WAITING ON WEDNESDAY | Across a Star-Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund » The Novel Hermit

WAITING ON WEDNESDAY | Across a Star-Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund

September 4, 2013 Comments : 6

wowfestivo

Waiting On is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Across a Star-Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund
October 15, 2013
Balzer + Bray
Website | Twitter | Goodreads
Pre-order: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

Centuries after wars nearly destroyed civilization, the two islands of New Pacifica stand alone, a terraformed paradise where even the Reduction—the devastating brain disorder that sparked the wars—is a distant memory. Yet on the isle of Galatea, an uprising against the ruling aristocrats has turned deadly. The revolutionaries’ weapon is a drug that damages their enemies’ brains, and the only hope is rescue by a mysterious spy known as the Wild Poppy.

On the neighboring island of Albion, no one suspects that the Wild Poppy is actually famously frivolous aristocrat Persis Blake. The teenager uses her shallow, socialite trappings to hide her true purpose: her gossipy flutternotes are encrypted plans, her pampered sea mink is genetically engineered for spying, and her well-publicized new romance with handsome Galatean medic Justen Helo… is her most dangerous mission ever.

Though Persis is falling for Justen, she can’t risk showing him her true self, especially once she learns he’s hiding far more than simply his disenchantment with his country’s revolution and his undeniable attraction to the silly socialite he’s pretending to love. His darkest secret could plunge both islands into a new dark age, and Persis realizes that when it comes to Justen Helo, she’s not only risking her heart, she’s risking the world she’s sworn to protect.

In this thrilling adventure inspired by The Scarlet Pimpernel, Diana Peterfreund creates an exquisitely rendered world where nothing is as it seems and two teens with very different pasts fight for a future only they dare to imagine.

Why I’m waiting?

I adore Diana Peterfreund.

You can say I’m in love with her writing. I vaguely remember what The Scarlet Pimpernel is about, but that won’t detract from what I assume will be an awesome book. In this book, the characters are gender-flipped. I LOVE THAT. Here, we have a female as the leading main character (instead of a male like in the original book) and she’s a spy! Yeeessss. (I don’t know if you know this about me, but I am really into spies.) And they are pretending they are in love? Can this book get any better?

What books are you waiting on?

Reviews

REVIEW | Charm & Strange by Stephanie Kuehn

September 3, 2013 Comments : 3

Charm & Strange by Stephanie Kuehn
June 11, 2013
St. Martin’s Griffin
Website | Twitter | Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

When you’ve been kept caged in the dark, it’s impossible to see the forest for the trees. It’s impossible to see anything, really. Not without bars . . .

Andrew Winston Winters is at war with himself.

He’s part Win, the lonely teenager exiled to a remote Vermont boarding school in the wake of a family tragedy.The guy who shuts all his classmates out, no matter the cost.

He’s part Drew, the angry young boy with violent impulses that control him. The boy who spent a fateful, long-ago summer with his brother and teenage cousins, only to endure a secret so monstrous it led three children to do the unthinkable.

Over the course of one night, while stuck at a party deep in the New England woods, Andrew battles both the pain of his past and the isolation of his present.

Before the sun rises, he’ll either surrender his sanity to the wild darkness inside his mind or make peace with the most elemental of truths—that choosing to live can mean so much more than not dying.

First sentence: “I don’t feel the presence of God here.”

You know a book is good when the first sentence hits you in the face, leaving you in awe. I was pretty much like that the entire time I was reading the book. This is one of those books that continues to resonate in my mind like I’m still turning stones over, trying to make sense of it all by rereading it and searching for foreshadowing.

Charm & Strange is difficult to talk about without giving away too much of what happens. It’s a bizarre, yet powerful story that is told from a male’s point of view, and that switches between the past (“antimatter”) and the present (“matter”). In the past, Andrew Winston Winters (frequently called “Win”) is a ten year old boy who is forced to spend his summer at his grandparent’s place with his older brother, Keith. Things occur during this part that makes us, the readers, see why Win would react and deal with it the way he did later on in the story. In the present, Win is a sixteen year old at a boarding school in Vermont, hiding secrets of his past. He’s a loner, choosing to avoid any socialization with his fellow classmates, but despite that, he attracts the attention of a new transfer student, Jordan Herrera and his former roommate, Lex Emil, Win’s former roommate, who both show concern for Win’s well-being. In both parts, Win struggles with thoughts of “badness” (of violence and of shame) that threaten to take him over at times.

This book is incredibly misleading and frustrating, in a good way though. I didn’t know what to expect since the narrative is framed in a way that doesn’t reveal too much of Win’s secrets. I didn’t know what was going on half the time, but by the end, everything hit me like a ton of bricks. (Only one word was left in my mind when I finished it: “Shhhiiiiiiiiittttttt.”) It left me reeling and pondering over Win and how powerful the human mind is.

Stephanie Kuehn did a wonderful job at keeping the suspense and portraying sensitive issues (she uses an interesting metaphor for Win’s plight). You can say that this story is a character study on the human mind and how it copes with tragedy/trauma/loss. A child’s mind can only take so much before it eventually shuts down and represses everything or masks it into something they can understand. When you start reading, you can’t help this overwhelming sadness come over you. You just know that something bad has happened, but you don’t know what. You just keep turning the pages.

Just know that this book is not light nor is it paranormal. It deals with sensitive issues (like abuse, suicide, incest).

If I had to describe Charm & Strange in a sentence to convince you to read it…I’d say, it’s “a truly confusing, strange, yet poignant and heartbreaking book, where you don’t know what’s going on with the protagonist, but as the story continues to build, it sucks you in because it’s a big mindfuck, and you question your own sanity for staying up until five in the morning trying to finish this book.” I know I’m keeping it extremely vague, but you should go read it. Experience it yourself. Just prepare yourself…just a bit.

gradeB

Monthly Recap

MONTHLY RECAP | August 2013

August 31, 2013 Comments : 13

The end of August means it is officially the end of summer. Boooooo.

It has been a good month for me. And this past week has been totally awesomeeeeee for me – from being more active on my blog and on twitter to the events I attended. I have been filled with so much joy that I hope it continues into September.

ontheblog

I reviewed:

In “The Three C’s: Candid Conversations with Cee,” I discussed:

My favorite friendships in YA and children’s literature
My indecisiveness when I go to bookstores
My bad habit of book juggling

In “Judg(ing) A Book By Its Cover,” I talked about:

The cover change of If I Stay by Gayle Forman

In “Waiting on Wednesday,” I wait for:

inmylife

My BFF returned from Japan for a visit and gave me the best present in the world! CAT BUTTS. (It’s so relevant to my life.)

My BFF and I hung out and made some progress on our joint YA story. (I should be working on it right now. :P)
On the 23rd, I saw No Man’s Land that starred Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, and Billy Crudup. IT WAS SO BRITISH AND AMAZING. And I got Ian McKellen’s autograph. YEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!! He brushed past me to move through the small crowd. AHHHHHH. One of my best nights.

My sister left for school in Chicago, which meant she gave me her laptop (which is in really good condition). I am excited because y’know, I was without a laptop since I knocked my old laptop over in July.
I became obsessed with The Thrilling Adventure Hour podcasts, specifically “Beyond Belief” segment, because of Rainbow Rowell, who I blame. Everybody needs to listen to it.
On the 28th, I MET AND TALKED TO SARAH J. MAAS! asdjwrjqworjfojsajsdj9wiepwqi SHE IS MY SPIRIT ANIMAL. I LOOOOOVVEEEEE HEEEERRRRR. I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would be when I spoke to her. The reason might be because she is super friendly. And I can talk to her about anything, specifically Henry Cavill and Teen Wolf. (There will be a post in a few days (once I type it up).) And I bought these lovelies and had them all signed by Sarah –

DEFINITELY THE BEST, BEST, BEST NIGHT I EVER HAD.

How was your August? Was it as awesome as mine?

Reviews

REVIEW | The Assassin and the Underworld & The Assassin and the Empire (Throne of Glass #0.3/#0.4) by Sarah J. Maas

August 30, 2013 Comments : 2

The Assassin and the Underworld (Throne of Glass #0.3) by Sarah J. Maas
May 1, 2012
Bloomsbury Children’s
Website | Twitter | Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble

When the King of the Assassins gives Celaena Sardothien a special assignment that will help fight slavery in the kingdom, she jumps at the chance to strike a blow against an evil practice. The misson is a dark and deadly affair which takes Celaena from the rooftops of the city to the bottom of the sewer—and she doesn’t like what she finds there.

myreview

First sentence: “The cavernous entrance hall of the Assassin’s Keep was silent as Celaena Sardothien stalked across the marble floor, a letter clutched between her fingers.”

In The Assassin and the Underworld, Celaena has returned to the Assassin’s Keep after three months in the desert. When she gets back, Arobynn is apologetic and showers her with lavish gifts. He commissions her to kill Doneval, a businessman from Melisande, and retrieve important documents to prevent a slave-trade business from occurring. Celaena prepares herself by staking out Doneval’s place with the help of Sam, who reveal a part of himself to Celaena. And then something happens, revealing everything and everyone is not what it/they seem to be.

I enjoyed this novella a lot more than the other two. I think most of it had to do with all the Sam and Celaena interactions. All the scenes made my heart want to burst out of my chest. They like each other. It’s so obvious! And Sam is too cute. Of course, he’d do something so sweet to make Celaena happy and something so selfless to protect her. Where can I get a guy like him?

Another reason why I enjoyed this novella was because we get to see Celaena in action and see how she makes mistakes. (I complained about the lack of it in previous novellas.) It was interesting to see how she wasn’t entirely successful in her infiltration of Doneval’s house. She made mistakes that led to her capture. I liked that we saw she had been too blinded to see Arobynn’s true motives and see that she had been misled. A real critical error on her part to trust Arobynn.

I was extremely fascinated by Sam’s comment about Lysandra, a courtesan who’s getting ready for her upcoming Bidding. He claimed that Lysandra annoyed Celaena and did shit things to her because Lysandra wanted Celaena’s attention and acknowledgement. So interesting because despite not liking each other, they both yearn for acknowledgement from those who are much powerful than them. Here are two females who live in an extremely male society. They need acceptance and they don’t get it from each other. However, I was discouraged that yet another female is portrayed in a negative light.

I wonder what the next novella will show us – in Celaena’s growth as an assassin and her budding romance with Sam.

gradeB+

The Assassin and the Empire (Throne of Glass #0.4) by Sarah J. Maas
July 20, 2012
Bloomsbury Children’s
Website | Twitter | Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Celaena Sardothien is the assassin with everything: a place to call her own, the love of handsome Sam, and, best of all, freedom. Yet, she won’t be truly free until she is far away from her old master, Arobynn Hamel; Celaena must take one last daring assignment that will liberate her forever. But having it all, means you have a lot to lose . . .

myreview

First sentence: “Curled into the corner of a prison wagon, Celaena Sardothien watched the splotches of shadows and light play on the wall.”

The Assassin and the Empire is set a month after Celaena and Sam left Arobynn’s home, trying to find their way out from under Arobynn’s thumb. They decide that, to truly escape Arobynn’s hold on them, they have to leave the Assassin’s Guild and leave Rifthold. However, they do not have enough money to sustain them. Sam finds a job for them, to kill Ioan Jayne, the biggest crime lord in Rifthold, and Farran, Jayne’s right hand man. However, things do not go as expected. This novella sets up how Celaena ended up where she is in Throne of Glass.

I didn’t enjoy this novella as much as I did the previous one. A large part of that had to do with Celaena’s naivety. Even though she’s knows not to trust Arobynn, she does it anyway. I would be extremely suspicious of Arobynn’s motives, even if he shows regret or whatever because of the shit things he’s done. Arobynn shouldn’t be trusted whatsoever. When Celaena wonders who betrayed her at the end, I’m like JUST THINK, CELAENA. I find it interesting that Celaena is not as observant as she thinks she is. If she really had been, then she would’ve seen this coming; she wouldn’t have played into Arobynn’s hands. This flaw of Celaena shows that she still has a lot to learn.

My favorite scenes are: 1. after Celaena sees Farran torture a prisoner, she thinks about her own actions and killings (love this scene because she acknowledges that she is, in a way, no different than Farran), 2. when Celaena waits and waits and waits for Sam to come home (my heart breaks because y’know, the tragic thing that happens is just terrible and ahhhh), and 3. when the King speaks to Celaena in the dungeons (I find their interaction interesting because he’s an asshole and she tries to maintain herself.)

I don’t want to spoil anything that happens in the novella, but it certainly is a good read.

gradeC+

Discussion

THE THREE C’S: CANDID CONVERSATIONS WITH CEE | The Book Juggler Strikes! (My Bad Habit!)

August 29, 2013 Comments : 27

three c's

I have a really bad habit.

I am a self-proclaimed book juggler. A very notorious one, I might add.

I start reading multiple books at once, which is not the greatest idea on the world.

How does it start? Well…

I start a book with every intention of reading it ’til the end. I always tell myself I won’t get distracted, but oh man, my dear friends, I’m so naive to think that (considering my history of being easily distracted. It’s an actual problem). After a couple of chapters into the book I’m reading, I look up, muttering to myself how interesting the book is. Before I can continue, I get distracted by the internet or by my emails or by food. And when I try to return to my book, I get distracted again. Usually because my attention is caught elsewhere, specifically at my bookshelf. I imagine seeing a spotlight shining on the the spine of a book on my TBR bookshelf, and I remember ‘ooohh, I have been meaning to read that book.’ I get up, grab that book, and begin to read it. I keep doing this until I have at least four books I’m juggling, or reading all at once.

I’m on a Merry-Go-Around that I can’t get myself out of. Every time I think the ride has stopped, it continues. I always hear the circus theme going in my head as I switch from book to book, trying to decide which I should commit to. It is not the greatest thing to be doing. I know that.

I don’t do it on purpose. Sometimes I do it because I need breaks, especially when the book is a bit boring or it annoys me or I get overwhelmed. And during those breaks, I realize that there are soo many books that I own and want to read, but I can’t (mainly due to time constraint). I guess starting four books at once is my way of trying to get my reading done? Maybe? It’s a race against time! And then, I feel like my book juggling is my way of testing myself? – “How many books can I read at once? Let’s go for a world record!” (BAD NEWS, EVERYONE. I have to admit, before I fool you all, that I’m a really horrible juggler, both in books and any objects that you can juggle. Everything will fall comically onto the ground and you’d see me attempt a bashful, yet awkward smile as I say, in Steve Urkel’s voice, “did I do that?”)

BUT THE GOOD NEWS, I do finish one of the books I started. I usually return to reading my original book…after I admonish myself…a lot.

Are you a “book juggler” like me? Do you start a book, but stop to start another one just because? Do you ever return to reading the original book you started? How do you get out of it?

Waiting on Wednesday

WAITING ON WEDNESDAY | This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales

August 28, 2013 Comments : 6

wowfestivo

Waiting On is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales
September 10, 2013
St. Martin’s Press
Website | Twitter | Goodreads
Pre-order: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

Making friends has never been Elise Dembowski’s strong suit. All throughout her life, she’s been the butt of every joke and the outsider in every conversation. When a final attempt at popularity fails, Elise nearly gives up. Then she stumbles upon a warehouse party where she meets Vicky, a girl in a band who accepts her; Char, a cute, yet mysterious disc jockey; Pippa, a carefree spirit from England; and most importantly, a love for DJing.

Told in a refreshingly genuine and laugh-out-loud funny voice, THIS SONG WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE is an exuberant novel about identity, friendship, and the power of music to bring people together.

Why I’m waiting?

Music, music, music.

I love when the main character finds their own niche. And this book is giving me ‘found family’ vibes, which makes me want to shout ‘yeeeesssss.’ I’m excited to see how music is incorporated into this book. I hope there’s a playlist in it because it’s a book about music and why not experience it while we read?

What books are you waiting on?

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