R12: Team #13 ~ Baker's Dozen

[Mary X]

So I decided I wanted a good Gothic type mystery with Halloween coming up.

[Sarah]

Cheryl, I am so sorry for you loss. I know how hard it is to lose a loved one! Good thoughts and vibes going your way!

[Mary X]

Cheryl, I completely missed that about your FIL passing away. Sorry to hear that. No worries on your reading for this.

[Lisa]

Sorry for your loss Cheryl. You are never really ready. You and your family are in my thoughts.

[Lisa]

Shelf: New 2 U Series
Book: Dark Descendant by Jenna Black
325 pages
finished 10-15-15
Rating: ***

This book was a nice change. It is the story of Nikki Glass, a PI who is just getting her life together. She finds herself getting a last min. call to assist a friend in retrieving someone who is trying to leave a cult. She hops in her car and rushes off to the meeting where her life is changed forever. A secret community of descendants of mythological Gods reveal themselves to Nikki and she is drawn into a deadly game of tug of war. She has to decide who are the good guys and how good are they?

I liked Nikki. She was strong enough but not too strong. She had flaws and problems like every one else. She makes iffy decisions and looses her mind around attractive,she is loyal and sarcastically funny. I am interested in watching this new 2 me character develop.

[Lisa]

Hello Everyone. For my Readers Choice pick I am reading the next Nikki Glass book :

[Cheryl]

Shelf: New 2 U Series
Book: A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab
386 pages
finished 10-18-15
Rating: 3 1/2 Stars

A Darker Shade of Magic is set in four different parallel universes of which only Kell and one other can travel between. Each realm has varying amounts of magic and though similar in some ways, are different in many other aspects. Kell delivers correspondence between the royals of each realm and dabbles in a little smuggling between the realms. He runs into trouble when Lila, a pickpocket, steals one of his smuggled items and they are pursued by a dangerous enemy.

This book was a mixed bag for me: I loved the descriptive writing, the original concept and the intriguing, diverse characters. However, I found the world building to be very heavy in the beginning of the book with the description of the three parallel worlds (the fourth one is closed off) and the characters within each. Also, the story didn't pick up until a third of the way into the book, but when it did, there was plenty of action, mystery and twists.

[Cheryl]

For my Reader's Choice, I have chosen to read .

[Sarah]

Shelf 12: New to You Series Hounded by Kevin Hearne
Pages: 292
Read: 10.19.15
Rating: ★★★★
Review:

I am sort of fascinated with Celtic lore so this was right up my alley. I agree that Oberon is hilarious! I know sometimes characters like that, only there for the comedic relief can get annoying, but I loved it. So many interesting and conflicting theologies and mystical forces. I liked the mix. I liked the characters. While, I enjoyed it I don't think it was a 5 star read for me, it felt a little predictable and moved slowly at times. I know there was supposed to be shocking reveals, but I really wasn't that surprised. Gods always tend to look out for themselves first, and manipulate humans in a way that works for them. However, I will be reading the next book in the series.

[Mary X]

Sorry I was kind of MIA the last few days. I had an accounting 101 final, a paper and project for my other class, a party and also trying to juggle a new boyfriend in with all that.

I have managed to get most of my reader's choice book done and should finish by tomorrow. Only have about 90 min of audio left. It's kind of boring so I have been taking breaks from it to listen to something else.

Going to catch up on updating my tracking post and see if we have another stamp coming.

[Mary X]

Good new, we can now get our New2YouSeries stamp.

[Steph, Serious series addict]

CONGRATULATIONS, Baker's Dozen!
You now have an updated BINGO card with a stamp on 'new2you series'. 

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

Good Job!! :D

[Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required]

Congrats on the stamp Baker's Dozen!

[Mary X]

Shelf! Coupledom

Not sure what I read for this yet.

Almost done with my reader's choice book. It drags just enough to make me put it aside for a bit but not quite enough to have dropped it altogether.

[Mary X]

Think I am in the mood for a Regency type romance so will go with this:

[Sarah]

Awe, I wish this one would have been in a place we can use! Oh well. I have to browse my books to figure out what I'm going to read for this one. I think it's a cute idea!

[Sarah]

I'm going back and forth between quite a few. Has anyone read any of these and enjoyed them?

[Mary X]

I read Laid Bare years ago and I think I liked it. My tastes have changed since then though.

[Mary X]

So how is everybody doing?

[Cheryl]

I am only halfway through my Reader's Choice of but I should have it finished by the weekend. It's been one of those weeks!

I have picked for my Coupledom shelf.

Sarah, I have only read Sweet Evil and though I enjoyed it, I don't remember it being a stand-out read. Sorry that I can't be of more help.

[Mary X]

Cheryl, how is everyone doing after your family tragedy?

[Sarah]

I think I'm gonna go with Take Me On by Katie McGarry

[Mary X]

I finished my reader's choice book but I'm too tired to review it tonight. I keep waking up before 5 am when I don't have to get up until 6:30. So I am just going to go to bed early in an attempt to not feel so tired when that happens.

[Lisa]

Shelf: Reader's Choice
Book: Deadly Descendant by Jenna Black
355 pages
finished 10-19-15
Rating: ***

I really enjoyed this book. It left me wanted more. It was a great read and kept me tensed for more the whole time. I wasn't in love with the ending.. I would have been angry if I wouldn't have had the next book in hand. The end felt like a summary.

Nikki is becoming part of the group and is working on understanding and using her powers. Her in-house romance is heating up and for sure headed for disaster. Her relationship with Anderson becomes more complicated as they search for a descendant of Anubis who is killing people with his jackals. She is also dealing a not-so-grateful Emma.

I couldn't wait and I'm almost done with the next book. It's pretty good too.

[Lisa]

Hello. Can you believe that none of my books in my to be read pile have a couple on the cover! I will be making a virtual trip to the library tonight to find a read. I may end up with a regular old romance :(

[Mary X]

Not even with checking other editions?

I am reading a regular old romance and enjoying it quite a bit. For awhile there was a trend with putting romance style covers on mysteries. But I don't know you'd search for that. The couple does not have to be in an embrace or anything. Just 2 people on the cover.

Don't you just love be able to look for library books at home in your PJs?

[Lisa]

Mary: Harry Dresden's Love Slave wrote: "Not even with checking other editions?

i am lazy Mary, I won't check other editions. I do love the digital library. My county doesn't have a huge selection yet but it is getting better.
Plus, I can't remember all these flipping passwords!
Ok, looking for a book to read now.

[Sarah]

Shelf 14: Reader's Choice, White Night by Jim Butcher
Pages: 495
Read: 10.24.15
Rating: ★★★★★
Review:

There was so much more to this book than the others, and I don't just mean the story line. Butcher's writing style felt different... more some how. It was like he had grown as an author between one book and the next. It's great. I am so excited to be so involved in this series. There were so many things I wasn't expecting and I like the way things are going for Harry. Even though he gets himself into situations that he should leave alone I feel like maybe things will turn around. I'm not sure. I have been checking these out from my local library as e-books so as soon as I finished this one I went looking for Small Favor. To my dismay, it's not availabe!! They only have it in the huge collection of books which would be fine but there are 12 people ahead of me. However, they have it in print so I might wait until the next shelf call in case it qualifies then head over to the library.

[Sarah]

I've been struggling with Blood Magic so instead of trying to fight through it, I'm just going to switch to another book. I'll update when I have one.

[Mary X]

No Problem Sarah.

[Cheryl]

Shelf: Reader's Choice
Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews
Pages: 310
Read: 10.24.15
Rating: ★★★★
Review:

This book ticked all the boxes for me and won me over as a Kate Daniels fan. It is so refreshing to have a mature, independent, strong female lead with a great sense of humour. And thankfully, there is no insta-love: Curran makes the pursuit of Kate into a slow seduction using infinite patience, mind games and charm.

[Cheryl]

I've changed my mind with my Coupledom shelf. I am switching from Radiance to Kiss of Steel

[Sarah]

Ok so for Cover Love I'm going with These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman. I bought this purely because of it's cover, I actually have no idea what the book is about.

[Mary X]

I just realized that I forgot to review my reader's choice book. Going to do that now and then request our stamp.

[Mary X]

Reader's Choice

10/16/15

3 stars



This was a great idea for a book but there were parts that were just really boring. So I would put it down for something else. Plus in the end you don't really know if Charles was mentally damaged or if he knew what was happening the whole time and just pretending to be slow. Interesting time period for a setting.

[Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required]

Mary, you need to let us know what book you read :)

[Lisa]

Cheryl, I just finished reading Reap the Shadows. I'm really enjoying this series. I can't wait for the next one!

I finally found a coupledom book

Does it count if you cant see the whole person?

[Mary X]

Oops! Fixed it.

[Mary X]

I think that counts.

[Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required]

Yes, that counts Lisa :)

[Lisa]

Great Sandra, thanks for the confirmation. I had a ton of to be read books about couples but not on the cover! I spent more time picking this book then I did my last new car. It better be good.

[Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required]

LOL Crossed fingers for you Lisa!

[Steph, Serious series addict]

CONGRATULATIONS, Baker's Dozen!
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

[Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required]

Congrats on the stamp Baker's Dozen!

[Sarah]

Shelf 15: Coupledom, Take Me On by Katie McGarry
Pages: 463
Read: 10.27.15
Rating: ★★★★★
Review:

I don't know why I keep putting off such great series. I read all of the other books in the Pushing the Limits series awhile ago one right after the other. I think because I loved the other ones so much I thought I wouldn't enjoy this one as much. I like that some of the other characters are still involved in this story. West, oh boy, I felt for him so much. Not just the fluttery things the author wants you to feel, but he had such a tough time with so many different things. His life was crumbling. Haley, too, I felt for. I enjoyed the development of the their relationship. It wasn't instantaneous and it wasn't easy. They both had to deal with personal things before they could fully open up to each other and I think that's what a lot of relationships should be about. The climax was a tiny bit anti-climactic. I felt that could have been done a little bit better, but I still loved the story as a whole. A great, gritty YA love story, leans a little more new adult in my opinion.

[Mary X]

That reminds me that I need to review my coupledom book.

[Mary X]

Coupledom

10/25/15



4 stars

This was a very entertaining light romance read. Would not please anyone looking for any sort of drama or angst. In fact the drama that was added at the end was kind of an afterthought. Like the publisher said "hey we need a reason for our hero to save the heroine". That's why I docked it a star. That and the "he doesn't love me because I'm too boring" and "she doesn't love me because she loves my best friend and I'm not good enough for her anyway" stuff got a bit tiresome.

[Cheryl]

Sorry I've been MIA lately. I've been catching up on all the things that I haven't had a chance to get done these past few weeks. I haven't done anywhere near as much reading as I would have liked: by the time I sit down to read at night I am nodding off. I haven't started my coupledom book yet, but plan to start tomorrow and should have it finished by the weekend.

Sarah, I really enjoyed so I hope that you are pleasantly surprised by your pick.

Lisa, I'm so glad that you are enjoying : she is a tremendously talented writer. It is one of my favourite series at the moment. And I can't thank you enough for recommending series - I loved it!

[Mary X]

I'm posting a status update here to go with the mod update in the discussion thread about the heading into the possible home stretch of the game.

We have 2 shelves still outstanding:

Cover Love: Sarah

Coupledom: Lisa, Cheryl.

But at this point we do not have any shelves that would give us a win this week if called. We are 2 away from a plus sign win, 3 from a top right to bottom left possible win and 6 from a top left to bottom right possible win.

I lost the link to the master spreadsheet or I'd post what shelves are potential winners for other teams.

[Lisa]

Hi team. I am almost done with my coupledom book. I will post on wed evening after work. I have been pre selecting books for the remaining shelves so I am ready!