Cover Characteristics

Cover Characteristics is a meme by Sugar and Snark- every week a characteristic is selected and we post 5 books with that week's theme.   

This week's pick- Tea     

 I was going to skip this topic- I mean teapots??- but then I thought of a few and after doing a quick search I found more. So why not? The only thing is instead of teapots I'm just going with tea in general- there may be teapots or teacups but I'm just loosening up the rules a bit. 

Sunday Post #182

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer

This was a good week. I got some reading in, The 100 and Riverdale are humming along, and the last few reads have been awesome. Plus I have a ton of (hopefully) good books in the pipeline.  I read the City of the Lost sequel and am reading Winter of the Gods. It's been an interesting week politically. The guy who chanted "lock her up" (referring to Clinton) had to resign/ was fired after three weeks. That has to be a new record.      

Otherwise not much happening. I've sorta got spring fever with the nicer weather we've had- I don't know it just seems like this winter went by kinda fast? I mean it's almost March!      

This week I reviewed Freeks and The 100. And Riverdale. I'm liking that show. I've got reviews coming up for Six Wakes and this week will be Moon Called. And I got Crooked Kingdom in the mail- thanks again to Maria at A Night's Dream of Books for the giveaway!    

Song of the week

Last Weeks Stuff:

Cover Characteristics this past week was about playing cards. Tuesday Tagline was all about trust. My Top Ten looked at romance for Valentine's Day. I also reviewed Freeks, the new episode of The 100 and Riverdals as well. And of course Bookcover Spotlight #88.       

Next Week: 

Cover Characteristics will look at tea. Tuesday Tagline returns and Top Ten Tuesday as well. Then on Wednesday I'll be discussing The 100 again. And I'll be reviewing Moon Called. Friday will be Bookcover Spotlight #89. 

PULP COVER OF THE WEEK: 

NEW ARRIVAL/ UPCOMING REVIEWS:

BOOKISH LINKS

SNL had a little more fun w/ Trump.  

Bookcover Spotlight #88

The sequel to The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet and I might like this one even more (the cover art at least). 

The 100 S4/ E3

This episode is called "Four Horsemen" and that seems appropriate since the tone here is very apocalyptic. We knew going into this season that we were going to be dealing with the radiation, and the very likely event of total annihilation, unless an answer can be found. And so far the answers are not there. There's two major storylines going on here and a third that's almost as important, and I'd have to say if there's a theme it would be- faith. Faith that you're doing the right thing, when it's impossible to even know what that is. 

First of all Jaha thinks he's found a fallout shelter that could potentially house thousamds- and if true that the answer to their survival problem. So he, Bellamy and Clarke set out to find it. And they do, but it's not what they were hoping for. After a nice nighttime scene with a little tension, they are shocked to find that the doomsday cult that built the shelter didn't make it. The shelter is there, and so are a lot of dead people. I can't help but wonder though if the shelter of the Second Dawn- that's the name of the group- won't reappear, sine they spent a bit of time introducing it.The other thing this storyline gave us was one of the better exchanges of the night, when Jaha told Bellamy that "She's lucky to have you." Meaning Clarke, and that Bellamy "centers" her. Bell replies "You got it backwards." Nice. 

The second thing going on is we find that the radiation is already affecting people. Luna's group of Grounders show up and they're sick, including her daughter. Abby treats them but has a disagreement with Raven about whether to use the limited doses of radiation pills they have- Raven feels they need to conserve them, even if it means letting the Grounders die. Ouch. Murphy breaks the standoff by stealing the pills and giving them to Abby. Unfortunately they don't work, and Luna's daughter dies. This was heartbreaking and a powerful moment. Abby and Raven sold that. The kicker though is at the end when Luna somehow recovers- and they realize that Nightblood is the difference. Luna has it- and she'll survive. 

Which leads us to the Flame. If Nightblood is important then the Flame would seem to be even more so- I can't pretend to keep all the Nightblood stuff straight but doesn't the Flame have something to do with that? Anyway the problem is the Flame goes missing, and Roan tells Octavia that a Flamekeeper made off with it. Octavia says she'll solve the problem, and she does- sort of. She tracks the Flamekeeper to the temple, only to find that the Flamekeeper is... Indra's daughter Gaia. What the... this is getting more complicated. And then Ilian's crew of looters show up (did I miss something here- why is he a looter now?) and they destroy the chip! Well not really, as Octavia does a quick switcherooie and saves it. But... she lets Gaia keep it and lies to Roan. *Sigh* Why didn't she just take it and give it to him? Screw Gaia! Indra might have backed her since she didn't like Gaia taking it anyway. 

But that's the 100. The Flame after all has to be in flux, especially now that Nightblood is relevant. But let's get to the important part. Bellarke. Back at Arkadia Bellamy is sleeping and Clarke is making her list. Her list of 100 people who will survive. She's got two spots left and she writes Bellamy's name down. He wakes up and tells her "If I'm on that list, you're on that list." But she can't do it- so he writes her name down. He puts his hand on her shoulder and she takes the comfort he offers. These two have been through so much, and they carry a lot of guilt. It goes back to Mt. Weather, and before that- they alone I think understand each other and those decisions they have made.  

Freeks

Freeks was kind of a mixed bag for me but on balance I liked it. Carnivals and circuses are fabulous settings for an urban fantasy story and this one is no exception. In fact I thought Amanda Hocking did a good job here making it seem realistic- while it didn't get into the nitty gritty details it definitely felt like the carnival was a well realized setting. The book has a lot of atmosphere and I saw a review that mentioned an "eerie vibe" to this one- I think I agree with that. 

Mara travels with the carnival because her mother is a performer, and the secret of the carnival is that almost everyone in the sideshow act is a paranormal. They're broke though so they accept a gig in a small town in Louisiana. Almost immediately the sensitives among the cast sense something odd about the town, and strange things start happening, not the least of which is a shadowy creature that starts targeting performers. Mara meets a guy named Gabe who seems to be more than he appears, and that is one of the mysteries of the book as well. 

Let's talk about Mara and Gabe for a sec. A lot of the reviews on Goodreads talk about instalove, and on one hand I agree. I mean she meets him, is attracted, and it's not long before they're kissing. That's not love though, they're just hot for each other. Over the course of about a week though they develop feelings- is that instalove? I don't know, it seemed a little fast but not a dealbreaker. One word of warning though- this is a YA book and there is a sex scene, it's not graphic but it's also crystal clear what they're doing. So heads up. 

I thought most of the supporting cast were good. Roxie is a lot of fun, she's a pyrokinetic and like I said most of the sideshow people have unique abilities- the carnival is a refuge for people who don't fit in anywhere else. I liked the sense of camaraderie but I thought the town was pretty superficial- not a lot of development there. Gabe's family are prominent in the town (of course) and there may be more going on there too- there's nothing really new here but it is entertaining and kept me turning pages. 

So if you like carnivals or a circus mixed in with supernatural this may be your jam. It's YA so it focuses a lot on the teen romance but there's an edge to it too, and the writing is good but not amazing. It feels a bit average but again if the premise sounds good it might be a great one. 

The 100 S4/ E2

So this week we start off with an iridescent butterfly in a very powerful segue into Ilian's introduction. The new series regular- played by Chai Romruen (of Mako Mermaids) - has a pretty grim intro as we see what he was forced to do under ALIE. Then we move into Kane and Abby having sexy times- nice to see them happy- but I got a bad feeling when Abby went off. Kind of worried about her at the moment. Ilian's in Polis now with the Trishanakru faction (where do they get these names?) and Octavia and Kane meet with Roan as the clans (or at least Ilian's) mutter about Roan.

Roan seems pretty chill with O and Kane but Echo is agitating for him to stop protecting Skaikru. They seem to be on a happy page though. Kane volunteers to go talk to Rafel, the Trishanakru ambassador, who is planning to challenge Roan. Problem is Roan is still too weak to fight. We then check in at Arkadia to find Clarke, Bellamy and Raven debating what to do. Raven says they need to find somewhere to ride out the radiation and Clarke reminds her it's not just about the five hundred at Arkadia- it's the Grounders too.  Raven says they need to tell the people so they have more minds working on the problem. She's not wrong...

Monty pipes in to offer that Alpha station is where they can ride it out- so they don't need to leave they need to strengthen where they're at. But... they need a water reclamator (because of course) and guess where there is one? Farm station. Bellamy decides to go get it after Bryan agrees to show the way. Where Bryan goes Miller goes, and -yay- Harper as well. We need more Harper. So off they go- after Monty stops by a showering Jasper who reminds him there's some weed stashed at Farm too.  

They arrive at Farm station but guess what? Ice Nation hangs out there and guess what else? They have slaves! Including Skaikru people. Oh oh. There's some nonsense about how Roan is considered a banished prince- what's that about?- but they agree Bellamy can take the water reclamator. Raven meanwhile is questioning why she's in charge (I was wondering that too) and Clarke gives her a bit of a boost. Jaha wants to help but Raven tells him to sort the scrap- not the best use of his abilities but forgiving Jaha is going to be hard for some people. 

So Bellamy has a tough call to make. Leave with the water reclamator or free the slaves. Why not both? Well turns out there's something in the reclamator that can be set off- of course- and the group are not too happy with the idea of leaving people behind. Plus there's kids. A little girl drops a note that the slaves are being moved the next day, so there's not really time to return and rescue. Bryan and Miller are on opposite sides of this- Miller says go, Bryan says free the people- and it comes down to Bell after Harper sides with Bryan and Monty with Miller. 

So... they blow up the reclamator and it's operation free slaves. And we find out the lead Grounder is the guy who killed Monty's dad. Ouch. What will Monty do? In a rather chilling scene Monty frees the slaves, who then take it upon themselves to, um, solve the problem. No more Grounder. Monty has his back turned as the slaves surge past him to basically pummel the guy to death. Everybody makes tough calls.

What else is happening? Well Roan and Echo spar, we see that Roan is still not in fighting trim, and... he tells Echo. About the radiation. Echo then wants to go to Arkadia (to no doubt cause trouble)- yeah that will go well. Clarke talks to Jasper as he's jamming to Boomtown Rats out in the yard and he tells her she's acting just like the council, deciding who get to know what. Valid point, but I'm pretty sick of Jasper at this point. He's being an ass. And Clarke gets advice from Jaha of all people. "Heavy lies the crown," he tells her, and she understands now the decisions he and Kane and the other adults made. Not that I'm excusing them, because they were still assholes, but obviously the theme here is that sometimes there are no good answers. 

Oh and how could I forget? Octavia solves the problem of ambassador Rafel by killing him. "Long live the king," she says as she puts her hood up- after stabbing Rafel through the ear. Octavia's a machine. After Rafel's death is announced Ilian asks her if she's going to kill him also, but she denies involvement. Bellamy and crew return to Arkadia with freed slaves and Raven is furious about the missing equipment- she even zings Clarke after Clarke says sometimes hope matters more than truth- but again just like last week we have Clarke and Bellamy at the end, together. I'm liking it! "We save who we can save today," says Bellamy.  I guess that's all you can do. 

Riverdale S1 E3 Body Double

So this one started off with a bang. After last weeks cliffhanger- Cheryl being arrested for Jason's death- it turns out she wasn't really arrested but we get a better sense of what's happening. Cheryl tells the police chief that she didn't kill Jason, she helped him stage his death so he could run away. Why would Jason want to run away? And what happened to him if he died on July 11th- a week after his disappearance. Well that remains to be seen. 

I was kind of intrigued when I saw the title of this one- Body Double. The heart of this episode is the deepening friendship between Betty and Veronica, and we also get a glimpse of how dark Betty is willing to go. Definitely foreshadowing for down the road. This still remains just a little over the top- I mean Alice Cooper and her snark are just a bit much- but it works here as there is that feeling that underneath the surface there is something really dark at the heart of Riverdale. 

So what brings Betty and Veronica closer? Well Veronica has a date with Chuck who happens to be a player- and when her date with him gets exaggerated, we'll say, she's humiliated. So we're talking slut- shaming (even though she just made out with him) and guess what? The boys on the football team have themselves a little competition and a little book where they keep score. And Veronica is not happy.

After some other girls come forward (including Ethel, who happens to be Shannon Purser from Stranger Things) they decide to set the record straight. After breaking into school late at night to find the book they're met by Cheryl, who at first is skeptical (after all her brother Jason was on the team- surely he wouldn't countenance such behavior?) but when they find his name in the book next to Polly- well Cheryl realizes maybe there are some things about her brother she didn't know. And she's all in. Oh and she rocks the thigh high boots too. 

Speaking of Cheryl, I love her line when they ask her how she knew where they were. 

"Trev told Valerie, who told Josie, who told Ginger, who told Tina, who told me." 

Cheryl has all the best lines in this one. And here's where we see Betty go dark. Her and Veronica play a little game with Chuck and even Veronica is taken aback how far Betty is willing to go- again some pretty heavy foreshadowing for down the line? And perhaps a glimpse into what Polly was like- we haven't seen her. And Alice is her mom. 

"You want to go full dark, no stars, Veronica?"

Some other stuff happens too- we get forward momentum on Archie's music, the Pussycats do a little playing, and Jughead investigates the murder after joining Betty on the school paper. 

Let's talk about Alice a minute. Not only does she leak the autopsy results on Jason, she's still a bitch to Betty and she causes all kinds of trouble at the Riverdale gala. There's obviously no love lost between her and Penelope Blossom- I didn't see it coming when Penelope clocked her- but that didn't even slow her down as she then went after Hermione Lodge about Veronica. Man she's a one- woman wrecking crew. As I said above she's almost too over the top, but it works so far. 

Random Thoughts

Anyone else weirded out when Betty called Chuck Jason and referred to herself as Polly? 

So Dilton Doiley saw Miss Grundy's car at the river? Did he see Archie too? 

Jughead's narration at the end reveals that Chuck gets booted from the team and that there are devastating consequences down the line from this. Ooh what's going to happen?