Mundie Moms

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Holly Black's Red Glove Teaser

If you haven't read Holly Black's White Cat, I highly recommend it. If you haven't already preordered the sequel, Red Glove, I also recommend it. It's fabulous and it's going to be our May Book Of The Month. Today Holly treated her fans with a teaser from Red Glove.

Here's the final small excerpt from RED GLOVE that I promised in January.

Next month (when the paperback of WHITE CAT comes out on the 8th) I will post the whole first chapter of RED GLOVE. For the two other excerpts, go here (for Cassel and Lila) and here (for Barron and Cassel's crazy Mom).

And there will be fun stuff galore in February and March. Contests. Prizes. Celebration. Madness.

This is from one of my favorite scenes in the book:

The inside of the elevator is richly burled wood. A video screen above the doors is showing a black-and-white movie without any sound. I don’t recognize the film.

“What’s this place?” I ask finally as the doors slide shut.

“A social club,” Zacharov says, clasping his gloved hands in front of him. Neither of us has pushed any button. “Here, things are private.”
I nod, as though I actually understand what he’s talking about.

When the elevator opens, we’re in a huge room—huge like, seriously, you can’t figure this place is really in New York. The marble floor is mostly covered in an enormous carpet. Along it are islands of two or four club chairs with high backs. The ceiling far above our heads is decorated with intricate plaster moldings. Along the nearest wall is a massive bar, its marble top shining against dark wood paneling. Behind the bar, on a high shelf, are several hulking jars of clear liquor with fruits and spices floating in them: lemons, rose petals, whole cloves, ginger. Uniformed staff move through the room silently, carrying drinks and small trays to the occupants of the chairs.

“Wow,” I say.

He gives me a half grin, one that I have seen on Lila’s face before. It’s unnerving.

An old man with sunken cheeks in a black suit walks up to us. “Welcome, Mr. Zacharov. May I take your coat?”

Zacharov shucks it off.

“Would you like to borrow a sport jacket for your friend?” the man asks him, barely glancing in my direction. I guess I’m breaking some kind of dress code.

“No,” Zacharov says. “We will have drinks and then dinner. Please send someone to us in the blue room.”

“Very good, sir,” the man says, just like a butler in a movie.

“Come,” says Zacharov.

We walk through the room, through double doors into a far smaller library. Three bearded men are sitting together, laughing. One smokes a pipe. Another has a girl in a very short red dress sitting on his knee doing a bump of cocaine off a sugar spoon.

Zacharov sees me staring. “Private club,” he reminds me.

Right.

In the third room a fire is blazing. The room is smaller than the other two, but there’s only one set of doors—the ones we came through—and no one else inside. Zacharov motions that I should sit. I sink into the soft leather. There’s a small, low table between us. A crystal chandelier swings gently above us, scattering bands of colored light across the room.

See what I mean!?! be sire to visit Holly's site here
*All text in italics is quoted with permission from Holly's site.


Blog Tour & Book Review- Lost On Spirit River



By Tommy Batchelor

Published by Mirror Publishing
Released on November 8th, 2010
Source- Tommy Batchelor/The Teen Book Scene
4 Stars- It's A Good Read

Thirteen-year-old Tony's parents are in the middle of divorce, his mother sends him to his Grandpa's along the banks of the Flint River in Southwestern Georgia. With his younger cousin Kathryn, they set out to look for a Christmas tree for the holidays, along with Grandpa's aging beagle, Sally. The three become lost in a snowstorm, which has not hit Georgia in three hundred years. Finding shelter in a hidden cave, stumbling upon Native American art. Now the adventure begins... (quoted from Goodreads).

Tommy Batchelor did a splendid job at mixing together Native American lore, adventure and self discovery, set in the beautiful outdoors of Georgia in his story Lost on Spirit River, the first book in his new series.

Lost on Spirit River follows Tony and his cousin Kathryn as they go in search of the right Christmas tree in the woods behind their Grandfather's home. A freak snow storm strands them and they find themselves in a cave full of Native American history. It's the history of their ancestors, the Upper Creek Indians. Lucky for them two of their ancient ancestor's spirits are there to protect them from the darker shadows who want to harm them.

I completely fell in love with the setting and the Native American lore. Tommy and Kathryn were fun characters to get to know, and I liked seeing how much Tommy changed through the course of this fun read. Tommy puts on a tough guy act, but in the course of being guided by the spirit his Native American ancestors, he discovers the warrior within himself, which causes him to change.

I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of this series. I think Lost on Spirit River is an appealing read for tween readers ages 8-12. The story is one that has adventure, history, lore and will leave your awaiting the next book in this series.

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