Top Ten Tuesday



Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted for us book blogger types by the Broke and the Bookish. They provide a topic, and all of us participants post our answers on our blogs and we hop around checking out one another’s answers! This week’s topic is


Top Ten Books with Historical Settings


1. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

World War II Germany in the midst of the Holocaust 

2. The Sweetest Dark by Shana Abe
Edwardian England & World War I England











3. This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel
Regency Era in England, prior to the Victorian Era. 

4. Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard
Late 19th Century Philadelphia, Pennsylvania










5. The Springsweet by Saundra Mitchell
Late 19th Century America, Oklahoma Territory

6. The Other Countess by Eve Edwards
Elizabethan England










7. The Girl with the Iron Touch by Kady Cross
Victorian Era England

8. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
Victorian Era England










9. Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
Victorian Era England

10. The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross
Victorian Era England










It appears I have a bit of thing for Historical Fiction set in England! What are some of your favorite historical settings? 

Top Ten Tuesdays!

Every week The Broke and the Bookish hosts a bookish meme for all of us literary folk to participate in.  Titled Top Ten Tuesday, they provide us with a topic and then we all post our own answers for everyone to read as they skip through the list! (Want to join? The list is posted on The Broke and The Bookish’s site!)

This week’s topic is:

                              Top 10 Books I read in 2012
1. Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter
-Why this book? Well, I think it is fairly obvious how much I adore Alice in Wonderland, so naturally a similarly titled book was going to catch my attention. However, Showalter managed to make a completely new world of zombie lore that left me salivating for more.
(*braaaains*)
2. Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
-Do I have to explain this one? 
3. Poison Princess by Kresley Cole
-I’m just going to say that I adored the use of the Major Arcana in this novel, and I forced a co-worker to bring me her cards so I could check it out for myself!
4. This Dark Endeavor/Such Wicked Intent by Kenneth Oppel
-Never thought I’d crush on Victor Frankenstein.

5. Dreamless by Josephine Angelini
-If you haven’t read the Starcrossed books, you need to pick it up.  Not only does Angelini expertly weave a new story with the influence of characters from the Iliad and Greek mythology, but she has added her own twists! Love it.
6. The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa
-Probably the best turn in vampire fiction that I’ve read in a while.  Sure, I love me some Sookie Stackhouse, but Kagawa really got my attention.  I’m waiting rather impatiently for the second installment!

7. Partials by Dan Wells

-If the entire Partials trilogy was out before I had finished my Master’s Thesis, there definitely would have been a chapter based on the dysopian themes and the rise of technology in this novel.  ADORED.
8. Such A Rush by Jennifer Echols
-Set in North Myrtle Beach where my family vacations, AND there is a great love story. Need I say more?
9. Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta
-Overall the best fantasy read I’ve read in a long time, and I don’t know why I didn’t discover it sooner! Go read it now!

10. Tangled Tides by Karen Amanda Hooper
-I’ve blogged about this one before…MERMAIDS.

What were some of your favorites this year? I’m always looking for new suggestions!

Top Ten Tuesday!

Every week The Broke and the Bookish hosts a bookish meme for all of us literary folk to participate in.  Titled Top Ten Tuesday, they provide us with a topic and then we all post our own answers for everyone to read as they skip through the list! (Want to join? The list is posted on The Broke and The Bookish’s site!)
This week’s topic is:

Top Ten New-to-Me Authors I read in 2012

I’m assuming that this means I should pick authors who were out there in the publishing universe prior to my reading them.  So no debut authors on the list.

1. Jennifer Echols
Evidently Echols has been around for a long time, and I just now discovered her this year upon the release of her recent novel, Such a Rush. You can check out my review, HERE.

2. Ellie James
The first of the Midnight Dragonfly trilogy came out back in 2011, so of course I wasn’t blessed enough to read them until recently.  Sad it took me a year to discover them.  You can check out my reviews of all three novels: Shattered Dreams, Broken Illusions, and Fragile Darkness.

3. C.C. Hunter
Again, I missed out on a very addictive series by not picking up the Shadow Falls series before this year.  However, you can check out my review of the fourth Shadow Falls novel, Whispers at Moonrise, and the interview that I did with CC for my blog, here.

4. Gena Showalter
Evidently Showalter has been writing steamy romance for a while now! But Alice in Zombieland is definitely one of my favorites of this year. Check out my review!

5. Amanda Hocking
Up until the first Watersong novel was released, I had no idea who Hocking was.  Homegirl has written a ton of books!  I now have a goal for this next year: catch up on all her work.  Or at least finish the Watersong series,  check out my review of the first novel, Wake.

6. Kresley Cole
Much like Gena Showalter, Cole has been active in paranormal romance for a while.  On the other hand, much like Gena Showalter, her novel Poison Princess was another personal favorite from this year. Oh yeah, check out my review!

7. Alyson Noel
Still haven’t read her well known series, the Immortals, but have really enjoyed the first two installments in the Soul Seekers series. My reviews for the first and second novels can be found here and here.

8. Kenneth Oppel
Even though Oppel’s awesome new Victor Frankenstein series came out last year, I didn’t open the pages of This Dark Endeavor until 2012.  Then couldn’t put it down.  Such Wicked Intent was just as juicy.  I can only hope Oppel continues this series!

9. Tonya Hurley
Hurley’s Ghostgirl series is next on my To-Buy list, because after I read an ARC of The Blessed this year I just want to read more of Hurley’s work!

10. Brenna Yovanoff
Yovanoff came out with The Replacement back in 2010, and to this day I still haven’t read it (I’m a pansy and am afraid it might freak me out)  But if anything, that gives me even more reason to read it after reading The Space Between back in February, I am fully aware of how talented Yovanoff is. Anyone else as excited as me about Paper Valentine coming out in January?

What are some authors that were new to you this year?  I’d love to pick up a copy of their work!

Book Review: Such Wicked Intent by Kenneth Oppel

When does obsession become madness?

Tragedy has forced sixteen-year-old Victor Frankenstein to swear off alchemy forever. He burns the Dark Library. He vows he will never dabble in the dark sciences again—just as he vows he will no longer covet Elizabeth, his brother’s betrothed.

If only these things were not so tempting.

When he and Elizabeth discover a portal into the spirit world, they cannot resist. Together with Victor’s twin, Konrad, and their friend Henry, the four venture into a place of infinite possibilities where power and passion reign. But as they search for the knowledge to raise the dead, they unknowingly unlock a darkness from which they may never return.

Victor Frankenstein is recounting his story to Henry Clerval in Mary Shelley’s original novel, Frankenstein when he states, “It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn; and whether it was the outward substance of things or the inner spirit of nature and the mysterious soul of man that occupied me, still my inquiries were directed to the metaphysical, or in its highest sense, the physical secrets of the world.”

It is this quote that I believe helped Oppel really embody the vigorous character of Victor Frankenstein as a teenager, and this second installment in “The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein” pushes the character to limits that helps readers understand his adult counterpart and his later actions in his tries to reanimate dead tissue.

Such Wicked Intent picks up a few weeks after the end of This Dark Endeavor with the Frankensteins, Elizabeth, and Henry mourning the loss of Victor’s twin brother Konrad.  Victor is still conflicted over the failure of the Elixir of Life and watches the books from the Dark Library burn in a scene that reminded me a lot of the one with the Nazi book burning in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.  But, a metal book-shaped object escaped the wrath of the flames.

This book is the instigator for the adventure that follows through the novel.  Victor discovers an entrance to the spirit world where he is able to see his brother Konrad and obtain an obscene amount of knowledge (including how to turn lead to gold).  I wonder if the information he obtained while in the spirit world will be the reason he turns to studying science…because when we meet Victor in Shelley’s novel, he is a student. 

Oppel did a great job of continuing the characterization of Elizabeth, and I believe that the experiences in this novel will really help her become the character described by Shelley as, “She was no longer that happy creature who in earlier youth wandered with me on the banks of the lake and talked with ecstasy of our future prospects. The first of those sorrows which are sent to wean us from the earth had visited her, and its dimming influence quenched her dearest smiles.” In addition, the cover really forshadows the eventual marriage between the two characters.

Something to look for in Such Wicked Intent, an allusion to the famous image of Victor Frankenstein and the creature speeding along the ice with dog sleds.

Overall, I think I liked Such Wicked Intent more than This Dark Endeavor and think it deserves 5 Bards.

Top Ten Tuesday!

Every week The Broke and The Bookish hosts a meme for book bloggers to post about a specific topic chosen by the moderators.  This week’s topic is: 

Top Ten Bookish People I Want To Meet 
(Authors, Bloggers….etc)

IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER: 

Veronica Roth
-Author of the Divergent Trilogy
-Why? Because I really wanted to use the Divergent books in my Dystopian Master’s Thesis, but since the trilogy wasn’t finished yet I couldn’t.  I would love to pursue that essay and talk to Roth about the different influences on the text. 




Markus Zusak
-Author of The Book Thief
-Why? The Book Thief is a beautiful novel, and I would love to pick his brain about the different themes and the authorial decision to use Death as the narrator. 

Suzanne Collins
-Author of The Hunger Games trilogy
-Why? Speaking of that Dystopian Thesis, my main chapter was on Marxism and The Hunger Games trilogy, so I would love to have an interview to add to my 25 page chapter. Plus, she is brilliant. 




Scott Westerfeld
-Author of the Uglies series
-Why?  Remember that pesky thesis I keep mentioning? Yeah the second chapter was on the first three books in the Uglies series, and again, an interview with Westerfeld would just make the chapter THAT much stronger. 

James Dashner
-Author of The Maze Runner trilogy and Prequel
-Why? I wanted to use this dystopian series in my thesis as well and I never got to since the series wasn’t complete.  Now that it is, I want to pick his brain too! So many novels I want to write academic critical essays on…


Jackson Pearce
-Author of the Fairy Tale Retellings series
-Why? Not only does she seem like a cool person, but I’d love to discuss other possible fairy tales for her to adapt for her series. 



Josephine Angelini
-Author of the Starcrossed series
-Why? I want to discuss the importance of Greek Mythology on modern literature, and of course, Lucas and Helen. 


Melina Marchetta
-Author of the Lumatere Chronicles
-Why? Just so I can say I met her. Her novels are exquisitely written and well plotted. I envy her immense talent!


Charlaine Harris
-Author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels
-Why? I want to convince her of why Sookie and Eric need to be together forever.  Oh, and to ask her if I can get Alexander Skarsgard’s phone number….





Kenneth Oppel
-Author of the Victor Frankenstein diaries
-Why? Just to discuss Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, and Victorian era literature and culture! 


I went with all authors, who are some of the people on your list? 

Top Ten Tuesday!

Every week the Broke and the Bookish (best title for book blog, right?) hosts a meme for book bloggers called Top Ten Tuesday.  The moderators provide all of us with a topic, and then we proceed to “hop” through each other’s blogs and check everyone’s responses out!  This week’s topic is:

Top Ten Books On Your Fall TBR List
1. Such Wicked Intent by Kenneth Oppel

When does obsession become madness? Tragedy has forced sixteen-year-old Victor Frankenstein to swear off alchemy forever. He burns the Dark Library. He vows he will never dabble in the dark sciences again—just as he vows he will no longer covet Elizabeth, his brother’s betrothed. If only these things were not so tempting. When he and Elizabeth discover a portal into the spirit world, they cannot resist. Together with Victor’s twin, Konrad, and their friend Henry, the four venture into a place of infinite possibilities where power and passion reign. But as they search for the knowledge to raise the dead, they unknowingly unlock a darkness from which they may never return.

2. Ten by Gretchen McNeil

It was supposed to be the weekend of their lives—an exclusive house party on Henry Island. Best friends Meg and Minnie each have their reasons for being there (which involve T.J., the school’s most eligible bachelor) and look forward to three glorious days of boys, booze and fun-filled luxury. But what they expect is definitely not what they get, and what starts out as fun turns dark and twisted after the discovery of a DVD with a sinister message: Vengeance is mine. Suddenly people are dying, and with a storm raging, the teens are cut off from the outside world. No electricity, no phones, no internet, and a ferry that isn’t scheduled to return for two days. As the deaths become more violent and the teens turn on each other, can Meg find the killer before more people die? Or is the killer closer to her than she could ever imagine? 
3. Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr
In a city of daimons, rigid class lines separate the powerful from the power-hungry. And at the heart of The City is the Carnival of Souls, where both murder and pleasure are offered up for sale. Once in a generation, the carnival hosts a deadly competition that allows every daimon a chance to join the ruling elite. Without the competition, Aya and Kaleb would both face bleak futures–if for different reasons. For each of them, fighting to the death is the only way to try to live. All Mallory knows of The City is that her father–and every other witch there–fled it for a life in exile in the human world. Instead of a typical teenage life full of friends and maybe even a little romance, Mallory scans quiet streets for threats, hides herself away, and trains to be lethal. She knows it’s only a matter of time until a daimon finds her and her father, so she readies herself for the inevitable. While Mallory possesses little knowledge of The City, every inhabitant of The City knows of her. There are plans for Mallory, and soon she, too, will be drawn into the decadence and danger that is the Carnival of Souls.
4. Beta by Rachel Cohn
In a world constructed to absolute perfection, imperfection is difficult to understand—and impossible to hide. Elysia is a clone, created in a laboratory, born as a sixteen year old girl, an empty vessel with no life experience to draw from. She is a Beta, an experimental model of teenaged clone.
She was replicated from another teenage girl, who had to die in order for Elysia to be created. Elysia’s purpose is to serve the inhabitants of Demesne, an island paradise for the wealthiest people on earth. Everything about Demesne is bioengineered for perfection. Even the air there induces a strange, euphoric high that only the island’s workers—soulless clones like Elysia—are immune to. At first, Elysia’s new life on this island paradise is idyllic and pampered.
But she soon sees that Demesne’s human residents, the most privileged people in the world who should want for nothing, yearn. And, she comes to realize that beneath its flawless exterior, there is an undercurrent of discontent amongst Demesne’s worker clones. She knows she is soulless and cannot feel and should not care—so why are overpowering sensations clouding Elysia’s mind?
If anyone discovers that Elysia isn’t the unfeeling clone she must pretend to be, she will suffer a fate too terrible to imagine. When Elysia’s one chance at happiness is ripped away from her with breathtaking cruelty, emotions she’s always had but never understood are unleashed. As rage, terror, and desire threaten to overwhelm her, Elysia must find the will to survive

5. Fathomless by Jackson Pearce 


Celia Reynolds is the youngest in a set of triplets and the one with the least valuable power. Anne can see the future, and Jane can see the present, but all Celia can see is the past. And the past seems so insignificant — until Celia meets Lo. Lo doesn’t know who she is. Or who she was. Once a human, she is now almost entirely a creature of the sea — a nymph, an ocean girl, a mermaid — all terms too pretty for the soulless monster she knows she’s becoming. Lo clings to shreds of her former self, fighting to remember her past, even as she’s tempted to embrace her dark immortality. When a handsome boy named Jude falls off a pier and into the ocean, Celia and Lo work together to rescue him from the waves. The two form a friendship, but soon they find themselves competing for Jude’s affection. Lo wants more than that, though. According to the ocean girls, there’s only one way for Lo to earn back her humanity. She must persuade a mortal to love her . . . and steal his soul.

6. The Tudors: The Complete Story of England’s Most Notorious Dynasty by G.J. Meyer
(non-fiction)  I think this one is pretty self explanatory.
7. Venom by Fiona Paul


Cassandra Caravello is one of Renaissance Venice’s lucky elite: with elegant gowns, sparkling jewels, her own lady’s maid, and a wealthy fiancé, she has everything a girl could desire. Yet ever since her parents’ death, Cassandra has felt trapped, alone in a city of water, where the dark and labyrinthine canals whisper of escape. When Cass stumbles upon a murdered woman—practically in her own backyard—she’s drawn into a dangerous world of courtesans, killers, and secret societies. Soon, she finds herself falling for Falco, a mysterious artist with a mischievous grin… and a spectacular skill for trouble. Can Cassandra find the murderer, before he finds her? And will she stay true to her fiancé, or succumb to her uncontrollable feelings for Falco?

8. The Innocents by Lili Peloquin
Nothing ever came between sisters Alice and Charlie.
Friends didn’t.
Boys couldn’t.
Their family falling apart never would.
Until they got to Serenity Point.
9. Poison Princess by Kresley Cole

Sixteen year old Evangeline “Evie” Greene leads a charmed life, until she begins experiencing horrifying hallucinations. When an apocalyptic event decimates her Louisiana hometown, Evie realizes her hallucinations were actually visions of the future—and they’re still happening.

Fighting for her life and desperate for answers, she must turn to her wrong-side-of-the-bayou classmate: Jack Deveaux. But she can’t do either alone. With his mile-long rap sheet, wicked grin, and bad attitude, Jack is like no boy Evie has ever known. Even though he once scorned her and everything she represented, he agrees to protect Evie on her quest. She knows she can’t totally depend on Jack.

If he ever cast that wicked grin her way, could she possibly resist him? Who can Evie trust?

As Jack and Evie race to find the source of her visions, they meet others who have gotten the same call. An ancient prophesy is being played out, and Evie is not the only one with special powers. A group of twenty-two teens has been chosen to reenact the ultimate battle between good and evil. But it’s not always clear who is on which side…

10. Black City by Elizabeth Richards
In a city where humans and Darklings are now separated by a high wall and tensions between the two races still simmer after a terrible war, sixteen-year-olds Ash Fisher, a half-blood Darkling, and Natalie Buchanan, a human and the daughter of the Emissary, meet and do the unthinkable—they fall in love. Bonded by a mysterious connection that causes Ash’s long-dormant heart to beat, Ash and Natalie first deny and then struggle to fight their forbidden feelings for each other, knowing if they’re caught, they’ll be executed—but their feelings are too strong.
When Ash and Natalie then find themselves at the center of a deadly conspiracy that threatens to pull the humans and Darklings back into war, they must make hard choices that could result in both their deaths.
What are some of the books you are looking forward to reading?

Waiting on Wednesday

Every week Breaking the Spine hosts a book meme where all of us book bloggers can get together and share the books we are desperately waiting to be released!

This week I’m waiting on Such Wicked Intent by Kenneth Oppel!

Release Date: August 21, 2012

When does obsession become madness? Tragedy has forced sixteen-year-old Victor Frankenstein to swear off alchemy forever. He burns the Dark Library. He vows he will never dabble in the dark sciences again—just as he vows he will no longer covet Elizabeth, his brother’s betrothed.

If only these things were not so tempting.

When he and Elizabeth discover a portal into the spirit world, they cannot resist. Together with Victor’s twin, Konrad, and their friend Henry, the four venture into a place of infinite possibilities where power and passion reign. But as they search for the knowledge to raise the dead, they unknowingly unlock a darkness from which they may never return.

Book Review: This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel


Victor and Konrad are the twin brothers Frankenstein. They are nearly inseparable. Growing up, their lives are filled with imaginary adventures…until the day their adventures turn all too real. They stumble upon The Dark Library, and secret books of alchemy and ancient remedies are discovered. Father forbids that they ever enter the room again, but this only peaks Victor’s curiosity more.

When Konrad falls gravely ill, Victor is not be satisfied with the various doctors his parents have called in to help. He is drawn back to The Dark Library where he uncovers an ancient formula for the Elixir of Life. Elizabeth, Henry, and Victor immediately set out to find assistance in a man who was once known for his alchemical works to help create the formula. Determination and the unthinkable outcome of losing his brother spur Victor on in the quest for the three ingredients that will save Konrads life. After scaling the highest trees in the Strumwald, diving into the deepest lake caves, and sacrificing one’s own body part, the three fearless friends risk their lives to save another.


First things first:

Yep, it’s true.  Not a literary character that one expects to develop a crush on, that is for sure.  Granted, in Shelley’s original novel, Frankenstein is a very troubled man.  Oppel’s novel, This Dark Endeavor, strives to examine and possibly explain the development of Frankenstein’s interest in alchemy and the desire to re-animate dead tissue.  
The inclusion of Elizabeth in the novel (who was Victor’s cousin and wife in the original story) as a close friend of Victor and his fictional twin, Konrad, was brilliant.  Not only does it provide a better back story for Elizabeth, but it begins to explain how she grows up to become somewhat despondent as an adult.  
While the original story is told through a series of letters from Henry (who ALSO appears in this novel as a close family friend) to a MWS (Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley), Oppel’s take is told from Victor’s point of view.  This provides the reader with a special view into his mind and how the obsession with the intricacies of  dark science began.  Oppel does use those established characters in This Dark Endeavor, but the family Frankenstein really provides a backbone to the story, especially the juxtaposition between Konrad and Victor.  Despite the fact that they are twins, they are somewhat compared (in my mind) as sort of a good twin and a bad twin.  Konrad has all the charm and intelligence…while Victor has the sarcastic fire and ambition.  
Even Oppel’s prose was indicative of an intense study of Frankenstein

I could go on for pages about how much I adored this book, and how true to Shelley’s original characters were their younger counterparts in This Dark Endeavor…but I won’t bore you with all the intricate details that I loved.

The novel does end on a sort-of cliffhanger, and I am excited to read Such Wicked Intent that will be released in August!

4.5 Bards.

Now Reading: This Dark Endeavor

 
Victor and Konrad are the twin brothers Frankenstein. They are nearly inseparable. Growing up, their lives are filled with imaginary adventures…until the day their adventures turn all too real. They stumble upon The Dark Library, and secret books of alchemy and ancient remedies are discovered. Father forbids that they ever enter the room again, but this only peaks Victor’s curiosity more. When Konrad falls gravely ill, Victor is not be satisfied with the various doctors his parents have called in to help. He is drawn back to The Dark Library where he uncovers an ancient formula for the Elixir of Life.
Elizabeth, Henry, and Victor immediately set out to find assistance in a man who was once known for his alchemical works to help create the formula. Determination and the unthinkable outcome of losing his brother spur Victor on in the quest for the three ingredients that will save Konrads life. After scaling the highest trees in the Strumwald, diving into the deepest lake caves, and sacrificing one’s own body part, the three fearless friends risk their lives to save another