thebooker:

Books more people should read
» Horatio Lyle by Catherine Webb «

{GOODREADS}

In Victorian London at the height of the industrial revolution, Horatio Lyle is a former volunteer law enforcement officer with a passion for science and invention. He’s also an occasional, but reluctant, sleuth. The truth is that he’d rather be in his lab tinkering with dangerous chemicals and odd machinery than running around the cobbled streets of London trying to track down stolen goods. But when his government calls, Horatio swaps his microscope for a magnifying glass, fills his pockets with things that explode, and goes forth to unravel a mystery of a singularly extraordinary nature. Thrown together with a reformed—in other words “caught”—pickpocket named Tess, and a rebellious young gentleman named Thomas, Lyle and his faithful hound, Tate, find themselves pursuing an ancient Chinese plate, a conspiracy that reaches to the highest levels of polite society, and a dangerous enemy who may not even be human. Solving the crime will be hard enough—surviving would be a bonus.

Recommended by bohemianpurple

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Lia Kahn is dead.

I am Lia Kahn.

Therefore - because this is a logic problem even a dim-witted child could solve - I am dead. 

Except here’s the thing: I’m not.

(Source: llumineer)

Tis the Holiday Season

I love the winter season. It’s when everything gets cold and rainy (I’m on the West Coast so we usually get a brown Christmas rather than a white one) and I have an excuse to be lazy and ditch real life for a while and indulge in the fantasy one via books.

I still have a whole bunch of books on my TBR list (there’s City of Fallen Angels and I’m still just staring at that autographed Mastiff in awe), but I just came across a review for this one:

Daughter of Smoke and Bone
by Laini Taylor

The book follows a 16-year-old girl named Karou, an art student in present-day Prague whose origins are a mystery even to her. She speaks 20 languages. She has naturally cerulean hair. She has numerous bullet scars and even more numerous tattoos. She was raised by a trio of monsters, spending her childhood in a secret den with hundreds of doors, and she still reluctantly runs international errands for the one who traffics in human teeth. Oh, and an angel is trying to kill her.

Confused? That’s okay. Intrigued? You should be.

“Daughter of Smoke and Bone” follows Karou as she uncovers the truth about who she is and why she matters, interweaving the romance of present-day Prague with the dangerous, closely guarded world of Elsewhere. The world of the book is beautiful, multi-layered and rife with its own fascinating mythology; among other things, it’s a place where wishes are not only real, but currency—ranging in value from inconsequential scuppies (the pennies of the wishing world) to the invaluable bruxis, which is achievable only through an unfathomable act of self-inflicted pain. The story is paced perfectly, paying out the otherworldly truth about Karou’s origins in delicious, tantalizing glimpses until a gobsmacker of a giant reveal that ties all the loose ends together. And Karou herself, despite her blue hair and, er, unconventional upbringing, is a fresh, funny, utterly relatable heroine. Fantasy fiction can easily fall prey to self-important cheesiness, but author Laini Taylor is a masterful, poetic writer who never strays into cliche. Whether she’s bantering with her BFF or battling her would-be seraphim assassin in mid-air, Karous always feels undeniably real.

The only bad thing about “Daughter of Smoke and Bone”? It’s the first of an eventual trilogy, meaning that we’ll have to wait another two books to find out who wins, how it all ends and whether the story’s star-crossed lovers find peace. (This first one, no surprise, is a cliffhanger.) But on the other hand, it’s nice to have something to look forward to.

(review from http://hollywoodcrush.mtv.com/2011/10/19/daughter-of-smoke-and-bone-review/)

First Impression: Ummm forbidden love between an angel and devil? Considering my affinity for this sort of celestial/demonic dynamic and the Romeo and Juliet trope…. HELL TO THE YES!