READERS Group - What Are You Reading?

[Lorelle]

Maria wrote: "Lorelle wrote: "Argh Ive been slack. Ill jump into providing my freebies soon! I just finished . not too bad - loads of action - very UF - just needed a bit of pol..."

Yeah she is one tough woman..demons everywhere!
I got it when the whole series was free on amazon

[Lorelle]

Argh it isnt free anymore :(

[Maria]

Lorelle wrote: "Argh it isnt free anymore :("

That happens. I've got one you mentioned in that large list of the month that I'm watching. I don't think it was picked for the group read, but it looks interesting. It's not that expensive either. --Oh and most of them are lendable. If you picked them up, I'm sure lots of people did and we have a lending thread so we can exchange some of them!

[Maria]

I'm reading Sleight of Hand. It's very well written, well-plotted and not an editing error in sight. Too bad it's so much about vamps and some of the cliches that go with them. Let me say right off, I'm not a big fan of vamp UF (with them as the main characters). I read little of it as a result. This is done quite well, but I'm at about 62 percent and there was just a rather LARGE infodump that took me out of the story for a few reasons. One, it was large infodump and two, I'm just not into vampires and the various "lore" that gets made up about them to create the "powerful" creatures that they are. The biggest problem for me is they aren't human. Sure, they try to sound human, but they're this and that and usually end up so powerful and sexy and can do this and that and mind control and everything else...they cease being interesting for me.

HOWEVER, if you don't mind vamp UF, this is a good one and the price is certainly right. The author (Mark Henwick) is particularly adept at foreshadowing. Actions scenes are frequent and interesting. One really great thing about the book is that the main has actual personal relationships--family with the usual types of family problems and actual friends. So she's bad-ass, but not boring.

[Maria]

I think Sleight of Hand is going to be a DNF for me. Too much Laurel K in it for me. Oh, it's not THAT bad, but the undercurrent is there and it is getting in the way of the story. It was sprinkled in there here and there and I was ignoring it, but the further I read, the more it pushes the story aside, so what was foreshadowing of a good plot has moved aside for these urges FOR EVERY MOVING CREATURE. This is one of the vampire cliches that tends to get in the way of the plot for me.

[Lorelle]

Reading . Its dark but Im not finding it overly so. 40% in and its looking like the romance might take some of my enjoyment away.

[Maria]

Lorelle wrote: "Reading . Its dark but Im not finding it overly so. 40% in and its looking like the romance might take some of my enjoyment away."

Too much romance or too little? Or too many?

[Lorelle]

Romance just starting. But instant love hinted at earlier on. I just like my darker books to remain a little less "omigod he is so hot". Im still enjoying it, I just hope it doesnt overpower the rest of the book. I dont think it will *fingers crossed*

[Maria]

Lorelle wrote: "Romance just starting. But instant love hinted at earlier on. I just like my darker books to remain a little less "omigod he is so hot". Im still enjoying it, I just hope it doesnt overpower the re..."

Or just hope it doesn't turn into one of those where EVERYONE is ohmygod he's so hot. A good plot rarely revolves around runaway hormones.

[Maria]

I'm in a lull again. Not finding much in the pile that I want to read.

[Lorelle]

That s.m.reine series is free again. You could give that a go. The link is in that pile I added today. I just finished darkhouse. Not sure if its still free but it squeezed 3.5/4 stars out of me. I think I just got sick of handing out 3's

[Maria]

Lorelle wrote: "That s.m.reine series is free again. You could give that a go. The link is in that pile I added today. I just finished darkhouse. Not sure if its still free but it squeezed 3.5/4 stars out of me. I..."

Yeah, I had grabbed the bundle and I just downloaded the first. I'll give it a look, but in general, I'm kind of tired of 3s. I need a good 5 or at least a 4. Some of the freebies you listed today did not give me the warm fuzzies. When the author spends have the blurb listing how the book is this volume of that volume or mentioning that REALLY this version has been edited...my enthusiasm kind of takes a dive!

[Maria]

David Bain's The Castleton Files: Five Adventures -- good book. I'm about halfway through the stories. When I read shorts, I prefer them like this--all about the same character; various mysteries. They read like a novel for me with shorter cases rather than an overall story arc, but I enjoy them. There are some typos; not many but one in particular that had me groaning out loud...

[Maria]

Started Stage Fright (Stage Fright) by Michelle Scott. I've read a few of her books before (I know the author and have traded beta reads with her). They're always well-written, but lean towards being too dark for me. She had a "dark cozy" series out (Straight to Hell, Straight to Heaven and...I forget the third title). The cozy parts were great, but they delved into these dark areas that left me edgy. The series (Lilith Straight series) has since been picked up by a publisher, so it's not currently available.

So far, Stage Fright is good. I wouldn't call it cozy; so far it's just a general mystery and I suspect it will be a paranormal one.

[Maria]

Reading Stage Fright by Michelle Scott. Pretty good so far. Couple of minor typos, but generally very clean copy. Flows well and is a bit of an interesting take on how vamps use people. Uses some of the typical lore and mixes in some other ideas. Not too dark so far although I've read some by this author that is much darker so I'm a little squeamish at parts, waiting for the other shoe to fall. So far, so good.

[Samhy]

Lately, I finished . This isn't the standard romance story and some things need to be ironed out, but I quite liked it.

[Maria]

Samhy wrote: "Lately, I finished . This isn't the standard romance story and some things need to be ironed out, but I quite liked it."

Thanks for the rec. I see it doesn't get good reviews, mostly due to the editing. From the blub, I'm going to guess English is the second language. I like the cover. Nice and simple.

[Samhy]

I didn't like the way the dialogues were handled (poorly, if you ask me). However, the main idea was interesting and not that common. I agree with you about the cover.
Do you see if lending is allowed with Amazon US?

[Maria]

Yes, lending is allowed in the US. One reviewer said they liked it and said "A bit creased, needs ironing." I guess that probably sums up some of the wrinkles in it!! They probably just needed to hire an editor, but had a good story otherwise.

[Maria]

I'm reading The Last Condo Board of the Apocalypse This is really weird. It requires a lot of concentration because the analogies are...well, you have to stop and think because they are unusual. Or they don't make sense in a kind of Alice in Wonderland way. You know what the words say, but you can't quite picture it.

I'm generally not one for having to focus so hard--I speed read so I'll read half a sentence and get the 'picture' and scoot on. Can't do that with this novel because it has objects that are...not what they appear or creatures that you have to stop and try to imagine. Weird. It's a bit Monty Python, a bit that other weird book. I'll think of the name of it.

But. It's very interesting reading so I haven't stopped. There's also some good one-liners.

[Maria]

Started Never Buried Intriguing start, but kind of slowed down after the body incident. The body itself is very interesting, but the other stuff is kind of plodding. Main keep interrupting the action to do things like get coffee.

[Maria]

Started reading Armed A good premise, a likeable character. I'm about 1/3 of the way in and it's been nothing but pages and pages of 'interviews' and reasoning about why she should investigate. It is a common theme that I've never understood. State once that the gal is curious, or wants revenge and then let her do her thing. There's really no logic to anyone playing Nancy Drew and mentioning the "why" all the time just draws attention to the implausibility of it.

It's kind of been my weekend for not settling with a book.

[Maria]

Modern Sorcery by Gary Jonas. VERY promising. Kind of a pulp fiction detective feel without all the cursing and drinking. Likeable characters and very unlikeable characters, good plotting so far.

HATE the fact it's got double spacing between paragraphs, but that's pretty minor and once I get going with the flow, I don't notice it. Couple of typos, nothing at all serious and have only noticed two. Since it is the same error twice, I think it was done on purpose, but no idea why.

This could be really good.
At any rate, so far so good. UF.

[Maria]

reading Danger in Cat World. It's got a kind of Gothic feel to it. Ponderous. Interesting characters and very weird events. I stared one other book by this author The Last Condo Board of the Apocalypse. It was also weird, but even weirder than this one. The style of storytelling is...ponderous. And weird, but catchy.

[Maria]

Finished Booster & Reeves: The Night of the Revenants and reviewed at the blog (www.BearMountainBooks.com)

Also finished A Hoe Lot of Trouble. I think this is a backlist brought back to Kindle, but I'm not sure. It's cozy. Had a couple of plot holes, one in the mystery and one in one of the characters. Well, maybe two in the characters. Things didn't exactly line up in their actions although it was "convenient' to the story. I finished it, but I don't think I'll continue the series. I could probably handle the plot hole in the mystery because I made up my own explanation, but the character thing...meh. If you like cozies, it's not a bad book, but not a 5 star read.

[Maria]

Started Head of Words by Chris Ward. Interesting. This is well-written and engaging, but I don't know what genre it is. I'd call it the "eclectic genre." I'm guessing it's going to be a bit of literature, human examination mixed with humor. Not a genre I read and wasn't quite enough to intrigue me to stick with it, but keep in mind I am a genre reader. I'll wander off the beaten path--and this fits that bill, but I like action. This one was doing a good job drawing the characters. There were a lot of them and they were quirky.

[Maria]

Started Easy Bake Coven. Well-written, but it lacked a sense of urgency? The main was pretty carefree and seemed to be in a good spot. A mysterious stranger was introduced pretty quickly, but I guess I wasn't grabbed by the characters enough to continue. Seemed to be a cozy and might be a good paranormal cozy read.

[Maria]

We're picking a book to read based completely on the blurb over at my blog--no titles, no cover, no author name.

Vote!

I think from this batch only one has paranormal elements. I am pretty sure at least one book is indie.

www.BearMountainBooks.com

Welcome to invite friends to come and vote too!

[Maria]

The next "Choose a book by a blurb" is going on at my blog--there are some indie books in the mix (not that you can tell because the only thing we vote on is the blurb).

Everyone is welcome to come and play!

Www.BearMountainBooks.com

[Maria]

So, I'm reading Witch for Hire by N E Conneely.

Nice cover and a fun plot, fun, likeable characters and I even enjoy both POVs.

Problem: Typos and other editing issues galore. I can generally handle a fairly high number, but I edit as part of my day job and I read to escape. When there are two issues per Kindle page, I find my annoyance level hitting new highs.

I'm not sure I'll finish it. I've nothing against a typo or two; been there myself. But this is really a very good story and it deserved to be edited. There's quite a bit of repetition in there too and between that and the errors, I find my love of the story constantly interrupted.

I do recommend the book for the story for cozy readers, mystery readers and light fantasy--if you can overlook typos or just general editing issues that need to be cleaned up. And I haven't finished it yet so no guarantee it will hold together from a plot perspective either.

[Maria]

Robin Fairborn, the Galdafax Gems - lots of run-on sentences. Didn't make it far with this one although the dwarf character and the wizard were interesting characters.

[Maria]

So I'm reading Baehrly Breathing. It started out VERY good and quite cozy and fun. Now normally with a title and characters like this one has, I'd never even pick the book up. Too cutesy and kind of sounds stupid. But I randomly picked it off my kindle. I really enjoyed the first half. Right around 60 percent it turned a bit darker and weirder so I'm not sure I'll continue to like it. It's not that it's too dark it's just that out of nowhere with very little setup...the scene and tone shifted. That was kind of jarring and is probably why the next set of events is kind of leaving me not enjoying these scenes. We went from a heroine who was able to take on just about anything that came her way to throwing her into a situation where she's pretty much helpless. Part of world building (for me) is to know these types of parameters and since we hadn't seen a lot of weakness, it's throwing this reader (and the heroine for that matter). Maybe it was just my mood, but I think for this type of book, which is almost too cute for the danger the heroine is in, the setup here could have prepped me better. Or something.

Anyway the book is better than the blurb indicates and ignore the completely cheesy names.

EDITED TO ADD: However, as the next post shows, this book was too cheesy for me in the end.

[Maria]

Read some more of Baehrly Breathing. Can't recommend it. There appeared to be some missing scenes or some pretty big jumps where suddenly this was happening--with no real prep--just a back note of "oh I was doing this." Then came the big save, which was pretty much blacked out with no real explanation for how it could possibly work. Instead of showing us how the heroes stepped in and saved the day we get nothing. On top of that the heroine being in danger after the bad guy is shot requires a tad more than 'Well, we don't know how he kept draining you.' In fact, while I realize magic doesn't always have an explanation, there are limits.

Then to top it off, it appears we had to go solidly down a love triangle...

and I stopped reading. The whole thing just dissolved into a big fat mess so far as plot was concerned. There's some good characters and some good writing, but it fell apart.

DNF.

[Maria]

Elisabeth wrote: "I just finished Ashes of Time by Sarah Woodbury. It's the 8th novel in the After Cilmeri series. Now normally I would never get to the 8th book in any series, but I..."

It has some high ratings from readers. Someone mentioned a previous book to Footsteps though. I wonder if they read out of order. Either way, thanks for posting about it! I know how rare it is to find a series that you can read for multiple books!

[Maria]

Elisabeth wrote: "She wrote a prequelDaughter of Time: A Time Travel Romance that came out after I read Footsteps. I think it made more sense reading footsteps first, but I'm sure it doesn't make tha..."

Ah, thanks. Interesting.

[Tiki]

Check out the The Marnie Baranuik Files by A.J. Aalto .... I just read both books and both novellas and really enjoyed. They're crazy, fun, and, well, just check out the reviews and decide for yourself.
Had to know about book 3, so I contacted the author who replied promptly that #3, 'Last Impressions' is scheduled for release in May. Yay!!

[Maria]

Tiki wrote: "Check out the The Marnie Baranuik Files by A.J. Aalto .... I just read both books and both novellas and really enjoyed. They're crazy, fun, and, well, just check out the reviews and decide for your..."

Thanks for the heads-up, Tiki! Will definitely check them out!

[Maria]

I just finished reading Clean -- very good UF. It is NOT under 5, HOWEVER, he has a couple of novellas/short stories out that are under 5 for those on a budget who want to try them. Writing and plot is very solid. Clean was a bit on the dark side, but a good read. I'll have to continue this series and see where it goes.

[April]

I just read Dying for a Living Dying for a Living and I quite liked it. There are some parts that may offend/annoy some (a day shadowing a high rent call girl) or be a trigger for others (a very unsavory distasteful stepfather in the main's past) but for the most part it was interesting with good characters.

I was a tad annoyed with the romance parts because it is a not fully dismantled love triangle and it while it was pretty much resolved at one point, the ending made it clear that there might be more of the same in the future. Luckily, this did not have a great deal of effect on the plot so I was able to avoid it for the most part.

Forgot to mention - I got this free during a special but it is currently only $3.99.

[Maria]

That one sounded very interesting to me and I started it this weekend too. I was quite put off by the attitude and lack of likable characters. Granted, I only met the boss, the main, the assistant and one of the love interests--who sounded like a boar. Even in that first meeting the main made it pretty clear it was all about sex and that he didn't have much more to offer. THAT did not make me want to read on.

Did she ever tone it down? My impression was that she was all snark without doing a lot to better her blackmail situation. What the other guy (didn't read far enough to meet him) any more likeable than "Lane?"

I really think there is potential with the idea, but I'm not convinced I want to pick it back up again.

[April]

Yes, the snark gets toned down a great deal - especially when she finds out someone is out to kill her. The other 'guy' is her assistant but neither were as fleshed out as they could be but that first meeting between the main and Lane is misleading.

The book improved as it moved forward so I hope that the next book is even better.

[Maria]

April wrote: "Yes, the snark gets toned down a great deal - especially when she finds out someone is out to kill her. The other 'guy' is her assistant but neither were as fleshed out as they could be but that f..."

Hmm. I think I may wait and see what you think of the second one first!

[Victoria]

3

Really liked this book. Lots of sexual tension.