9/28/17

Playing by Heart (Book)

I received a review copy of this book from NetGalley. I've been wanting to give the historical fiction that's not Outlander a try for a while now and the plot of Playing by Heart by Carmela A. Martino sounded nice so I'm glad I got to read it.

Emilia Salvini dreams of marrying a man who loves music as much as she does. But in 18th-century Milan, her position as “second sister” means she’ll likely be sent off to a convent instead. Ironically, Emilia’s pious older sister, Maria, would gladly become a nun. But Father won’t allow it—her brilliant language skills are too important to his quest for noble status.

Emilia’s only hope to avoid the convent is to prove that her musical talents are as indispensable as Maria’s skills. First, Emilia must earn the respect of the music tutor who has always disdained her, simply for being a girl. But before Emilia can carry out her plan, Mamma, her greatest supporter, dies in childbirth. In her sorrow, Emilia composes a heartrending sonata that causes the maestro to finally recognize her talent. He begins teaching her music theory alongside handsome violinist Antonio Bellini, the great-nephew of a wealthy marquis. The two begin as rivals, but making music together gradually melds their hearts.

When Antonio abruptly quits their lessons, Emilia assumes it’s because her family isn’t nobility. More determined than ever to help Father acquire a title, she dedicates a set of compositions to Archduchess Maria Teresa. The archduchess is so impressed that she helps Father become a count. Having finally won Father’s favor, Emilia expects she’ll now be betrothed to Antonio. But the repercussions of her family’s new status threaten not only her dreams, but her sister’s very life.


9/26/17

Blogger Recognition Award


Lauren @ Northen Plunder tagged me to this thing a while ago (thanks!) and I just remembered it, so I guess I'm doing it now, hah. 


Rules
  • Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
  • Give a brief story of how your blog started.
  • Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers.
  • Select 10 other bloggers you want to give this award to.
  • Comment on each blog and let them know you have nominated them and provide the link to the post you created.

9/24/17

Taproot (Graphic novel)

My friend mentioned this comic - Taproot by Keezy Young - was available to download from NetGalley so and it looked really cute so of course I had to grab this! I don't read graphic novels very often for some reason so it was nice to find something that pleased my eye and had an interesting story too.

Blue is having a hard time moving on. He's in love with his best friend. He's also dead. Luckily, Hamal can see ghosts, leaving Blue free to haunt him to his heart's content. But something eerie is happening in town, leaving the local afterlife unsettled, and when Blue realizes Hamal's strange ability may be putting him in danger, Blue has to find a way to protect him, even if it means... leaving him.





9/17/17

Rise of the Tomb Raider (Video Game)

This is a game that I bought from Steam Christmas sales last year because I had just got a new PC that I knew could run the game in beautiful graphics settings without an issue. I had really liked the previous Tomb Raider game (2013) so I figured I'd like Rise of the Tomb Raider as well, and yeah I did, but I still ended up taking forever to finish it. I did what I do very often: started the game and then forgot about it for a long time and then when I finally got back to it six months later I finished it in just a few days.

9/13/17

Tracon 2017

Last weekend I went to an anime convention in Tampere with my fiancé and it was a fun but also super exhausting weekend. We did the whole cosplay thing and walked so much my legs were nothing but pain by the time we got on the train home. It also rained the whole weekend so that sucked a little bit.

Sea of umbrellas

9/6/17

Tomorrow, When the War Began (Book)

Hi I'm aliveee and about to ramble sleepily about the second traveling book project book I read. Traveling book project was the thing where a group of people pick books and then send them around to each other and annotate them, in case someone was wondering. This time I got to read Lauren's copy of Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden and it was actually pretty cool. I feel like I've been on a bit of a dystopia streak though because the previous traveling book (Find Me) and Bubblegum also kinda fall into that genre. Oops.

Ellie and her friends leave home one quiet morning, wave goodbye to their parents and head up into the hills to camp out for a while; seven teenagers filling in time during school holidays.

The world is about to change forever.

Their lives will never be the same again.

Would you fight? Would you give up everything? Would you sacrifice even life itself?