Monday, January 4, 2010

Tuesday Tomorrow

The Temptation of the Night Jasmine by Lauren Willig
Published by: Duttun
Publication Date: January 5th, 2010
Format: Paperback, 512 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"After years abroad, Robert, Duke of Dovedale, has returned to England to avenge the murder of his mentor. To uncover the murderer's identity, he must infiltrate the infamous, secret Hellfire Club. But the Duke has no idea that an even more difficult challenge awaits him-in a mistaken, romantic-minded young lady. Charlotte Lansdowne wistfully remembers the Robert of her childhood as a valiant hero among men. Too aware of his own flaws, Robert tries to dissuade Charlotte from her delusions, even as he finds himself drawn to her. When Charlotte takes up a bit of espionage-investigating a plot to kidnap the King-Robert soon realizes that she is more than the perfect partner in crime. Caught in a dangerous game full of deadly spies and secret rites, Robert and Charlotte must work together to reveal the villain...and confront their true love."

For those of you who are patient, or for those of you who need to have every edition of Lauren Willig's books, The Temptation of the Night Jasmine is available in paperback this week. The fifth book in her wonderful Pink Carnation series sees perhaps the most relatable heroine, to those bookish amongst us, Charlotte Lansdowne. There are many misunderstandings and espionage with more flowery named spies, as well as the Hell-Fire Club and a plot to take part in a king-napping. Also we have the suave and debauched Medmenham, the fictitious leader of the Hellfire Club, aka The Medmenham Monks. I view him as a 19th century Chuck Bass, yeah yeah, I know what you're going to say, I watch to much Gossip Girl, but the actor is really British and I don't have any new episodes till March! Hopefully this will tide you over till next week when The Betrayal of the Blood Lily comes out... still I wish Lauren could write faster, and this complaint of an author giving us not one but two new books in 2010!

Calamity Jack by Shannon and Dean Hale, Illustrated by Nathan Hale (no relation)
Published by: Bloomsbury
Publication Date: January 5th, 2010
Format: Hardcover/Paperback, 144 Pages
To Buy (Paperback)
To Buy (Hardcover)

The official patter:
"Jack likes to think of himself as a criminal mastermind…with an unfortunate amount of bad luck. A schemer, plotter, planner, trickster, swindler...maybe even thief? One fine day Jack picks a target a little more giant than the usual, and one little bean turns into a great big building-destroying beanstalk.

With help from Rapunzel (and her trusty braids), a pixie from Jack’s past, and a man with inventions from the future, they just might out-swindle the evil giants and put his beloved city back in the hands of good people ....while catapulting themselves and readers into another fantastical adventure."

I enjoyed the first book in this new series of comics by Shannon Hale and her husband Dean when Rapunzel's Revenge came out in 2008. Set in a weird amalgamation fantasy land that is part wild west, part Germanic jungle woods, Rapunzel broke out of her prison and with the help of Jack got her revenge and got ride of the braids. I felt it was kind of like Firefly without the space bits... from the cover it looks like they might be rectifying that and going all out Steampunk. I'm mildly excited and I'll be happy to read it, but Shannon Hale has let me down recently and I have low expectations... so maybe that's a good thing and I'll love it. But the cover is what sold the first one, and this cover is just not as cool... as for the interior art, seeing what is capable in comics these days, the drawing style was mundane and pedestrian, some of it verging on crappy, and very uneven. So here's hoping that it's better the second time around. Also, seeing as Nathan Hale recently had a vitriolic hate spew fest against goodreads, which I love, I'm not in the mood to give him any slack, he seems perfectly able to hang himself... in fact, why not use Rapunzel's braids, which seem to have gotten amazingly long again, seeing as she cut them all off in the last book...

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