Teaser Tuesday #105: The White Rose (The Lone City #2)

Welcome to Teaser Tuesdays.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read

2. Open to a random page

3. 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 muchaway! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

4. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My current read is The White Rose (The Lone City #2) by Amy Ewing and my paragraph is from location 65

'I, at least, might have something the Duchess wants. My body might be enough to keep me alive'

The White Rose (The Lone City #2) by Amy Ewing

Goodreads | Book Depository | Booktopia |  Amazon

 

Violet is on the run. After the Duchess of the Lake catches Violet with Ash, the hired companion at the Palace of the Lake, Violet has no choice but to escape the Jewel or face certain death. So along with Ash and her best friend, Raven, Violet runs away from her unbearable life of servitude.

But no one said leaving the Jewel would be easy. As they make their way through the circles of the Lone City, Regimentals track their every move, and the trio barely manages to make it out unscathed and into the safe haven they were promised—a mysterious house in the Farm.

But there’s a rebellion brewing, and Violet has found herself in the middle of it. Alongside a new ally, Violet discovers her Auguries are much more powerful than she ever imagined. But is she strong enough to rise up against the Jewel and everything she has ever known?

The White Rose is a raw, captivating sequel to The Jewel that fans won’t be able to put down until the final shocking moments.

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your ‘teasers’ in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks!

Review: Mirrored by Alex Flinn

Title: Mirrored

Author: Alex Flinn

Published: 15th September 2015
Publisher: Harper Teen
Source: Harper Teen via Edelweiss in echange for an honest review
Reviewed: Sapphired Dragon
Rating: ** 1/2  

My Review:

I will start by saying I really, really wanted to like this

I am sorry to say though, I struggled with virtually everything about this book. I struggled with the writing, with the characters, with the setting.  Normally I like my fairy tale retellings however I think that may have been part of the problem - there was more retelling than re-showing.

The first thing I struggled with was the modern setting. The idea itself was quite good but I felt like the setting itself didn't quite work and story lost some of its authenticity as a result.

The story itself didn't grab me.  I know (obviously) the story of Snow White and that wasn't the problem.  It just seemed that other than the modern setting, there was nothing all that new or fresh in the tale nor did I feel that the author really made it her own. Even with the one twist the author threw in, I still didn't feel it. I had to make myself move through it rather than being pulled through by the story itself and at times I had to stop myself from putting it down altogether

I also found a lack of sincerity behind the words which made it hard to connect with the story and the characters, and at times it felt a little trite and kind of preachy. The characters themselves seemed quite one dimensional which made it hard to feel any genuine emotion for them and at times some of their actions and they things they said did not really ring true for me.

Some books are so good that you just don't want them to end but when I finished this one, sadly all I felt was relief that I could finally move on to something else.

I haven't read anything else by Alex Flinn. It might be that if I had,  I might have felt some more connection to Kendra and to the tale itself.  It might also be that the target audience was for someone younger than me. At any rate, in the end I found the story a little disappointing.

For that reason I feel I am unable to give it more than 2 1/2 stars :-(
 

Sapphired Dragon xx

About The Book:

Mirrored by Alex Flinn

Goodreads | Book Depository | Booktopia

A modern, multi-generational tale of Kendra, the witch from "Snow White," who trains Violet, an ugly, lonely, and heartbroken girl in the 1980s who transforms herself into "the fairest one of all" but still cannot win Greg's heart, and Celine, Greg's daughter with Violet's high school rival, Jennifer.

     

Review: Ash & Bramble by Sarah Prineas

Title: Ash & Bramble

Author: Sarah Prineas

Published: 15th September 2015
Publisher: Harper Teen
Source: Harper Teen via Edelweiss
Reviewed: Sapphired Dragon
Rating: ****   

My Review:

This book was an unexpected surprise. I knew it was a fairy tale retelling and I thought it sounded interesting but to be honest I was not expecting to enjoy it as much as I did.

The things whilst it is technically a fairy tale retelling rather than actually retell, it turned the original tale on its head asking what if Cinderella didn't actually want to marry the prince? What if the prescribed happily ever after was not actually happily ever after the characters wanted? And what if story got in the way of people living their lives the way they want to.

These are some of the questions that are posed during this tale in which Pin, a seamstress in the Godmother's fortress decides that she doesn't want wants been prescribed for her future and attempts to escape picking up a shoemaker "Shoe" along the way but after being recaptured, the Godmother sets in motion Pin's story but Pin and Shoe are determined to write their own ending.

I loved the premise behind this story and they way it all unfolded. I loved that characters weren't always what they were supposed to be and the tale didn't go the way it was supposed to which meant I got to follow a whole new journey. The writing, which split between Shoe and pin's perspectives, is well crafted, flowed along nicely and was well paced. I found myself connected to the story the whole way through.

This is a fun fresh tale for fans of series such as the Inkspell series by Cornelia Funke.

I very much enjoyed this story and give it 4 stars.

Sapphired Dragon xx

About The Book:

Ash and Bramble  by Sarah Prineas

Goodreads | Book Depository | Booktopia

When the glass slipper just doesn’t fit…

The tale of Cinderella has been retold countless times. But what you know is not the true story.

Pin has no recollection of who she is or how she got to the Godmother’s fortress. She only knows that she is a Seamstress, working day in and out to make ball gowns fit for fairy tales. But she longs to forsake her backbreaking servitude and dares to escape with the brave young Shoemaker.

Pin isn’t free for long before she’s captured again and forced to live the new life the Godmother chooses for her—a fairy tale story, complete with a charming prince—instead of finding her own happily ever after.

Sarah Prineas’s bold fairy tale retelling is a dark and captivating world where swords are more fitting than slippers, young shoemakers are just as striking as princes, and a heroine is more than ready to rescue herself before the clock strikes midnight.

     

Stacking The Shelves #24

Welcome to Stacking The Shelves! Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga Reviews and is a meme to share those books, both print and e-book, that have been added to your shelves in the last week/s.

Up until Thursday this week, I wasn't sure there would be a Stacking The Shelves this week as though I was expecting a few books to arrive, the post has been disappointingly bare. On e-book front however, from Thursday, things picked up and I ended up with some really awesome ARCs to read and review.

That being said, my week on the blog has been extremely productive, with two reviews posted and a further 2 scheduled, 4 books read and a post for virtually every day this week which hasn't happened in a while :-)

Review - E-ARCs( Netgalley)

I am review the first book in the below series in 2013 and recently reposted that review here and I bought book 2 in 2014 so I was extremely glad to be approved for book 3 this week by Penguin Teen Australia.

Kin (Tales of Beauty & Madness #3) by Lili St. Crow

Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon

Ruby deVarre is Rootkin – the granddaughter of the most revered clanmother in all of New Haven.

For Kin, nothing comes before family, and it's about time for Ruby to start thinking about settling down and starting one of her own. But settling down is the farthest thing from wild-child Ruby's mind. All she wants to do is drive fast with her friends and run free through the woods with Hunter and Thorne, two of her favorite boykin. But Ruby knows that if she keeps disobeying her Gran's wishes, she might end up beign Collared – the worst punishment and disgrace in the kin community.

Then Gran announces that they'll be hosting a guest – a handsome boy named Conrad Tiercey from a kin family across the Waste. Ruby accompanies Gran to the train station, and sparks fly immediately. Conrad is gorgeous. Maybe settling down with someone like him wouldn't be so bad . . .

But as Ruby gets to know Conrad more, she starts to realise something's...off. First, he snaps at her for being late. Then, she talks on the phone with a boytoy, and he grabs her arm so hard it bruises. Just when she feels ready to walk away, Conrad apologises – she's so beautiful and he just loves her so much, is all – and Ruby forgives him, chalking it all up to passion. She stays with Conrad, and hides everything from her friends Cami and Ellie, from whom she's becoming increasingly distant.

Then the murders start. First, heartbreakingly, it's Hunter – found dead in the woods, an axe at his side. Then three girls disappear, one by one, all of them with red hair like Ruby's, who eventually turn up dead all over New Haven. And then the villain strikes Gran. She's not dead, but she's been dangerously poisoned and admitted to hospital in a coma.

Weaker than ever and rudderless without her friends, Ruby must find the strength to confront Conrad, whom she now suspects more than ever. But he's got a plan of his own, and his secrets go deeper than she could have ever imagined . . .

Just on the heels of her mesmerising renditions of Snow White and Cinderella, New York Times bestselling author Lili St. Crow completes the Tales of Beauty and Madness trilogy with this enchantingly dark, beautifully suspenseful update of Little Red Riding Hood.

This next e-Arc is actually the first four episodes of a serial and  comes courtesy of Stone Ink Press

The naturals(Eps 1 - 4) by K.C. Neal , Aaron M. Patterson , Robin Parrish , Melody Carlson

Goodreads  | Amazon

A small town full of secrets. A coming darkness. Teens with supernatural abilities. Think you know the story? Think again.

As Summer ends, the students at Silverwood High are getting ready to go back to school and resume their normal, everyday lives. Too bad "normal" is no longer an option. When these teens get their very first tastes of what destiny has in store, will they embrace that destiny... or flee from it? Will they be selfless... or ruthless? Will they master their abilities... or will their abilities master them?

This is their awakening, the first step of an epic journey. But it's only the beginning of something bigger than they could ever imagine.

The sleepy little town of Silverwood is about to wake up.

Review - E-ARC (Edelweiss)

Particularly excited about this one.  I started reading it this morning and I am hooked!

Red Queen (Red Queen Trilogy #1) by Victoria Aveyard

Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon  

A thrilling new fantasy trilogy for fans of DIVERGENT and THE HUNGER GAMES.

This is a world divided by blood – red or silver.

The poverty-stricken Reds are commoners, living in the shadow of the Silvers, elite warriors with god-like powers.

To Mare Barrow, a 17-year-old Red girl from the Stilts, it looks like nothing will ever change.

Then Mare finds herself working at the Silver palace, in the midst of those she hates the most. She quickly discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy Silver control.

Review - e-ARC (Blog Tour)

I am taking part in a blog tour for this next book in march.  My post date is 2nd March so don't forget to come back and see what I thought.

Gathering Frost (Once Upon A Curse #1) by Kaitlyn Davis

Goodreads | Amazon  

Will his kiss be enough to revive her frozen heart?

Once Upon A Time meets La Femme Nikita in GATHERING FROST, a dystopian romance from bestselling author Kaitlyn Davis that reimagines the classic fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty.

Jade was only a little girl when the earthquake struck. Before her eyes, half of New York City disappeared, replaced by a village that seemed torn out of a storybook. Horses and carriages. Cobblestone streets. A towering castle. And, above all, a queen with the magical ability to strip emotions away.

Ten years later and Jade has forgotten what it is to feel, to care...even to love. Working as a member of the queen's guard, she spends most of her time on the city wall staring at the crumbling skyscrapers of old New York. But everything changes when the queen's runaway son, Prince Asher, returns. Jade is tasked with an unusual mission--to let the Prince capture her, to make him trust her, and then to betray his secrets to the crown. In return, she'll earn her freedom. But life outside the queen's realm is more than Jade bargained for. Under Asher's relentless taunts, her blood begins to boil. Under his piercing gaze, her heart begins to flutter. And the more her icy soul begins to thaw, the more Jade comes to question everything she's ever known--and, more importantly, whose side she's really on.

So what did you add to your shelves this week?