Dev’s Comments (group member since Sep 09, 2017)

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

Completion Post


Bloodbath by Stephanie Ahn

date started: 7/28/19
date finished: 7/29/2019
pages: 254
genre: No

B: Bloodbath [title]
R: Robert Moore [character]
N: Nikki [character]

also should i go ahead and request the thread for the last one? probably good to request it earlier this time if we're gonna do it lol

i used to have it rated 4 stars but the last time i read it i lowered it to 3 because for some reason it just suddenly started bugging me a lot more than it used to

haha THE THING WITH THE SUN MAKES ME ROLL MY EYES SO MUCH. like, rob, i am already suspending so much disbelief for this series and don't get me wrong I LOVE IT in general but that was a few steps too far for me. but yeah the whole thing was way too ~happy feel good~ ending for me personally, and way too many coincidences. i guess if it was actually her planned ending and last book in the series then i could accept that she would just want to wrap everything up and make them all happy, but then she wrote another one so i'm like ???? i kind of wanted it to end with them dying and then maybe an epilogue of robin watching their next incarnation or something for a hint of hope, buuuut i'm kind of dark like that.

also i do get why ish didn't help cal when he was a kid but yeah he was definitely a dick for it. i mean i almost would be less mad at him if he didn't seek them out at all, but instead he's like here's $50 to make myself feel better but i'm not REALLY gonna do anything! i guess now he has grown and realized he was wrong but i was just like UGH. seems like typical angel behavior though so i guess he was just still in that mindset.

and yeah i didn't get why they weren't more worried since as far as they know grimm isn't gone, but oh well i guess. i do agree that cal going auphe was great though. and i love how much it freaked them out and he was like UH GUYS JUST JOKING! and then when niko fell asleep with his head in cal's lap i was just like AWWWW. i love that scene.

the vigil features in the next book, although it is in no way satisfying lol, but yeah idk what she had planned for delilah.

one other thing that really bothers me in this book is the whole 'oh i made up those rumors about achilles and patroclus thing'. like ....i'm sorry that you didn't think this through when making your current brothers a pair of lovers in their past lives [well, two pairs - achilles/patroclus and alexander/hephaestion] but don't wimp out at the last second like that. i guess she has had robin as a very loud and proud queer character for the whole series so i know she's not just doing it because ~ew gay stuff~, but it's still always bothered me.

oh my god the promise thing pisses me off SO MUCH. (view spoiler)[like she's just not even there and then that random throwaway comment and then basically the night before they THINK THEY ARE GOING TO DIE niko, robin, and cal just ~bro out~ or whatever and i'm like mmm???? i mean ...do you not want to spend time with your FUCKING GIRLFRIEND???? for part of the night at least??? and then she is just NOT EVEN THERE AT ALL AT THE END. like hey cool cal and niko get brought back to life and ish gets to be there to be with robin but i guess promise is just sitting at home on her couch waiting for someone to remember to call her and tell her niko's not dead???? honestly it's why the past lives thing kind of pisses me off in general. like before it was fine that cal and niko were the closest to each other and robin and promise were both like there but kind of on the outs, but then she pulls this and pushes out her only main female character still mildly in the group and i'm just like uh ...rob??? turn on your location. i just want to talk. (hide spoiler)]

i think that is kind of my problem with robin's pov and this book in general. nothing actually ever HAPPENS in his pov. he just talks about past lives and assures us that he's working on something we're all too dumb to understand and like ...it's very in character but it does not make for a compelling book in my opinion. like you said in chapter 9 you are like halfway through and what has even happened so far? i agree that it is totally like robin to think everything is about him though lol

As always I listened to this way too fast so I'll wait for you guys to catch up. Interested to see what you think about this one because I think that not only is it pretty different than the ones before this, but I find that unfortunately I like it less every time I read it lol

Completion Post


Downfall by Rob Thurman

date started: 7/28/19
date finished: 7/29/19
pages: 352
genre: No

R: Rob Thurman [author]
N: Niko Leandros [character]

i tried to read illuminae a few weeks ago but didn't get very far before i decided to put it down. i love kristoff's nevernight series and the first lifel1k3 book was pretty good too, but i feel like when he writes with kaufman it's too YA for me. i wish i would have been able to get through it for the page points though lol

ok so they made the new thread so we can move over there

re: robin's pov, it actually really annoying me last time i reread this and i'm not sure if it's because of the voice the audio narrator uses for him or if i just become more weary of his 'i know more than everyone else' attitude the older i get lol. but yeah when this first came out everyone was going nuts over robin's pov. i do agree the scenes with ishiah are cute though.

haha no mine definitely isn't either. but yeah nothing to see here, other teams. we're just idly chatting. definitely no plotting going on here.

yeah i requested the thread i think on wednesday and then requested it again last night so i'm not sure if they'll get it put up today or not. i could start it today though and we could just use this thread i guess? maybe they could re-title it to include both books lol

[edit: yeah i just asked them if they could rename this thread to include both books and i'll probably start it here in a bit when i finish listening to this podcast]

Completion Post


Odd & True by Cat Winters

date started: 07/27
date finished: 07/27
pages; 368
genre: No

B: Ezra Blue [character]
R: Red [character]
O: Odd [title]
W: Cat Winters [author]
N: Ned [character]

Completion Post


Barbary Station by R.E. Stearns

date started: 07/25
date finished: 07/26
pages: 384
genre: Yes

B: Barbary [title]
R: R.E. Stearns [author]
O: Oarman [character]
N: Iridian Nassir [character]

haha quick, we need to make up a secret code language to hide our master plan ;)

i agree that spell it outs are more flexible and you never know what all the character names are going to be until you start actually reading a book so you may end up in better shape than you thought. maybe we should try to do carnivorous first since it's so long and save six for last since it's only 3 letters if we get behind?

anyway our total letters if we do all the words will be:

A - 1
C - 2
E - 1
G - 1
I - 3
L - 1
N - 1
O - 4
R - 4
S - 2
T - 1
U - 1
V - 2
X - 1
Y - 1

so really not too bad. we'll have to be on the lookout for the those V's and that Y though lol

unfortunately i think that it's kind of just part of the competition - that we can 'cheat' off each other, and they will see the books once we add them to the sheet anyway. and also that one task has you use books other people have read during the challenge so i assume there is no secret communication allowed. i'm always way too lazy to lurk on other teams' threads but i'm sure a lot of people do it lol

carnivorous, trilogy, six, and cover get us 950 points

originally, trilogy, cover, and four get us 940 points

so if we want the absolute maximum i think the first option is best and i could take the X if i need to with The Whites of Their Eyes: A Collection of Queer Horror by Xen Sanders. it's 263 pages so not too long.

well we'll have 26 slots open if we are only doing initial countdown + group 2 so we could do

carnivorous, trilogy, six, and either cover or debut [11 + 7 + 3 + 5]

or

originally, trilogy, cover or debut, and text or four [10 + 7 + 5 + 4]

and i think both those come out to 26. there might be other combinations based on Nicole's table but those are the ones i'm seeing now.

does anyone have any X books? i know i have one but that's it.

haha it's always nice to find an author that you like that has a TON of stories. my favorite author - seanan mcguire - has a fair number of books although i don't think anywhere near that many, she does write a million short stories though but i have not read a lot of them because i have to be in the right mood [also goodreads has a habit of deleting the pages for short stories so i sometimes forget about them [shakes fist]