Books and travelling with Lynn

Late Eclipses (October Daye #4) Seanan McGuire readalong week No.1

Posted On 2 July 2016

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Late Eclipses, Read along week 1, Seanan McGuire

late eclipses October “Toby” Daye, changeling knight in the service of Duke Sylvester Torquill, finds the delicate balance of her life shattered when she learns that an old friend is in dire trouble. Lily, Lady of the Tea Gardens, has been struck down by a mysterious, seemingly impossible illness, leaving her fiefdom undefended. Struggling to find a way to save Lily and her subjects, Toby must confront her own past as an enemy she thought was gone forever raises her head once more: Oleander de Merelands, one of the two people responsible for her fourteen-year exile.

Time is growing short and the stakes are getting higher, for the Queen of the Mists has her own agenda. With everything on the line, Toby will have to take the ultimate risk to save herself and the people she loves most—because if she can’t find the missing pieces of the puzzle in time, Toby will be forced to make the one choice she never thought she’d have to face again…

Late Eclipses is the fourth installment of the highly praised Toby Daye series.

Today is week one of our readalong of Late Eclipses (October Daye #4) ) by Seanan McGuire) arranged by Lisa from Over the Effing Rainbow. This week Lisa is hosting the Q&A. And, wow, the book got off to a great start, I must confess that I’ve missed October and her friends.

The details are over here on Goodreads – the schedule is below. If you want to join in or jump in with the comments then please do so. Without further ado here are the questions and answers with a customary word of warning that spoilers will be lurking below:

Week 1: Saturday 2nd July, Chapters 1 to 9, hosted by Over the Effing Rainbow
Week 2: Saturday 9th July, Chapters 10 to 18, hosted by Lynn’s Book Blog
Week 3: Saturday 16th July, Chapters 19 to 27, hosted by Books By Proxy
Week 4: Saturday 23rd July, Chapters 28 to End, hosted by Hisham El-far

Where Toby goes, trouble soon follows… Lily’s fallen ill, and a blast from Toby’s past might be making an impact if signs are pointing where they appear to be. Do you think this is really Oleander’s work?

I’m not sure at the moment – there seems to be an awful lot going on. Part of me, apart from thinking there’s something rotten in Denmark – pretty much knows that there is. Lily falling ill, Luna, October being made a Countess – yes, things are going massively wrong.

If one unpleasant surprise wasn’t enough, Toby has two to deal with thanks to the Queen making her the Countess of Goldengreen. Given the timing, do you think this is a coincidence? What might the Queen be up to?

This is definitely not a coincidence. For once in my life I wish that the people surrounding Toby could actually speak plainly. For instance Tybalt, always turning up and saying ‘trust me’ – usually right before things go to hell in a hand cart -not helping Tybalt – really not. I don’t know wha the Queen has against Toby but given that she does have a grudge this whole Countess ‘thing’ feels a little bit like a hot potato.

Speaking of possible coincidences, this might be the first time Toby’s turned to the Luidaeg only to find her unavailable. What do you think Toby’s chances are of getting through whatever’s coming without her, for once?

You see, this just makes me even more positive that something is wrong. The Luidaeg not being available to speak to Toby. I also thought it was curious that reference was made, not only by the Queen but by the Luidaeg, to Blind Michael and the Hunt being now finished. I can’t help but wonder if that’s causing repercussions.

We get a look at Toby’s past, quite literally, as Karen visits her in a dream. Apparently Toby’s history with Oleander goes back further than she realises. What was your take on the ‘remembered’ encounter between Oleander and Amandine?

Well, assuming this recollection is correct, the most powerful feeling I took from this scene was the enormous strength of feeling that Amandine has for Toby – which has never really come across before? Or maybe I’ve just massively mistaken what happened, but it seemed to me that Amandine was throttling Oleander because she wanted her to stay away from Toby. I suppose the other thing from this is – were there plans involving Toby from a much earlier age? Was the whole attack on Toby (which resulted in her being turned into a fish) some sort of revenge?? Does Toby have more to her than we currently suspect??

I must say that I’ve missed Toby – it’s great sinking back into this world and the story just picks back up so easily!

Four and twenty blackbirds….

Posted On 1 July 2016

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Blackbirds, Books by Proxy, The Friday Face Off

Comments Dropped 21 responses

Here we are again with the Friday Face Off meme being hosted by Books by Proxy . This is a great opportunity to feature some of your favourite books’ covers. The rules are fairly simple and can be found here. Each week, following a predetermined theme choose a book, compare a couple of the different covers available for that particular book and choose your favourite. Simples. This week as Proxy is temporarily away from the fray I’m going for a freebie theme:

‘A pie of blackbirds’

With blackbirds in mind I’ve gone for Blackbirds (Miriam Black #1) by Chuck Wendig. This is a great series that I love and I’ve found 3 covers:

The first cover is the one I know and love – on the face of it, it’s a good deal simpler to look at than you first imagine, you really have to zoom in to appreciate the finer detail. The middle cover is very effective in terms of a shock of colour but I’m not quite sure what’s really supposed to be going on with the illustration. The final cover gives me the serious goosebumps – terrifying.

This week, absolutely no contest for me and I’ve made the image larger so you can really see what’s going on.

blackbirds

June: My month in review

Posted On 30 June 2016

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Half year progress update, June: My month in review

Comments Dropped 22 responses

The Cloisters at Lincoln Cathedral

The month of June, and in fact the first half of the year, is almost complete. It’s been a very strange month indeed for the UK filled with a shocking Referendum, political parties in turmoil and absolutely awful summer weather – liquid sunshine and floods! So, moving swiftly on:

Books read: (with links to reviews)

The Fireman by Joe Hill
Dragon Round by Stephen S Power
Rebel’s Honor by Gwynn White
Augusta Prime by Karin Tidbeck– short story taken from the Time Traveller’s Almanac
Any Other Name by Emma Newman
13 Minutes by Sarah Pinborough
In the Shadow of the Gods by Rachel Dunne
Wolf’s Empire: Gladiator by Claudia Christian and Morgan Grant Buchanan

Last month’s covers are here

Backlist books

Any Other Name by Emma Newman – (readalong book)

Unfinished series completed:

None this month – boo.

Books Bought: (with links to Goodreads)

This Savage Song by V E Schwab
Late Eclipses (October Daye #4) by Seanan McGuire

Review Books: (with links to Goodreads where possible)

A mystery book – this was a book on Netgalley from Hodder & Stoughton – the title simply reads ‘Can you Read Without Prejudice’ and there is no synopsis, book title, book cover or author name – I simply had to try this one!
Summerlong by Peter S Beagle – because ‘a beautifully bittersweet tale of passion, enchantment, and the nature of fate itself.’
Nevernight by Jay Kristoff (I feel like I’ve been talking about this one for ages!)
Hero Grown by Andy Livingstone, Seeds of Destiny (No.2)
The Apartment by S L Grey
The Apothecary’s Curse by Barbara Barnett

My Cover Compare this month two books and two very different covers – I prefer the blue cover for the Sarah Pinborough book and the predominantly white cover the the VE Schwab – it just has a lovely simplicity and crispness about it and I like the font:

Events:

Backlist Backburn is an end of month event organised by Lisa at Tenacious Reader. If you’ve caught up on any of your backlist then call over and link up. I find this a good incentive to dust off some of my books – one this month – see above.

Top Ten Tuesday at The Broke and Bookish (every Tuesday)

Waiting on Wednesday is an event hosted by Breaking the Spine where every week we get to shine the spotlight on a book that we’re looking forward to.

The Friday Face off by Books by Proxy

Readalongs:

Readalong of the second in series of Emma Newman’s Split World series: – now complete – review to follow

Classic Clubs read:

Unfortunately none this month.

Previous months in review:

The SPFBO 2: My posts so far:

Follow the ‘cover’ competition over at Mark Lawrence’s blog – 10 bloggers – each selected 3 covers from their batch.

Progress for the first 6 months: 61 books read and reviewed.

My June Covers

Posted On 29 June 2016

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: My June Covers

Comments Dropped 19 responses

Below is a quick round up of the books I’ve read during June, displayed in covers. My June in review to follow tomorrow.

Wow – apart from The Fireman cover on here it almost looks like I’ve gone for a coloured theme! I love The Dragon Round cover – although I think my favourite read out of all of these was Sarah Pinborough’s 13 Minutes:

Waiting on Wednesday: Fate of Flames by Sarah Raughley

Posted On 29 June 2016

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Breaking the Spine, Fate of Flames, Sarah Raughley, Waiting on Wednesday

Comments Dropped 18 responses

“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine. Every Wednesday we get to highlight a book that we’re really looking forward to. My book this week is : Fate of Flames by Sarah Raughley.

FateofFlames Four girls with the power to control the elements and save the world from a terrible evil must come together in the first epic novel in a brand-new series.

When Phantoms—massive beasts made from nightmares and darkness—suddenly appeared and began terrorizing the world, four girls, the Effigies, each gained a unique power to control one of the classical elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Since then, four girls across the world have continually fought against the Phantoms, fulfilling their cosmic duty. And when one Effigy dies, another girl gains her power as a replacement.

But now, with technologies in place to protect the world’s major cities from Phantom attacks, the Effigies have stopped defending humanity and, instead, have become international celebrities, with their heroic feats ranked, televised, and talked about in online fandoms.

Until the day that New York City’s protection against the Phantoms fails, a man seems to be able to control them by sheer force of will, and Maia, a high school student, unexpectedly becomes the Fire Effigy.

Now Maia has been thrown into battle with three girls who want nothing to do with one another. But with the first human villain that the girls have ever faced, and an army of Phantoms preparing for attack, there isn’t much time for the Effigies to learn how to work together.

Can the girls take control of their destinies before the world is destroyed forever?

Expected publication: November 22nd 2016 by Simon Pulse

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