Showing posts with label chelsea cain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chelsea cain. Show all posts

1.14.2017

Book Style: One Kick

This post originally appeared on Book Riot in 2014.

One Kick

I fell in love with Chelsea Cain’s work back when I discovered her Nancy Drew parody, Confessions of a Teen Sleuth, which is now sadly out of print. While I never became as impassioned about her Heartsick series as some of her fans, I’m incredibly thrilled with the launch of her newest novel and series. One Kick is the first of the Kick Lannigan series and if you’re a fan of thrillers you better get off your butt, run out to your local bookstore, and bring one home now. To paraphrase The New York Times review, Kick is comparable to Lisbeth Salander (you know, of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo fame), but way more relatable. She’s a survivor of kidnapping and child pornography. Almost a decade later, Kick is presented with an unprecedented opportunity to help rescue other children from the same circumstances.

I gave my best effort to keep this outfit fairly true to Kick’s in-novel attire (even when faced with an incredibly sepia-colored cover). She’s a tomboy who lives in denim and hoodies when she’s not training in the dojo. Her tragic tale made her into a celebrity, something her mother continues to exploit, and Kick often sports a cap and glasses to avoid the curious stares of her neighbors. The puppy dog socks aren’t something Kick would let show to many, but they accurately reflect her undying affection for her dog, Monster. The handcuff bracelet is symbolic of her imprisonment as well as her hobby of lock-picking. The tennis ball watch is a bit kitsch but it’s also a nod to Monster and the events that get the plot rolling. The final touch is the Scrabble tile necklace. I’m not going to tell you how that ties in! I don’t want to spoil the suspense.



1.17.2013

Book List

Image via REDBUBBLE

I've been seeing tons of direct and not so direct requests everywhere on my plethora* of social media accounts recently for book recommendations. Now I know that the majority of the askers do not actually share my taste in literature but I have personally discovered great new literary loves in several ways over the years, so I will be giving my personal recommendations today; this is not a reading list designed to coddle the masses. I've already outlined my favorite series, and I must remedy the fact the I neglected to include Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide series at the time, so I will be focusing more on stand alone novels this go round. Let the top** 20 recommendations commence:



  1. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
  2. Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk
  3. Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk
  4. The Colour of Magic & The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett (These two are the beginning of the Discworld series, but the rest of the books almost all stand alone.)
  5. Black Swan Rising by Lee Carol (This is also the start of a series, but I was not as enamored with the sequel.)
  6. The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
  7. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
  8. Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde (Also the first in a series, the sequel is not due out until this year.)
  9. One Hundred Percent Lunar Boy by Stephen Tunney
  10. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
  11. Eating the Cheshire Cat by Helen Ellis
  12. The Vesuvius Club by Mark Gatiss
  13. In the Woods by Tana French
  14. Macbeth by William Shakespeare (I recommend the No Fear versions for all Shakespeare reading.)
  15. From Russian With Love by Ian Fleming (Clearly part of the James Bond canon, but the books all stand alone.)
  16. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
  17. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
  18. Having Our Say by Sarah L. Delany & A. Elizabeth Delany
  19. Confessions of a Teen Sleuth by Chelsea Cain
  20. Jar City by Arnaldur IndriĆ°ason (This is actually the third book in a series, but I found it stood alone just fine and I haven't managed to read the prequels or sequels yet.)
Have you read any on the list? What should I read next?


*Fun Fact: This was my first favorite "big word". I am certain that I wedged it into inappropriate sentences far too often in middle school.


**More likely the first 20 that pop into my head. I've read so much I often forget titles but never plots!