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

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

@Paula - "I've like some of the other series but a few of them I didn't like and stopped reading them." - I only keep up with about 3 of them out side the main story, tried several more but they just did not stick past 2-3 books (some less)

@Melindeeloo - The only drawback on the Kutherian books IS the cast of dozens :) I did not have too much problems with it (which I usually do) but as the books move along he seems to add one more character about every other book or so LOL. Still love it but I have had to stop and think who this person is that was just mentioned. Towards the end there seemed to be about 5 AIs and at least 2 talking dogs to keep up with in addition to all the humans and aliens :) The fact it was not as hard as it sounds must mean the writing was decent because I got deeply into the stories.

TINNGG wrote: "Just checking here but is that series by more than one author or did I misunderstand? It sounds interesting."

The original Kutherian Gambit series that begins with Death Becomes Her is his own solo series, he has a lot of spin-off series that he co-writes with other authors.

@Melindeeloo - In the back of the first few books he actually discussed if he was getting more from KU or purchasing and it varied from month to month.

@Monadh - his writing skills improve as the series goes along also :) This is one of those series most people either love it or don't. You would never in your wildest imagination think the story in book 1 could ever end up where it does in book 21 LOL

NOTE: This was one guy who had an idea to tie vampire/werewolves and science fiction together, he published through Amazon his first book Death Becomes Her which became a runaway hit, he took the money while he was working on the next books and hired a real editor (anyone who read that first book before it was re-released in an edited fashion knows how bad the editing was which should give you an idea how good the story was IMHO). All the books started taking off and he brought in writers who wanted to write in this world while maintaining control (for continuity purposes) and he finally had to start his own publishing company, I don't know how much money he has made but talk about a golden goose and this all happened in the last 3-4 years. I am not sure how many series are under his banner now, I have read 4 or 5 whole series and read a few in the others, some I liked, some I did not, something for everyone I guess. i just like a good success story I think LOL. Part of the allure was he would write detailed notes in the back of the books telling you about what sold and what did not and how he came up with things and it was very entertaining also (something I can't really say about any other author I can think of)

To quote the author on his success: "The fans have propelled these stories beyond my wildest imagination and they should get all of the credit for sharing with friends, family and occasionally the random person on the street.", yes they are THAT additive to a lot of us :)

@Paula - The next book in the follow on series gets released on the 30th

This has links to all 21 books for $7:

https://lmbpn.com/cyber-monday-boxed-...

This is the new series which is basically just a new name for the series that picks up where book 21 ends. 3rd book releases on the 30th:

Payback Is A Bitch
Compelling Evidence
"Through The Fire And Flames" (no link yet, releases on Friday)

BUT if you did not read Michael's 4 book (The Second Dark Ages) series before reading book 21 of the original series you will miss some good stuff LOL
(I feel like I am pushing heroin) :

The Dark Messiah
The Darkest Night
Darkest Before The Dawn
Dawn Arrives

Now you all know what I do when I am reading and not really telling you about it all LOL

One of the most action packed sorta science fiction/paranormal adventures I have ever read, all 21 books are on sale today in 3 packs for 99 cents each. I am hopelessly addicted and would buy them but I already own them :) No series like it ever, starts out as a vampire/werewolf story and ends up in galactic spaceship battles

Here's the full breakdown of what $7 will buy ;)

The Kurtherian Gambit Omnibus 1 (Death Becomes Her - Queen Bitch - Love Lost)

The Kurtherian Gambit Omnibus 2 (Bite This - Never Forsaken - Under My Heel)

The Kurtherian Gambit Omnibus 3 (Kneel Or Die - We Will Build - It's Hell To Choose)

The Kurtherian Gambit Omnibus 4 (Release The Dogs of War - Sued For Peace - We Have Contact)

The Kurtherian Gambit Omnibus 5 (My Ride is a Bitch - Don't Cross This Line - Never Submit)

The Kurtherian Gambit Omnibus 6 (Never Surrender - Forever Defend - Might Makes Right)

The Kurtherian Gambit Omnibus 7 (Ahead Full - Capture Death - Life Goes On)

Finished The Other Miss Bridgerton and it was one of those books that had a great core story but the telling of it got verbose and I did a decent amount of skimming and while the ending was good I thought it was fumbled a bit. I should point out that I tend to dislike the "kidnapped heroine" plots and so it had to work hard for me to start liking it to begin with so everything considered I have to say this was an addictive but verbose 3.5 but it was interesting to see all the relatives linked together by the books end. I wonder if this is the last book in the prequel series, while I have enjoyed them, they have been a far cry from the entertainment of the original Bridgerton series.

I also have problems syncing non-Amazon devices at times, I use a Samsung tablet to read in bed and I have to force a sync several times usually to make sure my kindles will start where I left off.

Finished The Girl with the Make-Believe Husband and while it was entertaining the fact is you kind of knew generally what was going to happen and the story dragged a bit but was still decent, probably 3.5-4 Stars IMHO, now I guess I have to get the new book which was released a couple of days ago and is probably the end of a trilogy since I don't think there is anyone left to marry unless they wait a few years for they youngest son to grow up. So I guess I will buy The Other Miss Bridgerton

This place is terrible for book addicts :) It is like going to look for your local drug dealer to see what he has for sale LOL

OK, since I really enjoyed The Grand Sophy you folks have convinced me to add The Corinthian to my KU queue for reading at some future date

I think during the holidays I will read a few of the masters that always read like a new story, this is one I have read several times, I pull it out every few years and read it again, highly recommend you grab it sometime, FREE on KU, this reprinted edition from 2015 already has 800+ reviews and about an 4.5 out of 5 rating, it was actually published in 1963 and won the Hugo in 1964

Way Station

Thanks for the birthday wishes and now on to consume several thousand calories that my doctor will scold me for doing :)

@Melindeeloo - I loved the Baba Yaga books, read them all but really hated the way she ended it, read all the Broken Rider books (the follow-up series) and it was ok but nothing to howl about and she wrote a final (I assume) novella of 67 pages to have a reunion of all the riders and Baba Yagas and they want $3 for it which just seemed obscene to me. I was Facebook friends with Deborah Blake but (and I don't wish to get political) but everything coming from her page looked like the "Trump derangement syndrome" I keep hearing about so much I finally had to drop her since I try to keep politics to a bare minimum on my FB page unless it defies common sense or is incredibly stupid (which I can assure you is a bipartisan affliction ) :).

I do understand a bit now, if you have a lot of knowledge in history or in my case the history of weapons, things others might not notice stand out as glaring mistakes :)

LOL, without judging folks, some of you are really overthinking these books :) I get caught up in a story and miss a lot of things like that but I did catch one bad one recently in a book where the hero had just shot his musket and then shot it again, never realized that muskets were semi-automatic weapons :)

OK, now that I have successfully told everyone I was reading the wrong book , it was Because of Miss Bridgerton I was reading and it was excellent and humorous but it finished off the hea and then left a hook to make you read the next one LOL (which I will) but I assume this will only be a 2 book series since the last book The Girl with the Make-Believe Husband was written over 18 months ago.

If you want a light story with some good laughs I am reading The Other Miss Bridgerton and really enjoying it

@Mindy - Sometimes I have to restart my browser for the links to work for reasons that elude me