Review: Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick

Goodreads Summary

Have you ever had the feeling that you've lived another life? Been somewhere that has felt totally familiar, even though you've never been there before, or felt that you know someone well, even though you are meeting them for the first time? It happens. In 2073 on the remote and secretive island of Blessed, where rumour has it that no one ages and no children are born, a visiting journalist, Eric Seven, and a young local woman known as Merle are ritually slain. Their deaths echo a moment ten centuries before, when, in the dark of the moon, a king was slain, tragically torn from his queen. Their souls search to be reunited, and as mother and son, artist and child, forbidden lovers, victims of a vampire they come close to finding what they've lost. In a novel comprising seven parts, each influenced by a moon - the flower moon, the harvest moon, the hunter's moon, the blood moon - this is the story of Eric and Merle whose souls have been searching for each other since their untimely parting. Beautifully imagined, intricately and cleverly structured, this is a heart-wrenching and breathtaking love story with the hallmark Sedgwick gothic touches of atmosphere, blood-spilling and sacrifice.

I’ve been told that Marcus Sedgwick is a bit of a Rock Star in person and if his books are anything to go by then I have no doubt in my mind that his rock status is safe.  I’d been told many times just how great his writing is and it wasn’t until this book came up on the UK Book Tours that I decided to dip my toe into this writers pool of work.  The book goes over several generations, time periods from the future to distant past and lives but the setting remains the same, The Blessed Island.  With touches of Lost in the strangeness of the paradise, the island holds secrets in its people and history that lingers over this story.  Each short story jumps further and further back in time as we slowly piece together the mysteries of the island and the secrets within it that have touched each lifetime, how and why.  Each tale is like a bubble of the past that you get to jump into and explore and Marcus Sedgwick makes the past come alive with the characters and his style of deliciously elegant writing.

I just loved this book because it appealed to the romantic and the supernatural mystery enthusiast in me.  It’s a love story that for use starts in 2073 as Eric and Merle have a bold attraction to each other that has a sense of danger and passion but for no clear cut reason as to why.  It’s intense and dramatic and as each phase ends at a high drama moment we are left reeling and clinging on further into the past to discover the truth in Eric and Merle as we meet them to start with.  The common links and symbols in each tale are like little breadcrumb clues left by the author to follow as we go and try as work out the mystery of the dragon like flower that holds magical potent power and healing qualities, the continual appearance of names and figures in the past on this one island and bonds that seem to last generations.

To start I was wary of the jumps in the time frame because you really connect to the characters you meet only to have to leave them behind.  Sometimes without much resolve in their story line and questions that haven’t really been explained much less answered but with patience comes results.  We gradually piece together the answers in the past and the threads in the island’s woven legends show their colours and how the lives of Eric and Merle are more than just the people we meet in 2073 at the start.

This darkened romance with an outstanding twist is brutal in its attack on your emotions and senses and I cherished every page.  I want to read all of Marcus Sedgwick back catalogue as soon as I can after reading this one book.  I can’t believe I haven’t started reading his work sooner because it’s brilliant.  The writing is like a song that haunts you mind for days to come and even with the dark overtones and gothic like style there is light and hopefulness in the telling.  All that’s left for me to do is to try and hold out till pay day to buy more of his books.

 Awesome Trailer to keep you hooked til the release date:

Rating: 8.5/10

Published by Orion Publisher's imprint Indigo and is available here and at all good book shops from 6th October

Event Report: Mary Hooper Blogger Event @ Bloomsbury

I was super lucky to be invited to go to a Blogger Event on Wednesday 21st September to an afternoon with Mary Hooper.  She was a lovely and great to talk to in person to hear about her life as a writer when she started and now and how she comes up with her ideas and the research she puts into her books.  Here is a little recap of the day and how I remember it (so lots of squeeling and fangirl moments and LOTS of book gushing).

So I met the lovely Raimy from Readapator at Euston station and we ventured off on the tube (which I didn’t get us lost on, woo hoo) and after walking round a little we walked down to the big Waterstones in Piccadilly to gush over books and meet some more lovely bloggers. Carly from Writing from the tub, Sarah from Feeling Fictional, Becky from The Bookette and Sammee from I want to Read That.  So fab to meet them all and then natter about new books and blogging too.  Viv from Serendipity Reviews was already at Foyles (or as I like to call it the book heaven or hell depending on how much I spend) so we all went over to meet her and then gush over books and encourage each other to make purchases.  I was quite pleased that I only spent £20.  That’s a breakthrough for me really.

Suddenly time ran away from us so we all walk down to the new Bloomsbury offices to be greeted by Emma and be shown into one of their beautiful rooms there.  I have to say that the offices are amazing and very grand and I’m green with envy over their book shelves that were huge.

Mary Hooper was extremely lovely to everyone and it was more like an informal chat than an official event which made me feel much less nervous about being a newbie blogger compared with everyone else. Mary talked about how she started her writing career by writing for teen magazines and short stories before venturing into writing a full length book.  It was much easier when she started out to get an agent compared to today’s standards which she is well aware.  Books like the Sweet Valley High series were in vogue and so Mary started writing for younger audiences.

 Mary Hooper never really considered writing a historical fiction novel but after the publication of Celia Rees’ ‘Witch Child’ and it made her rethink attempting a story based in the past.  Mary knew she wasn’t interested in going down the ‘modern’ route with her work because tackling current issues like drug use wasn’t a draw for her and having to confront the fast paced ever changing technology especially when history was full of wonderful ideas and stories to discover already.  The Victorian era was a big draw and discovering cases via the Old Bailey website of “spirtualists” and this lead on the idea for Velvet, the latest book from Mary.  

The afternoon came to an end with some delicious Red Velvet cupcakes from the Humming Bird bakery and goodie bags including our own copy of Velvet and a special combined edition of The Fever and the Flame which includes two Mary Hooper books in one package.  Plus we got them all signed.  I had a wonderful afternoon and think it was the perfect way to get to chat with an author and hear about their career and their work.  I want to thank Mary for a her time and openness to us and Emma at Bloomsbury for inviting me and organizing the event.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I'd want to Reread

 

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers’ answers. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND post a comment on our post with a link to your Top Ten Tuesday post to share with us and all those who are participating. If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. If you can't come up with ten, don't worry about it---post as many as you can!

Vampire Academy:  I want to re-read this whole series but I can’t bare thinking about starting it halfway!  It was a great story and had some fab intense moments that I still enjoy again and again.

City of Bones: I’d want to reread this for sure because it was just amazing but I’d want to have my memory of it wiped first so I could enjoy that OMG moment at the end!

Matilda:  It was the one book as a kid I’d read again and again because I wanted to be Matilda.

Dracula:  I think I need to reread this at this just so I remember how vampires are meant to be. Scary and bad guys.

Animal Farm:  I remember this being one of the few books at school that I really enjoyed and ‘got’.  It was cool to read something and understood was more than just about animals that talked.  

One Seriously Messed Up Week in the otherwise mundane life of Jack Samsonite:  When I FINALLY get it back from my cousin once he’s finished reading it then I want a reread in time for the next instalment in Jack’s life. CAN NOT WAIT!

Rockoholic: Errr! No reason needed.  It was awesome. NUFF SAID

Nightshade:   I’m desperately trying to get my copy back from my aunt so I can re read before I buy my copy of Wolfsbane.  I loved Nightshade but I want to re read before starting the follow up so all the details are fresh in my mind again!

Entangled: Such a great story and I kinda wonder if I were to re read now that I know all the secrets and the ending if it would create a different reaction in me or if I’d notice different things.

Noughts and Crosses: I keep recommending this to my friend’s that are teachers so they take it into school for the kids and I want to re read it because I keep remember why I loved it the first time so much.

Jana Oliver Blog Tour: Demon Creation 101

So I'm freaking excited to be part of Jana Oliver's blog tour and having read Forsaken and Forbidden I can tell you that Jana's books ROCK my socks off!  Being a bit of a Supernatural geek I asked Jana if she'd share with me and all of you how she came up with the demon's in her books and the idea of the Grading system.  Check out Jana's 101 guide to creating the demon's that Riley and Beck (swoooon) tackle on the streets of Atlanta and at the bottom I have a special giveaway! UK only this time folks.  Over to Jana

<a stream of consciousness look into my mind as I created the Hellspawn for my Demon Trappers’ series>

Note: The mind of an author is an uncharted maze so be sure to bring breadcrumbs to find your way back to reality.

The Scene: Intrepid author sitting at her cluttered desk staring out at the street beyond. Nothing extraordinary out there, but inside her mind. . .

Okay, so I have is pretty nifty story idea about a seventeen-year-old girl learning how to trap demons with her father. That’s a nice start. But what kind of demons? If they were all the really evil killer kind no dad in his right mind would let his daughter anywhere near things. 

::taps chin in thought:: How about a couple that are based on the Seven Deadly Sins? That might be cool. ::deploys Google skills to search the Internet to figure out exactly which sins those might include::

Greed: How about a Klepto-Fiend who steals bright and shiny objects? He could dress like a ninja and have a little bag of loot? And the trappers would call him a Magpie. 

Gluttony: What if there was this four-foot tall omnivorous demon that eats just about everything, including fiber optic cable? It’d be a Gastro-Fiend and I could make it hairy and slobbering and with a double row of razor-sharp teeth. Yeah, that’s wicked.

Hey, this is fun. But I need more tea. . .

There just has to be a book destroying demon in my world so how about a Biblio-Fiend that tears apart books and pees on the pages? It’d be a smaller demon, about the size of the Magpies, but really foul mouthed.

And what about a demon that gets into your mind and seduces you out of your soul? A Hypno-Fiend. The trappers would call them Mezmers. Those would be *way* creepy.

::Gathers together all the demon descriptions and studies at them:: 

Wow, this is a good start, but how do I keep all this straight? Confusion central. I’ve got official names and nicknames but I need an easier system to categorize these dudes. Tiers? Levels? How about Grades? 

Okay, now we’re getting somewhere: Grade Ones demons are the smaller Hellspawn like the Biblio-Fiends and the Klepto-Fiends. Grade Twos are ones that set fires. Threes are the ones that eat everything and a Grade Four plays hockey with your mind. The Grade Fives (Geo-Fiends) are the mega scary ones that cause wind storms and earthquakes. Because nine foot tall demons are *always* the stuff of nightmares.

I think I’d better write all this down in a manual or something. Yeah, that’s a plan.

::dusts hands off in satisfaction:: I’m done! This is so cool. ::reality sets in:: I’ve just invented a bunch of demons and now I have figure out how to trap them. Oh dear . . . 

How about . . . magic in glass spheres and sippy cups. Yeah, sippy cups with GLITTER! I got this!!! Demon Trappers, here we come!

Author’s note: The process wasn’t quite as clean as I’ve written here, but that’s how my mind works. It’s usually chaos, but out of that disorder come stories about demons, a young girl who traps them and the ultimate battle between good and evil. 

And if you’re wondering, the glitter goes inside the sippy cup because that’s the best way to trap a Magpie (Klepto-Fiend). You heard it here first. . .

www.JanaOliver.com

www.DemonTrappers.co.uk

Macmillan Children's Books (U.K. Editions)

Demon Trappers: Forsaken - Jan. 2011

Demon Trappers: Forbidden - Aug. 2011

Demon Trappers: Forgiven – Mar . 2012

SO COOL!  I love the idea of the deadly sins being used to create demons.  The sippy cup and glitter technique is DEFFO one of my favourites!  Thanks SOOOO much to Jana and the lovely people at Macmillan Children's Books for letting me be part of this tour.  

 

GIVEAWAY: 

So I have 1 copy of the latest in the Demon Trappers series Forbidden to giveaway and a chocolate bookmark bar from Cocoapod with some nifty monsters and demons on.  The bonus' of working in a chocolate shop is I get to make these pretties all day!

So all you have to do is fill in the form below and the winner will be announced Oct 1st (the last day of the tour).

You don't have to be a follower but if you do follow that would be awesome!  Also comments are LOVED! 

The Post of Awesome [5]

So I have major love for this blog called 1000 Awesome Things which basically takes some time to post about truely awesome things in life from the small to very big.  I always read them and think 'OMG THAT IS AWESOME!'

So I'm making my own feature that will weekly showing something awesome i've discovered that week, something awesome in general or just proving to myself that there is a lot of awesome things to see.  I can be anything to just having a warm towel straight from the dryer or a moment you've personally had in the last week that you think was awesome

So I got a little late birthday present from one of my best mates ever Verity and it's mainly because we are both super busy and such and she lives over an hour away in the car (which I drove to all by myself with the Sat Nav and didn't get lost at all YAY ME!)

It combines my love of Books and Coffee in one awesome present.  She knows me so well!

IMM: In My Mailbox [36]

In My Mailbox is an epic feature run by The Story Siren and my links go to Amazon UK but other book sellers are out there too!

VIDEO!!!!!

Bought

Witch Child by Celia Rees

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Rot and Ruin by Jonathon Maberry

Won

By Midnight by Mia James

Loaned

There is no Dog by Meg Rosoff

Received

Velvet by Mary Hooper

The Fever and the Flame by Mary Hooper

Fracture by Megan Miranda

The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan

This is not Forgiveness by Celia Rees

In Darkness by Nick Lake

White Crow by Marcus Sedgwick

Mentioned

Emma from Book Angel Booktopia
Viv from Serendipity Reviews
Raimy from Readapator
Andrew from Pewterwolf
Jenny from Wondrous Reads
Nina from Orion/Indigo
Emma from Bloomsbury Books

Cover Reveal: Forgiven by Jana Oliver and Blog Tour News

 

Oh My Lord

So pretty!  Jana Oliver announced the link for this cover for the 3rd book on Wednesday evening and I'm a mega Demon Trapper Fangirl so I've had to whip up this post as quick as I could.  I love the purple, the way it matches my other two books and the tag line just leaves me wanting more.  NOW.

Forgiven is out in the UK March 2012 and in other exciting amazeballs news

Jana is over in the UK from next week and is doing a UK blog tour to tie in with her visit and guess who's hosting one of the days.  ME! To say I nearly burst when I got the invite for the tour is the understatement of the century.

Review: Just In Case by Meg Rosoff

Goodreads Summary

Justin Case is convinced fate has in for him.
And he's right.

After finding his younger brother teetering on the edge of his balcony, fifteen-year-old David Case realizes the fragility of life and senses impending doom. Without looking back, he changes his name to Justin and assumes a new identity, new clothing and new friends, and dares to fall in love with the seductive Agnes Day. With his imaginary dog Boy in tow, Justin struggles to fit into his new role and above all, to survive in a world where tragedy is around every corner. He's got to be prepared, just in case

 

For me the real strong draw of this book was the characters that surround Justin’s world from his baby brother, Agnes, the cool girl that helps him change, and Peter, his best friend that doesn’t judge him at all.  I thought the themes in the story about life, death, chance and fate were so strong that even having the voice of fate haunting Justin’s moves was smart because it kept you guessing as to if he had actually lost his mind or were we reading the truth and Fate was talking to him.  The idea of changing everything about yourself is something every teenager will gravitate towards because there is always one moment or time growing up that you wish that you could just be brave enough or willing enough to change from the outside in the hopes of all your problems disappearing with your old self. Just as Justin discovers; things don’t always work out the way you plan but the journey can make it worth the outcome no matter what it is.

I really wanted to like this book because I’d been told that Meg Rosoff’s other title How I Live Now is one of those novels that everyone adores and recommends because it’s brilliant but I found myself struggling at times with Just In Case.  I found the writing too be imaginative and really rather special and the story was a really interesting idea about a boy so obsessed with his own fate and lack of control over it that he tries to change his life because of it and you’re not quite sure if he’s losing his marbles or is just incredibly perceptive.   

However even with these parts that I liked it didn’t gel enough for me to get that feeling of happiness when I finished it.  It was a battle of wills and at times I wondered if maybe I wouldn’t finish it because Justin was almost unreal.  I couldn’t imagine a teenage boy that thought or spoke the way he did and so it made it difficult to empathise with him in some instances.  Though because the writing was beautifully done and the characters were strong I found myself still turning the pages to see what was going to happen.  You wanted to know the why’s in Justin’s life but the how’s confused me.

It wouldn’t put me off reading How I Live Now as I can see that there is real talent in the writing but I felt that I’d have to make sure I’m really focused on that one book solely if I want the best experience and enjoyment when I finally read it.

Rating: 6.5/10

Published by Penguin and is available here and all bookshops now