The Lost Challenges discussion

WTG!! Looks like we are in third as of right now. Let's hope it "rains" tomorrow...lol
That would be sweet for us if it did :)

Lol that would be a good call! Everyone sharpen up their Jedi mind tricks tonight and make sure Mr. Randomizer calls in our favor :)

LOL!

Jenne I might have a few ideas on what we should claim over the next couple of weeks but I don't want to explain until we get tomorrow's word :)

Sounds good :)

I should have Magic Strikes finished tomorrow. Jenne, you were right. It's SOOOOO good! I couldn't wait to be finished with my meetings today at work so I could pick it back up again lol.

Sam it really is a pivotal book in the series!


It's emergency vehicle this week while its not great it's not the end of the world either.

Just to let you know I decided my idea isn't a good one...the cough syrup I've been taking must be interfering with my brain :)

Anyhoo...I will definitely be claiming Rain, Shoulder, and Hood...but I will wait to decide on either Nose or Toe when I see what everybody else decides to choose :)

I think we should save nose. It's easy to get any cover with a face on it will count for nose. I'm trying to find a book that will work this week as we speak.

Then Toe it is...just give a shout if I should change this. I always forget you can use the cover for words in this challenge :)

Emergency Vehicle Week:

Melanie:
Jenne: Dark Inside Claimed: Rain, Socks, toe, Emergency Vehicle 1/22/13 Post 462
Jennifer:Dragon Bound Claimed:Rain, Hood, Toe, Emergency Vehicle 1/19/13 Post 452
Sam:Donor Claimed:Rain, Toes, Socks, Emergency Vehicle 1/20/13 Post 450

Question - what do you do if you can only find three items in a book?

Including us 6 teams already had the emergency vehicle point so it hurt almost all of us equally.

Melanie I'd change your book. You're already taking the hit with emergency vehicle so you sure want to make the other categories count. I'm in the same boat my WWGRF book doesn't have my last weather item in it. So I'm going to read 2 different books this week for both team challenges.

Melanie were you talking about your shoulder book or the one you wanted for emergency vehicle?

Okay, I can claim Snow, Sock, Toe, and Emergency Vehicle this week. I'll read Scream by Mike Dellosso (been wanting to read this one for a while). :)

For Shoulder week, I'll claim Rainbow, Bra, Shoulder, and Shelf. Is that alright? I could claim necklace instead, but bra is harder for me to find...

Go with what's harder for you. Now that we're nearing the end we want our last books to have the easier items.

I'll have to wait until I get home to figure out what I'm reading. Apparently I forgot to sync my Kobo and that's the only way I can search the book I'm planning on reading. Here's hoping it will work...

So I'm down to only rain and socks for those 2 categories, I'll go with toes for my body part since the other 2 are easy and of course em vehicle.

I just finished Magic Strikes, so I'll probably have my review up later today. I'll be claiming shoulder, bra, mist and sky.

For this week's book, I have emergency vehicle, rain, either toes or elbow (whichever is better for the team) and belt or socks, again whichever one is better. Belt would give us a point, but socks are a bit harder to find (though I've found them in a few of my books already, so not *super* hard to find.)

Sam go for toes then next week you and I can finish off elbow possibly. Elbow is easier than toes IMO. And I think I'd go with socks too. Then all of us will have it this week.

Sounds good! Elbow and belt definitely seem like they show up more often, so those shouldn't be too hard to finish off.

I'll have my review for Magic Strikes up in a few minutes, just finishing up my post! I'm trying to keep my review a bit vague (since I know Jennifer is reading the series) while still gushing about how much I loved it, which is hard LOL

It was a good one :)

Week 7: Shoulder
I read: Magic Strikes - Ilona Andrews
Finished: January 18th, 2013
Rating: 5/5

Magic Strikes is definitely the best of the Kate Daniels novels so far. It answers a lot of the questions that the first two books leave you wondering about, like Kate's past and the origins of her magic. Kate is back to working with the Pack as they infiltrate The Midnight Games (against Curran's orders) to gain information about The Reapers, the new baddies in town.

There were a few times where I literally laughed out loud while reading, which isn't something I do often. The further I get into the series, the more I love each character with all of their crazy personalities. I feel like this book really pushed the series to a new level for me, and really set the stage for what's to come in the next books. Even though urban fantasy isn't a genre that I'm usually a big fan of, this series is great and seems to just get better and better with each book!

Items to claim:
Shoulder: "Saiman's shoulders widened." (pg. 21)
Bra: "'While I'd love to see you in a balconette bra, I'm afraid afraid for this particular occasion I would have to go with a foam-lined seamless...'" (pg. 55)
Mist: "'The ceiling fan was on at the time, and the draft made the pee into a sort of mist...'" (pg. 204)
Sky: "The second bloodsucker stabbed a clawed finger at the sky." (pg. 8)

It made me laugh too when I was reading it :)Kate kicked so much a$$ on this one!

The part that really got me was Raphael's story about his dad "courting" Aunt B. Sooo funny!

I liked the majesty needs a can I girl.

lol yeah that one was pretty good too! This book had a few LOL moments.

Sam wrote: "Sounds good! Elbow and belt definitely seem like they show up more often, so those shouldn't be too hard to finish off.

I'll have my review for Magic Strikes up in a few minutes, just finishing u..."

LOL...Thank you so much for not spoiling! But you guys are making me want to know what who is Aunt B. and what's a can I girl? I just might start Magic Burns after I'm finished reading Dragon Bound. So, I can catch up with you :)

Aunt B is the leaders of the hyenas. Well worth the reads Jennifer!

Jenne, could you recommend any similar series? I don't normally read urban fantasy, but the Kate Daniels series is making me want to give the genre another shot!

Sam, a few of my favorite urban fantasy series are:


Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter
The Hollows
Riley Jenson
and I'm sure Jenn will agree with me on this one...
Downside Ghosts

Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter and Downside Ghosts definitely look interesting! Thanks :) Would you call The Hollows and Riley Jenson more UF or more PNR? I've tried a few PNR series and I'm not really a big fan. I think the (more or less) lack of romantic relationships is part of why I love the Kate Daniels series so much.

The Hollows doesn't have a lot of romance. Rachel usually has a boyfriend but it isn't a major part of the plot. The best parts are "crap on toast" and "Tink's a Disney whore"...Kim Harrison has a knack for hilarious quips. :)
Riley has a lot of sex and she does have romantic interests but if it were me I would classify it as UF 1st and PNR 2nd.
And just so you are aware Anita has a LOT of sex too and as the series progresses the sex gets pretty darn kinky. But Ms. Hamilton is so good at creating 'sitting in a puddle of your on drool drop dead scrumptious' men, I still can't decide who love more...Jean-Claude, Micah, Nathaniel, Asher, Jason, Cyn, Wicked, Truth, Richard, and on and on and on.
I have had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Hamilton 18 times when she comes to a bookstore very close to me. She is a really cool lady :)

Sam, Downside is amazing! Also the fever series is amazing too
Both of these have romance in them but they're not the main focus the Karen chance book is very heavy world building like the Kate Daniels books. Another good one too is . What Jennifer said about Anita and the hollows is very true. The later Anita books is where the sex comes into play.


Jennifer that's so cool you've met Laurell K Hamilton. I am so waiting for the Anita and Olaf showdown!

Oh yeah I agree about Riley there is quite a bit of sex in them but its part of the werewolf culture and isn't the main focus of the story. The cases Riley investigates are unusual and entertaining to read.

Dragon Bound was a 5 star for me. It was a nice twist compared to other supernatural books and Dragos was perfect!

So Here's the adjusted list of things we need 2 or less reviews to complete:
Snow: Melanie
Rainbow: Melanie
Belt: Sam
Bra: Melanie
Hood: Jennifer
Necklace: Melanie
Elbow:Jenne & Sam
Shelf: Melanie
Sky: Jenne & Jennifer

The items we haven't claimed at all yet:
Rain: everyone
Sock:everyone
Nose:everyone
Toe:everyone
Fruit:everyone

Jenne wrote: "Sam, Downside is amazing! Also the fever series is amazing too
Both of these have romance in them but they're not the main focus[bookcover:Halfway to the Grave|1421990..."

Olaf is one SCARY dude! The next Anita book "Affliction" comes out in July of this year. It's to be a Micah based book if I remember correctly. It's been a bit since I surfed over to the fan club page so, I don't know if she has shared anymore about it :)

I don't know if I agree with you about the "Night Huntress" series...IMO Cat and Bones are one of the greatest romantic couples ever and I personally would shelf it PNR 1st and UF 2nd :)

There's enough action in them for me to classify them UF, it feels like forever since a new one came out. I hate waiting till the end of this year for it!

Jenne wrote: "Dragon Bound was a 5 star for me. It was a nice twist compared to other supernatural books and Dragos was perfect!"

I'm halfway through and I agree 5 gold stars and Dragos...Yum! "Medieval Kitten" comes to mind when I think of him

I was planning on reading the next one in the series this month. I need to squeeze it in. It's been over a year since I read Dragon Bound.

Jenne wrote: "There's enough action in them for me to classify them UF, it feels like forever since a new one came out. I hate waiting till the end of this year for it!"

I think a new "Night Prince" book is due out soon but I haven't even read Once Burned yet. I think these books are about Vlad but I'm not too sure :)

Yeah they are, I think the second one comes out in march. The first one was good but not as good as cat an bones!

Jenne wrote: "I was planning on reading the next one in the series this month. I need to squeeze it in. It's been over a year since I read Dragon Bound."

If you would be interested in doing a buddy read if/when you read it let me know...if not that's okay too :)

Thanks for all the recommendations! :) It looks like my library has the first book for most of the series. I guess I'll have to make a trip!

Jennifer, thank you for reminding me about the Fever series! I keep meaning to add it to my TBR shelf, but keep forgetting. I've heard really good things about it.

For sure!

The Fever books are by far the best I've ever read! Downside and Kate Daniels come close but Fever will always hold a special place in my heart lol.

Just finished my emergency vehicle book, I'll have my review up later today :)

I'm done too! Loved it, loved it! Will post review sometime soon :)

Week 8: Emergency Vehicle

I read: Donor - Ken McClure
Finished: January 20th, 2013
Rating: 2/5

This book was okay. There's really no other way to describe it. The writing was fine, the plot was fine (if predictable,) the characters were fine, but nothing really stuck out as being better than okay. Part of my issue was that I more or less figured out the big plot twist about 6 chapters into the book. It frustrated me that I could figure it out that easily (I wasn't dead on, but close enough for me to kind of roll my eyes when the twist is finally revealed,) while the main character, a highly trained doctor and undercover government agent, spent 10 chapters bumbling around and just generally acting a bit like an idiot. The love interest also felt a bit forced, and some elements of the plot felt a bit thrown together.

Overall it was an entertaining enough read for the most part, even though it had its fair share of flaws. I don't know that I would continue reading the series, but the first book was okay for a quick weekend read.

Items to claim:
Emergency vehicle: "Kate could go in the ambulance with Amanda..." (Kobo chapter 1, pg. 19)
Toes: "'I'm trying to think if there's any way I could find out for you without stepping on any sensitive toes.'" (Kobo chapter 11, pg. 5)
Socks: "...he just pulled on a sweater and jeans and didn't bother with socks or shoes." (Kobo chapter 4, pg. 10)
Rain: "Icy raindrops started to pepper his face as he turned into the shelter..." (Kobo chapter 1, pg. 16)