Author Archives: Bethlylou

Reader Problems

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You know when you are reading a book.  You love it.  You love the characters.  You become invested in one or two of the characters. For this instance, you are involved with two.  You want them together.  You totally ship them.  They are finally realized they are in love with each other and finally, FINALLY, do something about it.  They are happy.  You are happy.  All is great and then realize that you haven’t even reached the half way point of the book and there are at least two more books to come.  You start to panic because you know the happiness your characters feel now is not going to last that much longer.  Something bad is about to happen.  You accidentally read the synopsis of the next book in the series, so you know there is a death is coming.  Now your even more frazzled because what if it’s one of your beloved!  NO!  It can’t be!  They are HAPPY!  Can’t they be happy?  You want to turn away and stop reading but you can’t.  It’s a like a car accident as much as you want to look the other direction, you can’t help yourself from looking straight ahead.  So you keep reading towards the inevitable.  Hoping for the best but bracing yourself for the worst.

That is exactly where I am right now in the The Crown of Midnight.  Something book is about to happen.  I just know it and I’m not prepared for it.  Nope, not at all.  Pray for me brothers and sisters readers.

Quick Review: Pip Bartlett’s Guide for Magical Creatures by Jackson Pearce and Maggie Stievfater

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Featured imageSince this book will not be published until April 28, I’ll keep this review short.  First this book is adorable. Pip Bartlett is a smart, curious and kind girl, who just loves animals, especially magically ones.  As far as she knows, she is the only person who can talk to them and they can talk to her. Of course, being the only one means that no one else believes you. After an unfortunate incident with a couple of unicorns, Pip gets sent to live with her Aunt Emma, who is a magical creatures vet for the summer.  Pip is thrilled! When an infestation of Fuzzles threatens the town, it’s up to Pip, her new friend Tomas, Aunt Emma and Cousin Callie to save everyone.

Pip is great! She’s fun and funny.  Honest in a way that only a kid can be.  The book and Pip really come to life with Maggie’s illustrations.  They give the reader not only a insight into what the creatures look like and how they behave but also gives us insight into Pip herself, as she interjects her own opinions and observations.  Tomas is a good friend to have as a sidekick.  The one drawback is the villain of the story is mean and rude but for really no reason than she hates all magical creatures.  The good thing about being a series is that we have time to figure out why.

So if you have kids or don’t, check it out when it comes out later this month.

Review: Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas

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Featured imageI am going to start by saying Celaena Sardothien is one badass chick.  Seriously.  She is a trained assassin.  The best in all of Erilea.  She is clever, smart and kill you with her bare hands if you annoy her.  Yeah, she’s pretty cool.  After the death of parents she was found by the the King of Assassins and was trained as an assassin herself.  She soon proved to be the best and most feared assassin until she was betrayed and sent to a Salt Mines of Endovier. It’s more of a death camp then salt mines as most people don’t live long but Celaena is not like most people.  After a year there she is introduced to the Crown Prince and the Captain of the Guard who offer an escape of sorts.  Be the Crown Prince candidate in a competition to the King’s Champion aka become the official King’s assassin.  If she wins, she only have to serve the King for four years and then she will be freed.  If she loses, she comes back to Endovier where she will most likely die.  Celaena does not lack for confidence and sees this as a winning proposition and agrees.  Soon she is taken to Rithfold, the capital of Adarlan, the country that has conquered most of Erilea, including Celaena’s home country of Terrasen.  She swept up in the contest as she soon finds that it’s not going to be as easy as she thought.  First,  a year in the salt mines has sapped a lot of her strength and second, she has a formidable foe in Cain.  The King of Adarlan has outlawed magic from the land but Calaena finds that magic and mysterious powers are not completely gone.  Not only is she battling the other champions but also a mysterious threat as well.

The book is a sort of mix of Hunger Games and Game of Thrones that definitely works.  Celaena is strong, smart. clever and despite her brashness she is not fearless.  She knows that her situation is tenuous and that any mistake will send her right back to Endorvier or worse death.  She’s real.  She’s not a shrinking violet like many heroines.  She obvisously knows how to save herself but she’s not too proud to accept help when she needs it and yes even the more feared assassin needs help every now and then.  Of course this is a YA novel so yes there are going to be suitors.  First there is the Crown Prince, Dorian, who chaffs at the control of his father.  Picking Celaena as his choice for the competition was sort of a rebellion on his part but he soon finds that Celaena is more then he thought and of course starts to fall in love with her.  There is a whole subplot as to why Dorian hasn’t married yet.  In a kind of role reversal, it’s Dorian who is the romantic who wants to marry for love and not out of obligation and Celaena is the more practical one.  Her other suitor, is the young Captain of the Guard, Chaol.  Serious and hard working, he is Dorian’s best friend who is always looking out for him.  He has a quiet strength about him that honestly makes him a better fit for Celaena, in my humble opinion (TEAM CHAOL) but I’ll have to wait to read the other books to see how it plays out.

All and all, I thought this was a great book.  Great characters and a good story.  Celaena is a great edition to badass women in literature and I can’t wait to read how her story continues.

What I’m Reading Now: Pip Barlett’s Guide to Magical Creatures by Maggie Stiefvater and Jackson Pearce and Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

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So the pdf file Scholastic provided for Pip Barlett’s Guide to Magical Creatures takes a while to load each page thanks to all of Maggie’s amazing illustrations so I’m reading that at home and Throne of Glass on the train.

GOOD NEWS!!!! LAIR OF DREAMS IS COMING!!

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Good News! Well good news for me.  Lair of Dreams, book two of the Diviner’s series by Libba Bray is actually going to happen!  Last November, I wrote about how the publishing date kept getting pushed back but Miss Bray confirmed on her blog that, Lair of Dreams has indeed been finished and will indeed be released this year!  WOOHOO! I’ll forgive that the release date is even later then the last time I checked. Now the date is August 25 instead of July but hey what’s another month when I’ve already waited 3 years?

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Bask in it’s Glory!!

So why am I so excited about this book?  Well, the first book, The Diviner’s was amazing! Evie O’Neill has been shipped off to New York City to live with her uncle in the middle of the Swinging Twenties.  It’s supposed to be a punishment but how could living in the greatest city in the world among the speakeasies, jazz clubs and Ziegfeld follies be anything but a reward.  Evie gets caught up in a strange murder, when police consult with her uncle who is an expert in the occult.  Soon she is using her strange power to help solve the murder and meeting other exceptional young people with powers of their own.  It kinda has a little X-men type vibe.  Like any moment, they are going to ban together and use their powers to fight evil!

The setting is great.  All the optimism of the twenties.  The characters are all likable and real.  Miss Bray doesn’t shy away from the race and social divide of the characters and make it part of the story.  There is so much going on but it doesn’t feel cluttered.  It also has so much to build on that I really can’t wait to see where Miss Bray takes it.  So finally! Finally!  I’ll get to find out!  In the meant time people, Go read The Diviners before the Lair of Dreams comes out.

Not sure how I feel about this

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So I think we all know this was going to happen.  The show Game of Thrones was going to end before the final book is published.  However, I think many of us, were hoping that the show’s ending would be different then the books.  It’s doesn’t seem like it will be.  Show runners, Dan Weiss and David Benioff confirmed the show is heading towards the same endgame as George is with the book.  I’m not sure how I feel about this.  In one way, we are going to miss out on George’s meticulously detailed story telling and no longer will have the benefit of knowing what’s coming on the show. On the other hand, it means we get to experience the show with a fresh take that we couldn’t before since we had an idea of where the characters stories go.   So there’s good and bad in both options.  First we will get a condensed version of the story and outcome and then we will get a more detailed account of how Westeros was won or lost.  And let’s be honest, I’m going to watch the show and read the final books anyway so why stress how I find out how it ends?  I have seen a movie and then read the book after to see how they compared so this isn’t anything new to me or to many other people. So I guess after typing this all out, I feel alright about this.

So how do you feel about this?  Are you upset that the books will now be spoiled? Will you still read them when they come out? Or are you like me, who’s now just going to go with the flow?  Let us know in the comments below.

Quick Review: The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens

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Featured imageSo this is a cute book.  Perfect for kids who have just finished Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket and are looking for something new.  It has many of the same kid fantasy novels. Three siblings who are move from orphange to orphange until they land in Cambridge Falls. There they travel back and forth in time thanks to a mysterious book. Soon they meet an evil Countess, a badly dress Wizard, a Giant and Dwarves.  Kate is the older sister, who carries more responsibility then one at 14 should. Michael is a dwarf obsessed nerd of a brother and Emma is a tough as nails baby sister, who doesn’t take anyone’s crap.  They of course find out that they are more then what they seem because that’s how these types of books go and end up going on wild adventure that will either save the world or end it because isn’t that how all adventures work?  It’s fun and cute and at times quite humorous but also pretty predictable.  I good start to a series that I think will be pretty entertaining but the next book will have to wait as I have a few books on my nook and iPad that demand attention.