Legends in exile – Book Review

Finished reading:

Legends in Exile (Fables: Book 1) by Bill Willingham (Author), Lan Medina (Illustrator), Steve Leialoha (Artist), Craig Hamilton (Artist)

Expectation:

I have been planing to read this graphic novel for a long time now. I have liked every Bill Willingham work I have ever read so far. I am a great fan of fairy tale retelling and this was something I was sizing it up for reading on more than one occasion. I have read Fairest the spin-off graphic novel series that came out after Fables were already worldwide accepted as a work of art. Fairest centered on female characters in fairytales and made them look really badass.

Summary

The story was an excellent introduction in to the Fable backstory. I liked how characters interacted and the idea that every character no matter how big or small once had its own kingdom, title and story. Snow White is the executive major of Fabletown – a place for Legends in exile. Her sister, Rose Red is missing and presumed dead. Snow White’s ex husband Prince Charming is back in town as well. The only one who can solve the mystery might be the Big Bad Wolf.

This graphic novel now counts 20+ volumes, some stand alone editions and even an encyclopedia edition!

There were some laughs and some deep thoughts on the pages of this graphic novel.

“…you know what they say. The only easy day was yesterday.”

Bigby Wolf: Fabletown’s Sheriff in Legends in Exile (Fables: Book 1)

 

 

 

The Spinster and the Earl – Book review

Finished reading:
The Spinster and the Earl (Gentlemen of Honor: Book 1) by Beverly Adam

Expectation
I got it as a Kindle freebie while searching for some regency romance read to lighten up my reading. In the last year Lisa Kleypas and Eloisa James have become my favorite authors and I was looking for something simillar. I was lucky with Kindle freebies so far and I like trying out new authors for free. Some of the freebies I tried out this way turned into favorites!

Summary
This was a historical romance set in Ireland. The Spinster of the story is an interesting character. The story was filed with characters and themes one would expect in a historical romance novel – sometimes I had a feeling that the author wanted to use so many cliched references in her story that her characters suffered. I had some difficulty getting into the story and the characters were a bit fluttery (they were all over the place and predictable).Maybe the story would have worked better if the characters had been better presented. The Earl of the story had a background story that was only hinted at and that’s a real shame.

“As for Beatrice, by the holy rood, the lass needed a husband! Brushing aside the fact that both his daughter and the earl were of hot, unruly dispositions, the old lord spat into his hand and held it out to seal the match.
“My lord, ’tis a match made in heaven,”James said. a faint sardonic smile lit his rugged face as he heartily spat into his own palm and slapped his future father-in-law’s hand. They shook forcefully. The couple was now as good as promised to eachother.”
The Spinster and the Earl (Gentlemen of Honor: Book 1) by Beverly Adam

I am no expert for Irish brogue and English accents but something just felt a bit off in that department.

Conclusion
There were few “laugh out loud” moments trough the book an that is a big plus. I liked the story setting but think that the author could have done better by her characters.

“..a low rumble of manly mirth was heard warming the air.”

Urban fantasy series I want to read

When it comes to urban fantasy book series I tend to be a sort of a megalomaniac. I want to read so many of them that to actually do it I would need to retire at thirty and spend my time reading books for the rest of my existence!

Here are a few book series I would like to read sometime in the future:

Signs of the Zodiac book series by  Vicki Pettersson

 

  This is by far the cover with most text on it I have ever seen.

  “When she was sixteen, Joanna Archer was brutally  assaulted and left to die in the Nevada desert.“

  This is a story with a survivor heroine and that inspires me to read it!

  I already own first two books, so that’s a plus as well!

  First book is called The Scent of Shadows

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shifters book series by Rachel Vincent

I first read a short story by Rachel Vincent in Chicks Kick Butt anthology. The story was named Hunt and i really liked   it!

  There are only eight breeding female werecats left . . . And I’m one of them. 

  This series has a bit more erotic themes in it but it is a story with a female character that chooses her own life path   and right now I am going trough a phase where I am into that.

  First book is called Stray.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fever book series by Karen Marie Moning

This is one of the books that many of my fellow readers praised. It came out while I was still in college and didn’t have as much time to read and browse the bookstores for new reading materials. As you can see I am compensating now!

  “When her sister is murdered, leaving a single clue to her death–a cryptic message on Mac’s cell phone–Mac journeys to Ireland in search of answers.”

  Another strong minded female lead choosing a path on her own.

  First book is called Darkfever.

 

 

 

 

 

This is it for now. I need to take baby steps if I’m ever gonna get to the reading part!

Bookshelf Scavenger Hunt – Part Twenty Five

Find a book with flowers on it –  Wordsworth Dictionary of Phrase & Fable (Wordsworth Reference)

I have yet to find an occasion to browse this book. It is quite chubby – 1180 pages of chubby!

Magical flower on the cover!

 

Bookshelf Scavenger Hunt – Part Twenty Four

Find a shiny book – Chicks Kick Butt by Rachel Caine and various authors

 

Under the right light this book is unbelievably shiny! The title is shiny, the weapon the girl is holding is shiny and the starry background is shiny as well.

I’ve read it and I liked the stories.

Some of the stories were very good and only 3 out of 13 were giving me trouble reading trough them. This collection gave me few new authors to explore and I really liked the general girl power kick it gave me.

Bookshelf Scavenger Hunt – Part Twenty Three

Find a book with multiple PoVs – Game of Thrones (Song of Ice and Fire book 1 ) by George R.R.Martin

This is Croatian edition of Game of Thrones (Song of Ice and Fire book 1). This book has reached a status of national pride since the TV series is being filmed in Croatia. The series has been first published in the late 1990-ties and this jacket has been added when the TV series came out. I bought first season collection and I got the first book AND a T-shirt as a present.

Here’s the T-shirt

 

This is what the cover under the jacket looks like

Bookshelf Scavenger Hunt – Part Twenty Two

Find the shortest book you own – Sleepy Kittens by Cinco Paul & Ken Daurio

The shortest book I own is a children’s book!

This book is from animated movie Despicable me. Here is the video 🙂

I made my boyfriend buy me this little booklet! I even make him read it to me once in a while 🙂

Bookshelf Scavenger Hunt – Part Twenty One

Find the longest book you own – The Great Book of Amber by Roger Zelazny

 This was more difficult than I imagined it would be. I have given much thought to my many other book series while weighing which book to pick for this part. There are quite a few chubby books on my shelves – and by chubby I mean books with 1000+ pages.

 

In the end I choose this one since I’ve never made a post on it before (it’s technically belongs to my boyfriend but it resides on my shelf!). This particular edition is a collection of 10 books in the Amber Chronicles series.

I’ve never read it but heard good things about it.

 

Bookshelf Scavenger Hunt – Part Twenty

Find a non YA book – Playing Easy To Get by Sherrilyn Kenyon, Jaid Black & Kresly Cole

 So basically this is NOT YA book but erotic collection. The cover says it is romance but the commentary and promo on the back of the book is dripping with cheese!

From the back cover:

“New York Times bestselling author Sherrilyn Kenyon and rising stars Jaid Black and Kresley Cole unlock the pleasures and perils of embracing the boldest and most powerful of lovers — 100% alpha males — in three sensually erotic tales. Discover the physical rapture of his muscular arms…. Become a prisoner of passion, swept away by an encounter with his primal side…. And get lost in the all-consuming thrill of white-hot pursuit by a relentless stranger who may be your most dangerous foe, the best lover you’ve ever had — or both.”

I’ve bought it because of one of the three stories it contains: Warlord Wants Forever by Kresley Cole.

That particular story is a part of Immortals After Dark book series – one I’m a proud owner of. This story is sort of a prequel to the whole series. It is urban fantasy with erotic elements.

Beside this one I’ve got thirteen books from the series and I’m waiting for the book fourteen – Dark Skye – to come out in April this year.

 The other two stories are:

Turn up the Heat by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Hunter’s Oath by Jaid Black

I have read only Warlord Wants Forever and I’ve read it more than once!

Bookshelf Scavenger Hunt – Part Nineteen

Find a book with stars on it – A Touch of Dead (Short stories from Sookie Stackhouse series) by Charlaine Harris

 So, Yes! the stars here are kinda little dots.

But it is a sky, and there is a moon, and the little dots are the stars. There is even a bit of glitter on the moon and the stars but it is not noticeable since the photo is not of that good quality.

As you can see I’m not happy with the choice I made here. It was surprisingly hard to find a book with stars on the cover on my shelves!

This is a short story collection from the Sookie Stackhouse series as it says on the cover. The book series was originally named Southern Vampire Mysteries. I don’t know why that changed for this book. Probably has something to do with the TV show that was in full blast when this collection came out.

There were few other options but they did not make the cut (yes there were worse options than little dots as stars…)