Imprudence by Gail Carriger (Tuesday Intros & Teaser Tuesday)

Title: Imprudence
Author: Gail Carriger
Publication: 19 July 2016
Format: Kindle ebook 

Amazon Description: 

Rue and the crew of the Spotted Custard return from India with revelations that shake the foundations of England's scientific community. Queen Victoria is not amused, the vampires are tetchy, and something is wrong with the local werewolf pack. To top it all off, Rue's best friend Primrose keeps getting engaged to the most unacceptable military types.

Rue has family problems as well. Her vampire father is angry, her werewolf father is crazy, and her obstreperous mother is both. Worst of all, Rue's beginning to suspect what they really are. . . is frightened.

Ramble-y Teaserish Stuff 
I know. I'm still horrible at this blogging thing. I've been reading, but nothing really worth sharing until I went back to my beloved Gail Carriger.

Imprudence is the second of the Custard Protocol books .... which follow the Parasol Protectorate books .... which follow (storywise, anyway) the Finishing School books. You can likely get away with reading Parasol without Finishing first (I wouldn't, but you likely could). Please please please don't go into Custard without Parasol. I don't even feel like I can ooh and aah properly over how wonderful and heartbreaking and wonderful this series is becoming because so much of it ties into the things I loved so much about the previous books. So read them all and then hit me up here or on Twitter or Facebook and we'll gush together over tea.

Maybe I'll even blog more than once this month. 

It could happen.

"First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros" is from the first paragraph or two of a book being read now (or in the future) and is hosted by Socrates' Book Reviews. 

"Teaser Tuesday" at The Purple Booker asks for a random line or two from anywhere in the book currently being read.

Prudence by Gail Carriger (Book Beginnings & Friday 56)

Title: Prudence
Author: Gail Carriger
Publication: 17 March 2015
Format: Kindle ebook 

Amazon Description: 

When Prudence Alessandra Maccon Akeldama ("Rue" to her friends) is bequeathed an unexpected dirigible, she does what any sensible female under similar circumstances would do -- she christens it the Spotted Custard and floats off to India.

Soon, she stumbles upon a plot involving local dissidents, a kidnapped brigadier's wife, and some awfully familiar Scottish werewolves. Faced with a dire crisis (and an embarrassing lack of bloomers), Rue must rely on her good breeding -- and her metanatural abilities -- to get to the bottom of it all. . .

Ramble-y Teaserish Stuff
I tried several books after The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and they were all just ..... so ..... "eh" in comparison. Got my grubby little hands on the next Carriger on my list, though, so life was happy happy again. At least as far as having something worthwhile to read went. Of course, as soon as it was over I was back in the same situation of nothing being good enough. I really don't want to fly through the four Custard Protocol books, though, so hopefully something will click soon. Oh, I've got it! I'm super far behind on my Rhys Bowens so I guess now we know what's up next!

As always, Friday 56 (share a blurb from the 56th page or 56% mark) is hosted at Freda's Voice & Book Beginnings (share the first few sentences) is at Rose City Reader.

Timeless by Gail Carriger (Book Beginnings & Friday 56)

And so another series is finished. Luckily, the next Gail Carriger series is a continuation so I'm not quite completely forlorn ..... yet. Slightly forlorn because I have yet to get my hands on the first book of the next set but I will. I definitely will.

Gail is some kind of magic with slump breaking. I believe I've said so before. I'm just hoping that no one ever tries to turn her wonderful books into a tv series or, even worse, condense them down to movie length. Not after what happened to Bridgerton.

No lengthy "this is why it's awesome" because I would have to go all the way back to the beginning of Finishing School and you should just read them all yourself.

As always, Friday 56 (share a blurb from the 56th page or 56% mark) is hosted at Freda's Voice & Book Beginnings (share the first few sentences) is at Rose City Reader.

Heartless by Gail Carriger (Tuesday Intros & Teaser Tuesday)

I know. I'm horrible. 

To be fair, it's been hard to read much less write about it most days .... weeks ..... months .......

Hopefully 2021 will be better at least as far as that goes. Not really expecting much out of the year in general, but I'm trying to at least get thee ol' book mojo back.

I'm also horrible in completely neglecting to do even a quick tease post about the third book in this series. I did the first and the second .... and now the fourth. Whatever. It was a bad week when I finally eeked out any oomph to read it and then it went and returned itself to the library before I nabbed any quotes. 

It was a great book, though. 

Of course it was. It was written by Gail.

Anyway, I've got 32 percent left to read of Heartless and 3 hours left to my work shift. 

The upside of Tuesdays being teaser days? No one probably expects me to say much besides : here's the book and teasers. 

So, yeah.

Here's the book and teasers:

"First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros" is from the first paragraph or two of a book being read now (or in the future) and is hosted by Socrates' Book Reviews. 

"Teaser Tuesday" at The Purple Booker asks for a random line or two from anywhere in the book currently being read.

Changeless by Gail Carriger (Book Beginnings & Friday 56)

I almost completely flaked on this week's Book Beginnings & Friday 56.

Well, blog-wise I kind of did because it's technically almost 3:30am Saturday here in New York … but I did get it up on Instagram on Friday so that's something, right?

Life is ... well … on the "eh" side of the spectrum so I'm only on the second chapter but, of course, I already love it and hopefully will be able to focus more soon so I can ooh and aah appropriately.

Friday 56 (today is 56% of the ebook) is hosted at Freda's Voice 

& Book Beginnings (share the first few sentences) is at Rose City Reader.

Soulless by Gail Carriger (Book Beginnings & Friday 56)

They say the third time's the charm and that appears to be the case for me and Gail Carriger's Soulless. 

The first time I attempted it, I believe I was still in recovery over her Finishing School series ending. This was written first but those come first chronologically as far as story goes and you probably know by now how I am about such things.

The second time? Life in general probably got in the way -- much as it has been for me and any reading at all for the past couple of months. Funny how all this "extra time" people seem to have thanks to the whole pandemic/world falling apart/blah blah blah has meant less time spent reading for me. 

I've tried. 

I've failed.

Gail Carriger has saved me. And it's with a book that has failed me before.

This time around I'm obsessed. I do cringe slightly when we alternate between "Alexia" and "Miss Tarabotti" -- sometimes in the same paragraph … but not so much that I'll actually close my Kindle to do things like sleep or eat or accomplish much at work. (I still do all of those things, of course, but the Kindle is never far away and almost always open to see what's happening next.)

Friday 56 (today is page 56 of the paperback) is hosted at Freda's Voice 

& Book Beginnings (share the first few sentences) is at Rose City Reader.

Gail Carriger's Manners & Mutiny

Because of New Year's & all I'm not sure if Book Beginnings & Friday56 will be going as regularly scheduled or not ... but if they ARE then, hopefully, I'll come out of my intended cold-pill stupor long enough to link this up. If not, well ... whatever.  
Friday56 (share a blurb from the 56th page or 56% mark) is hosted at Freda's Voice & Book Beginnings (share the first few sentences) is at Rose City Reader.

I wasn't sure if I would end up reading Gail Carriger's Manners & Mutiny this month or not. I typically dedicate December to Christmas-y books and didn't figure that this would fit. Besides, it's the last in the Finishing School series and I've dreaded seeing it end because I've loved it so horribly much. Once I finished everything on my December TBR, though (including a few last-minute additions), I decided that I couldn't wait any longer to find out what happens with my Sophronia and her cohorts. After all, I had read the first book in the series last December so why not come full circle? How thrilled I was to discover that the book overlaps Christmas with the time-frame so it fits my month-long theme after all!

The time-frame of the book wasn't the only thing that thrilled me, of course. I have absolutely adored watching these characters mature over the course of the series and for the most part they got a proper send-off by Carriger. Granted, I would be thrilled to see several of them re-appear in her other series ... especially those few whose futures were more or less left with question marks dangling like participles. (This lack of info is the only reason I'm doing 4 stars instead of 5 on Goodreads ... and am I the only one who constantly writes it as GoodReads and then has to go back and lowercase the 'r'?)

All in all, a good finish to the Finishing School. Sure, there were some things I would tinker with and some twists I would have liked to see but I'm still thrilled with the series as a whole and I am definitely adding the first few books (at least) of the next chronological series (The Parasol Protectorate) to my Reading Thing for 2016!

A Well-Read Mini-Ramble -- Gail Carriger's Waistcoats & Weaponry

I always worry about spoilers and such when rambling about a book in a series -- particularly if it's significantly into said series and the books aren't stand-alones but really must be read in order. SO, I'm experimenting with A Well-Read Mini-Ramble which may (or may not) become a regular thing here. Right now I'm leaning more towards the "may" than the "may not." I think that it would also be good for some of the Reading With John entries particularly when he doesn't feel like writing much ... I could probably at least convince him to make a list.

I finished Gail Carriger's Waistcoats & Weaponry on the bus in to work tonight and omigosh it was a fabulous installment in the series. The next (and last) book is due out in just a few weeks and I'm already considering lifting my self-imposed "No Book Buying" ban in order to read it ASAP.

#TeaserTuesday # 32 -- Gail Carriger's Waistcoats & Weaponry

The Book & The Tease

Gail Carriger - Waistcoats & Weaponry

The Meme

#BookBeginnings & #Friday56 -- Gail Carriger's Curtsies & Conspiracies

It's another Friday with The Friday 56 and Book Beginnings (also found at Freda's Voice & hosted by Rose City Reader)!

Today we're visiting Curtsies & Conspiracies by Gail Carriger -- the second in her Finishing School series and the seventh in my 20 Books of Summer!

I've never been big on flower arrangements ... but even for ME this sounds like fun!

Fast forward to the The Friday 56:

Etiquette & Espionage : The Verdict

I finished Gail Carriger's Etiquette & Espionage this morning and while I've already given my initial thoughts, I figured I should come back and give the final verdict!

It was a fun, easy read ... and I've already made plans to continue the series which doesn't always happen. 
Now, it IS a "young adult" book so if you go into it thinking for serious adult situations ... you aren't going to find them. The main character is, after all, fourteen years old. There's light flirtation and minor swooning but, luckily, that's about all you get on the romance end of the spectrum. I was very thankful for this as I hate seeing kids portrayed as something other than kids.  Of course, I am hoping that as the kids age there'll be more Sophronia than merely batting her eyelashes (which, as it turns out, is a key skill to have in feminine espionage).

I love her friends! With her since the very beginning of her adventures at (or to, actually) Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality, are Dimity and her brother, Pill (who attends the nearby boy's school for evil geniuses .... well, whenever the school floats by, anyway. Remember .... it flies.). While Sophronia is spitfire and tomboy, Dimity is frilly girly-girl. They complement each other well and help each other to grow. Even Pill, what little we get to see of him, shows growth over the course of the semester. It would be so easy just to write him off since he's not in the forefront but Carriger doesn't do that.

Along the way we also get to know the Mean Girl (and mean-girl-in-training, it seems), the vampire teacher, the werewolf, Mademoiselle Geraldine who thinks she's running a normal school (they think -- I'm not so sure she's as clueless as they make out), the 9-year-old niece of another teacher who's even more tomboy than Sophronia (and even more of a spitfire), the "sooties" who work in the boiler room, the young Lady who was raised by werewolves and laments that girls (apparently) can't be werewolves themselves, bad guys, good girls, bad girls, good guys .... and, of course, the mechanicals (and mechanimals).

There's intrigue, of course, though it wasn't horribly intriguing which I attribute to the whole "young adult" aspect. Still, I loved seeing how the "nonsense" of all of the etiquette lessons end up helping Sophronia and her friends save the day. (Sorry for the "spoiler," but of course they save the day. You didn't expect them not to, did you?)

As far as your "standard steam punk" goes, I couldn't tell you how this would rate as it's my first. It won't be my last, though!

Etiquette & Espionage - Initial Thoughts

I have a big bone to pick with the bus driver who drove the second leg of my trip in to work tonight : he didn't have the heat turned on so it was too cold to read. It wouldn't be such a huge offense some nights, but I'm reading Gail Carriger's Etiquette & Espionage and the main character, 14-year-old Sophronia is just beginning to understand that the "finishing school" she has been suddenly enrolled in isn't your normal type of finishing school.

• It flies. Like, in the air flies.
• She's delivered to the school on the back of a werewolf.
• There are mechanical maids like Rosie from The Jetsons -- but in the 1850's. (She has a mechanical butler at home so that part isn't so strange. I suppose.)
• Her flying school gets attacked by flying bandits (and, as a result, she ends up with a mechanical dog).
• One of her new teachers is a vampire.

I've never ventured into the whole "steam punk" thing until now aside from oohing and aahing over different cosplay pictures online, but so far I'm loving it!

Sophronia is a spitfire. It's probably why her family was so eager to send her to finishing school -- to break her of it. However, it also seems to be why the school was so eager to take her -- to cultivate it. I'm all for the cultivation of spitfire in girls.

I'm currently only a third of the way through -- Chapter 8 : "The Teaching Habits of Werewolves."  I'm already recommending it to friends and I'm extremely glad that it was recommended to me!

Now, I'm going to do a little bit of work (I know, right? Actually working while at work? Crazy.) THEN I'm going to get back to reading ....