The Friday 56 (105) & Book Beginnings: Starflight by Melissa Landers

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.

Synopsis from Goodreads...

Life in the outer realm is a lawless, dirty, hard existence, and Solara Brooks is hungry for it. Just out of the orphanage, she needs a fresh start in a place where nobody cares about the engine grease beneath her fingernails or the felony tattoos across her knuckles. She's so desperate to reach the realm that she's willing to indenture herself to Doran Spaulding, the rich and popular quarterback who made her life miserable all through high school, in exchange for passage aboard the spaceliner Zenith.

When a twist of fate lands them instead on the Banshee, a vessel of dubious repute, Doran learns he's been framed on Earth for conspiracy. As he pursues a set of mysterious coordinates rumored to hold the key to clearing his name, he and Solara must get past their enmity to work together and evade those out for their arrest. Life on the Banshee may be tumultuous, but as Solara and Doran are forced to question everything they once believed about their world—and each other—the ship becomes home, and the eccentric crew family. But what Solara and Doran discover on the mysterious Planet X has the power to not only alter their lives, but the existence of everyone in the universe...

Beginning: "What if nobody picks me? Nothing can be worse than that."

56: "Solara retreated a pace until her back met the wall. She braced herself, waiting for the owner of that enormous voice to appear, but a tiny young woman stepped onto the bridge wearing a bathrobe that dragged on the ground."

Comments: Starflight by Melissa Lander's has been on my ereader for some time now, and it's only today that I've finally gotten around to it. Suffice it to say, I'm really excited to start this one because I've heard a lot of great things about it. I haven't gotten to page 56 yet, so I don't know what's going on in the scene.

What are you reading this week?

Music Monday (24) Janelle Monáe & Charli XCX,

   Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: My first pick this week is Cold War by Janelle Monáe. I feel like I’m always mentioning Janelle Monáe, but she has released a lot of great songs that I just want to talk about. I also listen to The Electric Lady and ArchAndroid albums often, so I was bound to talk about her music again. So, Cold War, yeah, it’s a fantastic song.

My second pick this week is Take My Hand by Charli XCX. I first heard of her back in 2013 when her True Romance album came out. And let me tell you, I used to listen to that entire album often and on repeat. I don’t know why I stopped listening to it for a while. It’s only recently that I started listening to True Romance again and remembered why it’s one of my favorite albums. As for Take My Hand, well, I love this song so much. It’s one of the best songs from the album. There are other great songs too like Black Roses, Nuclear Seasons, and Lock You Up.

What are you listening to this week?

Review: The Gauntlet by Karuna Riazi

Title: The Gauntlet
Author: Karuna Raizi 
Source/Format: Borrowed from the Library; Hardcover
More Details: Middle Grade; Fantasy
Publisher/Publication Date: Salaam Reads; March 28, 2017

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

A trio of friends from New York City find themselves trapped inside a mechanical board game that they must dismantle in order to save themselves and generations of other children in this action-packed debut that’s a steampunk Jumanji with a Middle Eastern flair...

When twelve-year-old Farah and her two best friends get sucked into a mechanical board game called The Gauntlet of Blood and Sand—a puzzle game akin to a large Rubik’s cube—they know it’s up to them to defeat the game’s diabolical architect in order to save themselves and those who are trapped inside, including her baby brother Ahmed. But first they have to figure out how. Under the tutelage of a lizard guide named Henrietta Peel and an aeronaut Vijay, the Farah and her friends battle camel spiders, red scorpions, grease monkeys, and sand cats as they prepare to face off with the maniacal Lord Amari, the man behind the machine. Can they defeat Amari at his own game…or will they, like the children who came before them, become cogs in the machine?

Whenever I see a book that has a dangerous board game of some kind mentioned in the synopsis, I only approach them with just one tiny expectation: Jumanji vibes. That’s it, that’s all I’m looking for. And The Gauntlet by Karuna Riazi delivered all that in the best way possible. This book was a whole lot of fun.

Despite what happened to the characters and the challenges they faced, The Gauntlet was a quick-paced and very entertaining book. One big draw was the characters. Not much time was spent on the everyday life of the characters, but I loved all the details about Farah’s family. Since The Gauntlet takes place in a world contained inside of an unpredictable board game, it had a very Jumanji/Zathura feel to it—with the added bonus of a steampunk flare that I happened to like. All the bits of machinery mixed in with the rest of the scenery gave the story an eerie atmosphere. That brings me to another thing I liked: the scenery. The descriptions of the actual game were among my favorite paragraphs from this book. Riazi created a vivid picture of what the Gauntlet was, what it looked like, and how the rules of the game worked. The challenges were neat, and I liked how much of the story resembled an actual game.

There were just a couple of things that I felt mixed about, but talking about them here would spoil the story. But I will say that it wasn’t really a fault, more of a pet peeve of mine. Other than that, I loved everything else about the story.

The Gauntlet is one of the best books I’ve read so far this year. I’m really looking forward to what Karuna Riazi writes next. Actual rating 4.5 Birdcages.

Music Monday (23) RL Grime, Rihanna, & Jamiroquai

   Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Adri: I couldn't believe that I missed Reims by RL Grime, which is why it's my first pick this week.

My second pick is Automaton by Jamiroquai. I couldn't resist clicking the icon when I saw it on YouTube. Yes, I was once again thumbnail browsing for new music. I got some serious Tron-ish vibes from the music video. And now, I'm sharing it here because it deserves to be shared.

Breana: My picks for this week are Dancing in the Dark and Towards the Sun by Rihanna. These are actually two of my favorite songs, and what’s sad is that they’re so underrated. Now, I haven't actually watched Home, but Adri did see it and has mentioned that she really loved the main character. She also says that it was a good movie. So, I'll have to see Home eventually.

What are you listening to this week?

The Friday 56 (104) & Book Beginnings: A Crown of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.

Synopsis from Goodreads...

An ancient mystery. An unlikely union. For one young princess in a state of peril, a dangerous wish could be the only answer…

She is the princess of Bharata—captured by her kingdom’s enemies, a prisoner of war. Now that she faces a future of exile and scorn, Gauri has nothing left to lose. But should she trust Vikram, the notoriously cunning prince of a neighboring land? He promises her freedom in exchange for her battle prowess. Together they can team up and win the Tournament of Wishes, a competition held in a mythical city where the Lord of Wealth promises a wish to the victor. It seems like a foolproof plan—until Gauri and Vikram arrive at the tournament and find that danger takes on new shapes: poisonous courtesans, mischievous story birds, a feast of fears, and twisted fairy revels. New trials will test their devotion, strength, and wits. But what Gauri and Vikram will soon discover is that there’s nothing more dangerous than what they most desire...

Beginnings: "Vikram had spent enough time with bitterness that he knew how to twist and numb the feeling."

56: "Gauri opened her mouth to speak, but the shrieking cheers of the audience drowned out her words."

Comments: A Crown of Wishes was fantastic. That is all.

What are you reading this week?