Showing posts with label #TLCReadAlong. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #TLCReadAlong. Show all posts

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Saturday Songs & Pages: #TLCReadAlong: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer!!

Hello guys!

Today I'm a mixed up sort of post since I was feeling quite unmotivated to write yet another review... so I got an idea for this post!

It's a mix of my usual Saturday posts, Saturday Song and Saturday Pages! I'll have a mini review of my re-read of Scarlet for the #TLCReadAlong and also a few songs that made me think of the characters!

To begin with, I'm sharing a song that I feel it's perfect for these amazing retellings, because they are familiar versions of a Once Upon a Time story but they're amazing stories on their own! (and I LOVE this song from the Maleficent movie!).









Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles, #2)
Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison--even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner





I remember being rather unhappy about how the focus in the book kept changing from Cinder to Scarlet the first time I read the book, before I realized that was how the series was, both consecutive/sequel like books but also with different main characters (and couples) at the head of each book, adding to the cast and the team, making the world richer and the plot even more complex!

So this time around I was ready to read again about Scarlet and Wolf with a different mindset and I found myself liking Wolf almost from the get go, and getting to warm up to Scarlet so much easily too! She's got quite a temper and I feel like teen-Pili would have related with her throwing tomatoes at the wall so much!

I have once again realized that I had forgotten quite a few details but holy cow! I totally had forgotten about some bigger things that I cannot mention because SPOILERS but damn, I'm so glad I re-read this before Winter! 

I also found that I had a few more issues with how Scarlet and Wolf's relationship progress, mostly in the time frame it takes place... somehow I don't think I felt it went too fast as much as I did this time. I can understand that for Wolf it is more of a primal thing, an Alpha finding his mate, but for Scarlet? Even after knowing what I know about her... it doesn't make the same sense for me. But by the end of the book I'm once again totally onboard with the ship and I find them so adorableee!!

Dear Captain Thorne, I had forgotten how conceited and irritating he read from Cinder's POV, since I got used to him being a lil different and seeing him way differently from Cress' POV! But I liked how he quite quickly became an ally for Cinder and how he and Iko ganged up on Cinder whenever Kai is involved!


And now for some more songs!

This Florence +  The Machine song is perfect for the relationship between Scarlet & Wolf, given how primal and visceral it feels at times!







 
This Metallica song is perfect for Wolf, even if it might refer to shape-shift at some point, the title is quite on point!




 

I had the harderst time finding the right song for Scarlet, because she's such a firecracker and strong character... And I think this one is pretty accurate after all! If you have any other suggestions, let me know!






And last but for sure not least I found this song that I'd say would be the perfect fir for Queen Levana! Found it while I was looking for the right song for Scarlet!!





Do you guys have any other songs that make you think of The Lunar Chronicles or any of the characters? I have a few ideas for Cress!

Saturday, August 29, 2015

Re-reading for August: #ReadThroneOfGlass and #TLCReadAlong!!

Hello there guys!

Today I don't have a regularly scheduled Saturday Pages review but I'm gonna be babbling about books anyhow because that's what us bookwyrms do when given half a chance!

Before I fell into the rabbit hole of Goodreads and eventually book blogging I still read and devoured books as much as I do now, but since my TBR pile wasn't as life threatening, I used to re-read my favourite books for comfort. There are some books that I must have read over 20 times, like The Eight or Miguel Strogoff...

But since I started discovering so many new books and series and authors I haven't really given myself time to re-read books, and I decided I needed to change that this year.

I've decided to give myself permision to re-read and not worry about the ever growing TBR pile or the ARCs that I get approved for on NG or anything else! Re-reading books that I loved is a joy that I need to allow myself to enjoy more often!

And to nudge myself into it, I decided to join two re-readalongs! #ReadThroneOfGlass and #TLCReadAlong!




The #ReadThroneOfGlass is a readalong or re-readalong to prepare ourselves for the release of Queen of Shadows on September 1st.

I must say, I couldn't be happier that I have joined the readalong!

I finally read my hardcover of Assassin's Blade because I had read the Kindle versions of some of the novellas only, and reading them all one after the other, inlcuding the new one was fantastic! Highly recommended for anyone wanting to start the Throne of Glass series: READ THE NOVELLAS FIRST! They give a much better understanding of Celaena and her character and her career as an assassin and her complex relationship with Arobynn. And we meet some characters that we'll be meeting again in upcoming books, Queen of Shadows onwards!

I read Throne of Glass first and the novellas later, and at first it took me a while to understand Celaena and cheer for her. And then I read the novellas, and I understood her so much better!

Re-reading Throne of Glass was such a different experience, with so many little details that I had not noticed or had forgotten about and that will have such a relevance in the upcoming books! And some definite foreshadowing and hints that I missed on the first read! I loved reading about the interactions between Chaol and Dorian and Celaena and her meeting and growing friendship with Nehemia, her hate for the King and her intense fear of the man... So many things that make sense from the very first moment in a way that the didn't the first time!

The same thing happened with Crown of Midnight, I was so shocked to realize how many important things I might have missed and how I had forgotten about some of the things that happened! Of course that the revelations aren't as shocking, at least not the big ones, but there are plenty of things you read hoping to find more clues that you might have missed the first time, and some are really ominous knowing what we do know now! But even knowing what will happen doesn't lessen the heartache or the pain of the bad things when they happen, and the one thing is that at least I know that Fleetfoot WILL be okay!

Now I am re-reading Heir of Fire and I'm hoping to finish it this weekend so I can have it fresh in my mind when I read Queen of Shadows next week!




The #TLCReadAlong is hosted by Britt from Book Addicts Guide!

To prepare myself to reading Winter when it releases, I decided to join this low pressure read along because I have a month to read each of the books, so I'll manage to squeeze them in between whatever other books from the TBR pile and ARCs I plan to read without worrying about "I should be reading this or that instead of re-reading"!

Cinder was a surprise the first time I read it because a retelling of Cinderella with a cyborg and in a futuristic science fiction dystopia? But this time I already knew what kind of book it was gonna be, so I had less trepidation that let me enjoy the book more. And of course I also managed to notice the lil details here and there that didn't seem as relevant at the time of reading and maybe forgotten when reading the next books.

Some of the obscure mentions make a lot more sense and the first time we meet Cress? My poor adorable Cress! Cinder didn't know what to make of her! And of course the big reveal is not surprising any more, but I think it's fun to see the clues you might have missed at first!

And of course it was simply a joy to read again all the interactions between Cinder and Prince Kai and of course my fave lines had to be the ones by Iko! I still giggle when I think of "Do you think she's seen him in the nude?", her crush on Kai is so delightful!

Now I cannot wait to re-read Scarlet starting next month!! =D