Teaser Tuesday (182)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. 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



Red Queen (p.30)
   - Victoria Aveyard

"Wrists," he sighs, already bored with us.
For a moment, I'm puzzled, but Gisa sticks out her right hand without a thought. I follow the gesture, pointing my arm at the officer. He slaps a pair of red bands around our wrists. The circles shrink until they're tight as shackles--there's no removing these things on our own.

Molly Lee

Molly is about to set off on the adventure of a lifetime . . . of two lifetimes.

It’s 1861 and the Civil War has just started. Molly is an eighteen-year-old girl living on her family’s farm in Virginia when two deserters from the Southern Cause enter her life. One of them—a twenty-four-year-old Huck Finn—ends up saving her virtue, if not her life.

Molly is so enamored with Huck, she wants to run away with him. But Huck has other plans and is gone the next morning before she awakens. Thus starts a sequence of events that leads Molly into adventure after adventure; most of them not so nice.

We follow the travails of Molly Lee, starting when she is eighteen and ending when she is fifty-six. Even then Life has one more surprise in store for her.

*May Contain Spoilers*

Life in the 1860s is nothing if not full of adventure, danger, and the realization of your own mortality. Molly Lee by Andrew Joyce follows the wanderings of one woman as she sets out on her own, with no idea what that might mean, in search of a young man named Huck Finn. 

Molly Lee begins the novel as a young, doe-eyed, naive girl, but is quickly introduced to the dangers of reality. She grows into a no-nonsense woman who knows that she can't rely on anybody but herself. Molly is brave, sharp tongued, and a survivor. In the 1860s, it seems you either had to be willing to kill or be killed and Molly knew how to protect herself. Though she also has a softer side. Molly is loving, loyal, respectful, and dutiful woman. She falls in love, takes on the role of stepmother, and even helps protect an Indian Tribe. Molly is definitely a well-rounded character, with good and bad characteristics. Readers will connect with Molly as the glitter of adventure wears off and reality settles in. Her feisty attitude and lovingness will win over readers as they share in her journey. 

Huck Finn is the beginning of this story. Molly Lee meets him after Huck helps save the livelihood of her family. Love at first sight sends Molly to chase Mr. Finn though it doesn't seem to be written in the stars for him and Molly. As Molly travels around the country, whether by interest or force, readers witness how different life was in the 1860s. Though the story was intriguing, it took me a while to get used to Joyce's writing style. It's very cut and dry without a lot of fluff. Joyce is a writer who gets straight to the point in telling the story and this makes the book a pretty easy read. However, it still seemed a bit long-winded. Maybe because so much happens to Miss Molly that I started to think there would never be a happy ending. Chapters are relatively short and each seems to be a new adventure for Molly Lee but the surprise factor wears off after the first few bouts of bad luck. 

Rating: 3/5 Cups

Photo Friday

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Wearing a favorite book. Priceless.

While You Were Gone - Blog Tour

Synopsis:
Despite Karen Caughee’s intense focus on her music, her life is drifting out of its lane. Her alcoholic mother keeps calling from bars for early-morning rides, her boyfriend doesn’t think she gets him, and that Toronto Symphony Orchestra position she applied for ends up going to her friend, Amy. By chance, she meets American Greg Randolf just before she’s in a car accident. He pulls her from the wreckage, but after major surgery, her recovery is slow. Without her music, her life’s pursuit, Karen is pushed further adrift.

Greg stays by her side while she heals, and he sees her every time he’s in Toronto for work. Without any other support or friendship in her life, Karen craves his enthusiastic attention, and their friendship deepens to love. Though she’s fallen hard for him, he doesn’t share everything with her. In one heartrending moment, Karen’s life comes to a crossroads, and she must face the full truth about who Greg is, and about who she has become.



Review (Contains Spoilers):
While You Were Gone is a stand alone novella based on the characters from Thought I Knew You by Kate Moretti. However, this novella raised so many questions for me as a reader not familiar with the original story. The story reads more like a prequel than a stand alone companion novel. Though I do believe that it could have been stand alone if it were a bit longer and focused more on what happened to Karen after Greg.

Karen Caughee is the main character in this novella and the story is told from her point of view. Within the span of a single day, Karen loses nearly everything: her boyfriend, her job, and her mobility. Sympathetically, I felt an immediate connection to Karen. She was down on her luck and I thought that the journey of rebuilding her life was both entertaining and emotionally inspiring. I was definitely rooting for Karen as she searched for happiness. When Karen discovers that Greg has a wife and family in the United States, the happiness Karen found is shattered and she finds herself once again starting over. This is where I thought the depth of the novella would be. I wanted to see Karen overcome this second round of heartbreak. Instead, the novella jumped ahead two years. Is this break where the novel Thought I Knew You takes place? Then suddenly, Karen is engaged and has a son. I was totally thrown for a loop. I felt like I was given a raw deal. I enjoyed reading the first part and then when the situation thickens, I don't even get to experience it. This was quite a bit unsatisfying. Mainly because I did feel a connection to Karen as I'm sure other readers will.

The plot began well enough. Karen, a violinist, loses her boyfriend, fails her audition, and then is in an accident which leaves her immobile for weeks. Greg, a bystander who pulled her from a burning vehicle, takes care of Karen during which a relationship forms. Happiness ensues while Karen begins to rebuild her life. Then she discovers he's married. Soon after, the novella ends leaving so many unanswered questions. What happens after Greg awakens from a coma that Karen knew nothing about? Does he ever learn that he and Karen had a son? What does her new fiance, Cal, think about all of this? When did Karen and Cal fall in love? Is her mother still struggling with alcoholism or has she stayed sober? These seemingly never ending questions are the main reason I wonder if Moretti is going to use this as a prequel instead of it remaining a 'stand-alone' novella like she claims in the foreword. The connection readers feel to Karen will be an important foundation if there is another book focusing on this. And if that book is Thought I Knew You... well, then I would have to say that reading that book is a definite prerequisite for this novella.

Rating: 2.5/5 Cups

Meet the Author:

Kate Moretti lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, two kids, and a dog. She’s worked in the pharmaceutical industry for ten years as a scientist, and has been an avid fiction reader her entire life.

She enjoys traveling and cooking, although with two kids, a day job, and writing, she doesn’t get to do those things as much as she’d like.

Her lifelong dream is to buy an old house with a secret passageway.

Goodreads / KateMoretti.com / Twitter / Facebook