Lemony Snicket Appreciation Post (Part 8)

Love can change a person the way a parent can change a baby- awkwardly, and often with a great deal of mess.
- Lemony Snicket

Pietrisycamollaviadelrechiotemexity.
- Lemony Snicket

I will love you as the iceberg loves the ship, and the passengers love the lifeboat and the lifeboat loves the teeth of the sperm whale, and the sperm whale loves the flavor of naval uniforms.
- Lemony Snicket

Assumptions are dangerous things to make, and like all dangerous things to make -- bombs, for instance, or strawberry shortcake -- if you make even the tiniest mistake you can find yourself in terrible trouble. Making assumptions simply means believing things are a certain way with little or no evidence that shows you are correct, and you can see at once how this can lead to terrible trouble. For instance, one morning you might wake up and make the assumption that your bed was in the same place that it always was, even though you would have no real evidence that this was so. But when you got out of your bed, you might discover that it had floated out to sea, and now you would be in terrible trouble all because of the incorrect assumption that you'd made. You can see that it is better not to make too many assumptions, particularly in the morning.
- Lemony Snicket

The key to good eavesdropping is not getting caught.

- Lemony Snicket

Lemony Snicket Appreciation Post (Part 7)

One of the greatest myths in the world - & the phrase 'greatest myths' is just a fancy way of saying 'big fat lies' -- is that troublesome things get less & less troublesome if you do them more & more. People say this myth when they are teaching children to ride bicycles, for instance, as though falling off a bicycle & skinning your knee is less troublesome the fourteenth time you do it than it is the first time. The truth is that troublesome things tend to remain troublesome no matter how many times you do them, & that you should avoid doing them unless they are absolutely urgent.
- Lemony Snicket

The sad truth is the truth is sad.
- Lemony Snicket

Perhaps if we saw what was ahead of us, and glimpsed the follies, and misfortunes that would befall us later on, we would all stay in our mother's wombs, and then there would be nobody in the world but a great number of very fat, very irritated women.
- Lemony Snicket

There are two kinds of fears: rational and irrational- or in simpler terms, fears that make sense and fears that don't.
- Lemony Snicket

I don't know if you've ever noticed this, but first impressions are often entirely wrong.
- Lemony Snicket, The Bad Beginning

Interview with Anne Osterlund, Author of Academy 7

I was fortunate enough to interview Anne Osterlund, author of Aurelia and the just-released Academy 7 which came out in stores in the US on May 14th...

First off, what is Academy 7 about?

It is the story of a girl, Aerin, who is fleeing a dangerous planet and trying to find a better life. And Dane, a young man fresh out of prison, who is determined to want absolutely nothing because that is what he has been trained to expect. And together they become the top new students at the most prestigious school in the universe. Think Star Wars meets The Outsiders.

Can you describe Dane in three words?

Guts, self-destructive, trouble

How about Aerin?

Defensive, kick-ass, brilliant

How would you describe your writing style?

It is whatever the characters insist it should be. Generally swift YA with romance to taste and enough danger and death to keep the action going, even when stirred under a ream of— sometimes annoying—perfectionism.

Growing up, what sort of books did you read?

Tons! Especially young adult fantasy and historical fiction. Tamora Pierce, Ann Rinaldi, Richard Peck’s Blossom Culp books, Sally Watson, L.M. Montgomery, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Louisa May Alcott, Walter Farley, Mark Twain, and, yes, I admit umpteen thousand Sweet Valley Twins and Babysitter’s Club books.

Who is your favorite character you've created?

A very loaded question. (They create themselves). I love Aurelia. She is very opinionated and stubborn, but her strength, passion, and agility within an argument are terrific fun. Dane is a blast! He is always tearing up everyone’s expectations, including mine; and there is really no getting around him because he is far too interesting to ignore. That said, I would go crazy trying to live in Aurelia’s or Dane’s heads all the time. There is definitely something to be said for Robert and Aerin and a wee bit of perspective, LOL. The truth is I love all my main characters, and if I didn’t I couldn’t do them justice.

What can we look forward to from you in the future?

Time shall tell. I have submitted a couple projects and am waiting to hear what my publisher is the most interested in. Personally, Robert, Aurelia, and I are currently confronting Lord Lester on his estate in the middle of the Asyan Forest in Exile, which is the second book in a trilogy; however, Penguin (much to Aurelia’s ire) says they would like another book but that they don’t think there is enough interest in a sequel. So…I can tell you there is a thief called The Cat, a boy who would rather not be everyone else’s salvation, a slave girl who breaks things, a pioneer girl who prefers to go by Alex, and—Oh yes!—a snake. You’ll probably meet one of them sooner and the rest ultimately.


You can find out more about Anne and her books at
anneosterlund.com

Waiting On Wednesday, May 20

After reading Envy by Anna Godbersen the other day (you can read my review here), I am eagerly anticipating the next book (which will be book four!) in the series.

It's Splendour (with a U!!) and I don't know too much about it, but I have been eyeing the cover. The dress is cool and all but the styling and everthing doesn't look like what I would expect for the 1900s. (More so for the picture that was in the backcover of Envy than the little picture I have in this post, it looked different, honest!) It's pretty, though :)

It’s a new year, and Manhattan’s favorite socialites are stirring up brand-new drama: Elizabeth uncovers a dangerous secret from her past; Diana has an opportunity to follow her heart—and claim her future, Lina discovers money can buy happiness…for a time, and Penelope finds that life without Henry brings unexpected pleasures. In this dramatic conclusion to the bestselling Luxe series, old ties are broken, fresh bonds are formed, and every decision comes at a cost.

It's coming out in late October in the US. Not sure about Australia though as Envy was only just released here!

Review: Marked by P.C. and Kristin Cast

Marked by P.C. and Kristin Cast is (yet another, hehe) vampire book and while I have been reading a lot of vampire books lately I am not getting bored of them! Marked is the first book in The House of Night series and is about Zoey Redbird, a 16 year old girl who is 'marked' to become a vampyre and must go to 'The House of Night' a school for fledgling vampyres... or else she will die. At her new school Zoey quickly finds out she is different than the others, she has great powers and a bloodlust well beyond her years. Taking a unique approach, the vampyres in Marked worship the goddess Nyx and focuses on the occult.

The writing style of this book really appealed to me. It seemed quite opinionated and had a lot of attitude :) The book is written by P.C Cast and her daughter, Kristin Cast, and clearly the mother-and-daughter writing team works very well! I'd be very interested to find out more about their collaboration (they've gone on to write many more books in the series).

The characters in Marked are very likeable (with the obvious exception of Aphrodite who we love to hate). Zoey is a smart, strong protagonist and her group of friends are varied and interesting.

Marked has a fast moving pace which kept me very interesting, I found it very hard to put this book down. Though the final scenes in the book seemed to come about, and end, a little too fast. The book ended with a lot of purposely unanswered questions - so I'm definitely looking forward to finding out what will happen to Zoey in the future.

Easily one of my favourite books of the year!

Marked is available now in Australia from Hachette - you can find out more here.