Category Archives: Historical

BOOK REVIEW: A Great and Terrible Beauty (Gemma Doyle, #1), by Libba Bray

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Date(s) read: September 17 – 20, 2012
Genre: YA Historical Fiction

Series
1. A Great and Terrible Beauty Amazon | Goodreads
2. Rebel Angels
3. The Sweet Far Thing

SYNOPSIS
A Victorian boarding school story, a Gothic mansion mystery, a gossipy romp about a clique of girlfriends, and a dark other-worldly fantasy–jumble them all together and you have this complicated and unusual first novel.

Sixteen-year-old Gemma has had an unconventional upbringing in India, until the day she foresees her mother’s death in a black, swirling vision that turns out to be true. Sent back to England, she is enrolled at Spence, a girls’ academy with a mysterious burned-out East Wing. There Gemma is snubbed by powerful Felicity, beautiful Pippa, and even her own dumpy roommate Ann, until she blackmails herself and Ann into the treacherous clique. Gemma is distressed to find that she has been followed from India by Kartik, a beautiful young man who warns her to fight off the visions. Nevertheless, they continue, and one night she is led by a child-spirit to find a diary that reveals the secrets of a mystical Order.

The clique soon finds a way to accompany Gemma to the other-world realms of her visions “for a bit of fun” and to taste the power they will never have as Victorian wives, but they discover that the delights of the realms are overwhelmed by a menace they cannot control. Gemma is left with the knowledge that her role as the link between worlds leaves her with a mission to seek out the “others” and rebuild the Order. A Great and Terrible Beauty is an impressive first book in what should prove to be a fascinating trilogy.

My Thoughts
The first book in the Gemma Doyle series came out YEARS ago and I’ve been ogling its gorgeous cover ever since. This year I finally got around to BUYING the books in the series, and now – as the year is in its final quarter – I can finally say I’ve started to read it AND have been introduced to the wonderful writing of Libba Bray.

The main thing that called me to this book (if we’re not counting the cover and all its gorgeousness) was the fact that it takes place in 1895 at a boarding school. I adore historical fiction novels and was immediately swept up in the writing and the school the instant I started reading. I was also pleased to read about Gemma’s upbringing and how it didn’t take place in the magical city of London, but in India with her mother. Continue reading →

BOOK REVIEW: The Girl of Fire and Thorns (Fire and Thorns, #1), by Rae Carson

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Date(s) read: February 21 – 23, 2012
Genre: YA Historical Fantasy Romance

Series
The Shadow Cats (#0.5)
The Girl of Fire & Thorns (#1) Amazon | Goodreads
The Crown of Embers (#2)
The Bitter Kingdom (#3)

SYNOPSIS
Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness. 

Elisa is the chosen one. 

But she is also the younger of two princesses, the one who has never done anything remarkable. She can’t see how she ever will. 

Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs the chosen one, not a failure of a princess. 

And he’s not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies seething with dark magic are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people’s savior. And he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake. 

Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die young. 

Most of the chosen do.

My Thoughts
I think the sole reason I read this book is because I saw it on a few blogs and was interested by the cover alone. It sounded like an amazing read — one that I would really love — so I requested it. It seemed like one of those books that was utterly amazing, but just not getting enough attention.

I’m finding it really hard to put into words how much I loved this book. I had been in a bit of a reading slump, reading the odd book here and there, with only a few good ones and a lot of mediocre ones. When I eyed my pile of books that were due back at the library soon, I picked up Rae Carson’s The Girl of Fire and Thorns and started reading. By about page 13, I couldn’t put it down!

The Girl of Fire and Thorns tells the story of 16-year-old Elisa, a girl who is one of God’s chosen ones, who is about to marry a man she has never met. She’s not ready to marry, she’s overweight, and naive. The wedding was arranged by her father and Elisa is less than thrilled that it’s happening. Oh, and that guy she’s to marry? He’s a king. His country is in turmoil and Elisa isn’t sure how her being there will help. She can only hope that her gift from God, her being the chosen one, the bearer of the Godstone, will show her the way. Continue reading →

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, by Seth Grahame-Smith

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Released: March 2, 2010 (Hachette Audio)
Author Links: WEB | TWITTER | GOODREADS
Source: Purchased

Genre: Historical Supernatural Drama

Buy Now From: Audible
Add This Book On Goodreads

Audiobook Notes:
Narrator: Scott Holst
Length: 10 hrs 18 min

SYNOPSIS:
Indiana, 1818. Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin, where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his suffering mother’s bedside. She’s been stricken with something the old-timers call “Milk Sickness.”

“My baby boy…” she whispers before dying.

Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother’s fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire.

When the truth becomes known to young Lincoln, he writes in his journal, “henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose…” Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, Abe sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House.

While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years.

Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the true life story of our greatest president for the first time-all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War and uncovering the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation.

Why I Read Listened To This Book

Do you even need to ask? Abraham Lincoln + Vampire Hunter (should) = AWESOME, right? Actually, when I was in the bookstore when I bought this book, I was unaware of all the books like this one that were floating around. I just thought it wounded cool. I really liked the cover, too.

My Thoughts

There are very few books that I have high expectations for. This book is one of those books. I had bought it quite some time ago because I thought it looked like a great read — I mean, Abraham Lincoln as a vampire hunter?!?! Count me in!

Of course, once I saw that it was being made into a movie — with me not yet reading the book — I knew I had to read it right away! And then I saw the previews — and knew, again, I just had to read it! The trailer looked amazing, so I knew the book was going to rock!

Unfortunately, all of those exclamation points did not lead to me loving the book.  Continue reading →