Tag: books

And the First Liveblog Shall Be…

HaleyLeave a comment

I thought I’d start solidly in my wheelhouse for my first liveblog review. Oh, YA Dystopia — my love/hate for you knows no bounds. For every Giver, Uglies, and Hunger Games, there are hundreds of bland books with Walls and Tests and Outsiders and Lots of Capital Letters. And I read them. Oh, how I read them. Even as I scoff at the latest protagonist with a braid and a yearning for something more, I love the genre to pieces. If only they’d get rid of the damn love triangles.

Anyway, for this first liveblog, I’m going to go in completely blind. This won’t always be the case. There are a few books I’d really like to review chapter by chapter that I’ve read some or all of, and I’ll indicate that whenever I start them. (Just you wait, Divergent. I’m coming for you.)

So! The first victim of Library Liveblogs will be…

The Jewel by Amy Ewing!

Here’s the Amazon blurb, for the curious.

“The Selection meets The Handmaid’s Tale in this darkly riveting debut filled with twists and turns, where all that glitters may not be gold.

The Jewel means wealth, the Jewel means beauty—but for Violet, the Jewel means servitude. Born and raised in the Marsh, Violet finds herself living in the Jewel as a servant at the estate of the Duchess of the Lake. Addressed only by her number—#197—Violet is quickly thrown into the royal way of life. But behind its opulent and glittering facade, the Jewel hides its cruel and brutal truth, filled with violence, manipulation, and death.

Violet must accept the ugly realities of her life . . . all while trying to stay alive. But before she can accept her fate, Violet meets a handsome boy who is also under the Duchess’s control, and a forbidden love erupts. But their illicit affair has consequences, which will cost them both more than they bargained for. And toeing the line between being calculating and rebellious, Violet must decide what, and who, she is willing to risk for her own freedom.”

The Jewel is the first book in The Lone City trilogy, and also has two short story/novella…things that are referred to as books .5 and 1.5 on Goodreads. Because those are in vogue these days, I suppose.

My initial thoughts are under the cut. The first chapter (or two!) will be up tomorrow.

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Commence The Liveblogging

HaleyLeave a comment

(This post is the About page because it covers all the important bits and also I am lazy.)

q. What’s a liveblog?

a. LIVEBLOG
/laIv · blɑg/
noun
a blog providing commentary on an event while it is taking place, typically in the form of frequent short updates.

q. So you do that to books, then?

a. You guessed it. Here at Library Liveblogs, I take books and review them chapter by chapter, posting my various thoughts and feelings as I go. I like this approach because it really allows me to go in depth about how I feel in the moment — and then, when all’s said and done, I can look back and see how my thoughts and reactions evolved as the story progressed. Liveblogging informs my final verdict, which I post at the end of each novel I read. Be warned: I can be fairly snarky in liveblogs, though I (sometimes) try to clean it up for the all-told review.

q. Do you only review books you like?

a. Hell no. In fact, there’ll probably be more books on here that I dislike (or like with reservations) than those I truly enjoy. I’ll always try to articulate why I don’t like a certain book as I read it through, though, and I won’t bash a book for no reason. Because someone sat down to write the whole damn thing, and regardless of whether or not it’s good, that alone takes some serious dedication.

q. Is there a rating system?

a. Eh, standard 10-point scale for now. If I feel like that’s not for me down the road, I’ll think of something else.

q. What genres do you read?

a. Because of my very short attention span, I tend to enjoy Young Adult more than any other age category. These are my favorite genres, in order of preference.

  1. Dystopian (to my great shame)
  2. Anything with dragons
  3. Low Fantasy/Magical Realism
  4. Science Fiction
  5. No seriously, anything with dragons
  6. Urban Fantasy
  7. Paranormal
  8. Fantasy/DRAGONS
  9. Other speculative genres

I really don’t enjoy contemporary or romance much. Couldn’t tell you why. So you probably won’t see too many of those books on my blog unless they’re specifically requested.

q. So we can request books?

a. Of course! I’m sometimes very picky when I choose books on my own, so if any reader has something they’d like to see liveblogged, feel free to email me at haleycmalin (dot) gmail (dot) com. Without request, I’ll probably just steadily make my way through the legions of YA dystopia trilogies, and that’ll be a slog.

q. I’m an indie/self-published author. Can you review my book?

a. I would love to! I support my independent authors 100%, and would definitely give your work a review. Email me at haleycmalin (dot) gmail (dot) com, and we’ll discuss. Be sure to specify whether you’d like your book to be liveblogged, or if you’d like a single review. I’m willing to do either, in the case of indie authors.

q. This is great and all — but who are you?

a. Haley. A college student with simultaneously too much and not enough time on her hands. Sometimes I write stuff. Mostly I sing opera. That last bit won’t come up too much on here unless we hit a YA book about opera, in which case the kid gloves are coming off.