Lexie – Page 12 – For the Sake of Reading

IBD 2016 Highlight: Farley’s Bookshop

Published on May 2, 2016May 2, 2016 by forthesakeofreadingya1 Comment

ibd

Did you participate in Independent Bookstore Day (IBD) this year? Held on April 30, 2016 across the United States it was a call to booklovers to unite and visit their local (or not so local!) indie bookstores for a variety of bookish fun.

My particular area didn’t have any stores closer then 40 minutes away, so I took to the road to visit a couple stores I haven’t been to before. I’ve broken this up into two parts because the second store had an event I wanted to discuss as well.

First this is what I was sporting:

BEA attendees might recognize that shirt – it was one of the Sourcebook giveaway shirts from a couple years ago. The bag was a birthday gift from a few years ago from my friend Jia and the pins…well. Who doesn’t love pin collecting?

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Author Chat: #AskCTP Twitter Chat

Published on April 28, 2016April 28, 2016 by forthesakeofreadingya10 Comments

Last night was the Clean Teen Publishing #AskCTP author chat and it was fun (well I had fun, hopefully everyone else did as well). The following authors took part:

Amanda Strong (@aewstrong)
Shannon A. Thompson (@AuthorSAT)
Jennifer Derrick (@BluEyedReindeer)
Sherry D. Ficklin (@AuthorSherry)
Jon Messenger (@JonMessenger)
Kristin Smith (@SwordsStilettos)
Kasi Blake (@KasiBlake)
June S. Westerfield (@damselwriter)
Sandy Goldsworthy (@sgoldsworthy)
Kendra L. Saunders (@kendrybird)
Susan Harris (@SuzHarrisWrites)
Julie Wetzel (@JulieKWetzel)
Tamara Grantham (@TamaraGrantham)

And readers a plenty! Want to see some of the highlights from my questions? Let’s get cracking!

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Guest Post: Leanna Renee Hieber!

Published on April 19, 2016April 25, 2016 by forthesakeofreadingyaLeave a comment

StrangeBeaut-hires

Hello darling readers, I’m very thrilled to be here with Lexie today, someone very dear who has been with me since my debut novel, The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, first in the Gothic, Victorian Strangely Beautiful series, burst onto the scene in 2009. I am so blessed by the support I received from bloggers and readers here, I really owe my career to all of you.

Some of you may know, the Strangely Beautiful series went out of print when the first publisher folded and it’s been a very difficult few years for me, trying to overcome that financial blow and the emotional struggle as these are the books of my heart. But the amazing Melissa Singer at Tor Books, who launched my new ETERNA FILES series (Think Victorian X-Files!), rescued Miss Percy and her series and it is back in a gorgeous new edition, revised, re-edited with new scenes and new content! Two books in one volume, The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker (my review) and The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker (my review) are united in this author’s preferred edition! (The prequel, Perilous Prophecy will release in 2017, and the finale, Miss Violet and the Great War, will finally release in 2018!)

If you pre-order Strangely Beautiful before 4/26, be sure to keep your confirmation # and visit: http://leannareneebooks.blogspot.com to enter to win a $75 Gift Card to Barnes and Noble, every entrant receives a beautiful Strangely Beautiful set of postcards!

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Book Review: A Girl’s Guide to Landing a Greek God

Published on April 1, 2016February 7, 2016 by forthesakeofreadingyaLeave a comment

When Angie’s big fat Greek wedding goes bust, her grandmother sends her on a trip to Greece with the instruction to set sail on a mysterious fishing boat that will take her to an uncharted island. Waiting for her at the dock is Milos, who’s charming and handsome and confesses he’s been crushing on her for years, even though he’s never met her. He also tells her he’s a descendant of the original Gods of Olympus, who are plotting their return to power.

Before she can say “Oh my God,” Angie is flying a winged horse alongside Milos and finding love in his arms. But there’s one little hitch: Milos’s elders are forcing him to marry a malevolent goddess named Electra to fulfill their plan. If Angie is to have any hope of hanging onto Milos, she’ll have to battle monsters, both reptilian and lipsticked; uncover secrets about her past; and go toe-to-toe with Zeus himself, whose recipe for world domination doesn’t call for a sassy girl from the outer boroughs.

Pros – Who wouldn’t want to land a Greek God?*, breezy, sweet

Cons – Clearly a set up for other books, not much seems to happen, bland

Spoiler – There’s a spoiler beneath in my review. If you’d prefer to read the review minus the spoiler I suggest you check out my GR review, as the spoiler is hidden there.

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Book Review: Every Heart a Doorway

Published on March 28, 2016January 24, 2016 by forthesakeofreadingya3 Comments

Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children
No Solicitations
No Visitors
No Quests

Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere… else.

But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children.

Nancy tumbled once, but now she’s back. The things she’s experienced… they change a person. The children under Miss West’s care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world.

But Nancy’s arrival marks a change at the Home. There’s a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it’s up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of the matter.

No matter the cost.

Pros – Jack, the school, Kade

Cons – I’ll be honest, as much as I like this book I now rather desperately want books about Kade, Jack, Nancy, and Sumi and the adventures behind their doors…

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Book Review: A Study of Charlotte

Published on March 14, 2016December 23, 2015 by forthesakeofreadingyaLeave a comment

The last thing sixteen-year-old Jamie Watson–writer and great-great-grandson of the John Watson–wants is a rugby scholarship to Sherringford, a Connecticut prep school just an hour away from his estranged father. But that’s not the only complication: Sherringford is also home to Charlotte Holmes, the famous detective’s enigmatic, fiercely independent great-great-granddaughter, who’s inherited not just his genius but also his vices, volatile temperament, and expertly hidden vulnerability. Charlotte has been the object of his fascination for as long as he can remember–but from the moment they meet, there’s a tense energy between them, and they seem more destined to be rivals than anything else.

Then a Sherringford student dies under suspicious circumstances ripped straight from the most terrifying of the Holmes stories, and Jamie and Charlotte become the prime suspects. Convinced they’re being framed, they must race against the police to conduct their own investigation. As danger mounts, it becomes clear that nowhere is safe and the only people they can trust are each other.

Pros – A good mystery, interesting dynamic between “Watson” and “Holmes”, engaging quick read

Cons – Charlotte is too…well Holmes like, wavers between being a straight up “re-imagining” and “inspired by”, possibly the adults in this book (with ONE exception) are just on drugs the entire time

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Book Review: Nightingale, Sing

Published on March 7, 2016March 5, 2016 by forthesakeofreadingya1 Comment

A STREETWISE VIGILANTE
who will do anything to cure her dying sister

A RUTHLESS GANGSTER
on a grisly quest to attain immortality

A DESPERATE FATHER
who crossed oceans to free his enslaved son

A TRAIL OF RIDDLES
and the mythical treasure they all seek:

THE SERENGETI SAPPHIRE

Pros – The Setting ( I dig Boston ok?), Sabra’s family vows, …ok yes also Atlas

Cons – Making me think that certain folk aren’t around anymore, Not Quite Dead villainy

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Book Review: Can You Keep a Secret?

Published on February 22, 2016February 20, 2016 by forthesakeofreadingya1 Comment

Eddie and Emma are high school sweethearts from the wrong side of the tracks. Looking for an escape their dreary lives, they embark on an overnight camping trip in the Fear Street Woods with four friends. As Eddie is carving a heart into a tree, he and Emma discover a bag hidden in the trunk. A bag filled with hundred-dollar bills. Thousands of them. Should they take it? Should they leave the money there? The six teens agree to leave the bag where it is until it’s safe to use it. But when tragedy strikes Emma’s family, the temptation to skim some money off of the top becomes impossible to fight. There’s only one problem. When Emma returns to the woods, the bag of money is gone, and with it, the trust of six friends with a big secret.

Pros – My status updates reached a new level of snarkiness, Callie, actual death

Cons – the wolf plotline, practically everything about these kids, inconsistency of plot (which is saying a lot)

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Book Review: Flirting with Fame

Published on February 15, 2016November 22, 2016 by forthesakeofreadingya1 Comment

Elise Jameson is the secret author behind the bestselling, cult hit Viking Moon series. But when a stranger poses as Elise, the painfully shy, deaf nineteen-year-old starts to see how much she’s missing. Can she really hide in the shadows forever? This clever, coming-of-age debut is for anyone who has ever felt unsure in their own skin.

After a freak childhood accident leaves her deaf and physically scarred, nineteen-year-old Elise Jameson retreats into a world of vibrant characters she creates on her laptop. She is shocked when her coping mechanism turns into a career as a phenomenal bestselling novelist. Fans are obsessed with Elise’s Viking Moon series and its author—a striking girl with zero resemblance to Elise who appears on the back covers. Elise sent the randomly Googled photo to her editor following a minor panic attack. Now, horrified to learn she is expected on set of the television pilot based on her novels, Elise tracks down her anonymous stand-in. To Elise’s surprise, Veronica Wilde has been taking credit for Viking Moon for years. She eagerly agrees to keep up the charade if Elise will pose as her assistant.

It’s hard for Elise to watch a stranger take credit for her work and get all the perks she desires, including admiration from the show’s heartthrob star. Edged onto the sidelines of her own life, Elise reconsiders her choice to stay anonymous. Is she ready to come to terms with her true identity—and with the long-buried secrets that could cost her her career, her fans, and the few precious friendships she’s made?

Pros – Elise, Reggie, Gavin being a geeky fanboy bookworm

Cons – Typical romance “obstacles”, heavy-handed deus ex machina to resolve some internal problems, MISCOMMUNICATION ABOUND

As a sidenote I won’t be talking about Elise’s deafness or how its used in the book–in all honesty I have no experience with that facet of life, so I don’t want to comment on it as part of my opinion on the book.

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Book Review Redux: Stained Glass Monsters

Published on February 11, 2016February 10, 2016 by forthesakeofreadingyaLeave a comment

Creatures from the Eferum are a world-wide problem: creeping through tears in the fabric of space, they feast on every unprotected human they can find.

Tyrland has a solution in the Kellian: faster and stronger than humans, they are Tyrland’s clawed, shadowy monster hunters. But no matter how faithfully they serve, or how true their sworn word, they are too different, too separate, to ever be entirely trusted.

Rennyn Claire is a complication. Secretive and obscenely powerful, she knows entirely too much about a massive new threat to Tyrland’s safety. Worst of all, she is linked to a past that the Kellian would rather forget.

All three of these things – monsters, Kellian, and an entirely overpowered mage – are about to land in Kendall Stockton’s lap. The last thing Kendall wants is to try to play conscience to someone who can swat her like a bug. But innocent lives are at stake, and no-one else seems willing to ask if what is necessary is the right thing to do.

And who, exactly, is the monster?

Pros – Ren, folk actually discussing the best way to do something, Helecho the Bastard

Cons -Sometimes very long discussions about magic, Kendall for much of it

(please note: a version of this review appeared originally on Poisoned Rationality. I’ve since updated and tweaked it after a recent re-read. Additions are noted in italics)

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