Party Promo Day!

http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=11236

Click the link an find out how to win! 

On The Edge by Ilona Andrews Promo Party!

I read this a few days ago and I  love it so much I  am actually going to re-read it, something I rarely do.

And what's even cooler is that they are doing a contest with a chance to win a Sony e-Reader and other cool stuff! (Stuff!)

Tiramisu

I decided to make Tiramisu for hubby's bday (today), and after looking around I ended up using the Joy of Cooking recipe, more or less. Here's my version of the recipe, for an 8x8 pan.

Buy 3 packs of ladyfingers (12 in each pack) -- if you make your own ladyfingers I don't know why you are reading this recipe. Stick the ladyfingers in the fridge.
Buy a 4oz bar of bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate and stick it in the fridge too.

I decided mascarpone is too expensive (it's almost $5/8oz) so I made
faux-carpone,  which is made by stirring together until smooth in a LARGE bowl
- 8oz cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup heavy cream

(If you use mascarpone, you will need 12 to 14 oz of it, softened)

Using instant coffee, make around 1 cup of really really really strong coffee and add
1 Tablespoon rum (JoC says 2-3 T but that would be too much for my family)
1.5 Tablespoon sugar (JoC says 2-3 T also)
Put it in a shallow dish and stick it in the fridge.

In a heat-proof bowl (I used a pot that will fit in another pot), beat on high speed until thick & pale yellow (2 min):
5 large egg yolks (I always have fun separating eggs)
1/3 cup sugar
Whisk in :
1/3 cup Marsala (I got the cheapest kind which is $5/bottle)
1 Tablespoon water

Set the bowl/pot in a pot/skillet of simmering water and whisk or beat on low speed until it gets custardy i.e. reaches 160F. (This took forever.) 
Remove from bowl and let cool for about 15min, stirring occasionally.

In another bowl beat until soft peaks form
1/2 cup whipping cream
2 teaspoons vanilla

The recipe says to then get the spiked coffee and quickly dip ladyfingers in it and layer on the bottom of the pan. This is tricky -- I think in the future I will put the ladyfinger in the pan then drizzle or brush the spiked coffee on to it.

Fold in the cooled custard (aka zabaglione) and whipped cream into the fauxcarpone.

Spread half of this wonderful stuff over the coffeed ladyfinger layer. Then grate some of the chocolate over it, (JoC says 2.5 oz, but it's up to you).
Dip the next batch of ladyfingers in the spiked coffee and layer it over. Then spread the rest of the stuff on top, and grate more of the chocolate bar onto it.
Sift  over the top 1 Tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa. (I was too lazy to grab the sifter at this point and just used the grater.)

Cover and stick in the fridge  for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours before serving.

Clean up.

Snack on leftover ladyfingers and spiked coffee.

Elfland and Demon's Lexicon

Two more wonderful reads, lumped together because I read them one after the other, but coincidentally they do share an underlying theme.

Elfland by Freda Warrington is a nice thick urban fantasy about faerie-like demi-mortal beings, Aetherials, some of whom live in our world as humans, although they really belong somewhere else (the Spiral). There is a Gatekeeper between worlds, and at the start of the book he tells the Aetherial community on earth that he's keeping the gate shut for their own good. So a generation of Aetherials grows up without connecting to their heritage. The story focuses on the Gatekeepers kids and the next door Aetherial kids, specially siblings Rose & Lucas. It's written as a family drama and a romance, and what I like best is that the Aetherial characters are written as deeply human. I specially recommend it for romantic readers.


The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan is a fast-paced adventure. Magicians get their power by sacrificing people to demons, and brothers Nick & Alan are on the run from magicians who are trying to get back a magical amulet from their insane ex-magician mother. The story is told from Nick's pov, and he cares only about Alan, because Alan is the one who raised him and looked after him. The trouble is Alan cares about everyone, including a brother and sister who come to them for help, and it's all up to Nick to save Alan from his chivalrous impulses. I really loved this book, because even though Nick is moody and angry and literally murderous, I feel such empathy for him. A very dark story written with lots of humor and wit.

Kate Elliott's Crossroads (Spirit Gate, Shadow Gate, Traitor's Gate)

I have fallen behind on logging all my reads, but I do try to keep up using goodreads. But I at least want to blog about really Wonderful Reads, and here is one from last week.

Traitor's Gate is the third book in the Crossroads series by Kate Elliott, one of my favorite authors, and it wraps up the first part of the saga. The first two books are Spirit Gate and Shadow Gate.

Hm, maybe I should show you what I wrote about each book after I read it:


Spirit Gate (August 2007)

What a big fat book! I love the old Asian feel of the worldbuilding. I admire how the book ends -- a big conflict resolved but so many questions left unanswered. The only downside is the wait 'til the next book

Shadow Gate (June 2008)
I've been meaning to post about Shadow Gate, which is book two in Kate Elliott's Crossroads series. This is a big fat book, rich is calories and flavor.

Consider the ingredients:

- Worldbuilding. Being Filipino, the asian and pacific islander influences in the cultures of the Qin & The Hundred are such a kick to me. The level of detail is wonderful; the feeling that this world really exists we're only seeing bits of it.

- Characters. Let me see if I can explain what I really like about the characters. They are all full of the prejudices of beliefs of their culture and upbringing, and they all consider their own worldviews to be perfectly valid. And that's how they are.

- Mastery. I don't know what else to call the storytelling. The choices she makes in the way she tells the story are just very good. Take for example, Cornflower's story. I usually dislike flashbacks, but I appreciated the choice here, since it allows some emotional distance from what would otherwise have been too painful.

Grand and bewilderingly big, like the construction of a Gothic cathedral -- that's what I think this series is like.

Traitors Gate (September 2009)
I've been busy and thus wary of starting this for fear I'd get sucked in and neglect all else. I was right! I started it yesterday and stayed up all night finishing it! Aui!

Another thing I was worried about was that I would have to refer to Books 1 & 2 to remember what was going on, but as soon as I read page one I was back in the flow. The characters do an initial info dump as they are reintroduced in a way that flows right with the story. Really well done.

In fact, I was a bit more than half-way through the book when I caught myself thinking that this whole trilogy is really a masterpiece of the epic fantasy form.

As to the ending, no WONDER the blurb on the front called it "surprising"*. One of those shocking things that nonetheless had a lot of warning. One might even call them red flags. I too, have perfect hindsight.
The most bittersweet wrap up ever.

I'm full of questions, of course (which the author graciously answered, and I will paraphrase her answers below to make them slightly less spoilery)

... spoilers ahoy ...
Is this the end of Mai & Anji's story as central characters? What about Shai, & Zubaidit? (Answer: Mai will be in the next book)
When did Kate Elliott know what was going to happen to Mai & Anji -- right at the start or did it surprise her too? Did it break her heart? I'm guessing it was planned; really an amazing way of driving home the point of the history Jothinin was retelling -- we didn't see until it was too late. (Answer: Very much planned)
What's the plan for the next books -- when & where will they be set? (Answer: "Crossroads 4 is supposed to take place 15 years later (snip big spoilers). It's not particularly epic. The follow up trilogy is meant to take place almost 60 years after the end of Traitors' Gate and is hugely epic."

*oops, actually, it says "extraordinary", but I somehow remembered it as "surprising". It's both, imo.


In conclusion, Kate Elliott writes three Big, Fat, DELICIOUS books that I heartily recommend to anyone with an appetite for a really wonderful read.
Go forth and DEVOUR them.

books read

since my last book post:

Really great reads are two books from Jacqueline Carey -- Santa Olivia, which is basically a gritty super-hero story, and Naamah's Kiss, which starts a new trilogy in the the Terre Ange universe.

Finished the Aurora Teagarden series by Charlaine Harris: A Bone to Pick ; Three Bedrooms, One Corpse ; The Julius House ; Dead Over Heels ; A Fool And His Honey ; Poppy Done to Death except that I accidentally skipped the penultimate Last Scene Alive.
And finished Charlaine Harris Lily Bard series: Shakespeare's Landlord ; Shakespeare's Champion ; Shakespeare's Christmas ; Shakespeare's Trollop ; Shakespeare's Counselor.
And read her first book Sweet & Deadly, which is really a novice effort. Or maybe she just doesn't do 3rd person well.

Read more of Lauren Willig's pink carnation series: The Masque of the Black Tulip ; The Deception of the Emerald Ring ; The Seduction of the Crimson Rose Emerald Ring was cringe-worthy but Crimson Rose was good.

Also read Julia Quinn's What Happens in London, which is a cute and light regency and Nalini Singh's Angel's Blood which is a paranormal romance which has some interesting world-building and an annoyingly "feisty" heroine.

YAs:
My 12yo made me read Nobody's Princess by Esther Friesner, which is fantastic, and I sneakily read the sequel Nobody's Prize before her which totally ticked her off. :) They are about a young Helen of Troy as we'd like her to be, and I enjoyed her view of Helen's contemporaries.

She also wanted me to read the Faerie Path by Frewin Jones, but after I had to read about the heroine glancing into her mirror to check her beautiful self out I told my 12yo I am just too old for this many writing cliches.

Another good YA I read is the almost-too-angsty Bones of Faerie by Janni Lee Simner.

dvd reviews

Inkheart -- I love the book, I like Brendan Fraser a lot, and the movie was better than I expected from the reviews. Paul Bettany as Dustfinger really steals the show. I enjoyed this a lot and it's a great family film.

Push - I'd never heard of this before hubby rented the dvd. SF conspiracy thriller with psychic super-powered teens trying to escape the clutches of a shadowy government Division which wants them in their experiments. Geareded towards fans of Jumper. I liked that it was set in Hong Kong, although on the minus side it had stereotypical heartless Chinese villains and too much gore. Dakota Fanning has a really good moment when she begs the arch-villain for mercy. Worth renting.

Coraline - I think the book is so creepy (Neil Gaiman has serious Mommy issues) I couldn't imagine how they could make a children's film out of it. But they do pull it off, mainly because of the high quality animation. However, it still lacks the heart that Nightmare Before Christmas or Corpse Bride have. Younger kids will probably get nightmares if they watch it.

BBC's Elizabeth Gaskell collection. Ok, so I didn't actually get them in a set, just borrowed them from the library. Cranford, Wives & Daughters, North & South. Love, love, love them. Anyone who loves period pieces or classics like Austen & Bronte will love these.

Doubt - Love Meryl Streep in this. Sister Aloysius is the coolest nun ever. Sister James is a twit.

Watchmen- A completely stinky movie, didn't watch more than 15 min.

Good writing vs. good story-telling

What keeps you reading -- the wordsmithing or the story? Or something else?

I was trying to read a book that had gotten really good reviews, and while the writing was undeniably good, the story just wasn't compelling enough to keep me reading, and I decided to stop a 3rd of the way in. I think I just didn't care what happened to the characters. (Anyone else come across any glowingly recommended books recently that just left you cold?)

In comparison, there is an urban fantasy series where the writing frequently makes me roll my eyes, but somehow, I keep gobbling up the books. My daughter said they must be like Doritos -- once I eat one chip I keep going until the bag is empty.

catch-up book list

July:

Real Murders by Charlaine Harris, which is the first Roe Teagarden book.
Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George, which I have passed on to my 12yo. Also a YA anthology, Vacations from Hell, which was a bit too horror for me.
Also read The Secret History of The Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig, which I found amusing and annoying by turns. But I'm borrowing the sequel, so I guess I liked it overall.
I read a bunch of Black Dagger Brotherhood books by JR Ward, which I think probably turned my brain to mush, but are strangely addicting. In retrospect, I realize that Alyssa Day's Atlantis books are inspired by this series, but I think I prefer JR Ward's writing.
Also The Companion by Susan Squires, a regency vampire romance, which was better than I expected.
I am reading The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson, which I am putting down for a bit to read Travelling with the Dead by Barbara Hambly.

June:

Really good stuff:

Stargazer by Claudia Gray, sequel to Evernight. It's a YA series about a vampire academy. The first book has a very neat twist. The sequel manages to surprise and raise the stakes. I'm looking forward to the third book.
The funniest book: Beyond Heaving Bosoms by Wendell & Tan.
Marta Acosta's Happy Hour at Casa Dracula, The Bride of Casa Dracula.
Charlaine Harris' Dead and Gone (Sookie Stackhouse, #9)
Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman
New Blood by Gail Dayton
Norse Code by Greg Van Eekhout

Good stuff:

Elizabeth Hoyt's Raven Prince, Serpent Prince, Leopard Prince. And To Beguile A Beast, To Seduce A Sinner, To Taste Temptation.
Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception by Maggie Stiefvater.

The Courtesan's Wager by Claudia Dain, which is 3rd in a series of Regency romances that read like comedies of manners. The first two were great, this one is funny but a little lacking.Stephanie Laurens' The Taste of Innocence (Cynster, #14), What Price Love? (Cynster, #13) , All About Passion (Cynster, #7), All About Love (Cynster, #6) , On a Wild Night (Cynster, #8)
Your Scandalous Ways by Loretta Chase
Burning Alive by Shannon K. Butcher

So-so stuff:

Amazon Ink by Lori Devoti.
Alyssa Day's Atlantis Rising, Atlantis Awakening, Atlantis Unleashed.

Two I didn't finish: Eve of Darkness by S.J. Day and What A Scoundrel Wants by Carrie Lofty.

May:

Coventry by Helen Humphreys.
Two Mary Balogh romances - First Comes Marriage & Then Comes Seduction
Arianna Franklin - The Serpent's Tale & Grave Goods
The Pretender's Crown by C.E.Murphy
Darkborn by Alison Sinclair
Rick Riordan's Olympians YA series (love this).