A Tea Stained Page

Tuesday, 31 March 2015

Sneek Peak: The Shameless Hour Cover Reveal

A little sneak peak for all of you of the cover for Sarina Bowen's new book The Shameless Hour

Come back tomorrow for the Cover reveal and a summary of the book and on Thursday for an excerpt from the book. I am so very excited for this book!

Saturday, 28 March 2015

What I've Been Listening To: Perfect (Music and Book Mash Up)

I've been listening to this song a great deal this past week and when I do I think of a scene in The Year We Fell Down by Sarina Bowen:

"I was perfect," I said. "And I didn't even know."
"No," he whispered into my ear. "No, no. Perfect isn't real." I took a deep, shaky breath, and the feel of his strong arms around me began to feel steadying. "There's no more perfect, Callahan. Now there is only really damned good" (212).

Friday, 27 March 2015

In Memoriam: Tomas Tranströmer

The Swedish Nobel Laureate Tomas Tranströmer has passed away. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2011. I figured a fitting tribute would be to post one of his poems in Swedish and in English. The English translation is done by Robin Fulton.

Den halvfärdiga himlen
Modlösheten avbryter sitt lopp.
Ångesten avbryter sitt lopp.
Gamen avbryter sin flykt.

Det ivriga ljuset rinner fram,
även spökena tar sig en klunk.

Och våra målningar kommer i dagen,
våra istidsateljéers röda djur.

Allting börjar se sig omkring.
Vi går i solen hundratals.

Var människa en halvöppen dörr
som leder till ett rum för alla.

Den oändliga marken under oss.

Vattnet lyser mellan träden.

Insjön är ett fönster mot jorden.

The Half-Finished Heaven
Despondency breaks off its course.
Anguish breaks off its course.
The vulture breaks off its flight.

The eager light streams out,
even the ghosts take a draught.

And our paintings see daylight,
our red beasts of the ice-age studios.

Everything begins to look around.
We walk in the sun in hundreds.

Each man is a half-open door
leading to a room for everyone.

The endless ground under us.

The water is shining among the trees.

The lake is a window into the earth.

Tuesday, 24 March 2015

Book Review: With Every Letter

With Every Letter (Wings of the Nightingale Book #1)

Author: Sarah Sundin

Publisher: Revell

Genre: Historical Romance

Synopsis: They know everything about each other--except their real names.

Lt. Mellie Blake is looking forward to beginning her training as a flight nurse. She is not looking forward to writing a letter to a man she's never met--even if it is anonymous and part of a morale-building program. Lt. Tom MacGilliver, an officer stationed in North Africa, welcomes the idea of an anonymous correspondence--he's been trying to escape his infamous name for years.

As their letters crisscross the Atlantic, Tom and Mellie develop a unique friendship despite not knowing the other's true identity. When both are transferred to Algeria, the two are poised to meet face-to-face for the first time. Will they overcome their fears and reveal who they are, or will their future be held hostage by their pasts?

Thoughts: The romance and history in this book were very satisfying but the characters drove me bonkers.

Both the male and female lead repeatedly remark that their desired spouse HAS to be Christian and it is heavily implied that non-Christians cannot be good people. This type of thinking is very insulting and I have to admit that it really took away from my enjoyment of the book. I didn't mind that they talked about their beliefs but the overt non-believers are bad was really off-putting.

One of the things I liked about the book was that like Somewhere in France it looked at the role of women during the war. Unlike Somewhere in France this book is set during the Second World War but even here women were seen as less and they had to fight for the right to do even try things they knew they were qualified for.

Another aspect that I enjoyed and that kept me reading was the focus on the fighting in Africa. Although I have read a great deal about ww2 most of my reading has been focused on Europe and so this meant I got a new perspective on the war. I hadn't realized that it was quite so muddy (which tells you about my preconceived ideas.

One thing I did find interesting as well was how Mellie and Tom helped each other out with their problems. Tom needed to learn how to become a better leader, something I've struggled with at times. He wanted, because of his background, to be everyone's friend but friends don't always make good leaders. Mellie on the other hand needed to learn to be a good friend. I thought this dynamic was quite effective and I think that much of Tom's advice to Mellie was good. I also liked Mellie's advice to Tom. Although, because of the religious aspect of it it wasn't advice I would offer as is, but looking at other strong/good leaders is good advice.

Although I liked the book, it is a book I would be quite careful in whom I recommended it to because of the overt religious message in it.

Tuesday, 17 March 2015

Book Review: Falling from the Sky

Falling From the Sky

Author: Sarina Bowen

Publisher: Rennie Road Books

Genre: Romance

Series: Gravity

Synopsis: Hank "Hazardous" has had his whole world turned upside down. An injury has left this previous elite athlete in a wheelchair.

Callie has plans and goals. However she is also a very lonely workaholic.

Can these two people heal each other?

Thoughts: Most of this book takes place roughly the same time as Shooting for the Stars. Shooting for the Stars begins 24 hours before the events of this book, and ends about a year an a half after this one and many of the characters overlap (Hank is Stella's older brother). However, the books can be read as stand alones.

I felt a certain kinship with Callie. I too am a planner. I like things being predictable. And like her I don't really have any experience of downhill skiing or snowboarding (I've stood on downhill skis three times and I've skied into a tree twice, I do however love watching downhill skiing and snowboarding). I think this affinity was what really drew me in.

I also liked how Callie tells Hank how his reaction affected her. We rarely seem to talk about how actions that are really not about you can affect you. The reader knows that Hank's seeming rejection of Callie isn't about her, but for Callie, even when she finds out otherwise, it is about her, because of what has happened to her.

The relationships in this book were very satisfying. They felt grown-up but still filled with the angst that apparently we don't get away from even when we leave our teen years behind. The characters were real and often quite funny (loved Tiny). And the reactions also felt believable and real.

Monday, 16 March 2015

Book Review: Shooting for the Stars

Shooting For the Stars

Author: Sarina Bowen

Publisher: Rennie Road Books

Genre: Romance

Series: Gravity

Synopsis: Bear has been Stella's favourite person for a very long time. Why can't he see her as anything other than a little sister?

Bear loves his best friends little sister, but with out real prospects he doesn't believe he has any right to make a move on her.

Thoughts: I loved loved loved this book. It was funny, it was sweet, it made me cry. It was a perfect romance book.

One of the things I liked about this book was that it was about friendships as much as it was about romantic love. Bear and Stella have always been friends, as have Bear and Hank. But it is also about the friendships we THINK we make with those with whom we spend our days, and how when our days change it becomes clear that they aren't necessarily our friends. Not that they are bad people, it is just that your lives are no longer similar and it was that one thing that held you together. However, it also shows who your true friends are and what makes them true friends. I loved this quote:

Hank put a hand on his shoulder. "Not nearly as good as you've been to me. I don't think I would have made it through the last year and a half without you. Felt like the whole world forgot about me. But not you, man. You kept showing up. So I kept getting out of bed in the morning and putting a brave face on it. Because I knew I was going to hear your tires in my driveway eventually, and you'd knock on the door and hold me accountable. That's all that kept me going for a while, until I got over the hump. Maybe I should have said this before, okay. But I notice that shit. Thank you."

I think this quote resonated with me as I went through a major depression when I was in my mid-twenties. I had two groups of friends who simply DID NOT give up on me. In some respects I owe them my life. They also kept showing up, although in most cases virtually, but still. And they expected me to show up. I think this shows how important it is to not give up on friends even when they pull away.

One of the things that is hardest about being an adult is that life does not always turn out the way you dreamed or planned for. Bear and Stella keep saying that they aren't planners, but I disagree with them. They might not have the five year plan of Callie but what they have is dreams. They dream of the snow. They dream of the next trick, the most awesome slope, that big win. And like most of us they realise that those dreams might not come true, but that sometimes you have to modify your dream. Bear modifies his dream and discovers that it is better than his original dream.

There is of course a romantic story to this and I found it very satisfying. I liked that they had so much history together, it added a nice dimension to their interaction. It also added to the tension in the novel because if things didn't work out (which of course they would but still...) they would lose both a friend and the person they loved.

Highly recommend this book.

Out today!

Disclaimer: I received this book as an ARC from the author, however the thoughts are all my own, and the love is real.

Thursday, 12 March 2015

In Remembrance: Terry Pratchett

For me Terry Pratchett was an integral part of my teen years. The amount of times my friends and I uttered the words "I WAS AT A PARTY" from The Light Fantastic or giggled about Death in general. The discussions we had about Wizards with cork hats or the turtle. I suppose it is fitting though that I found out about his passing from my best friend in high school, Mel, with whom most of those discussions to place, often over a cup of tea and our favourite cafe.

Those teenage years are the years when one tries to make sense of the world, only to realise that the world does not make sense, and never will. One of the most influential people in my coming to realise that was Sir Terry Pratchett. His books were filled with great wisdom and I was an eager student. One of the things that has staid with me is the following quote from Interesting Times:

“Chaos is found in greatest abundance wherever order is being sought. It always defeats order, because it is better organized.”

As I grew older I discovered the Tiffany Aching series and I was once again hooked. However my favourite character will always be, rather ironically, Death, with the Grim Squeaker in second place.

And now I am sad.

My reviews of several Pratchett books on my old site (I'll be moving them over here shortly)

Hogfather Reaper Man The Last Hero Unseen Academicals

Tiffany Aching Series
Wee Free Men
A Hat Full of Sky
Wintersmith
I Shall Wear Midnight