2014 Best Reads by Isa

This wasn't exactly the greatest year for me, and that, unfortunately, reflected itself on how much I read, and subsequently reviewed here (thank God for Susana, for keeping this boat floating!).

Still, there were quite a few very nice books I had the privilege of reading!

This book was such an absolute delight!

It's been nearly a year since I've read it, and I still think about it.

Not only is the artwork AMAZING, but it holds a special place in my heart among all mermaid stories.

In The Mermaid and the Shoe, Minnow, our little mermaid (and isn't Minnow just the greatest name for a little mermaid?) finds a shoe and makes it her mission to find out its purpose. 

The thing is, once she finds out what shoes are for, she's just as horrified as her mermaid sisters! Feet?! What horrible things! It's much nicer to have beautiful fins!

And isn't that an unusual thing to find in a mermaid story? Mermaids who are happy to be as they are and can't fathom the need to get icky things like feet?

You can read my review here!

I was lucky enough to start off the year with what turned out to be my favourite book of 2014!

It's been 11 months since I've read it and I can't even contemplate re-reading it because... all these FEELS!

Lilac and Tarver are almost up there with Katniss and Peeta as an OTP. Which is something I thought would never happen...

This book... I laughed, I cried, I lived every moment along with these two, I was scared, I was hopeful, I felt like I was there.

I like how the authors avoided the pitfalls of contemporary YA books: the romance isn't the main focus, survival is the main focus, a strong and clever heroine, a non-creepy and clever hero... I could go on and on, but I'm just going to say: read this book!

You can read my review here!

Over the Garden Wall Special Issue 1 by Pat McHale and Jim Campbell

So, I marathoned the whole Over The Garden Wall series and am quite desperate to convince everyone to do the same.

Here you go, watch this intro:

Want to watch it yet? Then go watch it, my review can wait!!

Anyway, if you've already watched it and want to know how this actual comic is like, here we go:

This special takes place between the first few episodes of the series. Wirt, Greg, Beatrice, and the Frog encounter four wayward soldiers of "the Commonwealth" sailing the wheat fields in an upside down bicorne, in search of battle.

Greg climbs aboard with Frog and joins them right away, leaving Wirt and Beatrice to climb aboard the hat as well. 

Turns out they're not actually following the call of battle, but the call of cattle. While they prepare to hoist the non-existent flag once a cow gives out the call of cattle, chaos strikes in the form of apple trees, who defeat them most soundly.

Beatrice, tired of this foolishness, decides to take measures into her own... wings?

What will happen?! You'll have to read it to find out ;)

Now make haste:

and go

Pat McHale's twitter

Jim Campbell's site

Susana's 2014 Reads

2014 is practically over, and it is time to make a balance of how many books we've read, and most importantly what we've read.

I normally don't do this...mainly because I am too lazy to do it o_O, but people on Booklikes have put me to shame, so I decided to give it a try as well :)

This year I am somewhat left with the feeling that I didn't had a good reading year.

So, let's see:

The Five Star ratings :

     

 

The Four and a Half Star ratings:

 

 

The Spinster Bride by Jane Goodger

Arc provided by Kensington Books through Netgalley

Release Date: February 3rd 2015

Another novel that kept me up all night. Good thing I don't need that much sleep :)

It is a truth universally acknowledged that if there's a girl in a Victorian or Regency novel, she is most likely desperate to get marry...

Well, more like their mothers, fathers, grandparents _and assorted family _ who are desperate to see them marry.

The guys usually play aloof : yes I am the biggest fish in the sea...care to see my collection of hooks? They're shiny! ;)

___

In this one, _much to my enjoyment _ our "desperate" candidate is Mr. Charles Norris.

Marjorie the other leading character, needs to get married, but unlike Charles, she is not very happy with the prospect...the fact that her mother is more than ready to marry her of to the first smelly titled creep, that asks for her hand doesn't help.

Charles is witty _ a little loud _ handsome, from a good family _his father is a viscount _ not a bad dancer _although he does tend to say some inappropriate things _ has sufficient financial means to take care of a family...has all his teeth...

So, why is he still single?

The thing is, he really wants a wife, and his own children. To his consternation, all of his friends have gotten married _including the ones that apparently weren't interested in the whole deal _ except for him.

Blast it!

So, one day due to very unexpected circumstances  _younger brothers are a real pain in the a** _ Charles finds himself with the opportunity _blackmail and light extortion may be involved _ of securing his own matchmaker.

He is finally smart enough to realize, that he's not the "sharpest tool in the shed" when it comes to women, and that his preferences have led him....firmly into bachelor land.

Okay, this had some elements that could lead into disaster, especially the whole, you're in my debt, and you're going have to help me...*enter maniacal laughter*

(okay, there's no maniacal laughter involved)

Thankfully for Charles, Marjorie has such a dull life (wow, the blessing), that she actually finds herself having fun with the "wife hunting antics"!

Marjorie has a great sense of humour _ despite having a bully as a mother _ and surprisingly enough is able to take most of Charles dialogues in stride.

Soon enough they become friends, which is great, since nothing else can happen between them.*cough*

Romantically, they're totally inappropriate for one another _*hear me laugh*_ since Marjorie's mother is adamant about a suitor with a title.

Also, she scares Charles _basically she scares everyone! _ and the guy has been in war, and has the scars to prove it.

She is a real lady dragon and not someone one would want as mother in law.

And thankfully for Charles who falls besotted with every belle of the season, he doesn't feel anything for....beautiful, dashing, funny, kind Marjorie... o_O *yeah, he's in denial*

I loved Charles and Marjorie story! Their banter, their chemistry...their chemistry! o_O

They're really otp for one another.

The only reason I'm not giving it a higher rating, is because this story is mostly divided into two points of view: The romance between Charles and Majorie in the present...and in the past, we have Marjorie's mother story.

Which ends up being an important story, but, has the inconvenience of making this longer that I would have liked.

Marjorie's brother is also an important character in this story, for the diversity it brings.

I don't remember any other historical romance having a character with autism, as George seems to have.

All in all a great read, and I'll be sure to read more titles from this author.

Especially When a Lord Needs a Lady because there's a connection in the plots and characters.

Author's Official Site

Buy "The Spinster Bride" @Amazon.com

The Thornless Rose (Elizabethan Time Travel #1) by Morgan O'Neil

 

Arc provided by Entangled Select Historical through Netgalley

Release Date: December 29 th

 

Anne, our modern day character sees the photograph of her grandma's first fiancé and becomes instantly smitten with it, and very determined to act as some sort of Nancy Drew wanna be.
I know this is a time travel romance, but despite that, I was expecting a little more something, to ground her sudden obsession with the guy.
She's a teacher! Logical reasoning would be in order.

Also, I would expect a little of: OH MY GOD I'M OGLING MY GRANDMOTHER'S MISSING FIANCÉ! UGH!
Not the: Oh, here is that handsome devil who went missing a few decades ago, I must kiss him at once!

Then the colloquial speech that practically invades the initial part of the book became _for me_ quite tiresome to read.
(though I have been told that it is actually correct, so the problem is mine.)

“I’ve held tea for ye, Anne, but I canna say as I’m happy ’bout it, or ’bout yer grandmother’s goin’ off like she did with nary a word t’ me.”

“What’s troubling ye then, lass?” Trudy asked, her voice gentle now. “Would ye like a cuppa? Ye look a bit queer.”

"(..)she stared into the shadows and recalled her gloried past, conscious of its stark contrast to widowed life."

Gloried? Because she was married?
 Wow, o_O
Built a pyre and throw yourself into it, why don't you?
( I know, I know...but what can I say? My sentimental bones are very hard to find these days...)

And then  I got to the part in which the grandma seems more worried with the fact that Anne will be dressed properly _yes, a big thing back then, BUT, priorities please _ than the actual: Oh MY GOD MY GRANDDAUGHTER IS GOING TO TIME TRAVEL TO THE FIFTEEN HUNDRED' JUST LIKE MY FIANCÉ!

"But you mustn’t wear jeans, or anything short-short, until you’re back in Virginia. You’ll have to find something passably appropriate for the 1500s.”

But what really made me decide to quit reading this, is that immediately after Anne "travels" to that time period the thing becomes "rapey". It doesn't even take a few minutes, or hours, no, it happens immediately.

So, Anne draws the attentions of two bastards that immediately start discussing who will be first...
She manages to escape (yay!)...but they are able to keep following her (buh!), and later on, she is kidnapped (double buh...).
Once again she manages to escape (the odds are clearly in her favour!), and eventually she meets her grandma's missing fiancé (mission accomplished).
Oh, and she even manages to save Queen Elizabeth's life with the Heimlich  maneuver.
Great!

Sorry, book its not you _well, part of it... is _ but it is mostly me!
Clearly a casting mistake on my part: Book, we just weren't meant to be together until the very end :(
I bid you farewell.

Morgan O'Neil is the combined work of authors Cary Morgan Frates and Deborah O’Neill Cordes.

Amazon.com 

The Accidental Countess (Playful Brides #2) by Valerie Bowman

 

Okay....so...after having read Lucy's and Derek's book, comes the dreaded Cassandra and Julian book...

And I am sorry to say, that I didn't like this. I was able to finish it, but, I really couldn't care less about these two boring, gorgeous _blond god and goddess _ people!

Cassandra continues to be her same boring self, and in this one she doesn't have the excuse of not being the main character. She is the main character, and Lucy still has to come up with one of her mad schemes because Cassandra is hopeless :/ in "coming up" with anything.

The thing is I couldn't see the romance between Julian and Cass as anything more than a simple infatuation between two gorgeous beings...

Cass fell in love with him when she was a young girl, and after that, there was it.

From Julian's part, the thing that he's constantly saying is how beautiful Cass is.

The plot, inspired in Oscar Wilde's, The Importance of Being Earnest, manages to be more insane than the original play, and suffice to say that I like witty things, not insane ones.

Oh, and Cassandra blaming Lucy for everything that had happened, didn't made me a happy reader.

Yes, she ends up coming to her senses for one phrase or two, but that, just accentuated all that I hated about Cass. Her inability to take charge of her life, and of her responsibilities.

Oh, and when she finally says something along the lines of; I've had it. I will take control of my life from this day forward!

And I was like: girl, it was about time!

And then she says something like this: I am going to join a Convent!

_________

_____

yeah, Cass, that will teach them..

 

Oh, and how everything in the end gets presented with a nice red bow?( except for the bloke who dies, but we never knew him, so, no problem right? o_O)

I hated it.

Bottom Line: loved the first volume of this series...and I am sure that I am going to love the next one, because it is Gareth's and Jane's book! :)

_______

I just hope Cassandra and her Julian don't appear all that much!

author's Official Site

Buy it _ or maybe a friend can lend it to you o_O _ @Bookdepository.com

Ticker by Lisa Mantchev

Arc provided by Amazon Children's  Publishing through Netgalley

DNf at 34%

I blame it on the pretty cover.
If it weren't for it, there's no way I would have requested this on Netgalley, not with the avalanche of one star ratings that this is getting!
But no...I decided to be stubborn.
Also, this explains why you only had to click the request button to be approved. :/

Here's what I could understand from this story...
________
________
O_O
________
?????
_____
?

I guess it attempts to flow in that "light", "quirky tone" of the TV series "Pushing Daisies". Remember it?
But instead of pies,and a pie maker that brings people to life, we have strange contraptions, with even strangest names! And you have no idea what they're for. Because there's no explanation!
I don't even know why I am making that comparison, because the series was GOOD.

The setting is somewhat steam-punk(ish)...I guess...at least it attempts to, but there's just not enough description, world building, characterization, nothing!
So we have strange words, and strange expressions like:

“What the blanketed codfish are these?”

"Dear Cogs"

Silly and impossible things:

"The Ripley’s Personal Aethergraph strapped to my ribboned leg garter fired to life, a welcome distraction. With a series of clicks, the RiPA tapped out a message."

"Defiant in the face of my fears, I marched from the room and made my way downstairs via a slide down the banister. Difficult to do when wearing a bustle skirt.
Difficult, but not impossible."

I would really, really like to see this last one up-front.

The characters are like puppets and they act and dress accordingly..

I didn't find any "friendliness" on the part of the so called "friend"..

No spark from whom I believe will be the love interest...they bantered, and now he has given her some bracelets with diamonds _also, there might have been some stalking involved _ and that makes her part of "the task force" or whatever..

Some Latin names are also used to the mix, just to give it that lovely and casual "Roman taste"...
The brother doesn't show any brotherly affection...well, there's some disdain, I guess, maybe because it is fashionable?
Then there's the bisexual friend who has blue hair and beard, because...in another lifetime he was a Smurf? o_O

"He’d inherited his good looks, cheerful demeanor, and eye for the ladies from his father.
His weakness for infernal, newfangled contraptions and rakish gentlemen came from his mother."

 Thanks, but this is not for me.

Author's Official Site

Bookdepository.com

First Frost ( Waverley Family #2) by Sarah Addison Allen

 Arc provided by St. Martin's Press through Netgalley

Release Date : January 20 th, 2015

It may not seem like it, but Sarah Addison Allen's writing is amongst my favourites.

I fell in love with it while reading "Garden Spells", and it just grew with "The Peach Keeper"...

Since too many years have gone by since I last read the first one ( August 2008), I decided to re-read it...which may have caused a little anxiety on my part:

Garden Spells(GS) is one of the untouchables , my all time favourite books..what if, while second time re-reading it, I were to find myself disliking it?

The potential for catastrophe was gigantic.

Fortunately all went smooth _ I devoured it in less than one day_, and I still found myself loving the characters and the plot.

First part accomplished. Time to start with "First Frost"....

The thing with sequels, _when you're not expecting one _ is that they can have the potential to ruin a whole tale.

That doesn't happen here, but, I was not left with the feeling that what happens in this tale, is amazing or vital to the story. Maybe if it had taken place twenty years regarding the end of GS it would be better...

As it is, _and unlike what happens in GS, despite the trigger warnings for abuse _ this story for most of its duration left me somewhat depressed.

The thing is, I really didn't want to know that the Waverley sisters were getting lost in their problems!

Claire starts doubting her gift, and Sydney is allowing one situation to rule over her mind... I am not going to say anything about it, in order to not spoil it, but honestly I disliked the introduction of that theme...and the predictability of what was going to happen in the end..

Also, after all that happened in the previous book, to end up seeing the younger of the Waverley Sisters still unease about her gifts, well more her daughter's than anything else, felt a little hypocritical. Especially when Bay is so at ease with them.

I guess my main problem with this book, is that most of the time I felt as if I was reading a contemporary/ chick lit book. The magic wasn't there.

Yes, I am aware that the timeline in which the story takes place is a very specific one: the magical Apple tree is waiting for the First Frost to arrive, in order to wake up...so everything sounds more problematic than ever.

The thing is: I wasn't particularly interested in that.

I didn't care about their dramas. And once again the guys _ Tyler and Henry _ don't have a very active role on the plot.

On the positives, I can't get enough of Evanelle! ;)

Here hoping that she makes it until one hundred and ten. At least!

I would love to share some quotes with you guys, to show you the extent of her amazing(ness), but this is an arc...o_O

Evanelle is amazing. Her relation with Fred is still strong, and honestly I don't know what will become of the other two _and of the story! _without her.

Then there's Bay...

Bay is a great character. I was a little scared that a fifteen year old could have already found her "one true love" due to her gift _ the whole knowing where she belongs thing? _ but fortunately the plot seems to have space to develop itself in another direction, and I honestly hope it does so!

The introduction of the mysterious character felt a little flat...I don't know, I guess I was expecting that he would bring a little more magic with him, and a lot less mundane issues.

The writing however is still great as ever, and this is a good book!

Just not as great, and enchanting as Garden Spells was/is...for me at least. I wanted more out of the magical realism department.

Author's Official Site

Pre-order it:

@Bookdepository.com (Hardback St Martin's Edition)

or the Paperback edition by Hodder and Stoughton, Lda

@Bookdepository.com (release date, January 29)

Information according to Bookdepository database...