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R8: SS Team Five Alive (5)

Is there a stipulation as to "the book has to be started after the new roll"? Or can I have started my book yesterday or the day before befor..."
There is a stipulation that the book has to be started after the Roll. Ezi answered a question on this in the discussion thread, the post is HERE. Hope that helps!

Week 2 - Spot 13




Completion - Week 2 - Spot 13
Book:

Task: Standalone
Completed: 7/24/16
Rating & Review 3 stars ~ Well written but not that exciting. The characters are neat and the subject matter is real but again, a bit anti-climactic.

Trea wrote: "Team 5 Week 2 = Space 13
Task: Series Book #1, Series Book #3, Series Book #13, or Book that has an Author name starting with J (First, Middle, or Last)
Task Chosen: Series Book #1 and Author name ..."
I have this book in my purse right now and your review just took the wind out of my sales. The author gave it to me to review and now I know i won't like it
Task: Series Book #1, Series Book #3, Series Book #13, or Book that has an Author name starting with J (First, Middle, or Last)
Task Chosen: Series Book #1 and Author name ..."
I have this book in my purse right now and your review just took the wind out of my sales. The author gave it to me to review and now I know i won't like it

I'm very sorry, Ezi! I was super excited about it when I got it from Net Galley, but it totally didn't live up to my expectations!

I felt the same way! There were so many times that I wanted to DNF it, but the fact that I had gotten it from Net Galley for review kept me going through it!


Breaking Silence by Linda Castillo
Series #3
Pages - 302
Finished - 7/27/16
Rating - 5 stars
Review: Now THIS is a great book! I have read the first two in this series this year, so I was a little nervous diving right into this one (I get burned out easily). But this book just blew. me. away. Seriously! The story starts out with the death of three family members. Accidental? Looks like it at first. But, no. Murder. It's as Chief Kate Burkholder and John Tomasetti really start digging into the case that it's blown open by not one, but TWO surprises that I NEVER saw coming. Seriously, if you've never read this series - get to it! I am loving these books and already have #4 on my shelf waiting patiently for me!!

Task: Series Book #1, Series Book #3, Series Book #13, or Book that has an Author name starting with J (First, Middle, or Last)
Task Chosen: Series Book #1 and Author name ..."
Bummer for a not-so-great book :( that's the reason I have become VERY selective on the books I accept for review.


Completed: 7/27/16
How It Fits: Book #1 from series On the Ropes
Rating: 4 stars
Review: I'm having a little trouble classifying this book. I was expecting an NA insta love book, but this ended up being a little bit more involved. It actually started when the main characters were just starting high school and took them through to a few years after college. The time jumps at times were a bit rough to follow, but the story was lovely. The MCs were sympathetic, and made you root for them. The H's brothers were well filled out secondary characters that added to the main story well. The story addressed real life issues without offering a quick fix everything solution, and the characters had to make difficult choices and live with the consequences. I'm excited to read the next 2 in the series.

The way I see it, it was a win for me. I wanted to read it, so much so, that I had pre-ordered it while waiting to hear if I had been approved! After I finished it, I cancelled the pre-order, so it saved me $5. I just couldn't justify spending my book budget on a book I detested! I have a habit of purchasing the books I got as an ARC if I enjoy them. I figure it is better to support the author with a paid purchase, than to just give them my review and hope it helps generate sales.

I can totally understand your view on that! I've purchased books that I was able to read as an ARC to gift to family members. I'm not a re-reader myself, but sometimes there's been many times when I've wanted someone else to enjoy a certain book!



Book:Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
How it fits: Number 1 in a series and Also Author J
Rating and Review: 4.5 stars. I actually really thought this book was an interesting concept, it follows Ezra and Kady the main characters but it's in the form of government files kind of thing. Kady and Ezra's planet gets blown up by a company called BeiTech and from there Ezra is conscripted and Kady hacks their systems because another ship gets blown up but Kady thinks the UTA are hiding something. AmaZing book and looking forward to reading the next in the series

Roll: 9
Spot: 22
Options: #2 in series OR #22 in series OR Best Book Boyfriends
Tara| Allegiant #420 on Best Book Boyfriends | Review
~Krystal | The Host #36 on Best Book Boyfriends | TEAM MEMBER DROPPED OUT
Stacey| One Night of Scandal Series #2 | Review
Lindsay IL| The Wrath & the Dawn #1334 on Best Book Boyfriends | Review
Trea| Celebromancy Series #2| Review

We rolled a 9 and that places us on spot 22.
Your options are: #2 in series OR #22 in series OR Best Book Boyfriends
Happy reading!!

Task: Series Book #2, #22 in series, or Best Book Boyfriends
Task Chosen: Series Book #2
Book Read:

Page Count: 310 pages
Dates Read: 7/29/16 to 7/30/16
Rating: 1 star
Review:
After somewhat enjoying Geekomancy, I had hoped we'd get a continuation of that story line a bit, but instead what we got was something that felt like a step backwards.
I couldn’t get into the story, and it didn’t feel like Ree had really grown since the first book. She's still trying to figure out where she stands with Eastwood and Drake both, then she adds in another "romantic" interest in Jane, which felt like it pandering to the 20-something horny male segment of readers. She kept acting like a Too Stupid To Live/Damsel in Distress type when it was clear in the previous book that she was a much smarter and tougher cookie than that.
There was a lot of pop culture references in this one again, and perhaps it was too much so. It seemed like there was a reference to something already produced like every third paragraph! Just felt like fan service more so than an actual necessary plot item. What felt like an homage in the first book felt very forced and fake in this one. Sadly, after my somewhat lackluster review of the first story, I won't be continuing the series.



Lindsay, I'm impressed you had the patience to get to 1334 on the Best boyfriends list. I usually give up around 5 or 6 hundred. :)

Book:

Task: Book #2 in After Hours series
Completed 8/1/16
Rating: 4 stars
Pages: 230
Review: This is the second in a trilogy, and I actually liked it a bit better than the first. The plot could have been icky (H wants to get it on with his best friend's ex) but it was handled with relatively early and with suitable awkwardness and then everyone moved on. The H/h were well matched, and had some great dialogue. The misunderstanding at the end was a bit silly, but it was resolved quickly and served its purpose, so I'll get over it. Excited to read the third about the saint of a best friend getting the girl.

LOL, no way! I knew I was going to be reading the book this week so I reverse-searched. Basically I looked through the list of lists that the book appears on and it was on the third or so page of lists. It tells you there what #. So yeah, I definitely gave up searching after far less than 5 or 6 hundred on the list itself, but searching through the lists themselves if I don't find it the other way works too! ;)

Book:

Author: Renee Ahdieh
Completed: 7/30/16
Pages: 416 [Kindle edition]
Task: #1334 on Best Book Boyfriends
Rating & Review: Yep, I loved it. No shame. Khalid is my kind of book boyfriend. I love the dark and mysterious puzzle that you have to put together piece by piece; unlock bit by bit. Shazi was the only element that almost had me knocking the book down to a 4. How dare she always demand Khalid apologize to her and never do the same in return when she kept pushing his buttons as well?! She was not perfect. She was not without fault. Man that drove me crazy! But other than that, she was a strong, feisty character who complemented him well and I really liked her other than that. I highly recommend this book and can't wait to read the next!

LOL, no way! I knew I was going to be reading th..."
Great tip!!! I didn't know about that feature!! I really wish Goodreads would tell you if any of your books is on all the pages of the lists, not just the top 100...

LOL, no way! I knew I was going to be reading th..."
Holy cow! I had no idea I could look backwards. Some of those lists are LONG, and I always wanted a search feature so I could see if my book was on it. Turns out there already is, I just didn't know it. Thanks!
Congratulations Team Five Alive (5), you have earned the FREE PASS
*It can only be used once, and cannot be used on the last week to win
*It can only be used once, and cannot be used on the last week to win


Allegiant by Veronica Roth
#420 on Best Book Boyfriends
Pages - 526
Finished - 8/3/16
Rating - 3 stars
Review: I read the first two in this trilogy a couple of years ago and honestly I didn't remember much going into this one. I had actually tried to read it immediately after reading Insurgent, but I couldn't get more than 30 pages into it. So I set aside. I recently watched the movie Divergent, and it peaked my interest in finally finishing the trilogy. So when I saw that Allegiant was on the list option for this week, I jumped on it. And overall I enjoyed this book. I didn't really like the way it jumped perspectives, from Tris to Four throughout the whole book. And I was definitely not expecting the ending to happen the way it did. So I only rated it at a 3 - okay, but not too overly exciting. But I am glad that I finally finished the trilogy.


I saw that you had posted to the discussion thread and that Ezi hadn't responded yet, so I PM'd her yesterday afternoon about it. She's on vacation currently, but we will get another player ASAP.

I just thought of this, but we may need to use our free pass to roll right now, since Krystal had stated she'd read a book and then pulled out of the game with 2 days before roll without posting a review before she left us. I think that's how it's been done in rounds past.
I'm waiting on starting anything until I see what the roll is, so my vote is to use the pass and roll right now, since we don't know when we'll get the new player and it is unlikely that they'll have read anything that will fit for last week's roll. Ezi can always give it back to us, if it is determined that we don't need to use it because Krystal pulled out.

That's what I was figuring, that we would probably need to use our Free Pass, but I was hoping not. I'll go right now and roll and post and indicate that we will use our Free Pass if necessary to get us out of the bind we've found ourselves in , but that we hope we don't have to :(

Roll: 8
Spot: 30
Options: #3 in series OR #30 in series OR a standalone OR Author L
Tara| The Melody Lingers On | Standalone | Review
Stacey| One Night of Trouble | Series #3 | Review
Lindsay IL| Because You'll Never Meet Me | Standalone | Review
Trea| Wrong Question, Right Answer | Series #3 | Review
Sandy | Dark Wild Night | Series #3 | Review
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Is there a stipulation as to "the book has to be started after the new roll"? Or can I have started my book yesterday or the day before before the roll?