Transitive Verve

Hi there! I realized it's been a while since I posted--the new school year has started, and things are busy, busy busy! I've been reading, but I haven't had a chance to sit down and write some in-depth reviews, but I thought I'd share with you what I've read since my last post, as well as some quick thoughts: The Night We Said Yes by Lauren Gibaldi Thoughts at a glance: *** (I liked it) Quick summary: A year after they broke up, Ella and Matt reunite. Matt is not over Ella, and Ella wants to be over Matt. As they relive the magical night that they first got together, Ella tries to figure out whether getting back together would be worth it. Quick review: This was a really cute story! If you're into realistic YA romance (realistic as in, not fantasy or scifi or supernatural), then you'll like this one!   Lifel1k3 and Dev1at3 by Jay Kristoff Thoughts at a glance: ***** (It was amazing!) for both Quick summary:  Eve lives among the ...

Soulless is the first book of the series I can't remember if I've ever discussed audiobooks before on this blog, at least in their own separate posts. (I may have mentioned previously how much I LOVE the audiobooks for The Illuminae Files , but they didn't get their own review.) I love audiobooks, but I enjoy them most when I get something extra from the experience that I couldn't get while reading it, you know, traditionally. For me, that "something extra" usually relies really heavily on the narration-- I love different voices and emotion. (Am I weird? I only like to listen to audiobooks for books I've already read. Like watching a movie adaptation.) And that's a big part of what I loved about Emily Gray's narration of Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate  series. Without getting into too much detail about the plot (at risk of spoilers), Gray had to distinguish between so many characters and their accents and personalities: the ever-p...

Valentine's Day is coming, and if you happen to be unattached, you may be looking forward to spending some time with your favorite book boyfriend. Hell, I'm even in a relationship myself, and I will probably end up spending Valentine's Day with a book. (Though, this is because we choose not to celebrate, so don't feel bad for me or anything.) I thought I would take some time to make a list of some of my favorite dudes. These are the guys who make me swoon every time I read, who are just too precious cinnamon-roll-y for the real world, but whom I love all the same. Note: I fully acknowledge that this post is absolutely heteronormative. Also note: For any teenaged YA guys that I choose, that crush is coming from Teenaged Me. Or I'm projecting them forward into adulthood. I am not literally imagining mid-30s me with a teenage boyfriend, because that would be Not Okay. Also ALSO note: Spoiler warnings for all the books listed below. There were MANY I could...

Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it) Summary: This is book 2 of the Custard Protocol  series, and it takes place in the same universe as her other series, but much later in time. This review may contain spoilers for the first book, which you can read about here . Rue and her dirigible crew sail the aether again as issues both personal and political force them to head to Egypt. Their trip to India in the first book led to the discovery of new races of supernaturals, and not everyone is happy about this, or about Rue's executive decisions. The odd behavior of her father's wolf pack and their tension with the local vampire hive means that Rue needs to put on her big girl hat and take to the skies once again, this time carrying some unusual cargo. But they keep getting attacked, and as they suddenly find that they need to sail even further away into the uncharted areas of Africa, Rue finds a whole host of new problems to deal with, not the least of which are her f...

Disclaimers: while my blog post itself does not contain any graphic sexual content, this book does. This is a review for a book that is meant for mature audiences, and therefore is unsuitable for minors.  Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it) Summary:  This novella takes place in the same universe as Carriger's other works - it doesn't require that you have read the Finishing School  or Parasol Protectorate  series. (But come on, why wouldn't you?) Preshea, one of the characters from The Finishing School  series, is now grown and known Lady Villentia. She is also known as The Mourning Star, having had four husbands who have all died by suspicious means. Of course, no one else knows that Preshea is a trained intelligencer and assassin. Preshea takes an assignment to protect the Duke of Snodgrove from assassination at his own house party. Little does she know that Captain Gavin Ruthven has also been assigned to do the same, by a separate party....

Apparently today is National Siblings Day, and what better way to celebrate (beyond reaching out to my own sibling - Hi Khoa!) than to go over some of my favorite sibling groupings! 

Thoughts at glance: *** (I liked it) This is the first book of Carriger's new series, The Custard Protocol , and it takes place in the same universe as her other series, but much later in time. Essentially, it has spoilers for the events of The Parasol Protectorate  series, so if you've never read any of those books, you might feel really lost while reading this one, unless you're really good at forming inferences and filling in the blanks. Summary:  Lady Prudence Alessandra Maccon Akeldama is a metanatural. Her biological mother (Lady Alexia Tarabotti) is a preternatural (soulless) while her biological father (Lord Conall Maccon) is a supernatural (werewolf). By the way, her adoptive father (Lord Akeldama) is a vampire. Therefore, it can be said that Rue leads quite a singular existence, between her feisty, irreverent personality and her ability to temporarily steal supernatural abilities through touch. Rue is given her own airship, The Spotted Custard , and along ...

I decided to keep close track of the books I read this year for the Goodreads Reading Challenge, which is not something I've done before (and this blog only just began in March!), so this is my first top ten list! These are my favorite books that were released this year. I know there are a GREAT many books that were left off my list (like books from Sabaa Tahir, Rainbow Rowell, Patrick Ness, etc.), and that's because I haven't gotten around to reading them yet! I know, sacrilege! If only there were more hours in the day and more of me to get things done. But these are my top ten that I've read  from this year. Without further ado, here they are, in no particular order: Illuminae  by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff Okay, I know I said "in no particular order," but I'd be lying if I didn't say that this was probably my FAVORITE book from this year. It was clever and unique in terms of its format, but it also just had a fantastic, gripping story. ...

Thoughts at a glance: **** (I really liked it) All the Gail Carriger books I've read were read before I started really getting into book blogging, so I don't have any previous reviews for you, but suffice it to say that she is one of my favorite writers. Quick summary of the series (since this is my first time actually writing up one of Gail's books on my blog):  Sophronia Temminnick, who doesn't seem to fit in with proper London society, is enrolled by her frustrated mother in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality. Little did Mrs. Temminnick know, this Finishing School also teaches young ladies to FINISH people, in the Mortal Kombat sense of the word - the graduates can not only throw a proper tea party, but they can also maim, poison, seduce, infiltrate, and fight. In short, they are trained to be intelligencers and assassins, and Sophronia takes to her new training like a duck to water. Proving herself to be one of the s...

This is my new book blog! How exciting! And what better way to kick off something new than to... dig up old stuff :) Because I want them tagged here, I'm going to link to my book-related reviews and things from my personal blog in this post, just so they can show up in my archives somehow. Because Blogger only lets me have 200 characters' worth of tags at a time, here is part 1 of 2 of my bookish archives, starting with my book reviews: Me effusing about Pride and Prejudice  for its 200th anniversary Thoughts on Vampire Academy  by Richelle Mead Thoughts on Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl  and Ransom Riggs' Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children Things I actually enjoyed about the Twilight  series And then a link list of Twilight  snark that I also enjoy :) Thoughts on the mangas based on Gail Carriger's first 3 Parasol Protectorate  books, and the first 4 books of JR Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood  books Thoughts on Gail Carriger's short st...