Teaser Tuesday: Garden Spells

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!

"She was so Southern that she cried tears that came straight from the Mississippi, and she always smelled faintly of cottonwood and peaches."  Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Authors I'd DIE To Meet

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This week's Top Ten asks, "Who are the Top Ten authors you'd DIE to meet?"

10. Stephenie Meyer - The Twilight series is so polarizing; either you love it or you hate it - there's practically no middle ground. I happen to be on the Love It side of that equation; the books (and even the movies) are my guilty pleasure. However, I'd love a chance to sit down with Ms. Meyer and ask her what in the name of naming was she thinking when she selected Renesme for the vampirelette?

9. Sarah Addison Allen - Ms. Allen writes truly lovely books. They make me feel like there really is a little magic in the world, I just have to find it. Someone who can create such beautiful stories is someone I'd love to have 'round to tea.

8. Sarah MacLean - I read Ms. MacLean's Nine, Ten, and Eleven books in quick succession and I want a chance to ask, beg, plead for a new book asfastasshecan!

7. JK Rowling - The first of the initialled authors on my list (and the only one still living...). Not only am I a major fan of the Harry Potter books (I'm still sad I never got my own Hogwarts letter), as a girl who'd someday like to write books and is looking for a job in a library, I find JK to be an inspiration. First, she got a whole generation of kids excited to read, and that's amazing in and of itself, but she was also incredibly successful in the process. I want to be JK when I grow up...

6. CS Lewis - My favorite books as a kid were the Chronicles of Narnia. I would read them over and over, and if I could, I'd shake the hand of the man who made reading such a delight.

5. JRR Tolkien - I want to live in Middle Earth. Tolkien's intricate descriptions, with everything thought out in minute detail, makes it feel like I could close my eyes and enter that world. Reading his books is a truly magical experience.

4. Jasper Fforde - Mr. Fforde's alternate reality/book world Thursday Next series is beyond amazing. He's a brilliant author, but I truly appreciate how clever a wordsmith he is. Utterly fantastic.

3. Dawn French - Whilst she's an actress and comedienne first, Ms. French is also an author. She's the kind of woman you wish you could invite out to drinks and just listen to stories about her life. Did you know she snogged Johnny Depp?

2. Charlaine Harris - I'm hooked on the Sookie Stackhouse series, particularly any scene involving Eric (book 4 is my favorite). If I met Ms. Harris, maybe she could introduce me to Alexander Skarsgard...

1. Gail Carriger - I adore her Parasol Protectorate books and I'm excited to say that she follows me on Twitter and actually responded to me a couple of times! It made my bookish heart go all aflutter! It's a major step to really meeting someone on this list. Maybe one day we can talk Steampunk over a cuppa.

WWW Wednesdays (July 6)

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?






What are you currently reading?

Girl in the Steel Corset (Steampunk Chronicles #1) by Kady Cross
I just started this book last night, so I haven't gotten very far yet, but I am digging the Steampunk and this YA title looks like it's going to be a winner.

What did you recently finish reading?
Magic Slays (Kate Daniels #5) by Ilona Andrews
This is such a cool, intense urban fantasy series. I'll have a full review up soon...

What do you think you’ll read next?
I'm not sure, I just brought in a major haul from a massive book sale, plus my library stack is as tall as a toddler. I do have a couple of books I need to read for book groups: Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen (love her!) and Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen. Then there's Julia Quinn's Just Like Heaven, which I won't be able to wait too long to read (and hoping it's as good as her Bridgerton series). Then there's Spoiled by the fabulous Go Fug Yourself girls (love that site).

Quot libros, quom breve tempus.

Waiting on Wednesday: Miss Peregrin's Home for Peculiar Children

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Title:  Miss Peregrin's Home for Peculiar Children
Author:  Ransom Riggs
Publication Date:  available now

From Goodreads:
A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. And a strange collection of very curious photographs. It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children who once lived here—one of whom was his own grandfather—were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a desolate island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.

Ok, yes, this book is technically available now, rather than a pre-publication title, but I'm waiting on a copy from the library, so it's not available to me yet. So I'm going to count it :) If you're not convinced that this is a must read, just check out this AWESOME book trailer:

Teaser Tuesday: The Girl in the Steel Corset

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!

"Finley didn't court trouble, but part of her--that part that was going to keep her safe, yet get her fired--hoped he'd try something. It was horribly delighted as the prospect of the violence to come."

The Girl in the Steel Corset (The Steampunk Chronicles), by Kady Cross

I am growing to love Steampunk. I'm still new to it; most of what I know is from Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series, but it's so cool! And it has such a wonderful aesthetic. I can't wait to dig in to this book!