Book Review: The Night Circus
26th December 2011 | Uncategorized | 0 comments
The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern
Catergories: dystopian, magic, romance, fiction
My goodreads.com review: This book is really good. It worms its way into your brain and you find yourself thinking about it at odd moments sometime after you’ve finished. It’s a little slow to start with, it starts to get better after page 53, but don’t skip the beginning or you won’t understand. As you get further into the book you get further and further involved in the lives of the characters that make up the impressive ‘Le Cirque des Reves’. I was worried that the descriptions were going to become Tolkien-like and take up more of the pages than stricly necessary, but Ms. Morgenstern manages to avoid this. The descriptions, especially of the actual circus, help to bring parts of the story to life.
As is gleaned through the story, the circus is the stage for the main characters stories to play out, although it is an important part of the story itself – it is almost a character in it’s own right. I was never 100% sure whether the circus itself was malevolent or benevolent.
That said, if you are expecting a story about clowns, acrobats and strongmen, then I am afraid you are going to be disappointed. There are few things tradtional about the Night Circus. If chapters that switch from future to past (although only by a few years) annoy you, then that may put you off this book, but don’t let it. The back-and-forthing wasn’t terribly confusing (and normally it’s something I really dislike.)
If you are after a change of pace and have a spare weekend, try this out and see.
More In-depth Review: well, actually there’s not really much more I can add without giving away the book. It’s probably not the sort of book I would ordinarily read, but the blurb was very intriguing and I am really glad I did read it.
Fanlisting housekeeping
26th December 2011 | fanlistings | 0 comments
Doing some housekeeping on the fanlistings – I’ve given one away (to Chrisie) and was supposed to have adopted another one, but it fell through and now my databases & fanlisting IDs are a bit screwy. To fix this I am reinstalling Enthusiast (which has been getting a few errors lately, so hopefully it will clear that up as well), but I have to export all the databases from my FLs so I have the current member lists. It’s quite tedious actually.
I am also attempting to get up one of my two lastest approvals: Glee 2.18 – Born This Way. I’ve gotten approved for Bones 6.01 – The Mastodon in the Room as well.
My newest one at the moment though is for The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, which is a really good novel. You can see my review for it on this blog.
Book Review: The Laird of Loch Fyne.
3rd August 2011 | Uncategorized | 0 comments
Upon my first book review I was approached by the lovely Brandy Grandberg to read (and possibly review) her time-travel romance novel, The Laird of Loch Fyne. After reading the sample chapter on her site, I agreed. This is my review of the novel, which is set for publication on August 9th, 2011.
The Laird of Loch Fyne – Brandy Grandberg
Categories: Time-travel, Historical, Romance
Maggie is a feisty but good-natured American woman who, whilst examining jewellery at a Renaissance Fair, is tricked into going 400 years back in time to save the lives of the Laird (lord) of Loch Fyne, Ian, and his brother Reid. Of course she doesn’t know any of this – she only realises she’s gone back in time after she is rescued by the imposing Laird MacLachlan. Everyone is admittedly a bit suspicious of Maggie, whose jeans and hooded sweater don’t belong in Scotland in the 1500′s. Maggie must overcome boundaries set upon her by the simple fact that feminism hadn’t arrived yet, she doesn’t have access to modern conveniences or medicine (and she’s in the medical profession in her time) and that both Ian & Reid’s stepmother Lorna, and their half-brother Niall, vehemently dislike Maggie. We soon discover that Lorna is not a very nice lady at all – in fact she’s a scheming, cold-hearted bitch. The villagers soon come fairly accustomed to their new healer, and after a couple of interesting twists and turns, and a surprising twist on the fairly traditional ending, Maggie’s adventure is well-paced, a good length, and well -written.
Brandy Grandberg presents characters that are believable, and have personalities and flaws of their own. The story doesn’t drag itself, and is just the right length. The story is filled with humour, Scottish brogues and just enough tartan. It is essentially a romance that just happens to be set in Scotland in the 1500′s, rather than a novel all about time-travel and how it works. It’s perfectly light and cheerful with just enough drama and mystery to hold you to the story. Fans of such romance writers as Nora Roberts, Jill Mansell and Katie Fforde will like this novel.
Rating: *** 3 1/2 stars
a sample chapter of the story can be read at Ms. Grandberg’s website. You can also purchase the book through the links on her site.
Book Reviews: Recently read
19th July 2011 | Uncategorized | 0 comments
So I’ve been doing a bit of reading lately (yay!), and thought I’d share my opinions on some of the books I have read. In term’s of catergory I have chosen to go by the shelves I have used on my goodreads profile. The links will take you to the goodreads.com pages for each of the books.
Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children – Ransom Riggs
Categories: Young Adult, Time-travel, Fantasy
My Goodreads.com review: A fantastically written book. The story grabs you and pulls you in very quickly – you really can’t wait to find out what happens next. Quirky, entertaining, just slightly creepy. The photos are particularly effective and in some cases a bit creepy. Highly recommended for anyone wanting a not-to-long change of scene in their reading and don’t mind putting aside reality just a little. A great young-adult fiction for anyone aged 12 and over.
A more in-depth review: Ransom Riggs leads the reader down an interesting path in this YA novel. The odd and in some cases creepy photos included in the story give faces to some of the very quirky characters contained within the novel. It all starts with Jacob, a sixteen-year-old Florida native who just doeswn’t quite fit in, and his explanation of the events of Before and After. Jacob, or Yakov as his grandfather pronounces it, has lots of memories of his kinda weird grandfather from his chilodhood. Abraham told his grandson fantastical stories of his childhood growing up in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, and has photos to back up these stories. What Jacob eventually comes to discover, after a few very unfortunate events, is that his grandfathers tales of his peuliar childhood friends are true. From there he is lead on a wonderful, at times exhilarating and creepy, journey to find where he truly belongs. It’s hard to say a lot more about the storyline without giving it away, so I won’t. Riggs style of writing is easy to read, and doesn’t lead you around in circles. This is a good read for someone who wants a change of pace, and something to fill in a day or so (it’s 352 pages, took me a couple of days because I didn’t have time to sit and just read it all day).
Rating: 4 stars ****
Hourglass – Myra McEntire
Categories: Young Adult, Time-travel, Romance, Sci-fi.
My Goodreads.com Review: A really interesting story that I definately would have enjoyed when I was a teen, and did enjoy at the ripe old age of 22. I can’t give a detailed review without giving spoilers, but I will say that Myra McEntire has given readers a spunky, likeable and realistic seventeen year old girl in Emerson, and I will definately read the next novel.
A more in-depth review: Myra McEntire delivers to her readers a well-researched and in-depth story that entices the reader in much the same way good Cuban coffee entices Emerson, the main character. Emerson is spunky, prone to getting herself into trouble she never intended to get herself into and likeable – a good quailty for a character when their story is in first person. The first-person narration is very well done by the author and doesn’t feel stilted, whiny or disjointed. You feel what Emerson feels, and experience what she experiences without wanting to throw something. Suffice to says she loves to spar with her brother, who clearly loves his sister unconditionally, and tells things as she see them. In Em’s own words, her edit button is broken. Being seventeen she makes a few questionable decisions, although nothing too major, but it is this and her personality that make the story all that more enjoyable and believable. I have given this a romance tag, because there is a little bit of romance but nothing beyond a few smoochie at towards the end. Who is doing the smooching I won’t tell. There is only a little bit of sci-fi and that is pureply to do with the time-travel element, and if someone like me who really doesn’t like sci-fi very much can handle it, then you know it’s not too bad.
Rating: 5 stars *****
Cloaked – Alex Flinn
Categories: Young Adult, Fantasy
My Goodreads.com Review: A great young adult book – probably more for girls than boys though. A beautifully interwoven retelling of several of the Brothers Grimm’s lesser known fairytales including The Elves and the Shoe-Maker (a favourite of mine) and The Frog Prince
Interestingly the main character of Cloaked is a seventeen-year-old boy, whereas most fairytales are told from the perspective of a female character, and I think it is that fact that sets this apart from some other fairytale re-tellings. There were the typical elements of fairytales – an extremely beautiful princess; an extremely handsome prince; a poor, down-on-his-luck youngv hero and ayoung witch who has to save the hero’s butt a few times, and talking animals. However it was a fun, frivolus and well-paced read all the same. My only big annoyance was that Ms Flinn gave Johnny an almost unhealthy obsession with money – I know he’s poor but sheesh!
Rating: 3 1/2 stars ***
Cold cold, cold!!!
11th May 2011 | Uncategorized | 0 comments
Hello there blog! It’s been a while since I have blogged here, and I intend to change that. Hopefully. Firstly, I want to say thanks to Georgie for the new theme. I changed the colours, but everything else is hers. She has several really nice themes over at Heartdrops. I failed at making my own theme. 
I was going to blog about something deep and meaningful, but I have fuzz-brain this morning and decided against it. Not that I know what I was going to be deep and meaningful about but I’m sure it would have left you with a sense of fullfilment and enlightenment. Ahem. I have decided instead to blog about how freaking cold it is here this morning. Winter doesn’t start until next month but they are aready predicting snow on the nearest ski-mountains (about 2 hours from here). I’m pretty sure if I go outside I will become completely frozen in about 30 seconds.
I just checked the weather and it is 8.5°C outside. Which is 47.3°F and cold enough for snow. It doesn’t snow here because we are too close to the sea, which also makes the cold weather feel about 5 degree colder than it actually is. I feel even more sory for the towns futher inland than me and closer to the mountains as they were predicted to have snow today or tomorrow. We have had really heavy rain and hail, so there will be ginormous puddles in the front yard. (Which is a paddock because I live on a ‘hobby’ farm.)
Okay, talking about the cold is making me feel even colder so lets talk about Glee. 90-minute episode tonight in Australia. Woo! I just wanna see them do ‘Born This Way’ because although I’m not a huge Lady Gaga fan, I really like that song and the positive message it sends. Although they keep going on about how the whole episode is Lady-Gaga centric, yet when I looked up the songs from it (out of curiosity) they only sing one of her songs. So I’m not sure how that can classed as be all about her. Anyway, it will still be good to watch. Provided I can get the tv though, because there may not be anywhere for us to sit in the lounge room tonight.
Why? because we are having the flooring replaced and all the furniture from my bedroom and my brothers bedroom (except my bed) will be in the lounge room and the dining room. My parents room, my sister’s room and the hallway just past my sister’s room have been done, but on that side of the house is also my room, the bathroom, my brother’s room and the shower. Which will all have to be done at the same time. Then they’ll do the kitchen, dining room and lounge room (as well as the pantry, the office, and then the front porch area and the laundry.) It’s kind of driving my mama crazy because the house is messy with all the furniture everywhere. But the parts that are done look awesome.
Later guys and gals!
NaNoWriMo
5th October 2010 | NaNoWriMo, Writing | 0 comments
Well folks, there is 26 days until November 1st, the starting day of NaNoWriMo – or National Novel Writing Month. Technically it should be ‘International’ because people from all over the world are participating in it. Including me. The goal, for those of you who don’t know what it is, is to write a novel(novella) of 50,000 words or more in the month of November. What do you get if you win? A print-able certificate and the knowledge that you can write 50000 words of a story in one month. The bonus is that there is no penalty if you don’t write 50k. You can just try again next year.
You will be seeing some strange blog entries from me – as I shall be posting interviews with my main characters as a writing exercise to get to know them properly before November. Crazy? Me? Never! (That was attrocious grammar, by the way.)
Do I really need to title my posts?
11th June 2010 | Uncategorized | 0 comments
Well I suppose this should be an introductory post but that seems kind of boring. Overdone too. So I’ll just tell you that my name is Chantelle, I’m 21 and I live somewhere in Australia. I should warn you that I am prone to waffling on, and generally rambling about stuff. I am also a huge fan of Buffy the Vampire, Bones, Glee & Harry Potter. There is every likelyhood that I’ll post about those subjects, although I do try to keep my excitement to my fanlistings which you can go and view if you are bored here.
Occasionally the characters who have taken up residence in my imagination will want to be posted about, and since they’ll just annoy me until I do, I will most likely obey their wishes. Otherwise fights, pouting and sulkiness ensue.
That’s probably enough for a first post. Ciao!