Teaser Tuesday (10)

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!

  Midnight Sun (p.89)
         - MJ Fredrick

"You don't know what it's like to shoot someone. I don't want you to know. So I'm keeping the gun."

"Would you rather I know what it's like to be dead?" 

Should Be Reading @Wordpress

A Feast For Crows

"After centuries of bitter strife, the seven powers dividing the land have beaten one another into an uneasy truce. But it's not long before the survivors, outlaws, renegades, and carrion eaters of the Seven Kingdoms gather. Now, as the human crows assemble over a banquet of ashes, daring new plots and dangerous new alliances are formed while surprising faces--some familiar, others only just appearing--emerge from an ominous twilight of past struggles and chaos to take up the challenges of the terrible times ahead. Nobles and commoners, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and sages, are coming together to stake their fortunes... and their lives. For at a fest for crows, many are the guests--but only a few are the survivors. "

Throughout the first three installments in the series A Song of Fire and Ice by George R.R. Martin, the main players in this game of thrones were the highlighted narrators. However, in A Feast for Crows, the fourth book, nearly all of those players are absent.

The main characters that readers have come to love and hate are left out of this entire book. Tyrion and Dany being the most obvious characters that didn't make it into any part of the novel. Although Jamie Lannister and Queen Cersei become narrators for this book. There sections are by-far the most interesting, along with Brienne, the maid of Tarth.

The novel seems to foretell that in order to understand what will happen in the fifth book, the fourth book is necessary. It does little else then to lay a foundation and uncover character motivations that readers questioned in the previous book. While focusing on King's Landing, A Feast for Crows also shows the reader what has been happening in parts of the Seven Kingdoms that we haven't ever been introduced to. Meaning that, unless the reader accepts the fact that this book is the "story behind the story" from the beginning, I think many will dislike it.

I have to say that I felt disconnected from the whole novel. I was never a fan of Cersei or Jamie, who steal the entire focus of the novel creating chaos. Although it seems karma may be coming to call upon dear sweet Cersei soon.  My favorite characters had little or no part in this book, and I feel many readers will have a hard time connecting with characters that were either marked as evil or hadn't been previously introduced. But, Martin promised on the past page of A Feast for Crows that all of our favorite (and least favorite) characters will return in A Dance of Dragons. :)

A Feast for Crows

on Amazon

rating: 3/5 cups

Fifty Shades of Grey

"When literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview  young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating. The unworldly, innocent Ana is startled to realize she wants this man and, despite his enigmatic reserve, find she is desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana's quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her too--but on his own terms.

Shocked yet thrilled by Grey's singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success--his multinational businesses, his cast wealth, his loving family--Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a daring, passionately physical affair, Ana discovers Christian Grey's secrets and explores her own dark desires."

* *

As my friend, Carrie, told me when she let me borrow this book -- "You won't be able to stop reading until you finish." 

She was right. 

E L James' Fifty Shades of Grey does more than bring you into the novel. It binds you there. With just over 500 pages, this novel could easily stretch across a few days, but it consumes its readers without giving the slightest notion of a 'stopping point.' 

Anastasia Steele, 'Ana', is the main character of the novel. She's a young woman who is graduating from college with an English Literature degree and applying for jobs in publishing houses. She's also interested in Christian Grey - control freak, dominant, and ... erotic. 

Ana is as real to life as any character should be. Some of the things she does (or doesn't do) I doubted momentarily, but E L James not only explains Ana's actions, but also her thoughts and motivations. I felt a strong connection with Anastasia. Although, I did also graduate with an English degree, though it was in writing and not literature, and I share her future career goals. Though these two foundation elements are not a requirement to form a connection with the character. 

The personality traits Ana has make her a likeable character. She's somewhat clumsy (okay really clumsy), hilarious, honest, sweet, smart, has a vocabulary I would die for, and wants to fall madly in love. Plus, she can hold her own. She's a strong woman who when faced with a serious relationship decision (seeing that it includes being tied up) she doesn't fall to the feet Christian Grey but challenges him in every way possible.

The entire novel is from Ana's point of view; she is the narrator. This allows the reader to really form a connection with her, because E L James makes sure to share what Ana is thinking and feeling as she weighs her decisions concerning Mr. Grey. The book is an amazing read, but it is graphic. Some of the parts will have the readers wishing they were the ones experiencing the passion, and some will have them asking why Ana isn't running for the hills?

Fifty Shades of Grey 

on Amazon

   

rating: 4/5 cups

Teaser Tuesday (9)

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!

Fifty Shades of Grey (p.128)
                - E.L. James

He gently pulled my pigtail.
"I love these," he whispers. "They won't protect you."

Should Be Reading @ Wordpress