R13: Team #14 ~ Well Read Chicks

[D.G.]

Strong heroine doesn't seem a shelf a lot of people use. Kickass heroine is more popular, I think, although I know the meaning is not the same. You can be strong without being kickass!

[Anita Reads]

Team #14: Week 4: Strong Heroines
Rachel: Real by Katy Evans - Review ★★★
Anita: For a Few Demons More by Kim Harrison - Review ★★★★
D.G: Queen of the Darkness by Anne Bishop - Review ★★★★
Melissa: Oracle's Moon by Thea Harrison - Review ★★★★

[Rachel-RN]

Strong Heroine

April 16th 3*

Well, I didn't care for Brooke's BFF, I thought she was shallow. Remy and Brooke's romance was okay. There were some hot moments (fan me please!) and several eye-roll moments. For me, the not-so-great moments stand out not only because there were so many, but also because theirs was not a healthy relationship (IMO). So why a 3? Mainly because I liked that the sex didn't happen right away and it was an entertaining read for me.
I wasn't that crazy about the violence and how it was a turn-on for many women. "My sex muscles clench every time he hits his opponent,..." Yes, that just *so* sexy!
"My genetically induced mating instincts...." No, this wasn't a paranormal, fantasy, nor was it science fiction. "Oh god, he's scenting me." You mean smelling? Then, how would a cute on the lip be a turn-on? Ewww. "Haunted by his full, sexy month with its recent cut on his lower lip..." That damn cut was mentioned 7 times! Then there was his possessiveness. Not sexy. Run in the other direction. Now.
I also want to speak about a main character being bi-polar. That's great, but I wish it had been portrayed more realistically. For example, Remy's manic episodes out number his depressive (it should be the opposite) and they changed very quickly. One thing that was right was paying attention and recognizing certain signs that a manic episode was coming on, but was also resistant to any type of medication. There is a difference between proper medicating, monitoring vs pure over-medication. I understood his reasoning at first d/t his history, but that was as a kid. He is an adult now.

[Anita Reads]

It doesn't sound like a book I'd enjoy.
Anyway I'm working on both of my books now. Won't have much reading time today, but will probably finish both reads before Wednesday this time.

[D.G.]

Shelf #4: Strong Heroine
Date finished/Rating: 4/17 ★★★★
Review: What an "end" to the trilogy! I pretty much had my heart in my mouth the whole time, there was so much excitement and pain. I don't rate it higher because some things seemed a bit contrived: how everybody lost their faith in Jaenelle all of a sudden and blamed Daemon for everything, how the SaDiablos ended up in the hands of "those bitches", etc. But it was a really good end.

Can't wait to continue the series...

[D.G.]

I wouldn't touch "Real" with a 10-foot pole!

[Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required]

D.G. wrote: "I wouldn't touch "Real" with a 10-foot pole!"

What she said!!!!!!!!

[Nichole]

Sandra wrote: "D.G. wrote: "I wouldn't touch "Real" with a 10-foot pole!"

What she said!!!!!!!!"

I tried once, lol. I read about 40 pages even though I was ready to DNF within the first few.

[~Melissa~]

Rachel - sorry you didn't enjoy your book. I went and read some of the other reviews - they are hilarious, lol. Sounds like maybe eye bleach is needed.....

[~Melissa~]

Week #4:
Shelf: Strong Heroine

Finished: 4/17/16
Rating: 4♥

Review: We meet Grace near the end of the last book. She is the new Oracle as her sister recently died in a car accident. Grace has had a lot of responsibility thrown on her at a young age (she is early 20's). Khalil promises to keep her niece and nephew safe while she takes care of Rune and Carling's prophesy. I love Grace - she tends to just blurt things out - hilarious! Chloe and Max (the kids) are so adorable throughout the book. Khalil doesn't know what to do with these 'weird feelings in his chest' that are brought out by Grace. This was just fun to read. I enjoyed it much more than Rune and Carling's book. It flowed better even though there wasn't a lot of furthering of lots of storylines except for the Djinn and the Oracle's.

[Anita Reads]

You guys read so fast. I'm still working on both of mine.

[Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required]

Shelf Announcement News

Shelf announcements will be one hour earlier for at least the next 2 weeks, starting this week.

If I can get out of Jury Duty in May, they will continue at the new time. If Judith has to do the announcements during May they will probably go back an hour.

We'll let you know of any changes, as we find out.

[~Melissa~]

Yeah! Good luck w Jury Duty

[D.G.]

Woohoo!!

[Anita Reads]

Good to know :)

Maybe I'll even be up by shelf announcement today then :)

Btw. I'm sort of slowly working on both my books. around 70 or so % into both of them. I made the mistake of reading Written in Red, which I loved so much, and now have gotten into some sort of slump that made it hard for me getting into my 2 books. They're decent reads so far, but nothing compared to Written in Red for me.

I'll have them both finished as the latest by tomorrow. I have less than 100 pages left of my Sookie book and about 5-6 hours left of the audio of my Rachel Morgan book.

[~Melissa~]

Anita - Written in Red is definitely a hard book to find a follow up for :) I love that series. I still need to get to the newest Marked in Flesh. You're almost done so don't sweat it - we are just at the beginning!

[Anita Reads]

I know. I just feel bad, since I'm the only one behind right now.
I'm definitely going to try and get a hold of the next 3 books of the series soon. I'm sort of debating getting physical copies of them all instead of the kindle version I read. Just because I loved it so much.

[~Melissa~]

I've been doing them on audio - they take me a little longer but I love the audio. Not sure I could 'read' this series now that I started the audios, lol

[~Melissa~]

Shelf Call ~ Urban Fantasy

link: urban-fantasy

[~Melissa~]

I'm going to read - shelved 12 times ....and it works for another challenge - score :)

[D.G.]

The book I'm planning to read isn't Urban Fantasy but you can always count on some people mis-shelving a book!

I'm re-reading (11 people shelved it as Urban Fantasy)

[Rachel-RN]

I'm reading shelved by 17 people as Urban Fantasy

[Anita Reads]

I think I'm going to go with one of these.

Tagged 264 times
Tagged 337 times

Right now I think I'm most for Touch of Frost, but we'll see what I decide when I pick up the next book.

Just finished my Guilty pleasure book and will write a review about that shortly.

[Anita Reads]

Team #14: Week 5 - Urban Fantasy
Melissa: Enslaved by Elisabeth Naughton - Review ★★★★
D.G: Radiance by Grace Draven - Review ★★★★.5
Rachel: Never Cry Wolf by Cynthia Eden - Review ★★★★
Anita: Touch of Frost by Jennifer Estep - Review ★★★★★

[Anita Reads]

Week 3 - Guilty Pleasure

Book: All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris
Finished: 04/21/16
Rated: ★★★★

Review:
This book started off a little slowish, but it was refreshing with another setting in this book.
In this book Sookie is going with the Louisiana vampires to Rhodes, which supposedly is close to Chicago, so I'm guessing the setting is Illinois? Anyway. They're going there for the Queen of Louisiana's trial, and Sookie is the only witness in the case. As Sookie and the gang gets to Rhodes and get lodged into the vampire hotel, lots of weird stuff starts happening, and Sookie is trying to sort it all out.
I don't love these books as much as I did with the first 3-4 books in the series. I did however enjoy the new setting, and I liked getting to know Barry a little, and the whole ending was very fast paced, but think that Sookie should have gotten some of the details together a little sooner.
Anyway. I overall enjoyed the book, and will definitely continue with the series.

[D.G.]

I think that was my favorite Sookie book.

[Anita Reads]

I think Club Dead is my favorite so far. I did enjoy this more than the 2 previous books.

[Anita Reads]

Week 4: Strong Heroine

Book: For a Few Demons More by Kim Harrison
Finished: 04/21/16
Rated: ★★★★

Review:
In This 5 book in 'The Hollows' series, it's sort of following the events that happened in the previous book. As usual Rachel has a lot going on. She's hiding an ancient artifact. The demon Agaliarept is back in this book. Trent is having a wedding, and Piscary has been released from prison. This proves a huge challenge for Rachel.
Rachel is also still struggling with her feelings for Ivy, which personally I don't understand, it's one of my least favorite things in this series at the moment. It just seems like it's getting old.
My favorite characters in this series are some of the side characters. Jenks, Trent and Kisten.
The last 4-5 hours of the audio so much happened that I never felt like letting it go. Especially the last 2 hours was an emotional roller coaster. Man I cried a lot. There's one thing in this book I absolutely hated, which caused me to take away 1 star. Otherwise I probably could have ended up giving it a 5 star.
I can't wait to see what will happen next in this series.

[D.G.]

Woohoo! WTG, Anita!

[Anita Reads]

Yay. Just requested for the stamp. Nearly caught up now. Only Urban Fantasy to catch up on now. That should be easy :)

[~Melissa~]

Anita - The Hollows - this is the book I stopped at and just haven't picked up again - I should try to get back to it. Sookie Stackhouse - I've never started - it's on my tbr just never gotten to it :) ......- so many series so little time , lol.

Way to go getting caught up!

[Rachel-RN]

Anita wrote: "I think I'm going to go with one of these.

Tagged 264 times
Tagged 337 times

Right now I think I'm most for Touch of Fr..."

Hoping you go with , I've had this on TBR forever and want to know what you think!

[Anita Reads]

~Melissa~ wrote: "Anita - The Hollows - this is the book I stopped at and just haven't picked up again - I should try to get back to it. Sookie Stackhouse - I've never started - it's on my tbr just never gotten to i..."

I know the feeling. I've got so many series I haven't read. I'm trying to focus on the series I'm working on already though. There will always be new series to start though.
This book was so emotional. Since you've read it you know why. I realize with everything going on in the book all the time. It can't keep continuing with all of them surviving, but man I hadn't seen it coming.

Sookie books are fast reads. I'm anxious about the last couple of books in this series though as I've heard a lot of bad things about especially the last book. I will finish it though.

[Anita Reads]

@Rachel - I'm also leaning a lot towards Touch of Frost, since I love mythology books and have loved what I've read from the author so far.

[Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required]

I'm not a YA sorta gal, but I loved the Mythos Academy books :)

[Steph, Serious series addict]

CONGRATULATIONS, Well Read Chicks!
You now have an updated BINGO card with a stamp on 'guilty pleasures' and 'strong heroine'. 

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

Good Job!! :D

[~Melissa~]

Team #14: Week 5 - Urban Fantasy

by Elisabeth Naughton
Completed: 4/22/16
Rating: 4♥

Review: yeah!! Gryphon's story!! Gryphon is sick of being coddled and managed at the half colony. He is tired of the voice in his head....oh and he goes a little nuts and attacks Nick and Titus (one of the other Argonauts) while out hunting daemons - oops! Maelea has never fit in anywhere and the half breed colony isn't any different with her being half light half dark, She runs away one night, only to be kidnapped by Gryphon...well and then rescued by Gryphon as well. We still have the Gods plotting away and wreaking havoc. Atalanta being a be-yotch. She helps quell all the voices in Gryphons head...he can finally think clearly again for the first time in months. These two have their work cut out for them to fall in love and avert disaster. Can already tell Titus' story is up next. Hopefully it will fit next weeks call as I have to read it this month for another challenge, lol.

[Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required]

Congrats on the stamps WRC!

[Anita Reads]

Woop. Stamps!

Nice job Melissa. I need to continue that series. Only read Marked so far, but I have Entwined on my kindle.

[D.G.]

Shelf #5: Urban Fantasy
Date finished/Rating: 4/23 ★★★★½
Review: Even better the second time around. This book is simply amazing. The story of two people from different races who marry to make an alliance, find the other very ugly but end up falling in love. THAT's what I would call a romance. Not falling for appearance but because of who you are inside.

Reading this book a second time made me admire Ildiko (the heroine) even more. She's strong, adaptable, and totally ruthless when she has to!

I recommend this book to ANYBODY who likes romance. For anybody interested, here's my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[~Melissa~]

Anita wrote: "Woop. Stamps!

Nice job Melissa. I need to continue that series. Only read Marked so far, but I have Entwined on my kindle."

I'm loving it!!

[Rachel-RN]

Urban Fantasy
April 23rd 4*


Last book of the "Night Watch" series. However, this didn't have anything to do with the previous 3 books, but rather the prequel Immortal Danger (and it's been long enough that I didn't remember the character in it; cheated and read synopsis again).
Sarah is on the run and she has secrets. She goes to Lucas for protection. I enjoyed this story. There were many secondary characters that I liked as well. Lots of action, fighting that goes down in this one. I liked Sarah's ability and liked that she knew how to fight. Good romance with the right mix of sex.
Now, I wonder if Dante is going to get a story? There is potential there for a good one. (But probably not as this was published in 2011).

[~Melissa~]

Once we achieve this weeks UF stamp - we will have two rows of 3 :D

[Anita Reads]

Week 5: Urban Fantasy

Book: Touch of Frost by Jennifer Estep
Finished: 04/24/16
Rated: ★★★★★

Review:
This series follows Gwen Frost, a gypsy who can feel all the innermost secrets and feelings, by touching another person/or a personal object of theirs. After her mom passed away due to a car crash, Gwen is moved to go to Mythos Academy. It's a special academy where Valkyries, Spatans, Amazon or other warrior type trains to fight the Reapers who support the Norse God Loki. Gwen is feeling like the odd one out at the school, as no one else has her power on her school, and everyone just sees her as the book nerd or Gypsy girl with no friends. One day when working at the school's library, another student dies when she tries to steal the goblet of tears. Something that is going to be used to free Loki from his prison.
When no one seems to mourn the students death at all, Gwen makes it her personal mission to find out the truth about what happened to the girl.

I really enjoyed this book. Once I got past the first 2 or 3 chapters the story really picked up, and I felt really drawn to the mystery. The characters were interesting, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what will happen in the next books in the series.

[D.G.]

Oh wow! Ready for the UF stamp already! Woohoo!!!

[D.G.]

Ladies - I'll be on vacation from Wed-Sun of next week so most likely I won't post again until I come back. :)

[Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required]

Glad you liked Touch of Frost Anita. It was just such a different world with all the different supes, even though its set in a school.

[Anita Reads]

I really loved it. I was really drawn to the mystery aspect, and I really enjoyed the friendship that developed in the book. It was a really interesting version of the Mythology genre for sure!

D.G. - That's alright, enjoy your vacation :)

[Steph, Serious series addict]

CONGRATULATIONS, Well Read Chicks!
You now have an updated BINGO card with a stamp on 'urban fantasy'. 

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

Good Job!! :D

[Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required]

Congrats on the stamp WRC!