Cicely Loves Books

Let's kick off a brand new tour with author Camille Griep's perfect idea of a fictional dinner party and her top 10 guests: Table for 10: 10 fictional characters you would invite to a dinner party I cannot wait for this party: Hours of enthralling conversation over food and wine. The seating chart will be very important, though, and so here’s how I’ll arrange things: 1.        Captain Bluebear (from The 13 ½ Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers) I would invite Captain Bluebear as he would be a delightful conversationalist, explaining what he’s been up to since life 13 ½. Bluebear has navigated worlds from the satirical to the absurd, and because his travels in his fictional universe of Zamonia would undoubtedly take him past The City of Dreaming Books, I would seat him right next to: 2.        Wyverary A-Through-L (from The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente) A-Through-L...

In DOWN WITH THE SHINE, clueless high schoolers make a bunch of random wishes that have literal consequences. So, in the spirit of that, I am raising a proverbial glass of shine and toasting to some of my own bloggers wishes. 1. I wish I had the biggest blog EVER Except ... do I really want that pressure? Do you  want the pressure of "being the biggest blogger"?  2. I wish I got all the ARCs from all the publishers Whoa, whoa. Hold on. My bookshelves have reach maximum capacity as is. I'm fairly certain my UPS guy and mailwoman hate me with a passion. And my family regularly threatens to evict me if one more book shows up. Plus, do I really want a bunch of books I'll probably never read that could go to a blogger who will  read it? And all those ARCs in a lot of responsibility. 3. I wish the book community would just all get along But ... I don't. Do I wish things like that happened this week didn't happen? That people didn't get hurt or upset or threat...

HEIR TO THE SKY Playlist I have weird taste in music. Let’s just get that out of the way first. I listen to Celtic pop, video game soundtracks, Icelandic pop, KPop, JPop. My favorite artists are Enya, Arashi, Loreena McKennit, SHINee, B2ST, and Sigur Ros. I’m sorry, but also not. I love this weird mix of sounds. And I hope maybe you’ll find something new that you like, too! Here are the top 5 songs I listened to while writing HEIR TO THE SKY: Noel’s Theme (The Last Hunter) – Final Fantasy XIII-2 This has been repurposed as Griffin’s theme. ^_^ There’s a sadness in it that to me echoes the earth on the edge of destruction. There are so few survivors left on the surface, and so little hope to cling to. But that little shred of hope is beautiful and sharp as a diamond. Awake – Skyrim This is the theme I played over and over as I wrote the scenes in Ashra. In particular, I used it to help me visualize the opening scene, when Kali is standing in her field of flowers and fireweed, the earth ...

Welcome to DAY 1 of the HOLDING SMOKE Tour! Elle Cosimano is a fantastic author and an awesome woman that I'm sure you'll love. I had a chance to interview her to kick things off! 1. Describe HOLDING SMOKE in less than 10 words: The Shawshank Redemption for teens meets If I Stay . 2. Without being too spoiler-y, what was your favorite scene to write? I can’t share anything about my favorite scene. It would spoil everything. You’ll know it when you read it… when every loose thread in the story suddenly weaves together into something solid and twisty and intense. So instead, I’ll just say I loved writing the romantic elements of this story. It’s a challenge to write a love story when the love interests can’t touch each other, not because of family or societal obstacles, but because one isn’t corporeal and it can never be physically possible. The scenes between John and Pink are sweet and poignant and moving. There’s such a longing in them. Their connection transcends a physica...

Dragons ... Dragons ... Makeup...? Yes. What goes better than dragons and makeup - seriously, the bright jewel tones, the fiery lips, the smoldering eyes - YES. So here are some of my favorite dragonesque looks! ABOUT SOLDIER: That was what Garret Xavier Sebastian thought he was part of as a soldier of the Order of St. George. What he learned from a fiery dragon hatchling twisted all he believed in and set him on a collision course with certain death-but not without a chance to put things right. Betrayed and on the run again, Ember and rogue dragon Riley discover an unthinkable truth about Talon and St. George. They'll need Garret's skills and insider knowledge of the Order to negotiate an impossible deal-and if they fail, there will be no way to stop all-out war. LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Indiebound | iBooks | The Book Depository ABOUT JULIE KAGAWA: Julie Kagawa, the New York Times bestselling author of the Iron Fey and Blood of Eden series was born in Sacrame...

Review: For me, mysteries are a hit or miss genre (more miss than hit, to be honest). I love a good mystery, especially when the twists and turns keep me guessing. I do not  like when there is mystery for mystery sake (lot of allusions to things that everyone sans the reader knows, or random reveals that reveal more  unanswered questions). THE DARKEST CORNERS was one of those mysteries that I really enjoyed, though. Kara Thomas does a great job of moving the story along at a nice pace, keeping the reader (me) entertained and guessing. Admittedly, I guessed a few of the twists in the book, but I didn't really mind because the writing was so good. I found Tessa to be a smart character - she questions things and thinks for herself. She's not perfect and gets into a trouble a bit, but she's one of the more rationale teenagers I've come across in YA fiction. The only downside to Tessa was she could be a tad grating at times and I needed to take a break from Tessa, not the bo...