books & tea & geekery
If I cannot live in J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world pre- or post- Vol-Vol…he-who-must-not-be-named, can I live in the world Annastaysia Savage created in Any Witch Way? I thought Annastaysia’s world-building was superb. The story starts in our reality, but as Sadie learns of her true identity, our reality blends and eventually fades into the realm…
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My experience with books that delve into the realm of the paranormal has rarely been a positive one. I always seem to get my hands on the books that have super lame, female main characters. But, The Candidates showed me strong female lead characters can exist in these types of books. The Candidates by Inara Scott…
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Let me just gush about the pages of Tweet Heart by Elizabeth Rudnick for a minute. Each one is formatted and designed to perfection. Each page has a cute background, not unlike Twitter. The blog entries are headed by spiffy blog headers. And before each tweet is a small little picture of the…er, tweeter? Tweet Heart…
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First, there is Andrew Conner, or as he prefers, Ace. He was once a best-selling author, but now he suffers from a drought of inspiration. He’s neither the hyper-masculine brute nor the silent, brooding type that seems to plague too many novels (of the romantic sort). He’s dorky and quirky and witty and well-read, and…
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I’m notorious for starting book series but never finishing them. I think the problem is, I read the first few books of the series with fervor but then lose gusto after a while. Spending upwards of a month with the same characters, the same worlds, the same story is, for me, tiring. I’ll eventually put…
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When I downloaded House of Dark Shadows by Robert Liparulo, I had the wrong impression of it. I thought it was just a horror story. I hate horror movies, but I love horror novels. I thought I’d give it a go since I haven’t read one in ages. But, I was wrong about House of Dark…
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This is one of those novels which I’m unsure how to categorize. It takes place during the 1980s, so I initially considered it “historical fiction”. Yet, the goal of the novel is not to define a decade or even just a specific period in the 1980s. I also considered it a coming-of-age story. Yet our…
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I just finished re-reading the Harry Potter series, and my thirst for fantasy, wizardry, and magic had not been quenched, so I picked up So You Want to be a Wizard by Diane Duane without knowing much about it. I have to admit, I did have trouble getting into the book. I don’t know if…
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Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry was an interesting twist on zombie lore. It wasn’t the typical hack and slash story I was expecting; instead, Maberry really highlights the man vs. monster dilemma as he humanizes the zombies. I never thought it was possible to feel sympathetic toward a creature that hungers only for brains, but…
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I’ve never met a book by Joe Meno that I didn’t like, and The Great Perhaps is no different. The novel, with it’s lyrical and darkly funny prose, rotates between members of the Casper family– each chapter digging into their quirks and revealing a family on the verge of a breakdown. The Great Perhaps by…
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By Golly, Ollie! 