Chasing the Star Garden - Karsak, Melanie

Fantasy, Steampunk, Young/New Adult, Romance, Mystery
5 out of 5 stars
Kindle 316 pages

An opium-addicted beauty.An infamous poet living in self-imposed exile.An ancient treasure about to fall into the wrong hands.
Melanie Karsak's Chasing the Star Garden takes readers on a thrilling adventure from the gritty opium dens of gaslamp London to the gem-colored waters of the ancient world. Lily Stargazer, a loveable but reckless airship racer with a famous lover and shattered past, reluctantly plunges into a centuries-old mystery in a romantic adventure best described as Dan Brown meets Mary Shelley.
It all begins on one of the worst days of Lily’s life. She just lost the London leg of the 1823 Airship Grand Prix. To top it off, a harlequin fleeing from constables shoved a kaleidoscope down her pants, told her to fly to Venice, then threw himself from her airship tower. What’s a girl to do? For Lily, the answer is easy: drink absinthe and smoke opium. 
Lily’s lover, Lord Byron, encourages her to make the trip to Venice. Lily soon finds herself at the heart of an ancient mystery which has her running from her past and chasing true love and the stars along the way. (Goodreads)

This was a very enjoyable read. It was quite refreshing from the stuff I normally read.
Lilly is an air jockey, someone that races airships across the world in Grand Prix style races. She had just finished the English Grand Prix, coming in second and getting bested by an American. Something that she was not happy about.

I've never read a steampunk book before, and I greatly enjoyed this one. And am eager to read the next book in the series.

I was immediately pulled in by the fact that the airship races, and Grand Prix reminded me so much of Formula 1 Grand Prixs.

There's action and mystery right off the bat. Lily has docked her airship and was making her way over to the podium when a harlequin rushes through the crowd, right up to her, shoves something down her pants and proceeds to jump off the edge of her ship, killing himself.
No idea what had happened, and a big ball of stress and confusion, Lilly goes to an opium den to quell her nerves and forget about what happened.

Lilly uses opium, laudanum, and alcohol to numb her pain, to make her forget about her trouble past. And it works for a long while, until near the end of the book when she decides to give it up.
She first goes to her lover Byron to see if he knows anything about the package she received. Upon opening it up it is reviled to be a beautiful antiquated kaleidoscope.  Byron, just as baffled as Lily, sends her to see someone in Venice that will know what the kaleidoscope is all about.

Lilly takes her <i>other</i> lover with her, an Italian genius named Sal who is quite a tinkerer, and quite handsome as well. He is older then Lilly, with salt and pepper hair, tied in a  pony-tail. But is strong and muscular and  handsome! It’s clear from their interactions that he really cares for Lily, especially when he agrees to travel with her to Venice.

Chaos insures when they finally arrive, and Lily finds out that the kaleidoscope belongs to the worshipers of Aphrodite.

Not to be too spoilery, Lily is taken on a wild ride in her airship, dealing with pirates, and what not. Lily and Sal’s relationship grows, as does Lily as a person.

Towards the end of the novel instead of running from her past and her fears, Lily decides to face them head on. She is no longer alone and has found love and solace with Sal, and she has come to terms with what happened to her in her childhood and is no longer afraid of her past.

We get to know a lot about Lily's past through intricately woven (and well done) flashbacks. We learn that her mother tried to drown her, before dropping her off at an orphanage. I really enjoyed how the flashbacks were done, they weren’t jarringly put into the book, but nicely woven into the story. Lily would be somewhere, and her surroundings would trigger memories from her past.

There is a second book out which I plan to read. Not sure what’s gonna happen in the next book, but I’m really excited to read it.

I’d say this was book was somewhere between Young Adult and New Adult. There are some mature themes, like drug and alcohol addiction, and a few steamy scenes, but nothing like ones found in NA books.

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Book of Flying - Miller, Keith

Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Epic Journey

5 out of 5 stars
Paperback, 288 pages

Our hero, Pico, is a poet and librarian, and forbidden to pursue the girl of his dreams, for she has wings and Pico does not. When he discovers an ancient letter in his library telling of the mythical Morning Town where the flightless may gain their wings, he sets off on a quest. It's a magical journey in which he meets a robber queen, a lonely minotaur, a cannibal, an immortal beauty, and a dream seller. Each has a story, and a lesson, for Pico-about learning to love, to persevere, and, of course, to fly. (From Goodreads)

I've become a fan of characters going on quests/travels and meeting people along the way.

The Book of Flying reminded me of the series The Unexpected Dragon. Main character sets out on a quest, and meets a host of companions that have a great impact on their life. Full of bittersweet memories and experiences, all of which shape the main character.

Pico is no exception. He sets out from his home in the city by the sea a pale, frail, young man and throughout his journey to find the morning town meets

I was immediately sucked into the story in the first few sentences, the prose, writing style are beautiful. Pico is a poet and a librarian and the book flows like one.

Pico at one point reads a book about a girl that lands on a planet where everything is made out of books, living books. The grass, flowers, butterflies even people are made out of books, and each is different from the last. Those wr

Yet there is a huge flaw with the writing style, just about every sentence contains a large amount of similes or alliteration.

There was not a single character I didn't like in this book, and there were a few, and they were all memorable. Well, Sisi got on my nerves a bit, but only because she seemed a bit stupid, especially for leaving Pico because the other winged people didn't approve of it.

It's a bitter sweet story that left a sad taste in my mouth, but a hopeful one as well for now Pico has another journey to start.

I hope that the author will one day write a sequel to Pico's journey. I would pick that up in a heart beat. The author knows how to weave words in such a way that leave me spell bound.

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Shadows in the Attic - Dowell, Roseanne

5 out of 5 Stars
Paranormal Romance

Kindle 220 pages, uses real pages

Anna Hughes and her fiance Ben have recently bought a Queen Anne Victorian home, which Anna plans to renovate. She wants to turn the attic into a space where she can do her writing. After knocking down a wall she discovers a hidden room complete a quaint writing desk, and an old trunk full of wedding garments, papers, a diary, complete with shadows hovering over it.

Anna isn't disturbed by these shadows, infect she's intrigued by them and wants to know more about the shadows, and the lives they once lived. Even more so, she wants to know why the room was sealed up to begin with.

I'm not going to lie, the first few pages of this book reminded me so much of Fifty Shades of Grey, but that may be because both main characters are named Anna. And it didn't help that Ben acted a bit like Christian, being quite serious and domineering, talking down to Ana, not approving of anything she did. I didn't much like Ben's character, he rubbed me the wrong way, the way he didn't like to get dirty, preferred art and theater, and is so engrossed in his work. But this Anna is NOTHING like FSoG, she's a semi-famous author, who loves to write, and is getting sick and tired of putting up with her controlling boyfriend.

I enjoyed the slight love triangle between the three main characters. There was the complicated loveless engagement of Ben and Anna, who feels like she is just going through the motions, as all the passion and love has gone out of their relationship. But Ben is not willing to let her go. Then there is the blossoming romance between Anna and the contractor Chad, whom I quite like as a character. He's strong, handsome, manly and most of all very attentive to Anna. He is very concerned for her and her well being. There is an undeniable attraction between the two, and its such a sweet romance.

The author gives us a look into Chad's feelings as well via third person perspective. Although I was so engrossed in the story I sometimes didn't notice the change in tense and had to go back and re-read some parts.

The story was intricately woven going from Ana's life, trials and tribulations and trying to figure out the mystery of the Diary and what happened to Mary Elizabeth.

Everything is neatly wrapped up at the end, although I felt that it was a tad rushed although everything came to a nice conclusion. Anna and Chad live happily ever after in a house they both love.

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