Top Ten Tuesday - Places Mentioned In Books That I’d Like to Visit

Hey reader friends - welcome to another Top Ten Tuesday - a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This weeks topic is Places Mentioned In Books That I’d Like to Visit.  

I cheated a little - some of the places I want to visit are real.  But I read and love a lot of fantasy - so some of them are also fictional. A lady can dream, right?! 

 

 1. The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue - Makenzi Lee 

Although the idea of wandering all over Europe sounds absolutely grand - the place mentioned in this book I'd visit first is Italy!

 

 2. Listen to Your Heart - Kasie West 

Kasie's books take place in California - who wouldn't want to spend a week or two in the California Sun?!

 3. The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare

NEW YORK CITY!! Out of all the places I want to travel - this is Number 1 on my list.

 4. The Harry Potter Series - JK Rowling

Hello, London!  England is number 2 on the list of places I want to visit! 

Now, let's just be real, fellow potterheads - I'd want to go to: 

Hogwarts

Hogsmeade

Diagon Alley

 5. A Song of Ice and Fire Series - George RR Martin 

Winterfell. Enough said. 

 6. LOTR - J.R.R Tolkien

The LOTR books are my FAVORITE fantasy books, hands down.  So, are you surprised that I'd want to visit the shire?! 

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So, reader friends - if you could visit any places mentioned in the books you've read, where would you go?!

Death Prefers Blondes - Caleb Roehrig

Title: Death Prefers Blondes
Author: Caleb Roehrig
Format: Hardcover
Rating: 2.5 Stars

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Teenage socialite Margo Manning leads a dangerous double life. By day, she dodges the paparazzi while soaking up California sunshine. By night, however, she dodges security cameras and armed guards, pulling off high-stakes cat burglaries with a team of flamboyant young men. In and out of disguise, she’s in all the headlines.

But then Margo’s personal life takes a sudden, dark turn, and a job to end all jobs lands her crew in deadly peril. Overnight, everything she’s ever counted on is put at risk. Backs against the wall, the resourceful thieves must draw on their special skills to survive. But can one rebel heiress and four kickboxing drag queens withstand the slings and arrows of truly outrageous fortune? Or will a mounting sea of troubles end them — for good? 

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When I first heard about Death Prefers Blondes, I was intrigued by the premise of the book.  However, once I started reading, I found what I think is a steaming hot mess of a book. 

There is so much going on that there doesn't really seem, to me anyway, to be a straight line of a plot.  Everything skips around so much between characters that it's hard to know what's happening.   That could have been cleared up by the author having different chapters from a different characters POV, instead of jumping from one POV to another in each paragraph.  It was so hard to keep track of stuff because of the way the POV shifted so much.

What the author did get right was that he included a lot of diverse characters.  However, even in the inclusion of gay characters, there was a flatness and sameness in these characters that I've seen in other books.  The little brother just wanting attention, the rich socialite who never gets in trouble for her actions, etc.  This book had so much potential to be great and to have great characters - but it fell into stock characters with little development and growth throughout the story.

Overall, this story just fell flat for me - I really wanted to like it, but I just couldn't get into it as much as I would have liked.

Have you read this book?  If so, what did you think of it.

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Couples In Books

Hey reader friends - welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl!  This week we're talking about Favorite Couples In Books!

If you've been around my blog at all, many of these probably won't come as a surprise to you.

Clara and Hamlet in The Way You Make me Feel are amazing - and this is, so far, my favorite book by Maurene Goo!  

While the way that Desi got a boy may have been a little.... unique - I do love Desi and Luca!  

When Dimple Met Rishi starts out with 2 characters who are on opposite ends of the spectrum of having a relationship, and ends with them in love in the most adorable way.  Dimple and Rishi are perfect together! 

Twinkle and Sahil in From Twinkle, With Love are perfect together - even if it takes a minute for Twinkle to realize it (because she loves his twin brother at first!)  I think the reason I love them so much together is because Sahil does such a good job of keeping Twinkle real and calling her out when she gets a little.... wild with her movie.

 Rufus and Mateo are two of my favorite characters - and even though you know they are both going to die by the end of the book - I loved their togetherness through this entire book!

 Hazel and Gus in The Fault in Our Stars - they have this amazing relationship together, and while it is punctuated by them both having cancer, they have this ability to be there for each other in the most amazing ways.

 Simon and Bram (Blue) in Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda.  This was, hands down, my favorite book that I read last year, and there was not one single moment when I wasn't cheering my ass off for Simon. 

Cheesy Romance Love!

Hey reader friends!  It's February.  That means it's the perfect time of year to talk about cheesy romance books.  These are books that are sure to make your heart flutter (even if some of them are total clean teen books!)

1. Lucky in Love - Kasie West

2. Listen to your Heart - Kasie West

3. Tell Me Everything - Sarah Enni

4. I Believe in a Thing Called Love - Maurene Goo

5. The Way You Make Me Feel - Maurene Goo 

6. Simon Vs. The Home Sapiens Agenda - Becky Albertalli

7. When Dimple Met Rishi - Sandhya Menon

8. From Twinkle With Love - Sandhya Menon 






This is not, obviously, a complete list of all romance books!  These are just some of the ones I really enjoyed.  Feel free to drop your favorite romances (YA or adult) in the comments. 

In An Absent Dream - Seanan McGuire

Title: In An Absent Dream
Author: Seanan McGuire
Format: Hardcover
Rating: 5 Stars

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 This fourth entry and prequel tells the story of Lundy, a very serious young girl who would rather study and dream than become a respectable housewife and live up to the expectations of the world around her. As well she should.

When she finds a doorway to a world founded on logic and reason, riddles and lies, she thinks she's found her paradise. Alas, everything costs at the goblin market, and when her time there is drawing to a close, she makes the kind of bargain that never plays out well.

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When I first read Every Heart a Doorway, the first book in the Wayward Children series, I knew this would be a series I would love - and every single book has hit it out of the ballpark. 









In An Absent Dream, the fourth book in this series, follows Katherine Lundy, called Lundy in the Goblin Market, as she travels to and from her world. She finds her first (tree) door when she is 8, and from there travels back and forth between the Goblin Market, a world based on Christina Rosetti's Goblin Market, many times before she turns 18. The first thing Lundy learns are the three rules of the Goblin Market:

1. Ask for Nothing.
2. Names Have Power
3. Always Give Fair Value

While there, Lundy meets Moon, lives with the Archivist, and learns about death and change in a most unique way. 

I love this story in more ways than I could possibly describe. But I will try. 

The development of this story is excellent - from the first time that Lundy finds her way through the door to the end of the story, everything grows and changes so well in this story.  The plot works well, every time Lundy leaves the Goblin Market to go home, every time she returns to the Goblin Market, every time she hoards things to give for fair trade, this all fits and works so well together.

Each character in this story is well developed as well. They all have their own distinct personalities, traits, and ways of doing things that are specific to who they are.  They are unique and wonderful in their own ways, and the young characters - Lundy and Moon - grow and learn so much throughout this book. 

I love the descriptions of everything in this book as well.  The way the author describes the Goblin Market, the way the characters are described, it all works together so well to create this world that is marvelous and a great addition to the Wayward Children series.



It is interesting to learn what this world means when they talk about Fair value, as well.  Lundy learns so much about herself and what it means to her, her family, and the Goblin Market when fair value is involved.

Overall, this is a wonderful book that everyone should get their hands on!

If You Like This....Try That

Hey Reader Friends - It's time for my first ever round of: If You Like This, Try That!

If You Like Harry Potter:

Try Reading These Books: 

The Septimus Heap Series:

The Charlie Bone Series: 

 

          

If You Like The Chronicles of Narnia:

 

Try Reading These Books: