Teaser Tuesday: Sunshine by Robin McKinley

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by The Purplebooker.
Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title and author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My sheets had never been so clean as they'd been the last few months. I hardly got them on again before something else happened and I was feverishly ripping them off and stuffing them in the wash with double amounts of soap and all the "extra" buttons pushed: extra wash, extra rinse, extra water, extra spin, extra protection against things that go bump in the night. Unfortunately, I never could find that last button. (p. 327)

Sunshine by Robin McKinley was published November 18th, 2014 by Open Road Media Media Sci-Fi and Fantasy. It was originally published September 1st, 2003.

Would you keep reading? What's your teaser this week? Share it or a link in the comments. Are you enjoying your book? Let us know! Happy Reading!

Teaser Tuesday: Sunshine by Robin McKinley

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by The Purplebooker.
Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title and author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

He wore no shirt, and his feet, like mine, were bare. This seemed curiously indecent, that he should be half-naked. I didn't like it... Oh, right, I thought, good one. The train is roaring toward you and the villain is twirling his moustache and you're fussing that he's tied you to the track with the wrong kind of rope. (pp. 39-40)

Sunshine by Robin McKinley was published November 18th, 2014 by Open Road Media Media Sci-Fi and Fantasy. It was originally published September 1st, 2003.

Would you keep reading? What's your teaser this week? Share it or a link in the comments. Are you enjoying your book? Let us know! Happy Reading!

Review: Mistletoe Mysteries collected by Charlotte MacLeod

Mistletoe Mysteries collected by Charlotte MacLeod is an excellent collection of Christmas themed mysteries. There is an interesting variety from paranormal to cozies. I liked the majority of the stories in the collection.

I wasn't familiar with all the authors, but the quality of the writing was there. Peter Lovesey's "The Haunted Crescent" had an interesting twist to the end of it. Sharyn McCrumb's tale had a nice injection of folklore from Scotland. Believe it or not, I haven't really read much Mary Higgins Clark, but her "That's the Ticket" was enjoyable if a little straightforward. Edward D. Hoch's "The Touch of Kolyada" built on folklore from Russia. You can see there is a variety. I've only touched on some of the ones I liked the very most.

This book was originally published in paperback in December of 1990. This is the first Kindle edition from Open Road Integrated Media. I liked the way you could flip back to the table of contents and click on a story to read. If you don't want to read it straight through or read your favorite authors first, this is a bonus.

Overall, I give the collection 4 stars out of 5. I really enjoyed it. If you like holiday-themed mysteries with variety, then this would be a good book for you. Also if you enjoy Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, then you might also enjoy this book.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Review: The Thread that Binds the Bones by Nina Kiriki Hoffman

Tom has always known he was a little different than most people. He's moved around a fair bit to keep that a secret. Now he has moved to the small Oregon town of Arcadia and is settling in as a cab driver. When Laura Bolte comes into the bar where he's at, looking for a cab to take her out to Chapel Hollow, he feels a sense of connection with her that has been missing from his life. Things happen rather rapidly after that as he is exposed to the strangeness that is Chapel Hollow and the Bolte clan.

Magic is afoot. There are people like him, something he never thought he would find. In Chapel Hollow, Tom feels as if he has entered the Twilight Zone. This is a place where people can fly and change shapes among other things. What is Tom's place in all of this? Just what is he capable of doing?

This is a re-release of a Bram Stoker award winning first novel. The  book is well written generally. It does seem sometimes as if there is a little more tell than show in places, but considering how much of it takes place in people's minds, I think that is perhaps natural and necessary.

The plot is interesting. It's set in a secretive community and its sister town which serves as a link to the outside world. The characters are interesting. In particular, I find Tom, Laura, and Carroll are well developed.  There is good conflict ultimately of the age old sort, good vs. evil. The plot is well done and moves along quickly. The last about 20% of the book goes particularly fast. I needed to know what was going to happen to these people. It is definitely character driven. The Goodreads synopsis says that while this is the first book in the Chapel Hollow series, it can be read as a standalone. And I think that's true, but the ending does make you wonder what would happen next.

I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. I liked it well enough, but wasn't crazy about some of the parts where there is more telling than showing. I have the impression that Nina Kiriki Hoffman's writing just got better and better after this novel. You might enjoy this book if you like fantasy and urban fantasy. No werewolves or vampires, just magical people with varying moral compasses. This edition of the book was released November 1, 2016 from Open Road Media.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Teaser Tuesday: The Thread that Binds the Bones by Nina Kiriki Hoffman

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Books And A Beat.
Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"Until yesterday, I was almost normal. I didn't need or use any of this. Then, when I came out to the Hollow, it was like going to the Twilight Zone, except ... Michael grabbed the cab off the road and flew it to the house, and I felt that in some weird way I had come home."

~ 22% on my Kindle

Slightly more than the 2 sentence teaser, but I think it works well. The speaker is Tom who is new to all kinds of abilities including the means to fly a cab off the road. This is a Kindle edition of a previously published Bram Stoker award winning book. It is book one in the Chapel Hollow series. The Kindle edition is being released today, November 1, 2016 from Open Road Media. You can find more information about the book and the author on Goodreads here.

What's your teaser this week? Share it or a link in the comments. Are you enjoying your book? Let us know! Happy Reading!