• 918 and counting …

    Finished His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik. This is the first book in her popular Temeraire series about a dragon aerial corp during the Napoleonic Wars.

    Bristish captain Will Laurence is perfectly happy with his seafaring life. But a twist of fate has Laurence leaving his ship behind to be the handler of Temeraire, a very exceptional, intelligent dragon. Laurence is resentful at first, but soon, he and Temeraire are the best of friends. But their friendship will be severely tested by an impending French invasion of English shores …

    I’d heard people buzzing online about this series and thought I would give it a try. I’m glad I did. I’ve never been a huge fan of dragon books, but Novik offers a fresh take on the creature — dragons as aerial English ships. It’s a cool idea, and she executes it very well. You can really picture the dragons suited up in their armor, battling each other in midair, while their crews fight each other for control of the dragons.

    Temeraire is a gentle intelligent creature at heart, as are most of his fellow dragons, each of whom have their own personalities and handlers. I really enjoyed all of the dragon characters.

    However, I have to say I wasn’t so crazy about Laurence. Maybe it’s the time period or the fact that he’s English, but Laurence is always very, very aware of what’s proper and what’s not and how he should behave. Laurence is very rigid, and I got a little tired of his rules after a while. And the English class system always annoys me. (Which is one reason I’m not overly fond of English-based historical romances. Give me a western any day).

    But really, this book is about a (grown-up) boy and his dragon and the adventures they have together. Overall, it’s a solid fantasy read that should especially appeal to dragon and history fans. Thumbs up. I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

    Up next: Something from the TBR pile.

    Books in my TBR pile: About 9.

  • 917 and counting …

    Finished Warsworn by Elizabeth Vaughn. This is the second book in her Chronicles of the Warlands paranormal romance trilogy.

    In this one, healer and queen Xylara must stop a deadly disease from decimating the ranks of her adopted people, the Firelanders. But things look grim when Lara and her lover Kier both fall sick, especially since there are warriors among the Firelanders who would like nothing more than to take Kier’s place as the Warlord and kill Lara …

    The first book in this series, Warprize, is one of the best books I’ve read this year. So I had very high hopes for Warsworn. Overall, I have to admit I was a little disappointed. Why? Well, mainly because nothing much really happens in the second book.  

    Near the beginning of the book, Lara and Kier and the rest of the Firelanders come upon a village suffering from the plague. The rest of the book is devoted to Lara’s efforts to save the remaining villagers and the consequences of the plague sweeping through the ranks of the Firelander warriors. Very little happens to advance the overall plot of the series (Lara being named the Warprize and accepted by the Firelander leaders). The book felt like a stop-gap more than anything else.

    Also, a lot of people die in this book, which makes it kind of depressing.

    Despite that, there’s a lot to like about this book. Lara is still as charming as ever, as are Kier and the other Firelanders who serve as Lara’s guards. And I enjoyed watching Lara and Kier deal with their cultural differences and celebrate their love for each other, even in the midst of the plague tragedy. I just wish there had been a little more action and development of the main arc. 

    Overall, a solid read, but not as enchanting as Warprize. Still, thumbs up.

    Up next: His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik.

    Books in my TBR pile: About 9.

  • ·

    Contest winners …

    2 Comments

    So the random number generator picked the contest winners, and they are:

    1) Violet (comment 16) won the Karma Girl book and T-shirt.

    2) Wrighty (comment 17) won the Hot Mama book and T-shirt.

    3) Drey (comment 3) won a copy of Jinx.

    Winners, please send me your mailing addresses at jennifer@jenniferestep.com. If you don’t send me your address by Friday, you won’t get your prizes, and they will go back into my goodie basket for the next contest.

    And I just want to say thanks to everyone who shared their stories good and bad. I had a lot of fun reading them. May you all get exactly what you want for Christmas — instead of fuzzy socks, wall hangings, empty cookie jars, olive trays …

    Merry Christmas! :ww:

  • ·

    Contest alert — The gift that keeps on giving …

    33 Comments

    I haven’t done a contest in a while. And hey, it’s Christmastime. So let’s do a contest. I’ll give away the following:

    1) Copy of Karma Girl and T-shirt

    2) Copy of Hot Mama and T-shirt

    3) Copy of Jinx

    How to enter: Just leave a comment on this post telling me about the worst or best Christmas/Hanukkah/birthday/other present you’ve ever gotten. I’ll draw the winners on Wednesday and announce them on the blog.

    So what’s the worst Christmas present I’ve ever received? An olive tray.

    Yes, Virginia, there are things called olive trays. You use them to serve olives at parties. They are long, skinny dishes, just wide enough for olives and nothing else. It still boggles my mind that someone, somewhere, decided to create a dish just to serve olives — and that I ended up with one of them.

    Why was this a bad present? For starters, I hate olives. Hate ’em. Hate ’em. I can’t stress that enough. The tray itself was fairly harmless, sturdy white ceramic. The only problem was that it was an olive tray — which meant you could only put olives in it and nothing else. It wasn’t even wide enough to put Hershey kisses in, unless I lined them up just so.

    Of course, the person who gave me this had no idea that I didn’t like olives, which is why she also gave me a jar of olives to serve in the tray. Sigh. You know it’s a bad present when you tear the paper off the box and start hoping that it’s really an umbrella inside.

    So what happened to the olive tray? Well, every year at my newspaper, we gather up all the items people have sent us (we can’t accept freebies), hold a silent auction for the newspaper staff to bid on whatever they want, and donate the money raised to our Santa Pal charity. The olive tray got donated to the cause. And someone at the newspaper actually bought it. I don’t know who or for how much, but it went home with someone that year.

    Still, I think about the tray every Christmas — and how people reacted to it. My boss at the newspaper was practically crying with laughter when I brought the olive tray in for the action and told her that I’d gotten it for Christmas. Several folks looked at me and said “Um, that’s different,” in strained voices. Other people looked at me like I was making up the whole story — like I’d actually bought the tray for myself. Sigh.

    What about you guys? What’s the worst present you’ve ever gotten? Share in the comments for a chance to win. Or just to vent. 😎

  • Two weeks and counting down …

    3 Comments

    Do you guys realize it’s only two weeks until Crimmus? I’m so not ready. Must … wrap … more presents … :rolleyes:

    What about you guys? Are you ready to deal with the holiday madness yet?