Thank you to Dave at #TheWriteReads for introducing me to this series.

I have a ridiculous amount of positivity towards this book which I loved for many reasons related to characters, world-building, intricate and meaningful plot development and, of course, vampires! 

I quickly became utterly engrossed in the world created by Jaffrey, a world of Red and Blue:  one hidden behind walls where humans serve and feed the ruling vampire class (Nobles), and the other a world to be feared, but by whom?  Could it offer the humans a means of escape from their servitude to the Nobles if only the human inhabitants of the Blue can overcome their fears of what may lie outside their imprisonment, if only they are prepared to question what they have been led to believe …

I loved the dual narrative, with the story alternating between that of the vampire Cameron and a young Server in the Red, Julia.  Both their narrative arcs are fascinating and I especially loved how cleverly they were woven together without the need for them to ever really completely entwine.

Cameron has lived for over 1000 years, his soul tortured by the loss of someone who he once held dear, someone whose loss he blames on himself. His search through the centuries to find her leads to him wandering the Red following any clues for fear of losing hope … and the last shreds of his humanity.  He is joined in his search by Felix who seems to know more about vampires than he should.  I loved the slow burn of the developing relationship between Cam and Felix.  Cameron’s search leads him to make a startling discovery which may very well threaten the very existence of his species …

Julia lives in the Blue, desperate to gain freedom from her fear, a freedom she imagines can exist in the Red, but too frightened to face the terrors that may await her in the land beyond the imprisonment of the Blue.  Unlike her friend, Claudia, she does not hold some romantic notion of falling in love with a vampire and becoming immortal herself.  Until, that is, she becomes the Attendant to Lucas, a young vampire, who turns all that she thought she knew about herself on its head.  I couldn’t help but love the romance of their developing relationship, with Julia fighting against her attraction, but unable to resist “the Pariah of the Blue”. 

I found the exposition of the sociological, political and historical context threaded throughout the story fascinating and, whilst I’m very tempted to discuss it, I’m only going to mention it in passing as it is so cleverly woven into the fabric of the story that I don’t want to spoil the enjoyment of the questions it raises, and revelations it makes, as readers discover it for themselves.

Guilt, revenge, danger, betrayal, friendship, love … this story has it all in spades.  It was one hell of a read which I devoured voraciously.  I’ve since bought The Silver Queen, so that I can continue the story.

First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

• Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
• Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
• Finally… reveal the book!

The spell wouldn’t stay on the shelf. It bounced on the floor and rolled under the kitchen table. Rayne sighed and picked it up for the third time, feeling the scroll softly vibrate.

Any ideas?

I’ve had this one on my TBR for a while now – it’s definitely my kind of book and I’m looking forward to reading it. I love the cover by Dinara Mirtalipova. I don’t know what has taken me so long to read it – just so many fantastic books!

Goodreads synopsis:

A stunning fantasy debut, enter the unique world of the Spell Breathers.
Spell Breathing does not come naturally to Rayne – she loathes the hours of practice, the stacks of scrolls, and the snapping mud devils that cover her mothers precious spell book.
But it is spell breathing that keeps her village safe from the dreaded monster curse that plagues their world. It is ancient powerful magic, but as Rayne learns to her horror . . . it is also fragile.
In one clumsy move, the magic that keeps them safe is broken, her village is plunged into danger, and an incredible adventure begins . . . 

This is a meme hosted by Taking on a World of Words.  It asks three questions:

1.      What are you currently reading?

2.      What did you recently finish reading?

3.      What do you think you’ll read next?

I’m currently reading Guardians of Magic which is the first book in The Cloud Horse Chronicles, a new series by the fantastic Chris Riddell. The story is wonderful and the illustrations are just magical!

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This week I’ve finished The Wind Reader by Dorothy A Winsor which I really enjoyed. It is a story of friendship and hardship against a backdrop of political intrigue with a fantasy element. Review to follow shortly. I also read Owen and the Soldier by Lisa Thompson which was such a beautiful, heartfelt story.

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I want to read The Little Fir Tree which I was approved to read via NetGalley and The Last Spell Breather by Julie Pike which I’ve been keen to get to for a while now.

September has been a very long, busy month, and I’m only now finding time to wrap-up.  I’ve actually decided to do the first week of October too as I’ve left it until now to post, and I’ve bought lots of new books and been to some bookish events!  I’ve also had my biggest disaster using WordPress!

I’ve been back at work for a month now.  I have a wonderful class of children and love being in the classroom, but work outside the classroom keeps me away from reading and blogging as much as I’d like to!  However, I have made a pledge to myself that I will not work at the weekend unless I absolutely have to, and this has really helped me relax at the weekend, and enjoy some down time.

OOPS aka Sugar Plum Fairy (which isn’t me swearing – much!)

I’ve been using WordPress since April when I started my blog, but today I learned that I’m still such a beginner!  My media was getting very large, so I decided I would delete some images from it!  BIG MISTAKE!  I have now learned that deleting media is not a good idea as it deletes it from my posts.  I bet everyone else knows this, so why didn’t I know ?  Let’s just say, I had to spend quite a long time re-loading images and updating posts!  I won’t make that mistake again! 

BOOKISH EVENTS

Bath Children’s Literature Festival

I went to the Bath Children’s Literature Festival for the first time on Sunday 29^th September.  I went to hear the wonderful Irish authors Sinead O’Hart and Catherine Doyle talk about some of my favourite books, The Eye of the North, The Star-Spun Web, The Storm Keeper’s Island and The Lost Tide Warriors. The Eye of the North was the children’s book that got me hooked on children’s books as an adult.  They really were inspiring to listen to as they talked about how their first books just sort of ‘popped’ into their heads, Catherine’s inspiration for Malachy coming from her Grandfather and Sinead being just like Emmeline.  The strangest question came from a child who asked ‘How would you like to die?  They both handled this really well and with good humour. 

I got to meet them and have my class books signed by them.  They were very friendly and ‘knew’ me from Twitter! 

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Reading Rocks

On Saturday 5^th October, I went to my first Reading Rocks, South which is an annual event attended by those in education who have a passion for reading children’s literature.  It was a fantastic day – meeting new people, catching up with those I knew, listening to some inspirational speakers and buying yet more books! 

The two speakers who really stood out for me were Jane Considine who has a real passion for reading which absolutely shines through in every word she says – she is also extremely funny!  The image she showed from an old Sex Ed book for children was not fit for sight at 10am!  Afterwards, I met her at her book signing – she immediately noticed that I was not from ‘around these parts’.  We had a lovely chat about Irish-isms as her Gran was from Southern Ireland. 

The other speaker was one of my favourite authors, Vashti Hardy, who gave a wonderful talk about her books, which included references to STEM and gender stereotyping.  She also spoke about her own bookish influences growing up.  I was very excited to meet her afterwards and have Brightstorm signed by her.  She also recognised me from Twitter!

BOOK, BOOKS AND MORE BOOKS

I might have slightly overdone it with book purchases, but it’s really not my fault – I blame the release of an incredible number of amazing children’s books on Thursday 3^rd October.  Not sure what excuse I can make for my other purchases.  Oh yes!  Believathon is coming up in November and I want to make sure I have plenty of books to choose from!

My September/October (so-far) purchases:

1.      Uki and the Outcasts by Kieran Larwood

2.      Guardians of Magic by Chris Riddell

3.      Skeleton Keys:  The Unimaginary Friend by Guy Bass

4.      The Girl Who Speaks Bear by Sophie Anderson (I also won a copy  of this one on Toppsta)

5.      The Boy Giant by Michael Morpurgo

6.      The Princess Who Flew with Dragons by Stephanie Burgis

7.      The Time of Green Magic by Hilary McKay

8.      The Great Brain Robbery by P G Bell

9.      The Velvet Fox by Catherine Fisher

10.    Frostheart by Jamie Littler

11.    The Star Outside my Window by Onjali Q Rauf

12.    The Somerset Tsunami by Emma Carroll

The Discovery Centre Library

Normally I go to a closer library rather than the main town library, but this time I went to our main library and it is just gorgeous.  I was amazed by the incredible selection of books and the huge papier mache of the BFG!  I got just a few shorter books from there!

1.      The Road to Ever After by Moira Young

2.      The Snow Sister by Emma Carroll

3.      Owen and the Soldier by Lisa Thompson

4.      A Most Peculiar Toy Factory by Alex Bell

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NetGalley

I’ve finally got my 80% badge!  I have requested and been approved for a few books.  My successful requests were:

1.      The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave.  This is her first adult  novel which I’m very excited to read as I’ve adored both her middle-grade and young adult books.

2.      The Little Fir Tree: From an original story by Hans Christian Andersen by Christopher Corr.  I remember the Hans Christian Anderson story in a whole school assembly a few years ago, so I really wanted to read this one.

3.      Guardians of Magic by Chris Riddell.  I was approved for this one after the publication date by which time I couldn’t resist buying it!

This was a longer post than I thought it would be.  Thank you if you stuck it to the end!

The October theme for Six for Sunday, hosted by A Little But a Lot is Autumn Feels and today’s prompt is for Books with Leaves on the Cover. I was surprised by how many books I had with leaves on the cover. These are the six I’ve chosen:

This tense story is set in a wood where three children become lost …

This is the incredible story of a young girl who has come to Britain on the kindertransport …

This is the story of a dangerous, enchanted forest …

This one is on my TBR – it sounds like a really magical read …

Another one on my TBR. I love the front cover … and I’m always intrigued by stories about witchcraft.

This is my latest purchase. It is the follow-up to The Clockwork Crow.

This is a meme hosted by Taking on a World of Words It asks three questions:

1. What are you currently reading?

2. What did you recently finish reading?

3. What do you think you’ll read next?

I am currently reading The Wind Reader. I love the premise of this story whose main character I’m really rooting for!

I’ve just finished reading The Unimaginary Friend which is just glorious! I can’t wait to introduce ‘Ol Skeleton Keys to 365 children tomorrow! I’m sure there will be much delight!

My next read is Guardians of Magic which I’ve just been approved to read via NetGalley. I have already bought a copy as I knew I’d want the hardback version of this – the illustrations are wonderful.