Midnight Sun (Booktober)

 

"And so the lion fell in love with the lamb ..."

 

 

 

More than a decade ago, we met Bella and Edward, and saw the story of a human teenager and vampire immortal fall in love through her eyes. Now, finally, Stephenie Meyer released the other side of the coin: the story told from Edward's point of view. Midnight Sun went through many ups and downs before it could arrive on our bookshelves, but now that it's here, of course it'll be divisive, because some people will love it, and some will say that it's just a rehash. But it's really not. Because we get to hear a whole lot more than just what happened in Twilight - we get to explore what it's like being Edward with his mind-reading ability. And we get to see the love story unfold again.

 

 

 

When Edward Cullen and Bella Swan met in Twilight, an iconic love story was born. But this unforgettable tale as told through Edward's eyes takes on a new and decidedly dark twist. Meeting Bella is both the most unnerving and intriguing event he has experienced in all his years as a vampire. As we learn more fascinating details about Edward's past and the complexity of his inner thoughts, we understand why this is the defining struggle of his life. How can he justify following his heart if it means leading Bella into danger? 

(from Goodreads)

 

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*image not mine

 

Percy Jackson & the Olympians (Booktober)

The Chronicles of Narnia (Booktober)

Atlantis (Booktober)

Origin (Booktober)

Quo Vadis (Booktober)

Death on the Nile (Booktober)

The Little White Horse (Booktober)

The Sign of Four (Booktober)

Harry Potter #2 (Booktober)

Troublemaker (Booktober)

The Lord of the Rings (Booktober)

Tome Thursday: Midnight Sun

Hello everyone!

Well, after who knows how many years - 10? 12? 15? - it's FINALLY here.

Fans of the Twilight Saga have been practically BEGGING for this particular installment all that time, and the author finally decided this was the one open chapter from times past she wanted to close and put to rest.

I'm not going to lie, I was pretty stoked when news broke about the August release.

You can bet I grabbed this thing ASAP and read it through in two to three sittings.

Interestingly enough, while I thought it would take me a lot less, I needed to take my time with it to really enjoy it properly, which I did.

And before we dive straight in, let me just say, to all the haters out there: we all enjoy different things. If the boys can get a million installments of Fast and Furious, one more book for Twilight fans isn't going to break the world.

Midnight Sun is a worthy addition to any Twi-hard's shelf.

Dracula (Booktober)

"Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!"

 

There is no Booktober without the one and only. Count Dracula waltzed into the world when Bram Stoker's novel got published, and basically began the vampire "obsession" although he's not nearly as romantic as all the new-age vamps running around! Hunted by Van Helsing and presented in countless iterations for our eyes to feast on, this book is a must if you want to spook yourselves a little bit. I know I did - I made the mistake of reading it after dark.

Let's just say I slept with the light on that night.

Side-note: a really good friend of mine told me if tonight's vampire was Edward Cullen she'd be put out. Well, it's definitely not Eddie!

Few readers will ever forget the nightmare atmosphere of Count Dracula's sinister castle in Transylvania, the prowlings of the Un-Dead, the blood-curdling tension . The story recounts the struggle of a group of men and a woman - Dr Seward, Dr Van Helsing and Jonathan Harker with his wife Mina - to destroy the vampire, whose sinister earth-filled coffins are discovered by Harker in a ruined chapel adjoining Dr Seward's asylum. Cruel and noble, evilly and fatally desirable to women, Dracula possesses a terrifying lust for power and, like Dr Jekyll or Conan Doyle's Moriarty, is one of the immortal fictional monsters.

(from book jacket)

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*image not mine

Life and Death (Booktober)

ACOTAR series (Booktober)

Assassin's Creed: Odyssey (Booktober)

Sepulchre (Booktober)

Pride and Prejudice (Booktober)

Tempting Autumn (Booktober)

Harry Potter (Booktober)

The Hobbit (Booktober)

Life and Death (Booktober)

"And so the lion fell in love with the lamb ..."

If you don't see at least ONE pass of foggy Forks, Washington during the autumn months, then you probably are living under a rock. Twilight hit the shelves waaay back when and became an instant hit - and a decade later Stephenie Meyer decided to switch things up a little, which is how Beau and Edythe came along. Not without its challenges, this book does continue the trend of murky views, pale, sparkly vampires, and teenagers intent on living forever, but it's a completely stand-alone novel (that COULD still be expanded into sequels, however).

And for some reason, I kind of prefer this version to the original.
 

When Beaufort Swan moves to the gloomy town of Forks and meets the mysterious, alluring Edythe Cullen, his life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. With her porcelain skin, golden eyes, mesmerizing voice and supernatural gifts, Edythe is both irresistible and enigmatic. 

What Beau doesn't realize is the closer he gets to her, the more he is putting himself and those around him at risk. And it might be too late to turn back ...

(from book jacket)

xx

*image not mine

ACOTAR series (Booktober)

Assassin's Creed: Odyssey (Booktober)

Sepulchre (Booktober)

Pride and Prejudice (Booktober)

Tempting Autumn (Booktober)

Harry Potter (Booktober)

The Hobbit (Booktober)

Tome Thursday: Dragon Rose

Hello everyone!

I apologise in advance if there will be typing errors in this post. A little bit earlier I managed to nick a finger and, as you all well know, fingers tend to bleed like you lost at least an inch of them even though it's just a teeny, tiny scratch! So I had to improvise a bit with a bandage as a normal one just didn't cut it, ergo ending with some sort of stump on top of said finger which makes typing ... difficult.

But anyway.

I did in fact finish quite a few books in the last couple of days, and any one of them would have probably been quite a good cut for this week's blog post, but I need to cool off from one of them (I'm looking at you, Warden) so I decided to go for a lighter reading material today.

Turns out, I'm a Beauty and the Beast nut for certain.

Lo and behold, I found yet another retelling of the story, although truth be told the more I look at this, the more it sounds like it might be a combination of a lot of things, not just one particular fairytale or even legend, actually.

In any event, however, I fell in love with the author's writing style and the pretty much non-drama issues in the book, a realistic approach to the main heroine, and so, without further ado, allow me to present Dragon Rose.

Talkie Tuesday: The Adventurer, the Curse of the Midas Box

"My father says that trust is earned, sir

.... consider what I am about to tell you a down payment."

Hello everyone!

The movie I'm going tot alk about today is one that I probably would never have seen if it weren't for one of the main actors. And THAT would never have happened if I hadn't watched the White Queen tv show to begin with. 

Sometimes, my process is incredibly convoluted, I do agree.

But from what I can see and what I've been following online it looks as though it might just be a stand-alone movie instead of turning into a movie franchise, though it really wouldn't have done well I don't think.

Sadly, this really was one of those one-of-a-kind movies which you put on to watch when you're super bored and want to be distracted.

Don't get me wrong, it was certainly entertaining enough! And I mean, any movie with Michael Sheen in it has to be somewhat good, because lord knows he's a magnificent actor.

I'm talking about The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box.

Saturday Snippet: Bookshelf Tour, part 4

Hello everyone!

To the relief of some ( = P ) this will be the last bookshelf tour post for a while, even though this really is only the first of many shelves I have going along one whole wall in my room. To be honest though, I might actually do a DVD tour at some other point because I seem to have a rather large number of those, too ...

You get the idea.

Tome Thursday: Tiger's Curse

Hello everyone!

So every once in a while, I like to move away from what my usually-prefered books are (those would be history, mystery, vampires, and potentially thrillers, but it depends on the author really), and go for something I'm going to cry my eyes out over (I'm looking at you, Sparks), or something I don't have to hammer my brain into submission for (As in, Julie Garwood and her unusually modern heroines sometime in the 17th century, probably in Scotland, too). 

And then sometimes, I end up with something that bizzarely reminds me of Twilight.

Okay, maybe not so bad, but I think you'll get the idea.

I think I saw Colleen Houck's books in a bookstore while shopping once, but I can't be sure, although I DO know I definitely got an email about a translation that was recently published here. The tiger on the cover was what did it for me (I have a thing for tigers, or at least recently I do), and so I ended up looking up her Tiger Saga, which consists of five novels (of which the last has yet to be written) and a prequel novella: Tiger's Promise, Tiger's Curse, Tiger's Quest, Tiger's Voyage, Tiger's Destiny, Tiger's Dream. It was said to have tigers, Indian culture, romance, and the books aren't too long.

Talkie Tuesday: Fifty Shades of Grey

Hello everyone!

So last week, one of my best friends called and said she had no one to see Fifty Shades of Grey with, and if I'd be game. Now, personally, I'd sworn I would never, ever read the books (because I had the misfortune, I'll call it, of reading about the infamous tampon scene), but the movie ... let's just say kudos to the marketing department. It got me wanting more, and I'm so not a person who would normally want more on these kind of things. But, okay, truth be told, I agreed to go see the movie with her, so I saddled up for what I knew was going to be an ... well, interesting ride, at the very least haha! And before anyone gets all up in arms: despite not reading the book(s), I knew precisely what I was getting myself into, what the movie was about, and what I wouldn't be getting. So, factual check: I knew it would be a BDSM movie, a movie about an unhealthy relationship, and I would so not be getting any lovey-dovey stuff. I would also like to point out that I realize and understand BDSM is something certain people enjoy, and all I can say is kudos to them, but I know it's not my cup of tea, so I won't be trying it - anyone else is welcome to if they wish though. Free world and all that, adults make adult decisions and the like. Now, on to the movie review.