Waiting on Wednesday #5: Exile - Anne Osterlund

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted at Breaking the Spine that spotlights eagerly awaited upcoming releases.  Head on over there to take part or to check out all the other fabulous books that people are looking forward to reading! 

This week's book is by one of my new favourite authors.  A little while ago I read the first in the series, 'Aurelia' and I've been dying to find out what happens next ever since!

 

Exile (Aurelia #2) by Anne Osterlund
Published April 28th 2011
Speak


Exiled. From the weight of others' expectations, the responsibilities of being crown princess, and the pressure to marry, Aurelia is finally free to travel the kingdom and meet the people of Tyralt. If only Robert, her expedition guide, would stop pestering her about her safety and just kiss her. But then their journey erupts in a fiery conflagration, and with both of their lives and the fate of the kingdom at stake, she and Robert must determine whether they have the strength, and the will, to complete their mission. And face the darker side of exile.

Coveted Cover Art #1

Coveted Cover Art is hosted by Sarah @ Confessions of the Un-Published.   If you want to join in, all you have to do is post about any book (old, new, to come) that you love or have bought just for it's beautiful cover.

My first pick is a book that's not actually been published yet but I've already been drooling over the gorgeous cover :)

Ripple by Mandy Hubbard

Published July 2011 by Razorbill/Penguin

Goodreads synopsis:
Lexi is cursed with a dark secret. The water calls to her, draws her in, forces her to sing her deadly song to unsuspecting victims. If she succumbs, she kills. If she doesn’t, the pain is unbearable. To keep herself and those she cares about safe, she shuts herself off, refusing to make friends or fall in love—again. Because the last time she fell in love with a boy, he ended up dead.

Then Lexi meets Cole. Against her better judgment, she finds herself opening up again, falling in love when she knows she shouldn’t. But when she’s offered the chance to finally live a normal life, she learns that the price she must pay to be free of her curse is giving him up.

In Ripple, Mandy Hubbard spins a sea-ravaged tale of melancholy beauty, and the choices one girl makes between land and waves, love and freedom, her future—and her heart.

Teaser Tuesday #1

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly book meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. 

• Grab your read
• 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 and the author too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers

The Fool's Girl by Celia Rees

Goodreads synopsis:

Young and beautiful Violette may be of royal blood, but her kingdom is in shambles when she arrives in London on a mysterious mission.  Her journey has been long and her adventures many, but it is not until she meets the playwright William Shakespeare that she gets to tell the entire story from beginning to end.  Violetta and her comic companion, Feste, have come in search of an ancient holy relic that the evil Malvolio has stolen from their kingdom.  But where will their remarkable quest - and their most unusual story - lead?

Teaser:

"Man was revealed as maid; the Duke could marry his page.  The Countess was free to transfer her affection to the other twin, and Sebastian most happy to receive it.  The couples were joined in double celebration.  It was a golden time.  But as you well know sir, few stories end at the happy ever after" [Page 17].

I picked this book up from the library because I'm a huge Shakespeare fan and was intrigued by the idea of finding out what happened after 'Twelfth Night' ended.  I'm really enjoying it so far!

Review: Lament - Maggie Stiefvater

Goodreads synopsis:
Sixteen-year-old Deirdre Monaghan is a painfully shy but prodigiously gifted musician. She's about to find out she's also a cloverhand—one who can see faeries. Deirdre finds herself infatuated with a mysterious boy who enters her ordinary suburban life, seemingly out of thin air. Trouble is, the enigmatic and gorgeous Luke turns out to be a gallowglass—a soulless faerie assassin. An equally hunky—and equally dangerous—dark faerie soldier named Aodhan is also stalking Deirdre. Sworn enemies, Luke and Aodhan each have a deadly assignment from the Faerie Queen. Namely, kill Deirdre before her music captures the attention of the Fae and threatens the Queen's sovereignty. Caught in the crossfire with Deirdre is James, her wisecracking but loyal best friend. Deirdre had been wishing her life weren't so dull, but getting trapped in the middle of a centuries-old faerie war isn't exactly what she had in mind . . .

Review:
I'm going to preface my review of 'Lament' by saying that overall I did thoroughly enjoy it.  I'd definitely give it four out of five stars and I'm now going to read the rest of Maggie Stiefvater's books.  But (you knew this was coming!)...although I enjoyed it, I wanted to love this book so much.  I wanted to be gripped by it and swept away by it but I found that I still had one foot on the ground the whole way through.  I wasn't completely engulfed by the story and I didn't feel like I wanted to immeditely rush out and buy a copy for my own collection.  I hate saying that because I know so many people love this book but I didn't have that total emotional connection to it.

However, even saying all that, I still think that this is a cracking addition to faerie lore and I adored the style of Maggie Stiefvater's writing - dreamy and inventive and poetic with a very magical quality to it.  I loved the main character, Deirdre and the development of her relationship with Luke, the gallowglass, although I wasn't totally satisfied with the ending.  I liked her self-effacing nature and her insecurities and the way in which she matures and grows in confidence.  I would have liked to have seen more of the background and relationship with her family developed further, particularly what happened to her mother and aunt when they were younger, but I accept that Stiefvater probably left some of that out to concentrate the story firmly on Deirdre herself.

I thought that the relationship between Deirdre and her best-friend James (who is funny and clever and witty) was well written and extremely realistic and it will be interesting to read 'Ballad' which is told from James' point-of-view. 

I'm disappointed that I didn't love it but I may well give it a few months and then read it again.  You never know, it might just win me over next time around!

In My Mailbox #4

Thanks to Kristi at The Story Siren for holding this meme every week.

I love seeing what everybody else got in their mailboxes.  I just got a few new ones this week via swaps.

All links go to Goodreads, where you can add them to your list if you like the look of any of them.

Take Me There by Susane Colasanti (Swapped)

The Van Allen Legacy by Melissa de la Cruz (Swapped)

Forget Her-Nots by Amy Brecount White (Swapped) - really excited about this one!

I also got some books from my local library (because they had some titles I've been after for ages)

Kiss of Life by Daniel Waters

The Forbidden Sea by Sheila A Nielson

Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater

Lament by Maggie Steifvater

The Fool's Girl by Celia Rees 

50 Followers!

I set this blog up a little over a month ago and am loving having a place to collect all my book-related thoughts together.  I'm also pleased to be part of a wonderful community of book lovers and fanatics.  I feel right at home!

I'm so excited (and amazed!) to have reached 50 followers already. 

Thank you to everyone that's following me and stops by to read my blog.  I'm going to have a 50 follower giveaway soon so please stop by to check it out.  I also have a poll running at the moment to get an idea of peoples favourite book blog features so please take a second to make your choice and then I'll try to have more of the following on 'A Dream of Books'.

Here's to many more happy months book blogging!