Fateful

Fateful
by Claudia Gray

Eighteen-year-old maid Tess Davies is determined to escape the wealthy, troubled family she serves. It’s 1912, and Tess has been trapped in the employ of the Lisles for years, amid painful memories and twisted secrets. But now the Lisle family is headed to America, with Tess in tow. Once the ship they’re sailing on—the RMS Titanic—reaches its destination, Tess plans to strike out and create a new life for herself.

Her single-minded focus shatters when she meets Alec, a handsome first-class passenger who captivates her instantly. But Alec has secrets of his own. He’s in a hurry to leave Europe, and whispers aboard the ship say it’s because of the tragic end of his last affair with the French actress who died so gruesomely and so mysteriously. . . .

Soon Tess will learn just how dark Alec’s past truly is. The danger they face is no ordinary enemy: werewolves exist and are stalking him—and now her, too. Her growing love for Alec will put Tess in mortal peril, and fate will do the same before their journey on the Titanic is over. (description from Amazon.com)

To be totally honest, I had no idea if I was going to like this book or not! It's one of those premises that I was like, "this could be totally AWESOME, or it could really suck." Thankfully, it turned out really good!!

I felt an immediate connection to Tess and just kept hoping against hope that she would be able to get herself out of the awful situation that she was living in. Surprisingly, what I had been worrying about the most, the werewolves...on a ship..., turned out to be pretty believable. I really liked the mythology behind the werewolves and the explanation of why they might end up on a transatlantic cruise.

I also really liked the fact that though Tess and Alec meet and develop feelings for each other very quickly, that the author went to pains to make their interactions feel realistic. Tess wanted to avoid all confrontations, but kept getting thrust into dangerous situations. Alec wanted to keep Tess, a strange and vulnerable girl, safe, but as he got to know her inner strength, he came to want to spend time with her. It was NOT instant goo-goo eyes love. *thank god.*

The very end felt a little too easily wrapped up in some ways, but I enjoyed the beginning so much that I'm hoping the author will follow this book up with another Tess and Alec adventure!

2011 Shifter Reading Challenge title

A SciFi Legend that will be missed.

Anne McCaffrey passed away yesterday, Nov. 21st in Ireland. My heart aches knowing that she will never again produce a brilliant story about dragons or crystalline magic, or selkies...

As announced in the Locus' website, Anne McCaffrey was the first woman to win both the Hugo and Nebula awards. One of her Pern novels was the first hardcover science fiction novel to make the New York Times Bestseller List. She was in a word, EPIC.

What this article does not have, though, is the human touch. A real story of how Anne McCaffrey touched someone's life. Well, here's mine:

Anne McCaffrey's three Pern novellas for children, Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, and Dragondrums, are literally the first three real books that I can remember reading. Technically, I wasn't even reading them originally. My mom would read them to me as bedtime stories. I literally bonded with my mom and grew up on Anne McCaffrey's earliest Pern stories. (*This is also where I first originally decreed that I must have a little dragon to cling to my shoulder with its tail wrapped around my neck!! Years before I read anything by G.R.R.M.)

As I got older, I got hooked on McCaffrey's Crystal Singer, The Tower and the Hive, and Petaybee series. I loved each in different ways. I loved them all because they were written by Anne McCaffrey.

Her work will truly be missed by the world, and by me.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns

The Girl of Fire and Thorns
by Rae Carson

Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness.

Elisa is the chosen one.

But she is also the younger of two princesses. The one who has never done anything remarkable, and can’t see how she ever will.

Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs her to be the chosen one, not a failure of a princess.

And he’s not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies, seething with dark magic, are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people’s savior, and he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake.

Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die young. (description from Amazon.com)

My gut reaction to this book was so strong and so LOVING that I already tweeted/emailed the author to tell her... I swear I'm not stalker-y like that all the time, but guys, I loved this book HARD!

As I told Rae Carson, I can only compare how I felt finishing this book to the first time I felt finishing Tamora Pierce's Alanna: The First Adventure, and that is my ALL-TIME favorite book and one of the only ones that I reread fairly consistently.

There is no denying that I trend toward a certain type of book. I am a hardcore fantasy/sci-fi reader, but within those genres, I am fairly picky. I like plucky heroines, action, "realistic" (can I even say this??) magic, not too tech-y science fiction, and if I don't like it, I tend to really not like it. It's a gut reaction thing.

Well... Elisa is the underdog, who comes to lead an army, a country, and the hearts of those around her. She is a girl who figures things out and saves the day, herself! My favorite kind of heroine. She is still touchingly unsure of herself at times and the poor girl gets her heart broken...twice.

She lives in a world with a fascinating religion, a strange new type of magic, and a mixture of interesting peoples. Her travels across her home country to the desert regions of her new home were vivid and felt so tangible that I kept trying to wipe sweat off my own brow, or to rub my aching feet.

Trust me, if you love fantasy books by authors like Tamora Pierce, Kristin Cashore, or Megan Whalen Turner, you want to check out this author's awesome debut. It's getting a gold star here!

I loved this book so much that I immediately purchased a copy for myself to keep on my Nook, even though I am on a spending hiatus. I also double checked to see if there is a sequel and I am happy to report that book two in the trilogy, The Crown of Embers, will be coming out in Fall 2012. I will definitely be on the pre-order list for that one!!

Full disclosure: ARC received from Netgalley

2011 Debut Author Challenge title