WWW Wednesdays: June 11, 2014

For reasons unknown to me, this didn't publish yesterday as I thought it had. Oops! Let's try this again!

Should Be Reading hosts this weekly update on what we're reading, what we recently finished reading, and what's next. 

• What are you currently reading?  I got back into The Shadow Lamp by Stephen R Lawhead and started two new reads: Elusive Hope by MaryLu Tyndall, and Loyal in Love by Jean Plaidy.

  
   

• What did you recently finish reading? Voyager by Diana Gabaldon (Read my thoughts on this book.) and Twelfth Night by Deanna Raybourn (Read my thoughts on this book.). 

   

• What do you think you'll read next?  I still have When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert in the stack; I moved Meet the Skeptic to the backburner; and I have a couple of new things waiting for me at the library! o.O 

    

What are you reading? Anyone can join in this link-up by answering these three questions. Visit Should Be Reading to find out more.

©2008-2014 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/

Teaser Tuesdays: June 10, 2014

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. To play along, just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not to include spoilers!
• Share the title and author, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!

"A house made of bones?" She tossed her head in derision, her tone high and haughty. "Do you honestly expect anyone to believe this unabashed claptrap? Or is this merely your lumbering way of discouraging the rest of us from participating in your discovery?"

~The Shadow Lamp by Stephen R. Lawhead, page 95

©2008-2014 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/

Recent Reads {Twelfth Night}

Twelfth Night by Deanna Raybourn - at last! Another Lady Julia Grey story! I'd missed her and her eccentric family so I was very excited to get this novella. In this one, the entire March family has gathered at Bellmont Abbey to perform the Twelfth Night Revels. A newborn baby is discovered in the stables - cradled in the steel helm that Brisbane is to wear for the part of St George! - and the local legend of a ghost living in a nearby abandoned cottage is revived. With a little help from precocious niece Perdita, Julia and Brisbane track down the mother that abandoned the baby and the source of the latest ghost story. And then are faced with a momentous decision that may change all the plans they've been making for their future.

Since it's a novella, the pace is quick and there aren't a lot of details about the rest of the March family. They are all present, but make only brief 'cameo' appearances. We do get a little introduction to Perdita that makes it sound as though she may be appearing in a future Lady Julia story; and we meet one of the characters from A Spear of Summer Grass as a child. I particularly enjoyed that little tie-in! Although the ending didn't come as a surprise to me, the identity of the baby's mother did. Another very enjoyable little cozy from Deanna Raybourn that whetted my appetite for whatever will come next.

By the same author: City of Jasmine, Whisper of Jasmine, Midsummer Night; A Spear of Summer Grass, Silent in the Grave, Silent in the Sanctuary, Dark Road to Darjeeling, The Dark Enquiry, Silent Night, The Dead Travel Fast

(Book #24 in the 52 Books in 52 Weeks Challenge)

Here's the thing: for the challenge, we are supposed to be listing books and not novellas, but really - I think the fact that this is just a novella is balanced by my having just read an 800+ page epic. Just saying. ;-)

©2008-2014 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/

Recent Reads {Voyager}

Voyager by Diana Gabaldon - The third in Gabaldon's Outlander series picks up both Claire's story and Jamie's story where they left off in Dragonfly in Amber. Jamie regains consciousness after being wounded at Culloden in 1746, and we follow him through all his troubles and adventures for about twenty years. Interspersed with the chapters about Jamie are chapters which pick up Claire's story in 1968, when Roger Wakefield reveals that Jamie Fraser likely did not die at Culloden as she had believed. Her part of the story is told in her familiar first person, but also with flashbacks telling many details of the previous twenty years of her life, and that of her daughter, Brianna. Eventually, Claire, Brianna, and Roger gather enough documents and evidence to trace Jamie Fraser to Edinburgh twenty years after Culloden; and with Brianna's blessing, Claire returns to the past through the stones. That's the first third of the book. :-) The remainder tells of the reunion of Claire and Jamie and many more dangers and trials for them to overcome. Jamie has by that time collected several aliases and is a smuggler and a printer. Almost as soon as Claire arrives in Edinburgh, there is a fire at the printer's shop and a near disaster with the smuggling operation, so Jamie and Claire return to Lallybroch, where Claire's arrival creates quite the stir, in ways both expected and unanticipated! Later, Jamie and Claire embark on a lengthy sea voyage (and you may remember that Jamie suffers disastrously from seasickness) in search of Jamie's nephew who has been kidnapped for reasons unknown.

Even without knowing that there are still several more novels in the series, it was clear to me that at least one more installment would be forthcoming as I read the final chapters. There is still a potential danger to Brianna, and although it seems Geillie is truly dead this time (yes, she reappears in the Indies), we had thought that before so I'm inclined to be skeptical.

As in the previous two books, I often felt overwhelmed by the sheer size of the story, but was also invested in the characters and the thrill of wondering what they would encounter next that I kept turning the pages. Once again, it's time to think ahead to the next novel in the series!

By the same author: Dragonfly in Amber, Outlander

(Book #23 in the 52 Books in 52 Weeks Challenge)

©2008-2014 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/

WWW Wednesdays - June 4, 2014

Should Be Reading hosts this weekly update on what we're reading, what we recently finished reading, and what's next. 

• What are you currently reading?  This past week I've been devouring Voyager by Diana Gabaldon, so The Shadow Lamp by Stephen R Lawhead and Meet the Skeptic by Bill Foster have had to take a backseat.

      

• What did you recently finish reading? Sabrina's Man by Gilbert Morris. (Read my thoughts on this book.)

   

• What do you think you'll read next?  Well, I'm about to start a book for our Sunday morning small group, called Do Science and the Bible Conflict?  And I just got a couple of new books on my Kindle too, most notably the newest Deanna Raybourn novella, Twelfth Night.  I still have When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert in the stack too.

   

What are you reading? Anyone can join in this link-up by answering these three questions. Visit Should Be Reading to find out more.

©2008-2014 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/

Recent Reads {Sabrina's Man}

Sabrina's Man by Gilbert Morris - This book was free for Kindle awhile ago, and I grabbed it because: 1) I like westerns; and 2) I like the author. I particularly liked Morris's Lions of Judah series, which was a very different setting. Anyway, this book is about a wealthy, spoiled, and headstrong young woman who enlists the help of a bitter ex-criminal in order to find and rescue her younger sister who has been kidnapped.

I have to admit that around Chapter 4 or so, I checked the cover material again to make sure I had the right book. Sabrina isn't mentioned at all in the first section, which gives the background of "her man", ex-soldier turned outlaw Waco Smith. Never fear, Sabrina will make her appearance in the second section, where several chapters are devoted to developing her background and setting up the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of her sister, Marianne. I found it easy to sympathize with Waco - he is a young man without family who has gone into business with a friend and soon finds a young woman he plans to marry. However, after being forced to serve again in the Civil War, he returns to Arkansas to discover that his friend has cheated him out of the business and his fiancee, and Waco is left with nothing. From there he makes some poor choices and winds up being betrayed by those he trusted again until he finally winds up in prison. He's had hard luck every way he turns, and it's understandable that he is hardened and cynical, and wary of everyone. I did not find it nearly as easy to like Sabrina. When she is introduced, she is a spoiled and selfish young woman who takes the attitude of doing what she pleases when it suits her, no matter what anyone else thinks about it. She is used to getting her own way, and is stubborn and somewhat arrogant. Her younger sister falls in love with a man that their parents don't quite trust, but Sabrina can't be bothered to change her plans in order to meet this man and give her own opinion, and confidently assumes that she will talk sense into her sister once she's finished her own shopping trip. Unfortunately, by the time she returns from her little vacation, Marianne has run away with the man. Sabrina immediately takes off on her own to Oklahoma Territory determined to find and rescue Marianne. Once there, she finds that the local law doesn't have the manpower to devote to her project, and enters into a deal with Waco to track the outlaws that have Marianne. Sabrina continues her selfish and stubborn ways throughout their adventures, but of course Waco falls in love with her anyway, as they work together to outwit the gang and get Marianne back to safety.

Overall, I did enjoy this book, despite a leading lady that I thought needed to be brought down a peg or two!

(Book #22 in the 52 Books in 52 Weeks Challenge)

©2008-2014 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/

Teaser Tuesdays - June 3, 2014

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. To play along, just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not to include spoilers!
• Share the title and author, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!

"Oh, come on, then, gowk," she said, taking pity on him. "Come into the scullery wi' me, and we'll get ye brushed and combed before Mam and Da see ye."
He glared at her, then turned to look up at me, with an expression of mingled bewilderment and annoyance. "Why in the name of heaven," he demanded, his voice cracking with strain, "does everyone think bein' clean will help?"

~Voyager by Diana Gabaldon, page 401

©2008-2014 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/