SOS: Serious Overload of Series discussion
Archive: Past Team Challenges
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R12: Team #8 ~ Vor8ious Readers
Congrats on the stamp V8 Readers!
Shelf: CoupledomBook:
by Suzanne WrightFinished: 10/24/15
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Jaime Farrow has wanted Dante since she was a child but he has commitment issues and his own rule of "never get involved with a pack member". When Jaime finally decides to move on from her crush and look elsewhere, the big guy doesn't like it one bit! He also knows that Jaime is hiding something and he's going to figure out what exactly the little spitfire is up to.
I loved the first book in this series! It was hilarious with the 2 psychos and the crazy grandma. However, this book just didn't quite live up to it's predecessor. It was still funny, still sexy and still enjoyable but... not as much. I will definitely read the rest of the series though. It's perfect for when you're in the mood for a funny, with a side of crazy, PNR book filled with hot and steamy.
I had a couple of other books to finish before I could start my book for this week - I'm starting it today and will finish hopefully by Thurs
Shelf: Coupledom
Bayou Moon
Finished 10/26/2015
Rating 3.5 stars
Enjoyable, full of action, lots of monsters (urban?) fantasy novel with the trademark humor of Ilona Andrews. Many characters, a bit confusing sometimes, especially in the audiobook version, so I had to switch to the e-book for the last third of the book. Cerise and William was the main couple, likable characters, but their romance wasn't anything special.
Popping in to check for shelf ...
It's alpha male on shelf https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/... .Not my most favorite but at least it's a shelf call; have to think about it.
D.A.—Shelf! Shelf! Shelf! wrote: "It's alpha male on shelf https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/... .Not my most favorite but at least it's a shelf call; have to think about it."
Thanks for posting Debbie! Unfortunately just finished a Kristen Ashley book and started another one :(
Sadly, unless I missed something, we don't have any 8-of-9 opportunities yet even once all called shelves are stamped.
Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews is on page 9 of shelf so I'll slog thru it if available from library before Monday (I'm next in line).Supposedly the book that will hook me and I didn't want to wade through that many pages of books in all kinds of genres to find something more appealing. If not available by then, I'll peruse what everyone else picked.
I finished up my coupledom book and will post my review tomorrow.I'll be back with my alpha male book in a few.......
Ok Alpha Male book
Amaury's HellionShelved 10 times as Alpha male.
I'm hoping his book is better than Samson's :)
I'll be reading
for Alpha Male shelf.
Shelf: Coupledom
Finished 10/28/15
Rating 3 -3.5♥'s
Review: I'm not sure what I was expecting but I guess it was more than what I got?!? this is the first in a vampire series and I'm going to assume it is going to be a light fluff kind of series with a lot of sex in it. Delilah is in San Francisco to audit the Scangaurds company. Samson is the vampire owner of said company - who btw has been having ED for the last nine months after breaking up with previous girlfriend. Um what?? Samson meets Delilah when she pounds on his door when being chased by large intimidating man. Samson thinks she is the stripper his friends have gotten him for his birthday and play acting the damsel in distress - a human stripper??? Oooohh and looky, looky down below everything is raring and ready to go for the first time in months. Samson is all on board until he comes to his senses that she is human and ....not the stripper. Anyway after that it turned to a sweet story. I just had issues with the fact that said owner of company had no clue she was auditing his company, the mystery wasn't that hard to figure out - I figured it out pretty quickly - wasn't a shocker and again I was surprised no one else figured it out. You get to meet a good deal of the secondary characters whom I enjoyed. I will continue with Amaury's book. It may just be that this is going to be a sexy fluff series. So I'll have to adjust my expectations and proceed accordingly - I got the nine book series all together when it was on sale for 0.99 at kindle - so I guess no complaints on spending too much money for this, lol.
Shelf #15 ~ 21 Oct:Coupledom 4/4D.A.: The Golden Lily, 10/21/2015, ★★1/2, Review
Elizabeth: Bayou Moon, 10/26/2015, ★★★1/2, Review
Melissa:Samson's Lovely Mortal, 10/28/2015, ★★★-★★★1/2, Review
Nichole: Wicked Cravings, 10/24/2015, ★★★1/2 Review
Shelf #16 ~ Alpha Male
Finished 10/30/2015
Rating 3 stars
There's been worst installments in the series. This one was enjoyable, although the whole Ethan-Merit relationship and Lacey's presence brings to mind high school drama.
@Elizabeth - that was the last in the series I read and I decided - I really didn't care anymore what happened. I took that series off my list to catch up on and worked on others, lol.Maybe someday I'll go back to it.
Me too, Melissa!I'll pick my book tonight. I'm going to wait and see if I can combine it with another challenge.
Nichole wrote: "Me too, Melissa!I'll pick my book tonight. I'm going to wait and see if I can combine it with another challenge."
Glad I wasn't the only one :)
Okay, I'm going with
- shelved 5 times as Alpha Male.
Nichole wrote: "Okay, I'm going with [The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires|12988478]- shelved 5 times as Alpha Male."Have you already read the "preceding" Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs books (not on aloha male shelf)? If not, this one may not be the one to start with. Just personal opinion because so far I'm not into this spinoff except that I was somewhat mollified with the few glimpses of crossover characters. The next witch one was a departure from rest of serieses where it didn't seem to belong -- then I read Gigi's book for the readathon and it really dumbed her down where I think I'm dropping this spinoff completely.
Ugh...someone is complaining over in the feedback group that group discussions should not contain reviews or talk about books because unlike friend/followed reviews which show above the fold dumping everyone else out of sight the discussion threads will show on front page (if set to discussions tab).They want goodreads to do something about folders and threads like ours ...
Yep, I've already read all of the Jane Jameson series.
Alpha MaleShelved 10 times as Alpha Male
Finished 11/1/15
Rating: 3-3.5 - rounded down to 3♥ on GR
Review: second in the series follows Amaury from book 1 who has to have sex routinely to stop the emotions of others that overflow from a curse he's been under since he was turned vampire. Hell of a way to live. He also has not felt love for another female in all that time either. Imagine his surprise when a girl who was following him kisses him and he feels no emotions - utter blessed emptiness in his head. Awesome, except that he really needs to know what is going on in Nina's head as she keeps getting her self in trouble. I enjoyed this one better than book 1 but like book 1 I found myself skimming parts here and there. Overly wordy or maybe I'm just not connecting with this writer's style. Also - a lot more characters in this one and I don't feel that they were all needed or added to the story.
Hmm...my Kate Daniels still not available from library loan (not willing to buy until hooked on series) but another one from my library waitlist on that Alpha Male bookshelf is. Has anyone heard of book or author:
Tall, Dark, and Vampire by Sara Humphreys?I like reading library books first just because I imagine the next person on waiting list chewing nails waiting for me to finish.
I haven't heard of her....you can let us know how she is :)
I haven't read her either, but one of the people I follow & I trust, has given it 5 stars. He doesn't do that often, in fact I don't remember the last 5 stars he gave, so it must be alright :)
I'm currently reading the sample; if disliked I won't check out the book and just pick another one for this shelf.I'm jealous that so many other teams already have 8-of-9 stamped or possible *sigh*.
Sample sounded good (either interesting or will get weird or turn all sappy, fetish or nightclub-by) and should be a quick read, so that's my read for this shelf. Haven't read anything not mainstream published in a long time.
CONGRATULATIONS, Vor8ious Readers!You now have an updated BINGO card with a stamp on 'coupledom'.
[Your updated BINGO card can be viewed on page 1]
Good Job!! :D
Congrats on the stamp V8 Readers!
Where I think we are with potential wins:
| 
| 
6 of 9 | 7 of 9 | 5 of 9 already stamped.
This week's "Alpha Male" call will get 6-of-9 for rightmost "+" pattern. Kinda sucks with so many other teams having or going to have 8-of-9s.
D.A.—Shelf! Shelf! Shelf! wrote: "Where I think we are with potential wins:| |
6 of 9 | 7 of 9 | 5 of 9 already stamped.
This week's "Alpha Male" call will get 6-of-9 for rightmost "+" pattern. Kinda sucks with so ..."
It sucks, indeed! I don't think there's any chance for us winning :(
Shelf: Alpha MaleBook:
by Molly HarperFinished: 11/2/15
Rating:★★★★
This was more like 3.5 Stars but I rounded up just because of the fun factor. Molly Harper does funny just right. It's totally ridiculous but fun and I always enjoy her books.
Iris Scanlon is a vampire daytime concierge but considers them a business deal. After visiting a new client, only to find him poisoned, her realities shift. She is offered a lot of money to keep Cal hidden and try to help him figure out who is poisoning vampires. If only she could fight the attraction! Hilarity ensues, romance blossoms and the mystery gets solved.
Yes, our chances of winning are slim indeed :(
I finished my book last night -- but haven't decided what to say yet. Will post it this afternoon, hopefully before shelf call.
Is there any possibility that a call today won't result in a winning shelf for any of the teams in the running for winning? Hopefully that made sense :)
Well, these are the potentially winning and non-winning calls:
Assuming the stats at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/... have been updated and everyone is seeing same thing I was just seeing (which apparently isn't always true even at exact same link).
Shelf's been called -- it's "Same but Different". -- a new2you series by an author you've read.(Nothing to do with the tv show Roseanne episode where Jackie takes an adult DJ to therapist where he's muttering about how it's not the same but different, referring to the two actresses rotating the part of his sister Becky.)
Gee, anyone excited that this shelf call gives us another 7-of-9 instead of finally an 8-of-9? At least I don't think (if stats are up to date on that Google spreadsheet) it's a win for anyone so game isn't over yet.
This is not a shelf that I wanted. *Sigh*
*
Alpha Male Shelf (shelved two-times)
Tall, Dark, and Vampire by Sara Humphreys
Finished: November 3, 2015
Series: Dead in The City, #1
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Number of pages: 317
This was an okay read. Parts I liked better than others. I have no idea why it was shelved as "alpha male" unless because had a male serial killer making an appearance as villain once at end and mentioned a couple of other times. I'm sorry this review is a long one -- but, it's hard to put into words.
I have no clue how it possibly garnered so many ★★★★★ reviews. Not meaning that I suspect sockpuppets or author street gangs. Just meaning that the slightly choppy story flow and some other elements are issues I expect would have the book at best being rated "I liked it" to even "I loved it" but hardly one of the most "amazing" books ever read -- doesn't sound, either, like those 5-star reviews were confusing the scale best/worst ends because text indicates positive reviews.
New to me author and series that started well, no expectations and no idea what I was getting into (randomly found in public library). As anyone glancing at sample could tell, starts out definitely alpha female -- and stays that way. First impression a strong, empowered female vampire with an entourage of female progeny she turned ( plus a not yet met male vampire she turned at female bestie request). A scene where she's scolding one of her girls for playing with her food (debasing a human guy) which was handled well enough but gave me an unfounded worry that debasement would be a them--unfounded, not what book was about.
Started with some interesting twists to vampire lore. Avoided making the "strong" female a bitch. Talked so frequently about how she'd been celibate for centuries I made it a drinking game -- otherwise story was a good one about a strong lady leading own life after being turned vampire, serving maker for a century, then serving the vampire presidio as a "sentry" until she could retire, get her own business, and proceed to be the strong chick who still couldn't resist rescuing strays (in the case of one kitty, literally). Tragically the love of her life died before her eyes right before she was turned vampire(view spoiler).
As already revealed in book description -- the dead love (and her one and only sexual experience a week before they were to marry)or some lookalike makes a reappearance. Ooh, that could have gotten interesting. But it didn't. He turned into an impossibly perfect wish fulfillment character and plot. He was (view spoiler). All the interesting worldbuilding and vampire bits -- turned into the super special M.C. and her love getting more and more super-specialness and them not getting just vampire powers but extradoridinay super vampire powers. Any problematic or icky part of vampirism, not for this special, special couple.
Just didn't stay true to how it started. Some out of character moments for a strong female taking care of needy entourage -- like sticking very young human stray with the creepy VIP client after she got fed up with his advances. Didn't sit well; yes, I'm sure night club owners and others do to an extent cater to VIP, rich, influential or powerful clients but she should have handled it herself or let one of the vampires in entourage working at the club deal with.
The sex scenes really got chopped in. As if it was a movie where the direct would "cut" to sex scene because wanted x percentage inserted at y interval. Explicit but mostly well done sex scenes for the most part -- except author couldn't decide if wanted to go full throttle insta lust immediate sex where backed away until last scene (I was about ready to scream --" just stick it in all ready"). Constantly sandwiching the sexy parts with M.C.-onky-had-sex-the-once-close-to-wedding-with-the-now-dead-fiancée-she's-stayed-faithful-to-centuries. As if afraid M.C. would be slut-shamed. I would have preferred either a lusty bout of sex or lusty foreplay leading to sex than these chopped in explicit but stop just short of (or didn't rally count cause dreaming) bits. I dud better once I started seeing it as an amateur YouTube production with a director over fond of cutting in odd scenes.
No real mystery. Although same "director" chopped in a couple out of place mystery and cop/morgue police bits that didn't flow wth the rest of story. All the side characters pretty broadly drawn where good guys all absolutely adored the special M.C. and villains did not; the "broadly drawn" might be misleading because some may have been characters from other books by this author or reflections of people in her real life.
Of course a happy ending. Of course the rumored blood mates were going to be Miss Special and her love (view spoiler). Vampires can fly, have superhero speed,, have telepathy, read memories from blood, blood tastes like best cinnamon desserts ever and is not icky, ... With a veritable kitchen sink of supernatural stuff, powers and rewards for our intrepid heroes. Author had no problem mixing head vampire "Emperor" with territory leaders reporting to him "czars/czarinas" with confusing mentions of vampire senate or presidio--nevermind th shapeshifters, demons and angels.
Did I mention how very much everyone adored the M.C.? Or how if she did something questionable it was fine because she did it but outright evil if non-adoring villains did same?
It was an okay read. My picking at the choppiness, cardboard-y secondary characters and villains, and über-specialness of heroine aside shouldn't be that bad of a review. I've recently gotten one too many of these everything-you-could-ever-imagine-wanting-happens books that rather take the vampire out of vampire and really impart special powers to M.C. books where it's starting to annoy me.
Not necessarily annoying if done as a humorous spoof or parody; just that there's only so much special I can stomach and this book was quite choppy with scenes that seemed to belong to different books and even completely different genres of books -- I had issues both with the story flow, with characters staying in character and with the worldbuilding having any sort of logic outside of let's give M.C. another awesome power or wish fulfillment.
Not likely to pursue series; not ruling out reading later books by this author.
Which brings me back to head scratching at the reviewers who found this story that at best had problems with story flow one of the most amazing books they ever read. Maybe they thought the "amazing" on the goodreads star scale referred to "amazing super powers of"...?
Too bad Sideswiped by Kim Harrison is too short -- that's a new series.I think I'll go with:
by Anne Bishop; not really a "new" series but new series from author of Black Jewels series I've read some books in. I keep re-starting it when friend posts make it sound so good and then losing interest. Bookshelf BINGO should make me finally read it even when it starts reading like a dystopian thing with an air of Brothers Grimm.
Shelf #16 ~ 28 Oct: Alpha Male 4/4D.A.: Tall, Dark, and Vampire, 11/3/2015, ★★, Review
Elizabeth: House Rules, 10/30/2015, ★★★, Review
Melissa: Amaury's Hellion 11/1/2015, ★★★, Review
Nichole: The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires, 11/2/2015, ★★★★ Review
Shelf #17 ~ 4 Nov: Same, but DifferentRead a book: in a new2you series written by an author you've read (ex: Ilona Andrews - The Edge, Kate Daniels, Hidden Legacy series)
I'm going to read
by Suzanne Wright for Same, but Different shelf. I read the first book in her Phoenix series some time ago.
This was really not what I wanted to have called this week :(Same but Different
I will go with Keri Lake
- even though it is a prequel it is 257 pgs*edit* I double checked in discussion thread to make sure this ok -since technically Ricochet(my previous Keri Lake book) is not a series book. Steph ok'd it
SOS: Serious Overload of Series
Books mentioned in this topic
Spiral of Need (other topics)The Fallen (other topics)
Sweet Release (other topics)
Written in Red (other topics)
Sweet Release (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Pamela Clare (other topics)Pamela Clare (other topics)
Anne Bishop (other topics)
Anne Bishop (other topics)
Pamela Clare (other topics)
More...
You now have an updated BINGO card with a stamp on 'reader's choice'.
[Your updated BINGO card can be viewed on page 1]
Good Job!! :D"
Thanks, Steph :)