First Chapter, First Paragraph: The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl by Melissa Keil

Every Tuesday Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Introsto share the first paragraph sometimes two, of a book that she’s reading or planning to read soon.

The house is a single-storey, chipped white weatherboard, and stand on the edge of a dusty road. It’s set on stilts, unusual for around here, with a rickety staircase leading to the doors. French windows open onto a verandah, dappled by eucalypts and crammed with tables. In my sketchpad, I’ve always managed to make the house look adorable, in an Oklahoma! meets Smallville sort of way. In reality? It kinda looks like it should be harbouring survivalists hoarding Spam and toilet paper and stuff.

But it’s beautiful. And it’s my favourite place in the universe.

The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl by Melissa Keil

Alba loves her life just as it is. She loves living behind the bakery, and waking up in a cloud of sugar and cinnamon. She loves drawing comics and watching bad TV with her friends.

The only problem is she’s overlooked a few teeny details:

Like, the guy she thought long gone has unexpectedly reappeared.
And the boy who has been her best friend since forever has suddenly gone off the rails.
And even her latest comic-book creation is misbehaving.

Also, the world might be ending – which is proving to be awkward.

As Doomsday enthusiasts flock to idyllic Eden Valley, Alba’s life is thrown into chaos. Whatever happens next, it’s the end of the world as she knows it. But when it comes to figuring out her heart, Armageddon might turn out to be the least of her problems.

Based on this intro, would you read more or pass on this book?

I saw this cover. I read the title. And I’m in luuurveee… Needless to say, I’ve very high expectations! I hope this going to be a fabulous read. Please note, however, the target audience is 12-15 y.o.

 

First Chapter, First Paragraph: The Drifter by Anthea Hodgson

Every Tuesday Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Introsto share the first paragraph sometimes two, of a book that she’s reading or planning to read soon.

When Cate Christie has left the city, she had known it wasn’t going to be for good. And when she drove her tiny car through the vast, open paddocks of wheat and sheep, she knew that she wasn’t going to stay. That this was just temporary. And she knew that, no matter the distance between her and the bright, shining lights of the city, Brigit was still dead, and that she was going to be dead forever.

The Drifter by Anthea Hodgson

Cate Christie is a party girl, unable to commit to anything, until she is involved in a tragic accident that changes everything. To escape her guilt and her parents’ bitter disapproval, Cate leaves Perth for her aunt Ida’s isolated farm in country Western Australia.

Henry is a drifter, a young swagman-like character who wanders onto the Christie family property and takes up residence in a disused shed. With secrets of his own, the last thing he wants is to get tangled up in Cate and Ida’s lives.

Against their own better judgement, the fates of Cate and Henry and Ida inexorably intertwine and they learn to face the realities of life, death and letting go.

A witty, charming and moving debut rural romance about what makes a good death and, more importantly, what makes a good life.

Based on this intro, would you read more or pass on this book?

 

First Chapter, First Paragraph: Ahab’s Wife, or The Star-Gazer by Sena Jeter Naslund

Every Tuesday Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Introsto share the first paragraph sometimes two, of a book that she’s reading or planning to read soon.

Captain Ahab was neither my first husband nor my last. Yet, looking up–into the clouds–I conjure him there: his gray-white hair; his gathered brow; and the zaggy mark (I saw it when lying with him by candlelight and, also, taking our bliss on the sunny moor curly-cup gumweed and lamb’s ear). And I see a zaggy shadow now in the rifting clouds. That mark started like lightning at Ahab’s temple and ran not all the way to his heel (as some thought) but ended at Ahab’s heart.

Ahab’s Wife, or The Star-Gazer by Sena Jeter Naslund

A magnificent, vast, and enthralling saga, Sena Jeter Naslund’s Ahab’s Wife is a remarkable epic spanning a rich, eventful, and dramatic life. Inspired by a brief passage in Moby Dick, it is the story of Una, exiled as a child to live in a lighthouse, removed from the physical and emotional abuse of a religion-mad father. It is the romantic adventure of a young woman setting sail in a cabin boy’s disguise to encounter darkness, wonder, and catastrophe; the story of a devoted wife who witnesses her husband’s destruction by obsession and madness. Ultimately it is the powerful and moving story of a woman’s triumph over tragedy and loss through her courage, creativity, and intelligence.

Based on this intro, would you read more or pass on this book?

 

Teaser Tuesdays: The Immortal Prince

 

Tides, how did this happen?  he wondered as they turned and headed back across the lawn to the palace.  An hour ago, he had control of his life and the lives of those for whom he was responsible.  Suddenly, it had all slipped from his grasp.

~page 264

The Immortal Prince (Tide Lords #1) by Jennifer Fallon

 

He’s insisting he’s a Tide Lord and he’s begging us to try again…to kill him, that is.

When a routine hanging goes wrong, the survivor announces he is Cayal the immortal Prince, a Tide Lord. However, the only known record of the immortal beings of Amyrantha is the Tide LordTarot…and everyone knows it is only a parlour-game, an amusement.

Arkady Desean, an expert on the legends of the Crasii – a part-animal, part-human race – is sent to interrogate Cayal. But in exposing this would-be immortal, Arkady’s own web of deceit threatens to unravel.

Nothing is as it seems around the Immortal Prince. The lies seem plausible, his stories improbable…and the the truth is more than any of them bargined for.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read • Open to a random page • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Truth or Dare: Books read in January

This is a meme hosted by JennaDoesBooks and this week’s challenges are:

It’s been a pretty busy week and I don’t particularly have that much time so I’m opting for the easier one of the two which is Truth!

These are the books I’ve read in January:

• The Almost Girl by Amalie Howard
• The Screaming Staircase (Lockwood & Co #1) by Jonathan Stroud
• Laskar Pelangi by Andrea Hirata (The Rainbow Troops)
• King Cave (Forever Evermore #2) by Scarlett Dawn
• Winnie The Pooh by A. A. Milne
• The Rule of Knowledge by Scott Baker
• Scorched: a Leila Marx World novella by Amber Garr

Well, that wasn’t as many as I thought I would’ve read!  Even though I have about 5 “currently reading” books, whoops!

How did your reading go this Jan?

 

 

Teaser Tuesdays: The Yearning

A light shame passed through him when he realised it was probably because of his careless exhibitionism with Tracey.  That had been stupid.

~page 50

The Yearning by Kate Belle

“I want to reveal myself to you… I need your eyes to see, your hands to touch, your spirit to acknowledge that which I hold most deeply and secretly in my heart. My yearning for you.”

It’s 1978 in a country town and a dreamy fifteen year old girl’s world is turned upside down by the arrival of the substitute English teacher. Solomon Andrews is beautiful, inspiring and she wants him like nothing else she’s wanted in her short life.

Charismatic and unconventional, Solomon easily wins the hearts and minds of his third form English class. He notices the attention of one girl, his new neighbour, who has taken to watching him from her upstairs window. He assumes it a harmless teenage crush, until erotic love notes begin to arrive in his letterbox.

Solomon knows he must resist, but her sensual words stir him. He has longings of his own, although they have nothing to do with love, or so he believes. One afternoon, as he stands reading her latest offering in his driveway, she turns up unannounced. Each must make a choice, the consequences of which will haunt them until they meet again twenty years later.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read • Open to a random page • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Reading Week

I’ve had the very good luck of catching a cold right before the long weekend so I’ve pretty much spent the weekend at home and probably will not be stepping any foot out the door for the rest of the long weekend except maybe to look for food… the fridge & pantry are looking pretty bare right about now.  Hubby’s about to step out to get us some dinner.  I’ve begged him to get him a small bag of Kettle chips (Honey Soy) and he’s refusing me!  How could he refused a sick wife her comfort food?  Enough whinging on my part!  Hope the rest of you are having a terrific weekend and for all the Aussies, Happy Australia Day!  Don’t forget to enter the Australia Day Book Giveaway Blog Hop!

Update: he loves me after all, he came back with the chips, yay! 😀 ❤

This week is all about books I’ve purchased (erm, yea, book buying ban broken within 13 days from NY day, lol).  A few of these are second hand and about half will fit in my challenges this year.  I was slightly generous and bought one for my son 😉

• Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter ~LOST challenge
• Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner ~LOST challenge
• The Godfather by Mario Puzo ~LOST challenge
• Wattle Creek by Fiona Mccallum ~AWW2014
• Sleep With the Lights On by Maggie Shayne
• Taste of Darkness (Healer #2) by Maria V. Snyder ~I’ve read the eARC but needed the paperback to complete my collection 😉
• Your Best Body by Michelle Bridges ~cuz I loved her ‘Perfect Veggie Casserole’ recipe in this book; I could have it everyday!  The recipe was previously available online on the Penguin Books Australia website but it looks like they’ve taken it down 😦
• An Iron Rose by Peter Temple ~Classics Project
• The Watch Tower by Elizabeth Harrower ~Classics Project & AWW2014
• Dinosaur Rescue! by Penny Dale ~loved how big his eyes get when he saw this 🙂

Currently reading:

• Cecilia, or, Memoirs of an Heiress by Fanny Burney ~this reading a classic a month is just not happening for me… I still intend to finish this brick of a book though.
• The Rule of Knowledge by Scott Baker ~nearly there! 
• The Lost Sisterhood: A Novel by Anne Fortier

What I’ll HAVE to pick up this week:

• The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
• The Yearning by Kate Belle

                    

Teaser Tuesdays: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

He looked around at the havoc he had created in the poor, sad offices of the Aryan-American League and felt a momentary pang of remorse.  Then, abruptly, it was his turn to feel ashamed, not only for having extended, however momentarily, the consideration of his sympathy to a Nazi, but for having produced work that appealed to such a man.

~page 189

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon

Joe Kavalier, a young Jewish artist who has also been trained in the art of Houdini-esque escape, has just smuggled himself out of Nazi-invaded Prague and landed in New York City. His Brooklyn cousin Sammy Clay is looking for a partner to create heroes, stories, and art for the latest novelty to hit America – the comic book. Drawing on their own fears and dreams, Kavalier and Clay create the Escapist, the Monitor, and Luna Moth, inspired by the beautiful Rosa Saks, who will become linked by powerful ties to both men. With exhilarating style and grace, Michael Chabon tells an unforgettable story about American romance and possibility.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read • Open to a random page • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Reading Week

Aaah, thanks for coming along on the ride for me, if you’ve been around the past week, you’ve seen that I’ve decided to tackled on both memes I was considering.  We’ll see how long that will last, especially the Truth or Dare -this vlog business is nerve wracking!  Nevertheless, thank you so much for all your encouraging notes about my voice; you guys have definitely made my day. Hugs & Kisses to you all!

It’s been a pretty busy week for me and so, a very very slow reading period.  I went to the movies twice (*gasp* oh, the luxury!) -once with my kiddo for Walking With Dinosaurs in 3D (his first full feature film and he gets to see his fave dinosaurs in 3D -he absolutely loved it) and then, with a couple of girlfriends to see The Railway Man.  I must say that I didn’t really know that much about The Railway Man and I wasn’t really in the mood for a serious movie – I went just to hang out with my friends for a bit.  When discussing this with a friend, she commented how underwhelming my ‘review’ of the movie was… but I just couldn’t help myself.  At the risk of sounding superficial, Colin Firth’s glasses were just so prominent that it really distracted me from the whole movie! I was getting really annoyed with that.  Plus, the young Japanese translator -um, he doesn’t look like he knows if he’s supposed to be there?  The only bit I love, though, was the endin… I haven’t read the book or any reviews so I was really unsure how it was supposed to turn out and I was completely blown away.  The ending sooo saved the movie for me 🙂

Then on Saturday evening, I went to see “An Evening with David Sedaris” at the Sydney Opera House.  It was such a wonderful evening, when the lights came on, I was surpised to find that 1.5 hours have passed.  He’s such a witty story-teller.  He read some of his diary entries, and seriously, I wish my diary entries were like his!  I can’t thank Hachette Books Australia enough for these tickets! My girlfriend and I absolutely enjoyed the night.

The post seems to be geneous this week with 2 deliveries of books.  It’s a thrilling experience each time I ripped into those packages -I’m sure you booklovers will know what I’m talking about 😉  This week I’ve received:

From Hachette Book Australia:

• Pushing the Limits by Casey Stoner ~signed copy
• Ugly: My Memoir by Robert Hoge ~signed copy
• The Girl with All the Gifts by M. R. Carey ~an Uncorrected Proof
• The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd ~an Uncorrected Proof

From Harlequin Books Australia:

• Hunted by Elizabeth Heiter
• The Queen’s Choice (Heirs of Chrior #1) by Cayla Kluver
• Someone Like You (Boys of Summer #2) by Victoria Purman

Currently reading:

• Cecilia, or, Memoirs of an Heiress by Fanny Burney ~it’s sitting on my bedside table UNtouched at the mo… just catching up on some must read to review book!
• The Rule of Knowledge by Scott Baker ~read a few chapters more but as above…
• The Lost Sisterhood: A Novel by Anne Fortier ~started earlier in the week and have probably read 20% of it but again had to put down as per above…

What I’ll be trying to fit in this week:

• The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan

                   

Teaser Tuesdays: The Rule of Knowledge

 

The sound that silenced Malbool was an unnaturally deep growl, felt more than heard, as if from below the range of normal human hearing.  It resonated in our stomachs, and we froze.  It was right in front of us.

~page 174

The Rule of Knowledge by Scott Baker

Faith, history, science and love collide in this fast-paced action adventure.

High school teacher Shaun Strickland is shocked when he receives a last-minute invitation from Cambridge University to deliver a paper on the relationship between space and time, something he has been studying for years. This could be the break he s been longing for. But as he and his wife drive through the cold North Carolina night to catch their flight, their car slams hard into something exploding from the bushes. From that moment, a mind-bending mystery unravels.

A strange package seems to be the key. Breaking the seal, Shaun discovers a bundle of ancient documents written in Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic. But there is something else amongst the pages; a book, seemingly sealed airtight for millennia, written in perfect English, telling a story that will change history.

Soon Shaun discovers others are after the book . . . and they won t let anything stand in their way. A debut action thriller that will keep you turning the pages until you have all the answers.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read • Open to a random page • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!