Buy It or Borrow It # 2: Red Dress

Buy it or Borrow it? is inspired by HGTV’s Buy it or List it. The point of this meme is to showcase two books that I am interested but I’m having trouble deciding if I should get them. Hopefully, my readers can help me make an inform decision and help me pick one.

This week’s theme is the red dress.

First up is Breathless by Cole Gibson

Obituary-reading emo girl Edith Small is broken – the end result of forcing herself inside a mold that doesn’t fit. All she wants is to conform to her strict sergeant stepfather’s rules long enough to make it to graduation day. But a boat accident threatens to unravel the life Edith has worked so hard to keep. After waking up in a hospital with a lacerated shoulder, Edith fakes amnesia. Because admitting she received her injuries from a blue-haired girl who breathes underwater is all the reason Sir needs to send Edith on the first bus to military school. Safe at home, Edith struggles to put the nightmare behind her. But the mysterious creatures that live in the ocean aren’t about to let her forget. After meeting Bastin – a strange boy with silver hair and black eyes – on a secluded dock, Edith learns about the war raging undersea to end human existence. A war that Edith, unwittingly, has become the key to winning. In a world where death is an ever-present shadow and motives are as dark as the bottom of the ocean, Edith must decide if her life is worth risking for a love that can’t survive past the shore.

I love underwater imagery so this is captivating. The red dress is nice, it’s not as glamorous as other dresses but it is a nice dress. I’m curious about the main character, Gibson describes as “emo” so I really want to see her scene and how well it is portrayed.

Second book is Dance of Shadows by Yelena Black

Vanessa Adler isn’t so sure she really belongs at the School of American Ballet. But dance runs in her family. It’s been a part of her life for as long as she can remember. Her grandmother and mother were prima ballerinas, and her older sister Margaret was, too. That is, until Margaret mysteriously disappeared from school three years ago. Vanessa is heir to the family’s gift and the only person who can fulfill her sister’s destiny. She has no choice. But she never could have guessed how dangerous the school is. The infamous choreographer, Josef, isn’t just ruthless with his pupils, he guards a sinister secret, one in which the school’s dancers-prized for their beauty, grace, and discipline-become pawns in a world of dark, deadly demons.

I love the red dress, it’s disintegrating into flower petals. Stunning. The story line is interesting because it is ballet. I haven’t read anything about ballet; seen plenty of movies though. It feels a little more contemporary than paranormal so it is a little outside my range.

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My preliminary decision is that I should buy Breathless and borrow Dance of Shadows. Right choice or wrong choice?

Buy it or Borrow it # 1-Steampunk

If you came here for Wishlist Wednesday, then I apologize. I’m no longer participating in that particular meme. Instead, I created my meme or at least named my own meme. Buy it or Borrow it? is inspired by HGTV’s Buy it or List it, oh, I like that show. The point of this meme is to showcase two books that I am interested but I’m having trouble deciding if I should get them. Hopefully, my readers can help me make an inform decision and help me pick one.

This week’s theme is Steampunk.

First up is The Iron Duke by Meliean Brook.

After the Iron Duke freed England from Horde control, he instantly became a national hero. Now Rhys Trahaearn has built a merchant empire on the power-and fear-of his name. And when a dead body is dropped from an airship onto his doorstep, bringing Detective Inspector Mina Wentworth into his dangerous world, he intends to make her his next possession.
But when Mina uncovers the victim’s identity, she stumbles upon a conspiracy that threatens the lives of everyone in England. To save them, Mina and Rhys must race across zombie-infested wastelands and treacherous oceans-and Mina discovers the danger is not only to her countrymen, as she finds herself tempted to give up everything to the Iron Duke.

It sounds fantastic but there is a review that mentions the “good rape” (someone else called it sexual assault). It seems like the main character is assaulted by the male lead character and they end up falling in love. It’s like, do I really want to read this? I don’t know if it is rape or sexual assault (either one, it is wrong). A part of me wants to read it because I want to see how the attack is dealt with and there are also a lot of positive reviews about this book.

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Second up is Incarnation by Emma Cornwall.

In the steampunk world of Victorian London, a beautiful vampire seeks out the author of Dracula–to set the record straight . . .

If one is to believe Bram Stoker’s legendary vampire tale, Lucy Weston is Dracula’s most wanton creation, a sexual creature of the night who preys on innocent boys. But the real-life Lucy is nothing like her fictional counterpart—and she demands to know why the Victorian author deliberately lied. With Stoker’s reluctant help, she’s determined to track down the very fiend who transformed her—from the sensual underworld where humans vie to become vampires, to a hidden cell beneath a temple to madness, and finally into the glittering Crystal Palace where death reigns supreme.

Haunted by fragmentary memories of her lost life and love, Lucy must battle her thirst for blood as she struggles to stop a catastrophic war that will doom vampires and humans alike. Ultimately, she must make a choice that illuminates for her—and for us—what it means to be human.

I love Dracula and I love reading re-telling but I’m never satisfied with most re-tellings. The new versions just disappoint me or they take an element that I love and just screwed it up. Mind you, there are some fantastic re-tellings out there. Lucy is such an important character to Dracula that I’m worry about how she is going to be portrayed. The blurb is already changing the core of Lucy’s character so how much can i take?

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So what do you think? I would love to know which book will I take the least offence to, lol. In all seriousness, I’m thinking borrow both from the library (if it has it). Right choice or wrong choice?