"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.
This week's WoW selection is...
Title: The Elementals Author: Saundra Mitchell Series:The Vespertine, book #3
Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books Publication Date: June 4, 2013
In 1917, war spells the death of one age in Europe; the rise of motion pictures heralds the birth of a new one in America. Caught between both are two extraordinary souls, bound by destiny.
Kate Witherspoon has lived a bohemian life with her artist parents, and she’s infused with their wanton disregard for social norms. She’s determined to become a film director, and she doesn’t intend to do that in a corset.
Meanwhile, midwestern farm boy Julian Birch has inherited the tenacity and wanderlust that fueled his parents’ adventures. War calls, yet not for him—but he refuses to let his disability define him.
Strangers driven by a shared vision, Kate and Julian set out separately for Los Angeles, the city of dreams. There, they each struggle to find their independence. When they finally meet, the teenage runaways realize their true legacy: the ability to triumph over death, over time. But as their powerful parents before them learned, all magic comes with a price. In this sweeping companion to The Vespertine and The Springsweet, the teenage children of the heroes of the previous novels confront a decades-old tragedy still unfolding. At the crucial moment, will Kate and Julian have the courage to embrace their gifts?
Why I'm waiting: Eeek! I just knew a meeting of the kindred spirits from the previous novels was due, but I had no idea this book would be about their offspring, who apparently inherited supernatural powers of their own. I love how each companion novel in this series has had a different setting, a different backdrop, resulting in a completely different story for each book. I loved both of the previous books and I can't wait to see how this story develops!
What are you waiting on this week? Feel free to share it in the comments or leave a link so I can stop by!
Title: The Springsweet Author: Saundra Mitchell Series: 2nd book in The Vespertine series Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Group Publication Date: April 17, 2012 Source: ARC
Heartbroken over the tragic death of her fiancé, seventeen-year-old Zora Stewart leaves Baltimore for the frontier town of West Glory, Oklahoma, to help her young widowed aunt keep her homestead going. There she discovers that she possesses the astonishing ability to sense water under the parched earth. When her aunt hires her out as a “springsweet” to advise other settlers where to dig their wells, Zora feels the burden of holding the key to something so essential to survival in this unforgiving land. Even more, she finds herself longing for love the way the prairie thirsts for water. Maybe, in the wildness of the territories, Zora can finally move beyond simply surviving and start living.
I hate staring at a blank piece of paper when I’m trying to write a review. Conversely, I love that I was so engrossed in the novel that I neglected to take a single note. Luckily, I’m caught up on reviews and not having to write this three weeks after I read it, so this should be relatively painless.
I loved Saundra Mitchell’s The Vespertine when I read it last year. I hadn’t read much in the way of historical fiction up to that point, but I was blown away with how easily the story pulled me in, and it turned me into a massive fan of the genre. The companion novel to The Vespertine was no different. You don’t have to have read the first novel in this series, but it will help explain some things that the author touched on in The Springsweet.
I didn’t fully appreciate Zora’s character in the first novel. She seemed pushy and flighty, and when things turned out badly for her, she withdrew into herself. That’s the Zora you first meet in The Springsweet. It’s been a year since her beloved Thomas was taken from her, and she’s still depressed and at a loss for what to do with herself. Her mother doesn’t know what to do with her sullen, yet impetuous daughter either. When things take a turn for the worse, Zora is shipped off to Oklahoma to help her young, recently-widowed aunt sustain her homestead.
Zora doesn’t believe she deserves happiness without Thomas. She doesn’t believe she will, nor should she ever, find love again. And so she is content with the manual labor necessary to maintain her aunt’s farmland, and for the most part, it keeps her from dwelling on the past much. But along the way, she unearths some things about herself. She is a springsweet, a water witch, a dowser. Zora can put this previously latent power to good use for other homesteaders and help support her aunt and cousin in the process. But as she learned from her cousin Amelia’s situation in the first book, powers of this nature can be taken for granted…and used against you.
Zora also discovers that she is still alive. That her heart can belong to another, even after the tragedy she has survived. She only has to let herself want it. But there are two boys vying for her heart, and though her aunt pushes her toward the better match, Zora is pulled much more strongly to the boy deemed the wrong choice in the eyes of her aunt.
The characters in The Springsweet are so well-written, so believable that I could envision them perfectly and could almost hear them speaking in a Southern drawl or in a genteel manner, depending on the speaker. Zora narrates the book, and she is from a respectable background, but she has a mouth on her, a tenacity that I found endearing. Her new locale only aids in the loss of her more refined manner. West Glory isn’t quite what she expected, but through the beautiful prose, I could picture it quite clearly. And it made me yearn to go back and read theLittle House series.
This isn’t a throw-you-for-a-loop kind of book, and I did find some situations a little predictable, but it wasn’t irritatingly so. As I was reading, it felt as if the book kept growing shorter. I wasn’t ready for it to end! And now that it has, I want the next book, especially after that ending. I expected it, but even so, I’m glad to have my suspicions confirmed and can’t wait to see how it plays out. From gorgeous gowns and balls to open prairie and yummy cowboys, this series just keeps getting better!
Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
Title: The Springsweet Author: Saundra Mitchell Series: 2nd book in The Vespertine series Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publication Date: April 17, 2012 Source: ARC
Heartbroken over the tragic death of her fiancé, seventeen-year-old Zora Stewart leaves Baltimore for the frontier town of West Glory, Oklahoma, to help her young widowed aunt keep her homestead going. There she discovers that she possesses the astonishing ability to sense water under the parched earth. When her aunt hires her out as a “springsweet” to advise other settlers where to dig their wells, Zora feels the burden of holding the key to something so essential to survival in this unforgiving land. Even more, she finds herself longing for love the way the prairie thirsts for water. Maybe, in the wildness of the territories, Zora can finally move beyond simply surviving and start living.
My teaser:
"Please know, Miss Stewart, I didn't follow you to the ball, I was there anyway. When I saw you come in, I thought, well, I had assumed --" p. 107
Hmmm...my daddy always told me never to assume anything. It'll get you into trouble every time. :)
I work with numbers by day, and I'm a mommy and avid reader by night. I'm a self-proclaimed Spreadsheet Queen, and I'll read anything you put in front of me. I seriously love all the books! And I adore audiobooks, too!
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Waiting on Wednesday: The Elementals by Saundra Mitchell
"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.
This week's WoW selection is...
Author: Saundra Mitchell
Series: The Vespertine, book #3
Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books
Publication Date: June 4, 2013
Kate Witherspoon has lived a bohemian life with her artist parents, and she’s infused with their wanton disregard for social norms. She’s determined to become a film director, and she doesn’t intend to do that in a corset.
Meanwhile, midwestern farm boy Julian Birch has inherited the tenacity and wanderlust that fueled his parents’ adventures. War calls, yet not for him—but he refuses to let his disability define him.
Strangers driven by a shared vision, Kate and Julian set out separately for Los Angeles, the city of dreams. There, they each struggle to find their independence. When they finally meet, the teenage runaways realize their true legacy: the ability to triumph over death, over time. But as their powerful parents before them learned, all magic comes with a price. In this sweeping companion to The Vespertine and The Springsweet, the teenage children of the heroes of the previous novels confront a decades-old tragedy still unfolding. At the crucial moment, will Kate and Julian have the courage to embrace their gifts?
Why I'm waiting: Eeek! I just knew a meeting of the kindred spirits from the previous novels was due, but I had no idea this book would be about their offspring, who apparently inherited supernatural powers of their own. I love how each companion novel in this series has had a different setting, a different backdrop, resulting in a completely different story for each book. I loved both of the previous books and I can't wait to see how this story develops!
What are you waiting on this week? Feel free to share it in the comments or leave a link so I can stop by!
Friday, April 13, 2012
Review: The Springsweet by Saundra Mitchell
Author: Saundra Mitchell
Series: 2nd book in The Vespertine series
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Group
Publication Date: April 17, 2012
Source: ARC
I hate staring at a blank piece of paper when I’m trying to write a review. Conversely, I love that I was so engrossed in the novel that I neglected to take a single note. Luckily, I’m caught up on reviews and not having to write this three weeks after I read it, so this should be relatively painless.
I loved Saundra Mitchell’s The Vespertine when I read it last year. I hadn’t read much in the way of historical fiction up to that point, but I was blown away with how easily the story pulled me in, and it turned me into a massive fan of the genre. The companion novel to The Vespertine was no different. You don’t have to have read the first novel in this series, but it will help explain some things that the author touched on in The Springsweet.
I didn’t fully appreciate Zora’s character in the first novel. She seemed pushy and flighty, and when things turned out badly for her, she withdrew into herself. That’s the Zora you first meet in The Springsweet. It’s been a year since her beloved Thomas was taken from her, and she’s still depressed and at a loss for what to do with herself. Her mother doesn’t know what to do with her sullen, yet impetuous daughter either. When things take a turn for the worse, Zora is shipped off to Oklahoma to help her young, recently-widowed aunt sustain her homestead.
Zora doesn’t believe she deserves happiness without Thomas. She doesn’t believe she will, nor should she ever, find love again. And so she is content with the manual labor necessary to maintain her aunt’s farmland, and for the most part, it keeps her from dwelling on the past much. But along the way, she unearths some things about herself. She is a springsweet, a water witch, a dowser. Zora can put this previously latent power to good use for other homesteaders and help support her aunt and cousin in the process. But as she learned from her cousin Amelia’s situation in the first book, powers of this nature can be taken for granted…and used against you.
Zora also discovers that she is still alive. That her heart can belong to another, even after the tragedy she has survived. She only has to let herself want it. But there are two boys vying for her heart, and though her aunt pushes her toward the better match, Zora is pulled much more strongly to the boy deemed the wrong choice in the eyes of her aunt.
The characters in The Springsweet are so well-written, so believable that I could envision them perfectly and could almost hear them speaking in a Southern drawl or in a genteel manner, depending on the speaker. Zora narrates the book, and she is from a respectable background, but she has a mouth on her, a tenacity that I found endearing. Her new locale only aids in the loss of her more refined manner. West Glory isn’t quite what she expected, but through the beautiful prose, I could picture it quite clearly. And it made me yearn to go back and read the Little House series.
This isn’t a throw-you-for-a-loop kind of book, and I did find some situations a little predictable, but it wasn’t irritatingly so. As I was reading, it felt as if the book kept growing shorter. I wasn’t ready for it to end! And now that it has, I want the next book, especially after that ending. I expected it, but even so, I’m glad to have my suspicions confirmed and can’t wait to see how it plays out. From gorgeous gowns and balls to open prairie and yummy cowboys, this series just keeps getting better!
Rating:
Book-A-Likes: The Gemma Doyle trilogy by Libba Bray
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Teaser Tuesday #1
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
This week's teaser comes from the following book:
Author: Saundra Mitchell
Series: 2nd book in The Vespertine series
Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication Date: April 17, 2012
Source: ARC
My teaser:
"Please know, Miss Stewart, I didn't follow you to the ball, I was there anyway. When I saw you come in, I thought, well, I had assumed --" p. 107
Hmmm...my daddy always told me never to assume anything. It'll get you into trouble every time. :)
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starryeyedjen
- I work with numbers by day, and I'm a mommy and avid reader by night. I'm a self-proclaimed Spreadsheet Queen, and I'll read anything you put in front of me. I seriously love all the books! And I adore audiobooks, too!
View my complete profile