Mini-Review: The Lost Hero of Cape Cod by Vincent Miles * I received this book from the author in trade for an honest review * Thank you Vincent and also Word Slinger Publicity! The Lost Hero of Cape Cod tells the story of an extraordinary nineteenth-century mariner… and of a morale-boosting victory for the young United States over Britain in the commercial battle that broke out on the Atlantic after the War of 1812. Born in a small village on Cape Cod in 1809, Asa Eldridge grew up to become one of the world’s greatest shipmasters. Even today, he still holds the record for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic by a sailing ship, which he set on a run from New York to Liverpool in 1854. But this record is only part of his story, which includes voyages to numerous countries, command of Cornelius Vanderbilt’s private yacht, an early move into steamships, and a mysterious end that eerily foreshadowed the Titanic disaster half a century later. In recounting Eldridge’s fascinating career, Vincent Miles also tells a much broader story—of the rise of America’s merchant navy to a dominant position over Britain’s in the decades following the War of 1812, and of the government-subsidized British response that created the legendary Cunard Line. And along the way, Miles offers a guided tour of the maritime trade that shaped America, and a memorial to the courageous men who made it possible. I want to start this by saying that I didn't finish this book, but not for the reasons you're probably thinking. This book wasn't terrible, it was actually very good, but it just wasn't for me. As I was sent this for review, I will still write a review of what I read down below as I was sent the book for that reason, but I won't be giving it a rating as I didn't finish it and don't know how the rest of the book would've been.
As you guys know, this year I'm trying to vary what I read slightly and venture into new genres that I otherwise wouldn't read. When I got the email about this book I was instantly intrigued and had an urge to read it, so I requested it. A BIG thank you to Vincent for sending a copy to me, you're very kind! I was so excited when it came so quickly (less than a week all the way from America!) and I couldn't wait to jump straight into it. I loved the prologue, it was written slightly like a story but also not, I'm not exactly sure how to explain it. Anyway, I really enjoyed that and was excited to see how the rest would go. As I've never read anything from this genre (historical biography/account) I wasn't exactly sure how it would be written. I knew that because it's historical it will have a lot of facts/details about the time period etc, but I didn't realise how much of that would be included. These are where my minor issues came from. One of my issues with it was the language. To be absolutely honest I think this issue is just one caused by me, but oh well. I found the language to be too confusing and I found myself thoroughly confused at times. I didn't know whether it was because I'm only young and that I'm not used to the sort of language, but I found it also slow and found myself stumbling over the words. To go along with this, I also found the sentences to be quite long and that just added to my confusion as it made it more difficult to understand. This also created the problem that I think that a lot of things dint need to be explained as thoroughly as they were. A lot of the points the author was putting across would've had a better effect (easier to understand) if they'd been shortened. These problems may be down tome and the fact that maybe I'm too young for this sort of thing and also that it's a new genre for me. Despite these points, I also loved this book. I learned so much from it (the parts that I could understand) and found it interesting to be able to delve into Captain Asa Eldridge's history and learn about this new-to-me historical figure. I think Vincent Miles did an excellent job of talking in detail about Captain Asa Eldridge's life and the lives of the people around him at that time. For what it is, this book was a good, actually excellent historical/biography as it was expertly detailed and written and you could tell how much hard work Vincent Miles had put into writing this book. I would just like to finish off by saying, don't let the negative points above that I made stop you from reading this book as those negatives were mainly down to me. If you like historical biographies, pirates, American history etc then I would definitely recommend this to you. BYE! GR - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28001621-the-lost-hero-of-cape-cod?ac=1&from_search=1 BD - http://www.bookdepository.com/The-Lost-Hero-of-Cape-Cod/9780962506888
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Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (#1) by J.K. Rowling: Favourite Quotes Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel - Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig. "Ah, shut up, Dursely, yer great prune," said the giant. The giant chuckled darkly, "Yer great puddn' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley don' worry." "Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid. "Harry- yer a wizard." "I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon. But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head. "NEVER - " he thundered, "- INSULT- ALBUS - DUMBLEDORE - IN - FRONT - OF - ME!" But from that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them. "And I've packed his teddy bear in case he gets lonely." From inside the crate came ripping sounds that sounded to Harry as though teddy was having his head torn off. "Bye-bye, Norbert!" Hagrid sobbed, as Harry and Hermione covered the crate with the invisibility cloak and stepped underneath it themselves. "Mummy will never forget you!" “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.” “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.” “To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.” “The truth." Dumbledore sighed. "It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution.” “You haven't got a letter on yours," George observed. "I suppose she thinks you don't forget your name. But we're not stupid-we know we're called Gred and Forge.” “Now, you two – this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've – you've blown up a toilet or –" "Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet." "Great idea though, thanks, Mum.” “Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.” “One can never have enough socks," said Dumbledore. "Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn't get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books.” “What happened down in the dungeons between you and Professor Quirrell is a complete secret, so, naturally the whole school knows.” “There is no good and evil, there is only power and those too weak to seek it.” “Can't stay long, Mother," he said. "I'm up front, the prefects have got two compartments to themselves-" "Oh, are you a prefect, Percy?" said one of the twins, with an air of great surprise. "You should have said something, we had no idea." "Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it," said the other twin. "Once-" "Or twice-" "A minute-" "All summer-" "Oh, shut up," said Percy the Prefect.” “Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts, Teach us something please, Whether we be old and bald, Or young with scabby knees, Our heads could do with filling With some interesting stuff, For now they're bare and full of air, Dead flies and bits of fluff, So teach us something worth knowing, Bring us back what we've forgot, Just do your best, we'll do the rest, And learn until our brains all rot...” “Everybody finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march.” “Don't play," said Hermione at once. "Say you're ill," said Ron. "Pretend to break your leg," Hermione suggested. "Really break your leg," said Ron.” “Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at the Dursleys, "that this boy—this boy!—knows nothin' abou'—about ANYTHING?" Harry thought this was going a bit far. He had been to school, after all, and his marks weren't bad. "I know some things," he said. "I can, you know, do math and stuff.” “Fred, you next," the plump woman said. "I'm not Fred, I'm George," said the boy. "Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you tell I'm George?" "Sorry, George, dear." "Only joking, I am Fred," said the boy and off he went.” “I believe your friends Misters Fred and George Weasley were responsible for trying to send you a toilet seat. No doubt they thought it would amuse you.”
The Rest Of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness: Favourite Quotes What if you aren’t the Chosen One? The one who’s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever the heck this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death? What if you’re like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again. Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week’s end of the world, and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life. Even if your best friend is worshipped by mountain lions. Award-winning writer Patrick Ness’s bold and irreverent novel powerfully reminds us that there are many different types of remarkable. “Not everyone has to be the Chosen One. Not everyone has to be the guy who saves the world. Most people just have to live their lives the best they can, doing things that are great for them, having great friends, trying to make their lives better, loving people properly. All the while knowing that the world makes no sense but trying to find a way to be happy anyway.” “Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week’s end of the world and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life.” “Feelings don't try to kill you, even the painful ones. Anxiety is a feeling grown too large. A feeling grown aggressive and dangerous. You're responsible for it's consequences, you're responsible for treating it. But Michael, you're not responsible for causing it. You're not morally at fault for it. No more than you would be for a tumour." “We share out craziness, our neuroses, our little bit of screwed-up-ness that comes from our family. We share it. And it feels like love.” “And yeah, I know most people would think it weird that two guy friends touch as much as we do, but when you choose your family, you get to choose how it is between you, too. This is how we work. I hope you get to choose your family and I hope it means as much to you as mine does to me.” “It felt like waiting for something to happen. Which has to be the worth part of being young. So many of your decisions aren't yours; they're made by other people. Sometimes they're made badly by other people. Sometimes they're made by other people who have no idea what the consequences of those decisions might be. The bastards.” “I feel like I'm way down this deep, deep hole and I'm looking up and all there is this little dot of light and I have to shout at the top of my lungs for anyone to hear me and even when I do, I say the wrong thing or they don't really listen or they're just humouring me.” “But I don't care what you think, not about these things anyway. If you don't think they're real or important or you think that we'll all grow out of this nonsense, well, that's not really my business. I can't tell you what's real for you. But in return, you can't say what's real for me either. I get to choose. Not you.” “Sometimes you need things rather than just thoughts.” “What's the point of lying about anything? We could keep being too afraid to say we don't know stuff and then the future will come and eat us anyway and we'll regret not doing all that stuff we wished we did.”
Cover Reveal: Playing Defense (Corrigan Falls Raiders #2) by Cate Cameron Center Ice (Corrigan Falls Raiders #1) by Cate Cameron The hometown hockey hero won’t know what hit him… Karen Webber is in small-town hell. After her mother’s death, she moved to Corrigan Falls to live with strangers—her dad and his perfect, shiny new family—and there doesn’t seem to be room for a city girl with a chip on her shoulder. The only person who makes her feel like a real human being is Tyler MacDonald. But Karen isn’t interested in starting something with a player. And that’s all she keeps hearing about Tyler. Corrigan Falls is a hockey town, and Tyler’s the star player. But the vise -like pressure from his father and his agent are sending him dangerously close to the edge. All people see is hockey—except Karen. Now they’ve managed to find something in each other that they both desperately need. And for the first time, Tyler is playing for keeps… Playing Defense (Corrigan Falls Raiders #2) by Cate Cameron She’s out of his league… This Entangled Teen Crush book contains adult language, swoon-worthy kisses, and sexy hockey players. It may cause you to watch a hockey game…or ten. Sixteen-year-old Claudia Waring has never kissed a boy. Never been popular. Never been to a hockey game. All that’s about to change. Assigned to tutor Chris Winslow, a prank-loving, gorgeous hockey player, Claudia’s perfectly planned life immediately veers off course. And she kind of likes it. But as fun as Chris is, she knows she'll never fit in his world. After his latest prank lands him in hot water, Chris has to get serious about school or lose hockey. Not an easy thing for someone as carefree as the defenseman. The biggest problem, though, is how much he wants to help his cute, buttoned-up tutor loosen up a little. But while confidence has never been a problem for him, around Claudia, Chris is all nerves. Why would a girl as smart as her ever fall for a jock like him? Center Ice (Corrigan Falls Raiders #1) by Cate Cameron
GR - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23459509-center-ice?from_search=true&search_version=service BD - http://www.bookdepository.com/Center-Ice/9781943336197 Playing Defense (Corrigan Falls Raiders #2) by Cate Cameron GR - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25447694-playing-defense?from_search=true&search_version=service AMAZON - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Playing-Defense-Corrigan-Falls-Raiders-ebook/dp/B01BSNFSGS/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1455796456&sr=1-1&keywords=Playing+Defense+by+Cate+Cameron |
AuthorHello and welcome to Books With Beth! I'm Beth and on this blog I share a mix of all my bookish thoughts through reviews, book tours and hauls. Have fun! Categories
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