SOS: Serious Overload of Series discussion

Good morning reading ladies!
I will be the first one to admit I am a reading addict, and as a result I have already finished my supernatural shelf book:

Dead on the Delta by Stacey Jay
Read: 06-Feb-12
Rating: ★★★★
Loved this book! A bit of a darker urban fantasy, which I generally tend to like. The main character Annabelle definitely has some personal issues, as she is a borderline alcoholic with no life ambition. I loved the new vision of fairies (they hang in out in bloodsucking swarms and cause insanity for bitten humans). Reminded me a little bit of the Unholy Ghosts series, just because the main character is such a hot mess. My only negative comment would be that she already has a serious love interest when the book opens, and we aren't provided with a ton of background on how her and hot Detective Cane came to be. Overall though, I recommend!

Heather wrote: "Babbling AKA Christina wrote: "What did you see?..."

We saw The Descendants, it was good, just really sad. I actually got to see two movies this week, which usually never happens. I saw One fo..."

I'm a picky viewer. :) I watch next to no television these days, and I've only gone to the movies once since I move to KY in 2010. I don't even know why I still subscribe to Entertainment Weekly since I don't use it for any type of recommendations -- music, books, TV. I'm willing to wait for the DVD/Blu-Ray.

I didn't recognize the Clooney movie, so I had to look it up (must have missed it in ET). Probably wouldn't have gone to see that one. :-( Sad movie.

Leah -- Being a fast reader is a good thing! ;-)

B2: Supernatural - 5/5 - TBD

✔ Amanda - Pride Mates - 7 Feb 12 - ★★★ - Review
✔ Christina - Paranormalcy - 6 Feb 12 - ★★★★ - Review
✔ Heather - The Mage in Black - 6 Feb 12 - ★★★★ ½ - Review
✔ Kate - Soulless - 6 Feb 12 - ★★★★ - Review
✔ Leah - Dead on the Delta - 6 Feb 12 - ★★★★ - Review

I couldn't sleep last night so I finished the book I was reading instead. :)


Soulless by Gail Carriger
Read: 06-Feb-2012
Rating: ★★★★
Several friends had recommended this book to me but to be honest, I didn't think I would like it very much. It's set in Victorian times - Historical fiction is not something that appeals to me at all. The main character is soulless - I didn't think that I'd warm up to her at all for that reason. I was pleasantly surprised.

It did take me a while to warm up to the story but by a third of the way in I was really enjoying myself. I liked how Alexia wasn't quite right when it came to social situations. The supporting characters amused me greatly and whilst I wasn't a huge fan of Lord Maccon, I did think he was a great match for Miss Tarabotti.

This book has won me over to the side of steampunk fiction. I loved the integration of the Victorian age with werewolves and vampires. I would be interested in continuing the series - if only to find out more about the octopuses.

Kate wrote: "I couldn't sleep last night so I finished the book I was reading instead. :)


Soulless by Gail Carriger
Read: 06-Feb-2012
Rating: ★★★★
Several friends ha..."

Glad you enjoyed it, Kate. I hope to read this during the challenge

I have about 50 pages left of my book, so I'm going to get off the computer now. I'll probably finish tonight -- though I don't know if I'll post a review.

I finished on 2/6/12 and give it 4.5*'s. I remembered really enjoying the first book, but I forgot how much I truly did. These books remind me of the Kate and Mercy books that I like so much. In this book Sabina is meeting her mage family and seeing the life she could have lived if not for being raised by her grandmother. In addition to meeting the mage side of her family, Sabina has to deal with numerous attempts on her life from an unknown source. Adam wasn't in this story as much, but there was lots of fun with a friend from the past, the Blacklight District and of course I can't go without mentioning Demon Fight Club. This book was great fun and filled with action.

I will be reading for option 3 for my Free Space book.

Heather wrote: "I finished on 2/6/12 and give it 4.5*'s. I remembered really enjoying the first book, but I forgot how much I truly did. These books remind me of the Kate an..."

I'll have to try this out, I like the Mercy and Kate series!! I'm working on my Free Space Book and so far it's pretty good. I'm a sucker for pretty covers but this one hasn't led me astray....

Heather wrote: "I finished on 2/6/12 and give it 4.5*'s. I remembered really enjoying the first book, but I forgot how much I truly did. These books remind me of the Kate an..."


Reminds you of Kate and Mercy? I'm with Leah. I've got the first book -- I should have read it during the last round.

Heather wrote: "I will be reading for option 3 for my Free Space book."

Oh, I hope you like it! :)

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Finished my book and review is forthcoming. :D

Babbling AKA Christina wrote: "I've got the first book -- I should have read it during the last round.
..."

Just to warn you, they each end with a bit of a cliffhanger, not like KMM's Fever series, but still, if you enjoy it you may want to have access to the others.

Heather wrote: "Babbling AKA Christina wrote: "I've got the first book -- I should have read it during the last round.
..."

Just to warn you, they each end with a bit of a cliffhanger, not like KMM's Fever ser..."

Thanks for the warning -- though I never read KMM's series, the comparison is lost on me. ;-)

I do have the first two and can easily add the additional books available. :D

Heather wrote: "I will be reading for option 3 for my Free Space book."


Yay!! Hope you like it, this is one of my fav series :)

Babbling AKA Christina wrote: "Heather wrote: "Babbling AKA Christina wrote: "I've got the first book -- I should have read it during the last round.
..."

Just to warn you, they each end with a bit of a cliffhanger, not like KM..."

Christina, KMM is notorious! It is like the gold standard for cliffhangers.

Sandra wrote: "Yay!! Hope you like it, this is one of my fav series :)"

That's funny you say that Sandra because I think it was because of you and Steph talking about it during R2 or 3 bingo that I put it tbr and requested it from the library, based on the cover and title I don't know if it is one I would have picked up otherwise :D

christina wrote: "Thanks for the warning -- though I never read KMM's series, the comparison is lost on me. ;-)..."

Whoops! Oh well... I'm sure you got the idea, they are good and you will want to read the next one. I have no idea why it took me almost a year to pick up book two when I already owned it!

I am getting a case of book-envy.

You ladies and your reccomendations are not good for my to-read list :P

That's Steph & me, just pushers!!!! ROFL

Babbling AKA Christina wrote: "Heather wrote: "Babbling AKA Christina wrote: "I've got the first book -- I should have read it during the last round.
..."

Just to warn you, they each end with a bit of a cliffhanger, not like KM..."

I second Sandra's comments, and furthermore Christina HOW HAVE YOU NOT READ KMM?????? I feel like it's my civic duty to tell you that you have to go buy the books and read them NOW!

Ohh, putting up hand! Miss Leah I got 6 pages into the first one and just couldn't go on. But I have promised myself to read it some time, you know, in the future. LOL

'putting up hand' LOL
Don't worry I have quite a few books that I plan on reading 'sometime in the future'.

Sandra wrote: "Christina, KMM is notorious! It is like the gold standard for cliffhangers.
..."

Oh, I believe you! ;-) I've hung around here long enough to have heard the screams of agony. :D

I guess I can relate it to back when I was reading David Eddings's Belgariad (mid-80s, living in Heidelberg). The post book store had the first three books in stock, but I had to wait until my father came back from his TDY trip (temp. duty <-- just in case...) stateside for the last two. The third had ended as all heck was breaking loose, so I was pretty anxious to find out what happened next. And then to learn that there was a follow up series, and not know when the books would be published. Geeze, pre-internet days.

Come to think of it...most of those Edding books ended with a cliffhanger, some not-so-nail-biting as others, perhaps...

So...to sum up...the cliffhangers in the Sabrina Kane series aren't as nail-biting as waiting for dad to get back from his trip because the Stars and Stripes bookstore was out of stock.

Kate wrote: "I am getting a case of book-envy.

You ladies and your reccomendations are not good for my to-read list :P"

That's what happens during this game.

Maybe Steph needs to post a warning in the rules...

Blueyes -- Leah -- wrote: "I second Sandra's comments, and furthermore Christina HOW HAVE YOU NOT READ KMM?????? I feel like it's my civic duty to tell you that you have to go buy the books and read them NOW! ..."

I'm kinda hit-or-miss when it comes to the fae. And vampires. I think I had the first book in the series and I might have done what Sandra did....or saw a review that changed my mind about reading the book.

It took me forever to get into DarkFever. After I was half way through i flew through it but it was a very hard one for me to get into.

I didn't like the Darkfever at all. Peeps at GR convinced me to read the next book and I was glad I did. I read them back-to-back from book #3.

In RE: to the Fever series: at least all the books are out, so there is no suffering through waiting a year+ to find out what happens next!
Trucking along with my Supernatural book. I expect to finish it within the next couple of days. I haven't read the Sabina Kane series, but hearing it's like Kate and Mercy, I have now added it to the TBR pile.

SUPERNATURAL




Paranormalcy by Kiersten White - 6 Feb 12 - ★★★★
I liked Evelyn (or Evie). She's mostly upbeat and positive, and there isn't a lot of angst. She's mostly content with her life at the International Paranormal Containment Agency (IPCA). Her best friend is Lish, a paranormal who works at the Center, and she has a mother-daughter like relationship with the head of the Center, Raquel. Evie would love to hang around with normal sixteen-year-olds and do normal 16-year-old-type things like go to a real high school, go to the prom, and have a boyfriend, but her unique abilities make her a valuable asset to the Center. She's been doing the 'bag and tag' thing since she was eight years old and she's good at it. Then Lend enters her world and he makes her question her life at the Center, and she learns there are things that Raquel has been keeping from her.

Evie eventually gets her wish and spends time in the mostly normal world that is Lend's. In some ways, Evie reminded me Disney's The Little Mermaid. Like Ariel, she longs to be a part of a world different from her own and she's fascinated by some mundane things that normal people find ordinary. Lend's a great guy and he understands what it's like to be different. Evie can see the real him and likes him regardless, but she also worries that he'll think she's a freak of nature and won't like her as much as she likes him.

Though Evie might not know everything about herself, or everything about paranormals that she needs to know, she's spot on about the trustworthiness of the fae. The IPCA, including Raquel, dismisses Evie's concerns and refuses to believe they could be wrong about their so-called control over the fae. As for Reth specifically, he may be acting in accordance with his own agenda, but I don't think his intent is to harm or hurt Evie. Use and possess her, yes; but looking back at his actions, she's too important to him for him not to care what happens to her, or dismiss her as unimportant like he does everyone else.

Over all, I liked the characters and found the book easy to read and follow. I read it a lot faster than I thought I would, given the fact that I wasn't wowed by it. I'm not in any rush to read the next book, but I will probably listen to the audiobook, if available.

Babbling AKA Christina wrote: "SUPERNATURAL

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White - 6 Feb 12 - ★★★★
I liked Evelyn (or Evie). She's mostly upbeat and positive, and th..."

I felt the same way -- I liked this book (I thought Evie was pretty funny and likeable) but for some reason didn't really feel motivated to read the next one. Maybe I will try it sometime during B4 though, who knows??

Book: Pride Mates by Jennifer Ashley
Read: Feb 7, 2012
Rating: 3 *'s

He is an Irish Fae-Cat shifter. She is a human lawyer from Texas. Humans and shifters do not usually mix in a world where shifters have been "out" for 20 years. They are feared, but thought to be tamed by fae Collars worn around their necks. While attempting to get information to help her defend a shifter client, Kim meets Liam, and as you can imagine, sparks ignite. I thought the world building was good since it was different. This was the first book in the series and I plan to read the next one eventually. I liked that it was a quick read, there wasn't a whole lot of introspective thinking the same things over and over; things just happened. I have no idea if this makes sense to anyone else.
Oh and I forgot to mention that one of my favorite things was that the book takes place in central Texas, which is where I live!

Woo hoo Amanda, that means we can get our first stamp! And it's only Wednesday! I think I will probably give Pride Mates a try, sounds like a nice quick read. I don't live anywhere near Texas but I imagine it would be a nice place for a good shifter story ;)

I have finished my Free Space Read, review below:


Book: Blood Rights by Kristen Painter
Read: February 8, 2012
Rating: ★★★

This is a good example of a book with a great premise and only an okay execution. I loved the idea of a special breed of humans with extra blood that were created to feed vampires, but I felt like I wasn't able to truly immerse myself in this new world. Maybe this is just first-book-in-series sydrome though?

I loved Mal's character (bad-ass vampire cursed to kill anyone he feeds from) and my favourite parts of the book were from his viewpoint. I felt Chrysabelle (human bred to provide blood, falsely accused of murdering her vampire master) was a little bit hard to connect with, but this got better as the book went along.

My biggest complaint is the constantly changing POV. Chyrsabelle and Mal, Doc and Fi and Maris(side characters), even Tatiana (the baddie) get POVs during this book. I felt like there was a no real 'surprise' aspect of this book because we are treated to the baddie's viewpoint throughout the entire novel, so you always know what is going to happen next.

I don't think I will try book 2 in this series (other GR reviews say there are even more POVs in the second book), but I could see others enjoying this book. There were a lot of interesting side characters that I would be interested in knowing more about.

Yeah, team! :D

I've subimtted our first stamp request!

Amanda -- I thought the same about the world building. Different. I also enjoy her Urban Fantasy series under her other pen name, Allyson James.

Leah -- Evie was funny. Her voice made it easy to read, you know?

I believe I've heard of Allyson James (I might even have it marked as TBR here on GR) and will check them out. I'm doing a year long challenge (12x12) where I've got to read 12 books in 12 different self-chosen categories, so I've got lots of books to read this year! One of which is New-to-Me Series, so thanks for the rec!

AmandaG wrote: "I believe I've heard of Allyson James (snip) I'm doing a year long challenge (12x12) where I've got to read 12 books in 12 differe..."

You're welcome. It's the Stormwalker series, just to be clear. I meant to link it earlier, but in my excitement over the stamp I forgot!

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Leah - I noticed the same thing when I was looking into whether or not I wanted to try the series.

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I've updated the master list.

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I got only a little reading in yesterday. I'm not having any issues following the alternate history Meljean created for The Iron Duke. So far, so good. :D

Go Four Leaf Clovers! Yeah!

I'm loving my free space read. I don't normally go for the alien thing, but you gotta love a race of gorgeous Armani clad men.

Heather wrote: "Go Four Leaf Clovers! Yeah!

I'm loving my free space read. I don't normally go for the alien thing, but you gotta love a race of gorgeous Armani clad men."

Haha I don't do the alien thing normally either but you might have sold me with this comment. I'll wait until you finish and review, but maybe I'll try this out later. Also, why don't they ever have gorgeous Armani clad aliens in movies? It would totally help pull in female audiences ;)

Heather wrote: "Go Four Leaf Clovers! Yeah!

I'm loving my free space read. I don't normally go for the alien thing, but you gotta love a race of gorgeous Armani clad men."

Yay, Heather :)

And congrats on the Stamp Clovers :)

Sandra wrote: "And congrats on the Stamp Clovers :)"

Thanks! :D


Heather wrote: "Go Four Leaf Clovers! Yeah!

I'm loving my free space read. I don't normally go for the alien thing, but you gotta love a race of gorgeous Armani clad men."

I'm glad! Kitty's also a very capable, kick-butt heroine. And she comes by it naturally. :D

Babbling AKA Christina wrote: "Kate wrote: "I am getting a case of book-envy.

You ladies and your reccomendations are not good for my to-read list :P"

That's what happens during this game.

Maybe Steph needs to post a warning ..."

She does indeed....but love to see people take the plunge into series' that I love!

And.......congrats on your stamp!

CONGRATULATIONS, Four Leaf Clovers!
You now have an updated BINGO card with a stamp on 'supernatural'.

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

Good Job!! :D

Hooray!

Thanks, Judithe, Steph, and Sandra! :D

Any guesses on what the next shelf will be? I just have a weird feeling we are going to pull the 'magic' shelf (if it's actually magic then I should go buy a lottery ticket).

I've got a plan to go to the library tomorrow after the shelf is announced so I can grab a book, if I don't already have one on hand.

Anyone have big plans for the weekend??

Mr. Randomizer keeps his secrets and he can't be bribed. I'm hoping for "fantasy" myself. ;-)

Laundry. Maybe some food shopping. But my goal is to get as much of The Iron Duke read (if not finished) before the next shelf is called.

I have such a wild life. ;-)

Haha well no judgement here, my wild life this weekend consists of going to the library ;-)

I might also go to a movie -- I'm thinking maybe The Vow, if I can sell my hubby on it. Otherwise it will probably be Chronicle.

Anyone else excited for the Hunger Games movie in March? I think it looks like it will be pretty good.

Blueyes -- Leah -- wrote: "Anyone else excited for the Hunger Games movie in March? I think it looks like it will be pretty good...."

I'm looking forward to it, but I have no idea if I see it in a theater. I was spoiled in Alexandria, Virginia -- there was a multiplex right next to our office building. I could come in, work, and then take time off (usually planned ahead) to see the movie.

Hey Leah, we are probably going to see The Vow this weekend too! I would rather see This means War for date night but its not out yet, oh well. Looking forward to the shelf being called tomorrow.

NEW SHELF!

Ghosts

I'll be reading Unholy Ghosts for this shelf :-)

And I'm also really excited for the Hunger Games movie :-)
I bought my sister a copy of the books for Christmas and since then everyone in my family has read them. I love forcing books I like onto other people.

Kate wrote: "I'll be reading Unholy Ghosts for this shelf :-)

And I'm also really excited for the Hunger Games movie :-)
I bought my sister a copy of the books f..."

I did that with my family and Harry Potter. :D

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For "ghosts", I will be reading

Hey ladies, I will be reading for the ghost shelf.

I loved the Unholy Ghosts series, but I think it's kind of a love-or-hate series. I know some people can't stand the way the characters talk in it. Hopefully you like it Kate!!