Tuesday Teaser

Hosted by The Boston Bibliophile...

The rules:

• 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!

Just picked up Lover Avenged by J.R. Ward today. I have officially read the first 2 paragraphs, so it qualifies for today's teaser I suppose. The following comes from page 276:

The sandwiches were exactly the way he liked them: overstuffed with meat, light on the lettuce and the tomatoes, plenty of mayo. He ate both of them, and though they should have perked him up, the exhaustion that had a death grip on his body just pulled harder.

Dragonswan - Sherrilyn Kenyon

Dragonswan by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Form: Book
Series: Dark Hunters

Channon, enjoying a day at the museum studying her favorite exhibit, a dragon tapestry finds herself swept into the arms of a sinfully handsome man who weaves all sorts of amusing stories about who he is, where he's from and even explanations of the tapestry she's so obsessed with. At first, she just thinks Sebastian is full of charm and wit and it just successfully trying to impress her, but soon finds he speaks mostly the truth as she is swept into a world she never imagined with a man who makes her weak in the knees.

Dragonswan is the prelude to Kenyon's Dark Hunter series. I have been impressed upon by some "friends" over at the Karen Marie Moning web-forum, to read. This first book was a mere 86 pages, and was an okay short story - but I wasn't overly impressed myself. But given that it is a novelette, I'm not going to base my opinion of Sherrilyn Kenyon as an author or the series in general by this one little read.

Kenyon did do a good job at developing the characters in such a short book, enough that you did want a bit more than what you were left with. The book did have sufficient romance and action for it's size as well. I just like a bit more depth I guess.

Fire Me - Libby Malin

Fire Me by Libby Malin

Genre: Fiction

Form: Book

Fed up with impossible deadlines and meaningless busywork, Anne Wyatt goes to work one day determined to resign. But that's the day her boss announces someone's getting laid off (and a generous severance package.) Now Anne has one day to ruin her career and convince her boss that someone should be her.

Anne's hysterical tactics are unwittingly undermined by Ken, the handsome graphic designer in the next cubicle, who has is own ideas for liberation from the corporate grind. In the end, Anne and Ken have to decide together what is important in life, and what they can discard without a second glance...

...source: back of book...

Fire me was a fun read! It had lots of humorous, unbelievable events smashed between serious life reflection and small sparks of romance. I giggled out loud at some of the antics that both Anne and co-worker, Shelia, pulled off. Under any circumstances outside of the fictional world, what these ladies did to get themselves fired would have ruined a company, smeared their names for a long time AND sent them out on their butts early that morning with out the added benefit of the offered severance package. Still yet, it was a cube-dweller’s dream come true. Imagine doing anything and everything you ever wanted in the office. Imagine saying exactly what you meant, wrote an e-mail expressing how you really felt– without all the business-ese added in. Perhaps they should publish this book with a disclaimer; Warning: Do not try this at home work.

But what was the book really about? I believe Fire Me was more about self discovery than it was about getting an awesome deal while getting laid off. There was the underlying issue of what really makes you happy; financial stability or doing what you love. It’s a book about new beginnings, whether the events that lead to that new beginning were fortunate or unfortunate – it’s never too late to start over. I would love to go into more detail about what I mean, but seeing as how this book is still unpublished – I’d hate to be the one who spoils it for you. I will say this – I honestly believe that this book would make a great movie. While it was funny to read, I bet it would be even funnier to watch it unfold on the big screen.

Fire Me hits bookstores in May, check it out!

Tuesday Teaser

Today I'm trying something new! This comes from one of the blogs I follow, The Boston Bibliophile...

The rules:

• 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!

So I just started a new series, the Midnight Breed series by Lara Adrian. I'm reading Kiss of Midnight. This is from page 202:

As mad as she was at his deception, as frightened as she was of everything she didn't understand about him, she needed him to be all right.

If anything were to happen to him--

Love @ First Site - Jane Moore

Love @ First Site by Jane Moore
Genre: Chick-Lit
Form: Audio Book

Jessica just turned 34 years old, and as her birthday present her friends all pitched in together and bought her an internet-dating service subscription. Jess finds herself going on a series of blind-ish dates to satisfy her friends. Finding herself in all sorts of situations including picking up the bill for two strange men, and being blatantly turned down before the date begins, Jess is just about to give up. All this sandwiched between her thankless job and her sister's illness, Jess is dealing with one of the more difficult years of her life, it's a good thing that happenstance puts Ben in her life, a friend of a friend - Ben is a good listener and shoulder to lean on when times get hard...but us there more?

I must be honest. This book was just okay. Very predictable, and not very well developed. The writing seemed almost half-hearted, and I feel bad saying that because I know Jane probably spent lots of time writing this book. I always try and be respectful of authors and keep in mind that these books are their artwork, their creation.

The characters were there. They interacted, events happened...but it just didn't grab my attention. They were forgettable. If this wasn't an audio book I was listening to at work, I probably would have put the book down and went to do something else.

I'm sorry Jane Moore, if you are reading this, but it's how I feel. I'm sure someone out there likes this book, but I'm just not one of them.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling
Genre: Youth Fantasy
Form: Audio Book
Series: Harry Potter

No, I have never read the Harry Potter books. Yes, I do realize I'm years and years behind every one. I have seen the movies, and really like them, so I decided to give the audio books a try. And since everyone in their brother has read the Harry Potter books, I'm going to try something new this time around. I've been debating about whether to write my own summaries to the books I read, or continue to use what is published on the back of the book or what's on the Barnes and Noble website. I'm not sure if anyone pays attention or cares - but I am always vague in my reviews because I'm trying very hard not to give anything away. I want to write down my opinion of the books I read or listen too, but I don't want to ruin it for anyone else. This is often hard when I get to the part where I want to tell people what my favorite part of the book way, because often my favorite part is the pivotal part in the book or the surprise twist. Anyhow, for the next few books I'm going to take a stab at writing my own summary and then my review. If I feel it's going well, I will continue in this method. If I don't like it, then I'll just do things as I've always done them.

So back to the review..er summary:

Harry Potter has lived with his Aunt, Uncle, and very spoiled cousin, Dudley ever since he was a baby. He was delivered to them after his parents died in what he was told was a car accident. All his life he has been treated as a second class citizen, never truly feeling like he belongs. Now, 11 years later, Harry's life is about to make a drastic change.

In just a matter of days, Harry finds himself swept off to a school for meant for Wizards and Witches. Apprehensive at first, Harry soon finds out that he is not only famous among this world of magic, but he also finds himself right at home after years of feeling an outsider. In his first year at Hogwarts School of Magic, Harry makes new friends, new enemies and begins to learn about his destiny.

When comparing the difference between books, and the movies that have been made from books - most of the time I would say the book is most certainly better than the movie (Twilight, for example). On rare occasion I might say that the movie was actually better than the book (Confessions of a Shopaholic). But in this instance, I will say that the book and the movie were almost 100% word-for-word, the same. And seeing as how I liked the movie a lot, this was actually a good thing - just a little surprising!

I have read many young adult books, but this is the first time in a really long time that I've read anything that is focused more towards youths or preteens. I actually did borrow this book from the library once, and mostly because the book was extremely easy to read and really did feel juvenile to me, I did not finish it, but getting the audio book was a winner for me. I listen to these books at work - while I'm working (big surprise huh?). So the fact that the book was an "easy read" actually worked out well. I didn't have to concentrate too hard to keep up with the book. So I'm happy to be able to finally add the Harry Potter books to my "read" list.

I think my favorite part of The Sorcerer's Stone is when Hermione covers for Harry and Ron after they save her from a troll, and their friendship is officially forged. I think both Harry and Ron learned a very important lesson about just how much words can hurt a person. Of course, in real life, hopefully it wouldn't be such a dangerous lesson.

All in all, I loved the beginning of this saga. You meet many of the important characters, you learn about the world of magic, and some of it's ups and downs. It's a perfect beginning to what I already know is a wonderful series.

Stardust - Neil Gaiman

Stardust by Neil Gaiman
Genre: Fantasy Fiction
Form: Audio book

In the sleepy English countryside of decades past, there is a town that has stood on a jut of granite for six hundred years. And immediately to the east stands a high stone wall, for which the village is named. Here in the town of Wall, Tristran Thorn has lost his heart to the hauntingly beautiful Victoria Forester. One crisp October night, as they watch, a star falls from the sky, and Victoria promises to marry Tristran if he'll retrieve that star and bring it back for her. It is this promise that sends Tristran through the only gap in the wall, across the meadow, and into the most unforgettable adventure of his life.

This is a very fun book that takes you into a world of many mythical creatures, some friends some foe, and magic is normal. The land of the Fairy. Tristran and the Star are a beautiful pair - that while you don't feel sparks when you think of them together like you would in a more "romance" based novel, you feel the bond of their friendship. The bond is much better than that of Tristran and Victoria, of which I think the only basis of the "love" he felt was due to her beauty. She seemed like an arrogant, prissy, little girl in my opinion. Although, by the end of the book you are happy for her.

I think I would have liked this book much better had I not ruined it by watching the movie first. I usually strictly follow the rule of read the book first, then watch the movie, but in this case the movie was loaned to me and I didn't know about the book until afterward. One thing I really like is the cover of this book. Since I rented the audio book from bookfree.com, I did not get the chance to view the cover - but when I pulled this up on Barnesandnoble.com and saw the cover I just though - oh how cute would this be if it were truly a book bound in red and had a star clasp like that. I would buy one just for the novelty of the cover.

Lover Enshrined - J.R. Ward

Lover Enshrined by J.R. Ward
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Form: Book
Series: Black Dagger Brotherhood

Fiercely loyal to the Black Dagger Brotherhood, Phury has sacrificed himself for the good of the race, becoming the male responsible for keeping the Brotherhood's bloodlines alive. As Primale of the Chosen, he is obligated to father the sons and daughters who will ensure that the traditions of the race survive, and that there are warriors to fight those who want all vampires extinguished.

As his first mate, the Chosen Cormia wants to win not only his body but his heart for herself. She is drawn to the noble responsibility behind the emotionally scarred male. But Phury has never allowed himself to know pleasure or joy. As the war with the Lessening Society grows grim, tragedy looms over the Brotherhood's mansion, and Phury must decide between duty and love....

Fantastic! The story is really coming together - I can almost see how some things will play out. This book kept me going. Once again, it was more what was going on outside of Phury and Cormia that kept the book intact for me than their story - although it was very good. Cormia must come out from being a part of an entire entity of beings and discover who she is, and Phury must find himself in the mess his life has been since the day he was born. It's a great combination. I recently read where someone didn't feel Phury truly get over Bella - but I disagree, I believe Phury was getting over Bella from the very beginning of the book when he was drawling the picture of her with her hair up. Cormia was already seeping, unknown to him, into his mind.

I loved the tenderness that came out of John Matthew towards Cormia in this book too - he really did help her in her discovery process I believe. I just wish that the boy ...er, man...would communicate more. He sees things and does things and truly needs to tell people about them instead of doubting himself all the time. Of course I think it will come eventually. I'm just curious if eventually he will get his own book, or if his story will continue to be told on the sidelines. Same with Blay and Quinn.

I'm anxiously awaiting Lover Avenged while reading the guide book.