Book Beginnings and the Friday 56 #30

Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56 are weekly memes hosted by Rose City Reader and Freda's Voice.

Rules: 

Book Beginnings: Share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. 

The Friday 56: Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% in you eReader. Find any sentence (not spoilery) and reflect on it if you want.

My current read is:

I, Guinevere

(Mythic Maiden)

by C. K. Brooke

Synopsis:

If you think you know the story of King Arthur and his mythical sword, think again. Your legends have it wrong. Here’s the truth: I was never married to Arthur, and he wasn’t a king. Because Arthur never pulled that sword out of the stone. I did.
I, Guinevere.

On the winter solstice, a mysterious sword in a stone appears in the churchyard. Not even the mightiest of the village men can remove it, until fifteen-year-old Guinevere gives it a try. The sword heeds the unsuspecting maiden, proclaiming the unthinkable: she is the blood of Pendrakon, heir to the vacant throne of Camylot.

Guinevere never dreamed she was born royalty. Now, between apprenticing the eccentric wizard, Merlyn; swordplay lessons with an abrasive—albeit, attractive—boy named Lance; and clandestine, magical meetings with the formidable High Priestess of Avalon, Guinevere is swept up in a whirlwind of training and preparation for her monumental new role as future queen. But invasions by the barbarous Saxyns and visitations from mysterious dark forces continually warn that she may be in over her head. Can Guinevere defend the kingdom from the darkness and deception that threaten to seize it? Despite her doubts and the sinister forces working against her, can she harness the power to wield Exkalibur and rule the realm? Or is Camylot already destined to fall? 

Book Beginning:

If you think you know the story of King Arthur and his mythical sword, think again.

Go on, I'm paying attention...

The Friday 56:

A grin broke through as I bent to retrieve my favored sword. 

It glowed lambent for me, grateful that I held it again.

I wonder if she'll have to use that sword.

What are you reading this week? Don't forget to share your link in a comment below!

Book Beginnings and the Friday 56 #29

Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56 are weekly memes hosted by Rose City Reader and Freda's Voice.

Rules: 

Book Beginnings: Share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. 

The Friday 56: Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% in you eReader. Find any sentence (not spoilery) and reflect on it if you want.

 My read for the week of Halloween:

The Spellbook of Katrian Van Tassel:

A Story of Sleepy Hollow

by Alyssa Palombo 

Synopsis:

When Ichabod Crane arrives in the spooky little village of Sleepy Hollow as the new schoolmaster, Katrina Van Tassel is instantly drawn to him. Through their shared love of books and music, they form a friendship that quickly develops into romance. Ichabod knows that as an itinerant schoolteacher of little social standing, he has nothing to offer the wealthy Katrina – unlike her childhood friend-turned-enemy, Brom Van Brunt, who is the suitor Katrina’s father favors.

But when romance gives way to passion, Ichabod and Katrina embark on a secret love affair, sneaking away into the woods after dark to be together – all while praying they do not catch sight of Sleepy Hollow’s legendary Headless Horseman. That is, until All Hallows’s Eve, when Ichabod suddenly disappears, leaving Katrina alone and in a perilous position.

Enlisting the help of her friend – and rumored witch – Charlotte Jansen, Katrina seeks the truth of Ichabod Crane’s disappearance, investigating the forest around Sleepy Hollow using unconventional – often magical – means. What they find forces Katrina to question everything she once knew, and to wonder if the Headless Horseman is perhaps more than just a story after all. In Alyssa Palombo's The Spellbook of Katrina Van Tassel nothing is as it seems, and love is a thing even death won't erase.

Book Beginning: 

Washington Irving got it wrong. I don't know what secondhand version of Katrina Van Tassel's story  he heard, but it was all wrong.

I'm curious what the twist will be compared to the original.

The Friday 56:

The vision that had come to me in the candle flame came back to torment me in its every detail. Two figures in the woods, one chasing the other. The unmistakable sounds of struggle. The whinny of a horse, and the sound of a blade – a great blade like the horseman carried – being drawn from its sheath.

 This is so atmospheric, I like it a lot!

What are you reading this week? Don't forget to share your link in a comment below!

Book Beginnings and the Friday 56 #28

Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56 are weekly memes hosted by Rose City Reader and Freda's Voice.

Rules: 

Book Beginnings: Share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. 

The Friday 56: Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% in you eReader. Find any sentence (not spoilery) and reflect on it if you want.

 

 This week I'm reading a Shakespeare retelling:

Lady Macbeth's Daughter

by Lisa Klein

Synopsis:

Albia has grown up with no knowledge of her mother or her father, the powerful Macbeth. Instead she knows the dark lure of the Wychelm Wood and the moors, where she's been raised by three strange sisters. It's only when the ambitious Macbeth seeks out the sisters to foretell his fate that Albia's life becomes tangled with the man who leaves nothing but bloodshed in his wake. She even falls in love with Fleance, Macbeth's rival for the throne. Yet when Albia learns that she has the second sight, she must decide whether to ignore the terrible future she foresees or to change it. Will she be able to save the man she loves from her murderous father? And can she forgive her parents their wrongs, or must she destroy them to save Scotland from tyranny?

 

 

 Book Beginning:

The nameless baby lay on the cold ground, wrapped in a woolen cloth.

A very simple introduction to our protagonist. After encountering her in this helpless state it will be interesting to see how she'll turn out to be a strong woman once grown (if the cover is any indication).

The Firday 56:

Then, out of the gray murk steps a deer as white as the moon. She gazes at me with glistening black eyes that seem almost human and inclines her head as if beckoning me. My desire to follow her is like a hunger for sweetness and rest and drink all at once. I wonder if I am dreaming, but the pain stabs my belly again. I feel something wet between my legs, and looking down I see blood on my thigh.

I wonder if the deer is a wandering spirit of someone.

Happy reading!

Book Beginnings and the Friday 56 #27

Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56 are weekly memes hosted by Rose City Reader and Freda's Voice.

Rules: 

Book Beginnings: Share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. 

The Friday 56: Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% in you eReader. Find any sentence (not spoilery) and reflect on it if you want.

This week I'm reading:

The Witch of Willow Hall

by Hester Fox

Synopsis:

Two centuries after the Salem witch trials, there’s still one witch left in Massachusetts. But she doesn’t even know it.

Take this as a warning: if you are not able or willing to control yourself, it will not only be you who suffers the consequences, but those around you, as well.

New Oldbury, 1821

In the wake of a scandal, the Montrose family and their three daughters—Catherine, Lydia and Emeline—flee Boston for their new country home, Willow Hall.

The estate seems sleepy and idyllic. But a subtle menace creeps into the atmosphere, remnants of a dark history that call to Lydia, and to the youngest, Emeline.

All three daughters will be irrevocably changed by what follows, but none more than Lydia, who must draw on a power she never knew she possessed if she wants to protect those she loves. For Willow Hall’s secrets will rise, in the end…

 
Book Beginning:

It was the Bishop boy who started it all.

Great first line. You instantaneously wonder what the boy triggered.

The Firday 56:

At home I always feel on edge, as if I were holding my breath, waiting for something to happen, and that's to say nothing of the torturous nights with their evil dreams and the footsteps and wailing. Here I can just be, and with Mr Barrett no less.

 Awww, the budding romance...

Happy reading!

Book Beginnings and the Friday 56 #26

Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56 are weekly memes hosted by Rose City Reader and Freda's Voice.

Rules: 

Book Beginnings: Share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. 

The Friday 56: Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% in you eReader. Find any sentence (not spoilery) and reflect on it if you want.

This week the spotlight is on:

Blackmail, Sex and Lies

by Kathryn McMaster

Synopsis:

For 160 years, people have believed Madeleine Smith to have been guilty of murder. But was she? Could she have been innocent after all?

This Victorian murder mystery, based on a true story, takes place in Glasgow, Scotland, 1857. It explores the disastrous romance between the vivacious socialite, Madeleine Hamilton Smith, and her working class lover, Pierre Emile L’Angelier. 

After a two-year torrid, and forbidden relationship with L’Angelier, that takes place against her parents' wishes, the situation changes dramatically when William Minnoch enters the scene. This new man in Madeleine’s life is handsome, rich, and of her social class. He is also a man of whom her family approve.

Sadly, insane jealous rages and threats of blackmail are suddenly silenced by an untimely death.

Book Beginning:

Pierre Emile L'Angelier thrashed and writhed in excrutiating agony.

 The only book I've read so far that involved arsenic poisoning was We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. It must be very painful, dying of arsenic.

The Firday 56:

It would break my mother's heart. Oh, Emile, be not harsh to me. I am the most guilty, miserable wretch on the face of the earth.

From a letter from Madeline Smith to Emile L'Angelier

I hope your week has been splendid!

Book Beginnings and the Friday 56 #25

Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56 are weekly memes hosted by Rose City Reader and Freda's Voice.

Rules: 

Book Beginnings: Share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. 

The Friday 56: Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% in you eReader. Find any sentence (not spoilery) and reflect on it if you want.

Take a look at what I'm reading this week:

The Color Purple

by Alice Walker

Synopsis:

Set in the deep American South between the wars, it is the tale of Celie, a young black girl born into poverty and segregation. Raped repeatedly by the man she calls 'father', she has two children taken away from her, is separated from her beloved sister Nettie and is trapped into an ugly marriage. But then she meets the glamorous Shug Avery, singer and magic-maker - a woman who has taken charge of her own destiny. Gradually, Celie discovers the power and joy of her own spirit, freeing her from her past and reuniting her with those she loves.
 

 

 Book Beginning:

You better not never tell nobody but God. It'd kill your mammy.

A powerful first line. Actually the whole book is a series of letters to God, then to someone else.

The Friday 56:

Me and Sofia work on the quilt. Got it frame up on the porch. Shug Avery donate her old yellow dress for scrap, and I work in a piece every chance I get. It a nice pattern call Sister's Choice. If the quilt turn out perfect, maybe I give it to her, if it not perfect, maybe I keep. I want it for myself, just for the little yellow pieces, look like stars, but not.

 It's nice Celie can appreciate such small things.

What are you reading this week? Are you enjoying it so far?

Book Beginnings and the Friday 56 #24

THE LATEST NEWS:

We have internet in the flat at last! Yay!! 

This means from now on I can blog whenever I'd like to and I'll post regularly again.

I hope all of you are well and your August has been going well so far!

Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56 are weekly memes hosted by Rose City Reader and Freda's Voice.

Rules: 

Book Beginnings: Share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. 

The Friday 56: Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% in you eReader. Find any sentence (not spoilery) and reflect on it if you want.

Here's the book I've started this week:
 

Claire's Last Secret

by Marty Ambrose

Synopsis:

A tragic death leads Claire Clairmont to be haunted by her past and the 'summer of 1816' she shared with Byron and Shelley in this first in an intriguing new historical trilogy.

1873, Florence. Claire Clairmont, the last survivor of the 'haunted summer of 1816' Byron/Shelley circle, is living out her final years in genteel poverty, but the appearance of British tourist, William Michael Rossetti, brings hope that she may be able to sell some of her memorabilia to earn enough cash to support her and her niece/companion, Paula.

But Rossetti's presence in Florence heralds a cycle of events that links the summer of 1816 - when Claire conceived an ill-fated child with George Gordon, Lord Byron, when Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, and when four tempestuous lives came together - to a tragic death. As Claire begins to unravel the truth, she must go back to that summer of passion to discover the identity of her old enemy.

 Book Beginning:

His letter came just at the point when I thought death was my only option.

 I knew from the very first line I'd like this book.

The Friday 56:

Trelawny had organized the whole thing and, supposedly, reached into the fire to grasp Shelley's heart for Mary to keep forever.

Did you know this little trivia about the Shelleys? Supposedly Mary kept Percy's heart after his death... A suitable keepsake for the writer of Frankenstein is it not? 

What is your current read? How is your week going?

Happy Reading!

Book Beginnings and the Friday 56 #23

Hi Lovelies!

I'm sorry I didn't post in the past week, but I spent my well deserved freedom galavanting around London town. The holiday is over, but I'll write a recap for you in a few days' time so you'll be able to read in details what happened to me and David in one of Europe's most vibrant cities.

Until then, please enjoy this week's Friday post!

Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56 are weekly memes hosted by Rose City Reader and Freda's Voice.

Rules: 

Book Beginnings: Share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. 

The Friday 56: Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% in you eReader. Find any sentence (not spoilery) and reflect on it if you want.

 

This week at last I have started reading this beauty (I know I'm waaay too late to the game):

Ready Player One

by Ernest Cline

Synopsis:

In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. When Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.

Book Beginning:

Everyone my age remembers where they were and what they were doing when they first heard about the contest.

 Must have been a pretty big announcement.

The Firday 56:

The OASIS would ultimately change the way people around the world lived, worked, and communicated.

It seems like this virtual reality game becomes everyone's unhealthy obsession in this novel.

What is your current read?

Happy Friday!

Book Beginnings and the Friday 56 #22

Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56 are weekly memes hosted by Rose City Reader and Freda's Voice.

Rules: 

Book Beginnings: Share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. 

The Friday 56: Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% in you eReader. Find any sentence (not spoilery) and reflect on it if you want.

 

 

Behold my new current read:

 

Winter Eternal

(The River That Flows Two Ways #1) 

by E. Thomas Joseph

Synopsis:

In 1777, Captain Isaac Pearson joined the British Army when he believed the Colonial Rebellion would be dispatched with effortless haste. Taking a few American lives was an agreeable price for the pampered aristocrat who believed his actions in the conflict would afford him honor and glory. Yet, the path Captain Pearson rode was neither honorable or glorious and the price he would pay was beyond his imaginable fortunes.

Time is the enemy of all, the hunter of the hunters whom no measures of tenacity or weaponry can defeat. Yet, in the early days of America’s war for independence Phantom Regiments, ruthless shadow units, British Redcoats, American militia and crazed me of the occult race to acquire a mysterious Iroquoian artifact which offers the capacity to defeat time. Set in New York’s Hudson Valley, the contest for time will marshal tragic desperation and horrific ends. Winter Eternal, uncovered from layers of dust, deep within the archives of America’s Untold History are the tales of the soldiers and the citizens who sell their souls to pursue the mysterious Native talisman, the Kahontsi Ehnita; the Giver of Life…A revolutionary war has begun. 

 

 

Book Beginning:

 

The northeastern wilderness had already begun its winter rest.

 

A fitting start considering what the title of the book is.

 

The Friday 56:

Emily shook her head and teasingly asked, "Are there any presents for me?"

Taken off his guard, Dedrick instantly realized he simply did not consider bringing his wife home a gift. 

 

He takes trips to the city often and on virtually every occasion he comes home with a souvenir. Awkwardly, he did his best to think on his feet, "Yes, of course, you think I wouldn't? Your present is my presence."

That is an awkward situation for sure and the guy's answer is not just a little bit arrogant... I'm not sure if I'll like this character.

What are you reading right now?

Enjoy your Friday!