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R8: SS Team Super Series Slayers (3)
Tentatively going with Magic Breaks.Week 8
Roll 8
Spot 67
Magic Breaks (7th in Kate Daniels Series)
381 pages
Week 8 Completed
Roll: 8
Space: 67
Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
Rated 4 stars
Completed: 9/3/16
How it fits: First page of alternate list
I can't say that this one really lived up to the hype for me...it was good but definitely not great. There was a lot of excitement and I did enjoy the dystopian theme of terrorism and race wars. However, I didn't feel a whole lot of connection to the characters and didn't care too much what happened to them. I also found the twist pretty predictable. A lot of things were needlessly spelled out, but that might just be because I'm getting too old for YA.
Roll: 8
Space: 67
Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
Rated 4 stars
Completed: 9/3/16
How it fits: First page of alternate list
I can't say that this one really lived up to the hype for me...it was good but definitely not great. There was a lot of excitement and I did enjoy the dystopian theme of terrorism and race wars. However, I didn't feel a whole lot of connection to the characters and didn't care too much what happened to them. I also found the twist pretty predictable. A lot of things were needlessly spelled out, but that might just be because I'm getting too old for YA.
Never Never by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher
finished 9/4/2016
Rating : 5 stars
How it fits : On list - Page 11
NEVER NEVER is about Charlie and Silas, who 'come to' one day during school and can't remember a thing about themselves.
I was really surprised by this one. A bunch of my Goodreads friends have this one marked 5 stars and have given it glowing reviews. A couple have recommended it to me. This usually makes my expectations really high and means it takes more for me to get excited about it.
HOWEVER. This was really, really good. The ending was perfect and just cliffhangery enough that I knew that I would love to read the next two (regardless of the bad ratings) but that I didn't need to read them right away. I like knowing that the next two are on my Kindle, just waiting for me.
Oh, and this book turned me onto Colleen Hoover's reviews. Because I'm pretty sure she's the funniest person on the internet.
Week #8, Roll 8, space #67
Book: Dexter's Final Cut by Jeff Lindsay
Date:9/6/16
Pages: audiobook
Series: #7 in the Dexter series
Review: ★★
I've only read one book about blood spatter technician/sociopath serial killer Dexter Morgan previously, and this one reminded me why I abandoned the series. I don't particularly care for the writing style or the main character. I was bored throughout most of the story. The cliff-hanger ending was more annoying than intriguing and definitely did not make me want to immediately read the next book.
OK so The Witch's Daughter is giving me trouble. For some reason it will not load onto my IPOD. I get an "invalid parameters" error. I've deleted it and downloaded it to Overdrive twice now so I think it's an issue with the file. Anyhoo: I completely missed that I have this: Hell Is Empty. It's been a while since I spent some time with Walt Longmire.
I've finished my book, but won't be able to post my review till tomorrow. It may be posted late Thursday, but it will be posted before Friday.
I'm running a little behind with mine due to my late start. But it's not a very long book. Should finish fairly early tomorrow to review and do our roll.
Week 9
#7 in Kate Daniels Series
Roll 8
Spot 67
Rating: ★★★★★
Review: I love this series. It just keeps getting better and better. This book is definitely a transition in the series. Sometimes series will keep repeating the same problems, but in this case Ilona Andrews keeps changing it up. I liked the changes and can't wait to see the direction it takes.
Finished mine while walking the dog this morning. Will get my review up shortly and then do the review/roll post.
rolled an 8 and on spot 67:
7th in series.
5 stars
9/9/2016
I was actually putting of reading this one because I thought I didn't want to spend a few hundred pages with Walt tracking escaped killers. But I'm glad I finally got to it because it was so good. I love the Native American spiritual aspect in this series and it was very prominent in this book. I wanted to comment about Walt and Virgil but after finishing the book, I can't without giving a major spoiler. This one is action packed too with bears, mountain lions and escaped killers.
Week 8: rolled an 8, landed on 67. Mary: Hell Is Empty review
Kelsi: Red Queen review
Grace: Magic Breaks review
Maya: Never Never review
Maria-Helena: Dexter's Final Cut review
And I broke the trend of rolling 8's and I rolled a 9 this week. We are on space 76. So basically once again a # 6 or a #7 or heck a 67th, I'm sure there is a series or two out there that high.
Alternate option is: has at least one kid in the book. (not sure how prominent the child character needs to be.
I love it when I'm on the same spot in both games.I'll be reading LaRose which has children prominent
Eek. I don't have another #6 or 7 on hand. I have one in transit via the library. I'm either not up to or past those numbers on most of my series. So I think I will go with the next for me Kincaid and James book. Hopefully their kids will appear enough in the book. 
eta: checked the plot line and they are on a family vacation so it'll work.
erg. So I seem to be missing disc 1 on my IPOD and disc 2 is only about 20 minutes so clearly something happened. And of course there is a wait list for both the book and audio at all 3 of my libraries. So may have to find something else.
Well lucky me. Picked this up from the library the other day and while so far there haven't been any kids in this series: this one centers around a kid in danger. 
Unless I missed a team spot posting somewhere it looks like we are in 3rd place. There is a team on 78 and one on 82 so the top 3 teams are pretty close. Of course there are also some close behind us to and a couple of really good or bad rolls can shake all that up.
Well I'd say we are doing really well! Third place is awesome!
Week #9, Roll 9, space #76
Book: Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indriðason
Date:9/11/16
Pages: 352
Series: #7 in the Inspector Erlendur series
Review: ★★★
I love reading books set in Iceland. This was a great addition to the series about Inspector Erlendur and his colleagues in Reykjavik who this time investigates a case that starts with the discovery of a young boy who has been stabbed to death. Like many of the other books in the series, it progressed a bit slow, but in the end turned out to be a good and interesting read.
LaRose by Louise Erdich
finished 9/10/2016
Rating : 2 stars
How it fits : Children prominent (info in description)
I just could NOT get into this one at all. It was really disappointing because I've heard nothing but good things about Erdich as an author, and I was really looking forward to enjoying her as well. There's just some things I can't get around though - the lack of quotation marks, for one. They're there for a reason! Use it to mark your conversations so the reader can actually READ the book and not have to pick at it!
The concept and storyline was interesting enough, but if all of her books are like this - I don't think I'll be reading any more of hers.
Maya, I'm sorry LaRose was such a disappointment. I hate it when you've been looking forward to reading a book/new author and then it is not nearly as good as you expected.
It's okay! I mean, it happens. This would have gotten at least 3 stars if the author had decided to remember what the quotation mark keys on the keyboard were forI also read a 2nd book in a series that I love so far the other night and it was a letdown too, I think I need to read a couple 5 stars again! :)
Maya wrote: "It's okay! I mean, it happens. This would have gotten at least 3 stars if the author had decided to remember what the quotation mark keys on the keyboard were for"Yeah, that's so frustrating when there's such a simple solution that would have made such a big difference.
How is everyone doing this week? I see we haven't heard from Grace about what she's reading yet. Think it's too soon to send her a message? I hate being pushy. I finished my book and will put my review up soon.
I'm just over halfway through my book, hoping to be done tomorrow.
You could probably send her a message since it's already Tuesday.
You could probably send her a message since it's already Tuesday.
Thanks for the update Grace. I actually forgot to message anyway.
Week 9 Completed
Roll: 9
Space: 76
Ultimate Weapon by Shannon McKenna
Rated 4.5 stars
Completed: 9/14/16
How it fits: #6 in McClouds and Friends series
Wow...this book was pretty awesome! Filled with edge-of-your-seat suspense, I did not want to put it down! I really liked Tamara and Val together. The mob story was also awesome. Just all around pretty great. It has been about two years since I read the last book in this series, so I'm really glad this challenge gave me a good reason to pick this one up. I will definitely be continuing in the near future.
Roll: 9
Space: 76
Ultimate Weapon by Shannon McKenna
Rated 4.5 stars
Completed: 9/14/16
How it fits: #6 in McClouds and Friends series
Wow...this book was pretty awesome! Filled with edge-of-your-seat suspense, I did not want to put it down! I really liked Tamara and Val together. The mob story was also awesome. Just all around pretty great. It has been about two years since I read the last book in this series, so I'm really glad this challenge gave me a good reason to pick this one up. I will definitely be continuing in the near future.
I'll be away from my computer over the weekend (until Tuesday) but I'll check what the next spot is on my phone and get a book read by Friday (just might not check in until later in the week...)
Week 9
Roll: 9
space: 76
9/13/16
4 starts
alternate: child in book
The title refers to the child that is part of the plot line of this book. These are fun little slices of Sicilian life in the 90's. Salvo Montalbano is a local cop, kind of the head of his little department. He doesn't like modern progress even though he's fairly young. He's kind of a jerk. I don't always get his logic in solving his crimes. I liked that we got to see more of his personal life and relationship with Livia in this one. Made him a little more likeable.
Week 9Roll: 9
Space: 76
alternate: child in book
The Baby Bargain
Rating: 3 stars
Review: Secret baby stories are always iffy for me, and this one was just okay. There was nothing really special about the story. I have to say both Megan and Adam both had some pretty awful parents. The missing dog story line was a little pointless... and didn't always make sense...(view spoiler).
Week 9, Rolled a 9 landed on space 76Mary: The Snack Thief review
Grace: The Baby Bargain review
Kelsi: Ultimate Weapon review
Maya:LaRose review
Maria Helena: Arctic Chill review
and rolled a 9 again. space 85: 8th or 5th in series.
alternate is title beings with M
I'm going to do either Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story or Maids of Misfortune ; whichever I can get to first. :)
Week 10 Completed
Roll: 9
Space: 85
My Name Is Lucy Barton byElizabeth Strout
Rated 2 stars
Completed: 9/17/16
How it fits: Title starts with M
I did not care too much for this one. I felt no connection to the characters and couldn't bring myself to care for any of them, which is a huge deterrent in a book that is supposed to be pretty emotional. It's the story of a woman reflecting on her time spent in the hospital and the bonding experience with her mother that she experienced there. I felt that it jumped around too much between different memories and the current timeline. Just not a favorite for me.
Roll: 9
Space: 85
My Name Is Lucy Barton byElizabeth Strout
Rated 2 stars
Completed: 9/17/16
How it fits: Title starts with M
I did not care too much for this one. I felt no connection to the characters and couldn't bring myself to care for any of them, which is a huge deterrent in a book that is supposed to be pretty emotional. It's the story of a woman reflecting on her time spent in the hospital and the bonding experience with her mother that she experienced there. I felt that it jumped around too much between different memories and the current timeline. Just not a favorite for me.
Do articles count for title? (A, an, the)
Normally they don't but you might want to ask in the questions thread.
Good point. Sometimes I forget that exists haha
Will be reading The #MonuMeta Social Media Book. Chances are I won't be finished until Thursday night / Friday morning so please bear with me. I don't have a lot of free time until this weekend :(
Week 10Roll 9
Spot 85
Magic Shifts (#8 in Kate Daniels Series)
342 pages
Rating: ★★★★★
Review: There are not enough words to say how much I love this series. This book picks up with the changes from the previous book, and it is an interesting change of pace. Curran and Kate are still crazy, but the changes have lifted a weight off their shoulders. They are more relaxed. It also nice to get to know Roland on a more personal note. For 7 books he has been the bad guy looming in the distance, but in this book you actually get to see the man and the consequences he has to live with. I can not wait for the next book, and fortunately for me it comes out tomorrow!
I need to catch up on that series. It's already one of my favorites after only two books!
The Challenge Factory
Books mentioned in this topic
Grave Sight (other topics)Tool Kit Clues (other topics)
Magic Binds (other topics)
The Bridge (other topics)
Water Like a Stone (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Charlaine Harris (other topics)Elly Griffiths (other topics)
Elizabeth Strout (other topics)
Shannon McKenna (other topics)
Arnaldur Indriðason (other topics)
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After reading some of the reviews, I might look for something else but I have this if needed.
ooh found this one: