Teaser Tuesday #68: Love in the Time of Global Warming by Francesca Lia Block

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!

Here's what we're teasing this week:

Title: Love in the Time of Global Warming
Author: Francesca Lia Block
Series: n/a
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company BFYR
Publication Date: August 27, 2013
Source: ARC from publisher for review
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Seventeen-year-old Penelope (Pen) has lost everything—her home, her parents, and her ten-year-old brother. Like a female Odysseus in search of home, she navigates a dark world full of strange creatures, gathers companions and loses them, finds love and loses it, and faces her mortal enemy.

In her signature style, Francesca Lia Block has created a world that is beautiful in its destruction and as frightening as it is lovely. At the helm is Pen, a strong heroine who holds hope and love in her hands and refuses to be defeated.

She closes her eyes. Her eyelids shimmer, swathes of sunlight in the shade of the palm trees. "You are looking for someone?" And I know that we were meant to come here.

-- p. 136 of ARC

I know next to nothing about this book, but comparing it to The Odyssey is pretty promising.  I loved studying that in school.  What I can tell you is that this cover is just as awesome in person, and the images inside the pages of the book are just as beautiful.

Know what else?  You can download the first five chapters of this book for free right now:  Amazon | Barnes & Noble.

What are you teasing this week?  Share it in the comments or leave a link so I can visit!

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Labels: beautiful covers, fantasy, francesca lia block, freebies, lgbt, love in the time of global warming, macmillan, post-apocalyptic, teaser tuesday

Review: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Genevieve Tucholke

Title: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
Author: April Genevieve Tucholke
Series: Between, book #1
Publisher: Dial
Publication Date: August 15, 2013
Source: ARC from publisher for review
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

You stop fearing the devil when you’re holding his hand…

Nothing much exciting rolls through Violet White’s sleepy, seaside town…until River West comes along. River rents the guesthouse behind Violet’s crumbling estate, and as eerie, grim things start to happen, Violet begins to wonder about the boy living in her backyard. Is River just a crooked-smiling liar with pretty eyes and a mysterious past? Or could he be something more? Violet’s grandmother always warned her about the Devil, but she never said he could be a dark-haired boy who takes naps in the sun, who likes coffee, who kisses you in a cemetery...who makes you want to kiss back. Violet’s already so knee-deep in love, she can’t see straight. And that’s just how River likes it.

Blending faded decadence and the thrilling dread of gothic horror, April Genevieve Tucholke weaves a dreamy, twisting contemporary romance, as gorgeously told as it is terrifying—a debut to watch.

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea was one of my mostly highly anticipated titles this year.  I screamed like the fangirl that I am when an ARC arrived on my doorstep.  I know that practically all of the reviewers I trust have devoured this book, and yet I made myself wait till now to read it.  I wanted to forget everything I'd read about the novel so that I could go into it with a clear head.  And it absolutely lived up to my expectations.

Far and above everything else, I think my favorite aspect of this novel was the moral questions it asked of the reader.  River is deliciously devilish, and it would serve Violet well not to believe a word he utters, but his actions are not always those of malice.  Give a boy a god-like power and expect him to become addicted to what he can do and trust that he will take it too far.  Except, is it morally and ethically wrong if his actions are those of retribution on souls who've committed great misdeeds?  If it wasn't his place to judge the wrong-doers, why was he given this power?

Violet knows better than to give her heart to this boy.  Even before she knew what River was capable of, she was wary of him.  And yet...there's something about him that draws her in.  Vi resists her feelings for River, especially once she seriously has to consider how evil he might be, but her will is no match for River's magnetism.  That is, until the truth of that magnetism is revealed, and then we're all left wondering whether any of it was real.

Throughout this novel, I continued to question why I was okay with River as the love interest.  He is not inherently evil, but his actions do speak loud and clear.  Knowing what he has done, what he will probably continue to do, how is it that I still ship this romance between him and Violet?  I think it speaks to the beautiful prose that I can almost accept River and his sense of justice, no matter how misbegotten it is.

The setting of Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea gives this novel a very gothic feel, with the White's extravagant house  -- named the Citizen Kane by their deceased grandmother -- on a cliff, the crashing sea below it, and a graveyard full of children fending off the devil. Very macabre indeed.  The White children are isolated from the rest of the town, left on their own at the Citizen over the summer while their parents travel abroad.  Yet, Violet is even further ostracized, partly by choice.  She doesn't fit in, and her brother makes every attempt to ensure she knows it.

Despite initially despising Luke for how he treated Violet, he did grow on me.  And it was nice to see River give him his comeuppance a time or two.  All of the characters in this novel seemed a bit morally ambiguous in the beginning, but each endeared themselves to me in one way or another...eventually.  (Well, except that one guy.)  Even Frankie, dead as she was, was an ever-present facet in Violet's life, and I found myself wishing for more than just her old letters and clothing to get to know her by.

I wanted to love this book so badly, and I'm relieved and ecstatic that the story was everything I'd hoped it would be.  The eccentric dialogue and the easy banter pulled me into this little circle of strangeness from the very first page, and I'm excited to see where the author takes the story in the next installment, especially after seeing the title:  Between the Spark and the Burn.  I'm officially creeped out by what this title implies, but I'm also very, very intrigued.  Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is a stellar debut, one sure to conjure up its fair share of nightmares.

Rating:  

About the author:

April Genevieve Tucholke is a full-time writer who digs classic movies, redheaded villains, big kitchens, and discussing murder at the dinner table. She and her husband—a librarian, former rare-book dealer, and journalist—live in Oregon. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is her first novel.

Find April:

Website | Goodreads | Twitter

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Labels: april genevieve tucholke, between, dac 2013, demons, favorites, gothic mystery, must-read, penguin, reviews

Movie Monday #12: Stardust & Veronica Mars

We all delight in seeing our favorite books brought to life on the big screen.  We cringe at casting.  We scoff at release dates.  All the while, we're gearing up to see if the director's vision lives up to the world we've conceived in our own imaginations.  Sometimes it does...and sometimes it doesn't.  We could lament the movies that don't measure up, or we could return to the books for a re-read, possibly with a slightly different mind-set.  All's fair when it comes to artistic vision, right?




First up, a review of Stardust.  It's been showing on cable a lot lately, and I finally caught the whole thing.  :)

Title: Stardust
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Stars: Claire Danes, Charlie Cox, Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer
Release date: August 10, 2007
Based on: Stardust by Neil Gaiman

In a countryside town bordering on a magical land, a young man makes a promise to his beloved that he'll retrieve a fallen star by venturing into the magical realm.

Okay, so I'm kinda pissed at myself for not reading this book first.  I love Neil Gaiman, as many of you do. I've only read Coraline and Neverwhere, but I've also seen MirrorMask, which I loved.  And I have the audio of Anansi Boys...I just haven't gotten around to listening yet.  I've wanted to read Stardust for a while, but you know how it is.  And then I saw the movie on tv and it was so pretty and I just couldn't pass it up.

It was visually stunning, which I kind of think of as a prerequisite for any movie based on a story by Neil Gaiman.  After all, he does craft these spellbinding and beautiful worlds that just beg to be made real.  But I also love the complexities of his characters, the trials and adventures they must undertake.  I don't think I've ever fully reviewed a Neil Gaiman novel, but I think they'd probably all seem relatively similar.  Not that his books are all the same -- they are undoubtedly not -- but he always manages to make the story come alive for me.  I didn't have an inkling to read Neverwhere when it was pushed on me by an older male friend who adores everything Gaiman.  And it took a bit for me to get into it, but I was sucked in after that.

This movie, though...I loved it from the very onset.  Yes, it was beautiful.  But the characters and those cast to play them...perfection.  I've always loved Claire Danes, even back in her My So-Called Life days.  I wasn't familiar with Charlie Cox, but I liked his character a lot more once he got that long hair.  :P  But best of all was Robert De Niro as a cross-dressing pirate.  That. Was. Priceless.  And I'm not the hugest De Niro fan, but I think more highly of him now.  :D

I thought this movie was rather brilliant, and I want to read the book even more now.

Rating:  

Okay, after ComicCon, everyone's talking about Catching Fire, and while I'm wildly excited about the release of that movie in November -- especially after seeing the new trailer -- there's another movie that I'm just dying for:

Title: Veronica Mars
Director: Rob Thomas
Stars: Kristen Bell, Chris Lowell, Jason Dohring
Release date: 2014, i.e. not soon enough
Based on: the beloved TV series of the same name

Feature film adaptation of the TV series, 'Veronica Mars'.

I told my hubby they were making a full-length movie based on the show, and he said, "Why?!?"  You see, he was never a fan, and it annoyed him to no end that he'd come home every day and find an episode on. One I'd probably seen a hundred times.  What?  Veronica Mars is awesome...she's that kick-ass girl who I wish all YA heroines would endeavor to be.  Plus some.

I am beyond excited about this movie.  BEYOND.  From my vantage point at the office, I can see a yellow Xterra pass by on the street below at roughly the same time every day.  And my thoughts immediately turn to Logan Echols every single time.  Obsessed much?  Maybe.  But I wasn't ready for that show to end when it was cancelled.

So news of the movie and the release of a sneak peek have me keyed up again.  The only thing that will make the wait bearable is knowing that there are going to be two Veronica Mars novels released after the movie.  Okay, maybe that doesn't help with the wait.  But for fans of the show, it's pretty exciting stuff.




Have you seen Stardust?  Are you ready for Veronica Mars to take over the world?

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Labels: favorites, movie mondays, movie reviews, must-see, neil gaiman, stardust, veronica mars

{Short Story Sunday} {New Adult} Review: Keeping Her by Cora Carmack

image source

Short stories are awesome.  They give us in-depth insight into characters, providing anecdotal proof of why some characters are they way they are.  They entertain by creating a certain mood or focusing on a singular effect...some instance in a previous body of work (or one to follow) that might have been glossed over or ignored completely in a longer novel. 

And so, every Sunday for the foreseeable future, I would like to highlight short stories and novellas set in worlds I've already come to love and learn a little more about some of the secondary characters in my favorite novels.  I'll be underscoring some of my favorite aspects of these short works of fiction, in addition to offering up a mini review of each work.

This week I'm featuring an alternate perspective from the Losing It series:

Title: Keeping Her
Author: Cora Carmack
Series: Losing It, book #1.5
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: August 13, 2013
Source: from publisher via Edelweiss
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Garrick Taylor and Bliss Edwards managed to find their happily-ever-after despite a rather . . . ahem . . . complicated start. By comparison, meeting the parents should be an absolute breeze, right?

But from the moment the pair lands in London, new snags just keep cropping up: a disapproving mother-in-law-to-be, more than one (mostly) minor mishap, and the realization that perhaps they aren't quite as ready for their future as they thought.

As it turns out, the only thing harder than finding love is keeping it.

Oh, Garrick.  What is there not to love about this guy?  He's sweet, totally enamored with the klutzy, blushing Bliss, and then there's the accent.  *sigh*  And now we get to read from his point-of-view!  Well, technically, *I* already read several of the pivotal scenes in Losing It from Garrick's POV, as well as the first chapter of Keeping Her, so I already knew what I was getting myself into with this one.  Or so I thought.

But Keeping Her isn't just from Garrick's perspective.  It's also split with Bliss's as she freaks out at the mere thought of meeting Garrick's mother.  It's actually hilarious to go back-and-forth between Garrick's seemingly calm facade and Bliss's anxiety.  At first, I was kinda sad that it wasn't all from Garrick's POV, but I think it worked out better this way.

Best of all were all of the new characters we get to meet, even if they are fleeting.  Garrick's best mates were charming and funny, and I especially liked the razzing they gave Bliss about being "hot for teacher".  And then Garrick's mother...she was scary at first.  And I was absolutely certain this trip to meet the parents was going to end in disaster, especially when Garrick's exes showed up, but the story ended on the perfect note.

I love Bliss and Garrick and their whole relationship, even if it was a little taboo in the beginning.  I was glad to see them turn up in Faking It and I hope we get another glimpse of them in Finding It, though I don't know how likely that is with Kelsey halfway around the world.  Which is why I was so glad to get this novella from Cora Carmack.  Such a fun series!

Rating:  

the Losing It series

About the author:

I'm Cora Carmack, a twenty-something writer who likes to write about twenty-something characters. I've done a multitude of things in my life -- boring jobs (like working retail), fun jobs (like working in a theatre), stressful jobs (like teaching), and dream jobs (like writing). I enjoy placing my characters in the most awkward situations possible, and then trying to help them get a boyfriend out of it. Awkward people need love, too. My first book, LOSING IT, was a New York Times and USA Today Bestseller.

Find Cora:

Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

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Labels: alternate povs, cora carmack, favorites, harper-collins, losing it, new adult, novellas, post hs ya, reviews, short story sunday

In My Mailbox #92

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.  It's a weekly meme where we all get to brag about the books and swag we got in the mail, for review, won in contests, etc.

I need summer to last a couple months longer -- I mean the time between school years, not just the season.  (We pretty much have six months -- at least -- of summer here in North Texas.)  So I can take another vacation.  So I can get more books read.  And so I can stop freaking out about my baby starting kindergarten at the end of August.  I'm just not ready!

For Review:

click on covers to be taken to the Goodreads page for each book

Keeping Her by Cora Carmack - Love this series!  I've already read this novella and I shall be reviewing it on Short Story Sunday this week.  :D

Conjured by Sarah Beth Durst - Amnesia?  Magic-wielding serial killer?  I am all over this one!

White Space by Ilsa J. Bick - The Matrix meets Inkheart? That. Sounds. AMAZING! I love her Ashes trilogy -- I'll be reading the final book in that series VERY soon -- and can't wait to see what she does with this new series!

The Shadow Prince by Bree Despain - I'm gonna be honest...this will be my first Bree Despain book. But I love the Persephone myth, so I couldn't pass it up. :)

Purchased/Audiobooks:


click on cover to be taken to the Goodreads page for each book

So, that's my haul.  How about you?  What did you get this week?

The Week in Review:

Reviews:

• One Tiny Lie by K.A. Tucker (audio)
• All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill
• Truth or Dare by Jacqueline Green

Current Giveaways:  The Summer of Love Giveaway Hop

Promotional/Discussion Posts:  SYNC's 2013 Week 9 offerings are up for download, with Grave Mercy and Hamlet up for grabs this week -- FOR FREE!  The Truth AND Dare Blog Tour hosted by Paper Lantern Lit has kicked off.  And I helped reveal the cover for Secret, the fourth book in Brigid Kemmerer's Elementals series!  Also, I teased Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea and waited on Evertrue.

Jen's Currently Reading/Listening To:

Dude. I wasn't supposed to read this yet. But it had been calling to me ever since I discussed it with my friend Lauren, and I couldn't say no any longer. Plus, I've been wanting to do a re-read of Angelfall which I don't have time for. And I've heard this is an angel book on the same level as that one.  And so far, IT IS. Very readable. Very.

I was having trouble deciding on my next listen -- too many choices -- so I decided to re-listen to an old favorite.  Check out my review to see why I love it so.

The Week Ahead:

Reviews:   Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, Proxy (audio), The Liberator

Sign up to host a summer giveaway!

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Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!!

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Labels: in my mailbox (imm)