R15: Team #15 ~ Spine Crackers

[Angie ☯]

My pick for Shelf #10 - Science Fiction - is

[Cathy M.]

Planning to read:


Week 10 Shelf : Science Fiction
Book: by Anna Hackett
How it Fits: Shelved 10x

[Rosina]

I am back and will post my reviews an new selection

[Rosina]

Shelf #8 - Readers Choice -
Date Read October 10 2017
Rating 4 stars
Review:
I had read another book from this author and was impressed with her writing style. This story literally tugged hard on my heart strings and snapped them in two!! Completely unexpectedly, from blurb I just thought it was going to be a general vamp love story, but it became so much more. I loved that the vampires could control an element.
The fire between Gio and Beatrice leaps off the page. There were twists and turns that had me spinning for answers at times. The story has a great pace and flow. I felt I was in the room with them witnessing it all. The ending - ugh! I feel adrift. Sometimes you just really get invested with characters, and this book was one of those books. The rest of the series already downloaded.

[Rosina]

Shelf #9 ~ Magical Realism
Book:
Rating:4 stars
Read: October 10 2017
Review: So for my roadtrip I needed a paperback to read. I had purchased this a couple of months ago and had kept shoving it aside. I was pleasantly surprised by this story. I had tried to read both the True Blood series and the Aurora Teagarden series by Charlaine Harris and felt they were just not full of enough grit for me. So I was hesitant to start this one. I was surprised by her writing now this was gritty and totally UF for me but I did really like the characters and the concept of Midnight Texas. I just zipped through the book and actually got the next two in the series. It is light reading and just what I needed to whisk away the hours on the roadtrip.
Welcome to Crazytown, Texas. Everyone here is hiding something; be it one's past or nature, they all have that in common. There are more POVs but they are all about the same things: the main mystery and what they think of each other.
This book is best described as a paranormal cozy mystery. It takes place in a very small town but it does have a bit more violence than your usual cozy mystery. The paranormal part comes from its characters and their abilities: shapeshifters appear, there is a vampire , one of the characters is a witch and Manfred is a psychic.
Midnight Crossroad is more of an introduction to the series and setting the stage for future mysteries and problems these characters might be facing than anything else. Many things are left unexplained and I am definitely interested in these characters.

[Rosina]

Shelf #10 ~ 10/11/17: Science Fiction
Right now willing to give a try

Might be too out there for me....any one read it?

[Angie ☯]

Hey Rosina - I have read it twice, but I'm a Stephen King fan. :-)

[Nina]

My pick for shelf #10 - Touched by an Alien by Gini Koch

[Cathy M.]

Completion Post


Shelf Called: Week 9 - Magical Realism
Book:
Author: Stacia Kane
Date Read: 10.11.17
Rating: ★★★★
How it Fits: Shelved 1x

Review:
I really love this series ~ the setting, the tone, the world, the characters. Chess is one of the most unique MCs in UF - can't say she's all that kick-ass or snarky or any of the other characteristics that make us love heroines in these types of books. Her insecurities cripple her and she lets her drug addiction define and overpower her. But you can't help but root for her, even when you want to slap some sense into her.

There were details about her past that shed some light on why she turned out the way she did (with the drugs and low self-esteem). And knowing Terrible was her first real relationship, I tried to give her a break. I really did! But after their huge fight, I got tired of her constant fear that he would leave her and her tip-toeing around him as if she didn't really know or trust in him. I love that Terrible is able to make her happy (and love them as a couple) but hate that he's so important to her well-being.

I love the unpredictability of these books. Never know where it will go and this one was no different. Didn't call who was behind the sacrifices and haunting until closer to the end which made it much more enjoyable. And the decision Chess has to make at the end of this one? Oh my god I was on the edge of my seat! In the back of my mind I knew how it would go but my god, that was intense!

Am bummed there is only 1 more published in this series, though it looks like Stacia Kane is working on #6! There needs to be more!

[Nina]

Completion Postt

Shelf Called: Week 9 ~ Magical Realism
Book: Magic Bleeds
Author: Ilona Andrews
Date Read: 10/11/17
Rating: ★★★★

Review:
Another great addition to the series! It’s full of mystery, action, and of course romance. Kate is still one of my favorite heroines, she’s stubborn, smart, & loyal. She gets herself in trouble all the time but for the right reasons & doesn’t take shit from anyone. The “courting” between her and Curran is hilarious, although, at the beginning of the book I was annoyed & frustrated with Curran along with Kate and the miscommunication drove me crazy, but I shouldn’t have expected any less from 2 stubborn people who are set in their ways. And let’s not forget about the villain, so far she’s one of the best. The banter between her and Kate is just great. The ending was fantastic, gut-wrenching, but fantastic. I just loved everything about this book, I could go on and on but that would probably lead to lots of spoilers. I think the only disappointment in this book was Andrea, I really like her but not so much by the end of the book. (view spoiler)[(I was excepting her to go after Kate, but she decided to stay with the people who pretty much wants to get rid of her kind.) (hide spoiler)]

So far I loved this series and Magic Bleeds is now my favorite one. I can’t wait to read the rest of the series.

[Nina]

Completion Post

Shelf Called: Week 10 ~ Science Fiction
Book: Touched by an Alien
Author: Gini Koch
Date Read: 10/13/17
Rating: 3.5★

Review:
I don’t really read a lot of Sci-Fi, I prefer movies over books in this category, (which apparently is weird? I don’t know) but I’ve been reading a bit of it lately.

There’s not much I have to say about this book. I think I’ve mention before I like to read books that make me roll my eyes a lot, and this definitely did the job but in a good way. I love the banter between the characters, there’s lots of snark and smart-ass comments, I couldn’t stop laughing for half of the book. I did like the plot here but somewhere in the middle, it started to drag. There are some suspenseful moments and lots of action, some of the fights were great and others were just WTF? moments.(view spoiler)[(Like when they go “rescued” Kitty’s mom, they didn’t take ANY weapons? What were they planning on doing?) (hide spoiler)] I found the whole alien missionaries aspect interesting although the way the superbeings are described and the way I imagine them in my head was more cool than scary.

Overall, I actually like Touched by an Alien, it wasn’t the best but I liked it. It was a quick, fun read which says a lot since there’s a lot of information dump here that I honestly think we would’ve been fine without in this book. The whole book happen in a three day period and this is long series, it could’ve been split unless every book is like this one, in which case I don’t if I’ll want to continue.

[Angie ☯]

Completion Post

Shelf #10 called: Science Fiction (10/11/17) ~ shelved 66x
Book: Time's Divide
Author: Rysa Walker
Date Read: Oct 14
Rating: ★★★★
Review:
I can't believe I waited so long to read the end of this series!! It wasn't that I didn't want to read it....it just never seemed to fit any challenge task! :-)

Great wrap up Chronos Files series! It was very well written, funny and clever, and it wasn't all that predictable! The epilogue was a little confusing, and sometimes it seemed that the story dragged, but those points were very few. But overall an excellent book!

I loved the characters, especially Kate and Kiernan. (view spoiler)[ I would have liked Kate and Kiernan to end up together and felt a little cheated when he and Other-Kate had a life....but in the end, both Kate and Kiernan got what they wanted. (hide spoiler)]

Overall, I loved the series from Book 1 to Book 3. The series is fun, and fast paced and I even found myself slowing down my reading to devour every word! I made every jump with Kate/Kiernan....it was great fun! I hate to have the series end....

[Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required]

Angie you need to request your Stamps in the Stamp Request thread please, otherwise they won't get stamped.

[Angie ☯]

OOPS!!! I thought I did - I will fix it!

[Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required]

:)

[Steph, Serious series addict]

CONGRATULATIONS, Spine Crackers!
You now have an updated BINGO card with a stamp on 'reader's choice' and 'magical realism'. 

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

Good Job!! :D

[Angie ☯]

Yay!! Thanks, Steph!

Great job, guys!!!

[Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required]

Congrats on the stamps Spine Crackers!

[Cathy M.]

Completion Post


Shelf Called: Week 10 - Science Fiction
Book:
Author: Anna Hackett
Date Read: 10.16.17
Rating: ★★★★
How it Fits: Shelved 10x

Review:
I never thought I would like a romance series based around an alien invasion but they are like crack and I just can't help myself! They are like my guilty pleasure :)

It's been a while since I picked up this series so didn't remember much about Sienna and Theron before starting this one. From what I do remember their romance pretty much followed all the ones preceding it, beginning with the lust and wanting to bang the other but the hero thinking the heroine's too good for him and fighting it. They bang, the hero keeps fighting it but then something major happens and they can't be without each other.

Actually that sounds like most romances! But it's not the romances that keeps me coming back - it's the action-packed drama of the story, learning more about what the aliens have in store and hoping that the humans are able to defeat them once and for all. Things just keep getting worse and worse with the Gizzida coming up with more weapons to cripple the survivors, but they do have hope, and they keep fighting, and I can't imagine how this series will come to the end but I'll keep reading them as long as they come out!

[Cathy M.]

New shelf!

Shelf #11 ~ 10/18/17: Published 2015
DIRECT LINK - https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

[Cathy M.]

Just saw that it is a winning shelf for one of the teams so...

It's been fun playing with you!

[Angie ☯]

Ah man!!!! I wasn't ready for it to end! :-D

It has been great fun!

[Cathy M.]

Yea this round was really fun!

I'll check back on Saturday to see if T16 is close to finishing. If not I'll pick something for this shelf. They are 2 shelves behind (though only need 1 book for each) so I guess its not quite over yet!

[Nina]

I'll be reading A Court of Thorns and Roses just in case

[Rosina]

this was so much fun.....i finished my SF book will get review posted

I will find something to read cause you never know....

[Rosina]

Shelf Called: Week 10 - Science Fiction

Read: October 19 2017
Rating: 3 stars
Review:
hmmmmm....I have being thinking about this book so much trying to decide if I liked it or not. Here is what I decided. I appreciate SK writing...he always makes me think. I don't think I liked the story as much as I thought I would. If I had read this 30 years ago I would have liked it more I think...my taste in reading has changed. Is it a bad book not at all....will I continue the series most probably because I think later books will be more crafted. I felt there could have been more fleshed out since this was originally a short story. Since reading I found the authors version which has had scenes that I may check out.

[Rosina]

I ll be reading for 2015

[Cathy M.]

Rosina wrote: "Shelf Called: Week 10 - Science Fiction

Read: October 19 2017
Rating: 3 stars
Review:
hmmmmm....I have being thinking about this book so much trying to decide if I ..."

I felt the same way when I read it. And thought it was a bit anti-climactic with what happened to the boy. I expected so much more with all the foreshadowing leading up to it! Same with the dark man.

[Steph, Serious series addict]

CONGRATULATIONS, Spine Crackers!
You now have an updated BINGO card with a stamp on 'science fiction'. 

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

Good Job!! :D

[Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required]

Congrats on the stamp Spine Crackers!