Book Bitten: Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce

Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce 

I just picked up this book from Amazon and I am so disappointed. I've read up to Chapter 5 and I wish I could get a refund. It so wasn't worth £5.99 of my budget. The free sample granted wasn't a good sign but I thought the plot progression would make up for the lousy writing style, wrong. 


The blurb was really intriguing. It starts on a Christmas day and a long lost, thought dead, sister returns to her family, twenty years after she disappeared. 


The writing style is really hard to follow it's a bit confusing it doesn't flow naturally, before downloading the Kindle version I was listening to the preview on Audible, who wanted over £25 for this, don't waste your money, iTunes wanted over £15 which is still bad. The narrators general speaking was awful to listen to, the syntax was all over the place, couldn't figure out which part of England he was supposed to be from, the put on accents supposedly from Derby/Lancs/Nottingham were even worse, which is why I opted for the Kindle edition. The language really frustrates me. I understand that some people generally talk like that and they don't think anything of it, it's 'within context', but it's so prolific it's no fun at all to read and so far the book is proving the complete opposite of what I thought it would be like. 


The light, green cover is really deceiving. I thought it was going to be an interesting light read of a young girl turned Fey who disappears for twenty years, who then comes back to her family to tell them all about her adventures. With dark secrets and rebuilding family ties. So far all I'm getting is moody male family members swearing. Third person narration isn't always my preference. I think this book would have benefited from having it written in first person or changing it up a bit with alternating character perspectives. How this book received 4.5 stars is beyond me, let me know if it's worth ploughing through but for now it's on the dumped shelf. 


I doubt I'll finish this book so it won't receive a full review.


Have you ever been bitten by books? 

Books I Read This Week #2

Mer Month Finalists.

I've been auditioning free chapter samples of Kindle Mer books all month for September Mer Month.


Here are the finalists.
In Great Waters by Kit Whitfield
Madly by M. Leighton
The Siren by Kiera Cass
Lost Voices by Sarah Porter 
The Ingo Chronicles by Helen Dunmore
Everblue by Brenda Pandos
The Mermaids Mirror by L.K. Madigan
The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson


Any other Mer books you think I should check out, recommend some in the comments below, and if you've read any of the above let me know, were they good but no spoilers, please! 


Books that didn't make it, that you may like.
Fins Trilogy by Tera Lynn Childs 
Daughters of The Sea: Hannah by Kathryn Lasky
Sirena by Donna Jo Lapoli
Tangled Tides by Karen Amanda Hooper
Seven Tears into The Sea by Terri Farley
The Tail of Emily Windsnap by Liz Kessler 

Monthly Reads Roundup: July (14)

Comments From The Chill Corner

Chill Corner

With the sun actually being out and me shedding the usual 10 layers for just 4. We've been taking advantage of the summer in the garden. I've done most of my reading out there, casually on the swing or on the picnic chairs under the umbrella, but when the tide turns and it gets chilly we retreat back into the dark, dark, house. 


I have a bay window in my new room and I've wanted to maximise the use of it for ages but nothing quite seemed to fit. For the last month I've had an armchair in there with my pink throw over it but as Ellie isn't allowed on the furniture she rarely joins me, unless it's too hot upstairs and she comes back to me to warm my feet up. 


Ellie loves it when I'm sitting on the floor with her, she rests her head in my lap but despite having carpet over the hard wood floor it's not the most comfortable way to spend the evening hours. Thus I found a solution. A bigger dog bed. 


There's this large chocolate brown, fleece, dog bed that both I and Ellie have been eyeing up every time we go to Pets At Home. We couldn't really justify the price as she already has a blanket she sleeps on that came with her. But I thought if I moved the armchair and put the new dog bed there, it's more of a fleece mattress than a dog bed, then we could both chill out on it. I could read and she could dog day dream in my lap. One day into the experiment and it's already a success. 


Ellie sat and read with me last night and she stayed for the most part of making our weekend videos this afternoon. Now I have it all to myself for this blog post, it's super soft and comfy. I can't feel the harsh wooden floorboards at all underneath. 


I'm working my way through the 39 clues series. I picked up the first book, The Maze of Bones and so far despite it being a short book, it's not really gripping me. I'd hate to end July on a disappointing read :(. As all the books in the series are written by different authors, I'm hoping that even if this book isn't that great, the others might be. If you've read any of them, please let me know what you think of them and suggest good ones in the series! 


I have about 11 book reviews to finish writing and editing so I can post them on here. I don't know what's happened with me this month. I used to read a book and then review it before I read the next book, this month I've just read, read, read and hardly reviewed. I've totally lost the swing of it. 


I've filmed, edited and uploaded Fridays video on my channel, just waiting for it to finish processing then I'll make it public. It's not a For Your Consideration video, that will be back next week. Today instead it's a Monthly Reads Roundup for July in which I've read 14 books which include ebook and audiobooks. 


Time for tea. 
Emx

Hallowed by Cynthia Hand | Kindle eBook

Hallowed by Cynthia Hand Kindle edition

Not the sequel I was expecting still worth the read. - Emmy

★ ★ ★

read the blurb | Goodreads

Hallowed is the second book in the Unearthly series by Cynthia Hand. It leaves off from when Clara thinks she has failed in her purpose by choosing to save her boyfriend Tucker, over Christian.

I'm honestly conflicted with this book. I was really hoping for a more of a Jeffrey based story line, to see why he was being such a jerk, even though it was obvious... It would have been interesting to see the siblings come together and either work it out together or totally go against each other in some kind of climatic event. Jeffrey was really only given 1-2 pages of actual explanation in the entire book, which really sucked, he didn't have any dimension or seemingly any real purpose in the plot, just filler mood. Once again the book is dominated by Clara and her love triangle with Christian and Tucker and although that was interesting in the first book, Unearthly, it was just over done and it took away from the plot progression and the danger posed by the Black Wings. 

Hallowed didn't live up to my expectations and it wasn't nearly as much fun to read as Unearthly. I'm hoping the final instalment, Boundless, which comes out in January 2013 will give me all the plot progression and character development I was hoping Hallowed would provide. It truly felt like a filler book and I was disappointed. Clara seemed even more dense in this sequel and you wanted to slap her sometimes! However, I did really enjoy the camping scenes and bringing in Clara's Father was a relief from the love triangle. It was sad to see Clara's mother die, although we knew it was coming at least we had a few things about her history revealed, it wasn't nearly as much as I'd have liked. 

NB: Unearthly #1 and Hallowed #2 are both available on UK Kindle.

Neither are available as Audiobooks. 

Boundless #3 will be available on Hardback from Amazon in January 2013, please click the Kindle link to let them know we want it available as a UK Kindle edition too! 

Eyes Like Stars (Theatre Illuminata) by Lisa Mantchev | Audiobook (CD)

Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev Audio CD

My mind is blown! My mouth cannot articulate, elaborate or cohesively appreciate the beautifully written, magically told, awesomeness that is, Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev. I haven't felt quite this way since The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. It's definitely gone into my 2012 highlights. This is why I read - Emmy.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 

Read the blurb | Goodreads

All the worlds a stage.
Beatrice 'Bertie' lives inside the Theatre Illuminata with the rest of her friends, the playwrites and cast members of every play every performed. They cannot leave the Theatre and in this, the first book in the series, it sets the scene for Bertie's adventure of a lifetime. .

As soon as I read the blurb I knew I wanted to read this book, it was like nothing I'd ever read before. The premise of living inside a Theatre and plays being performed pretty much 24/7 really intrigued me. It's beautifully written and the descriptions are sumptuous, aided greatly by the Audiobook edition, thanks to the NY full cast who dramatised it amazingly.


Bertie has fast become one of my favourite heroines and it's not just because of her Blue hair, which seems to be a theme, especially after Karou in Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Bertie is sassy, intelligent, loyal and despite being hung up on Nate the Pirate from Peter Pan, she isn't the annoying love sick pathetic type at all. The dynamic friendships between Bertie and her faery friends, who just happen to be from Hamlet, Peaseblossom, Mustard Seed, Cobweb and Moth is really entertaining and naturally they are always getting into trouble, a lot of comedic relief. 


I thought the pacing was done well with the right combination of dialogue and action, and when the action happens it's like a run away train and you're hanging on by a pinky finger, very addictive, hard to put down. and you never want it to end. There were some parts towards the end when I was on the verge of shouting, plot progression already! Tthe truth is tantalizingly dragged out but by that time, you're so invested in the characters, you really want to hold on to find out who Bertie's mother really is and if Nate will ever come back. 


Obviously, it has a lot of Shakespeare references so nerds will enjoy tracking them down. There are plenty of twists and turns in the plot, you think it's going one way and you can predict what's going to happen next and then suddenly it turns itself upside down and you're back to square one. 


I'm looking forward to reading the second and third instalments of the Theatre Illuminata series! 

NB: Eyes Like Stars (Theatre Illuminata #1) is available on Audiobook both CD and Download from Amazon, iTunes and the Book Depository.
 This series is currently not available on UK Kindle. 


Due to the UK not buying the rights for the second and third instalments, Perchance To Dream (Theatre Illuminitata #2) and So Silver Bright (Theatre Illuminata #3) there are no Audiobook editions for the foreseeable future. 


You can help change this by emailing F&F and politely leaving your interest in these titles becoming Audiobooks and for future updates. 
Lisa Mantchev provided me with this email and she welcomes support for getting her titles available to everyone.