ClaireB’s Comments (group member since Jul 06, 2014)

ClaireB’s comments from the Nothing But Reading Challenges group.

Completion Post


Book:Savage Lover
Date Read: 4/11
Pages: 412
Rating: 4/5 stars

Bonus:
Published in 2020
+400 Pages book

Spell-Out:
S - title
L - author Sophie Lark
R - Character Camille Rivera
N - character Nero

(sadly Imogen was not in this book 😢 )

Mini:
3rd in series

Completion Post


Book:Stolen Heir
Date Read: 3/11
Pages: 430
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Bonus:
Published in 2020
+400 Pages book

Spell-Out:
S - Title
L - author Sophie Lark
N - character Nessa
A - character Aida
R - character Riona
I - character Imogen

Mini:

Food:
Salt - 21% Her fear is like salt on a dish—it only makes this moment more delicious.
Sugar - 40% It looks like a folded crepe, dusted with powdered sugar.

Sammy wrote: "Only if my husband has somewhere else to be 😂

Luckily he has a whisky festival to go to tomorrow, so I should get a bit of time to read 😁"

Very nice ! 😁

Aren't bank holidays just the best to get some reading done ? 😁

Completion Post


Book:Illumination Of Ursula Flight
Date Read: 1/11
Pages: 416
Rating: 2/5 stars

Bonus:
Published in 2018
+400 Pages book

Spell-Out:
U - character Ursula Flight
I - title
A - author Anna-Marie Crowhurst
S - Samuel


Mini:

Garden - Pest Control GH
- Prune Illumination / Nation, Flight / Light

Food:
Onion 33% (Beck was as slovenly a wench as I had ever seen, with a broad country accent, brown teeth and a strong odour of onions. )
Grape 44% (There were purple grapes and brown dogs; green trees and golden goblets)
Pepper 18% (She stirred her dish of oysters and bade me pass the pepper.)
Sugar 11% (I knew that she had a very sweet tooth, on account of not having sugar at home.)
Spice 46% (which she dabbed on her gums each time she passed a looking glass, perfuming the air with spice even as she grumbled at the pain. )
EXTRA VINEGAR 90% (Next, some juice of myrrh mixed with sweet marjoram and some water pimpernel which you will need to fry in vinegar, and then – ha – put under as a – ha – pessary, do you understand me?)

Completion Post


Book:Woven by Gold
Date Read: 1/11
Pages: 576
Rating: 4/5 stars

Bonus:
+400 Pages book

Spell-Out:
R, O - FMC Rosaline O'Connell
E - Author Elizabeth Helen
L - character Lucas
A - character Astrid

Mini:

Graderning prep - 2nd in series
Bloom +50% brown
Prune - Woven / Oven or Gold / Old

Food:
Salt 18% (The steam rises from the surface, carrying the scent of salt and citrus.)
Pepper 33% (“The blend is simple: nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, pepper—”)
Spice 33% (“No, no, no, pumpkin spice has been recorded in human history since 1675,” Papa says.)

Completion Post


Book:Mislaid in Parts Half-Known
Date Read: 31/10
Pages: 160
Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Bonus:

Spell-Out:
S - author Seanan McGuire
A - character Antsy
E - Eleonor

Overflow for now

Completion Post


Book:The Hollow Places
Date Read: 1/11
Pages: 351
Rating: 4/5 stars

Bonus:
Published in 2020

Spell-Out:
T - Author T. Kingfisher
E - character Earl
S - character Simon


Mini:

Garderning - prune - Places / laces
Food:
Chicken 7% (“I love this place,” one of them confessed, a shaggy-haired woman with a bull ring in her nose and a T-shirt that said I ♥ CHICKENS.)
Broccoli 13% (I punched in the number for Panda Palace and recklessly spent my last gig’s earnings on beef lo mein and broccoli and pork fried rice.)
tomato 73% (I didn’t particularly want to fend off a rabid raccoon, but a rabies shot seemed minor compared with having to hose down half the museum with tomato juice.)
salt 79% (It could sit next to the rubber bands and the manual for the old microwave and a couple of salt packets from a fast-food restaurant. )
sugar 15% (“It was on sugar cubes,” he said glumly.)

Completion Post


Book:Touch the Dark
Date Read: 31/10
Pages: 307
Rating: 3/5 stars

Bonus:
Published in 2006


Spell-Out:
T - Title
P - character Cassandra Palmer
R - character Rafe
L - character Louis-César

Mini:

gardening prep - 1st in series
Food :
Chichen 12% (Not that his level mattered; if he felt like it, any master could have me clucking like a chicken with little more than a glance.)
Sugar 5% (Most of the time she was sugar sweet, but get her upset at you and things could get bad fast.)

Eldarwen wrote: "Seems like we all had the same idea for Halloween ;-))

Since I was working from home today and had absolutely zero to do, this was a lovely way to pass the time hehe."

Maybe I should follow in the trend. haha. Today seems like the perfect day ;)

Completion Post


Book:Dear Grumpy Boss
Date Read: 30/10
Pages: 414
Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Bonus:
+400 pages

Spell-Out:
E, L - character Elise Levy
S - character Saoirse
A - character Weston Aldrich
T - character Thomas



Mini:
Office romance

Completion Post


Book: Love Me
Date Read: 30/10
Pages: 183
Rating: 3/5

Bonus:
Published in 2016


Spell-Out:
L- title
A - character Aaron
T - character Trent

Overflow for now

Seems like we have some really good picks for BOM this round. I think I'll participate in one or two.

Eldarwen wrote: "Claire wrote: "Completion Post


Book:Bonded by Thorns
Date Read: 28/10"


Claire, sorry to get back to you so late on this. Hope you still ha..."

Here it is:

"Icicles hang from tables full of snow yams and roasted chestnuts"

Hey captain,
I just noticed a small mistake on the spreadsheet for my last read Bonded by Thorns.
It is not the author's last name that starts with O, but the main character's. Thanks :)

Completion Post


Book:Bonded by Thorns
Date Read: 28/10
Pages: 369
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Bonus:
//

Spell-Out:
R, O - FMC Rosaline O'Connell
E - Author Elizabeth Helen
L - character Lucas
A - character Astrid

Mini:

Administrative Mini - author first & last initials in SHREDDING

Gardening Mini - Prep, 1st in series
- Mulch: contains one of the following digraphs: CH, PH, SH, TH, WH
-Prune: can be cut to reveal a different word of at least 2 letters - Thorns/Horns

Feeding the family mini challenge - Bread (31%), pumpkin (5%), squash (40%), yam (76%), tomato (18%), apple (31%), grape (52%), salt (19%), sugar (18%), spice (96%)

Completion Post


Book:Unbroken Bonds
Date Read: 27/10
Pages: 542
Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Bonus:
+400 pages

Spell-Out:
U - Title
N - character Nox
O - character Oleander
A - character Atlas
S - character Sage

Mini:

Gardening mini challenge - Prep 6th in series
Harvest - Bonds can be both a noun and a verb

I am still traumatized. To this day any time I see food in a book I feel like I need to get a pen and write it down for reference... Especially when vinegar is mentioned...

Eldarwen wrote: "Claire, could you give me a quick reason as to why he (I assume the hero as the heir to the family business) has to know how to handle a budget?

Thanks! :-)"

Of course, the main character Callum Griffin is running a campaign and needs to know how to handle his budget, get sponsors and in this case, know how to bribe the right people.

Eldarwen wrote: "Sadly no. Only the text itself counts, not any kinds of extras at the end (or beginning) of a book.

:-(
That lovely vinegar.... hehe."

That's too bad. But good to know