Early February Reading Wrap Up

Phew, just got this up in time ;-D

Trying to keep this post nice and short, so all I'm going to say is that I'm trying a slightly different format for my end of the month reading wrap ups (to try and keep the run time down), so I hope you like it.

Thanks for watching, and drop me a line below if you have any ideas or book recommendations for me ;-D

And until I catch you next time,

 

Book Review | All The Little Liars

US Hardcover edition

All The Little Liars
Aurora Teagarden #9
Charlaine Harris

Published in Hardcover 2016
This edition published in January 2017

PIAKUS, paperback (format B), 244p.
ISBN: 9780349416236

Librarian Aurora Teagarden is basking in the news of her pregnancy when disaster strikes her small town: four children, including her fifteen-year-old brother, Philip, have vanished from the school football field. What's even more worrisome is the dead body found at their last known location. While the local police comb the county for the missing children, Aurora and her new husband, true crime writer Robin Crusoe, begin their own investigation. Could the two incidents have something to do with a group of school bullies? Are Aurora's father's gambling debts related to the disappearance of her brother? Or could it be that Philip himself, new to town and relatively unknown, is the one responsible? With Christmas approaching, Aurora is determined to find her brother ...if he's still alive. 

When Poppy Done to Death came out I was okay that the series wrapped up with Aurora's news.  It was done, complete, and I didn't need more.  Fast forward thirteen years (!!) and the news dropped that Charlaine Harris was continuing her Aurora Teagarden series and although I was excited - she is a great character - my main thoughts were "why?".  

Flash forward, again, to yesterday when I received the paperback edition in the mail.  Instead of jumping right in and devouring it as soon as I'd opened the package, it just sat on the coffee table where I'd placed it.  As I cleaned up before going to bed, I picked it up and put in on the bedside table thinking that I'd look at it at some point.  Then, when I was all snug under the blankets, I realized that I hadn't brought in the book I was hoping to read and instead All The Little Liars was there so I grabbed it and started to read...

... and nintey minutes later I was done.

It was OK.  Really, nothing style-wise had changed in the 13 intervening years.  All the characters felt the same, Aurora, Robin, Phillip, Aida and John, Phil and Betty Jo.  A similar style of mystery coupled with Aurora's inability to leave well enough alone... well, you know how it goes.  Basically, this could have been written 12 years ago for it felt so familiar.

However, there were two differences - Aurora's pregnancy, and her finally standing up to her father and his ex-wife, Betty Jo.  Now, we all knew going in that Aurora was pregnant - this little tidbit dropped in the last book - but Aurora had never stood up to her father about his shitty attitude and lack of responsibility towards his offspring or spouses.  Oh, she may have thought about the things that she'd like to have said, but they never passed her lips... until this book.  It is probably the biggest change in her character.  Is it only because she's pregnant that she's grown assured enough to finally speak her mind?  Well, I'll find out in the next book if it's a character trait that will stick.  I hope it does because self assured Aurora is pretty damn great.

Of the mystery itself, that was well done.  I had an inkling who might have been involved, and I was sort of right.  The disappearance of Phillip and friends was a great way to reintroduce Phillip to the readers, as well as his lackluster parents.  In earlier books Phil and Betty Jo came off as sanctimonious prats, but now the blinders are off and we see them for the self absorbed jerks they are.  I wasn't surprised to find out that Phil was in hot water with gambling debts to some rather unsavory characters (hmmm, will this be a future story arc perhaps?) or that Betty Jo had run off to a commune to get away from not only Phil, but the repercussions of his gambling strife.  Great potential drama, but not worth the aggravation.  I'm really hoping that we don't see more of them in future books.

So while All The Little Liars was a fast paced book, there was just something about it that left me feeling a tad disappointed.  It's been almost 24 hours since I finished it, and I still haven't been able to pinpoint where it fell down for me.  All the elements were there, but for some reason I just wasn't as into it as I'd expected to be.  I'm really hoping that's because I've been reading so many cosy books recently that it's just cosy overload.  I'm definitely going to be rereading this (and all the previous books) before the release of book 10 later this year.

For now, I give All The Little Liars

I hope you enjoyed my quick first thoughts on All The Little Liars.  Let me know in the comments if you have read it, and what your thoughts were about Charlaine Harris picking up the series 13 years later? 


Until next time, my lovelies

 

T5W || All the pretty little fonts

This week on T5W, we are exploring our favourite title fonts.  Why do we buy the books we do?  Is it because of the cover images only, or does the title design (i.e., the font) also sucker you into an unexpected purchase?  Let's see.

I spent a couple of days pondering the covers of some of my favourite books, and my TBR shelves, trying to figure out what made these books so attractive to me.  I decided that in the end, yes, the font of the title - and it's design, relative to the cover art - does play a big part in why I'm attracted to the book, because as much as I wish I could say otherwise, I will go out of my way to find the exact edition that I find most attractive (within reason ;-D).

#5 - Love the use of colour, and the playful design that matches the cover art illustrations.  The mixture of fonts also makes it quite pleasing to looks at.

#4 - ah, Locke Lamora.  Part of the reason I bought this UK edition was the fonts (well, that and the cover art).  It gives me the impression of a mysterious story and I'm hoping to get to this soon.

#3 - I couldn't resist this edition of Lady Audley's Secret when I first saw it online.  I eventually tracked down a copy on AbeBooks as I loved the swirly lettering that was covering the page.  And, yes, the title (embellishments included) is all one continuous line - I checked!

#2 - it was a toss up between this edition of The Shining, and one of the Knickerbocker Classics, and I chose The Shining because I found the dual fonts to be a little more engaging than only using  a simple, clean font.  For some reason this works for me.

#1 - what can I say?  This is such an amazingly beautiful font for a title.  I enjoy calligraphy, and Illuminated Manuscript, so I am in bookworm heaven looking at this.  I don't have a copy at the moment as I'm waiting for the postman to deliver it, but I had to include it as my top title font.

Thank you for checking out my T5W list.  Which of these books do you think has the best title font?  I'd love to hear from you so leave a comment below.  

As always, T5W was created by the lovely Lainey over at GINGERREADSLAINEY and I'll include a link to the Goodreads group {HERE} if you would also like to participate. 

Until next time, 

T5W || Books You Read in One Sitting

Welcome to another Top 5 Wednesday!  This week we had to find out 5 favourite books that we read in one sitting - and let me tell you, as someone who usually does read all their books in one sitting, it was hard.

I went through my shelves, and finally decided not to go with the biggest, or most impressive books, but the ones that I enjoyed the most.  Turns out that I really enjoy Urban Fantasy/Fantasy books as only one of my books didn't contain a fantasy/paranormal element.  Huh, guess I should have included a classic for diversity's sake, but these were my most enjoyable reads. 

Enjoy!

Top 5 Wednesday - Series Titles

 

Welcome to the first Top 5 Wednesday for December!  So the countdown to Christmas is on and with only 3 more T5W to go until the jolly fat man comes it's time to get down to the nitty gritty and get on with this weeks list... what are my Top 5 Series Titles?

I had to think long and hard about this, but eventually I just ended up grabbing books from my shelves.  Thankfully it didn't take too long before I had a couple of interesting titles - and as luck would have it, my postie dropped off another parcel yesterday that contained the first book in a series with a great name ;-D.  So, without further ado, I give you my Top 5 Series Titles...

 

 The Iron Druid Chronicles

Although this is a fabulous name, I had to put it in at numero 5 as I've only read Hounded from the library.  I've been meaning to add this series to my bookshelves, but I just keep getting sidetracked.  The series is about an immortal Druid who is hiding from certain Gods in America.  It's great.  Lots of action, a bit of mystery, and funny as can be.  My favourite character would have to be Oberon.

Recommended for those who love urban fantasy, magic, or mythology.

 

 An Aurora Teagarden Mystery

With a name like Aurora Teagarden, the main character could never go through life unnoticed ;-D  This is a great cosy mystery series that revolves around our main protagonist, Aurora, who is a librarian in a small country town in Southern America.  Full of mystery, and a few murders, this series will keep you guessing until the last page.

I absolutely adore this short series - 8 books - by Charlaine Harris.  Recommended for anyone who works in the library industry, loves cosy mysteries, or just enjoys a great fast paced who-dunnit ;-D

 

 The Black Dagger Brotherhood

A great adult vampire series.  Ward has a different take on the whole vampire genre and I very much enjoyed reading about the original members of the Brotherhood (books 1-6).  There are 9, or 10,  books in the series now, and it doesn't seem as if Ward will stop any time soon.  

Would recommend to those who love Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunter series.

 

 The Parasol Protectorate

Series actually listed under 'An Alexia Tarabotti Novel', but to anyone who's read these books it's a Parasol Protectorate book ;-D  Fabulous characters, intriguing mysteries and all the Victorian era Steampunk you could want.  Highly recommend to anyone who wants to get into Steampunk, or just likes vampires and werewolves.

 

 The Gentlemen Bastard Sequence

Just got this book in the mail yesterday, so it's on my TBR pile, but I just love the title of this series. From the reviews I've seen on YouTube this should be an amazing read.  Hopefully I'll be able to get to it before Christmas ;-D

So Christmas is now one T5W closer ;-D.   Thank you for dropping by, and I hope you found something new to read, and if you want to find out more about this series, it was created by the lovely Lainey at GINGERREADSLAINEY and I'll include a link to the Goodreads group {here} if you would also like to participate.

If you have any questions or comments, then please feel free to leave them down below.

Until next time,

 

Beautiful Dead Ever After Box Set

The Slipcase

 The Book - Clothbound

Between the Covers

What more can I say.  It's so pretty ;-D

 

Top 5 Wednesday - Terrible Covers

Hi to all you booklovers out there.  I hope you're having a great day.

Today I'm going to do my first Top 5 Wednesday video.  This series was created by the lovely Lainey at GINGERREADSLAINEY and I'll include a link to the Goodreads group if you would also like to participate {here}

This week we are looking at our Top 5 Terrible covers.  To me, a terrible cover is one that is not only unattractive - or dare I say, ugly - but also total inappropriate for the content matter. Sort of like putting a tank on a Harry Potter cover and expecting someone to know it was a children’s fantasy.

So without further ado, here are my top 5 terrible covers...

Top 5 Wednesday - Top Spines

It's amazing to see that with all the effort put into cover art these days, that more often than not the spines are forgotten.  When this topic was picked as this weeks Top 5, I went to my bookshelves to find my favourite covers, thinking that their spines would be great too.  Wrong!  Then it became the mad dash to ransack my shelves so I could find 5 very beautiful - or interesting - spines.  It was tough, but I give you my Top Spines (in no particular order) ;-D

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

I love the simple colours, the Bodleian Library picture is awesome, and the seal and smoke all add that air of mystery that surrounds the story.  It is very representative of the first book in the trilogy.

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

While not on my all-time-favourites list, the spine of the book is very self explanatory.  You have fantasy and dragons.  Enough said.  Love the aged red with the golden eye at the top just staring at you.  Even the dragon down the bottom is gorgeous.

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

Just bought this book yesterday so while I haven't read it yet, the spine is as gorgeous as the cover.  Love the blue, gold and red colour scheme that includes those touches of white in the font.  Not sure if it is in line with the story, but definitely looks great on my shelves.

The Lily Bard Mysteries Omnibus by Charlaine Harris

What can I say about this spine?  I love cover art that runs from front to back cover.  This is one of the few hardcovers that I own that does that.  I love the blue tones, and the fact that the dumbbell and feather duster are the symbols that represent Lily Bard.  Thankfully having all five stories bound in one large omnibus has allowed for the cover designer to do the series justice.  Love it!

The Hobbit (Anniversary Edition) by J.R.R. Tolkien

My favourite would have to be The Hobbit.  While not the most colourful, the wrap-around cover makes the most stylized of artwork.  In regards to the spine, I love the simple colour scheme, and the gold embossing used for both the publishers logo, and Tolkien's stylized mark.  From the forrest path to the entrance to the Lonely Mt, this spine shows you the journey that must be taken.  

 

So those are the Top 5 Spines I have in my collection to date.  I hope you've enjoyed this post, and if you leave a link to your Top 5 post in the comment section down below I'd love to see what your favourite spines were.  If you want further information on Top 5 Wednesday - started by the wonderful gingerreadslainey - then head on over to Goodreads {here}.

Until next time,