Notes of Life

Yet another month has sped past and July will be here tomorrow. Six months into the year and another six months to go. It’ll be 2012 before we know it!

Somehow, July has been a slow reading month for me and I’m not sure why. I only read 3 books this month, which is pretty shocking, but they were 3 great books and definitely ones I’d recommend.

11th June – The Hunting Ground by Cliff McNish
This is a ghost story based at Glebe House, an old and crumbling mansion where Elliot, Ben and their Dad have moved into. They soon realise they’re not alone in the house as sinister events start unfolding.  Can they escape the clutches of Glebe House and its former occupants?

18th June – Deceived By The Others by Jess Haines
Deceived By The Others is the third book in Jess Haines’ fantastic H&W Investigations series. If you like urban fantasy books then you’ll love this and the first two books in the series.

27th June – Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton
Another great urban fantasy book, this time by a debut author. Forget about vampires and werewolves, Blood Magic deals with… well… magic!

I did a giveaway with my Deceived By The Others. Commenters could win one of the three books in the H&W Investigations series. The lucky winner was Birgit from The Book Garden and she chose Hunted By The Others (which is on its way to her as I write). The giveaway proved very successful and I may do another later in the year.

There’s some exciting book releases this month, including books by two of my favourite authors. Jim Butcher will be releasing the long awaited Ghost Stories (Book #13 of the Dresden Files) on 26th July and I can’t wait! Jim is currently previewing the first three chapters on his website (Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3). Sadly, James Marsters won’t be narrating the audiobook for Ghost Stories (more of which you can find here). And, just around the corner is the release of the aforementioned Deceived By The Others by Jess Haines on 5th July.

Anyway, that’s all from me. I need to get packing as I’m off down to London tomorrow to see Take That!

Author: Tessa Gratton
Publisher: Doubleday
ISBN: 978-0-857-53020-2

Blood Magic brings us the story of Silla, a girl damaged and lost after finding her parents dead, covered in blood. Everyone believes her Dad lost it and killed her Mom and himself in a murder-suicide, but Silla could never think that of her own Dad. When a spell book mysteriously arrives in the mail, Silla becomes immersed in it, hoping it will help uncover the truth. Then there’s Nick, the new boy in town with his own chilling past. Little does Silla know that he has more in common with her than she thinks.

Blood Magic is one of those books you don’t want to put down. I loved it from the one and only line of the first chapter, right until the very end. There’s one thing though… If blood grosses you out, then this book isn’t for you! As the title may suggest, blood features fairly heavily in this book. I can deal with blood fairly well, but even I felt a little queasy a couple of times while reading this young adult urban fantasy book.

The chapters alternate between first-person narratives of Silla and Nicholas, and diary entries primarily written by Josephine. I’ve read books before that have used this first-person narrative alternation and some of them haven’t worked, so I am often dubious of books that use this style of writing. However, Tessa Gratton has used it very well in this book; story flows perfectly from character to character. What’s more is that this is Tessa’s debut novel. She’s pulled off this tricky style that I’ve seen seasoned authors fail at.

Something else Tessa has excelled at… An urban fantasy novel without angels, vampires or werewolves! The heart of this story is magic that uses blood. Blood magic that has ripped apart more than one family, but can also bring people together.

This book had me teary eyed one minute and happy the next. It’s gripping, dark, chilling and emotional, with a vein of love running through it.

Blood Magic is a fantastic debut book by author Tessa Gratton and one I’d definitely recommend! Even Maggie Stiefvater (author of Shiver) recommends it! I can’t wait to see what comes next from Tessa Gratton.

Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton is released on 7th July 2011. Pre-order your copy here.

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Please note: I received this book from Random House in return for a review. However, this has in no way influenced my opinion of the book.

After last week’s hoard of books of my birthday, I wasn’t expecting any books in this past week. I’m trying not to buy books myself as I have quite a few in my ‘to-be-read’ pile, but that didn’t stop the books coming in.

From Amazon Vine:

Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs – I’ve seen this one appear on a number of blogs lately and it sounded like a good read. So when it appeared on my Amazon Vine list for review, I jumped at the chance and selected it.

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys – This is another I’ve seen reviewed on a number of blogs. The story is based on first-hand family memories and accounts of Stalin’s survivors. I’m expecting it to be a moving read.

From the publishers:

The Quarry by Johan Theorin – This book arrived totally unexpectedly, but as a crime novel it is very welcome here!

Mud, Sweat and Tears by Bear Grylls – I’m not very adventurous (being scared of heights and bugs etc will do that to you!), but I love to watch people like Bear Grylls do all kinds of adventurous and daredevil things. So, I was delighted when this arrived in the post!

Thanks to both Amazon Vine and Transworld Publishers for these books this week.

Did you get any books this week?

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Posted for In My Mailbox. Why not join in?!

Congratulations to Birgit of The Book Garden!

Birgit is the lucky winner of one of the H&W Investigations books by Jess Haines in my Deceived By The Others Giveaway which ended at midnight. Birgit chose the first book in the series, Hunted By The Others, which I’ll mail to her as soon as I have her details.

For those who didn’t win, don’t worry… I’m reliably informed by Jess that Hunted By The Others will once again be a free download for the Kindle and Nook on 5th & 6th July. So don’t forget to check back here for links!

If you’re interested, you can check out my reviews for all three books:

1. Hunted By The Others
2. Taken By The Others
3. Deceived By The Others

Please note: The winner of the giveaway was chosen using the the True Random Number Generator at Random.org.

I’m a big fan of Jim Butcher‘s Dresden Files series of books. If I had to name a favourite author and a favourite book series then I would name Jim Butcher and the Dresden Files. Forget Harry Potter. Harry Dresden is THE wizard and he’s far more interesting!

I’m also a fan of James Marsters and it’s through him that I came across the Dresden Files books in the first place. James is the narrator for the Dresden Files audiobooks and he does a wonderful job. He IS the voice of Harry Dresden (and even does quirky voices for the other characters).

However, my heart sank when I came across the latest status on James Marsters’ Official page on Facebook last night. Due to a last minute scheduling conflict, James was unable to record the next installment of the Dresden Files, Ghost Story, in time to meet the publication deadline and another actor, John Glover (Lionel Luther in Smallville), has recorded the narration instead.

WHAT?!

I wasn’t pleased and neither were the fans. It isn’t just about being a James Marsters fan either. In terms of audiobooks, changing the narrator on book #13 is like changing the actor playing the main character in a well-established TV series. It doesn’t go down well. In fact, it may well have an affect on the audiobook sales. A number of commenters on Facebook (not just on the James Marsters page, but also on the Dresden Files (Novels) page), have stated that they’ve cancelled their pre-orders for the audiobook. It might have been a better idea to have rescheduled the audiobook release in order to have had James Marsters narrate it (despite other potential issues that might have arrisen due to a further pushed back release date – the publication of the hardback has been pushed back from it’s original April release date to July). Don’t they say “Good things come to those who wait”? I would certainly like to see how much, if any, of a difference there is between first week sales figures for Ghost Story and the previous audiobook, Changes.

Of course, we should give John Glover a chance. I can’t imagine that Jim would agree to him doing the job if he weren’t up to scratch. But the fact of the matter remains that James Marsters is the voice of the Dresden Files and it’s a shame he’s not doing Ghost Story.

Still, I can’t wait to get my hands on the Ghost Story hardback. The Dresden Files books always, without fail, jump to the top of my reading pile when released, and are devoured quite quickly. Yes, they’re that good! If you’re a fan of urban fantasy books, but haven’t yet read The Dresden Files books, then grab a copy of Storm Front, book #1 of The Dresden Files (paperback/audiobook), and work your way through the series. You won’t be disappointed! (Unless you’re going through the audiobooks and get to book #13 and discover a new narrator).

What are your thoughts on changing the narrator in the middle of a series?

Pre-order Ghost Story (book #13 of The Dresden Files) by Jim Butcher (Hardback/Audiobook).

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway in celebration of the upcoming release of Deceived By The Others by Jess Haines (another great urban fantasy!). You have until midnight 25th June 2011.