Mais citações / More quotes:
quarta-feira, 10 de abril de 2013
segunda-feira, 8 de abril de 2013
Blog Tour: Inceptio by Alison Morton [Review + Giveaway]
Today is a very special day. For the first time, I'm hosting a tour stop for Inceptio Blog Tour.
Hope you all enjoy it!
Author: Alison Morton
Published: Silverwood Books (2013)
Description:
New York, present day. Karen Brown, angry and frightened
after surviving a kidnap attempt, has a harsh choice - being eliminated by
government enforcer Jeffery Renschman or fleeing to the mysterious Roma Nova,
her dead mother's homeland in Europe.
Founded sixteen centuries ago by Roman exiles and ruled
by women, Roma Nova gives Karen safety and a ready-made family. But a shocking
discovery about her new lover, the fascinating but arrogant special forces
officer Conrad Tellus, who rescued her in America, isolates her.
Renschman reaches into her new home and nearly kills
her. Recovering, she is desperate to find out why he is hunting her so viciously.
Unable to rely on anybody else, she undergoes intensive training, develops
fighting skills and becomes an undercover cop. But crazy with bitterness at his
past failures, Renschman sets a trap for her, knowing she has no choice but to
spring it...
Review:
Wow, what a story!
I don’t think I have
enough good words to fully express how special this book is—at least, not yet.
It’s not only spectacular—for me—because it’s part of my first ever Blog Tour,
but it is so mainly due to how different and fresh and original it truly is
when compared to most of the books I’ve been reading lately. I have never read
anything like Inceptio before. The way Morton developed the story with
something new and thrilling always happening, the characters that ultimately
are so believable, and the creation of Roma Nova by itself, all these things
together are somewhat pretty amazing.
I really liked
Morton’s writing. It is not only quite different from what I’ve come across so
far, as it also shows that everything she puts on paper turns out to be
important somehow. I also very much enjoyed the true balance between dialogue
and narrative, especially because, as a reader, I felt all the good, the bad
and the utterly scary thins going on on Karen’s life and, to me, that’s one of
the most imperative components in a book. Plus, every single character I found
it to be extremely well built and solid. It never mattered how significant their
part was in the story, it never mattered how big or small their “physical”
presence throughout the book was, all the background, all the crucial information
about what motivated them, what made them want to act, want to love, want to
protect, is there. This allows the reader to somehow connect with the central
people in the story, and to allow himself a chance at being part of the
adventure instead of only watching, reading about it.
I particularly liked
Karen. She’s an enormously curious and active figure, with a strong personality
and a huge amount of bad luck, especially in the first half of the book. Since
everything happens to her all the time, the way she responds to problems and to
all the new stuff occurring in her life ends up being one of the most
interesting aspects of this book. She’s that edgy, exceptional kind of
character that in a crazy way captivates the readers attention and even when
the book is over, when there’s no more pages left, she’s still pretty much in readers’
thoughts. Renschman was a huge contributor to that unique alliance between
reader and heroine. He’s such a damaged man, who helplessly watches everything
getting out of his control, that becoming the “evil” character, the villain,
was precisely what we could do best. And what a scary guy he turned out to be!
It gave me the creeps more than once.
Another element that
completely caught me by surprise was the alternate reality—I was aware of this
when I first started the book but I could have never imagined how plausible and
appealing Roma Nova would turn out to be in the end. I’m a woman so… this would
definitely be the most amazing and exciting place for me to live in; but that
aside, this is a country that speaks for itself and that’s unbelievably
beautiful for the way it keeps its inheritance alive. I couldn’t help myself to
fall deeply in love with it—and not because Nonna and Conrad are locals!
Intriguing, imaginative
and with a sturdy political side to it—that completely fascinated me—this is
the perfect book to anyone who is looking for something different and unusual.
I can’t wait for the sequel!
About the author:
A
'Roman nut' since age 11, the mosaics in Ampurias (Spain) triggered her
wondering what a Roman society would be like if run by women. That idea bubbled
away in her head for years.
Playing
around with words much of her life - playwright (aged 7), article writer, local
magazine editor and professional translator - she came to novel writing in
reaction to a particularly dire film:
'I
could do better that that,' she whispered in the darkened cinema.
'So why don't you?' replied her other half.
'So why don't you?' replied her other half.
Three
months later, she had completed the first draft of INCEPTIO.
After
a West Kent childhood and uni in Leeds, Alison worked as a civil servant in the
City of London, dealt in coins and antique jewellery, head-hunted chief
executives, served as a Territorial Army officer and owned a translation
company. With a BA in French, German and Economics, she went back thirty years
and bagged an MA in History. She now lives in France with her husband.
Pursuing
her interest in women's history and a nod to her own military service, Alison
published a history eBook Military or
Civilians? The curious anomaly of the German Women's Auxiliary Services during
the Second World War in March 2012.
*Giveaway*
a Rafflecopter giveawayWant to check the rest of the Tour? Then here are the previous and next tour stops!
April 1 Review by Because
this Girl Loves Books
April 2 Guest Post Of
History and Kings
April 3 Guest Post/ Sneak Peek on Alive
on the Shelves
April 4 Interview by Because
this Girl Loves Books
April 5 Author Spotlight by Brook
Cottage Books
April 6 Interview by
Layered Pages
April 7 Guest Post on Layered Pages
April 9 Interview/ Review by Crime Thriller Girl
April 10 Review by Jaffa Reads Too
sexta-feira, 5 de abril de 2013
Adding to the Pile (5)
Desta vez a «coisa» não esteve nada, nada fácil, mas finalmente lá se resolveu, uffa! Contrariamente ao que estava à espera, agora que o Kobo faz parte da minha vida literária diária, e onde grande parte das minhas leituras são realizadas por lá, acabei por adquirir praticamente o mesmo volume de livros que habitualmente. É verdade que as aquisições estrangeiras diminuíram um pouco, mas o objectivo do Kobo era precisamente esse, permitir-me apreciar um livro, ver se realmente gosto da história, antes de me atirar para a compra do dito cujo em formato físico... e, assim, confesso, a minha carteira vê-se com sangramentos menos abundantes... até porque a Feira do Livro está quase aí à porta, mas uí, é melhor nem pensar nisso! Passemos então às mais recentes belezas cá de casa...
Na Cama dos Reis, Juliette Benzoni
Príncipe Mecânico, Cassandra Clare
Imortal, Gillian Shields
Traição, Gillian Shields
A Marca das Runas, Joanne Harris
Menina de Ouro, Chris Cleave
A Menina Que Circum-navegou o Reino Encantado (Num Barco Que Ela Mesma Fez), Catherynne M. Valente
Ligeiramente Casados, Mary Balogh
Férias em Saint-Tropez, Elizabeth Adler
Um Pequeno Escândalo, Patricia Cabot
Encontras-me no Fim do Mundo, Nicolas Barreau
À Luz da Meia-Noite, Sherrilyn Kenyon
Beijo, Jill Mansell
Refletida, Sylvia Day
Depois, Rosamund Lupton
A Filha do Conspirador, Philippa Gregory
Os Guerreiros do Arco-Íris, Andrea Hirata
WOOL, Hugh Howey 
Ghost Hand, Ripley Patton*
Inceptio, Alison Morton*
Stolen Night, Rebecca Maizel
Uns estão lidos e podem ver as opiniões algures aqui no blogue, outros estão igualmente lidos mas encontram-se ainda com opinião por publicar, e uns tantos dos restantes estão por ler mas espero, em breve, conseguir colocar todas estas excelentes leituras em ordem!
* A gigantic and very warm thank you to Ripley and to Alison for sending me these wonderful works of theirs. Ghost Hand is going to be one of my next readings and Inceptio is almost finished, with a special feature scheduled to be published here next Monday, April 8th.
Wrap up:
quinta-feira, 4 de abril de 2013
Losing It, Cora Carmack [Review]
Author: Cora Carmack
Publisher: Self-Published
(2012) / HarperCollins (2013)
Pages: 204
Format: eBook
Description:
Virginity.
Bliss Edwards is about to graduate from college and still has hers. Sick of being the only virgin among her friends, she decides the best way to deal with the problem is to lose it as quickly and simply as possible-- a one-night stand. But her plan turns out to be anything but simple when she freaks out and leaves a gorgeous guy alone and naked in her bed with an excuse that no one with half-a-brain would ever believe. And as if that weren't embarrassing enough, when she arrives for her first class of her last college semester, she recognizes her new theatre professor. She'd left him naked in her bed about 8 hours earlier.
Bliss Edwards is about to graduate from college and still has hers. Sick of being the only virgin among her friends, she decides the best way to deal with the problem is to lose it as quickly and simply as possible-- a one-night stand. But her plan turns out to be anything but simple when she freaks out and leaves a gorgeous guy alone and naked in her bed with an excuse that no one with half-a-brain would ever believe. And as if that weren't embarrassing enough, when she arrives for her first class of her last college semester, she recognizes her new theatre professor. She'd left him naked in her bed about 8 hours earlier.
Review:
Many times I feel
like I need a good and uncomplicated read to get me out of a harder book I’ve
just finished and that ended up affecting me way too much. As incredibly as it
might sound, I do have a hard time finding these kind of books as it turns out
I never really pay them adequate attention, but fortunately I was lucky enough
to have recently read an awesome review about Losing It and after devouring
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer I knew, I really, really knew I was in need of
something like this. And what an amazing, simple and funny reading this was.
I didn’t exactly
knew what to expect since New Adult is still a very new genre to me, but I got
curious as soon as I realized that High Schools were no longer the centre piece
of the background scenario. Nothing against teens—I was one myself, back in the
day—but truth be told, I’ve been missing well-built, consistent characters, and
these are definitely features hard to find in younger main voices.
Bliss is, without a
doubt, the best asset of this book. She’s the heart and soul of the story and
her own personality is such a treat that I couldn’t help myself to burst into
uncontrollable laughs every time her virginity insecurities were “the issue”
for her to be incapable of moving on to the next stage of both her life and
extremely-difficult-to-define relationship with Garrick. Garrick, himself, has
to be the most devilish male character I’ve ever read. He’s utterly intense, he
doesn’t give up or seems to be able to get control over his actions whenever
Bliss is looking unbelievably sexy—what,
for him, is almost all the time—and he has an accent. An accent, you guys! C’mon,
who can actually resist to one of the sexiest accents—it’s the British one, in
case you’re still wondering about it—in the entire world? I can’t, and Bliss
can’t either!
I really enjoyed the
whole atmosphere of Losing It—the constant instability of wanting to act for a
living, the craziness that naturally runs in “artistic ones” veins, the
awkwardness of being a 22 year-old virgin, the troubles of having a lunatic as
a best friend and, of course, all the doubts and scares that come along with
the absolute pure love you feel when you’re falling for your teacher. So, as
you may see, this is not just an easy and effortless book. There are a lot of
pertinent and current themes portrayed in this story and whenever you can feel
that close to reality, that sometimes discomfort sensation due to believing
that any of this could easily happen to you, that’s when you’re truly dealing
with a well written and solid book. Ultimately, and within the Contemporary
genre, that’s my favourite part of the whole reading experience.
I could hardly be
more satisfied with this book. Cora was an absolute delight as a debut author and
her story has such an incredible humour to it that this could easily be one of
the most charmed readings you’ve ever acknowledged. I can’t truly wait for the
second book in this series (?) as I am eager to come back to these wonderful
characters lives one more time. Awesome book, for sure!
Quote:
«Four. That's the number of people who saw me hiding around the corner from my own apartment in just a skirt and a bra. Eleven. That's the number of ant bites I got on my shoeless feet. Twenty-seven. That's the number of times I was tempted to do myself physical harm because I am an IDIOT. One. That's the number of times I tried not to cry, but failed.»
segunda-feira, 1 de abril de 2013
Pedacinho picks... 5 Sentidos
Eu sei, eu sei. Por vezes queixo-me de, na minha simples opinião, o romance sensual/erótico ser um género que, actualmente, se encontra explorado ao máximo, muitas vezes até ao exagero, mas depois deparo-me com capas destas e não consigo resistir. Não foi uma escolha fácil, aliás, foi a curiosidade quem, em última instância, prevaleceu, e, por isso, apresento-vos a escolha da Pedacinho, para o mês de Abril, com carimbo 5 Sentidos, Porto Editora.
Vina Jackson
Sinopse:
Summer Zahova é uma violinista ardente e impetuosa, que vive uma relação frustrante com um homem que não a compreende. É na música que encontra a sua libertação. Ela passa as tardes nas estações de metro de Londres a tocar violino, perdida nas partituras de Vivaldi e Mendelsshon. Um dia o seu violino sofre um acidente irreparável e Summer recebe uma proposta inesperada de Dominik, professor universitário, um homem atormentado por desejos inconfessáveis que ficou fascinado por Summer quando a ouviu tocar. Dominik oferecer-lhe-á um novo violino na condição de ela tocar para ele em privado.
Incapaz de reprimir a forte atracção que sentem, Dominik e Summer embarcam numa aventura intensa e ousada. Para Summer é a oportunidade de se encontrar com o seu lado mais sombrio, no entanto, cedo se apercebe de que o prazer tem um preço elevado. Mas poderá uma relação nascida de uma tal paixão sobreviver?
Sobre a autora:
Vina Jackson é o pseudónimo de dois reconhecidos escritores que escrevem juntos pela primeira vez. Um é um escritor de sucesso, o outro, escritor com obra publicada, é um profissionar da City.
quinta-feira, 28 de março de 2013
Adding to the Pile (4)
Especial Páscoa... será?
Nop, não é bem esse o caso, pelo menos, não desta vez. A verdade é que me chegou uma pequena e muito antecipada pérola à estante, e se a vontade de a devorar, quando ainda a invejava no original, era de si já imensa, então agora que a versão portuguesa me veio parar às mãos... Uí, é melhor fugirem todos pois aqui esta vossa leitora determinada e super impulsiva vai-se enclausurar num qualquer buraco e ler este tesouro, este doce, como se não houvesse amanhã! Por isso, não, não é propriamente um especial Páscoa mas—e atenção, mas!—é a «apresentação» formal daquela companhia inestimável e inigualável que me irá acompanhar nesta época festiva e familiar.
Happy readings!
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