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R3: SS Sixy Book Babes (6)
Nevermind ... I see you've already done that. You are a very organized Captain, Cait!
I already spoke with Jenne earlier this morning but I'll note it again when I do our Post Your Spot tonight after our roll.
Is it Friday morning yet?! I'm ready to see what roll is next!
Lol! Soon. :D See this is why I'm playing both rounds this time. I got to roll for SSS last night. So I have a pretty book just waiting for me.
I wish! I've got my alarm set so it'll be the same as last week. I should post about 10 minutes after midnight central time. Super crossing my fingers we get into the double digits so I can do a stand alone book and read whatever I want from my SRC spreadsheet lol
Cait wrote: "Super crossing my fingers we get into the double digits so I can do a stand alone book and read whatever I want from my SRC spreadsheet lol ..."One of the SRC Group reads -
will cover any space from # 9 (alternate green cover) through # 21 - Whoop Whoop WHOOP!
Yeah, I saw that one! Will definitely be a good choice. I'm planning on reading Red for the group reads though. I have something of a soft spot for Little Red Riding Hood knock off stories :)
Book Concierge wrote: "Cait wrote: "Super crossing my fingers we get into the double digits so I can do a stand alone book and read whatever I want from my SRC spreadsheet lol ..."One of the SRC Group reads - [bookco..."
Gutted as I only read this about two months ago so I can't even use it for a re-read. If I had known it was going to be an SRC read I would have waited!
Week 2What We Rolled: 9
We Are On Spot: 15
What You Can Read:
-a stand alone novel
-book #1 in a series
-book #5 in a series
-book #15 in a series
-a book set in Italy
Shelby- Choices and Changes by K.L. Belanger :: Stand Alone :: Review
Book Concierge- The Right Thing by Amy Conner :: Stand Alone :: Review
NancyHelen- The Gingerbread House by Carin Gerhardsen :: #1 :: Review
Tara- The Promise by Kristen Ashley :: #5 :: Review
Cait- The Bride by Julie Garwood :: #1 :: Review
The dice were in our favor tonight, ladies! Not a bad roll at all. Now I'm going back to bed lol Looking forward to seeing your book choices this week!
Awesome. I was hoping for 5 so I could read the next book in the series! I'm on mobile so can't link it but I'm going to read The Promise by Kristen Ashley...book #5 of The 'Burg Series!Updated...
I'm going to do a #1 in a series and read
I'm going to be reading
which is #1 in the "Lairds' Fiancees" series.
I think I'm going to read
- #1 in a series.NEVERMIND .... see below
Alrighty! Everyone's been added to the list. Have a good week everyone, hope you enjoy your books :D
OOPS ... just saw that a new book has come in at the library and I will HAVE to read it this week (only 1 week checkout on new books)So I'm changing my book to :
Week 2 / rolled a 9 / Now on Spot # 15
Reading a stand-alone book
The Right Thing by Amy Conner – 2.5** Annie and Starr were best friends in second grade, until Starr and her daddy suddenly moved away. Some twenty years later, Annie and Starr meet outside a department store and immediately renew their friendship, setting off on a road trip. I was interested in the friendship between these two women, but Conner lost me at the end. Annie makes some really uncharacteristic decisions, and the final chapter was particularly unbelievable. So the end result was that I was left feeling unsatisfied. I do think that Conner shows promise and I’d be willing to try another book by her … but not anytime soon.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
By the way, Cait, I really like how you clearly outline our options with the space we land on. Makes it SOOOOoooo much easier to look for a book that fits.
Book Concierge wrote: "By the way, Cait, I really like how you clearly outline our options with the space we land on. Makes it SOOOOoooo much easier to look for a book that fits."Great! I'm glad you find it useful. It seemed like it would be a little easier having the options on each weekly post instead of always having to go back and refer to the masterlist.
by Carin GerhardsenFinished: 6 Sep 14
Rating: ★
This book was absolutely terrible. I almost don't know where to begin...I thought perhaps the translation of it was poor, but it was more than that. It was a dull premise, which was completely predictable. The 'twist' was so easy to guess it was actually annoying. The characters were wooden. But worst of all were the pages of completely irrelevant information - does the war in Lebanon or how to make tapenade really propel the story forward? No! But if all of the irrelevant information, bloated conversation (do we really need to hear the lead detective outline every single possible task his team need to undertake, all in one huge paragraph?) and pointless and often incorrect adjectives and adverbs were removed, this story would have almost nothing going for it and might have been done in about 100 pages. As for the totally irrelevant subplot concerning the rape, it was as if that had been dropped in just to pad the book out as it didn't connect with the rest of the story in any way whatsoever. Urgh - if I could, I would give this no stars at all.
Ughhhh! I'm sorry it was so awful, NancyHelen! Those are the most frustrating, where you wish you could give it no stars and scrub your brain of it/get all your reading time back.Added your review. Hopefully you stumble on something awesome next to make up for it.
Cait's Week Two Review
by Julie GarwoodDate Finished: 9/7/2014
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
I am so pleasantly surprised by what a quick read this was. For as much movement and plot as it gives, it just reads so fluidly. I loved the premise and the little bits of culture we got from both Alec and Jamie's sides.
My favorite thing, though, was definitely Alec himself. It's up in the air when I read books like this whether or not I will love the "alpha male" or whether I'll want him dead by the end. In this case, I found Alec to be incredibly genuine and kind with Jamie all the time, including times she didn't deserve it which was often.
Leading me to my least favorite thing which was Jamie. Her characterization was all over the place, flip flopping back and forth on the same page, sometimes in the same conversation. She stormed into Alec's home and expected everyone and everything to just adjust to her, instead of the other way around. I found her to be unreasonable in a really just unlikable way instead of in the "spitfire" type of way I think we were supposed to come away with. I don't know. I found her selfish and arrogant and I didn't care for her.
But overall I was really pleased with the story and the rest of the characters still the book still gets high ratings from me.
I'm finished with my read and should get to the review later today...I hope. :D
Writing now should have up in a bit...granted my stall tactics and procrastination tools aren't helping. ;)
Week 2 - Spot 15Choices and Changes by K.L. Belanger
Read: 9/6
Rating: ★★★★★
So going into reading this book I was extremely skeptical. I read the description and kinda shuddered. I was all worried this was going to be a major cross-dressing/transgendered storyline which really isn’t my favorite trope. I was ever so pleasantly surprised when that wasn’t even remotely the case. Sometimes gay for you works and sometimes it doesn’t and in this case it definitely worked!
Bo Sanford is turning twenty five and more than a little frustrated with the state of his life. He’s tired of the parties and the random hookups. He’s sick of being under his father’s thumb in the family construction company. He’s extremely dissatisfied with the state of affairs in pretty much every aspect of his life, but he has no impetus to change it either. When his best friend drags him out to yet another college house party Bo expects to be bored out of his mind and looking to run as quickly as possible. He never expected to sight the girl of his dreams across the room, he certainly never expected to find out that girl is really a guy.
Erick has been mistaken for a girl on many occasions, he’s used to it. So he’s a bit disappointed when the guy who catches his attention falls into that category and is straight to boot. Still he can’t resist talking to the guy and is surprised when Bo doesn’t out and out ditch him. Bo may identify as straight but the connection between them is vibrant. Erick believes they’ve entered each other’s life for a reason and as a psychology major he’s determined to help Bo figure out the crossroads his life has reached.
Ok I really loved Bo and Erick together. I liked how their relationship developed and wasn’t an insta-love story on top of the gay for you. The connection between them was strong and things developed in a way that was believable for Bo to accept his feelings for Erick. I liked that they were ok with being friends first and that that may be all that they were ever going to be. Erick never tried to pressure Bo into be comfortable with the attraction between them. He accepted that Bo was straight and that what Bo was feeling was strange for him. I appreciated that the guys didn’t just jump into bed together either when they chose to move forward with their feelings. Not just because of Erick’s issues, but because it was nice to see Bo easing into trying out things with a guy.
Speaking of Erick’s issues…I enjoyed the fact that they didn’t over power the story. His history with his ex played a part in the story, and had left him with emotional baggage he was dealing with, but it wasn’t the end all be all of the story. This story really was a case of both guys dealing with their issues and growing up and moving forward together. Erick may be good at diagnosing all of Bo’s issues, but he wasn’t very good at facing his own. I liked that Bo called Erick out on his own hesitations at the end as well.
I just really really enjoyed these characters and the way their story developed. It was sweet and caring. Bo’s family was a great mix of awesome and awful. I adored his sister-in-law! Of course Bo’s father is a controlling ass, but it just pushed Bo to stand stronger on his own. Which of course brings me to Mac…I didn’t think I was going to like Bo’s best friend very much in the beginning of the story, too immature, but at the end of the day I appreciated his feelings and how he stood by Bo.
This was a great read and I will definitely look for more books by this author. I enjoyed her writing style and the smoothness of the prose. I’m very surprised to find this is her first novel as there was a lot of maturity in the writing style. I will definitely be back.
My reading this week is going a bit slowly...i'm visiting family with my husband and so my reading time has been severely cut into! And of course I picked a book that is over 500 pages long!!! I will be finished by Thursday, but man...it's been a rough week!
No worries :) We all have those weeks. Thanks for checking in and updating us! Enjoy your family time!
Week 2What We Rolled: 9
We Are On Spot: 15
What You Can Read:
-a stand alone novel
-book #1 in a series
-book #5 in a series ✓ The Promise
-book #15 in a series
-a book set in Italy
★ ★ ★ 1/2 This book was #5 in The 'Burg series...I had recently re-read books 1-4 in anticipation of this book being released and realized how much I love these characters. (Admittedly, I'm a Kristen Ashley fanatic and have read nearly everything she's written (over 40 books), but somehow this one fell a little flat for me.
We were first introduced to Benny and Frankie in book 2 of the series (At Peace) and a lot has happened since then...this book went a little back in time to coincide with the aftermath of book 2. Frankie has a lot of issues she's dealing with from the past and is now trying to start her life over again after 7 years of just going through the motions after losing her boyfriend to the mob...she lost everything when he died (including his family who she'd been extremely close to since they blamed her for his death). Now, 7 years later, she's reconnecting with them and starting over...with his brother who she realized probably had always been "the one".
I didn't really connect with these characters at all...I can't really put my finger on why...perhaps I was a bit distracted while reading it and really never got into it. I'll definitely read it again, and maybe sooner rather than later, just to make sure it wasn't me that had the issue!
While sometimes I feel a lot of Kristen Ashley's books are a little similar, they each bring something new...this book just didn't hit the mark for me like the books normally do.
Got it! Thanks, Tara. You got through that one quick for just picking it up the other day :D It's getting to be that time again! Another roll tomorrow night. This week has gone fast for me, I don't know about you guys. Here's hoping for another good number this time around!
Just testing out a link to make sure i can follow directions. Thanks Cait!
You can ignore...just wanting to test somewhere with a small audience! :-)
You're very welcome :) And yay, got it right on the first try! Glad my explanation made sense.
UPDATED Message # 118 - Week 2 book completed, rated & reviewed.
And that's it for the week! Everyone's been added to the list. You guys are awesome! It's really great having a team getting everything done so fast and reliably, y'all make my job so easy. Roll will be up tonight, same time as always :) Looking forward to seeing what we get!
Have to say it is greatly helped by your captaincy, Cait. You've been so enthusiastic and organised...it really helps!
Thank you!! That's so nice of you to say :) I'm really enjoying it, honestly. Organizing lists is one of my super weird hobbies lol I guess that's why I love Goodreads so much. Lists upon lists.
Hey guys. Bad-ish news. My oldest son came home from school today with a stomach bug and has been feeling awful all day/night so far. I will probably end up sleeping on the floor in his room with him to make sure he's okay, so I don't want to set an alarm to go off and have it wake him up.That means instead of doing the roll right away at 1 am my time, I will do it when I wake up in the morning which is 6 am my time (5 central). I hope this is okay with everyone, it shouldn't be something that I need to do every week, just this one special circumstance.
Promise I'll do it the second I wake up though!
Cait wrote: "Hey guys. Bad-ish news. My oldest son came home from school today with a stomach bug and has been feeling awful all day/night so far. I will probably end up sleeping on the floor in his room with h..."No problem, Cait. I'm sure a few hours won't make much difference. Hope your son is feeling better soon.
If you haven't posted a new roll by the time I get up at 6:30a Central time ... would you like me to go ahead and roll for the team this week?
Absolutely fine!!! I was checking just because it was close on time. I will check back in the AM.
Works for me. :) We've got a week to read whatever the book is so a few hours matter very little in the scheme of things. :D
Week ThreeWhat We Rolled: 4
We Are On Spot: 19
What You Can Read:
- a stand alone novel
- book #1 in a series
- book #9 in a series
- book #19 in a series
- a book with a title that starts with "N"
Shelby- The Good Fight by Andrew Grey :: #1 :: Review
Book Concierge- A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton :: #1 :: Review
NancyHelen- In the Woods by Tana French :: #1 :: Review
Tara- Betting on Grace by Nicole Edwards :: #1 :: Review
Cait- The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen :: Stand Alone :: Review
Guess the dice weren't feeling so hot either tonight :/ Paying us back for that nine last week.I'm going to be reading
by Sarah Addison Allen, which is a stand alone novel. Best of luck picking books! Hope we all get some good ones this week to make up for such a bad roll lol Back to bed for me!
I'll read In the Woods by Tana French (Dublin Murder Squad #1) - Hope this one is better than my last weeks pick!
Ohhh! The second book in that series is one of my favorite books! I wasn't super thrilled with that one but its completely worth it to get to the second one.
Week 3 / rolled a 4 / Now on Spot # 19Reading a Series book #1
A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton ✔ - 16Sept14 - 4****Book #1 in the Kinsey Millhone series. This is a fast-paced mystery thriller with plenty of twists and turns and multiple suspects to keep the reader busy. Kinsey is a wonderful lead character –resourceful, tenacious and intelligent, and she can take care of herself. I like that the book is set in an era before wide-spread use of computers, and without cell phones. Mary Peiffer performs the audiobook at a good pace. She does not use many different voices for the various characters, but Grafton’s dialogue makes it clear who is speaking and I was never confused.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Cait wrote: "Ohhh! The second book in that series is one of my favorite books! I wasn't super thrilled with that one but its completely worth it to get to the second one."It was recommended to me so I'm hoping it will be OK. Put it this way, anything is going to be better than last weeks book!
I totally understand that feeling! The last couple books I've read after The Bride have been awful, two stars and one star. But a handful of people on my friend's list have raved about The Girl Who Chased The Moon so I'm hoping it will break the streak.I'm really interested to see what you think of In The Woods! When we get into the twenties next week you should totally read The Likeness because it's. so. good.
I think I'll put an order in at the library straight away in anticipation...
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Too bad you didn't enjoy the book more though :( Hopefully this next roll gives you something better."
As long as we roll at least a 4 we'll be in the "teens" and any stand-alone will work ... I have tons of those on hand!