As my regular readers may have noticed, I review books in both ebook and audiobook format. I thought it might be interesting to split these off for those of you who have a preferred format. eBook reviews can be found here. Audiobooks reviews are here. The full review listing is available on the homepage. Enjoy.
This has been a quiet week for reading – I’ve been continuing to listen to Ironskin by Tina Connelly, narrated by Rosalyn Landor. This is a retelling of Jane Eyre with a side helping of fae. So far, I’m really enjoying it, and a full review will come at some point. I also finished Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnelly. This is the start of a new mermaid based fantasy series. I will be posting a review probably next week. As you may remember from last week, the other book I picked up on release day was Charlaine Harris’s new book Midnight Crossing. I’m about a third of the way through it. It took a little while to hook me in, but I am beginning to really enjoy it and be intrigued by the new characters. Again, you know the drill, a review will be forthcoming. Much of my reading this week though has been travel based. My husband and I are talking about perhaps doing the trans Canadian train journey next year. At this point, it’s still very much a vague dream, but I’ve been having a great deal of fun reading up on it. Added to my library…
This has been a quiet week for reading – I’ve been continuing to listen to Ironskin by Tina Connelly, narrated by Rosalyn Landor. This is a retelling of Jane Eyre with a side helping of fae. So far, I’m really enjoying it, and a full review will come at some point. I also finished Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnelly. This is the start of a new mermaid based fantasy series. I will be posting a review probably next week. As you may remember from last week, the other book I picked up on release day was Charlaine Harris’s new book Midnight Crossing. I’m about a third of the way through it. It took a little while to hook me in, but I am beginning to really enjoy it and be intrigued by the new characters. Again, you know the drill, a review will be forthcoming. Much of my reading this week though has been travel based. My husband and I are talking about perhaps doing the trans Canadian train journey next year. At this point, it’s still very much a vague dream, but I’ve been having a great deal of fun reading up on it. Added to my library…
The One by Kiera Cass is the final book in the Selection trilogy which tells the story of America Singer and her participation in the Bachelor type contest to win the heart and hand of Prince Maxon. I absolutely ADORED this book and would have happily read it had it been three times as long. Cass continued to develop the things I loved about the earlier books and my minor gripes about the series were all resolved. Before I start I would like to reecho the comment I made in an earlier post about the Selection Collection – the ebook compendium that includes all three novels plus the two novellas, The Guard and The Prince. I honestly don’t know what the editor who put it together was thinking: they have the two novellas following on after The One which makes zero sense. The Prince is set before The Selection and The Guard is set between The Elite and The One. If you read them in the order presented in the compendium you’re going to end up frustrated because all of the great character development of the later books is reset. What I liked The blend. In The One, Cass…
The One by Kiera Cass is the final book in the Selection trilogy which tells the story of America Singer and her participation in the Bachelor type contest to win the heart and hand of Prince Maxon. I absolutely ADORED this book and would have happily read it had it been three times as long. Cass continued to develop the things I loved about the earlier books and my minor gripes about the series were all resolved. Before I start I would like to reecho the comment I made in an earlier post about the Selection Collection – the ebook compendium that includes all three novels plus the two novellas, The Guard and The Prince. I honestly don’t know what the editor who put it together was thinking: they have the two novellas following on after The One which makes zero sense. The Prince is set before The Selection and The Guard is set between The Elite and The One. If you read them in the order presented in the compendium you’re going to end up frustrated because all of the great character development of the later books is reset. What I liked The blend. In The One, Cass…
This week I finally obtained 100% on Lego: Lord of the Rings on my Playstation so that itch is well and truly scratched. This finally meant I could concentrate on reading, so I got through a couple of books – Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life and Kiera Cass’ finale to her Selection trilogy, The One. Both of those are worth full reviews so expect those next week. I was interested to hear this week that Game of Thrones’ Sophie Turner along with Jason Dohring has been announced as one of the narrators of the City of Heavenly Fire audiobook. It’s one thing that has irked me about this series: the narrators have changed almost with each book. It means that there has been little consistency in the narration. I’ve also not been overly impressed with the narrators so far. For this one though, I’m very glad that The Mortal Instruments is written in the third person – otherwise for me it would be confusing to have George R.R. Martin’s Sansa thinking Clary’s thoughts. It did make for an amusing scene in my head though with Sansa and Clary having a “who’s had the worse life” argument. Sorry, Clary, but as…
This week I finally obtained 100% on Lego: Lord of the Rings on my Playstation so that itch is well and truly scratched. This finally meant I could concentrate on reading, so I got through a couple of books – Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life and Kiera Cass’ finale to her Selection trilogy, The One. Both of those are worth full reviews so expect those next week. I was interested to hear this week that Game of Thrones’ Sophie Turner along with Jason Dohring has been announced as one of the narrators of the City of Heavenly Fire audiobook. It’s one thing that has irked me about this series: the narrators have changed almost with each book. It means that there has been little consistency in the narration. I’ve also not been overly impressed with the narrators so far. For this one though, I’m very glad that The Mortal Instruments is written in the third person – otherwise for me it would be confusing to have George R.R. Martin’s Sansa thinking Clary’s thoughts. It did make for an amusing scene in my head though with Sansa and Clary having a “who’s had the worse life” argument. Sorry, Clary, but as…
Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins is a young adult supernatural novel which tells the story of Southern belle teen Harper Price who, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, finds herself with supernatural abilities and the awesome responsibility that comes along with them. While there was a lot I liked about the book, there was still a great deal I felt could have been handled better. What I liked The writing style. This is the first book by Hawkins that I have read and I did really enjoy her fresh, witty writing style. There was a lot of humour to be mined from the juxtaposition of Harper’s Southern belle character and her new kickass ninja powers and I enjoyed that very much. I also felt the pacing was kept brisk and the storyline moved along nicely. The narration. I listened to Rebel Belle in audiobook format, which is narrated by Amy Rubinate. Now, I’d not been too fond of Rubinate’s narration of Kiera Cass’s The Selection series, but I did enjoy listening to her read Rebel Belle. Perhaps the smart, sassy heroine of this book is better suited to Rubinate’s narrative style. Here’s a sample…
Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins is a young adult supernatural novel which tells the story of Southern belle teen Harper Price who, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, finds herself with supernatural abilities and the awesome responsibility that comes along with them. While there was a lot I liked about the book, there was still a great deal I felt could have been handled better. What I liked The writing style. This is the first book by Hawkins that I have read and I did really enjoy her fresh, witty writing style. There was a lot of humour to be mined from the juxtaposition of Harper’s Southern belle character and her new kickass ninja powers and I enjoyed that very much. I also felt the pacing was kept brisk and the storyline moved along nicely. The narration. I listened to Rebel Belle in audiobook format, which is narrated by Amy Rubinate. Now, I’d not been too fond of Rubinate’s narration of Kiera Cass’s The Selection series, but I did enjoy listening to her read Rebel Belle. Perhaps the smart, sassy heroine of this book is better suited to Rubinate’s narrative style. Here’s a sample…
This has been a very quiet week on the reading front. I’m currently reading/listening to two books; Life after Life by Kate Atkinson and Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins. Both of these are good books, but not enough to drag me away from Lego Lord of the Rings/Hobbit on my Playstation, which I can’t stop playing right now. This means that I’m probably not going to blog as regularly over the next few weeks while I work that out of my system. Additionally, I’m planning on marathoning Season 8 of 24 this weekend because JACK IS BACK and I want to catch up before the premiere on Monday. I hope that if I do take a break I’ll come back to reading more refreshed in a month or two. I did also pick up a couple of samples to read. I downloaded a sample of Gameboard of the Gods, the first in the Age of X series by Richelle Mead. As my readers will know, I adored her Vampire Academy series. I have to admit the sample I read did not immediately grab me. With some books I am hooked from the first few pages, with others it takes me…