Stacey’s Comments (group member since Oct 26, 2014)

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

A Darker Shade of Magic DQs
Day 2: Jan 2
Chapters III – IV, pages 58 - 108

06. "Lila Bard lived by a simple rule: if a thing was worth having, it was worth taking."
We are introduced to the Shadow Thief. Do you enjoy "tomboy" heroines in literature? What's your favourite female lead in a book? I prefer "badass" to "tomboy" and I have to admit they are probably my favorite. I love Eve Dallas and Kate Daniels and their ability to take care of themselves.

07. "Looking for trouble, he’d say. You’re gonna look till you find it.
Trouble is the looker, she’d answer. It keeps looking till it finds you."
Which side are you on, on this debate and why? Normally, I would say that you can avoid trouble if you try, but in this particular world in her situation, I think Lila is probably right.

08. "Our throne is not something you’re born to. It’s not held by blood. But taken by it."
The Dane siblings and Holland seem to keep a cruel balance among them. Can you identify any clear leader among them? Will this unholy trinity last? What might keep them from going for each other's throat? I think Holland is an unwilling part of the three and given a chance he would take the other two out in a heartbeat. I have to admit the two twins really creeped me out and I would avoid this London as much as possible if I were Kell.

09. We are now introduced to all 3 Londons. If you could live in any of them which would you choose? Either Red for the color and vibrancy or Grey for the safety. I would be terrified in White.

10. Kell has the bad habit of carrying trinkets from one London to the next. Is the law against it reasonable? What are your thoughts on the package the woman gave him? It seems reasonable since the general public cannot go from one to the other, it would just cause confusion. But I think the letter is going to end up being a bigger deal than just a letter.

Ugh. I think there might be an X in there, right?

I've started this one twice, and keep getting distracted before I finish. Would love to join once the date is chosen.

A Darker Shade of Magic DQs
Day 1: Jan 2
Chapters I – II Read Royal, pages 1 - 57

Q1. Kell has a very interesting Jacket. Have you read a story before that has items of clothing like his? If so what story does it remind you of? I can't say that I have. I don't read much straight fantasy though, so that may be part of it.

Q2. Going between worlds, multiple Londons with names of colors to distinguish them, the year 1819. Are you able to keep track of Kell’s travels? To keep up with the world building? I find its actually helping quite a bit. I feel like each color gave me a vibe before I've even gotten to the actual location. Grey is kind of blah, white is kind of stark, Red is vibrant, and black is reeally bad.

Q3. Kell is an Antari (Blood Magic), a dying breed, one of the rare few that can do magic. Kell used his special coins and his blood to travel between worlds. Do you think he is a blood mage? Or does he have a darker kind (shade) of magic since he uses his blood? Or is it just part of Antari training? I'm not really sure of the origin of his magic, I think that's probably going to be one of the things we learn as we find out where he actually came from.

Q4. How do you feel about the Collectors and the Enthusiasts? It's an interesting differentiation, but one that really makes sense to me. I can see how he can justify getting things for one but not the other. I'm not sure how he makes sure a collector doesn't turn into an enthusiast though.

Q5. Are you enjoying the book so far? I actually have a pile of books I need to read right now, so was going to return this to the library unread. But I picked it up to read the first little bit just to make sure, and now I'm going to have to keep it. It just sucked me right in, and the author so far has done a great job of teasing just enough info to make it interesting.

Meg wrote: "I just finished Fairest which works for the 251 or higher shelf sorted by 'date added'"

Meg did you like Fairest? I decided to skip it as I had no desire to read about Levana, but would you recommend it?

Talia wrote: "I finally finished this book. I was disappointed. It started out so interesting, but I got bored with it and thought the Wood and the corruption were kind of weird. And what's up with all these odd..."

I agree! I loved the first third to half, and then it just got so bogged down with all the other characters, it took me forever to finish. I also found it strange that A went from not knowing she had any magic to being the best witch in the world in about 3 weeks.

Whew, I finally finished Uprooted. I'll update the books read thread with my BOM link.

I'm going to start In Jack's Arms. There is a recurring character in this series named Yuri--hopefully he makes an appearance and speaks. :)

Winter is my longest book. I'm planning on reading it this month anyway, but it will take me a while--I'm pretty slow--and I still have to wait for my turn from the library.

I always struggle with the vowels in the spell it out challenges. Maybe if we have some of those in the goalless books we fill in a few of those and then see how we look at the end of the month before we use all of them?

Also, do we need to find the shared letters only once, or once for each word?

I'm going to start this tomorrow and go for the year. I feel like all I read are series--we'll see how close I get. :)

8th in series (1/1)
1. Too Hard to Handle 2/10 Black Nights, Inc. Book #8

7th in series (2/2)
1. Magic Breaks 2/14 Kate Daniels #7
2. The Heart of Christmas 12/16 Whiskey Creek #7

6th in series (1/3)
1. Partner Games 8/7 Games #6

5th in series (3/4)
1. Body Games 3/7
2. Night Forbidden 7/3
3. Ride the Fire 9/4 #5 in Firefighters of Station Five

4th in series (5/5)
1. Winter 2/14 #4 in the Lunar Chronicles
2. Darkness Revealed 2/25 Guardians of Eternity book #4
3. Bedroom Games 3/1 Games #4
4. Lucky in Love 8/23 Lucky Harbor #4
5. Line of Fire 8/30 Firefighters of Station 5 #4

3rd in series (6/6)
1. The Score 2/5 Off Campus #3
2. Rock Redemption 2/18 Rock Kiss #3
3. The Game Plan 3/24 Game On #3
4. Faefever 4/4 Fever #3
5. Lethal Rider 4/26/16 Lords of Deliverance #3
6. Grave Peril 6/9 The Dresden Files #3

2nd in series (7/7)
1. In Jack's Arms 1/8 Fighting Connelleys #2
2. Fool Moon 1/9 Dresden Files #2
3. Hard as You Can 1/23 Hard Ink #2
4. A Devil Named Desire 2/29 The Devil's Bargain Book #2]
5. Hexed 3/10 The Iron Druid Chronicles #2
6. The Awakening 3/22 Darkest Powers #2
7. One Night of Scandal 8/1/16 After Hours #2

1st in series (8/8)
1. Red Queen 1/11 Red Queen #1
2. A Darker Shade of Magic 1/14 A Darker Shade of Magic #1
3. Masked by Moonlight 1/27 By Moonlight #1
4. Blood Kiss 2/3 Black Dagger Legacy #1
5. The Hook Up 2/20 Game On #1
6. Crocodile on the Sandbank 3/17 Amelia Peabody #1
7. The Selection 3/20 The Selection #1
8. Hex Hall 4/3 Hex Hall #1

Stacey's Achievement Spot

This year I will read:
3 award winners (past and present, any literary award/people's choice counts)
1. Red Queen 1/10 (Best Debut Goodreads Author Winner 2015)
2. Of Mice and Men 8/8
3. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America 11/13

1 complete series (more than 3 books in total)
1. Gray Back Bad Bear 8/13/16

1 complete trilogies
Sign of Seven Trilogy
1. Blood Brothers 5/18

2 books that I keep avoiding
1. Lethal Rider 4/26

6 chunksters (over 450 pages)
1. Winter 2/14 (824p)
2. The Liar 6/8 (498p)
3. Riptide 7/20
4. Battle Royale 12/21/16

10 new releases
1. Love in the Light 1/16
2. The Goal 12/11/16

20 new to me author(s)
1. A Darker Shade of Magic 1/14 Author V.E. Schwab
2. It's a Wonderful Fireman 1/15 Author Jennifer Bernard
3. Masked by Moonlight 1/27 Author Nancy Gideon
4. The Hook Up 2/20 Author Kristin Callihan
5. The Selection 3/20 Author Kiera Cass
6. Confess 3/31 Author Colleen Hoover
7. Vampire Academy 5/4 Author Richelle Mead
8. Shutter Island 5/24 Dennis Lehane
9. Spider's Bite 5/26 Jennifer Estep
10. Truth or Beard 6/4 Penny Reid
11. Rebel of the Sands 6/16
12. Kitty and the Midnight Hour 6/28
13. Inside Out 7/21 Maria Snyder
14. Red Rising 8/6 Pierce Brown
15. Fortune's Pawn 8/21 Rachel Bach
16. Moon Dance 9/25 JR Rain
17. Love at First Date 9/27 Susan Hatler
18. Lick 11/1 Kylie Scott
19. Anne of Green Gables 12/7/16 L.M. Montgomery
20. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer 12/19/16

3 out of my comfort zone books
1. Doctor Who - The Wheel of Ice 3/12
2. Daughter of the Forest 4/15/16
3. Ready Player One 7/25/16

7 books that are for so long in my TBR they are covered with spider webs and dust bunnies
1. Darkness Revealed 2/25 (2009)
2. Crocodile on the Sandbank 3/17
3. Ravished 6/26/16
4. Night Forbidden 7/3
5. A Hearing Heart 10/3

30 books from my favorite genre
1. Blood Kiss 2/3
2. A Devil Named Desire 2/29
3. Bound to Darkness 3/31
4. Shadow's End 7/10
5. Blood Magic 8/19
6. Archangel's Enigma 11/8
7. Second Grave on the Left 12/9

15 books from my favorite author(s)
1. The Score 2/5 Author Elle Kennedy
2. Too Hard to Handle 2/10 by Julie Ann Walker
3. Magic Breaks 2/15 by Ilona Andrews
4. Rock Redemption 2/18 by Nalini Singh
5. Magic Shifts 9/9 by Ilona Andrews
6. Allegiance of Honor 9/12 by Nalini Singh
7. The Face of Fear 9/27 by Dean Koontz
8. The Reef 10/5 by Nora Roberts
9. Body Check by Elle Kennedy
10. New York to Dallas 10/16 by JD Robb

3 books that everybody else seems to have read but me
1. Faefever 4/4
2. Shutter Island 5/23/16
3. A Man Called Ove 9/15/16

Stacey's Planning Spot (I'll be back to fill in numbers....)

This year I will read:
3 award winners (past and present, any literary award/people's choice counts)
1 complete series (more than 3 books in total)
1 complete trilogies
2 books that I keep avoiding
6 chunksters (over 450 pages)
10 new releases
20 new to me author(s)
3 out of my comfort zone books
7 books that are for so long in my TBR they are covered with spider webs and dust bunnies
30 books from my favorite genre
15 books from my favorite author(s)
3 books that everybody else seems to have read but me

The Billionaire's Christmas Baby takes place in Canada if it hasn't been used yet.

I don't want to overstep, but it looks like we have 2 books on our goalless books shelf on the "Books with Unforgettable Characters" listopia list... The Pillars of the Earth at 287 and Clockwork Princess at 887. But I didn't know if that goalless book list is up to date or not?

I finished Wicked Lovely which has been on my to read list since 2011. I don't like to rush things. :)

I should finish Wicked Lovely tonight or tomorrow for the 2 year TBR goal.

I have a ton I can read on my TBR shelf for more than 2 years. Do we need someone to tackle that goal or is someone on it?

I finished The Paper Swan for the Back room BOM. Still working on Uprooted.

I also picked up a couple of Christmas novellas for light reading, so maybe one of them will have a Christmas dinner or someone will open presents.

Grace wrote: "ɽɵɓɵɕɕα wrote: "What January BOMs is everyone doing? I'm doing The Nightingale and Winter."

I am reading Him and if I get caught up on the series ma..."

Well. I just requested The Nightingale and A Darker Shade of Magic from the library--now I'm a little worried since I haven't really had good luck with my BOM picks so far.

I'll be doing Winter as well--at least I know I'll like that one.

Discussion Questions Dec-20
Chapters 14-17 Pages 187-239

18. They don't seem to have much of a plan going into the wood. I was surprised that they even managed to find the Queen, much less that quickly. What are your thoughts on their preparations and planning? I thought it was pretty ridiculous. They clearly know the Wood has a malevolent intent for them, yet the just kind of saddle up one day and figure they will wander around until they happen to find the Queen. It could have been a lot more fun and an exciting part of the story, if some time had been spent on both the preparations and the time in the Wood.

19. Kasia seems to be turning into quite the hero. Do you think this was who she always was or did the wood change her to be like this? I think she was always a pretty noble person, and had been raised to be brave and take on the Dragon, but I think the Wood gave her the physical strength to add to her mental strength. She's fun to watch.

20. What are your thoughts on the rescue of the Queen? Was it worth losing 28 men? Do you think she will recover? I'm not really sure what is going on with the Queen. I suppose to Marek it was worth it, but I'm not sure anyone else will feel that way.

21. They made it to the city and the townspeople seem to rejoice but the King does not. Why do you think he doesn't seem pleased with things? It made me think that he might have had something to do with the Queens situation. Wasn't she running away with some other guy when she disappeared? My guess is that there is a bigger issue her that the Prince really didn't know about.

22. Do you think Agnieszka will be recognized? What do you think her animal name will get to be? They all seem to be predator animals but she's a healer so maybe it will be different. Now that we've met the Willow, my guess is it will be something to do with nature or a tree/flower.

23. We're halfway through now. Any predictions for the rest of the book? I have absolutely no idea where this book is going. I would have thought the rescue of the Queen would be the big finale, but I guess it will be more the destruction of the Wood.