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

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

I think I had mentioned awhile back that I had several Heather Graham books in my TBR and for reasons unknown I had not read them yet, let me give this trilogy HIGH ratings, book 1 was great but so far book 2 is amazing BUT I think my problem is that they start really slow and you have to kind of trudge through the first few chapters as she lays out the story which is always a murder mystery with her ongoing romance with her sometimes partner. A really great mix of reality/horror/paranormal/romance/mystery. She is also storekeeper and collector of "things" that should not be in peoples hands much like Gail Z. Martin's "Deadly Curiosities" series but a bit less paranormal and a small bit more police procedural except they call them when "odd" things happens :)

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XV6LOWI/

I saw this and thought "That looks good" and so look it up and "you purchased this book on March 27, 2016" almost 3 years ago and for $1.99 (it is freakin $6.15 today) now I am not sure I want to start it because the other books are so expensive ($6.15 also) but everything I have ever read by her has been exceptional.

Trace of Magic

Everybody is reading shhhh

Paula wrote: "Is it in a separate group? Cause I'm going to lose it if there is no permanent link on this site. Can that be done?? please ."

Paula, go to the top of this page and click on "Read, Reading, Planning to Read and More discussion" and you will see all the subtopics in this forum.

For anyone who might be reading the Quincy Harker series the last 2 books dedicated to the "Glory" storyline has been released

Angel of Harlem: A Quincy Harker, Demon Hunter novella

Sympathy for the Devil: A Quincy Harker, Demon Hunter Novella

The Kutherian Gambit while each book covers a specific story is one long serial and an overarching plot that covers thousands of years and starts with werewolves and vampires and ends up with intergalactic battles with evil aliens, never read anything like it. It takes 21 books and more to move that plot along LOL

Diane wrote: After those 4 are done (he finishes a book every couple of days) which spinoffs do you recommend?..."

If he gets through those this one is best IMHO "The Vigilante Chronicles", there are several choices, some better than others. This is the best spin-off without the main couple, 7 books and I enjoy them about as much as the original series:

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07M9C7K4K/

I love the Kutherian universe since he puts everything on KU and I can read for days (weeks?) and never spend a dime :)

Douglas wrote: "Diane wrote: "Doug: I thought that I asked you before (but I can't find your answer), but I need some help with the Kutherian Gambit books. My husband is just now reading book 21. What comes next? ..."

I should mention that he might rather do like I did and read this series before starting those, it is Michael's story before they found each other again. (4 books)

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079WZB3D2/

Diane wrote: "Doug: I thought that I asked you before (but I can't find your answer), but I need some help with the Kutherian Gambit books. My husband is just now reading book 21. What comes next? Fict Fact show..."

This starts the continuation, don't know why they bothered to give it a new name and series Payback Is A Bitch but I just finished book 4 and still loving it after 25 books :)


www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079SPJTNN/

Happy New Year (in about 15 minutes here )

Well too lazy and read too many books in 2018 so this is the best I can do :) :

Lake Silence - Anne Bishop - series is just possibly the best thing I have read in years (So Good I Needed A Cigarette When I Finished)

Mentioning anything by Ilona Andrews is just plain redundant

Kill The Queen - Jennifer Estep - Pretty sure it may be the best "book 1" of a series in years (or ever)

My own guilty pleasure, Kutherian Gambit - Michael Anderle (original series starting with "Death Becomes Her" ) which becomes Kutherian Endgame after book 21 , Highly Addictive and Recommended IMHO - High action, great characters and low but continuing romance. He built a publishing company off this one series and now it has more series than I can count, great success story for authors.

The Vigilante Chronicles (Another Kutherian spin-off starting with "Vigilante: Age of Expansion" NOTE: reading this AFTER the original series gives a much better understanding of the background) A great "Kill'em All And Let God Sort'em Out" series :) He brings justice.

The Colin McCool books (AKA- The Junkyard Druid) - Loving it and it starts with "Junkyard Druid"

Dark Queen by Faith Hunter - I NEVER get tired of reading about Jane :)

Seasons of Sorcery: A Fantasy Anthology - As a general rule I detest anthologies since most seem like money grabs and the stories are not impressive, this one broke that rule and I actually gave it 5 Stars .

Chronicles of Dasnaria - Jeffe Kennedy - If you can get through book 1 which is brutal you will love this one.

The Lizzie Grace Series - Keri Arthur - May be one of the best things she has written.

The Voodoo Killings: A Kincaid Strange Novel - Kristi Charish - Might be the best paranormal mystery I have read in years.

I read some good historical romance but since I measure everything against the first 2 books in Kerrigan Byrne's Victorian Rebels series nothing reached that bar IMHO

and even though I was not going to mention anything by Grace Draven since I love almost everything she writes but I have to give a special mention to In The Darkest Midnight since it held a personal interest for me.

Worst literary thing in 2018? Too many books where the premise was much better than the actual book, seems like I read too many like this in 2018.

://www.amazon.com/Darkest-Midnight-Grace...

Well I have pretty much thrown everything aside and grabbed all the space/fantasy/revenge/justice/etc books I have not read yet in the Kutherian Universe and spin-offs and am just going to binge on them and football LOL BTW the new Kutherian Endgame came out yesterday, can't wait to get to it.

"All’s Fair in Blood and War" (so new I can't even link to it in Goodreads)
www.amazon.com/dp/B07M9YZH2R/

Reading a series now that is a mixed bag, took almost 2 books to decide if I like the characters since they are intentionally not meant to be real likable until you get to know them which is good reading but I also feel like I am getting some "social engineering" which is a turn off to me no matter who the author or how good the story , most authors do it to some extent but good ones never let you know it, this one seems to be getting a bit more than subtle.... but the story is addicting, evolving into a "criminals with a heart of gold" type story by the end of book 3


Forced Compliance
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N4M315I/

Vanessa wrote: "Doug welcome to the A-Z reading challenge. It's a lot of fun, and don't worry if you don't complete your category, we seldom do. We've been doing this for around 5 years and I have completed exactly 2. .."

Going to give it my best shot :) A couple of those letters might be tough to get :)

Since they reworked the review system I have no idea how to help, I have several reviews that are the most popular that get buried but others stick on top, there seems to be no rhyme of reason, I do know that if you are not a Verified Purchase it makes it much harder, I am up to Top reviewer #219 and I was out of the top 500 just 8 months ago, I think most of my movement has been for reviews of products other than books but to be honest I can't figure the system out, it seems so random, I have a few where I have like 50+ helpful votes and they don't even make the product page which is filled with reviews that have like less than 10 helpful votes???????? If anyone figure out how this new system works let me know, it has been just dumb luck I have moved up, my review for Dark Queen was the turning point for some reason. All I can tell it seems to be a combination of Helpful vote, Verified Purchases and age of the review and maybe (this is a low level guess) the quantity of reviews since I seem to go up occasionally when I have posted several reviews but gotten no "Helpful" votes?????
.

Never done one of these but I think I will try it in 2019
(Remembering to come here and enter my books is hit and miss I think LOL)

I am doing titles as my A to Z challenge:

A-
B-
C- Circle of the Moon
D- Dim Glows The Horizon: A Supernatural Action Adventure Opera
E-
F-
G-
H-
I-
J- Juntto: A Supernatural Action Adventure Opera
K- The Kinsman Universe
L- The Last Vampire: Book One
M- Moon Master
N-
O- One Night With the Millionaire
P-
Q-
R- Redemption: A Supernatural Action Adventure Opera
S- Sympathy for the Devil: A Quincy Harker, Demon Hunter Novella
T- Through The Fire and Flame
U-
V-
W- Waking The Leviathan: A Supernatural Action Adventure Opera
X-
Y-
Z-

Read a new book to be released on 31 Dec called The Duke I Once Knew and it was a really good story but the ending was so abrupt it made me mad, I like to see the family and friends rejoice a bit and rude people get a bit green with envy in some of the HEA these type books almost always have but this one ended so quick I turned the page just to make sure I had not missed a page, maybe the finished version will improve on the ending, many times they do.

I am so thankful that we managed to get the great majority of our group over to this forum after Amazon tossed us out :) So Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you fellow addicts.

I have now extended my KU membership until Feb of 2020 :) Every year when it goes on sale I add another year :)

The KindleUnlimited sale is on for those who are interested, 33% off for a year subscription

https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/ku/...