SOS: Serious Overload of Series discussion

I fell of the grid last week guys sorry about that. The Plague swept through and claimed me and I coughed so much I lost my voice, yeesh! Feeling a bit better now so I'll get my booty in gear and read for the last two weeks. Need to decide...hhhmmmmm.

Sorry to hear you've been crook Dana, hope you feel better real soon!

Hey, D.G., I'm so excited that your enjoying the Kate Daniels books I just finished reading the entire series last month back to back like your doing, I had this series sitting on my TBR for years and another GR buddy of mine finally got me going on it, so glad that she did(Thanks Gwen). I love Kate and Curran but I have to say that my Favorite character in the series in Derek he just makes me laugh with all the trouble he gets into. Magic Strikes is my favorite of the series, hope you enjoy the next 2! Happy reading :)

I have to thank Audible for the finally getting me into Kate Daniels. I had tried the first book in print but didn't get very far - I really didn't like Kate - but I had heard so many things about the series that I wanted to give it a final shot in audio. And when Audible put all the books on sale last month, I bought the lot. :)

I can't wait till I listen to #5!

Dana wrote: "I fell of the grid last week guys sorry about that. The Plague swept through and claimed me and I coughed so much I lost my voice, yeesh! Feeling a bit better now so I'll get my booty in gear and r..."

Hope you feel better, Dana!

Finished my Demon Book 7 Nov - 5 stars
I read Marked by Elisabeth Naughton
my review
This book was really good and I definitely need to get the next book in the series. The character's are extremely realistic and the love triangle is unique and worked out very well. I loved the fact that this book is based on mythology rather than yet another vampire or werewolf story. The daemons were scary, the Argonauts are sexy, the argoleans are different and the misos are adorable.

Off to request our demon stamp!

BSB6 Week 6 (Oct 21 - Oct 27): demons
Completed: 6 / 6
✔ Adele: Marked - Nov 7 ★★★★★ review
✔ D.G.: Magic Bites - Oct 23 ★★★★ review
✔ Daffodil: The Summoning - Oct 22 ★★ review
✔ Dana: Sins of the Angels - Oct 25 ★★ review
✔ Nici: Destined - Oct 27 ★★★★ review
✔ Sherri: A Trace of Moonlight - Oct 23 ★★★★ review

Sandra wrote: "Sorry to hear you've been crook Dana, hope you feel better real soon!"

OK, I have to ask....

is crook a typo or is that some super-cool Aussie thing that my dense American self knows nothing of?

Annnnd, thanks for the well wishing BTW. (To everyone!) I don't really feel awesome yet but confidence is high. ;)

Big thanks to Adele for bringing my attention back to Naughton! I have been waiting for the next book and didn't realize it came out yesterday, WHOOT! So I just popped over and bought it for my Kindle and will be reading



for my favorite series book. Yippee!

CONGRATULATIONS, Unforgettables!
You now have an updated BINGO card with a stamp on 'demons'. 

[Your updated BINGO card can be viewed on page 1]

Good Job!! :D

Dana wrote: "Sandra wrote: "Sorry to hear you've been crook Dana, hope you feel better real soon!"

OK, I have to ask....

is crook a typo or is that some super-cool Aussie thing that my dense American self kno..."

Yep, Dana - Crook : sick, or badly made

From the Aussie Slang Dictionary:

Bad, unpleasant or unsatisfactory: Things were crook on the land in the seventies. Crook means bad in a general sense, and also in more specific senses too: unwell or injured (a crook knee), and dishonest or illegal (he was accused of crook dealings). It is an abbreviation of crooked ‘dishonestly come by’.

Congrats on the stamp Un4gettables!

I'm about 3/4 through for the favorite series shelf & 2/3 through for the dark fantasy shelf. I have a meeting tonight, but hope to finish both of these before the next shelf is called.

I have started my 'series catch up ' book

Woo Hoo.

Here is my series catch up book.



Week 5: Series Catch Up (Oct 14-Oct 20)
Book: A Sliver of Shadow (10/20 – 10/21)
Finished: 10/21/12
Rating: 5 Stars

I had been pleasantly surprised by A Brush of Darkness when I read it; it wasn’t stellar but it showed promise and in A Sliver of Shadow the series delivers. A Sliver of Shadows is full of action, romance and political intrigue and Abby just can’t catch a break. I loved the romance angle of this book and all of the surprises in it. There is a lot to follow and deep track off in this one and the plot surges ahead at a breakneck speed. But other than that, a great read and one I thoroughly enjoyed.

I just hosted Elisabeth Naughton on my blog and have Enslaved up for a giveaway. Love the Greek mythological heroes in the series.

D.G. for my favorite-series I read Her Sky Cowboy

Sherri wrote: "I just hosted Elisabeth Naughton on my blog and have Enslaved up for a giveaway. Love the Greek mythological heroes in the series."

I just read the interview, cool!

Woohoo! Thanks ladies. :)

Shelf - 2012 One for the money by Janet Evanovitch

I'm going to read for the 2012 shelf.

I never read this genre so this should be interesting...my first Laura Lippman as well. Anyone else read anything by her?

2012 is a great stamp for us...once we get the series catch up shelf, it will give us another 4 in a row!

Here's updated rundown of the stamps we are left to complete...in order of importance:

series catch up (gives us 4 in a row with 2012)
2012 (gives us 4 in a row with series catch up)
favorite series (gives us 3 in a row with dark fantasy)
dark fantasy (gives us 3 in a row with favorite series)
vampires (gives 2 in a row with dark fantasy)

So if you finish series catch up, please prioritize the 2012 shelf over the others.

I have NO clue what I'll read for this...I'll decide once I'm done with the book I'm reading now.

For the 2012 shelf I will be reading:

For the 2012shelf i will be reading The Selection

I will try to post my review of tomorrow or Monday. I'm mere pages away from finishing and being able to work on the review.

For 2012 I'm leaning towards , but may read . I'll let you know my final decision.

Dark Fantasy
One Salt Sea, Seanan McGuire, 11-10-12
Rating: 4 stars
Review:As many arrows, loosed several ways, come to one mark;
As many ways meet in one town;
As many streams meet in one salt sea;
So may a thousand actions, once afoot, end in one purpose.
William Shakespeare, King Henry V

The title, and the Shakespeare line it originated from, gave me hope a key series plot point would come to culmination and I would find out the answers to some burning questions. Namely: What was the real reason Sylvester's brother kidnapped Rayseline so long ago? Was the lengthy kidnapping and Rayseline's resulting madness part of Simon's long game? And where exactly was she held? I enjoyed reading the book so much, I don't even care I hoped in vain and none of these questions were answered. We did learn some interesting information this time around. Namely, how Fetch's are created and specifically why May (Toby's Fetch) came into existence.

I do wish McGuire would quit playing cat & mouse with me. (Pun intended) Once again, the last book ended with things looking up between Toby and Tybalt. I had real hopes that she would forget about Connor and develop a real relationship with the King of the Cats. And once again, the new book opens with no relationship growth at all; Tybalt has been uncommunicative for good reason known only to him and instead, Toby's relationship with Connor has continued growing. Tybalt does reappear throughout the story and as the book ended, I'm once again hoping for relationship development in the next one.

In One Salt Sea, Toby investigates the kidnapping of two brothers whose disappearance could spark a war in Fairie. Toby actually has to visit the Underwater Kingdom at one point, which is difficult for her due to her previous transformation into a fish for 14 years. The various sea Fae descriptions were fascinating and I hope we see more of them in the future. The entire case and it's investigation was interesting. McGuire's ability to inject humor into her writing provided some hilarious moments. There were some new characters in this book, but I also got to see some familiar favorites.

I will definitely be reading the next book in the series.

I forgot to bring with me this weekend, so I'll finish it when I get home tonight. I did start for the 2012 shelf.

I am reading my series catch up book but baby having asthma attack so could be going into hospital with him soon, will take book with me

That must be so frightening, Adele! I hope your baby gets better!

Thank you, I think I have averted a full blown asthma attack, he is still breathing too fast but much more easily. I will be keeping an eagle eye on him all night.

Good luck Adele! A very frightening experience.

He is finally asleep again I am going to get a couple of hours sleep. 2:37am over here

i need to update my reviews, i have read all my books lol

WTG, Nici!

I finished my 2012 book too...I just need to write the review!

Okay I am reading series catch up and 2012 books alternating as series catch up hasn't really got going yet so it is a bit slow at the moment, 2012 should be a quick read. Hopefully they will both be finished by the end of the week, before the next shelf is called, just in case we get a bingo shelf.

Robbie is much better but still wheezy and chesty, thanks for all the nice comments.

2012
Dark Currents, Jacqueline Carey, 11-12-12
Rating: 4 stars
Review: I love Jacqueline Carey's writing. Her Kushiel's Legacy series is lush, dark and intense. The Sundering Duology blurs the distinction between good & evil and is intense in a different way. I was interested to see what Carey could do with a modern Urban Fantasy and while Dark Currents was very entertaining and I thoroughly enjoyed the read, I missed that intensity of emotion.

Daisy, daughter of a lesser demon, is an interesting character. Her human mother loves her, regardless of her heritage and ability to potentially spark Armageddon. Pemkowet, Michigan is a pretty postcard of a town with a healthy tourism trade. It's also home to werewolves, vampires, ghouls, fairies and undines, all subject to the Norse Goddess Hel. Some of the members of the eldritch community may seem typical to the genre, but Carey manages to give each of them voice & personality. I'm particularly intrigued by the ghouls, created when both Heaven and Hell rejected them, and hope to see more of Stefan in future books.

Overall, this was a light, fun read and I'll definitely be looking for book 2.

I am really annoyed with myself. I took my 2012 book with me to a meeting and was reading it while waiting for the meeting to start. When I left I forgot to pick my book up. I won't be going back for 2 weeks so I will now have to choose another book to read for this shelf.

Okay now reading The Lying Game by Sara Shepard for my 2012 choice, should be a quick read I think. I hope I get One for the money back though I was enjoying it.

How funny...almost all the books we're reading for the 2012 shelf have teal on the cover!

Favorite Series
, Gail Carriger, 11-13-12
Rating: 4 stars
Review: I'm sad and happy. Sad to see a series I enjoy come to a close, though Carriger is working on a spin-off series. But, I'm extremely happy to see it end gracefully, with all the humor and characterization I love so much still intact. I'm not naming names, but I can think of at least two author's who have let a series go on far past the point it should have ended. The characters have become stale and/or caricatures of themselves.

The book opens a few years after the close of Heartless; Alexia and Connall have settled into their lives with Lord Akeldama. I love the scenes with daughter Prudence, who appears to be as strong willed as Alexia and almost always manages to get her point across with two words: "No" and "Dama".

Carriger does a wonderful job of weaving various series events/elements (why Connall's left the Kinghair pack for the Woolsey pack, the God-Breaker Plague in Egypt, the Templars and OBO) together into one story, answering important questions and bringing everything to an entertaining, yet satisfactory, conclusion.

It appears that the next series, The Parasol Protectorate Abroad, may be about Prudence and I'm interested to see where that leads.

Whew! I'm happy to say I'm all caught up now. I decided against angsting over every single word in my last two reviews in favor of getting them done quickly. LOL.

Great job, Daffodil!

I forgot to mention ladies that I'll be traveling starting next Saturday 11/17 and coming back the next Saturday 11/24.

I really don't think we'll get a winning shelf next week but if we do, I have a few books that fit both the magic and dragon shelves so I should be able to read those promptly if necessary.

I'm not sure about my Internet connection and I don't know if I'll have access to a computer so updates will have to wait until I come back. So if you can post the reviews for the books you finished already by Friday, then I can do all the updates and request any needed stamps.

i finished The Selection for the 2012 shelf on 11/11 and give it five stars. I will keep reading this series. I really enjoyed this book. Had great world building and character development.

i finishedKiss the Dead on 11/3 for the favorite series shelf. I give it three stars. I can't let go of this series, but i stopped enjoying it long ago. I count it as a favorite series though because i eagerly anticipate each new release. Kind of funny really. I do like the world building, but a lot of things strike me as false. For instance, metaphysical conversations in the middle of crazy sex. It just doesn't work for me.

i finished Blood Lite II: Overbite on 11/11 and give it only two stars. This was supposed to be a funny anthology, but it didn't really seem funny to me. I was hoping some of the stories would beef up other series i am reading, but over all i was just disappointed. Oh this was for the dark fantasy shelf.

SHELF: 2012



Title/Author: Rainshadow Road by Lisa Kleypas
Read for shelf: 2012
Date finished: Nov 12
Rating: ★★★★
The first book in this series ‘Christmas Eve in Friday Harbor’ was too subtle to be considered magical realism but in Rainshadow Road, Ms. Kleypas embraced the elements of the genre. There are fantastical occurrences without explanation, wonderful language and imagery that gives you an enchanted vibe almost as if you were in a fairy tale. The characters live in the real world with cellphones and cars but the magic is subtle and wondrous, a reflection of the characters’ feelings or personalities, like the strange vine that like Sam, is closed up to all the outside influences and doesn’t let anything or anybody touch him.

Definitely looking forward for more!

Thanks for posting your reviews, Nici!

The team posts are updated. Msg. 8 has our reads for weeks 1-6 and msg 9 has our posts starting in week 7.

I'll do updates until tomorrow night. My flight is leaving early on Saturday so any updates will have to wait until next week.

Still trying to catch up with things. Have had a sinus infection all week but am finally feeling better and able to read. Done with all books except for Venom. Here is my Vampire Review.



Week 4: Vampires (Oct 7 – Oct 13)
Book: Incarnation by Emma Cornwall
Finished: 10/14/12
Rating: 3.5 Stars

Incarnation is the retelling of Bram Stoker’s Dracula with a twist. I wasn’t sure what to expect from it, but I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the variation on the famous story. I was initially attracted to the Victorian Steampunk elements of the book; and although they were there they really didn’t add much to the story. The main draw for Incarnation is the plot which combines Stoker and Arthurian legend into a unique plot line. There is a bit of romance (I wanted more), a lot of intrigue (no one is who they say they are) and espionage (Protector intrigue). It felt like this book would be the first in a series, but since I can’t find a website for the author since Emma Cornwall is a pseudonym of a New York Times bestselling author, I’m unable to determine that. I’m hoping there is a sequel since I would really like to read more about Marco’s werewolf brother Nicholas. Overall a decent read especially for legend and history buffs that like the paranormal thrown in.