Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. For more info please check out Jana’s blog.
Hello!
I have so many books I want to read this Summer and I know I won’t manage even half of what I would like to read but there is no harm in trying. Here are a selection of the ones I would like to read.
I am really into my sci-fi at the moment and quite a few of these are on my Kindle ready for my holiday reading. I can’t wait to finish teaching and get started!
Goodreads Monday is now hosted by Budget Tales Book Club. All you have to do is show off a book from your TBR that you’re looking forward to reading.
Hello!
I hope everyone has had a good start to the week. I have had a good day of teaching and reading. I can’t wait to go on holiday where I can spend more time reading.
My chosen book to feature this week is the second book of a series that I have recently started. I absolutely adored the first book so I hope the next one will not disappoint.
Vertigo by G. S. Jennsen
The year is 2322 and humanity is under attack. An engineered war between rival superpowers escalates even as the shadowy Metigen armada begins attacking colonies on the frontiers of settled space.
Individuals from across the galaxy fight for their own survival and to protect those they hold dear, while a group of unlikely allies race to expose a secret cabal. As the aliens draw ever closer, leaving utter destruction and death in their wake, the strongest defenders of Earth and Seneca fall to one another in a war of lies and misdirection.
Alex Solovy and Caleb Marano stand accused of terrorism and murder. In a desperate gambit to clear their names and find a way to defeat the invaders, they breach the dimensional portal at the heart of the Metis Nebula. In a strange, mystical realm where nothing is what it seems, they will uncover secrets about humanity’s past and future—and one revelation which will change everything.
My chosen poem this week is by the English poet and writer Philip Edward Thomas (1878-1917).
Beauty
What does it means? Tired, angry, and ill at ease, No man, woman, or child alive could please Me now. And yet I almost dare to laugh Because I sit and frame an epitaph - 'Here lies all that no one loved of him And that loved no one.' Then in a trice that whim Has wearied. But, though I am like a river At fall of evening while it seems that never Has the sun lighted it or warmed it, while Cross breezes cut the surface to a file, This heart, some fraction of me, happily Floats through the window even now to a tree Down in the missing, dim-lit, quiet vale, Not like a pewit that returns to wail For something it has lost, but like a dove That slants unswerving to its home and love. There I find my rest, as through the dusk air Flies what yet lives in me: Beauty is there.
On the evening of 15 June 1815, the great and the good of British Society have gathered in Brussels at what is to become one of the most tragic parties in history – the Duchess of Richmond’s ball. For this is the eve of the Battle of Waterloo, and many of the handsome young men attending the ball will find themselves, the very next day, on the battlefield.
For Sophia Trenchard, the young and beautiful daughter of Wellington’s chief supplier, this night will change everything. But it is only twenty-five years later, when the upwardly mobile Trenchards move into the fashionable new area of Belgravia, that the true repercussions of that moment will be felt. For in this new world, where the aristocracy rub shoulders with the emerging nouveau riche, there are those who would prefer the secrets of the past to remain buried . . .
Review
I bought this book after watching the fantastic TV series and I was really excited to read it, which of course means that it sat on my TBR pile for a few years. I will be honest I struggled at the beginning to get into this book. I found Fellowes writing style to be more like he is writing a screenplay rather than a novel and I found it hard to get into the flow of the book. However, once I got used to the style I did start to enjoy the book.
The book begins with a ball, a ball being held in the middle of a war. This ball is in Brussels and is hosted by the Duchess of Richmond on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo. Sophia Trenchard and her family are attending this ball and this is where she learns some devastating news. It is this news that sets in motion events that will not resolve for many years.
The story then moves ahead 25 years where we meet the Trenchard family again. This family is now very wealthy and rubbing shoulders with the aristocracy even if the aristocracy are not keen on rubbing shoulders with new money they grin and bear it. James Trenchard has been hugely successful and dreams of making it in high society. However, in his social climbing he can behave in quite a cringe worthy manner which makes his poor wife Anne dread going out in society with him and I can see why. I really liked Anne because she was quiet, she was thoughtful and she knew what she was doing. She was a little bit too trustworthy of her maid at times but otherwise she was a sensible woman who dreamed of a quiet life. She knew she wasn’t welcome in the homes of the aristocracy but she went to please her husband and she sat quietly, said the right things and smiled at the right people then she quietly went home again. James on the other hand had to be talking to people, to be made known to everyone in the room and was quite embarrassing at times. I felt myself cringing with poor Anne.
I enjoyed how the book showed how society functioned in the Victorian period and I loved the glimpses of the servants behaviour. I also really liked how true events were woven into this story. It really gave me Downton vibes at times. I also really liked the characters in the book with Anne being my favourite. This was my first book by Julian Fellowes but it will definitely not be my last. I give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons.
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About the author
Julian Alexander Kitchener-Fellowes (Baron Fellowes of West Stafford), DL. English actor, novelist, screenwriter, and director.
Fellowes is the youngest son of Peregrine Fellowes (a diplomat and Arabist who campaigned to have Haile Selassie restored to his throne during World War II). Julian inherited the title of Lord of the Manor of Tattershall from his father, making him the fourth Fellowes to hold it. He was educated at Ampleforth College, Magdalene College, Cambridge, and at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.
Goodreads Monday is now hosted by Budget Tales Book Club. All you have to do is show off a book from your TBR that you’re looking forward to reading.
Hello!
I hope everyone has had a good start to the week. I have had a busy day of teaching but I have managed a little bit of reading in my breaks.
My chosen book to feature this week is a recent addition to my Kindle and a possible holiday read.
The Golden Age of Magic by Luanne G. Smith
Against the backdrop of 1920s Hollywood, a young fairy godmother on a mission is embroiled in malicious magic, mystery, and murder in a thrilling historical fantasy by the bestselling author of The Vine Witch.
Celeste is about to become one of the thirteen Fées Gardiennes, a centuries-old sisterhood of fairy godmothers. To be granted full status, she must usher her first protégé onto their path of destiny. Where better to find a starry-eyed ward than in the land of magic and illusion called Hollywood?
It’s 1927. The moviemaking business is booming when Celeste befriends a young studio seamstress whose dreams outshine everyone else’s. Rose is talented and underappreciated and could use some enchanted intervention in her life. Plans proceed swimmingly, and Celeste even catches the eye of a handsome producer. But after a series of unexplained accidents on the studio lot stir up rumors of a curse, Celeste fears the trouble is more personal―the spiteful meddling of a fellow Gardienne out to thwart Celeste’s success.
But the sabotage turns sinister when a starlet is murdered and it’s Rose who stands accused. As vengeance, dark magic, and betrayal wreak havoc, Celeste must come into her full power to save her innocent protégé and secure her own future in a cherished, ancient, and now threatened sisterhood.
I am taking a break from Under the Dome and I’m not sure whether I might DNF it as I am just struggling to get into it. I am throughly enjoying The Three Musketeers though.
Lady Book Dragon 