Google Plus: Thoughts and Invite How-to

Ok, so Google Plus was released, which you guys may or may not know about... It does have that same sort of empty feeling that Google Wave had, but you can add a lot of people quickly as long they keep sign-ups open so it's not as bad. Unfortunately the inviting process isn't entirely straightforward so I am including a tutorial below after I finish pontificating about how I feel about it.

Pluses
- Easier to control who sees what with "Circles". Basically you can drag and drop people into these circles to control what you want to share with them. You can also fine tune who sees each post when you are making the post.
- Instant integration with GChat which may or not be of interest to you
- Notifications are apparent whenever you are on a Google site (so... search, docs, gmail, calendar, etc)
- Released with an Android App which seems pretty nice (granted I didn't spend as much time playing with this)

Minuses
- Invite process is not very straightforward atm
- It's more of a pain to micro-manage each post
- Hangout functionality absolutely takes over your computer's resources
- Didn't release with an Iphone app (I don't really care about this anyway)

Inviting others How-to

This is up to date for June 30th. If they change the way inviting works, I will try to update this tutorial.

Edit: There is no need to invite anyone at this point as the Google Plus page is now open to anyone with a Google Account

First a warning:


Now how to actually invite:


This will send out an email to the people you want to invite. They will have to click the "Learn more about Google+" button in order to get to the sign-up page. Also, if you send the email to someone who's email address is linked to a Google Apps account, they won't be able to sign-up. Best bet is to stick with "someone"@gmail.com addresses.

Hope this was useful ^.^

Third Sentence Thursday (#31)

Grab the Code

<a href="http://snifflykitty.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Third Sentence Thursday" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQN7VLa1dhdv6_Tz-fEshc6Xhbl85L9TC2UOs3PCdkYC8jsMZ1Kv2X-XOBX-8un1ivmPHfN7J7lWSORUVdZqO7Aaa-bb9y_HotDHdsVkQfhgOSUmtXTqB1KtDt4EHuUTGaG7soFSvAxWc/s800/thirdsthursday1d2%252520%252528Custom%252529.png"/></a>

Third Sentence Thursday is a weekly meme which has teeth!

1) Take the book you are reading now and post the third sentence
2) Review this sentence anyway you want (funny and silly reviews encouraged)
3) Post a link to your sentence here (in the comments) or if you don't have a blog, just post it in the comments!


"You know what I heard?" -Misfit by Jon Skovron

So, here we have a mystery and perhaps someone who is gossiping? Hmm... gossiping can be fun although it would depend on what is is. Of course, if it's just someone spouting random facts... that could be annoying.

Review: Camera Obscura (The Bookman Histories, #2) by Lavie Tidhar

Camera Obscura (The Bookman Histories, #2) by Lavie Tidhar

Copy Courtesy of NetGalley and Angry Robot Books
Already Released

Summary
A man has been murdered, and something has been stolen out of his stomach. Now, every government in the world is after that object. Lady de Winter must find out who the killer was and what they were after despite the Quiet Council (her employer) not telling her anything, but this quest may prove the end of her.

Commentary
This is another one of those weird feeling books although most of the weirdness seems to stem from its steampunk elements. It is also fairly gruesome so reader beware although it's no worse than The Hunger Games so if you were ok with that book, you'll be ok here.

The world created in this story has a lot of depth, but at the same time because the main character Lady de Winter is kept in the dark it also feels like there are mysterious holes in understanding the world. Also, because there are many different groups vying for the missing object, it feels like there should be a lot of political jockeying, but it's almost entirely missing since Lady de Winter goes into everything with guns blazing (or hoping that she could be shooting something).

I certainly enjoyed the worldbuilding parts of this story, and the weirdness was actually appealing to me. It was at times, however, confusing and perhaps missing some subtleties to the characterizations.

Star Rating: 3.5/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

Check out prices for Camera Obscura at Amazon

Mailbox Happiness

Hosted by The Story Siren

Right, so I'm back from the Chicagoland which means I can show you what books I got here while I was there (I think that might be confusing to read, but ya'll are smart so I hope you can figure it out ^.^)

I am also going to post some more BEA books because I have yet to get through that posting (I know you all are on gushing over ALA books by now :P ) which means there are going to be a ton of books in this post.

Past Few Weeks' Books:



La Femme Fatale by Marilyn Yu
Really awesome book as cards.
Thanks to Marilyn Yu



Eden by Keary Taylor
Humans are being turned into robots which then proceed to try and take over other humans... kind of like robotic zombies!
Thanks to Keary Taylor

Bloodspell by Amalie Howard
Your blood is your own worst enemy.
Thanks to JKS Communications

Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout
A relationship between a half-blood and a pure-blood is strictly forbidden.
Thanks to Spencer Hill Press

Watersmeet by Ellen Jensen Abbott
Abisina is outcast because of her looks and outcast because of her status as a bastard.
Thanks to Marshall Cavendish Children's Books

The Silver Sea by Julia Golding
Viking pirates raid a village, and there shall be vengeance!
Thanks to Marshall Cavendish Children's Books

The Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney
Branded by a vicious attack, but undaunted, Donna joins a centuries old battle.
Thanks to Flux

Witch Song by Amber Argyle
Find the traitor and defeat them or else.
Thanks to Rhemalda Publishing

The Urban Fantasy Anthology by (lots of different authors)
Thanks to Tachyon Publications


Both of these are thanks to Penguin

Conan the Barbarian by Michael A. Stackpole
Epic Questing

Spectyr by Philippa Ballantine

BEA Books:



The Apothecary by Maile Meloy and Ian Schoenherr

The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann

The Secret Prince by Violet Haberdasher

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan

The Gray Wolf Throne by Cinda Williams Chima

Liesl and Po by Lauren Oliver


Apparently I fail at keeping all the books right side up

After Obsession by Carrie Jones

After Midnight by Lynn Viehl

Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George

The Orphan of Awkward Falls by Keith Graves

Eve by Anna Carey

Flyaway by Lucy Christopher

Between by Jessica Warman

Jackson Jones: The Tale of a Boy, a Troll, and a Rather Large Chicken by Jenn Kelly

New Cover for Skyship Academy

So, one of the books I got an ARC of at BEA was Skyship Academy: The Pearl Wars by Nick James. I have yet to feature it on my blog since... well as mentioned I haven't been home and there are piles of books which I haven't gotten around to processing yet. Well, one of these books was Skyship Academy, and apparently it got a facelift!

So here is the new and improved cover!


It's kind of reminiscent of The Water Wars and The Marbury Lens, but this cover will likely have a broader appeal than the original one (which had a spaceship and a few guys with green glowing things) so I imagine that's the reason for the change. I personally prefer the original cover, but I'm all sorts of weird so there's that heh~~

O, you might also be interested in a synopsis:

A devastated Earth’s last hope is found in Pearls: small, mysterious orbs that fall from space, and are capable of supplying enough energy to power entire cities. Battling to control the Pearls are the Skyship dwellers—political dissidents who live in massive ships in the Earth’s stratosphere—and the corrupt Surface government.

Jesse Fisher, a Skyship slacker, and Cassius Stevenson, a young Surface operative, cross paths when they both venture into forbidden territory in pursuit of Pearls. Their chance encounter triggers an unexpected reaction, endowing each boy with remarkable—and dangerous—abilities that their respective governments would stop at nothing to possess. Enemies thrust together with a common goal, Jesse and Cassius make their way to the ruins of Seattle to uncover the truth about their new powers, the past they didn’t know they shared, and a shocking secret about the Pearls.

Third Sentence Thursday (#30)

Grab the Code

<a href="http://snifflykitty.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Third Sentence Thursday" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQN7VLa1dhdv6_Tz-fEshc6Xhbl85L9TC2UOs3PCdkYC8jsMZ1Kv2X-XOBX-8un1ivmPHfN7J7lWSORUVdZqO7Aaa-bb9y_HotDHdsVkQfhgOSUmtXTqB1KtDt4EHuUTGaG7soFSvAxWc/s800/thirdsthursday1d2%252520%252528Custom%252529.png"/></a>

Third Sentence Thursday is a weekly meme which has teeth!

1) Take the book you are reading now and post the third sentence
2) Review this sentence anyway you want (funny and silly reviews encouraged)
3) Post a link to your sentence here (in the comments) or if you don't have a blog, just post it in the comments!


"His blue eyes glanced at the jagged rocks that lined the cliff wall" -Geth and the Return of the Lithens by Obert Skye

What do you think he's doing? Is he hiking perhaps and looking at the cliffs around him? Is he scanning the wall because danger might be lurking? Or perhaps our erstwhile main character is about to make a jump? Either way, this cute little middle grade book starts off fun-loving and keeps the feeling going ^.^

2K11 Winners!

I realize that I am slow and curmudgeonly about getting winner announcements out, but here they are for the 2K11 swag giveway!

Amy @ bookgoonie

Stephanie Bubnis

Cass (Words on Paper)

Congratulations to you all ^.^ I will be sending out the swag when I get back next week!

Review: The Hourglass Door (Hourglass Door Trilogy #1) by Lisa Mangum

The Hourglass Door by Lisa Mangum

Copy Courtesy of Shadow Mountain Press
Already Released

Summary
Abby's life is pretty good; she's got a very nice boyfriend, an assistant director position at her high school, and she's going to go to the same college as her best friend. Of course, perfect things are meant to be broken, and when Dante, the new foreign exchange student, enters her life things go a little weird. In fact, the world itself may be threatened by a centuries old time travelling machine.

Commentary
Ok, the author managed to bring Leonardo Da Vinci into this, and for some reason, that made the whole book better (despite it's likely gimmicky-ness). Of course, I'm fascinated by time travel in general so that helped too although the time travelling itself didn't actually play that big of a role.

I enjoyed the mystery surrounding Dante especially because it didn't go with recent popular paranormal themes and also the slightly surreal tone to the book. The romance also grew slowly and somewhat more realistically which is always a plus in my book. I do consider this book to fall more towards fantasy rather than science fiction despite the time travel.

My only real gripe with the book was the ending. It seemed so devoid of even little happinesses that even though I know there are books following which will likely rectify that feeling, I can't help but be disappointed, and less than stellar endings tend to break the spell of the book for me. Yes, I'm a hard woman to please, but I'm looking forward to reading the next book.

Star Rating: 3.5/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

Check out prices for The Hourglass Door at Amazon

In My Mailbox

Hosted by The Story Siren
So.... we're still on BEA books since well... I'm still not at home nor done with the stacks I got there although I've been told that there are some books at home waiting for me. So you will be seeing those next week when I get back ^.^ Oh also, the super short summaries are back!


Blood Bound by Rachel Vincent
- Blood oath, prophecies, and a sexy guy

Where Demons Fear to Tread by Stephanie Chong
- Sexy demon, guardian angel in training, and a wager

The Darkest Secret by Gena Showalter
- Imminent destruction, star-crossed lovers, and demons

The 39 Clues: Cahills vs. Vespers Book 1: The Medusa Plot by Gordan Korman
- Clues, kidnappings, and saving the world

The Restorer by Amanda Stevens
- A murder, ghosts, and a sexy detective

Shelter by Harlen Coben
- New school, new girlfriend, and a conspiracy

The Greyfriar by Clay and Susan Griffith
- Steampunk, fragile balance, and a lost princess

Phantom Evil by Heather Graham
- A prominent death, paranormal investigators, and romance

Review: Vesper (Deviants #1) by Jeff Sampson

Vesper by Jeff Sampson

Summary
Emily Webb's story starts on the day a classmate called Emily Cooke is shot and killed when she suddenly develops an alternate personality and super powers. Is it the other Emily's ghost come to possess her or perhaps something more...

Commentary
This book flips back and forth between Emily sitting in an interrogation room, and her telling the story of why she's in that room. I find that books that do this back and forth flipping in time are fun to read since it builds the anticipation and gives various perspectives without having the reader follow multiple characters. So, I definitely enjoyed that part.

I think Emily's normal personality was too timid as a heroine while the alternate personality was too brazen although I suppose the contrast is supposed to give the reader a stark delineation of the two personalities. I feel that this left each of the personalities more simplistic, but I did enjoy the ride it took me on.

Also, the way the story plays out is somewhat unexpected, at least it was for me, which I think I've mentioned before is something I prefer ^.^ I'm looking forward to the next book although I hope Emily's character does develop some more depth.

Star Rating: 3.5/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

Check out prices for Vesper at Amazon

Book Blog Hop and Follow Friday (Jun 17)

Welcome from Book Blog Hop hosted by Crazy for Books and Follow Friday hosted by Parajunkee! Wow, it's been a really long time since I've really had time to participate heh~~

How many books are currently in your To-Be-Read (TBR) Pile?

Erm... I'm scared to count how many are actually on my TBR pile at this point. I think I may have a heart attack if I did... so I just pretend it's a lot smaller (say maybe 65 books), and I am happy in my ignorant bliss of how many there actually probably are heh~~

Some Stuff You May Be Interested In:

Review Requests Open Again. If you are interested, you should check out my review policy.

Reviews You May Have Missed:
Relations that Suck by Marilyn Yu
Redheart by Jackie Gamber



Genre Wars! What's your favorite genre and which book in that genre made it your favorite?

Fantasy! Yes, that's a pretty broad category, but I read all over this spectrum of books so I think I'll stick with the bigger one ^.^ While I also read science-fiction, the ratio is 3:1 in favor or fantasy in general although the recent spate of dystopian/post apocalyptic/utopian books has tipped that balance somewhat.

I think the book that brought me to this genre was Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce back maybe 11-12 years ago. (I did review it I went back and re-read it recently) Wild Magic was instant love, and I have never looked back. I think you should read that book too ^.^

Third Sentence Thursday (#29)

Grab the Code

<a href="http://snifflykitty.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Third Sentence Thursday" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNF6L9g6kFcPnLrdwduf7eiEBTXfVTgO7j8AsNjFdP1BiosV_3_EOcuPUSJZ-yrQ_MM_eTyV3Gv1rpptbU-89HD5peK5CWnETvORgducIXEL8OASz8x5vpphCwIWZWUC8q6bq7ZavQlXA/s800/thirdsthursday1d2%20(Custom).png"/></a>

Third Sentence Thursday is a weekly meme which wants to go out and play today, sadly it is raining outside :(

I hope I haven't overwhelmed everyone with posts today... seeing as how this is the 4th one heh~~

1) Take the book you are reading now and post the third sentence
2) Review this sentence anyway you want (funny and silly reviews encouraged)
3) Post a link to your sentence here (in the comments) or if you don't have a blog, just post it in the comments!


"The fear is a suffocating weight on his chest, turning his limbs to lead, making his once nimble fingers clumsy and useless." -The Hourglass Door by Lisa Mangum

Ominous and ominouser! (yes, I play with words :P) I have to say, the way this book starts made me really want to read it. The adrenaline of fear and the uncertainty warring with each other was a great combination. Bravo for a good third sentence ^.^

Cover of Dreaming Awake (Falling Under #2)

Were you wondering what it looked like? Well, it just got revealed over at Gwen's Blog, and well you can see it above here ^.^

That looks like a gray rose in her hand although I mistook it for a rock at first >.> oops heh~~

Review Requests Open!

It is now June 15, which means I'm open to receiving review requests again (for anyone who is actually interested in such things)! That is all for now ^.^

Review: Relations that Suck: The Story of Eva and Dries by Marilyn Yu

Relations that Suck: The Story of Eva and Dries by Marilyn Yu

Copy Courtesy of Marilyn Yu
Already Published

Summary
A fable about friendship and destiny. Eva is a creative vampire who likes people and Dries is a traveling spider; their story portrays denial and guilt.

Commentary
I really liked the fact that this was essentially a picture book for adults. Each page has a photo and some of them are haunting while others are silly.

I'm not that artsy so I'm not much of an art critic, but I found some of the photos to be corny although others are very nice. The story itself is a bit weird, and has a a sort of well that sucked (for the people in the story) feeling to it... as the title implies.

It's definitely something interesting to check out, and since it consists of mostly photos, it won't take you very long to look through either.

Star Rating: 3.0/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

Check out prices for Relations that Suck: The Story of Eva and Dries at Amazon

In My Mailbox - Another BEA Edition

Hosted by The Story Siren

Just continuing some BEA books~~ I did actually get some other books in the mail, but I'm in Chicago atm and didn't get a chance to take pictures before I left :( so those will have to wait awhile to make an appearance~~



Winter Witch by Elaine Cunningham
-This is based on the Role Playing Game Pathfinder.
13 Gifts by Wendy Mass
-A girl turns 13, and surprises are in store.
-We All Wore Stars by Theo Coster and Marjolin De Jager
-A telling of Anne Frank by her classmates
Original Sin by Lisa DeRocher
-Book 2 of Personal Demons, There are battles with demons
Forever by Maggie Stiefvater
-Book 3 of the Wolves of Mercy Falls. It's the conclusion!
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
-Apparently, a daring race!

Review: Redheart by Jackie Gamber

Redheart by Jackie Gamber

Copy Courtesy of Seventh Star Press
Already Released

Summary
Dragons and humans used to work in harmony, but human greed has soured this relationship. Now, a storm is brewing, one which could mean the end of mankind. Enter Kallon and Riza , the former is the heir to the head council position of the dragons in self imposed exile and the other is a girl on the run from a village too small for the ideas in her head. Together, they may be able to keep the world from tearing itself to pieces.

Commentary
Oh Redheart, how I wanted to like you more. You had dragons and a grand quest to save the world from destruction, you had a heroine outcast who was brave enough to strike out in the world along, you had a history that could have proved intricate and well-planned, and you failed to deliver. I wish it weren’t so.

Riza had all the makings of a grand heroine. Instead, she turned out to be a girl who really just couldn’t shut up. She not only annoyed the dragons around her, she annoyed me as well. Besides her initial initiative in leaving a village that wasn’t meant for her, Riza mostly played the part of the maiden in constant (I’m serious about constant) distress.

The dragons didn’t have as much depth as I might have wished. There was a hint at some history, but I didn’t feel like it was as fleshed out as it could have been (same thing with the history of the world in general). I was expecting an epic, and I think I instead got an epic-light, which was unfortunately not what I wanted at all.

I am sorry that I can not recommend this dragon book to you. I will keep reading and searching though.

Star Rating: 2.5/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

Check out prices for Redheart at Amazon

Book Blog Hop and Follow Friday (Jun 9)

Welcome from Book Blog Hop hosted by Crazy for Books and Follow Friday hosted by Parajunkee! Wow, it's been a really long time since I've really had time to participate heh~~

Question to Come!

Some Stuff You May Be Interested In:
I've got a giveaway going on so you might want to check that out.

Also, there was an absolutely gorgeous cover revealed this week for Incarnate!

Reviews:
Eon by Alison Goodman
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters



The magic book fairy pops out of your cereal box and says "you and your favorite character (from a book of course) can switch places!" Who are you going to switch with?

I actually don't really want to switch lives with with any of my favorite characters. Most of the things they face are probably too traumatic for me o_0.

It might be fun to be a Princess Substitute like Desi from Princess for Hire and The Royal Treatment because that book has the really fun and bubbly kind of magic. There's also meeting royals which might be interesting in a fairy tale kind of way although of course royals are just people too. The only caveat though is that I'm not sure I want to go through my teen years again.

Granted, Desi's teen years will probably be less emotionally exhausting even with having to be a royal substitute and learn things in order to be a substitute so it might not be too bad ^.^

Review: Eon by Alison Goodman

Eon by Alison Goodman

Summary
Eon is a candidate to become an apprentice Dragoneye, which will bond him to an energy dragon. Even as the test for apprenticeship takes place, political turmoil threatens the Imperial Throne, and Eon is drawn into its subtleties. There is only one small catch, he is actually she - Eona - and female Dragoneyes are forbidden; discovery would mean death.

Commentary
Aaahh the ending! Oh wait, you probably want to hear about the rest of the book before I lament about the cliff hanger. So, I'm liking the somewhat Asian backdrop of this story, but I may be slightly biased. There are just not enough books set in Asia!

Dragons! There are dragons! Have I mentioned I like dragons? Well I do, so I'm biased in that respect too although the dragons don't really talk... they're more tools at least in this book rather than thinking beings (although they do kind of whisper intent and pick up on emotions). I'm hoping there will be more interactions in the next one.

There is a lot of time spent on political posturing, but this is also something I enjoy so I'm starting to think this book was written for my tastes ^.^ Eon isn't exactly a guns-blazing heroine, but I felt that her reactions were true to the predicament she found herself in without ever resorting to whiny-ness.

So to reiterate! Politics! Dragons! Asia! I'm liking where this was and where it is heading although now I'm Jonesing for the next book especially because, as I mentioned, the ending is a cliff-hanger.

Star Rating: 4.0/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

Check out prices for Eon at Amazon

Third Sentence Thursday (#28)

Grab the Code

<a href="http://snifflykitty.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Third Sentence Thursday" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQN7VLa1dhdv6_Tz-fEshc6Xhbl85L9TC2UOs3PCdkYC8jsMZ1Kv2X-XOBX-8un1ivmPHfN7J7lWSORUVdZqO7Aaa-bb9y_HotDHdsVkQfhgOSUmtXTqB1KtDt4EHuUTGaG7soFSvAxWc/s800/thirdsthursday1d2%252520%252528Custom%252529.png"/></a>

Third Sentence Thursday is a weekly meme which may actually be built out of kitties!

1) Take the book you are reading now and post the third sentence
2) Review this sentence anyway you want (funny and silly reviews encouraged)
3) Post a link to your sentence here (in the comments) or if you don't have a blog, just post it in the comments!


"It is rumored, however, that a black folio still exists that tells of the violent beginning and predicts a catastrophic end to the ancient alliance." -Eon by Allison Goodman

How is THAT for foreshadowing eh? It's got the elements of a classic epic fantasy quest, but it's set in a pseudo-Asian setting. I am hooked ^.^ (and perhaps squeeing especially because I'm really liking the cover)

Guest Posting over at Elizabeth Willse~~

While at BEA, I met a very nice and friendly blogger named Elizabeth Willse. Somewhere in our conversations, I got an assignment from her to come up with a list of 5 things related to books! So, I thought and thought (I huffed and I puffed, and I BLEW THE HOUSE DOWN erm... anyway) and came up with a list of small presses that I love ^.^

Head on over and check it out!

2K11 Curtain Goes Up Recap and Swag Giveaway!

So I went to the Curtain Goes Up event, which was sadly not very well attended possibly because it was so far away from the main convention site. It was still lots of fun though! There were readings from the first chapter of each of the authors' books with different voices for different parts, which was kind of cool. It was like an audiobook except better because there were more voices.

Incidentally the tator tots that were served there were really crispy and therefore really tasty.


The authors were asked various questions which ranged from things like "If you were stuck on a desert island.. who would you want to be with?" to things more specific to each book ^.^


Picture of all the authors there
So, I got to meet all of these awesome authors ^.^ don't you wish you had schlepped out to meet them too? I definitely got to have some one on one time with Kiki Hamilton, author of The Faerie Ring, and got to congratulate her on the gigantic line she attracted at her BEA signing.


And of course, there was the wonderful Bettina Restrepo, author of Illegal, which I wrote a review of sometime ago. She was really nice and introduced me to the other authors there although I have to admit that I was a bit shy. I hope you guys don't hold it against me!

~~The GIVEAWAY~~
Ok! So, I got some swag from this event and would like to share it with you guys ^.^



I've got 3 sets of bookmarks and stickers for you! (The Illegal bookmarks have all been signed by Bettina ^.^)
Bookmarks - General 2k11 bookmark, Memento Nora, Illegal, and the Pull of Gravity!

Some Rules:
-Open Internationally (I'm willing to send one of these international)
-You must be 13 to enter
-Only entries submitted through the form count
-3 sets = 3 winners
-Contest is open June 7 - June 17 (midnight PST is the cutoff)

Gorgeous Cover: Incarnate - I Just HAD to Share

>
It's called Incarnate. It comes out Winter 2012. It's by Jodi Meadows, and I absolutely had to share it with you because it is stunning.

Review: Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

Summary
Sue Trinder accepts a position as a key player in a job to swindle an heiress out of her fortune. While she is hesitant, she wishes to repay her foster family for the care they have given her. On the job though, Sue gets very close to Maud Lily, the target, and this could ruin all the careful planning.

Commentary
Ok, so maybe there are thief books for which I have no love. Namely, when they meander through the characters' minds and actions. Reading this book was like trying to wade through mental mud; the story progressed very slowly.

I liked how the heist had multiple levels to it (yes, I'm being purposefully vague here), but it really wasn't enough to redeem the book for me. The characters start out weird, progress to incomprehensible, and I just couldn't relate to them. I feel like the setting/tone is almost Gothic (I haven't met a Gothic book I've liked), and that could be why I didn't like it.

Essentially the progression of the book for me was 'Ooh a heist!', followed by 'Ok then, I see...', and finishing with 'Uh... wtf mates?' So lesson learned, not all thief books are good >.> especially not Gothic ones.

Star Rating: 2.0/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

Check out prices for Fingersmith at Amazon

Yes, Books in the MAIL

Just in case you couldn't tell, this is hosted by The Story Siren
So, perhaps some of you are like... Sniffly Kitty, where the hell are the pictures of the stacks and stacks of books everyone else that has got home from BEA has been displaying?! Well?! Where are your stacks huh? To answer that question, well.. some of them are actually still waiting to be delivered, but if you read the last Third Sentence Thursday you might have heard that I did in fact get some of my books.

I do also think that since the point of the books hand-out extravaganza is for the purpose of promoting books, I will try to give more in-depth coverage (of course, since my coverage isn't very in depth in general... well you'll get the genres of the books!) of the books instead of just a picture of the whole pile of them. So, I'll be covering a couple stacks today, and maybe a couple more tomorrow or the day after... or something to that effect.

Note: This is also an excuse to have material for a few days more than otherwise. Also... I really don't have a good place to stack them all together anyway >.>


First Stack!
Pack of Lies by Laura Anne Gilman
-Romance, Paranormal
The Hourglass Door by Lisa Mangum
-YA, Sci-Fi
Janitors by Tyler Whiteside
-Middle Grade, Comedic... fantasy?
The Dervish House by Ian McDonald
-Adult, Sci-Fi
Legend by Marie Lu
-YA, Sci-Fi
The Sweetest Thing by Christine Mandelski
-YA, Contemporary
The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch
-YA, Post-Apocalyptic
The Faerie Ring by Kiki Hamilton
-YA, Fantasy
The Mephisto Covenant by Trinity Faegan
-YA, Fantasy


Blood Rights by Kristen Painter
-Adult, Fantasy
The Age of Odin by James Lovegrove
-Adult, Fantasy
Jacob T. Marley by R. William Bennett
-Adult, Ghost Story?
Icefall by Matthew J. Kirby
-Middle Grade, Fantasy
Uncommon Criminals by Ally Carter
-YA, Contemporary
Aftertime by Sophie Littefield
-Adult, Zombies

OK! So, that's a start to the books. Hopefully, there's something there that might be interesting to you.