SOS: Serious Overload of Series discussion
Archive: Past Team Challenges
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R12: Team #14 ~ 1-4 The Win ~
Shelf #1 ~ 15 July: Strong Heroine
by Jeaniene FrostFinished: 7/20/15
Rated: ★★★★
I love Cat & Bones! Cat is a small town girl who happens to be half-vampire, much to her mother's chagrin. She hunts vampires as a way to atone for her sin of birth and has a kill-now-ask-questions-never attitude to these evil creatures....Then she meets Bones. He's funny, smart, and sexy, and is a bounty hunter of vampires. The attraction is instant for both, though Cat fights it. But when she finally accepts who she is and what she wants....watch out world! These two are on the hunt! Can't wait to jump into the next book.
Free Space (from group bookshelf)
by J.A. SaareFinished: July 20
Rating: 4 stars
Review
I loved Rhiannon and Disco. Rhiannon is a necromancer that really hates her abilities. She accidentally reveals her powers to two vampires. The story is pretty dark with some humor which I enjoyed. I'm very interested in seeing what happens next since it ends in a cliffhanger.
Hey team! How's it coming? New shelf today! Woo Hoo!
Shelf 1: Strong Heroine
Book: Soulless by Gail Carriger
Date Finished: July 22
Rating: 4 stars
REVIEW:
Soulless is a mix of genres- Urban Fantasy and Victorian Era (Historical Romance) with a mild sprinkling of Steampunk thrown into the mix. Mixed genres seems to be the norm these days, and I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
It was quite refreshing to read a book set in the Victorian Era London. This book portrays the prudishness of that era quite well, and at the same time, makes fun of it in an inoffensive and tongue-in-cheek manner that is quite enjoyable. The language and prose is very good and fits in with the setting perfectly.
The society is split into three- normal human beings, supernaturals(vampires, werewolves, ghosts) who are those with excess 'soul' than the normal person, and preternaturals who are those beings with no soul at all. Miss Alexia Tarabotti is a 26 year old spinster with a deceased Italian father, from whom she has got the cursed 'Italian nose and skin colour', is strong-willed with a penchant for proper manners, excellent fashion sense and her trusty brass parasol. Oh, and she is soulless- one of the very few preternaturals in existence. So, when a vampire tries to attack her in a ball, she beats him with her parasol and accidentally kills him. This marks the beginning of a series of strange occurrences - new vampires created and many old vampires and werewolves vanishing, never to be seen again. Miss Alexia Tarabotti takes it upon herself to investigate these disappearances, along with Lord Conall Maccon, the head of BUR and werewolf alpha.
I loved several secondary characters- Professor Lyons, the butler Floote and the eccentric vampire rove- Lord Akeldama. Hope we can see more of them in the future books. Alexia is an interesting heroine too. I loved the story, the setting and the language of this book.
All-in-all, I liked this book a lot. Definitely recommended! I can't wait to read the next book- Changeless
Book: Soulless by Gail Carriger
Date Finished: July 22
Rating: 4 stars
REVIEW:
Soulless is a mix of genres- Urban Fantasy and Victorian Era (Historical Romance) with a mild sprinkling of Steampunk thrown into the mix. Mixed genres seems to be the norm these days, and I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
It was quite refreshing to read a book set in the Victorian Era London. This book portrays the prudishness of that era quite well, and at the same time, makes fun of it in an inoffensive and tongue-in-cheek manner that is quite enjoyable. The language and prose is very good and fits in with the setting perfectly.
The society is split into three- normal human beings, supernaturals(vampires, werewolves, ghosts) who are those with excess 'soul' than the normal person, and preternaturals who are those beings with no soul at all. Miss Alexia Tarabotti is a 26 year old spinster with a deceased Italian father, from whom she has got the cursed 'Italian nose and skin colour', is strong-willed with a penchant for proper manners, excellent fashion sense and her trusty brass parasol. Oh, and she is soulless- one of the very few preternaturals in existence. So, when a vampire tries to attack her in a ball, she beats him with her parasol and accidentally kills him. This marks the beginning of a series of strange occurrences - new vampires created and many old vampires and werewolves vanishing, never to be seen again. Miss Alexia Tarabotti takes it upon herself to investigate these disappearances, along with Lord Conall Maccon, the head of BUR and werewolf alpha.
I loved several secondary characters- Professor Lyons, the butler Floote and the eccentric vampire rove- Lord Akeldama. Hope we can see more of them in the future books. Alexia is an interesting heroine too. I loved the story, the setting and the language of this book.
All-in-all, I liked this book a lot. Definitely recommended! I can't wait to read the next book- Changeless
Delitealex wrote: "Preethi I really enjoyed soulless but your other choice sounds good too."
Thanks for your suggestion- I loved Soulless too. So much fun!
Thanks for your suggestion- I loved Soulless too. So much fun!
Rosina wrote: "preethi
I keep meaning to read souls but never get to it. the series is good I hear.
the other one is good too. tough choice.
I made my choice based on how many challenges I could fit it into."
Rosina, you should read Soulless too. I enjoyed it. I hope you do too!
Rosina wrote: "and I really want to read your free space choice."
And I love Jenn Bennett's Arcadia Bell series a lot. Hope this book is as awesome as her other series!
I keep meaning to read souls but never get to it. the series is good I hear.
the other one is good too. tough choice.
I made my choice based on how many challenges I could fit it into."
Rosina, you should read Soulless too. I enjoyed it. I hope you do too!
Rosina wrote: "and I really want to read your free space choice."
And I love Jenn Bennett's Arcadia Bell series a lot. Hope this book is as awesome as her other series!
Hi all. How are your books coming along? And yaay! 2.5 more hours for the next shelf call:)
Shelf #2 ~ 22 July: A Bloody MessRead a book that features: 'blood' in title, series name, on the cover or a book featuring vampires
I'm going to read
for A Bloody Mess shelf.
for A Bloody Mess shelf.
I'm reading
for A bloody mess shelf.
Shelf 2 ~ A Bloody MessI will read
has anyone read this series? I love Nalini Singh's psy changeling series
I have read Angel's Blood alone Rosina. While I didn't enjoy it as much as I do her Psy Changeling series(those are awesome), this book was good too. I have the second book in this series on my TBR, but haven't gotten around to it.
Rosina I have read 2 books in the series and really enjoyed her take on angels and vampires.
I actually prefer Guild Hunter to Psy-Changeling, though I love em both :)
Sandra wrote: "I actually prefer Guild Hunter to Psy-Changeling, though I love em both :)"
Now that's something I rarely hear Sandra:)
Now that's something I rarely hear Sandra:)
Thnx ladies. Looking forward to starting. Enjoy your reads. I will be done shelf 1 later tonite.
Slow going with Obsidian I'm not enjoying it as much as I thought I would. Hoping to finish it tomorrow.
Shelf 1: Strong Heroine
Book: Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter
Date Finished: July 23
Rating: 3 stars
REVIEW:
I was disappointed with this book. The first 200 pages was so drawn out before there were any mention of zombies. I had decided to read this book because I had heard of the author and was considering reading some of her adult series.
The story was just OK. The MC loses her family in a car accident and she is sent to live with her maternal grandparents. She is going to a different high school and there is a lot of the usual YA/HS issues around relationships. Once she (and the audience) get told that the creatures that are stalking her are zombies the story does get better. She joins a gang of zombie killers and it appears that she and her father had special zombie powers. It was just an ok read for me.
OK Preethi based on your Soulless review I am going to try and see if I can fit it in for a shelf this round of bingo....(just now have to find it...yeeks)I also got my hands on
and may just end up reading it for the free space read...
Delitealex wrote: "I'm reading for A bloody mess shelf."That one looks darn good...cant wait to read your review
Sandra wrote: "I actually prefer Guild Hunter to Psy-Changeling, though I love em both :)"Wow...cant wait to start it...
Sunshine wrote: "Shelf #1 ~ 15 July: Strong Heroine by Jeaniene FrostFinished: 7/20/15
Rated: ★★★★
I love Cat & Bones! Cat is a small town girl who happens..."
Love love love Bones...its a series that I can re read...really like the humor...so glad you enjoyed it...
Rosina, I've been interested in checking out that book too. Sorry it fell short. Guess I'm not going to rush to read it.
I found it slow and can't really say it was because of world building. just too drawn out. there were some scenes that were hopeful
Shelf 1 Strong Heroine
by Jennifer L. ArmentroutRead: July 24
Rating 3 stars
Review
Katy is a 17 year old that moves to a small town with her mother. She finds out her neighbors are aliens and craziness ensues. The book started off really slowly for me. I really liked Katy and Dee. Katy was a fiesty heroine and I enjoyed her humor. I laughed alot when Katy and Daemon argued. Daemon was a very unlikeable character to me until the last couple of chapters. I'm not in any hurry to get to the next book but may get to it eventually.
All right! Shelf #1 Done. I'll submit for a stamp. :)I know my book is short but I'm already half-way through. Think I'll have it done later today or tomorrow morning.
Shelf #2 ~ 22 July: A Bloody Mess (Blood on Cover)
by Stefan Petrucha Finished: 7/24/15
Rating: ★★★★
Devon is in a band called Torn. They just had an awesome debut at a local club. His friend, and lead singer, wants him to kick out Karston from the band cause he sucks (well, he does). Later that night, Devon is still awake in bed fretting about having to do that and he starts to write a new song. He plays it for the band and they know it's a killer song (dun, dun, dun) and going to be a hit.
This was a great fast paced story. You get a feel of the characters (except One-Word Ben. I think he was named that so there was an excuse for him to be there and not have to really build his character), and there was no long drag out to the horror. BAM! It just got messy.
I love the opening and ending to the book. It is a story told by ghost girls as a game. I think as you move along in the series, their story will start to play out.
I'm changing my pick for a bloody mess shelf to
I'm halfway through my book for the bloody mess shelf and really enjoying it. I hope to finish it before the next shelf call.
CONGRATULATIONS, 1-4 the Win!You now have an updated BINGO card with a stamp on 'strong heroine'.
[Your updated BINGO card can be viewed on page 1]
Good Job!! :D
Congrats on the stamp 1-4 Winners!
Shelf #2 A Bloody Mess (vampires)
by Rebecca ZanettiFinished: July 28
Rating: 4 stars
Review
Cara is a single mom and scientist. She finds out vampires exist and that she is sought after because of her enhanced abilities. I really enjoyed this book it was a fast paced quick read. I loved Cara, Janie, Katie and Emma. I can't wait to read more about Talen and his brothers. I will definitely be continuing on with the series at least to find out what happens to Emma, Katie, and Janie.
How's everyone's books going? I haven't been able to start my Free Space read yet. Keep getting delayed. Our office's a/c decided to quit working over the weekend and yesterday was brutal. They say it's supposed to be fixed today but we'll see.
I am working on a book for another Bingo game and its a chunkster almost 600 pages. Its one of those books that for me takes time to read cause its a murder mystery and if I read too fast I might miss some clues. I will be starting
either tonite or tomorrow most likely and I should be able to knock it off in about 3 days.
I'm ready for tomorrow's shelf call.
Delitealex wrote: "Shelf #2 A Bloody Mess (vampires) by Rebecca ZanettiFinished: July 28
Rating: 4 stars
Review
Cara is a single mom and scientist. She finds out vampir..."
I am glad you liked it. I just got the whole series. Ive heard good things about her series. Here are a couple more series of hers that I got
&
&
Have you read any of them?
Rosina Fated was the first book I have read by Rebecca Zanetti the next series by her I have my eye on is Realm enforcers (Wicked Ride).
Shelf: Free Space
Book: Bitter Spirits by Jenn Bennett
Date Finished: July 27
Rating: 2.5 stars
REVIEW:
Plot Rating: 3.5 stars
Romance b/w main couple rating: 1 star
Average book rating : 2.5 stars
Bitter Spirits turned out to be a huge disappointment, at least to me. I love the author's Arcadia Bell series and went into this book with full confidence I would enjoy it. How disappointing that I didn't like it at all!
The Setting and The Plot:
This book was supposed to be set in the 1920s. It would have been nice if this setting played a more important role, other than just being an afterthought. And the paranormal aspects were such a dismal failure. Oh, it had all the proper ingridients for it - ghosts, necromancers, Chinese curses, bootlegging, etc. This is exactly the kind of thing I love in books; Except in this book, it didn't work out quite so well. The whole plot idea had such an interesting possibility, but somehow fizzed out.
And I might have been more involved in the book had the villainy been focused on Winter Magnusson and his bootlegging business, rather than an overall global villain 'out-to-cleanse-the-city-of-evil'. And somethings made no sense- like, why would the villain employ the cauliflower eared man at the end? Unnecessary. The villain was an evil necromancer- which would have been awesome, except his final ghost/zombie created against Winter wasn't made as horrific as it could have been. Again, it had such a nice possibility, but provoked no feeling whatsoever in the end.
The Main Characters:
Here comes my main problem with this book: The Main Characters. There was no chemistry between them. Oh, but there was lust, you say? What lust? There was no connection between them, other than ' oh, she has freckles everywhere' and 'He is big... like, biiiiig'. The lust between them was not only not enjoyable, but also outright irritating. I realize that women of the Roaring Twenties were more carefree, but Aida Palmer was ridiculous.
More than three-fourths of this book consisted of the MCs' attraction to each other, their lust, having an 'affair' to satisfy said lust, drama, more drama. Only the first 10% and the last 20% of the book consisted of the actual plot. Which might have been okay under normal circumstances. Hell, I devour Paranormal Romances like they are chocolate, and there are many such books which I've read and enjoyed. I didn't enjoy this book mainly because the main characters were annoying. Totally annoying. So much, that this prevented me from enjoying the actual plot of the book.
May be I wouldn't have been so harsh on this book if only I liked Aida and Winter, at least a little. I might have given this book around a 3.5 rating. Even now, I'm only adding a half star to the original 2 stars intended, only because both the MCs were not physically perfect- Aida had a LOT of freckles; Winter is severely scared near his eye. I liked the fact that they liked each other in spite of this. That alone deserves a half additional stars.
So, final rating: 2.5 stars
Book: Bitter Spirits by Jenn Bennett
Date Finished: July 27
Rating: 2.5 stars
REVIEW:
Plot Rating: 3.5 stars
Romance b/w main couple rating: 1 star
Average book rating : 2.5 stars
Bitter Spirits turned out to be a huge disappointment, at least to me. I love the author's Arcadia Bell series and went into this book with full confidence I would enjoy it. How disappointing that I didn't like it at all!
The Setting and The Plot:
This book was supposed to be set in the 1920s. It would have been nice if this setting played a more important role, other than just being an afterthought. And the paranormal aspects were such a dismal failure. Oh, it had all the proper ingridients for it - ghosts, necromancers, Chinese curses, bootlegging, etc. This is exactly the kind of thing I love in books; Except in this book, it didn't work out quite so well. The whole plot idea had such an interesting possibility, but somehow fizzed out.
And I might have been more involved in the book had the villainy been focused on Winter Magnusson and his bootlegging business, rather than an overall global villain 'out-to-cleanse-the-city-of-evil'. And somethings made no sense- like, why would the villain employ the cauliflower eared man at the end? Unnecessary. The villain was an evil necromancer- which would have been awesome, except his final ghost/zombie created against Winter wasn't made as horrific as it could have been. Again, it had such a nice possibility, but provoked no feeling whatsoever in the end.
The Main Characters:
Here comes my main problem with this book: The Main Characters. There was no chemistry between them. Oh, but there was lust, you say? What lust? There was no connection between them, other than ' oh, she has freckles everywhere' and 'He is big... like, biiiiig'. The lust between them was not only not enjoyable, but also outright irritating. I realize that women of the Roaring Twenties were more carefree, but Aida Palmer was ridiculous.
More than three-fourths of this book consisted of the MCs' attraction to each other, their lust, having an 'affair' to satisfy said lust, drama, more drama. Only the first 10% and the last 20% of the book consisted of the actual plot. Which might have been okay under normal circumstances. Hell, I devour Paranormal Romances like they are chocolate, and there are many such books which I've read and enjoyed. I didn't enjoy this book mainly because the main characters were annoying. Totally annoying. So much, that this prevented me from enjoying the actual plot of the book.
May be I wouldn't have been so harsh on this book if only I liked Aida and Winter, at least a little. I might have given this book around a 3.5 rating. Even now, I'm only adding a half star to the original 2 stars intended, only because both the MCs were not physically perfect- Aida had a LOT of freckles; Winter is severely scared near his eye. I liked the fact that they liked each other in spite of this. That alone deserves a half additional stars.
So, final rating: 2.5 stars
I'm exactly half way through my Bloody Mess book. I should finish it today and have the review up before shelf call tomorrow.
Sunshine wrote: "How's everyone's books going? I haven't been able to start my Free Space read yet. Keep getting delayed.
Our office's a/c decided to quit working over the weekend and yesterday was brutal. They s..."
Yikes, no A/C? That's gotta be brutal, especially in this heat! Hope it's back to working properly by now.
Our office's a/c decided to quit working over the weekend and yesterday was brutal. They s..."
Yikes, no A/C? That's gotta be brutal, especially in this heat! Hope it's back to working properly by now.
Sandra wrote: "Congrats on the stamp 1-4 Winners!"
Thanks Sandra:)
Yaay on our very first stamp!
Time for some *Stamp Dance*
Thanks Sandra:)
Yaay on our very first stamp!
Time for some *Stamp Dance*
Preethi wrote: "Yikes, no A/C? That's gotta be brutal, especially in this heat! Hope it's back to working properly by now. Unfortunately, no. They're saying Thursday. The downstairs a/c works fine so we've cranked that and put a giant fan at the stairs at that helped somewhat.
Preethi wrote: "Shelf: Free SpaceBook: Bitter Spirits by Jenn Bennett
Date Finished: July 27
Rating: 2.5 stars
REVIEW:
Plot Rating: 3.5 stars
..."
Sorry, your book was a let down. It's always hard to care about the rest of the story when you can't like the characters.
Shelf #3 ~ 29 July: Happy Birthday!Read a book: published in 2015 (any month)
Preethi wrote: "Shelf: Free SpaceBook: Bitter Spirits by Jenn Bennett
Date Finished: July 27
Rating: 2.5 stars
REVIEW:
Plot Rating: 3.5 stars
..."
Oh no I was hoping you would enjoy it....now I am not sure if I will read it as we tend to like the same books...
Most people who've read this book have liked it. I seem to be in the minority, Rosina. May be you should give it a try to make sure:)
possibilities for my Happy Birthday shelf read
SOS: Serious Overload of Series
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I think I should have my book finished today. I haven't started my free space read yet.