R7: Team #11 ~ Psychedelic Oysters

[~Leslie~]

Hi Team 11! Just checking up on my Moonstone buddy!!

[Vi]

Hi Leslie!! I've already snuck into your thread *grins*

[Vi]

Book: Venom by Jennifer Estep
Date Read: 3 June 2013
Shelf: Assassins
Rating:★★★★☆
Review: After the first book, I didn't think I'd really enjoy this series. I was not that keen on an assassin lead but the second book hooked me. This book, has me completely falling for it.

Gin is such an awesome heroine. The supporting characters are also getting fully fleshed out that I'm enjoying them. New relations are slowly getting established. But, the best part of all was the action was brisk. There was no lull or inappropriate eye-rolling scenes going on when somebody's gunning for you. The author does tend to info-dumps which seems repeated almost word by word in each book but it's not bothering me at this point.

I'm definitely picking up the next book in this series. Possibly tomorrow from the library.

[Judithe, Soap Operas never end....]

And Vi, it keeps getting better! Enjoy!

[Sam]

*sigh* I've barely gotten any reading done so far today because I've had to actually do WORK at work today. Isn't that the worst?! :P

[Desperado]

Vi wrote: "

Book: Venom by Jennifer Estep
Date Read: 3 June 2013
Shelf: Assassins
Rating:★★★★☆
Review: After the first book, I didn't think I'd really enjoy this series. I was not th..."

YAY VI! I'm glad you enjoyed it. For some reason, that series piques my interest not one bit. It also doesn't hurt that I keep hearing that the info-dumps & repetition only get worse in later books.

[Vi]

@Judithe - That's what everybody's saying. I am going to the library today..

@Sam - That's the worst type of day. When you actually have to WORK :D

@LL - It's ok. It was the same for me. I wasn't actually planning to read before I was reading. Prior to that, I had zero interest in reading it too.

[Desperado]

Work sucks. =( I wanna go back to the days of Juicy Juice, animal crackers and naptime.

[Sam]

LethalLovely~I'll Be Your River wrote: "Work sucks. =( I wanna go back to the days of Juicy Juice, animal crackers and naptime."

I'd settle for going back to my "unemployed" summer when I worked in a book store and got paid to read...at my current salary, of course! :P

I guess I can't complain too much though. I can read during the downtime at my current job, and usually over the summer it's pretty quiet.

[Judithe, Soap Operas never end....]

I'm with Lethal...time slip now, please!

[Desperado]

Hey, Team! My Free Space read will be.... . I bought it. Even though I said I wouldn't buy it. Even though I wrote a review stating that I was so pissed by that lame-ass, anticlimactic blurb reveal that I refused to buy it & would wait for ye ode library to send it to me instead. *quadruple facepalm followed by mega headdesk* I haz no self control.

[Jennifer H]

LOL!

[Vi]

LOL, LL! That will be my FS read as well. 23% in

[Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required]

But Lethal you know you'll enjoy it, just think of it as your *guilty pleasure* ROFLMAO

[Vi]

Book: Heart of Obsidian by Nalini Singh
Date Read: 5 June 2013
Shelf: Free Space
Rating:★★★★ 1/2
Review:
This is going to be a very difficult review. I just finished the book and I'm in awe! Of Nalini Singh's ability to create such an amazing detailed world. Even though the focus of the book is Ghost, the happenings in the Psy-world with Pure Psy was not neglected. Argh, I can't seem to tell more with spoiling.

About Ghost's romance - here's a BIG SPOILER. He's the most swoonworthy hero.

I'm done.

[Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required]

LOL. Well done Vi!!!!

[Sam]

You guys are FAST! lol. I'm a little over 100 pages into my assassins book. Should hopefully be able to finish it before the next shelf is called!

[Jennifer H]

Shelf: Assassins



Fire by Kristin Cashore
Finished: 6/5
Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥

Review:
I enjoyed Graceling, but I was absolutely swept away by Fire. Both novels balance action and romance nicely, but Fire has many well rounded characters, a more involved plot, and a fascinating protagonist. I hope we will see Fire again, in upcoming books.

[Desperado]

Great reviews, ladies!

[Desperado]

Assassins:
Date Read: June 5th
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Review:

The last book I read by Snyder (Fire Study) was such crap that I DNF'd it like 4 chapters in. So to say that I was apprehensive about ToP is an understatement. On the bright side, it was much better than what little I read of FS. On the crap side, it came off like Poison Study's (which I ADORED) pimply, flat-chested 2nd cousin (which was TOTALLY me in middle school).

So there's Avry & she's like THE Healer (as in the only one left) and she can cure almost anything. So Kerrick & his buddies kidnap her so they can take her to their bestest friend ever, Ryne, who has the Plague (which is a big bad disease that's killed like 2 billion people and which is the reason why Avry is the only healer left). I liked everyone except for Kerrick. Kerrick was an asshole for many reasons but especially because he (view spoiler)[backhanded Avry within a day of meeting her because she talked shit about his sick friend Ryne, not to mention starved & chained her to trees out in the cold. (hide spoiler)] This guy Kerrick? Also (view spoiler)[the love interest (hide spoiler)]. WTF. Anyway. Biggest problems with ToP? It was boring. It dragged. It was full-o-cheese. The romance was nonexistent & yet I'm supposed to believe that these characters love each other forever and day. The villain was crap. My 1-year-old nephew during teething time was more frightening than him. Do I wish I hadn't have read ToP? No, because I missed Snyder & some parts were really good (especially everything Belen). Will I read the next book in this series? Not in this lifetime.

[Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required]

I've stopped reading her too Lethal. I got bored in and just never went back, even though I'd bought the next one.

[Jennifer H]

I have a question...

For the shelves with an "&" in it (ie. Ghosts & Spirits) when you look it up on popular shelves it doesn't accept the "&" so do look up "Ghosts Spirits" or "Ghosts and Spirits"?

[Desperado]

I assume you look up "Ghosts and Spirits" Jennifer. When Steph announces the shelves, she posts a link to it which I will re-post on here. What I do know is it has to be the exact shelf and not variations. Take for instance our "assassins" shelf. I looked through some books I wanted to read & there were some that were listed under "Assassin" but I can only read books listed under "Assassins."

[Jennifer H]

Thanks Lethal, I figured it was that way but I started going through my books to see what I had and thought I better make sure :)

[Desperado]

You're welcome. ^_^

BTW, anyone heard from Amber? The new shelf will be announced Saturday (at least here) & it's Thursday evening & she hasn't checked in since the 31st. She had a habit of being MIA in BSB R4 (of which I was also the captain, yay me!) but I was hoping this time would be different. *LL sighs*

[Amber]

I'M here and will have my review up tomorrow. sorry LL .

[Amber]

Will do better. Family chose this time to fall apart sorry.

[Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required]

Glad to see you're still with us Amber :)

[Sam]

My book is taking way longer than I'd thought for me to finish (it's all that pesky work getting in the way!) but I'm off next week, so hopefully the time off will help! I swear I'm not usually this slow! LOL

[Desperado]

Welcome back, Amber.

@ Sam: No need to rush. Take your time. Reading-and this game-is supposed to be FUN! I hope you're enjoying your read. ^_^

[Desperado]

Free Space:
Date Read: June 7th
Rating: ★★★★★
Review:

I can't say much since this entire book-if you go by that bs blurb reveal back in May-is one big spoiler. All I'm gonna say is that adored it. I thought this series couldn't get any better than Kiss of Snow but Singh outdid herself. Not only was the heroine & hero (who didn't even catch my attention until a few books back) kickass, but the plot lines were intriguing as well. A few threads that have been prevalent in this series were tied up & resolved & I am very happy & satisfied with the ending. Here's hoping the next book is about (view spoiler)[Vasic or Aden (hide spoiler)].

[Sam]

LL, I'm having kind of a weird reading experience with my book. While I'm reading it, I'm super into it, absolutely want to know what's going to happen next, etc. As soon as I put it down, I have such a hard time picking it back up! I think it's because I just want to turn my brain off and read total fluff right now, lol.

[Desperado]

I totally understand. I've learned that you usually have to be in a certain mood to read the "meaty" kind of books. You can change your book at anytime, Sam, so if you want to put the Sanderson one on the backburner, I understand. As I previously stated, this game is supposed to be fun so I'd hate for you to feel like you have to finish a book you're just not that into.

[Desperado]

BTW, would someone mind posting the link for the next shelf tomorrow? I'm working from 3-10 pm so I'll be getting home late.

[Sam]

Yeah the length is definitely part of the problem I think. And I'm just not in the right mindset to get really EXCITED about it, even though I'm liking the part I've read a lot so far. I think for now I'll keep it as my assassins book (since I need to finish it for a bunch of other challenges anyways) but maybe take a bit of a break from it...Since I'm off next week, hopefully the extra time will make it easier for me to get into it!

I can post the shelf tomorrow, since I'm basically never NOT on Goodreads :P

[Vi]

Sam - it was the same for me as well. Once I'm reading, I'm totally engrossed but after putting it down, it's gone. It's the same with this other book I'm reading.. I think I'm mentally counting down the number of the pages (this one is 1020!)

I have managed not to read which I picked up from the library yesterday. Hopefully, it fits the shelf called tomorrow.

[Sam]

Shelf!!!! :D

This week is book boyfriends.

[Jennifer H]

For the "Book-Boyfriends" shelf I'll be reading...

[Sam]

I'll be reading for book-boyfriends.

[Vi]

Apparently, Mr. R didn't like me planning to read TT. The BB shelf has soooo much NA/YA which I'm not really in the mood to read now.

My shortlist:



Nothing's really grabbing me right now. Maybe later.

[Desperado]

Thanks, Sam!

Wow. That was the easiest shelf search I've ever had in a round of BSB, given what I plan to read is #1. I'm going to read as I'd already decided to read it this month for a few challenges. Plus I keep hearing from friends about good it is.

@ Vi: I'm mostly always in the mood for YA but NA? That new subgenre is a miss for me more times than not. My votes out of your shortlist: Shadow and Bone or Unspoken. Both were extremely good IMO. The 2nd book in "The Grisha" series, Siege and Storm, came out this month & I am practically salivating waiting for my library to send it to me.

[Judithe, Soap Operas never end....]

Vi & Lethal, teach me! What's NA??

[Vi]

Judithe, NA is New Adult - a new Genre on the block. It's like a coming-of-age story when the protagonist/s just becomes independent. The one I've read is usually set in the late High School/just started college. Here is a link if you want to know more.

[Vi]

@LL: is good. It was the first NA I read before I even knew it was NA. I can usually pick up YA anytime but I'm leaning towards fantasy YA rather than straight up contemporary. WHich is why 4 of them were not straight-up. And, my library had & when I stopped by today. All set to read both.

[Judithe, Soap Operas never end....]

Vi wrote: "Judithe, NA is New Adult - a new Genre on the block. It's like a coming-of-age story when the protagonist/s just becomes independent. The one I've read is usually set in the late High School/just s..."

Thanks, Vi! I get it now.

[Desperado]

Judithe wrote: "Vi & Lethal, teach me! What's NA??"

Pretty much was Vi said, Judithe. I'll add that I think of NA as Contemporary Romance Lite. In addition to the protagonist(s) being 17-24 & "coming of age" I also only consider books NA if the sex scenes are fade-to-black, as most YA books are. If they're explicit, I just add them to my CR shelf.

[Desperado]

Vi wrote: "@LL: is good. It was the first NA I read before I even knew it was NA. I can usually pick up YA anytime but I'm leaning towards fantasy YA rather than straight up contempo..."

YAY! I hope you enjoy them as much as I did, Vi! And if you don't, try not to rough me up too much. ^_^

[Jennifer H]

Shelf: Free Space



Vamps and the City by Kerrelyn Sparks
Finished: 6/8
Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥

Review:
This book not only made me smile throughout the story, but I hated to see it end and leave me hanging as to where the characters would go from there. I hope in the next book, the author will bring back not only Roman and Shanna again, but also Darcy and Austin! Wow! This book really has it all! You can't help but be pulled in to each and every character and look forward to the next one in this series!

[Desperado]

^_^ Glad you enjoyed VatC, Jennifer! It's great when a book leaves you smiling and begging for more.

[Vi]

LL: LOL! I'll try not to :P I started today. I've only done Chapter 1 and I am totally foreseeing a Love Triangle up the horizon. Please tell me I'm just being paranoid??!