Vanessa’s Comments (group member since Jun 15, 2017)

Vanessa’s comments from the Read, Reading, Planning to Read and More group.

Thanks Lulu for the Patricia Briggs signing info. Hey New York friends.....

May 9, 2019: New York, NY (Uptown Manhattan)
Barnes & Noble
150 East 86th St.
Phone: (212) 369-2180
Signing starts at 7:00 PM.

Hi all, I agree about the Veronica Speedwell series. There must have been 2 or 3 times in this last book alone that Veronica had a chance to talk to Stoker. I'm all in for a series finale, but I do like her female characters. In her Lady Julia Grey series it took just as many books to get Julia and Brisbane together and even after that, the couple had trials to overcome. She writes a great series you just have to have lots of time/books to find an HEA.

I am about 1/2 way through The Savior. I am really liking Murhder and especially his connection with John Matthew/Darios. Say what you will, J.R.Ward is pretty much the only author that after 17 books, a spin-off series, and novellas that I still want to read. I am probably 2-3 books behind on Kenyon's Dark Hunters and I feel no urge to jump into another, in fact I own the hard cover book of one of them. Until she writes Jaden's story, I'm not all that interested anymore, but I do like her spin-off of sorts, A Deadman's Cross series.

Is there anything releasing next week of interest?

Vinity and Kristi, I will be in NC for a quick visit. I'm taking the train to my sister's in D.C. and then we are driving to NC from there. I'll be there from Thursday to Monday. Just a quick visit to see Grandma right before her 103rd birthday on May 2nd. Krisiti we might be driving right by Thursday afternoon. I'll wave as I go by, LOL!!

I chose Alpha & Omega and The Kraken King as my comfort books to read when my husband was undergoing his heart valve surgery last October.

Paula good luck and prayers for you all re: your Mom. Thank goodness for your time off, but that's too bad that you have to change your plans, because I'm sure that you probably had some.

Lisa... I'm so jealous, Spain and "Dorne" all rolled into one! Have a spectacular time.

TINNGG.. Glad that therapy isn't warranted. ;-}

edited because I'm suddenly dyslexic. ;-(

Vinity... I started to watch the Magicians in the beginning, then the audio in my set top box stopped working & I lost my recorded shows. I never went back to watch them again. I'm going to have to find & watch the series again.

LAB... I was going to mention the Zara thing too, & the relationships, it's like she had squeeze them all into 1 book.

LAB... I agree with you about the weird plots. (view spoiler)[The name of the book was a great name but not named for an important character. The triangle didn't bother me that much, but I didn't like the whole Ty storyline. I know that he didn't truly get what he was doing but, necromancy? The UF checklist must have needed another check mark, necromancy? check!
I hated the Julian who was under the spell. Boring!
The giant angels were a bit much.
I must give Clare accolades for the wedding vows, they were quite sentimental.
I totally agree with you about the ending. Really? They left their "homeland" and didn't kill off the all of the evil plotters, especially Zara. What was up with the girl killing herself to make a point? I wanted Alec to let the cohort kill themselves. I wanted Zara stripped of her runes and thrown naked in NYC in January.
I still don't understand the whole Annabel story, there was no understanding of her behavior. No real justice in anything. (hide spoiler)]

Doug... If you have read the short story about Murhder, (he owns a Louisiana bed and breakfast), and know a bit about Xhex, then you have got to want to read his story. He is the only Brother to have been thrown out of the BDB.

Vinity... First of all, that's a lot of lambs. Good luck with all of that.
Re: Archer's books, I agree with reading them, besides, book 5? is really a novella and is only worth it on kindle. I wouldn't waste a credit on a small novella. I should have read the books after the 3 book for 1 credit deal, but I was invested in the stories and couldn't take the time to sit and read on kindle.

On audio I am minutes away from completing Queen of Air and Darkness. I must say that parts of the book were enjoyable, but some of it was like squeezing 5 lb's. of lard into a 1 lb. can. Too, too much! I would read about the children of Will and Tess, but I'm not interested in all of these auxiliary characters.

Next up is The Savior. Even after all of these books, I am still in on the BDB series.

Lisa or anyone else did you read Prisoner of Night? It's the last novella in the BDB World.

Sorry her name is Sophia Triad not Sylvia.

If you look up The Savior on GR, there is a fantastic review by Sylvia that has a Q&A w/ JR Ward. It was very interesting. It has a spoiler warning but I don't think that it was a big deal.

I want to read Ward's latest!

Lisa,,, I was wondering the same thing. I am around 1/2 way through Queen of Air and Darkness. I want to see this series end so this will probably be my last Clare novel. They're good but tedious.

Doug... I think that our friends down under are on a delay for GofT so I always put my remarks in a spoiler. I try not to spoil anything including remarks on books. You won't be able to look anywhere and not see a spoiler/speculation. Good Luck with that!! :-)

Carol.... I'm excited!! I can't wait, but sadly only 6? episodes? Really how can that be. I do have some questions that have to be answered. (view spoiler)[What the heck is the Night King's mission? He hasn't even spoken. I think that the "wildings" will survive the "fall of the wall". They have to.
Jon is the true heir to the throne, so what is Dany? His Queen? You know that the Targareon's are infamous for their incest pairings. (Aunt and nephew isn't as bad as most). What happened to the other heir that the Mountain was to murder, but was supposedly hidden away?
Will Sansa be the ruler in the North is there someone for her?
I think that somehow Arya will kill Cersi, and the Hound will kill the Mountain.
Will Tyrion ever find true love? How about Jaime (who just might kill Cersi himself) and Brienne? Or Tormund and Brienne?
Will Theon find Yara and kill his A-hole of an Uncle Euron?
How about Arya and Gendry? He is also a true heir so to speak.
I could go on for ages! Sam and Gilly! (hide spoiler)]

So many questions... so little time! :-)

Wow, I finished Holy Sister & what a lot going on. I thought it was an excellent finale and all strings were tied so to speak. My vengeance urge was mostly fulfilled. I would have liked to have seen a certain smug spy reduced to nothing but i guess that the "best" way was to preserve the remaining survivors to carry on the abbey. A really action packed finish, 5*'s.

I am only about 1/3 through Holy Sister, and I am loving it. I listen to this series so it is a bit disconcerting with the switching back & forth through the datelines but it is excellent so far. Sadly, the app doesn't allow for book/author links.

Lisa.... That spoiler made me laugh out loud. I must warn you that the first book, Night Fire starts out with a very disturbing intro story, and like all bodice rippers, all is well in the end. :-) The thing that I like about this series is that while most of the girls are really young, they have a bit of maturity about them, yet are, (of course), a bit naive about people and men in general.

Lisa and TINNGG... I agree some of the old bodice rippers of the 70's and 80's are very much a product of the times. I am enjoying quite a bit of this trilogy, in this latest one the h, Genny, dresses like a man and runs her father's shipyard. Unlike the other books, this one is set in Baltimore, MD, not jolly old England, and is 5 years after the revolutionary war. At the core of this story is the fact that Genny is rejected by society men and their wives. They are all very catty towards Genny. Alec, the H is a very handsome man, (aren't they all?), rich, and a sea captain. He is also a father to a 5 year old daughter who travels, (sails), with him at all times. For a 5 year old she is actually very observant. taken with a grain of salt so to speak, I am enjoying this story. Night Storm

Doug... Audible audiobook is a book that you either purchase with Audible credits cash or if you already own the kindle edition, you get the audio version for a reduced price.
An Audible Original can either be a book that you can download for free if it is one offered that month or one that you purchase (w/credits or cash). Audible Originals are exclusive to Audible, and I believe they are produced by Audible Studios. Audible gives you a choice of 6 books in a month of which you can download 2 for free. The selection changes every month. There is generally a children's book, a fantasy novel, a biography, and some other genres to pick from. They are included with your Audible membership.

Hi HJ! Welcome back!!

In an attempt to clear out my Audio TBR I have been listening to books that I purchased quite a few years back.

Cat Daddy: What the World's Most Incorrigible Cat Taught Me About Life, Love, and Coming Clean This was an interesting book about a man's journey through addiction career changes and one poor kitty who had a lot to overcome. It was touching and at times heartbreaking.

I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella. While I generally like her books and usually the h's tend to be a bit dense, this one fell flat for me. Her trademark sarcasm was there but the h, "Fixie" was such a dish rag/doormat for such a long time in the book that I was irritated rather than entertained. I read the preview in her previous book and thought that it didn't sound too bad, but the continued abuse by her family was too much. There tends to be a point in a book where being a doormat needs to stop and it should have been chapters before she realized her situation.

I also listened to Night Fire and Night Shadow . These are 2/3 of a trilogy written a long time ago. These aren't for everyone and there are some awful scenes in all of them. In an attempt to prove the man is an "alpha" man the author tends to have dominate scenes that are on the cusp of abuse. Not a favorite theme, but I want to take them off of my pile of books to read. They aren't all serious, there is some very good humor and in the last 2 books, the children tend to get all of the best lines. I am on the 3rd book, Night Storm.

Lisa... All of Armstrong's books are expensive. I remember that her Christmas short stories in her Otherworld series were something like $5.99. U.S. on kindle.

I finished the Ministry of Curiosities series and overall I would give it 4*'s. The last book isn't about the main couple but their friends and family and is an Alice in Wonderland, (quite literally, or very nearly so), theme. Not my favorite but it wrapped up the series nicely.

Next I listened to a freebie that I got a couple of years ago, Not A Match: My True Tales of Online Dating Disasters It was a very quick and funny book about a nerdy guy and his online dating mishaps. Written from his blog, it was a funny listen.
I started a Sophie Kinsella book, I Owe You One. so far it is poking along. Done with Kinsella's usual deftness, this is about another doormat woman who comes into her own, in a comic style.