Review: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Like the misty, whispering moors of northern England, Emily Bronte’s one and only novel, gets under your skin….tapping oh so quietly on the lattice window like Cathy asking that you only let it in to come home. Every Thanksgiving break I read Wuthering Heights, don’t ask me why but somehow it became part of a holiday tradition but this year I was able to enjoy it knowing I was also reading it as part of both the Victorian Literature Reading Challenge and the Gothic Literature Reading challenges.

I had hoped to read loads more Victorian novels this year but sadly I don’t think I will satisfy my original challenge goal of 15 books, but I was able to read a fair few on my list….I guess there is always next year though. But when I started the challenge, I knew I would read this book…there is no denying that which one loves.

Some people talk of the moors like they are a mystical and enchanting place  perhaps they are….a place that even if you move far away, the moorland winds keep calling you back to the only place where you can ever truly be free….home.  I include myself in this analogy, though I am not a Yorkshire native by any long stretch of the measure but at times, the moors seem like a place that I could call home. Perhaps that’s why I love novels set on the moors…my mother would say that is my ‘Irish spirit’ longing for it’s homeland….not sure about that (sorry mom) but I do love the misty moors.

The moorlands are among some of the most solitary lands on earth….there is little society and much isolation. The moorland isolation provides one freedom though….a wild, untamed spirit. Perhaps that’s why even when people leave the moors they always find them calling them home no matter how far away they are. In Yorkshire there is one saucy, wild, moorland child who is nothing but a force of nature: Catherine Earnshaw. Continue reading “Review: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte”

Review: The Mischief of the Mistletoe (Pink Carnation #7) by Lauren Willig

Tis the season for purloined pudding! Christmas pudding, bonnets, love, and mystery are all literary in the air in Lauren Willig’s book The Mischief of the Mistletoe. This book is #4.2 in Willig’s wildly popular Pink Carnation series.

I saw this book advertised on Goodreads a few weeks ago and fell in love with the cover and….suddenly I had to read it! So I picked up a copy and then I saw the Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge hosted by  the True Book Addict and suddenly I couldn’t wait for it to be Christmas season so I could read this book! Biding my time, I started the book the day the challenge started and finished the book like 2 days later!

I have never read any of these books but heard LOADS about them from friends and of course my sister. I have always wondered why I hadn’t read any of them because they seem like books I would devour! I supposed somewhere between all the epic series I have ben reading over the last couple of years….I guess I just missed this one, and that my friends is my biggest regret! This is a charming, enchanting, and above all….a captivating series. Continue reading “Review: The Mischief of the Mistletoe (Pink Carnation #7) by Lauren Willig”

The Christmas Spirit 2011 Reading Challenge

The holiday season is upon us! With the year coming to a close in a few weeks, I was not going to join anymore challenges but I just couldn’t resist!

The Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge 2011 was just too cute to pass up! The challenge is being hosted by the True Book Addict on her special blog page devoted just for this challenge!

Since the challenge is only going on for a few weeks, I am only planning on reading one book (maybe two if I am lucky) so I will be going for the ‘Candy Cane’ level (1 book).

I might make Mistletoe level (2 books) since crossovers are ok, but I am sure I can do at least one.

I plan on reading The Mischief of the Mistletoe by Lauren Willig for the challenge, if I do get to a second book it will be the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol.

If anyone else is interested in signing up here is the challenge info, visit the True Book Addicts Christmas Spirit blog for more details, it also looks like there is a give-a-way as part of the challenge if that sort of thing also interests you :).

The Christmas Spirit 2011 Reading Challenge details: Continue reading “The Christmas Spirit 2011 Reading Challenge”

Review: Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices #1) by Cassandra Clare

How strange it is to have the power to literally transform yourself into other people and yet be unable to put yourself in their place. This is the problem that plagues shapeshifting heroine Tessa Gray in Cassandra Clare’s steampunk novel, Clockwork Angel. Part of a trilogy The Infernal Devices, this first book blends romance, sci-fi/fantasy, steampunk, and adventure all together churning out 400+ pages of entertainment.

When I first started the Steampunk Reading Challenge, I considered reading this book as one of my five books but then I started the Parasol Protectorate series instead. But as the year is winding down I still needed one book for the challenge, Clockwork Angel was it!

One word…HOOKED! When I started reading the book, I knew it was more YA than adult fiction…so I was expecting Twilight with gears and steam.  While some of the romance was a little Twilight-ish, it was more action, less ‘obcessive’, and the love story involves a shapeshifter and a shadowhunter (Nephilim) rather than a human and a vampire….not to mention all the great Steampunk elements.

The novel opens with a great action sequence with best friends and fighting partners, Will and Jem, pursuing a demon through the dark underbelly of Victorian London. Continue reading “Review: Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices #1) by Cassandra Clare”

2012 Outlander Series Reading Challenge, Sign up now!

It’s that time of year again Sassenachs! Time to sign up for the Outlander Reading Challenge 2012! This is the time of year where all my fellow readers begin looking for new year reading challenges and book clubs and unlike last year, I am getting an early start and spreading the word about the Outlander Series Reading Challenge that I am hosting again this year. This is the second annual Outlander Series Reading Challenge, last year was my first year hosting the challenge and after great success I decided to host it again this year!

I will be changing the format slightly from last years style. Last year I just read and posted my reviews while commenting on other participants review, I also had a discussion forum where I just posted general questions. This year I will be sending out discussion questions to keep you all thinking about Outlander and our beloved Jamie ! Answer the questions, don’t answer the questions, it’s entirely up to you! You can be as active or non active in this challenge as you want to be. The weekly discussion questions will be a new way to keep people actively interested, thinking about, and reading the series.

Here is the info if you want to sign up and please spread the love by grabbing the button!

Grab the button by copy/pasting the code to your blog from the Outlander Series Reading Challenge button on the main page:

For details and official sign up go to the 2012 Outlander Series Reading Challenge page by clicking here. Continue reading “2012 Outlander Series Reading Challenge, Sign up now!”