Jess Michaels 2019 Reading Challenge discussion
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2014 Challenge
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What I've read (2014)
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Keisha
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Jan 07, 2014 03:03PM
I finished Tears of Tess by Pepper Winters and loved it. It is a dark read so if your not into that I wouldn't recommend it. I also finished Welcome to Sugartown by Carmen Jenner and devoured it, awesome read.
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Yesterday I finished The Alchemist of Souls by Anne Lyle. Absolutely loved it! The good thing is it has been out for a while, so I don't have to wait for the sequel. I will be posting a review in the next few days. 
Evie wrote: "I finished Elizabeth George's latest Lynley book. It was sooo slow at first but the last 100 pages were great. I think it was far too long and needed to be cut, but I suppose she can do what she li..."I have the same problem m it doesn't ever get suspenseful!
Jess wrote: "I loved, loved, LOVED Sister by Rosamund Lupton! Seriously, it was so suspenseful and interesting and well-written and I cried a couple of times. Completely amazing. Highly, highly, HIGHLY recommen..."Such a wonderful read, I'm glad you enjoyed it so! It was a top read for me!
I finished Wait Until Next Year by Doris Kearns Goodwin last night. A lovely affectionate memoir of her childhood, her family, her love of baseball (particularly the Brooklyn Dodgers) and so much more. If you are in your 60's like me and grew up in a big city neighborhood, this book is for you, baseball fan or not. If you have a parent or grandparent in this age group it would make a great gift.
Tracey wrote: "Evie wrote: "I finished Elizabeth George's latest Lynley book. It was sooo slow at first but the last 100 pages were great. I think it was far too long and needed to be cut, but I suppose she can d..."I'm glad I wasn't the only one! I'm glad I finished it though, I have thought about it quite a bit since. I suppose that means it affected me in some way, good and bad.
Tracey wrote: "Jess wrote: "I loved, loved, LOVED Sister by Rosamund Lupton! Seriously, it was so suspenseful and interesting and well-written and I cried a couple of times. Completely amazing. Highly, highly, HI..."This sounds like one I should, really should, put in my pile.
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I started River Road by Jayne Ann Krentz :-)
I just finished a Phil Rickman book. I love his Merrily Watkins series. Yes, I read odd books, lol. Not sure what I'll read next. So many to choose from!
Currently I'm reading Naked in Death - really enjoying it...so I'm going to read all 37 books in the series...that eat up some of my 200 book count.
I just finished Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (stayed up WAY too late to finish it but I could not stop reading) and I feel like my mind just got hit by a runaway bus. Wow!
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RIGHT???
So far managed to read 4 books:
, I really liked
and
. The former is hilarious. Had me laughing out loud often throughout the book. And the latter is a great dramatic read.
Millie wrote: "I just finished Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (stayed up WAY too late to finish it but I could not stop reading) and I feel like my mind just got hit by a runaway bus. Wow!"The ending was the most frustrating part of that book!
Rick wrote: "Millie wrote: "I just finished Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (stayed up WAY too late to finish it but I could not stop reading) and I feel like my mind just got hit by a runaway bus. Wow!"The endin..."
I actually liked the ending. The author's comments on how she came to this ending are interesting: http://shelf-life.ew.com/2012/12/04/g...
I read the article and i can see where she was coming from, but I still wanted to throw my iPad Mini against the wall when I got to the end. I'd have found someone to come in swinging the sword on vengeance because a certain someone really needed to be punished in some way, shape, and very vicious form at the end of that book
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While I think Ben Affleck as Batman is horrendous casting that deserves to be boycotted, I actually think he makes the perfect Nick in the movie. the rest of the casting is all over the place...Neil Patrick Harris? Tyler Perry? And Rosamund Pike as Amy? I'm having a real problem with Rosamund Pike because she was in the atrociously horrendous Jack Reacher movie that should be the dictionary definition of just how badly an authors written vision can be screwed up by Hollywood and Tom Cruise....But yeah Hollywood producers would never let Gillian Flynn get away with that ending... Korean and European filmmakers might, but not Hollywood, they like their bows tied up very nicely at the end... and as i think about it further the Koreans would probably find a way of killing the entire cast... I really like Korean movies!
Goodreads is counting Blood Brothers (A short story) by James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell as my first book of the year so I'm calling it 1 of 41 here.
Innocent Blood, also by James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell, is 2 of 41 and I greatly enjoyed it. It mixed the Bible, vampires, a little romance, and a lot of action into a wildly entertaining novel.
My next book will be Breathless by V.J. Chambers
Now this doesn't look like a book I'd normally read, but I met V.J. Chambers here on Goodreads a while back and I've had quite a few conversations with her about being an author and I found her to be a very cool, very interesting person, who has some very similar influences and tastes and I'm greatly looking forward to reading one of her books.
The past few days I have read Fearless by Devon Hartford, it was a good quick read with little drama. I also finished Silent No More by NE Henderson and it is a great read. It's her debut novel and you will be wrapped up in this book from start to finish. It does have a cliffhanger but it was totally worth it.
Rick wrote: "While I think Ben Affleck as Batman is horrendous casting that deserves to be boycotted, I actually think he makes the perfect Nick in the movie. the rest of the casting is all over the place...Ne..."Just out of curiosity, who did you picture as Amy?
Teresa Palmer, Melissa George, or Amber Heardprobably Amber though because she'd got the meanest streak in her...
Finished Remy - love this series! Now about half way thru TouchStone for Giving by Sydney Jamesson.
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Today I finished THE BEST MAN by Kristan Higgins. It was really good. It made me LOL (which is embarassing when one is reading while on their lunch break at work) and there were 2 or 3 spots that had tears welling in my eyes. (I am a sap) :)
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-- it was a huge infomercial for a certain brand of psychology and really presented nothing else. I was so disappointed because it started so well. Now I really need to read a great book to make up for it.
So I thought I was on a roll this year, reading three awesome books in a row, hit a total slump this week. Went through 2 dnf, started book 3 of the week around Thursday...Dark Lover by JR Ward. Gonna try some paranormal to maybe kick start my reading again... fingers crossed..@ Rick and Millie - sorry late on this thread about GONE GIRL... I wasn't as taken with the book as the rest of America, it was just ok to me, and I think what made it OK was the ENDING! Hate that they will change it. But what movie ever is like the book??? Don't like Ben Affleck so probably wont see, and def not going to see Batman (Christian Bale is the best)
Michelle wrote: "So I thought I was on a roll this year, reading three awesome books in a row, hit a total slump this week. Went through 2 dnf, started book 3 of the week around Thursday...Dark Lover by JR Ward. Go..."Michelle, if you have not read any of the JR Ward Blackdagger Brotherhood books yet, I can say, they are great. While Dark Lover is good, you should know, the books just keep getting better, with more complex characters and plots. Enjoy!
Michelle wrote: "So I thought I was on a roll this year, reading three awesome books in a row, hit a total slump this week. Went through 2 dnf, started book 3 of the week around Thursday...Dark Lover by JR Ward. Go..."<I love the variety of reactions this book produces.
I tend to read everything an author has when I like them. Right now I am reading Laura Moore. She came highly recommended by Kristan Higgins and when the woman is right, she is dead on. Loving the Rosewood series and I also read the first in her new series (Silver Creek), Once Tempted.
A Madaris bride for Christmas by Brenda Jackson is an ode to love, family and joy. A great book.
I actually enjoyed Gone Girl, except for the ending, because I'm more of a bloody sword of vengeance type author. But Gillian Flynn is an incredible writer and there were quite a few places in Gone Girl where I was caught looking at my own experiences in relationships and finding myself guilty in a place or two, and I think the reason the book was such a hit is that I wasn't alone in that. Yes the book has plot points that are cavernous holes, and the ending is absolutely grinding, but there are some very ugly truths about relationships buried in there that are hard to read about.
I just finished Arsen by Mia Asher. I loved it, hated it, and couldn't put it down. If you can handle reading about love triangles this is an awesome read and I recommend it.
Riley wrote: "Michelle wrote: "So I thought I was on a roll this year, reading three awesome books in a row, hit a total slump this week. Went through 2 dnf, started book 3 of the week around Thursday...Dark Lov..."I finished Dark Lover and gave it a 3.5 stars. I did like the story and it flowed well, but I read some Larissa Iones Demonica series and was making comparisons to the book ...hate when I do that....I did like it enough to continue with the series though at some point. I'm interested to see what happens with some of the characters.
Fabiola wrote: "A Madaris bride for Christmas by Brenda Jackson is an ode to love, family and joy. A great book." Read that last month, loved it.Yes, also not a fan of GG here. Rick, I am with you on the cavernous plot points and grinding ending. I want either compelling and/or likable characters OR an amazing plot, and I loathed pretty much ALL the characters in GG.
Just finished "I Am Malala"
(3/175) which was v. interesting and am finishing up A Naughty Little Christmas
; eight stories, I am on story #8.Next up... probably
.
Just finished Enchanted by Alethea Kontis (and found the 2nd one is already published!) and started Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews, this is my first foray into Urban Fantasy.
3/41: Breathless by V.J. Chambers
This was a YA book, not my usual fair, but it was actually pretty good because it threw in enough wild turns to make it very interesting.
4/41: Earth's Magick by Mel Massey
I'm moving on to Earth's Magick because I follow Mel Massey on Twitter and she always has the coolest artwork that she Tweets to promote her books and it made me wonder how cool her books would be.
I just finished I Dream of Danger by Lisa Marie Rice. I was not a fan of this one. I also read Wicked Memories by Nina Bangs, did like that one but then I do love this series by her. Still debating on which one to start next but think it will be The Grove by Jean Johnson.
Becca, the next one in the Ops series is very very good. :) Better than I dream of danger. I'm waiting for the last installment.
I finished The Sleeping Beauty trilogy by Anne Rice. It wasn't what I thought it would be and so I was a little disappointed in that regard. But once I adjusted to the reality of what the story is and gotten past the mediocre first book, the rest of the series was pretty good. But I can see why there are a lot of negative reviews for the books. This is not for everyone.
Leslie, I couldn't read it. While I'm no prude or squeamish the least bit, I could not get past the cruelty. A far cry from her other works.
I've read most of Anne Rice's Vampire books, her Witches books, the Mummy (Which was great), and the first of her Werewolf novels, and I've greatly enjoyed them all, even if I was little disappointed with the final directions her Witches books took. Anne Rice is the reason I couldn't stand Twilight, once you've gone into the depth of Rice's characters, her incredible writing style, and the great scope of her novels, Twilight isn't even in the same ballpark. Now I've never ventured into her erotica, because that's not really my thing, and like you two have said here I've not heard great things. But the erotica should never take away from the greatness of her other novels, even the worst of which I would recumbent a thousand time over and of the Twilight books.Although, and not to argue to much with myself here, I actually enjoyed Glenn Duncan's The Last Werewolf a little more than Rice's The Wolf Gift, basically because Duncan had so much 'biting' wit and graphic detail, but they were close enough that it was fun to read both and compare the two.
Rick wrote: "I've read most of Anne Rice's Vampire books, her Witches books, the Mummy (Which was great), and the first of her Werewolf novels, and I've greatly enjoyed them all, even if I was little disappoint..."I go through phases of what genres I read and it was in the 90s that I read Interview with a Vampire and The Vampire Lestat. I can't remember if I read any more in her series than those two. I may have read the 3rd book. Anywhoo..I did like Twilight, but only because it has been 20 decades between reading anything paranormal. It actually brought me back to the genre for a short time. Was it on the level of AR, no. But to me, a good story none the less. I've only read one werewolf story and it was by an Indie writer within the last year, but it was more love story werewolf so not sure if The Last Werewolf is in that ball park or more horror/thriller.
The Last Werewolf has a romantic element to it, but there is a lot more horror and highly charge sexuality in it than romance. And it has a very contemplative tone written from the perspective of someone who has been alive for far too long and is suffering from the repetition and the self-inflicted tragedies of his life, through which we find a lot of truths. Most times I glide through books solely for their entertainment values, but there are a few like The Last werewolf that make me think about things that I wouldn't otherwise. I always thought that The Vampire Lestat was Rice's best book. The Queen of the Damned was a good way to wrap up that portion of the series, but Lestat was the high point, and then the books ebbed down after that. The Mummy was a good stand alone that I really enjoyed. But like you it had been years since I'd read any of Rice's books before The Wolf Gift.
I've said this in other discussion lines, but I'll say it again here, the reason I really couldn't stand Twilight is because it was written for girls, and I'm very much a man. Now don't get me wrong some of my very favorite writers are women like Chelsea Cain, Val McDermid, and Karin Slaughter to name a few, but there is a big difference between a woman writer and writing specifically for girls. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, in fact I applaud Stephanie Meyer for knowing her audience and very specifically targeting it, but I'm not the target, so I didn't enjoy it. Just like I'm sure most of the Twi-Hards probably wouldn't enjoy Clive Cussler books because they're designed and written for men like me who enjoy heroic action and adventure. But that's why there are so many Genre's of books because we all like something just a little different...
Finished Cherry Girl by Raine Miller-a novel from the Blackstone series. Tells the live story of Ethan Blackstone's friend & business associate Neil McManus and his lifelong love Elaina "Cherry Girl". I loved their story and how it was beautifully written. You should read after the Blackstone series-which is fantastic in itself! ❤️❤️❤️
Fabiola wrote: "Becca, the next one in the Ops series is very very good. :) Better than I dream of danger. I'm waiting for the last installment."Thanks for letting me know, I will give it a try then. I really liked some of her other works but was not a fan of this one.
I read The Grove by Jean Johnson, liked it but it's a bit of sideways slant to her Sons of Destiny books so while it was good and all, it took a bit to slide the mind sideways. I also read Full Throttle by Erin McCarthy and loved it. I so enjoy the humor of this series, makes me laugh out loud at times. I loved the new one by Cynthia Eden, Burn for Me and just finished Wulfe Untamed by Pamela Palmer which is supposed to be the end of the Feral Warriors but not sure there won't be something that branches off this one.
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Jess Michaels 2019 Reading Challenge
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