R3: SS Awesome Fireballs (3)

[Melissa]

I didn't do a special shelf

[Cathy]

I am still reading. Will post as soon as I finish.

[Jenne]

No need for a special shelf :)

[Skandia]

Good job, Kelsi! Looks like a great book.
We have only one more book to go for this week ...

[[deleted user]]

Jenne wrote: "No need for a special shelf :)"

OK good, thanks :)

@Skandia: Thanks :)

[Skandia]

Cathy, how is your book going?

Sadly, we are the last team yet to roll ... but we still have time.

[Melissa]

Any word from Cathy? What is our deadline to roll?

[Jenne]

It's 2:20 pm my time right now so 9 1/2 hours more.

[Skandia]

It's about 9 more hours left until deadline but it's now past 10pm for me already.
If Cathy posts her review on time and I'm not online anymore, maybe you can do the rolling Melissa?

I hope she's ok. Real life can sometimes interfere when you least expect it but it sure is frustrating to wait for the rest of the team.

[Cathy]

Sorry I got behind. I will be better prepared next week.

Week 1: 8
by Alyssa Day
Completed: 9/5/14
Rating: 4 stars

This is the last book in the series and she did a nice job tying up all the loose story lines. I see the main characters very differently after this book. Up until now, they were hard core and very in control. It was nice to finally see them loosen up.

[[deleted user]]

Nicely done Cathy! Don't worry about it, I honestly thought we had until today to finish the books. Sometimes it's hard to keep up.

I will roll the dice, just two seconds.

[[deleted user]]

Ok I rolled a six which I believe puts us at 14...we add to last weeks number right?

If so we read book 14 in a series or a W author.

[Jenne]

You can also read a first, a fourth or a standalone :)

[[deleted user]]

Oh great! Thanks Jenne :)

[[deleted user]]

I am going to read The Secret Life of Bees (a standalone novel) :)

[Melissa]

Just curious what were the two dice?

[[deleted user]]

A 2 and a 4

[Melissa]

Hehehe figure it was either that or 2 threes...though suppose it could have been a 5 and 1

[[deleted user]]

Haha :)

[Skandia]

Good Morning and thank you for rolling, Kelsi!

Spot 14 - #1, #4, or #14 in series or stand alone book or alternative option W-author.

I have The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1) checked out from library so I'll probably go with this

[[deleted user]]

No problem Skandia :)

[Cathy]

Week 2: 14
by Maggie Stiefvater
Book 4 in the Shiver series
Completed: 9/8/14
Rating: 4 stars

I enjoyed revisiting characters from the Shiver series. However, these are the most dysfunctional characters in a series full of them. The level of craziness was a little much but I did like the way they finally pulled it together for the ending.

[Melissa]

Hey reading my book right now sorry didn't post which book. I'm reading first book in series.

[Skandia]

Cathy wrote: "Week 2: 14
by Maggie Stiefvater
Book 4 in the Shiver series
Completed: 9/8/14
Rating: 4 stars

I enjoyed revisiting characters from the Shiver series. However, these are ..."

Cathy, this book is on my to-read shortlist for sure. I love the whole Fever series and actually everything Maggie Stiefvater writes.
Reading The Raven Boys now and this is really good too.

[Skandia]

Week 2
Space 14, #1 in series
(The Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Stiefvater

Finished 09/11/14
3 stars

Very bizarre book.
First of all, the book description here in GR has almost nothing to do with the actual events in this book. The story is about magic and myths related to Celtic king Glendower.
I do love Maggie Stiefvater's style of writing but it took a lot of time until the real story started to develop here. I still don't totally get the weirdness of the characters and their dynamic. It felt so random at places that I had to ask : wait, what?
This book was so dreamlike and weird with the line magic, ancient myths and bizarre characters. I feel like I have so many questions left unanswered after finishing. So not what I was expecting but still I think I'll try to find the answers in the next book.

[Skandia]

Team : Awesome Fireballs
Roll 2: rolled 6 (2+4)
Space: 14

Skandia - The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Stiefvater 9/11/14 review
Kelsi - The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (standalone) 9/11/14 review
Cathy - Sinner (The Wolves of Mercy Falls #4) by Maggie Stiefvater 9/8/14 review
Melissa - Real ( Real #1) by Katy Evans 9/11/14 review

[Jenne]

The person I have on standby for a back up player won't be available for another week and a half. If any of you have any friends you think would like to play, let me know :)

[[deleted user]]

Week 2
Space 14, Standalone novel

Completed September 11, 2014
4 stars

I found this one very sad. I got quite attached to the characters and it just really pulled at my heartstrings seeing them go through so much pain! It definitely had a lot of happy moments too so that made up for it a bit. Not sure if it really lived up to the hype for me but I might just not have been in the mood to read it. Might do a reread at some point.

[Melissa]

Week 2
Space 14- First in Series

Finished- 9/11/14
2 stars

Ok so let me say this the first half of the book I was at a solid 5 stars. I was totally in love with the characters. The sexual tension was perfect. The uber alpha male that I would love to have. I was ready to start telling my friends who hadn't read the book how AMAZING it was

But then I hit the middle. And it took a swift nosedive south. The moment the characters had sex it became the most annoying hard to finish book ever. LOOOOOONG overly described sex scenes fill the second half. An obsession with smelling each other and licking. And speaking of smells a really gross post sex scene where the female MC announces she was going to go french and not wash for a week just so she could smell like him. There were other moments that had me going "ewww".
IN the end I stopped caring about the characters. I got sick of the female MC I was sick of the male MC. I was sick of all of the sideline characters. Most of all I was sick of the sex scenes.
I'm giving it two stars just because I so loved the first half of the book. The second half was definitely negative stars for me.

[Skandia]

Melissa, I have heard the similar critic about Real and I'll stay away of it. Not that much of NA fan anyway, at least not that type of NA.

[Skandia]

Good job team! I will roll the dice in about half an hour!

[Skandia]

Rolled a 10 (6+4) and we are now on spot 24.

Week 3 -
book #2 in series
book #4 in series
book #24 in series
book with publication date 2010

[Jenne]

Barbra will be joining y'all's team :)

[Skandia]

I'm going to read by Kim Harrison, book #4 in The Hollows series.

[Melissa]

Tentatively going with - published in 2010

[Barbara ★]

Hi ladies. I'm Barbara and Skandia has asked me to join your team.
I'm going to read by Lynn Veihl which is #4 in the Kyndred series.

[[deleted user]]

Hi Barbara! Welcome to the team :)

I will be reading Dead to the World which is a fourth in a series.

[Skandia]

Hi Barbara! Thanks again for joining us!

[Cathy]

Hi Barbara! Thanks for helping us out!
I am going to read

[Skandia]

Team : Awesome Fireballs
Roll 3: rolled 10 (6+4)
Space: 24

Skandia - A Fistful of Charms (The Hollows #4) by Kim Harrison 9/18/14 review
Kelsi - Dead to the World (Sookie Stackhouse #4) by Charlaine Harris 9/16/14 review
Cathy - If You Give A Girl A Viscount(Impossible Bachelors #4) by Kieran Kramer 9/14/14 review
Melissa - Burning Up Flint by Laurann Dohner (2010) 9/18/14 review
Barbara - Nightshine(Kyndred #4) by Lynn Viehl 9/16/14 review

[Melissa]

Hey switching my book so that I can use it for more than one challenge. Going with published 2010

[Barbara ★]

Week 3
Spot 24 - 4th in series

Finished 9/16/14
4 stars

This is a spinoff series that isn't anywhere near as good as the original. I had trouble with the first three books in this second series but this one was actually pretty good. It still jumped back and forth between past and present - present being the hero and heroine while past was seemingly random strangers who appeared again at the end of the story after I'd completely forgotten about them.

I really liked both Sam and Charlotte as well as the poor kidnapped people on the island. This pretty much tied up all the loose ends though a few were left to the readers imagination. I'm hoping that some of these loose ends will be explained in the next connected series Lords of the Darkyn.

[[deleted user]]

Week 3
Space 24, 4th in a series

Finished September 16, 2014
4 stars

This was a re-read for me.

I enjoyed this book nearly as much as I did the first read through but it did make me realize how much the television show has changed the plotlines from the original story. Without writing too many spoilers, this book focuses on Jason's disappearance, the discovery of the Hotshot community, Eric with no memory, and evil witches. Not one of my favorites in the series, I felt there were far too many plot points to keep track of and they weren't developed very well.

I enjoyed the bit about Eric, it was amusing seeing him with no memory and his lack of memory after the fact. I felt that the witch plot needed a lot more development though. It seemed a bit half-hearted. Plus, I missed Bill! He is one of my favorites in the first books and he is hardly a character at all in this one.

[Skandia]

A Fistful of Charms (The Hollows #4) by Kim Harrison
Week 3, spot 24
Finished 9/18/14
3,5 stars

The Hollows series is probably my favorite UF series right now. Great mix of PN characters, interesting world building and usually the plot is fast moving.
This is the fourth book and Jinks is back "big time"! Rachel's stealing and cheating ex-boyfriend has left the town with Jinks' son and Rachel helps Jinks to bring him back. Although they find out pretty quickly where Nick and Janx are, there are some complications with Nick having stolen the ancient artifact that several werewolf packs are also after.
Rachel can't leave captured Nick behind and they start to plot to get him free from weres.
Of course being Rachel the witch runner, she gets herself into all kind of impossible situations and manages to escape at the last minute as always. This time with the help of demon magic.
This would have been a perfect 5 stars book but the unsolved situation between Rachel and her roommate, living vamp Ivy, got on my nerves. They still going in circles around each other and this "to bite" or "not to bite" tension with long dialogues between Ivy and Rachel, then between Rachel and Kisten, then between Kisten and Ivy was just too much same old, same old and really made the book boring at parts.

[Jenne]

Y'all have earned your free pass and it's there if needed :)

[Skandia]

Thanks, Jenne!

[Melissa]

read: 9/18/14
Published 2010
rating: 1 and half stars



There are some books out there that seriously made me wonder why I bothered finishing them...this is one. Had it not been for two reading challenges I would have thrown this book against the wall. Annoying too stupid to live female character meets annoying alpha a-hole male cyber character who kidnaps and no other words can describe what happens next other than There is only one time I have ever been able to forgive Male hero for raping the female character (and this book was NOT it). I understand that there are people who are into forced or non-consensual scenes....I'm not one of them. The hero never redeems himself for me in this book and I'm using the term hero lightly. I also don't understand the female MC. Her choices and vague desiciions often left me. I pretty sure this is the last book by this author that I'll be reading.

[Skandia]

Melissa, sry for this crappy book you had to suffer through. I hope next week will be much better.

Only one book to go this week!

[Melissa]

Skandia wrote: "Melissa, sry for this crappy book you had to suffer through. I hope next week will be much better.

Only one book to go this week!"

Thanks. I'm reading a book right now for another group challenge that is good so that helps a lot.

[Cathy]

Week 3
Spot 24 Read 4th in series

Completed 9/14/14
Rating: 3 stars

It has been a while since I read this author and it took me a little bit to adjust to her style. It is a sometimes funny easy read but not typical historical fiction. I liked the character of Daisy and the quasi-Cinderella story line but it often veered out of the time period.