off of this month's activities will be embarrassingly sparse it will be a lesson learned - do the bloody reviews straight away!

Books Read in March
36. Rosebush by Michele Jaffe (2/3/2011 AM)
37. Jinx by Meg Cabot (5/3/2011 AM)
38. Desires of the Dead by Kimberly Derting (5/3/2011 PM)
39. The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks (8/3/2011 PM)
40. Tortall and Other Lands by Tamora Pierce (9/3/2011 AM)
41. Perfect You by Elizabeth Scott (11/3/2011 PM)
42. Where She Went by Gayle Forman (17/3/2011 PM)
43. Temeraire by Naomi Novik (21/3/2011 PM)
44. Lament by Maggie Stiefvater (22/3/2011 PM)
45. Nothing like You by Lauren Strasnick (22/3/2011 PM)
46. Matched by Ally Condie (23/3/2011 AM)
47. The Lady in the Tower by Marie-Louise Jensen (25/3/2011 AM)
48. Take me There by Susane Colasanti (25/3/2011 PM)
49. Girl v. Boy by Yvonne Collins & Sandy Rideout (27/3/2011 PM)
50. The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks (30/3/2011 PM)

Books Reviewed in March
Ghost of a Chance by Rhiannon Lassiter - Review
The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting - Review
Forest Born by Shannon Hale - Review
Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce - Review
Rosebush by Michele Jaffe - Review
Desires of the Dead by Kimberly Derting - Review

Favourite Book of the Month
This is a rather easy choice since I've only had one 5 Star book in March which I read right at the beginning of the month ironically enough so everything since then hasn't swept me up quite as much. Check out the link just above for my review of Rosebush.

Honourable Mentions go to Matched by Ally Condie and Where She Went by Gayle Forman - I will review these two in due course *pinkie swears*

Other than those piddly few reviews and the usual meme posts I have posted nothing much else of interest this month I'm afraid but in April I am hoping to maybe participate in BEDA or Blog Every Day in April to really get myself back into the swing of writing posts and whatnot. I'm thinking of combining the daily posting with a fun, quirky feature that involves me wittering on about my views on certain bookish things and also non-bookish stuff (since I'm bound to run out of book-related topics over a month).

Stay tuned for new and funky things plus (hopefully) several reviews over the next week as I catch up on at least half of March's reviews.

Happy April Fool's Day!
LadyV

Book Review - Desires of the Dead

2011-03-31T21:33:00.000+01:00

Howdy chaps tis a fine time for another review methinks! Y'all might remember I reviewed The Body Finder back in February... well I'm finally getting around to reviewing the second book. Be advised that I have rambled a bit and it could be slightly spoilery and a tad whiney (I'm blaming PABD)

Title: Desires of the Dead
Author: Kimberly Derting
Date: 5/3/2011 PM
Source: Gifted by Jess who received it from Headline
Description: The missing dead call to Violet. They want to be found.

Violet can sense the echoes of those who've been murdered—and the matching imprint that clings to their killers. Only those closest to her know what she is capable of, but when she discovers the body of a young boy she also draws the attention of the FBI, threatening her entire way of life. As Violet works to keep her morbid ability a secret, she unwittingly becomes the object of a dangerous obsession. Normally she'd turn to her best friend, Jay, except now that they are officially a couple, the rules of their relationship seem to have changed. And with Jay spending more and more time with his new friend Mike, Violet is left with too much time on her hands as she wonders where things went wrong. But when she fills the void by digging into Mike's tragic family history, she stumbles upon a dark truth that could put everyone in danger. (Description taken from Goodreads)

My Review

After how seriously freaking awesome The Body Finder was I had rather high expectations going into this second book despite the fore-warning I'd gotten from the few reviews I read that it didn't quite live upto its hype. I think it was a case of "should have waited a while after book 1 before reading book 2" With my feelings about the Body Finder so fresh in my mind it made the differences in Desires of the Dead glaringly obvious.

I'm not saying that I didn't like it - heck no I think Violet's gift is hella cool, Jay is a fabulous hunk of lovely and the story was gripping enough that I did actually put it down at a very tense moment out of fear. My main problem was with the alternate POV chapters since they lacked the scary amounts of tension and creepiness that they had in TBF. When you actually know who the POV character is from half-way through it kinda spoils the mysterious quality of those chapters.

The interest of the FBI in Violet in this book wass kinda a strange twist and I'm actually really wanting to know how it'll progress in the third book as Rafe is vair mysterious fellow and his presence may shake things up a bit (although admittedly some kinda triangle ought to be avoided). What bugged me though was Violet's almost extreme avoidance of their approaches - it is not a good idea to sidestep a federal agency whether or not you've done something wrong or because you have some freaky-deaky powers cos they do have the power to find you and if necessary spirit you away to some bunker in the middle of nowhere (or so I presume). Dude just go speak to the nice, if somewhat stern-looking folk in suits and save yourself the hassle of a summons.

Compared to the Body Finder this was more focused on the normal life of Violet rather than the effect of the serial killer on the community so there was perhaps an imbalance of angst on Violet's part. I understand that the switch in her relationship with Jay from best friend to boyfriend does present a massive ruck of issues that you never consider before but I did think she was a tad nutty in her jealousy of Mike's friendship with Jay.

Also the whole secret-keeping issue seemed odd when Violet's family all know about her gift so that the FBI are interested in her should be something they should know about cos they would support her so Violet's determination to keep a lot of pertinent info to herself was kinda foolish I thought as it put loads of pressure on her which she could have avoided.

Overall I enjoyed the story although with my current bent towards the scary, murder mystery side of the tracks I didn't adore this quite as much as I did the Body Finder. I am still super excited for the third book whenever its coming out so I'm hoping for a move back towards the even keel of swoony romance co-existing with a shiver-inducing mystery plot.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

So does anyone know if and when the third book is coming out as I'd really like to know? kthxbai

LadyV

Covers So Lovely We'd Lick them #13

2011-03-31T12:00:00.001+01:00

I know some folk might be wondering where the hell #12 went but with my horrendous lack of posting last week I am skipping that one because Jess did actually post her side of Covers so if I make *this* one #12 it will just confuzzle our numbering system and we are so easily confused it's best not to risk it :P

Covers So Lovely We'd Lick Them!

The new feature co-created and co-hosted by LadyViolet and Jess hearts books where we show off a book cover which we find so damn scrumptious that we'd actually be willing to lick it!

Every week we each pick a different cover so be sure to check both blogs!

This beaut of a cover has caught my eye recently with it's kinda eerie mix of gorgeous dress and creepy griminess if you catch my drift. The smoky mottled effect at the top and bottom of the cover plus the aptly shattered title font give quite a unsettled feeling about the book. I think the model's pose is really cool with it's languid draping over the title and the crumbling dress made of rose petals is just seven kinds of fabulous. The way the bloody red colour of the petals stands out is wonderful and overall it really piques my interest in the book. And with this description I am further intrigued...

Shattered Souls by Mary Lindsey

Lenzi hears voices. She also sees visions--gravestones, floods, a gorgeous guy with steel gray eyes. She knows she must be going crazy, just like her dad did. Her boyfriend, Zak, can't do anything to help, and the voices just keep getting louder, the visions more intense. But when Lenzi meets Alden, the boy from her dreams, everything makes sense.
Sort of.
He tells Lenzi that she's a reincarnated Speaker--someone who can talk to lost souls and help them move on--and that he has been her Protector for centuries. But instead of embracing her abilities, Lenzi struggles between her life as the girlfriend of a sexy musician and the life she is destined to lead with Alden. Yet time is running out; a malevolent spirit has been trying to destroy Lenzi for ages, and he will surely kill her if she doesn't make a decision soon.

Her choices are clear: Destiny or normalcy. Alden or Zak. Life or death. (Description taken from Goodreads)

Shattered Souls isn't out until December of this year so we do have rather a long wait ahead of us but I'm sure we can find enough awesome books to keep us occupied in the mean time. :D

So that's what scrumptious cover I'm licking this week, go check out what Cover Jess is drooling over at Jess Hearts Books and if you missed last week's edition check that out here!

Laters my dears

LadyV

Book Review - Rosebush

2011-03-30T19:43:00.000+01:00

DUDE!! It's taken me all month but I may actually get round to reviewing something!! I've been in a bit of a weird place recently and it's basically killed all my motivation to blog but I'm hoping that getting at least one post up might reboot my mojo. *crosses fingers* Here we go!

Title: Rosebush
Author: Michele Jaffe
Date: 2/3/2011 AM
Source: Bought
Description: Instead of celebrating Memorial Day weekend on the Jersey Shore, Jane is in the hospital surrounded by teddy bears, trying to piece together what happened last night. One minute she was at a party, wearing fairy wings and cuddling with her boyfriend. The next, she was lying near-dead in a rosebush after a hit-and-run.

Everyone believes it was an accident, despite the phone threats Jane swears were real. But the truth is a thorny thing. As Jane's boyfriend, friends, and admirers come to visit, more memories surface not just from the party, but from deeper in her past . . . including the night her best friend Bonnie died.

With nearly everyone in her life a suspect now, Jane must unravel the mystery before her killer attacks again. Along the way, she's forced to examine the consequences of her life choices in this compulsively readable thriller. (Description taken from Goodreads)

My Review

From just the synopsis of this book I knew it was gonna be my kinda read. The recent influx of mystery/thriller style books in YA lit that are mind-bending and tense without gallons of gore or scary shit (cos I'm kinda wussy like that) is so great as I love being able to feel the fear almost that the main character is feeling.

When Jane wakes up from her coma she's so confused and lost it takes a little while to get yourself grounded and get a grip on what's going on so as things start to take shape basically everyone becomes a suspect and you doubt everyone's intentions. It's so fabulous to not know who might be the killer cos when it gets to the climax you're totally surprised and you have that "ah ha!" moment after when *Everything* suddenly makes sense!

What I loved about the characters in Rosebush is that everyone from Jane, to her family and friends etc. felt really realistic as they all had some hidden depth to them and a disturbing number of her friends had some secret that they were keeping. Jane had the most awesome snarky sense of humour especially for a girl who got hit by a car and left for dead. My one quibble with her was that I felt she was a tad harsh on Joe her's mum's fiance - *I* liked him so I thought her continued prejudice against him was a bit unreasonable.

Throughout this book new snapshots of memory helps Jane piece together what happened to her that night and there are a freaky amount of revelations about people but we are kept guessing right up until the end as to who the actual killer is and dang if it isn't one heck of a climax! The tension just racked up as Jane starts to doubt her sanity in the face of all the threats, and it's almost kinda Black Swan-ish cos the lines blur between what's real and what might-possibly-but-we're-not-quite-sure is happening.

I loved the feeling of being scared for Jane and just how cleverly put together the whole story is made it such a fantastic read and even at the end of the month it's *still* my fav book in March. I can't wait to read what Michele Jaffe writes next- if it's even half as awesome as Rosebush was it's gonna rock my proverbial socks off!

My Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

Holy cow I totes just finished a review! *passes out in shock*
Bring on the rest of my March reviews!
LadyV

In My Mailbox #42

2011-03-20T12:14:00.000Z

Good almost-afternoon! Apologies for the general naffness of the blog recently I know I am still massively behind on reviews, heck we're two thirds of the way through the month and I've not caught up on February reviews yet! :( This makes me sad. But I shall have to sort that out another day.

In My Mailbox is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Kristi of The Story Siren and inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie

Books Mentioned in Vlog
Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Philips
Where She Went by Gayle Forman (THANKS JESS for lending it to me!)
The Scorch Trials by James Dashner (Ditto!)

Muchos thanks to the Lovely Jess for being so awesome as to let me borrow her books *huggles*

Alrighty then, I'd best get moving since I did this entire post whilst lying down and that is prodigiously lazy of me! So hope everyone has a fabulous day and What did you get in Your Mailboxes?
LadyV

Covers So Lovely We'd Lick Them #11

2011-03-17T12:00:00.000Z

So after last week's little break from Covers Jess and I are happy to be back with two fabulously new and sparkly covers to drool over.

Covers So Lovely We'd Lick Them!

Every week we each pick a different cover so be sure to check both blogs!

I know that there's nary a person who isn't in love with Etienne St Clair and with the reveal of the spangly new cover for Stephanie Perkins' sophomore novel - Lola and the Boy Next Door I would bet large amounts of money that all those folk are *vair* anxious to meet Cricket Bell, the titled "Boy Next Door".

This cover is just as fun as the cover of Anna but this time we actually get to see the boy which is very much appreciated :P I am also in love with Lola's hair - I WANT PURPLE HAIR!! Not only that but her outfit is totally squiffy and cool! This whole cover looks so darn cute I reckon it'd be like nibbling on cotton candy (or candy floss if you're Britishly inclined).

Looking past the cover I gotta say that this description from Goodreads has got me dancing with impatience to read the book already!

In this companion novel to Anna and the French Kiss, two teens discover that true love may be closer than they think.
For budding costume designer Lola Nolan, the more outrageous, the outfit—more sparkly, more fun, more wild—the better. But even though Lola’s style is outrageous, she’s a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins move back into the house next door.
When the family returns and Cricket—a gifted inventor and engineer—steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

Are we not in agreement? Is this the book that we will all be *dying* for all summer? Erm I do indeed believe so! Stephanie Perkins I doff my beret to you for being generally awesome and for creating the most frustratingly lovable Frenglican boy to ever grace the pages of YA. Etienne St Clair - you know where to find me :P

So that's What I'm licking this week, dash on over to Jess's Blog to see what lump of fabulosity she's getting all excited about this week.

LadyV