C’s Comments (group member since Dec 12, 2024)

C’s comments from the Hooked on Books group.

I am reading this for the Toy Box challenge as well. I just finished this, and used the dramatized audio version. The audiobook is amazing. I think if I were just reading these books, I would not be continuing. The end of the first book made no sense to me, because there wasn't any explanation about next steps, and (view spoiler)[this book ended the same way. I liked that we got that info drop in the beginning of this book as to why Murderbot left Preservation, but now I'm not clear where he's going and why it's going to take a long time. I assume he's going to keep investigating the Ganaka Pit incident, and probably investigate the competitors for that mining company on RaviHyral since those were the breadcrumb clues when he was at Ganaka Pit. But again, many things not clear. I liked that ART is made available as a returning character; valid need since Murderbot may need to be repaired and with his mods to look less like a SecUnit, now he may not be able to use a recovery cube? So he would need ART's MedSuite again? (hide spoiler)] I am probably not in this series for the long haul, but I am curious about what happens next.

Some options I see, sorted in page count lowest to highest:
- All Systems Red: a lot of sci-fi readers I would guess have tried the Murderbot series, and this is book 1? We also have book 2 logged, but I would assume book 1 would be a safer choice.
- Home is Where the Bodies Are: new release? Or backlist of a hyped new release author?
- Daughter of Molokai: was hyped at release and has been around a bit so maybe more people have gotten to it?
- Being Brittany: it's been talked up, but nonfiction can be a gamble.
- A Deadly Education: I read this for a book club, chosen by fantasy readers, so there is some level of awareness?
- The Measure: pretty well hyped?
- Ready Player One: I feel like the book got a lot of awareness with the movie...?
- Yours Truly: Abby Jimenez is a go-to author for romance genre
- London Bridges: lots of people read James Patterson
- The Longest Ride: Nicholas Sparks is another popular romance author.
- Dungeon Crawler Carl: so hyped, but also has been polarizing in the US, but I feel like more people like it than hate it.
- Last Precinct: Cornwell is a known author in the mystery thriller genre, but may be a little off the beaten path?

Please add further suggestions for books to consider, since this list is only from my viewpoint. Thoughts? I think we should get our choice done within about three hours, so we give mods and other team time within our turn window.

Our turn: we landed on Book Critic's Verdict. We need to choose one of our logged books that we haven't used yet. Then a mod will ask a random team if one of their players has read and rated it, and then we hopefully make some money. Otherwise lose money.

So we should pick a popular book at minimum, that hopefully also has been well rated, but even a one star is okay at this point because +$.

Team Historical Holdings
Starting Bank Account Balance: $1443
Rolled: 8
Landed on: Book Critic's Verdict
Timestamp: 9/24/2025 9:21:42
72-hour Deadline: 9/27/2025 9:21:42

Plan: complete task

I'm halfway through Murderbot. I thought I might finish tonight, but I think I should have quiet reading time with a different book lol. I am enjoying the dramatized version of these audiobooks. Tbh though, not totally enjoying this series; I would probably be dnfing without the audiobooks lol.

Yep, saw the new task and got my book ready for when we're on Week 3. :) Fortunately I had a series I was putting off starting lol.

Ashley, can you provide feedback on Emilie's question? I'm tempted to say since the beginning of the month, since you'd added books from prior, but not sure.

Prompt Name / #: Thrillers #66
Book: The Stepsister and the Slipper
Author: Nina Clare
Date Read: 9/21
Pages: 164
Task: Read a book where the author's first AND last initials are found in the title, THE GIRL IN THE CASTLE.
How it Fits: author's initials are NC

Yay, that book worked for something besides nonfiction lol!!

Emilie is added to the spreadsheet options; awaiting access request. Thanks to whoever alphabetized the list again; I did a dumb... 🙄

Welcome Kristy! I got you spreadsheet access! :)

Ashley, got you access to the book logging spreadsheet! I'll add you and Kristy to the drop-down lists. :)

Yeah. Sci-fi ends up like nonfiction for me. Some get read because I have to, but it's hopefully few and far between lol.

Yeah, I was thinking about the buddy read for the next Murderbot. ;) Lol, although if we keep reading through the series, will the toy box believe that scifi isn't our common genre? ;) Like, just ignore the fact that we're reading these back to back lol; it's still not a genre we commonly read. :P

Lol, I hope not. I need a breather lol.

Do any of you think the next Murderbot would count for technology failing? idk anything about the next one; y'all just got me hooked on trying more of the series lol.

Lol, I definitely have a #4. Unfortunately it's a chonker lol. I'll look for others to see if I can assist more with that chain, since I'm not sure if I have a setting book. Unless Georgia with a cozy mystery counts for tropical eerie lol, which I don't think it does. :D

Sounds good, Beth! I was just gonna ask you to look at my cover. I didn't think it would work, but it's hard to tell. Your cover is much more obvious! 💖

Closest I have to a skyscraper on my books is Big Ben or castle turrets or old mansions. None of which I would think is a skyscraper. I'm gonna have a closer look at one book, since it might be a crumbling skyscraper...

Did you find anything up higher? I saw you jump down to update the title, so not sure if you've checked up higher already. I'll start looking at all my book covers, but I don't think I have something like that...