Fangirl Friday: Luca da Peraga

It's Fangirl Friday! And, in honor of Paula Stokes being featured in tomorrow's Saturday Spotlight, I decided to feature another one of her beautiful boys from her YA Historical series, Secrets of the Eternal Rose (note: she writes the series under the name Fiona Paul). Last time, I featured the gorgeous Michael Fjordbak as His Royal Hotness, the King of Mysterious Goodlooks, Falco da Padova! (here):

 

So from badboy hottie to the bookish nerd, let me introduce you to the beautiful, intelligent, and the definition of a Renaissance gentlemen, Luca da Peraga!

No...not that Luca.

 

Love you too, but BYE Luca. I have to introduce the other Luca! *waves away*

Matt Kane as Luca da Peraga

 



CIAO, SIGNOR PERAGA!

 So Luca da Peraga is one of the love interests of Cass Caravello in the Secrets of the Eternal Rose trilogy! (In fact, he is her fiance!).

 

The series revolves around a 15 year old noblewoman named Cass, who craves adventure. She (unexpectedly) finds it when she stumbles upon a dead body of a mutilated woman in her best friend's grave. Cass teams up with residential badboy, Falco da Padova, to find the murderer and her best friend's body. While Cass is out at night, dressing up to infiltrate parties and break into houses, and oh, getting to know the body the mysterious boy with the bright blue eyes, her mind can't help but wander back to her beloved Luca studying law in France to give her a good life.

 

Sure, she's having fun. Sure, she's had more life experience in the days after her friend's funeral than she did since her parents died five years before. But Luca has always been there for her, and without him, Cass knows that all final pieces of a normal and safe life will disappear.

 

Right now, the series is on it's second book, Belladonna, and it has left Luca and Cass's relationship on much stable ground than Falco and Cass at the moment. But Luca has his own secrets and plans too. So the question is, will Cass chose comfort over being free?

 

Anyways, enough with the dark and gloomy stuff! Let's get to know more of Mr. Proper himself!

• He is 19 years old (making him four years older than Cass and three years older than Falco. it was the 1500s guys, it wasn't uncommon for women in their late teens to marry men in their mid to late forties- or something like that).
• He's tall, he has brown eyes and blond hair
• He studies law in France (fancy, huh?)
• His father and his younger sister, Diana, are both dead
• He has known Cass since childhood
• He's related to some pretty crazy people

So what makes Luca worthy of this week's Fangirl Friday?

 

Well, I love him as a character because he brings out the girly side of Cass- she's nervous around him, is worried about her looks etc. With Falco, she taps into her feminine side as well, but both have walls and a lot of very strong opinions that either work or clash. She is perfect with Falco, but she is perfect with Luca.

 

But what I love the MOST about Luca is that, well... Luca isn't all that he seems to be!

 

Other than him being reliable and patient, kind and intelligent, Luca isn't all fun and games. If he's really mad, he won't care to unleash his temper on you. He has family members that can be classifed as insane. And, OH! And if you dare try to harm his fiancee, Cass, it is war.

In other words? Luca, along with being good-looking and smart, he is also very badass!

 

Falco has that fierce, protective side too, but I like seeing it on Luca more because 99.999999999999% of the time he is described by Cass as gentlemen of the year; even Marco (Cass's best friend's husband) speaks of Luca like he is the image of goodness and properness while discussing his sentence with Signor Rambaldo in Belladonna! It's weird seeing him lose his temper and fighting off crazy people to save Cass, but at the same time, its just..works!

 

Favourite Quote:

Luca's smile wavered for a moment. He stretched out his long legs and crossed them at the ankles. "No matter. I'm here now. Just in time to protect you." (Venom)

 

Favourite Scene:

When Luca saves Cass from Cristian in Venom!

 

Favourite Quality:

His kindness and thoughtfulness with his engagment with Cass. She is his top priority, and even asks her if she is ready to get married- he doesn't push her!

 

So that's it for me for Fangirl Friday! Come back tomorrow to see my interview with the real Fiona Paul, Ms. Paula Stokes!

AND if you want to know more about Luca, Cass and Falco, check out this Venn Diagram/ character sketch I found at the Paper Lantern Lit blog here!

 

 

Saturday Spotlight

Hey guys!

It's Saturday Spotlight! What is Saturday Spotlight? Well, unlike Fangirl Friday where I just gush about my favourite fictional characters, Saturday Spotlight is a day dedicated to authors, their books, and any upcoming books/projects! It's a chance for you guys to get to know them more and get a glimpse into their crazy/ hectic lives!

Unfortunately, I don't have anyone scheduled for this week, but I've got some pretty exciting news!

Next week, I will be featuring one of my favourite authors: Paula Stokes!

Paula Stokes is also known as Fiona Paul, writer of the YA Historical series, Secrets of the Eternal Rose (if you don't know what it is, browse around my blog, I fangirl over the series a lot of times!).

I got a chance to do a mini interview with her about writing YA Contemporary and Historical, having an alter-ego, her new upcoming book The Art of Lainey, and of course, her cats!

Stop by next Saturday, October 12th for my interview!

To my fellow bloggers in the world, SPREAD THE NEWS! Tell everyone you know on Twitter, Goodreads, Blogger, Wordpress, Bloglovin, and Tumblr about my feature! And tell AS MANY authors/ upcoming authors about Saturday Spotlight!

Any interested authors, feel free to visit my Contact Me page for more info if you would like to be featured on Saturday Spotlight!

Fandom Friday

Happy Fandom Friday everybody! Instead of the Fangirl Friday that I had originally planned to do, I decided to dedicate this post to my fandoms!

1. Love and Loyalty Run Deeper than Blood

Vampire Academy: With over 8 million books sold world-wide, a 6 book spin off series, and a movie to premiere on February 14th, 2014, the Vampire Academy is one of my all time favourite series and Fandoms.

The Books:

There are 6 books in the series: Vampire Academy, Frostbite, Shadow Kiss, Blood Promise, Spirit Bound and Last Sacrifice. Despite it's name, it is NOT your typical vampire story!

The Vampire Academy series revolves around 17 year old half vampire, half human (also known as a Dhampir), Rose Hathaway. She has been trained all her life to protect and guard her vampire BFF Lissa Dragomir. After an accident that bonded them psychically, Rose and Lissa escape the walls of their school St. Vladimir's, only to be dragged back by Dimitri Belikov...who happens to be Lissa's new guardian. Together, the two face many hardships: social discrimination, psychological issues, bad romances, betrayal and enemies that make the Volturi hide in a corner.

The books are amazing, and what drew me to Vampire Academy was it's complexity; there's romance, there's humour, there's adventure, there's self-discovery, and there's growing up.

Richelle Mead uses her talented writing skills to bring out the human side of this vampiric world she has created, and brings you on a journey along with the characters.

I highly recommend this series to anyone that hasn't read it! And if you know ANYONE that has read this series, they will tell you that this series is amazing and  WORTH the read.

Despite the series ending in 2010, the world of Vampire Academy lives on. Bloodlines (the spin-off series), tells the story of side characters from Vampire Academy, and features cameos from the previous series! So if you're looking for a fix before the movie, I suggest you give the sound off series a try. There are three books out now: Bloodlines, the Golden Lily, the Indigo Spell, and the fourth book, the Fiery Heart will debut November 19th, 2013.

SO JUMP ON THE BANDWAGON, THERE'S STILL TIME!

The Movie:

Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters (the name of the movie) will be out on February 14th, 2014. Also known as Valentine's Day. But I guess it won't compare to VA Day :D

The movie stars Zoey Deutch as Rose Hathaway (Beautiful Creatures), Lucy Fry (Lightning Point), and Danila Kozlovsky (We Are From The Future). The movie will also star Gabriel Byrne, Cameron Monaghan (Shameless), Dominic Sherwood (The Cut), Sami Gayle (Blue Bloods), Olga Kurylenko, and Sarah Hyland (Modern Family).

I AM SO HYPED!

With Vampire Academy being one of my favourite series of all time, I am seriously excited that the book to movie adaptation is FINALLY being made.

According to interviews with Mark Waters (Mean Girls), Daniel Waters (Heathers), and Richelle Mead herself, the movie is VERY loyal to the book. I mean, look at the trailer:

 

And another thing I love is the cast! I mean, they're all pretty good look and they've all got some serious acting chops (they're résumés are all impressive. Good job casting!). But the one thing that I love is that they are totally interactive with their fans. I even got a chance to do an impromptu interview with one of their Dhampirs, Nate Shaw!

It was pretty cool. Now only if I can get Dominic Sherwood to notice me...

 

 

2. Bowties are Cool

Doctor Who is like the fandom of fandoms. You have people from other fandoms in this fandom, and it's pretty amazing.

Now, I didn't grow up watching classic Doctor Who (sorry, my family didn't own a TV while growing up & didn't get this awesome experience), but I have been a loyal fan of the series for a while. I have a love for the new Doctors (yes, I'm an Eleven, sorry Tens!), but have a lot of respect for the Classic Doctor Who (they kept it running for 26 seasons!).

What I love about Doctor Who is the action and the adventures, but most of all, I love how it makes me feel like a little kid again. Whenever I watch Doctor Who and watch as the Doctor takes out the sonic screwdriver, I just...I feel like I'm a kid again, believing that super heroes do exist and that there's one out there for me.

I just love Doctor Who. I just do. I'm just really upset that I have basic cable now and won't be able to watch the 50th Anniversary special OR the Christmas special D:

3. 221B Baker Street

I promised myself that if I can't live in a TARDIS, I'll live in a house with the number 221 and add a 'B' on later. Or live on a street called 'Baker Street'.

BBC's Sherlock is another fandom of mine. I love the show for various reasons, but Moffat penning it is not one of them (like seriously dude, how could you end Series 2 like that?).

 

From the acting to the mystery and to the modern day spin, I love Sherlock so much (#Sherlocked), I tried (and failed)  reading the original books to get an understanding of the characters, like Moriarty.

4. When All Shall Know the Truth, the Truth Shall Set ye Free

IT'S OVEEEEEEEERRRR! AND I FEEL SO ALONE!

Well, no not quite really, but it really IS over.

Yup, the final book of Gallagher Girls series (by Ally Carter), United We Spy, just released this Tuesday. I haven't gotten it yet, but I heard there some HUGE plot twists!

I have yet to read the book, but when I do, I'll do a much more lengthy (and nostalgic) post of my love and adoration for the series.

Like seriously, I started reading the series when I was twelve. That was four years ago. FOUR YEARS! I feel so old now :(

But seriously, this fandom is the British Bombshell, and I think the reason why I haven't picked up the series yet is because I just don't want it to end!

Sadly, Trenzalore calls...oh wait, wrong fandom.

 

5. William? Walter? Wesley?

 

Another series by Ally Carter, Heist Society stole me from my heart the second I heard that the protagonist was about a thief named Kat (I giggled when I first read that).

Unlike it's Gallagher counterpart, there is no big story arch tying all the books together. It's a series of books that tell the adventure of Kat Bishop, a girl of a family of thieves, and how she navigates the man dominated world of stealing.

I personally enjoy Ally's style of writing; it's clean and isn't totally all doom and gloom like most of the YA series I have read.

It does, however, feature a very handsome billionaire that goes by Scooter (which is weird because his intials are W.W).




 

6. No one is falling down before any angels today

Fiona Paul (aka Paula Stokes) is one of my new favourite authors! Her debut book, Venom, literally just took me away!

It's YA Historical, set in Renaissance Italy, the Secrets of the Eternal Rose trilogy tells the story of Cassandra 'Cass' Caravello, a 15 year old girl from Venice craving for freedom. Instead, danger and adventure seem to find her after she goes out late at night to visit her dead friend in her tomb. Cass grows throughout the series, learning a lot about herself, her family, and solving unanswered questions that have left her as an orphan: what really happened to her family? Who or what is the Order of the Eternal Rose?

If you love the Gemma Doyle trilogy, The Stravaganza series or the Cross My Heart books, this series is definitely the one for you!

 

So that's it for me for Fandom Friday!

My next review will probably be Monday or Tuesday, and will either be on my farewell to the Halo trilogy or my new found love for the Infernal Devices series. And don't forget to follow me on @missyallydums97!

!

(Igonore the "Don't Die" part :3)