2017

Posted in The Monday Check-In by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

My Monday tradition, including a look back and a look ahead — what I read last week, what new books came my way, and what books are keeping me busy right now. Plus a smattering of other stuff too.

Life.

Home sweet home! I had a great week visiting East Coast family — but it’s lovely to be back, sleeping in my cozy bed!

What did I read last week?

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant: Finished last weekend and thought it was brilliant! I just posted a review this past week — check it out here.

Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny: My book group’s November read. It was entertaining, but didn’t actually make much of an impression. Skippable.

The Café by the Sea by Jenny Colgan: Nice, sweet romance. My review is here. I read this book all in one gulp while flying home from Thanksgiving week, and it was a great choice for travel reading!

Outlander !!

My reaction post for episode 311, “Uncharted”, is here.

Here’s a little peek at the episode:

Yup, that’s a snake slithering across Claire. Yikes!

Fresh Catch:

I received an unexpected credit from Amazon, so immediately bought myself a treat! I’ve been re-reading Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials recently, and realized that I’d never read this version — so happy early Hanukkah to me!

And even more exciting — I’d been saving up a few giftcards, and finally splurged on a brand new Kindle Oasis! After years of dedicated service, my Kindle Keyboard is about ready for retirement.

My preciousssssssss…

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

Odd & True by Cat Winters: I had planned to read this book a couple of weeks ago, but got sidetracked by killer mermaids (Into the Drowning Deep!) and my various holiday commitments of the past week — but now I’m back on track! I’ve loved everything by Cat Winters so far, so I’m excited to finally devote myself to her newest.

Now playing via audiobook:

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden: I read this book at the beginning of 2017 (review), and loved it. I’m doing an audiobook re-read now before diving into the sequel, but really didn’t get much time to listen this past week. I should be finishing up by next weekend.

Ongoing reads:

Book group reads:

Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott: My book group’s classic read! We’re reading and discussing two chapters per week.
Lord John and the Private Matter by Diana Gabaldon: Our group read of Private Matter is almost done — just three chapters to go! We’ll be moving on to Lord John & the Succubus in January — contact me if you’d like to join in.

So many books, so little time…

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26Nov2017

Insta-Reaction: Outlander, Season 3, Episode 11

Posted in Outlander by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Season 3 is here! My intention is to write an “Insta-Reaction” post for each episode soon after viewing, to share some initial thoughts, questions, reactions — you name it.

Warning:

I may be talking about events from this episode, other episodes, and/or the book series… so if you’d rather not know, now’s your chance to walk away!

Outlander, episode 311: “Uncharted”

The official synopsis (via Starz):

After making a leap of faith, Claire washes up on an island where survival is her only option. Navigating treacherous waters crippled the Artemis, so Jamie devises a joyful moment for his crew in the midst of setbacks.

My take:

Major plot points:

After drifting at sea all night, Claire washes up on an island, but has no idea where she is.
She sets off through the jungle in search of water and — hopefully — a town.
At the point of exhaustion, Claire ends up at the jungle home of Father Fogden, a somewhat deranged but kind-hearted disgraced priest, who offers her assistance and shelter.
Meanwhile, the Artemis was damaged in a storm and Jamie and the surviving crew members have come ashore to repair the mast and sails.
Claire and Jamie are reunited!
Marsali and Fergus are married on the beach by Father Fogden.
Claire drinks some delicious turtle soup (laced with A LOT of sherry), gives herself a penicillin injection to combat a fever from infection, and then she and Jamie have some hot and steamy reunion sex.

Insta-reaction:

Now THAT’s an episode! Action, drama, humor, and some sexytimes. What more could an Outlander fan want?

Claire is one hell of a woman. There’s just no debate about that. After finding herself alive but alone on the island, Claire starts her trek through the jungle. She’s swarmed by ants (ick!) and wakes up the next day with a humongous snake sliding across her (aaaack!). But does that stop Claire? Not a chance. She needs water to survive, and needs to find a way to find Jamie, and she is just not going to stop!

Kudos to Caitriona Balfe and the Outlander make-up team — they went all in with her sunburned, disheveled, bug-bitten look. (And of course, she still looked beautiful!)

Father Fogden was just as nutty as expected, and Mamecita was appropriately menacing, even while washing Claire’s clothes and treating her bites and scrapes. I loved the conversations with Coco the coconut — good for Claire for figuring out how to convince Father Fogden to help her.

Back on the beach on the other side of the island, Jamie and the men from the Artemis are busy making repairs. As they talk, we learn that they sailed through a gale, which damaged the ship and led to several deaths, including Captain Raines. Apparently, Jamie is now the senior man and therefore the captain.

Claire sees the ship offshore and is able to signal to Jamie just in the nick of time before the ship leaves. A dramatic reunion takes place on the beach, as Jamie and Claire run towards each other through the surf. It’s very, very romantic.

Claire has suffered a gashed arm while running through the jungle, and Mr. Willoughby stitches her up. Jamie remarks that the crew needs something to lift their spirits, and suggests a wedding. He’s given Marsali and Fergus permission to wed.

Claire and Marsali have a sex talk — and you just know that a sex talk from Claire has to be good! Marsali is looking forward to finally getting to sleep with Fergus, and asks Claire for advice on how to do it without getting pregnant. She wants to enjoy it first before starting to think about babies. Smart girl. She even admits that perhaps Claire isn’t such a devil after all.

Fergus and Marsali get married on the beach in a somewhat comical ceremony, with Father Fogden officiating. Favorite lines from the book are preserved, including the priest asking whether the groom has a c*ck, since you can’t get married without one. So silly and adorable. Fergus has no last name to give, until Jamie steps forward and says that Fergus’s full name is Fergus Claudel Fraser. (Don’t mind me, that’s just dust in my eyes…)(*sob*)

The ship sets sail, with Jamie and Claire sharing the captain’s quarters. Claire is getting drunk from the turtle soup and is feverish from the wound on her arm which has become infected — but she’s also feeling very amorous, and Jamie doesn’t resist for long. They’re funny and sexy having turtle soup sex (Jamie remarks that this must be what it feels like to have sex in hell), and the episode ends on that happy note.

Insta-reaction wrap-up:

Getting Claire and Jamie back together is a very, very good thing! This episode was a great antidote to the misery of the last one. Jamie and Claire are together, are in love, and are happy — at least for now. Being Outlander, we know this can’t last for long, but right now, it’s awesome.

I’m happy to see Marsali thawing toward Claire. The wedding was funny and sweet, and I loved Jamie’s naming of Fergus.

Although it almost seemed like Claire’s trekking through the jungle would go on forever, she found refuge just before it might have started to feel like too much. Oh, how that woman suffers for Jamie! I bet when she was back in Boston, considering all the pros and cons of going back, she never factored ant bites and snakes into the equation!

Of course, the Artemis is now bound for Jamaica so Claire and Jamie can continue their search for Young Ian — and where presumably there are British law enforcement men waiting to arrest Jamie. Can these people ever catch a break?

Wrapping it all up…

I loved this episode. The production team made excellent use of their South Africa filming location to give us some truly beautiful scenery. The first half of the episode felt like an adventure tale, and I thought the production did a fantastic job of showing Claire’s courage and determination.

The Jamie and Claire moments were wonderful, and thank goodness they included the turtle soup! There might have been a fan riot otherwise.

Yes, handfuls of details from the book were omitted, but nothing that couldn’t be spared. Frankly, this is the section of the book that feels overstuffed and too reliant on coincidence for my taste, so I’m glad to see the show paring it down to essentials, for the most part. (Still, what are the odds that Claire and Jamie would both end up on the same island? Let’s not worry about that too much, and just be glad that they did!)

Only two episodes left in the season! It’s really been stellar so far. I can’t wait to see how it all wraps up, although I’ll be devastated when it’s time for the next Droughtlander.

Meanwhile, I’m looking forward to seeing Claire and Jamie all fancied up (and Jamie in a wig!!!) next week.

26Nov2017

Take A Peek Book Review: The Café by the Sea by Jenny Colgan

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

“Take a Peek” book reviews are short and (possibly) sweet, keeping the commentary brief and providing a little peek at what the book’s about and what I thought.

Synopsis:

(via Goodreads)

Years ago, Flora fled the quiet Scottish island where she grew up — and she hasn’t looked back. What would she have done on Mure? It’s a place where everyone has known her all her life, where no one will let her forget the past. In bright, bustling London, she can be anonymous, ambitious… and hopelessly in love with her boss.

But when fate brings Flora back to the island, she’s suddenly swept once more into life with her brothers — all strapping, loud, and seemingly incapable of basic housework — and her father. Yet even amid the chaos of their reunion, Flora discovers a passion for cooking — and find herself restoring dusty little pink-fronted shop on the harbour: a café by the sea.

But with the seasons changing, Flora must come to terms with past mistakes — and work out exactly where her future lies…

My Thoughts:

The Café by the Sea is a sweet, fluffy treat of a book — not especially deep or filling, but enjoyable the whole way through. I enjoyed the setting — a beautiful, isolated Scottish island where everyone knows everyone else, and where, sadly, the younger generation doesn’t see much of a future. When Flora arrives back on the island for a work assignment, she instigates changes that will ultimately lead to the rejuvenation of the island, by convincing a billionaire about to open an exclusive resort to hire and source locally.

The work assignment is also the means for Flora to finally get noticed by her boss, an icy playboy lawyer with a tragic past who never allows emotions to seep to the surface. Honestly, the love story didn’t click for me. Flora, a paralegal in a prestigious law firm, has had a hopeless crush on Joel for years, and although it’s not giving away too much to say that the island has a profound effect on him as well, I couldn’t figure out what Flora saw in him in the first place, other than his amazing good looks. Meanwhile, there’s a potential love interest on the island, but that part of the story doesn’t get a whole lot of attention, so it’s pretty clear early on which way things are going.

I loved the parts of the story about Flora reconnecting with her father and brothers, coming to terms with a loss in the family several years earlier, and reconnecting with the people and natural beauty of Mure. However, I was a little unsure about some of Flora’s decision-making regarding her career and her future. When we meet her, she’s working as a paralegal with an eye toward becoming a fully qualified lawyer, but her actual work in law seems to fall by the wayside as she becomes more and more involved in using her family’s history to open up and run an amazing café in the center of town. Was she never really all that interested in becoming a lawyer? It seems that she’s just fallen into this new life, and I would have liked to have her at least think about what it might mean to walk away from her professional plans and change course like this.

Still, this is really a charming book, with a gorgeous setting, interesting, quirky characters and a plot that hits some emotional notes without ever losing its sense of romance and light. When you’re looking for something to lift your spirits, check out The Café by the Sea!

_________________________________________

The details:

Title: The Café by the Sea
Author: Jenny Colgan
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication date: June 27, 2017
Length: 416 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Library

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23Nov2017

Thursday Quotables: Thanksgiving

Posted in Thursday Quotables by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Welcome back to Thursday Quotables! This weekly feature is the place to highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week. Whether it’s something funny, startling, gut-wrenching, or just really beautifully written, Thursday Quotables is where my favorite lines of the week will be, and you’re invited to join in!

Reblogging my Thanksgiving Thursday Quotables from last year (and the year before), since I really don’t think I can do better than celebrating with Buffy!

In honor of Thanksgiving, I thought I’d depart book-world for this week’s Thursday Quotables post and turn instead to one of my very favorite Thanksgiving moments, the “Pangs” episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Willow: Buffy, earlier you agreed with me about Thanksgiving. It’s a sham. It’s all about death

Buffy: It *is* a sham. But it’s a sham with yams. It’s a yam sham.

Willow: You’re not gonna jokey-rhyme your way out of this one.

Giles – “…It’s very common for Indian spirits to change to animal form.”

Buffy – “Yeah, well it’s plenty uncommon for me to freeze up during a fight. I mean, I had the guy, I was ready for the takedown and I stopped. And ‘Native American’.”

Giles – “Sorry?”

Buffy – “We don’t say ‘Indian’.”

Giles – “Oh, right. Yes, yes. Um, always behind on the terms. Still trying not to refer to you lot as ‘Bloody Colonials’.”

Wishing you all a very happy Thanksgiving, filled with friends, family, laughter… and pie.

What lines made you laugh, cry, or gasp this week? Do tell!

If you’d like to participate in Thursday Quotables, it’s really simple:

Write a Thursday Quotables post on your blog. Try to pick something from whatever you’re reading now. And please be sure to include a link back to Bookshelf Fantasies in your post (http://www.bookshelffantasies.com), if you’d be so kind!
Click on the linky button (look for the cute froggie face) below to add your link.
After you link up, I’d love it if you’d leave a comment about my quote for this week.
Be sure to visit other linked blogs to view their Thursday Quotables, and have fun!

20Nov2017

Book Review: Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Seven years ago, the Atargatis set off on a voyage to the Mariana Trench to film a “mockumentary” bringing to life ancient sea creatures of legend. It was lost at sea with all hands. Some have called it a hoax; others have called it a maritime tragedy.

Now, a new crew has been assembled. But this time they’re not out to entertain. Some seek to validate their life’s work. Some seek the greatest hunt of all. Some seek the truth. But for the ambitious young scientist Victoria Stewart this is a voyage to uncover the fate of the sister she lost.

Whatever the truth may be, it will only be found below the waves.

But the secrets of the deep come with a price.

Mermaids are real. They are dangerous. And they are very, very hungry.

I really loved the 2015 novella Rolling in the Deep (review), so I was thrilled when I learned that a full-length novel was to follow. I was also a little nervous — the novella was so perfectly constructed and so utterly disturbing. Could the novel live up to the promise of the novella?

The answer is a resounding yes.

Into the Drowning Deep picks up seven years later, when the tragic loss of the Atargatis is remembered as a personal devastation by some, and derided as a hoax by many others. Imagine Network, responsible for the first voyage, is determined to redeem its less-than-respectable reputation and commissions a huge, elaborate research vessel to go back out to he Mariana Trench and find proof that the events shown on the found footage from the Atargatis were real. The new ship, the Melusine, is filled with top scientists and researchers in fields of oceanography, oceanographic acoustics, marine biology, organic chemistry, and more. It’s also staffed by Imagine’s corporate henchman and the network’s quirky/geeky/adorable TV personality, who’s there to record everything that happens for the sake of the inevitable documentary to follow up on the voyage.

My first thought as I read about the Melusine’s voyage: Are these people nuts? Everyone from the Atargatis died, brutally, eaten by sea creatures with big sharp teeth and a hunter’s instinct for tracking down prey. Why on earth would sane people intentionally choose to go back there?

Well. Science. Vengeance. Money. Fame.

The mystery of the creatures caught on film on the Atargatis is simply too alluring to resist. The scientists all dream of prize-worthy glory, seeing the new voyage as a chance to prove the existence of an unknown species, to find something truly new and introduce it to the world. And there are those with personal stakes as well, including Tory, the scientist whose sister Anne perished seven years earlier and who has been chasing her sister’s shadow for all the years since.

Let’s just say that pretty much what we knew would happen, happens. Yes, the mermaids attack again — but this time the people are at least a little more prepared than the first time around, and although the bloody mayhem is intense and brutal, there’s also progress in understanding more about the nature of the creatures — what they are, how they function, and even the rudiments of how they communicate. It’s all quite brilliant — bloodily so.

I love Mira Grant’s writing. She manages to create interesting characters — some to root for, some to despise — and then throw them into situations that challenge them, threaten them, and cause them to either rise to the occasion or be consumed by their own worst character flaws. And yes, “consumed” is an appropriate word, since bad decisions quickly lead to becoming mermaid chow.

One (of many) brilliant aspects of this book is that it’s set just slightly forward into the future, but not by much. The action takes place in 2022, and the author paints a picture of a world already feeling the ugly effects of climate change. The changing ocean temperatures and resulting changes in the ocean ecosystem directly influence what happens in Into the Drowning Deep. It’s not preachy, just presented as inevitable result of the direction we’re heading in now. Definitely provides food for thought, and should make us all pause… and worry.

While the ending was rich and satisfying and edge-of-the-seat suspenseful, I think the door is open for the story to continue… and I really hope it does. I want more! I want to see what happens next with the characters left alive at the end of the story (definitely fewer than there were at the start!), and how the world chooses to deal with the mermaids now that their existence is proven beyond doubt.

Reading this book gave me chills, in all the best ways. A few tidbits for your reading pleasure:

Had they looked, they might not have seen anything. Daryl was inexperienced compared to Gregory, and more, he was letting his nerves get the better of him; he was seeing danger in every corner, and allowing it to blind him to the danger that was actually lurking. He would have seen the smooth sweep of the hull, the fruit of human labor and innovation, intended to protect them from the dangerous waters. He would have seen how high up he was, and how far the mermaids would need to climb, and felt this rendered him safe, somehow. Protected, sheltered, like a small fish choosing to believe the coral reef can offer genuine protection from the jaws of the eel, the arms of the octopus.

(The door would not protect them; the door was not enough. The door was wood and riveted steel and it was not enough. Tory had known that even before they’d run past the first shattered door. The cabin beyond had been dark, but not dark enough; there was blood on the door, and blood mixed into the slime onthe deck outside, and none of them were safe. Not here, not anywhere.)

Do I think they found mermaids?

Yes. Of course I do.

And I think the mermaids ate them all.

And finally, one from the perspective of the mermaids:

Where there was one of these things, there were always others. The delicate, delicious things that died so easily never traveled alone. Their schools varied in number from few to many, but they never traveled alone.

Deep beneath the waves, the hungry turned their eyes upward, toward the promise of plenty, and began to prepare.

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The details:

Title: Into the Drowning Deep
Author: Mira Grant
Publisher: Orbit
Publication date: November 14, 2017
Length: 512 pages
Genre: Horror
Source: Review copy courtesy of Orbit

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20Nov2017

The Monday Check-In ~ 11/20/2017

Posted in The Monday Check-In by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Life.

Greetings from Connecticut! I’m on the East Coast spending Thanksgiving with family. Wishing everyone a peaceful and joyful turkey day! My blogging will be minimal this week, but I hope to read lots and lots.

What did I read last week?

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant: If mermaid horror isn’t already its own genre, this book should change that! Absolutely loved it. Review to follow.

Outlander !!

My reaction post for episode 310, “Heaven and Earth” is here. Not the best episode of the season, but hey — all Outlander is good Outlander.

Here’s a little peek at the episode:

Fresh Catch:

No new books this past week! Although I did indulge a bit when it comes to Kindle daily deals.

What will I be reading during the coming week?