The Bests of 2010

I am unashamedly jumping on the bandwagon of besties of 2010 and thrills yet to come in 2011. Because even though I have not been reviewing here long, I have never met a book I did not yet like. Actually I met a few, but they were ones forced on me as a child when I was young and impressionable.

My Top Five Authors I already knew, loved and adored who had books come out in 2010…
(In depth reviews will come over the course of the next few months as I re-read them and wax lyrical for hours at anyone who’ll listen.)

Sarah Rees Brennan – The Demon’s Covenant (The Demon’s Lexicon Book 2)

I have been reading Sarah Rees Brennan since I was 14 and she was writing fan fiction, and now she is published and important, and instead of reading her writing on the internet, I can read it in a real live book with a pretty cover! Her writing is brilliant and funny and I want to steal all of her boys in the series  and run away with them. 

Holly Black – White Cat (Curse Breakers Book 1)
Holly Black continues to amaze and astound, and her new series is possibly her best yet. Set in a world where magic is bad, and you can curse someone by touching them, Cassel is doubly screwed by the fact that he comes from an old family of conmen who will do anything to come out on top.

Cassandra Clare – Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices Book 1)
I think I love Victorian shadow hunters even more than I love modern day shadow hunters. They are epic and more terrifying than ever – and love triangles galore! Sense the theme of Victorianism that appears to be pervading all of my reading… You know it’s good if I’m devoting so much of my time to it.

Maria V Snyder – Spy Glass (Opal Cowan Trilogy Book 3)
This is like Tamora Pierce but for grown ups. I still read Tamora Pierce, because I grew up on her and adores her – but Snyder fills in the big chunks that growing up and love and romance can leave in children’s fiction. I want to stay in this world forever, because it has castles and magic and romance and horses and chases and kidnappings and… I’ll review it properly later.

Julia Quinn – 10 Things I Love About You

Everyone has to have their fluff, and Julia Quinn is mine. Regency romance is something every girl should have in her arsenal after a stressful day at work. They got me through my A levels, my degree, and now work.I love them, and all their fluff filled ways.

Top Five New Discoveries of 2010 that I shall covet for years to come
And oh my word did 2010 throw some awesome stuff at me. Again, anything that has not yet been reviewed shall receive a review once I’ve got through the stack of new books by my bed.

Deanna Raybourn – Lady Julia Grey Series
As you may have already guessed from my review of Dark Road to Darjeeling below, I adore this series, and this author. I discovered them at a challenging point this year, and they have kept me company many times since.

 Gail Carriger – Parasol Protectorate Series

Oh my word I may faint from how delicious these books are. My first true foray into steampunk, and it was a fabulous one. Dirigibles, vampires, werewolves, tea, treacle tart? And a heroine who not only has a parasol but knows how to use it?! Oh my…

L J Smith – Vampire Diaries Series
Whilst the TV series is based on the books, it’s quite loosely based, so loving the tv show, did not diminish or hinder my love of the books. They are the first books to truly terrify me in a long time, and once I got over the fact that there are people who so do not exist in the tv show, and people missing entirely from the books, I realized to hell with it, these are two incredible pieces in their own right, and I’m completely hooked. Now if only what's happening on the cover could please happen in the show or the book, I would be a truly happy lady.

Ali McNamara – From Notting Hill with Love… Actually
I love it. I love it I love it I love it I love it. See review posted earlier this month. All I can say is her debut novel is fabulous, and I cannot wait for the next one. 

Belle De Jour – The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl
I have yet to find someone who has not loved these books. They are a dirty little secret that I love.  There is no fluffiness, no romance, no pretty little ties to all the threads of the story at the end. It’s real life, and it’s not pretty or neat – it’s downright sordid when you’re a call girl…

So what does 2011 hold for me? A lot of spending on books...

(The books I simply cannot wait to get my mitts on.)

Lauren Oliver – Delerium

Cat Clarke – Entangled

Jasper Fforde – One of Our Thursdays is Missing

Holly Black – Red Glove

Julia Quinn – Just Like Heaven

Cassandra Clare – City of Fallen Angels (Mortal Instruments Book 4)

L. J. Smith – The Vampire Diaries: The Return: Midnight

Sarah Rees Brennan – The Demon’s Surrender

Gail Carriger – Heartless (Parasol Protectorate Book 4)

Deanna Raybourn – The Dark Enquiry (Lady Julia Grey Book 4)

Carrie Jones – Entice

Simon Van Booy – Everything Beautiful Began After

So what have your big reads of 2010 been? And what are you most excited about for 2011? Sound off in the comments below.

Review: Dark Road to Darjeeling by Deanna Raybourn

I have tried (and failed) over the last few days to put into words just how much I adore Deanna Raybourn’s writing. I finished her latest book, the fourth in the Lady Julia Grey series about five days ago, and have since been re-reading the previous three books – because I am that desperate to stay in the world she has created.

I discovered this series quite by chance, as a recommendation from Amazon because I’d bought Gail Carriger’s books. These being steampunk, I presumed I was in for a similar ride with Lady Julia Grey, but a hundred pages in and not a whiff of magic? No vampires, werewolves or dirigibles? I would have been peeved that Amazon had got me to buy this under false pretences, but by a hundred pages in I really didn’t care. These books are quite simply put, brilliant, and I was thrilled to discover that it wasn’t a trilogy as I had originally thought, but an unnamed number of books – basically as long as Raybourn continues to write them.  So the fourth one came out in October, and I waited eagerly for it to arrive, but when it did it sat on my bedside table waiting.

I was terrified that having loved the first three so much, and thinking that was the end of the series, that I was going to ruin it by reading this latest offering. I was an idiot – Dark Road to Darjeeling was quite possibly, the best instalment yet.

For Lady Julia Grey and Nicholas Brisbane, the honeymoon has ended...but the adventure is just beginning. 

After eight idyllic months in the Mediterranean, Lady Julia Grey and her detective husband are ready to put their investigative talents to work once more. At the urging of Julia’s eccentric family, they hurry to India to aid an old friend, the newly-widowed Jane Cavendish. Living on the Cavendish tea plantation with the remnants of her husband’s family, Jane is consumed with the impending birth of her child—and with discovering the truth about her husband’s death. Was he murdered for his estate? And if he was, could Jane and her unborn child be next? 
Amid the lush foothills of the Himalayas, dark deeds are buried and malicious thoughts flourish. The Brisbanes uncover secrets and scandal, illicit affairs and twisted legacies. In this remote and exotic place, exploration is perilous and discovery, deadly. The danger is palpable and, if they are not careful, Julia and Nicholas will not live to celebrate their first anniversary. 

(Taken from deannaraybourn.com)

Dark Road is quite utterly delicious.  The new cover is divine, and it and the break away from the titles of the first three books in the series (Silent in the Grave, Silent in the Sanctuary, Silent on the Moor) signify the change and shift that has occurred since the end of the third book.

I think this was what made me the most nervous about reading the book – Julia and Brisbane are now finally married. All that deep intense brooding and passionate illicit kisses are things of the past, and I worried that with the legitimacy of the relationship and the fact that Brisbane is no longer allowed to be aloof and run away, that some of the magic of the first three would be lost.

I could not have been more wrong. This book marked a change, and it was most certainly a good one. To say it is better would be to undermine the first three books, and that is never going to happen (have I mentioned I love them?...) but Brisbane and Julia finally facing each other as man and wife adds a whole other layer that has so far remained untouched. They are facing each other as equals. There are still power struggles, but of an entirely new variety to those in the first three books. Yes Julia is still desperate to be accepted as an equal to Brisbane, and he is still incredibly protective of her, but I was forcefully reminded that as a first person narrative from Julia, we are only ever given her biased opinion. We never truly see a balanced perspective, and I was so glad when Portia gives Julia a stern talking to towards the end of the book and we finally appreciate (along with Julia) that she has been being selfish and not at all fair to Brisbane with her attitude and actions. It added another dimension that had not really been considered yet, and leaves an entirely new approach to move forward in the coming novels.

Along with this is Raybourn’s completely realistic approach to their married relationship, and I loved the deepening of the bond between them, the new levels of understanding, and the intimacy that they’ve never been able to achieve prior to their marriage.

The writing is exquisite – I was staggered upon discovering that Raybourn is an American writer. The voice is so impeccably English, the language flawless, and the research so thorough it really feels as though you are there, whether she’s taking you into an English drawing room, or through the heat of India.

The change in scene was delightful, the new characters incredibly drawn, and I think this is where Raybourn’s talent truly shines through – she creates a host of characters that are so real, and so believable – everything from the clothes and mannerisms to the motives behind their actions. I feel completely immersed when I read her work, and I adore it all the more for that escapism.

There is a sense of quiet that pervades the book, but one that rests on a knifes edge, with tensions mounting throughout and leaving the reader nervous even when there is no obvious cause for concern. It is impeccably done, and I think something that has improved over the course of the books since Lady Julia’s first foray into investigations.

The ending left me quietly sobbing, and again it amazes me how well Raybourn elicits emotions from the reader. It is terrible, but it is also life, and the poignant passages born out of grief and sadness, are quite possibly the best in the book – an impressive feat.

I could go on and on about how much I loved this latest instalment – it furthered the story, added new layers to the already complex relationships and set up new scenarios and pairings to be explored in the fifth book due out in 2011. If you haven’t discovered Deanna Raybourn and the Lady Julia grey series, make that your last find of 2010 – it won’t disappoint.

Review: From Notting Hill with Love... Actually by Ali McNamara

So my Mum and I have a tradition every Christmas, that it is the only time I am allowed to give her books. She’s like me in that she reads them ridiculously quickly, only she has no will power so she won’t do anything like eat, or sleep, or entertain me, until she’s finished. Christmas is the one time I can break this rule and slip a chick lit into her stocking, but part of the fun is that I have to proof it first to make sure it is the sort of book she’d like.
          So I just finished reading “From Notting Hill with Love… Actually” by Ali McNamara and oh good lord that may have been the best chick lit I have EVER READ.

She was just a girl, standing in front of a boy ...wishing he looked more like Hugh Grant. Scarlett loves the movies. But does she love sensible fiance David just as much? With a big white wedding on the horizon, Scarlett really should have decided by now ...When she has the chance to house-sit in Notting Hill - the setting of one of her favourite movies - Scarlett jumps at the chance. But living life like a movie is trickier than it seems, especially when her new neighbour Sean is so irritating. And so irritatingly handsome, too. Scarlett soon finds herself starring in a romantic comedy of her very own: but who will end up as the leading man?

Scarlett is, as you have gathered, a little bit obsessed with the movies. She is constantly slipping into daydreams and fantasies that get her into no end of trouble with… well pretty much everyone who knows her. She’s engaged to be married to an awful guy called David, and the relationship is painfully realistic as most girls when reading this, will probably recognise their own bad relationship experiences in there. It’s horribly obvious how little David really knows, understand and appreciates her, so it’s little wonder that when she’s offered an opportunity to house sit in Notting Hill for a month, she leaps for it. After all it is one of her favourite films. 

The scene is set, new place, new irritating guy who makes her stomach do an acrobatic routine, and one crazy quest to prove that she isn't wasting her life in a daydream. From Notting Hill follows all the set patterns of a chick lit, one of the reasons I love it so much – I love coming home to a safe book that will follow all the usual things, but do them in a fresh and fabulous way. You’ve got the conflict between finance and gorgeous man next door, the twist where it all goes horribly wrong, and the happily ever after. With a healthy dose of witty banter and more chick flick references than you can take.
I think this is one of the reasons I loved it so much – I’ve watched almost all of the films referenced, I’ve wished I was in them living out those romances, so I could immediately connect with Scarlett and that made the book a lot easier to love.

This has shot straight to the top of my favourite chick lit list. It’s funny, moving, fast paced and pulls you straight in and doesn’t let go. I read it in one night, much to my boyfriends amusement as he snored beside me. My only frustration? That this is Ali’s first novel, because after I finished I wanted to buy everything she’d ever written and read it all right then and there. But the benefit of this? If this is her debut novel, I literally cannot wait for the next ones she writes. In fact, I’m just going to wait and see what my Mum makes of it, and buy myself a copy to read repeatedly in the meantime.

The Vampire Diaries: By the Light of the Moon Review

So the promo for this week’s episode of the vampire diaries had me expecting one thing, and yet we were given something completely different. That’s not a bad thing, it just meant that it took me longer than I would have liked to get into the right mind set.
               

Expecting: Stefan and Katherine in the tomb with her breaking him down bit by bit until he snaps and pins her (half naked) against the wall.
                Actuality? Well they were in the tomb, and she was messing with Stefan’s head, but it was brief and not particularly great and the steaminess was all a day dream? What? There was so much potential between the two of them stuck in this confined space, but I really didn’t feel that that was utilised, and Stefan got out way too easily. I really wanted at least one more episode with him stuck, and with more than a couple of two minute scenes of the two of them. There is so much unresolved between them, no matter how many times Stefan says that he’s over Katherine. It’s lies, lies I tell you!

                Expecting: Damon and Elena to have interactions, and for him to possibly make a move.
                Actuality? They had one scene together. One. Now I don’t care if he doesn’t pin her against a wall and ravish her, but I love Dobrev and Somerhalder’s chemistry, and again I felt cheated that they weren’t really used. However, the scene we were given was pretty awesome in its own little way. Cushion throwing? Damon’s snarky jokes? Damon and Jeremy not killing each other, but actually laughing together? Apparently all you need to do is lock Elena up and everyone else bonds over the hilarity over her pouty face.

                Expecting: Some sort of awkwardness over Jeremy’s attempted kiss between him and Bonnie.
                Actuality? None whatsoever – in fact there were cute smiles and plotting and hilarity over Elena’s housebound status. (Which was awesome by the way, I liked Elena being trapped and unable to race off and do really stupid things that require one or both of the Salvatore brothers to rush off and save her. Also, the glass in that door was incredible – not a trace.)

                Expecting: Luca to be more than a little pissed with Bonnie.
                Actuality? Ok so he is double crossing her to do what his dad wants, so he may not actually have forgiven her as easily as it seemed – but come on, make her beg a little more before you give her the melty smile? She almost burst your brain last week! And she’s not really all that sorry, I bet you five bucks she will do it again if she needs to.

                Expecting: Damon to be off fighting evil in his super cool way.
                Actuality? He was in the grill with Alaric (although they do get points for their awesome crime fighting duo which will never ever stop being funny, particularly when Alaric is either drunk or pretending to be.) chatting up some wolf girl (badly) and getting increasingly frustrated that the usual Salvatore charm wasn’t working. I know Damon can’t be epic every week, but this was poor for him. However, seeing him get put down by a girl and watching his reaction to that did go a little way towards appeasing me. Only a little way though. On the plus side, as well as being kick ass, I kind of like how Jules is shaping up – basically anything less useless than Rose is a good thing.

                Expecting: An awesome transformation and general epicness from Tyler and Caroline.
                Actuality? Way, way better than any expectations or thoughts I had before watching this. I mean, oh –my – freakin – god. That was incredible. It was unpleasant, and it made me cry, but it was supposed to, and I’m glad it did and that they didn’t shy away from showing just how awful the transformation was. So much is over cgi’d now, or doesn’t show it so that it’s safe for younger audiences, and a little bit of me was scared they’d do that with this, but seeing this just reaffirmed that I should stop stressing, because this show is not just in capabale hands, it’s in freaking awesome way beyond any of my highest expectations hands. Yeah ok the rest of the episode wasn’t up to the usual levels of high tension, but I think everyone watching was really only focused on one storyline – this one.

Trevino was incredible. He’s been really showing himself this season, and has gone from strength to strength, but this was beyond anything. It was incredible and horrible and painfully heart breaking  to watch him full on sobbing and crying that he couldn’t do it, because there was nothing anyone could to help take away the pain and horror for him – although Caroline tried her damndest.  The whole set up was really well done – I’m sure I wasn’t the only person who found it difficult to watch Tyler wrapped up in chains, (the hardest for me were the ones round his neck) the noises the guy made were heart wrenching and awful, and I know I’m repeating myself but I can’t seem to find words to convey what he did in those scenes. I’ve watched it through twice now, and I cried both times.

Also, I am so glad only bits of the transformation were visible, they were just enough and just right to convey without it looking fake. His arm? His spine? His whole freaking stomach and rib cage?! I want to make a little statue award and give that and a hug to Trevino for getting through that and doing such an incredible job.

One final note before I finish gushing about this part – Caroline and Tyler. I am so, so glad that she was there with him, that she ignored his urging to leave, and she was right back beside him when it was over. Her cradling him and him reaching out to grasp at her as if she’s the only thing keeping him together was truly heart breaking. Thank you Vampire Diaries for going there.

Next time?

Well I’m not quite sure how I’m going to get through the next month without new episodes, particularly not after the new promo for the next episode… I think they just upped the ante a little bit. Although I will admit, not really all that fussed about Rose – the only thing that made me glad she was back, was so that Damon didn’t get bitten.

Two notes of interest from the final scene:
1) Do you think when Rose isn’t using it, the silk robe is actually Damon’s?
2) Who could possibly resist Damon’s “are you sure?”

So this week wasn’t what I was expecting on some levels, and way better on others, but it turned out incredible and I think the bar has just been raised yet again.
Add your own thoughts in the comments below!

Review: Matched by Ally Condie

On her seventeenth birthday, Cassia meets her Match. Society dictates he is her perfect partner for life. Except he’s not. In Cassia’s society, Officials decide who people love. How many children they have. Where they work. When they die. But, as Cassia finds herself falling in love with another boy, she is determined to make some choices of her own. And that’s when her whole world begins to unravel . . .

I’ll admit now and get it out of the way for future posts – I am a complete cover judger. If a book has a lame cover, I just can’t get past it, which is tragic, but luckily for me there are a lot of truly awesome cover designers out there right now. So it was the cover that made me pick up Matched. Having passed the cover test, I go straight to reading the first page, in which she’s talking about angels, riding a train in the air and wearing a gorgeous green silk dress. Oh and have I mentioned she’s on her way to meet the man she’ll marry? And she doesn't get any say in it, she’s matched on data alone and told who to love. I'm sold.

I will also admit now, that whilst the idea intrigued me and the writing was good, I didn’t really get hooked into the book until about half way through. I can’t pin point the exact place, but around the half way mark there is an almost imperceptible shift in Ally Condie’s writing style and it goes from very short sharp sentences where the heroine, Cassia, perceives the world around her in data blocks to be analysed, to a lyricism that made me want to cry it was so beautiful.

“When I open my eyes, as I put my hand up to the place on my cheek where his lips touched, I say, ‘I didn’t give you anything on your birthday, I don’t even know when it is.’ And he says, ‘Don’t worry about that,’ and I say, ‘What can I do?’ and he answers, ‘Let me believe in this, all of this, and you believe it too.’ And I do. For one entire day I let his kiss burn on my cheek and into my blood, and I don’t push the memory away.”

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Cassia is trapped in a world of rules, where Officials decide everything, monitor everything, and keep everyone and everything under control. After her match banquet, where Cassia is told who she will marry when she turns 21, a supposed error with the data card make her start thinking about the possibilities outside of the world and rules she has been given. But the further in she gets, the worse the consequences get, and the worst thing is that no-one stands up against those in charge, and says that this is wrong. 

Normally books like this really irritate me. Cassia is a good girl who does exactly what she’s told and never breaks the rules, and normally, when a character follows so blindly all the bad things that are happening, and never stands up and rebels, it frustrates me. A lot. 

But Condie makes you really feel for Cassia, instead of the usual irritation, I understood that she genuinely doesn’t know any other way to behave, has no idea what the hell she is doing, and is just trying to stumble along and not hurt anyone or make any mistakes along the way – and I think everyone can relate to that on some level.  

Her voice is clear, and whilst it didn’t strike me into a frenzy of awesome from page one, it crept up on me so by the time I reached the end, I was desperate for the next book. Because yes, like most books at the moment this is the first of a series, and you have to wait until sometime next year for the next book “Crossed”  but I’m pretty certain that if Condie continues with the fabulous stride she’d reached by the end of “Matched” it’ll be well worth the wait.

The Vampire Diaries: The Sacrifice Review

So this weeks Vampire Diaries was a non-stop thrill ride, neither the characters or the audience get a chance to breathe. From the word go and Elena once more had intruders in her house, you knew it was gonna be good…