Bout of Books 14: Day 1

Books

• A History of Glitter and Blood by Hannah Moskowitz: 142 pages
• Ink and Bone: The Great Library by Rachel Caine: 8 pages (I think...)

My page count is seriously not great today, because Netflix. I'll probably do some more reading tonight.

Challenge

The challenge today is to choose books set in a place that isn't where I currently reside. I'm in Canada, so we're not going to do that. There are some books set in Canada.

Five books set in Paris (because themes, I think this is still within the rules- Paris is a pretty big city). Once upon a time I went to Paris, but I was, quite honestly overwhelmed and jet lagged. I don't think I was mentally ready, and I'm hoping to go again at some point in my life. (My French is rather dreadful, I would have to brush up.) I've only been to a few of the places mentioned in these books...

• Belle Epoque: Historical fiction.
• The Beautiful and the Cursed by Page Morgan: Historical fantasy. About les grotesques (the things you probably call gargoyles).
• The Magician by Michael Scott: Urban-(ish) fantasy. When I was in Paris, I stayed in an apartment across the street from Nicholas Flamel's house on Rue St. Montmorency! Its a restaurant now. 
• Rook by Sharon Cameron: Post-apocalyptic. Inspired by The Scarlet Pimpernel.
• Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins: I felt compelled to include some kind of contemporary novel. I'm still not 100% sure how I feel about this book.

Top Ten Authors I've Read The Most Books From

Top Ten Tuesdays is a weekly feature created at The Broke and The Bookish.

I'm going by my Goodreads shelf and my memory... (I need to finish that reading spreadsheet. And that other spreadsheet. I have a lot of spreadsheet catch-up to do.) There's quite a bit of overlap here with my "Authors I Own the Most Books From" post.

1. Rick Riordan- 15 books: Um, what? I didn't realise it was this many! Percy Jackson and the Olympians (plus two of the guides), Heroes of Olympus, The Kane Chronicles. At risk of sounding strange, I liked the older books best.

2. Eoin Colfer- 12 books: All of the Artemis Fowl books (and the Artemis Fowl Files, yes, I'm that person), which I adore. I've also read The Supernaturalist, Airman, and The Reluctant Assassin.

3. Cassandra Clare- 10 books (+1/2, I'm partway thought The Bane Chronicles, I'm weird about how I read short stories): I've mentioned that I have a kind of odd relationship with her books, but I certainly have read a lot of them.

4. J. K. Rowling- 10 books: Harry Potter, and all the accompanying material (Quidditch through the Ages and whatnot).

5. James Patterson- 9 books (ish): *hangs head in shame*  Maximum Ride, the first Daniel X. For those wondering, I have a disturbing amount of commitment to finishing a series when I start it, so I read eight Maximum Ride books, though I was pretty done with the series by book six. I will probably NOT be reading the ninth book, because I simple DO NOT have the emotional fortitude to subject myself to that. I try not to think about the James Patterson books I've read.

6. Kenneth Oppel- 8 books: Matt Cruse trilogy,  Silverwing trilogy, and The Boundless. Airborn is one of those books that I go back to when I'm in a reading slump. (Hello, fellow rereaders!)

7. Holly Black- 7 books: The Spiderwick Chronicles, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, and The Darkest Part of the Forest. I read Spiderwick as a bind-up, but I also have the separate books, so I'm going to count them as they were originally published.

8. Lesley Livingston- 7 books: I kind of have a soft spot for her books, because they're from when I REALLY started reading YA. Which reminds me, I still haven't read Transcendent, yet.

9. Michael Scott- 6 books: Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series. 

10. Julie Kagawa- 5 books: I have a lot of author's whose books I've read five of, apparently. I'm putting her here because I've read a couple of short stories as well, so...

Bout of Books 14: Sign Up

It's that time again! (Did you really think I could resist a read-a-thon?)

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 17th and runs through Sunday, August 23rd in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 14 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

So that's what's happening. Come. Join. Read things (you know you're going to anyway...)

Review: The Fixer

Title: The Fixer
Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Series: The Fixer
Volume: 1
Genre: Mystery, Action
Release Date:
Goodreads

A Quick Introduction: Tess Kendrick hasn't seen her sister Ivy in three years when Ivy renters her life in a big way. Tess goes from living on her grandfather's ranch, where she's grown up, to Washington D. C., where Ivy holds an unusual job- she makes the problems of the rich and powerful go away. When Tess gets a reputation around school for skills similar to Ivy's she soon finds herself up to her neck in a conspiracy involving the death of a member of the U. S. supreme court, and, as she digs deeper, uncovers startling secrets about her own family.

Out of Ten: 8/10

Review at a Glance: A quick, enjoyable introduction to a YA political mystery.

Review: It seems like every Jennifer Lynn Barnes book I read, I enjoy more than the last. I wasn't crazy about The Naturals, but I really enjoyed the sequel. And then this novel comes along and blows me away! Where Barnes's previous novels faltered for me, this one didn't miss a beat, and turned out to be a really fast, enjoyable read.

I'm really enjoying the cast of characters in this one. Tess is a great combination of strengths and flaws, both of which play a part in her journey, which has only just started in this book. She wants to manage things on her own, but she's rapidly being dragged out of her depth. We are introduced to a whole host of new characters, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of them in future books.

Something I really liked in this novel was the pacing. It manages to be quite a quickly paced read without giving up focusing on characters as they build relationships. There's just enough suspense to keep the story moving apace, and the interactions between the characters themselves have a quick flow to them. The suspense and political aspects add intrigue, and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing where that plot goes.

The plot balances juggling the suspicious death of an important official, as well as hints about Tess's own family secrets, and the relationships that Tess builds with Ivy and a host of new acquaintances. I loved that we got more of a focus on Tess forming a group of friends- while there are hints of a romance to come later in the series, it was nice to spends a book getting a groundwork on all these characters that the readers- and Tess herself- are just meeting.

Overall, this was a strong start to a new series, and my favourite Jennifer Lynn Barnes release so far. I'm looking forward to seeing what's next in store for Tess and company.

Unexpected Hiatus

And when I say "hiatus" I mean "hospitalization." Guess who no longer has her appendix!! (Me. Its me.) Basically, it went like this: I woke up last Thursday feeling vaguely nauseous, which progressed to feeling outright sick by about ten in the morning. I then proceed to spend the rest of the daylight hours being pretty violently ill. About twelve hours after that I started to realise that it probably wasn't a garden-variety stomach bug, especially because I was getting kind of stabbing pains in my right side that were getting worse.

Now, stabbing pains in your right side do not bode well, because that is the residence of one of the human body's least useful organs: the appendix. For those who don't know, its this tiny little tube that's main purpose in the human body seems to be getting infected. Dominant theories are that it holds helpful bacteria or that its a vestigial trait from humanity's distant evolutionary past.

I kind of thought I might be overreacting because I was a) in pain, b) nauseated and c) dehydrated from vomiting for twelve hours, but I still wanted to get that checked. And- lo!- it kept getting worse as I got to the waiting room to get into the hospital waiting room (the hospital was under construction).

Upshot is, three hours later they had a tentative diagnosis: acute appendicitis. Since it was 1 a.m. and the surgeon had said he wouldn't come until morning, they stuck me on pain meds and wheeled me off to a quiet corner until someone was available. Which turned out to be evening of the next day. (Lucky it wasn't urgent, I suppose. Whatever do they do in emergencies?) So they wheeled me to another room to wait with a bunch of people over they age of 80. One was really intensely opinionated about where her table should be, and, let me tell you, laughing when your appendix is infected is not recommended. Leave your sense of humour at the door.

It was my first time being put under anesthesia. Nobody warned me that you start shaking like crazy when you regain consciousness, that was so strange. Its apparently a reaction to the anesthetic. Also nobody warned me that the last thing I would hear before they put me under was the surgeon and nurses arguing about what music to listen to whilst cutting me open.

So the moral of the story is see a doctor if you're in a lot of pain, and, if at all possible, try to fall ill when there's a surgeon on duty.

I do have some things in the works now, but I'm at the "waking up in the morning makes me tired and all I want to do is sleep" phase of my recovery, so I'm not sure what the timeline for posting things will be. I have a bunch of things to review, but the tiredness thing is not good for my focus, and I have some school work to catch up on, so bear with me.

Thanks,
Kelly

Book Fangirling Blog Award

I was nominated/ tagged by Just Another Bookish Blog for the Book Fangirling Blog Award, so, first things first, thanks! (Tags are fun, so this is great for me.)

1. Do you remember what the first book you bought on your own was? If so, what was it? 

Maybe Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone? I don't really remember if it was the first, but I definitely remember that I bought our house's first copy of the book. (We've since had to replace it after the book was read until the cover quite literally fell off, along with a significant part of the first chapter).

2. What encouraged you to start blogging?

This is kind of a weird story, actually. You see, I didn't start out as a book blogger, and I didn't start out on this blog. The blog I started on has since been lost into that internet ether where deleted blogs go, hopefully never to resurface. I was twelve, and it was probably terrible. But, even so, I was hooked. It started out as more of a general blog (which was even then very environmentalist- I was and remain like that...) That was seven years ago.

My decision to start blogging was actually inspired by a book in which a character had a blog, but I didn't post about books until significantly later. Books are a huge part of my life, though, and so it was inevitable that they would spill over. Gradually, books started taking over the blog I had at the time and I eventually created the blog where I am now.

3. Favorite bookish youtuber?

I do not have a favourite. I have MANY. I spend a truly worrying about of time wandering booktube, and a not inconsiderable amount of time wondering if I should do videos as a supplement to this blog (it is looking increasing plausible for me).

4. When was the last time that you had to 're-read a paragraph, or put your book down, because of a major plot twist that you didn't see coming? 

I can't remember, actually. Recently all of the plot progressions I've read have seemed sort of... organic, and even when I'm surprised, I'm not floored...

5. Which bookish fan group / role play / can fix are you most active in? (Like on wattpad, goodreads, etc...) 

I'm on Goodreads, but I'm not all that active there. I'm on Tumblr quite often, but I'm not super-involved in any one fanbase generally speaking (which is for the best, Tumblr fans can be very... intense.)

Nominees
Sondra & Polina from Sorcery in the Bookshelves
Ariana from YA Book Nook
Jessica from Read My Breath Away
Sarah from Trees of Reverie

Questions
1. Which four books are you most excited to read next?
2. What is your first bookish memory?
3. What are your feelings on read-a-thons?
4. Favourite book cover of 2015?
5. Which book do you recommend the most often?

Last Ten (Fiction) Books That Came Into My Possession

Top Ten Tuesdays is a weekly feature created at The Broke and The Bookish.

1. Blood Jack: being an account of the curious adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, ship's boy by L. A. Meyer: I've wanted to start this series for a really long time now, but I wanted it to finish up before I did. And then the author died, and someone else had to finish the last book. In any event, the series is at a close now, so now is the time.

2. The Diviners by Libba Bray: I'm trying to read this again, despite my deep hatred of the 1920s. (I don't know why, I dislike pretty much everything about the 20's.)

3. Angelfall by Susan Ee: I actually got this after finishing End of Days because I felt like rereading.

4. World After by Susan Ee: Rereading, etc.

5. End of Days by Susan Ee: I finally got around to finishing this series! It had to go back to the library, though...

6. Wildthorn by Jane Eagland: I can't remember why I ended up not reading this one the last time, so I grabbed it on the off chance that I might like it.

7. The Storyspinner by Becky Wallace: I wasn't really planning on reading this until I saw it at the library, and figured, well, why not?

8. The Illusionarium by Heather Dixon: Again, saw it at the library, and grabbed it. My reading habit would be completely unsustainable without libraries.

9. The Wrath and the Dawn by Renée Adhieh: This FINALLY came it at the library. I really enjoyed it, though I haven't reviewed it (yet).

10. Rook by Susan Cameron: I'm surprised that this is the most recent, actually. It feels like its been on my shelf for a while... I probably ought to return it soon...

Review: The Storyspinner

Title: The Storyspinner
Author: Becky Wallace
Series: The Keeper Chronicles
Volume: 1
Genre: Fantasy
Goodreads

A Quick Introduction: Johanna is a Performer, born and bred- or so she thinks. Following her father's death and her family's subsequent exile from the Performer's camp, Johanna finds herself taking work at a ducal estate. Meanwhile, a group of magicians set off on a desperate quest to save a princess nobody has seen in years. Between the power struggles of the nobility, the reappearance of magic in the world, and girls matching her description turning up murdered, Johanna has her work cut out for her if she wants to make it out alive.

Out of Ten: 7/10

Review at a Glance: Despite a scattered and slow start, this book proved to be an enjoyable opening to a fantasy duology.

Review: This book took a while to get going, but, once it did, it was a fairly quick read.

Johanna is a determined character- she wants to protect her family and to keep performing. After seeing her father's death on the high wire, she does everything she can to keep her family, especially her younger brothers fed, even if it means agreeing to perform on an estate. The lord who enlists her, Rafael came into his lordship unexpectedly, and is now struggling with responsibilities he doesn't want, but knows he is obligated to take. Overall, while I didn't really dislike either of them, I didn't connect to them either. The Keepers were never really felt like main characters, despite how frequently they were present.

Two romances both seemed to proceed in fits and starts- I could have done with more buildup for both of them. They both added a lot of extra to a story that already ricocheted from place to place. The romances combined with frequent action, told in a style that jumped from place to place caused the many plot threads to occasionally trip each other up.

Despite these faltering points, the book got more engaging as time went on, and I found myself invested in the story. Once it got moving, it didn't let up, with the action action carrying on to the very last page.

The story juggles multiple points of view, and in a way that initially slowed the story down- the constantly shifting viewpoints served to reduce investment in any given storyline and viewpoint as they were introduced. Eventually they got into more of a flow, though I did find myself more invested in some points of view than others.

All in all, I quite enjoyed reading this novel, and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel when it comes out.