YABooksPodcast's podcast

Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin Mckinley

First published in 1978 by HarperTeen

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00320G61M/ref=tmm_mmp_new_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=new&qid=&sr=

So, that is the first chapter of Beauty. About sixteen pages. I love the author's use of language. Even though the story is told in first person, I hardly notice it.

The story continues with the family selling off their mansion in the city, traveling to the country and setting up shop on the edge of an enchanted forest. It takes a few twists but eventually Beauty ends up in the magical castle, alone with the fright some beast.

When Disney's Beauty and the Beast was announced, I looked forward to it with the hope that it would have the same charm as I found in this book. I think it fell way short. Even with Lumier, Cogsworth and Gaston (Or maybe because of...). In the movie, I never felt an affection for the beast as I did in reading this book.

Anyway. I hope you have a Merry Christmas or other celebration of choice. I'm going to go read Beauty for the eleventh time.

Thanks for listening and we'll see you next week.

Erasmus T. Muddiman by Kathrine Pym
https://www.amazon.com/Erasmus-T-Muddiman-Publick-Distemper-ebook/dp/B01IU866GK/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1513088704&sr=1-1&keywords=erasmus+t+muddiman

In retrospect, I think this is more of a middle grade story. At least it starts that way. And since I already recorded the first two chapters I'm going with it for this weeks episode anyway. Mostly because I like the author's voice. She has found a convincing way of portraying the time period in her choice of language. The characters are interesting and realistic. Also, the other book I started had two violent rapes in the first five pages and the writing was mediocre. If you're interested in reading a violent, mediocre book, email me at [email protected] and I'll let you know what the name is.

So, here's Erasmus T. Muddiman

It was published in August of 2016. It currently has 4.8 stars on sixteen reviews.

Here's the Amazon blurb:

It is London 1665, a year fraught with strange and unearthly events. Comets fly low in the sky while merchants clamor for war.

Eleven year old Erasmus T. Muddiman attends St Paul’s School with his younger brother. He enjoys Latin but hates to create Latin verses, preferring the new sciences as seen at the Royal Society. He plays football with the lads in Paul’s Yard, shimmies up the drainpipe outside his bedchamber window and he saves his brother, Desiderius, from all sorts of scrapes.

Soon, Erasmus cannot avoid the rumors of war. Men and boys are pressganged, taken to ships or the dockyards. Plague enters the city. As school fellows disappear, Erasmus and his family meet a terrible fate of survival. Who will live and who will die?

The Amazon preview has the first four chapters. Here are the first two....

What I like most about this story is that it brings history alive. I'm a big fan of history podcasts, like Hardcore History, and Revolutions podcast. These two chapters gave me a real feeling for life in that time period, from looking at comets through a hand held spyglass, to the smell of the air from the top of a bell tower, and the frozen rubbish in the street where the boys kicked their football.

The author has several more books that all appear to involve young people and historical fiction. On the author's amazon author page it says.

Katherine Pym likes history, especially 17th century England, specifically London during the 1660's. The decade is so exciting. It is filled with human interest stories as the people adjust from one government to another, and all their changing rules and regulations.

I also chose this book because the first two chapters occure shortly before Christmas and as I'm recording this, Christmas is about two weeks away. Next week I'm going to read the first few chapters of my favorite book of all time. I've read it nearly ten times and always in the month or two before Christmas.

Thanks for listening. And, we'll see you next week.

A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray

4.3 Stars 291 reviews
Published November 2014 by Harper Collins
First in the Three book Firebird series
Book 2, Nov 2015
Book 3, Nov 2016

https://www.amazon.com/Thousand-Pieces-You-Firebird-Book-ebook/dp/B00ICMX0C8/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=P7X0YHXAWY242T8ZVYY0

Cloud Atlas meets Orphan Black in this epic dimension-bending trilogy by New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray about a girl who must chase her father's killer through multiple dimensions.

Marguerite Caine's physicist parents are known for their groundbreaking achievements. Their most astonishing invention, called the Firebird, allows users to jump into multiple universes—and promises to revolutionize science forever. But then Marguerite's father is murdered, and the killer—her parent's handsome, enigmatic assistant Paul— escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.

Marguerite refuses to let the man who destroyed her family go free. So she races after Paul through different universes, always leaping into another version of herself. But she also meets alternate versions of the people she knows—including Paul, whose life entangles with hers in increasingly familiar ways. Before long she begins to question Paul's guilt—as well as her own heart. And soon she discovers the truth behind her father's death is far more sinister than she expected.

A Thousand Pieces of You explores an amazingly intricate multi-universe where fate is unavoidable, the truth elusive, and love the greatest mystery of all.

I really liked these chapters and recommend this book enthusiastically. It has almost all of what I like. It has mystery, action, science and nerdy romance. What could be better than dimension hopping with a beautiful young woman. It's well written. The plot flows and all the science, whether it's grounded or not, is entered into the dialog and narrative seamlessly. I'm recommending this as a 4, realizing that not everyone will be as enchanted by the science fiction as much as I am.

Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth (Author of the Divergent trilogy)

https://www.amazon.com/Carve-Mark-Veronica-Roth-ebook/dp/B01ER5L9V2/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_5?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=PX5T9Q6A9ZPX7PB28R2R

I know that I often feature lesser known books on the podcast, so this week I wanted to find something that might be more mainstream. I went to the Amazon top 100 young adult books, and the first one that wasn't a Harry Potter book was this one. It was around number six. With her Divergent Trilogy being so popular, I figured this was a good bet.
published on Jan 17, 2017 by
It must have recently been on a promotion, because I bought it for $2.99 and now it is at $10.99
It is currently at #678 on the Paid Kindle store.
When I bought it, it was #1 on three indices, now it is at 4, 5, and 5, on those indices.

4.0 stars on 304 reviews

Cyra Noavek and Akos Kereseth have grown up in enemy countries locked in a long-standing fight for dominance over their shared planet. When Akos and his brother are kidnapped by the ruling Noavek family, Akos is forced to serve Cyra, the sister of a dictator who governs with violence and fear. Cyra is known for her deadly power of transferring extraordinary pain unto others with simple touch, and her tyrant brother uses her as a weapon against those who challenge him. But as Akos fights for his own survival, he recognizes that Cyra is also fighting for hers, and that her true gift—resilience—might be what saves them both.

When Akos and Cyra are caught in the middle of a raging rebellion, everything they’ve been led to believe about their world and themselves must be called into question. But fighting for what’s right might mean betraying their countries, their families, and each other.

When the time comes, will they choose loyalty or love?

How did I like this first chapter?
I think the author's writing is great, though I did stumble on some of the phrasing when I was recording. There was one sentence about the Shotet being across a stretch of feathergrass that was really hard to read in a way that made sense. Let me read it. "And they lived on Thuvhe, the same planet as Akos and his family—though the Shotet didn’t call this planet “Thuvhe,” or themselves “Thuvhesits”—across a huge stretch of feathergrass." Reading that I feel like Fezzik in the Princess Bride, "I don't think that word means what he thinks in means." With the insertion about the Shotet in the middle of the sentence, we lose the connection to the original thought. I thought this was some weak writing in an otherwise strong story. There is a lot of wisdom in the idea that authors should read their work out loud to make sure it flows.

I'm impressed with the author's world building. I'm not impressed that she tried to explain so much of it in the first chapter, mixed in with cute childhood interactions. There was too much information dumped into the chapter. Again, too many obscure names introduced. If I hadn't read the chapter three times, including while recording, I don't know if I would have been clear on who was who at the end.

Also, we are barely introduced to the conflict at the end of the first chapter. And we only know what is coming by reading the blurb. Reading the chapter straight through, there is nothing in it that pushes me to know more. I'm disappointed that there isn't a nagging conflict to catch my interest.

If world building is a major draw for you, then, this chapter, and probably the book, is for you. I would have to read on another chapter of two to decide if there was enough conflict and potential character development to spur me on. The author has a lot of street cred, having written a major series in the Divergent trilogy. That is probably enough to encourage me to read the next two or three chapters to see if it will hook me.

Another thing that bugged me was the rankings. It was highest on a YA Scifi/distopian index. I'm not sure how they got the book into that index, because this story doesn't have any of the characteristics of a distopian novel, as far as I can see from the first chapter and the blurb. It is much more in the scifi/fantasy genre.

I was going to give this a four. Because it should appeal to more than just the distopian crowd. Or just the YA romance crowd. Based on the potential that the author knows what she's doing. It's worth a try for most readers. At least the first few chapters to see if you're going to get drawn in. But, the price point is a draw back. $11 is a lot for a 'maybe' e book. If other reviewers had averaged it higher than a straight four point oh, it would be a more sure bet. I give it between a three and a four recommendation. There are a lot of great books available for $5 that are less risk.

I apologize for missing a week. I actually recorded these chapters a week ago, but my lap top was giving me such a bad time that I had to buy a new one. In that recording my computer cut out thirteen little snippets, so I've had to go back, re record those corrupted sentences or paragraphs and edit them in. I appologize for any errors in this episode.

This week's episode is:

Rising From the Ashes: The Chronicles of Caymin (The Dragonmage Saga Book 1)
Caren J. Werlinger
4.7 stars on 40 reviews

Published by Corgyn Publishing on February 1, 2016
Going to her Amazon author page I see that Caren has written a number of other books, including books two and three of the Dragonmage Saga

http://cjwerlinger.wordpress.com

The book is listed in three catagories all ending with sword and sorcery.

Blurb

Rising From the Ashes: The Chronicles of Caymin

Ancient Ireland – an era of clan wars, petty kings and invasions by raiders from the north.

As Christianity tightens its hold, magic and the old ways fight to keep their place in the hearts of the people.

Born into this world is Ash, orphaned and maimed, left to die. She is rescued by a clan of badgers and raised to be one of them. As she grows, so does her magic, until at last she comes to the attention of other humans. Some of them want to protect her; some want to use her.

When she bonds with an orphaned dragon cub, the two of them become pawns in a bid for power. Forced to flee, dragon and dragonmage embark on a quest to seek the answers as to why they were bonded and what their future holds.

Book One in The Dragonmage Saga

There are a prolog and three chapters in the Amazon preview. I am going to read the prolog and first chapter. I was going to read the second chapter, but it was way long and I still have to meet my word count for Nanowrimo. So, here we go with the prolog:

In these two chapters we're introduced to Ash and the badgers. We see her magical ability to speak telepathically with animals and the appearance of her healing powers. Dragons, while mentioned in the title and in the blurb, don't make an appearance in the beginning.

The writing is strong and the characters are believable, even if they are talking animals.

I think this is a great start to an interesting story. So if you like dragons, fantasy, and Swords and Sorcery, this book might be written for you.

Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week.

Today's episode is a first chapter review of Tiva Boon:Royal Guardian by Jenn Nixon
it is the first book of the Tiva Boon series
It has 4.3 stars on 71 reviews
It was published on july 8, 2014

https://www.amazon.com/Tiva-Boon-Royal-Guardian-Book-ebook/dp/B00LN8S32U/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=4PEMC00KDC57C5SW35R2

Blurb
The kingdom of Abennelp has enjoyed an age of peace. Tiva Boon, a loyal and ambitious Royal Guardian is determined to carry on tradition and become an elite protector to the throne. It is all she has ever wanted. Possessing abilities and strength beyond her age, Tiva dedicates her youth and risks her life in the service of her king to prove she is worthy. With her goal achieved and her destiny in motion, a mysterious off-world threat emerges and shatters everything Tiva holds dear.
Exiled from her home and running for her life, Tiva seeks asylum with the Union, a universal security force, and attempts to put the past behind her. Finding herself alone among various space faring races, Tiva integrates herself into the strange society using her skills as a protector and befriends several aliens she meets along the way, ones who will change her life forever.
When a message from those loyal to her king reaches her months after she feels safe in her new life, Tiva’s destiny and the fate of her people collide.

The Amazon preview has the prolog and the first four chapters. I'm going to read yoou the prolog and the first two chapters.
So, here we go...

I like the combination of science fiction and fantasy. We have hover cars and swords. Empaths and architecture. There are a lot of fantasy tropes here to play with. Kings and kingdoms, the royal guardians, hundreds of years of history, and a hierarchy of families sworn to protect the royals. And a girl who won't accept her role in life as a woman.
I like the author's writing style and think she tells her story well.
Two things bothered me about the swords. One was that Tiva's sword grip fit her hand perfectly, matching each of her fingers. I haven't figured out how old Tiva is. I'm figuring around five. This is the sword she will learn to use for the rest of her life. Unless they are planning to reform the grip when she is done growing, I can't imagine that it will be comfortable for an adult to use.
Also. I'm interested to see how swords are used. Will they be used hand to hand in combat, or are there other weapons which are more technologically advanced.
They have hover cars that go fast enough to have killed two occupants. Unless they're powered by magic, the technology that makes them run could be used to create weapons that would be more effective than swords. For that matter, if two groups are engaged in hand to hand combat with swords, a single hover car could bring that to an end by simply driving through the crowd. Add some swords sticking off the front and sides and no one can even get at the driver without risking their lives.
The number of charactors and names introduced early on was a little overwhelming. It introduced the idea that Tiva has a large family and a long tradition of being guardians, but it also had me spending time wondering which names I should try to remember and who would be important further along in the story.
I give these chapters between a 3 and a 4. I think if you are into science fiction with a dose of fantasy, or some of the other tropes introduced, you will like this story. I'm interested to read further to see how things bear out.

Here's "Fairy Ring: Shards of Janderelle" Book 1 by Jacque Stevens
4.2 stars on 13 customer reviews
Published by Sjacquebooks on September 5th of this year.
It's in three teen and young adult indices all with the key words of Mental Illness or depression. The author is a full time nurse working in mental and developmental health and wrote her first novel as a stress relief activity during nursing school.

https://www.amazon.com/Fairy-Ring-Shards-Janderelle-Book-ebook/dp/B073PS2N5F/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=XAX3JFNT79KXC3NR1FEF

Here is the Amazon blurb:

Fourteen-year-old Livy’s best friends just happen to be fairies.

With them, she defeats snow monsters and discovers lost treasure, running wild through her apartment complex. Game after endless game. That’s how it works with fairies. They might be illusions, but they helped her cope when her father walked out, leaving her to care for her drug-addicted mother alone.

Then Child Protective Services swoops in, sending Livy to live with her father, but that doesn’t stop the fairies from tagging along. The illusions that helped her in the past now cause nothing but trouble—preluding fires in chemistry and sword fights in gym. It isn’t any wonder her stepmother thinks she’s crazy, maybe even on drugs like her mother. Forced into therapy, Livy tries to conform to her new life. But when the military precision of her stepmother’s household becomes too much, she crosses the fairy ring to a dream world where her imagination can run free again.

Her scars transfer from one world to the other. So does a death. With her family ready to have her committed, Livy must unravel the truth behind her so-called schizophrenic delusions before they take another life—hers.

Fairy Ring: Shards of Janderelle is a darkly humorous and magical tale with elements of A Monster Calls (Patrick Ness), Calvin: A Novel (Martine Leavitt), and other young adult stories that blend the borders of contemporary fantasy and psychology. It explores teenage/family drama, mental illness, and a fantasy world that might be too good to be true.

The Amazon preview has the prologue, the first two chapters and part of the third. I'm going to read you the prologue and first chapter.

The first time I read this I had a hard time skipping from the prologue to the first chapter. While this prologue was used as it is supposed to--showing us pivotal scenes from the past. I immediately forgot that the first chapter was not just a continuation of the previous and was confused until I realized she was older. When I read this out loud to record it, everything made much more sense.
I wish there had been some cue about the passage of time between the two.
That said, it was my only real complaint about these two chapters.
I really enjoyed the spell/vision action of the Yeti fight. It was fun and creative and gives us a concise look at the nature of Livy's two fairy friends.
Knowing that the indices for this book include Mental Illness, I wonder now and then while reading this, if the fairies are just Livy's imagination. Hallucinations are classically what we think of when we consider mental illness, but that would be too simple. Alcohol abuse, drug abuse, depression and homelessness are also symptoms of mental illness that are much less glamorous, but probably much more common.
I give this book a four and hope that I'll get a chance to read further.

From the Sky, Book 1 of the Beyond Moondust Trilogy by JE Nicassio.
Published September 6th of this year. Book two came out two days later.
Book 1 of 2 in Beyond Moondust Triliogy (2 Book Series)
4.4 stars on 20 Customer reviews.

https://www.amazon.com/Sky-Beyond-Moondust-Triliogy-Book-ebook/dp/B075FSNZB9/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=YR8GAZD5Q8ZXYK2NHYS3

From the Sky from best-selling author J.E. Nicassio writes the kind of close encounter that will leave readers spellbound. When high school junior, Samantha Hunter, and her father move to New Mexico, it's a chance to leave tragedy behind and start over. However, the arrival of a dark-haired stranger changes everything. Lucien introduces Sam to the prospect of enjoying life again, and to the hidden world of aliens. But crazier than that, Lucien doesn't feel entirely like a stranger. Redemption and romance follow Sam in her new life as she works to understand the alien-human romance she's developing--a romance that feels beyond her control. There's something bigger happening around her, and to her, too, and this is just the beginning....

--J. E. Nicassio packs in the action like a superhero movie-- From the Sky has all the hallmarks of a Hollywood blockbuster--ready to light up the sky like a fleet of UFOs. "A must read! It had me from the very beginning to the last word. Every page had a plot twist and turn to make my imagination run wild." --Online Book Club.org Nicassio is a freelance writer and MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) Field Investigator in Pittsburgh, PA, where she resides with her mother, two sons, and German Shepherd, Ava. She loves writing and is passionate about creating stories that entertain and comes straight from the heart. Her Children's book, Rocky (About Rockefeller Center and a tiny Christmas tree named Rocky) made the Amazon Top Ten Christmas Book List in 2016.

The Amazon preview has the Prolog and the first four chapters. I'm going to read you the prolog and the first two chapters.

(Read Chapters)

How did I like this so far?
I thought the first chapter, er, rather, the prolog, was great. It was a fast paced introduction to the main character and some unknown characters. They didn't say their names, but one of them says, "There'll be consequences, Brother." So either these first two strangers are brothers, or members of a religeous order. Anyway, it appears the Brother heals Sam.
Could this be Lucien, the love interest mentioned in the Amazon blurb?
If you read on in the preview, Chapter 3 is titled, Lucien. So, if you want to find out before you buy the book, you can read further than I did. I have to admit that by the end of chapter two, the pace of the story had slowed sufficiently that I wasn't really interested enough to read on at this point.
I thought chapter one was good and built on what we learned from the preview.
I felt like chapter 2 was mainly filler and slowed down considerably as she walks out to the bus stop.
I give this a three star rating and if I had nothing else to read, I'd read a few more chapters to see if this one picked up.
Part of what drags the recommendation down for me is the poorly written Amazon blurb. An Amazon blurb needs to grab you with the first sentence and drag you to the second which pushes you to the third and then shows you an emotional reason why you need to buy this book right now. This blurb starts out with telling us how great the author is.
From the Sky from best-selling author J.E. Nicassio writes the kind of close encounter that will leave readers spellbound.
Not only is the first line of the blurb improperly punctuated, it tells me nothing about the book--only claims that I will be spellbound, but not why. And frankly, "Best Selling" means nothing anymore. Maybe she's made some list somewhere. If I don't know the author's name and what they had written that was best selling, saying so will mean nothing.
So, in conclusion. If what the blurb promises appeals to you, it could be worth reading the next two chapters on the Amazon preview, or just paying out the 99 cents it costs right now to get book one. If you like it, there's at least one more book in the series, or two it it's a trilogy.
Thanks for listening and we'll see you next week.

Bianca Rowena is the author of the Gift Stone Series and the Virgin Diaries. She was born in Romania, Transylvania and now lives in Southern Alberta with her husband, daughter and little dog Molli. Bianca graduated from Film Studies at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. You can check out her website at www.biancarowena.com or follow her on Twitter (@biancarowena) or Facebook www.facebook.com/biancarowena

I was born in Palmer, Alaska, but lived in every time zone of the lower 48 (and Taiwan) before I went to college. I studied at Brigham Young University and in East Asia (China, Japan), which proved amazing exploration territory.

Ten plus years later my exploration has turned inward, and "Hurricane Coltrane" reflects the difference. My people settled that lonely stretch of southern Utah desert. Some would call it barren earth, but I have discovered it fertile beyond anything I initially imagined...creatively. Welcome to the first fruits of my prosperous literary garden!

I now live in Bountiful, Utah with my story-adoring husband and daughter.

Hurricane Coltrane (April 2015)
Merrill Hinton is a lightning rod in a town named for bad weather. He’s an ace in math, but not smart enough to put together the pieces of his puzzling life, especially where finding his unknown father is concerned.

Musical genius Robbie Stubbs was born in nearby polygamist compound Colorado City. He has the chops to become another John Coltrane, but that will take running away from home, and into a firestorm of controversy–the kind his friend Merrill knows best.

Merrill sets Robbie onto a course that could rocket them both onto center stage, but being the focus of wide public attention will create serious issues. Robbie’s mother is not well, and the shock of her son breaking the family rules like this may put her over the edge.

And Merrill Hinton? His precarious future would be compromised in ways he doesn’t yet realize.