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

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

@Frisco - "We have a voracious reading group and other fun stuff rec'd by all. Just did a re-read of Oracle's Moon"

I keep promising myself I am going to do a reread of that since it is one of the best in the series and a lot of humor

I am always a bit surprised when I grab a book by an established author and immediately realize the writing and story are far above the usual mundane books I seem to grab at times. Somehow I managed to get behind on the Palace Of Rogues series by Julie Anne Long who has been a favorite of mine and had much to do with my love of historical romance since the PennyRoyal Green books. Anyway I am starting How to Tame a Wild Rogue which I am not sure how I missed it and already have the ARC for The Beast Takes a Bride and the quality of writing/story is already apparent in less than 2 chapters

TINNGG wrote: "Some of the attempts at humor though have been so bad, it was painful to read."

I can't tell you how many times I have reread book 2 Love Bites my all time favorite in the series

Well some how in my reading of all the Argeneau vampire books I missed The Lady is a Vamp so I spent the last couple of days reading it and while it really was good her books these days are more romance/adventure type and the humor I loved in those first books is nowhere to be found sadly :( I would give it a good 4 Stars since it did hold my interest and had you wondering how in the world they would ever manage a HEA

Shannon wrote: "Hi all, just came across a new book I enjoyed that I wanted to pass along.
..."

Everything I have read by Michelle Diener has been excellent

"Just the thought of moving makes me crazy"

Exactly, I get tired just thinking about it LOL

HappyBookWorm2020 wrote: ":sigh: This has been a busy month for a recently retired woman. We are moving tomorrow. :( This will be no fun."

We have 2 houses and the reason is we can't even think of the stress of emptying out one of them. so we go back and forth. Its like having 2 huge storage buildings :) Getting older has sucked out our energy and motivation

Once again the difference between "great" writing and the usual "good" writing. I had put it off for a bit but I started Sanctuary and was hooked in less than 2 chapters, great writing and great stories seem to come so easy to those 2. I can hardly wait to get into the meat of the story

I finished A Vocation of Violence and as all books by Kerrigan Byrne it was excellent but I am giving it 4 Stars for what felt like a rushed ending and she also subtly inserted some very controversial political views. Not the hit you over the head type but very subtle and things that would not have been tolerated in any form in that point of history, it was a bit disappointing compared to her other works.

DemetraP wrote: "I agree. I have reread The Highwayman and the Hunter so many times I have lost count."

Same here, I never tire of them

DemetraP wrote: "I love Kerrigan Byrne."

I have to say that the worst book of hers I ever read is better than 30%+ of the books most authors will ever write. I still say that the first 2 books of the Victorian Rebels series are the best historical fiction/romance novels I EVER read.

Well, I kind of took a break from reading to try some gaming but my experience with "Elden Ring" which is supposed to be the best thing since Witcher 3 (best game ever) was an exercise in frustration and after dying a few hundred times due to the way the game is structured I decided I could live without it, I would play Witcher 3 from scratch again and enjoy it more. So I am back to reading the Fiona Mahoney series by Kerrigan Byrne and while it does have that Jack the Ripper background it is not the main plot in any real sense and I am starting book 3 A Vocation of Violence and still enjoying it. I think after this time spent in the past I might try a contemporary romance but I tend to decide on what to read at the last minute. Still I would highly recommend this series even for those who have long tired of Jack the Ripper plots :)

DemetraP wrote: "Open space world games confuse me. I want a specific level to play, not stumble around trying to figure things out."
I am not sure that my frustration level may exceed my entertainment soon

Well, I am a bit of a gamer but only if the game is truly amazing and since Witcher 3 nothing has come close until now, I have spent most of my spare time the last few days playing Elden Ring and it has to be the most huge open space world but one of the most user unfriendly games I ever tried to learn and I am starting to enjoy it a bit more now that I have learned a few things, you almost need a freakin book to play this but I can see you can play this for months and still not see it all

Just remember that to keep the confusion down read Soul Taken and Winter Lost in order, I happened to do it by accident and it removed a lot of the confusion

Well, things have been busy in Rl but I finally finished The Business of Blood and even though it uses the Jack the Ripper as a background for the story it is only a part of the story and a few twists and turns but the real whodunnit I thought was thin since I guess it early on but it really did not bother my enjoyment of the book and I intend to get book 2 A Treacherous Trade and start it

Well in keeping with the last few posts :

"Finished Winter Lost (Mercy Thompson, #14; Mercy Thompson World, #20) by Patricia Briggs . Loved it but I was confused. I could barely remember anything that happened in the last book. I should've done a reread. It was still wonderful."

See, if you had read my review you would have known that "Winter Lost" was a combo of new plot and continuation of "Soul Taken" LOL

"I finished an ARC of the latest short story in the RIP Through Time series. "Schemes and Scandals"."

As far as I am concerned Kelly Armstrong is hitting nothing but homeruns with this series. I had to grab something similar to whet my appetite so I grabbed "The Business of Blood since nothing Kerrigan Byrne has written has ever disappointed me. Her ability to merge multiple plots into a smooth story is amazing.

I read the whole Nice Dragons Finish Last series (5 books) and really enjoyed it, very satisfying conclusion :)

Just FYI for anyone that has not read them or thinks historical romance is not for them, I challenge you to read 2 books and rethink that idea (they really are more historical romantic adventure). That second book may be the best I ever read in this genre but you need to read them in this order

The Highwayman
The Hunter

Well in my search for something to read it seems I was not in the mood for Jennifer Cruise as much as I thought so i put it down for later (not a DNF) and finally found one that grabbed my attention Crying Wolfe and since I have never read anything by Kerrigan Byrne I did not like, it appears the string will stay unbroken since I actually think about where it is going when I am not reading it (always a good sign)