Recap: Book Event (Manners & Mutiny Tea Party! with Gail Carriger)

RECAP: MANNERS & MUTINY TEA PARTY! WITH GAIL CARRIGER

So on Saturday, me and my best friend Sonya drove to Saratoga Springs for a book signing with the author Gail Carriger (Parasol Protectorate series, Finishing School series, The Parasol Protectorate Manga, The Custard Protocol series). If you don't know, her, I highly recommend that you check out her series.

So we left around 10:15am and crossed the customs to go the States. It's just so funny when you tell them you're just going to a book signing. They really just look at you like... "Seriously? You're driving over 3h30 just to go to a book signing?" and the answer is Yes; a 100% Yes.

So we drove and came across a lot of cops and we're like... is there something going on? We don't usually that many on the highway, but oh well... We decide to concentrate on the book signing that was to come.

So we arrived in Saratoga Springs around 4:30 (just so you know, we stopped to eat, put gas and other stops, not that you actually care, but oh well). We find a parking and head towards the bookstore.

Once we arrive, we see the table is already set for the signing, but we don't know where the Q&A will happen. So I go and purchase her latest book and asked the cashier and he sent us to the café directly connected to the bookstore. Some readers are already there and the age range is really wild. I see young girls just like much older ones and even a few men who are there to listen to Gail.

We find ourselves seats and wait for the event that started at 3pm. Finally, she's being introduced and right then, I knew that I was going to love her.

She doesn't stay still for very long and she tells us that is due to her years of teaching, so getting pictures where kind of hard, but I did get a few:

I won't lie, I really liked her style and it totally fitted her personality. So the Q&A lasted around 45 minutes and I got to ask her a few questions one of them being whether or not there would be mangas for the 4th and 5th book of the Parasol Protectorate series and she told me no. One the reasons mentioned was that the creator of the manga had other projects she wanted to work on and Gail didn't want to change. Other reasons mentioned would spoil the series for some people, so I won't tell them.

After that came the time for the signing. We were sent me and my best friend at the end of the line because of the pile of books that I had which was totally alright with me. I know it would suck for those who only had one book or two. Wanna see what my pile looked like?

Add to that that I also have 5 more books that I got signed for my friend Nancy who couldn't come because she had to work. Took a picture of Gail signing one of those books for her:

So after that, we got to talk a little bit and when she saw that my best friend's books were in French, she started to tell us about how in French readers were the ones that awarded her the most often.

And of course came the time to take pictures and we got two. Someone in line offered to take the picture so me and my best friend were in the picture together.

After that, we walked a little bit on the street and took pictures like two tourists. Not posting them here because I didn't think of getting them out of my cellphone. Overall, this was an amazing day and amazing event.

A HUGE THANK YOU to Gail Carriger and Northshire Bookstore for hosting it!

Review: Blameless by Gail Carriger (Parasol Protectorate #3)

Summary

(from goodreads)

Quitting her husband's house and moving back in with her horrible family, Lady Maccon becomes the scandal of the London season.

Queen Victoria dismisses her from the Shadow Council, and the only person who can explain anything, Lord Akeldama, unexpectedly leaves town. To top it all off, Alexia is attacked by homicidal mechanical ladybugs, indicating, as only ladybugs can, the fact that all of London's vampires are now very much interested in seeing Alexia quite thoroughly dead.

While Lord Maccon elects to get progressively more inebriated and Professor Lyall desperately tries to hold the Woolsey werewolf pack together, Alexia flees England for Italy in search of the mysterious Templars. Only they know enough about the preternatural to explain her increasingly inconvenient condition, but they may be worse than the vampires -- and they're armed with pesto.

BLAMELESS is the third book of the Parasol Protectorate series: a comedy of manners set in Victorian London, full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.

Read from: October 23 to October 26, 2015

Read on: Owned Paperback

Review:

Continuing the reading of this series, I just finished book 3 of the series. I won't lie, it wasn't the same since Alexia and Conall weren't together in this book, it wasn't the same, but the problems that kept following Alexia wherever she went made up for it.

While trying to stay alive, she tries to find more about the baby she's carrying which isn't easy because already a rare, history doesn't give much about female preternaturals. But we are talking about Alexia and where she shouldn't put her nose in, she will and she will find what she needs.

We meet again new characters in this book like Monsieur Trouvé who is Madame Lefoux's cousin and who's also an inventor. He wasn't there much in this book, but I'm really hoping to see more of him in the last two books of the series.

And Floote who is always more than what he seems to be. I really want to learn more about his past. We keep discovering more and more about him, but he's still keeping a lot of things from Alexia. I just hope that I won't end up hating him because so far, I really like him. He's really protective of her and I believe he does care for her; almost like if she was his own daughter. Perhaps, knowing her father made him feel the need to be there for her. Maybe I'm reading too much into it and will be thinking differently towards the end of the series, but for now, that's my opinion.

So the Templars make their appearance in this book and I'm really going to have to say that I do not like those guys. I do believe they think that their cause is justified, but I really feel like they are fucking stubborn and only think about their endgame and not caring about the consequences their actions could provoke.

Back in London, Lord Maccon is drunk and not really operational which is really a bad timing. He can always count on Lyall for taking the reigns back while their leader is incapacited. I feel like Lyall's path throughout the series is leading to something. I don't believe he could become an alpha, but I feel like he's preparing himself to do something big.

But back to the book, Lyall investigates into Lord Akeldama's disappearance and will find sources in unimaginable places such as Alexia's friend, Ivy, who is now married happily to Tunstell. I believe that I sort of guessed what had caused Lord Akeldama to leave London, but I didn't expect that turn of event when Lyall and Conall finally discover it and do something about it.

So that's kind of small for a review and probably vague and not making sense and I apologize, but I'm really trying to keep this spoiler free. I can't wait to continue Alexia's adventures because I feel a lot more is about to come for her.

Review: Changeless by Gail Carriger (Parasol Protectorate #2)

Summary

(from goodreads)

Alexia Maccon, the Lady Woolsey, awakens in the wee hours of the mid-afternoon to find her husband, who should be decently asleep like any normal werewolf, yelling at the top of his lungs. Then he disappears; leaving her to deal with a regiment of supernatural soldiers encamped on her doorstep, a plethora of exorcised ghosts, and an angry Queen Victoria.

But Alexia is armed with her trusty parasol, the latest fashions, and an arsenal of biting civility. So even when her investigations take her to Scotland, the backwater of ugly waistcoats, she is prepared: upending werewolf pack dynamics as only the soulless can. She might even find time to track down her wayward husband, if she feels like it.

CHANGLESS is the second book of the Parasol Protectorate series: a comedy of manners set in Victorian London, full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.

Read from: October 19 to October 21, 2015

Read on: Owned Paperback

Review:

I will admit that the first book of this series wasn't one of my favourite reads, but I had already bought the books to the whole series, so I decided that one day I would have to continue them and that day has come and...

I'm really happy that I continued because I really liked the second book of that series. Alexia is a character quite peculiar and maybe it is because she has no soul, but I feel like even with a soul, she wouldn't be that much different. She is strong-minded and she doesn't let anyone forget, especially not her husband who seems to adore and hate that about his wife.

Her relationship with Lord Maccon is quite possible the most entertaining. While he can't seem to keep his hands off her, I believe he enjoys arguing with her. I feel that their arguments sparks their love life more than anything else. I truly believe that she loves him even without a soul, but she isn't made to react like any lady in love.

But that's why we enjoy reading about her. She has a way to think through things that most people would probably ignore due to emotions getting in-between us and our rational thoughts. I believe that's why she also finds herself in the most dangerous situations.

In this book, we meet new characters like Madame Lefoux who is really intriguing. I'm not sure whether we ought to fear her or love her hahaha She has secrets that we discover throughout the book, but I feel there's a lot more to be learned if we see her in the next books of the series which I don't doubt we will. I believe her friendship with Alexia will provide some unique situations.

We see old characters in this that I will admit that I had mostly forgotten like Alexia's oldest friend Ivy. She seems to be the typical lady who seems to be outraged by everything not conventional, but I really like her. She adds something to the story and I feel like Alexia, even if she might not be aware of this, is really fond of her and enjoys her company even if her tastes in hats is quite horrible.

So something is affecting the supernatural beings in London and no one knows what is going on so Alexia is investigating. Through it, she learns about ancient stories about something or someone who is more dangerous to supernatural than her, but whether it's true or simply a tale, she doesn't know.

WARNING that this could be a spoiler (or not, I never know with some people), but this book does end with some sort of cliffhanger and you just want to read the next book because you want to know how it will end.

I've started the third book and I'm hooked. So much is happening and I believe that if you have started the first book and didn't enjoy that much, give a chance to the second and see whether or not you will change your mind like I did.