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message 301:
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Tara
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Oct 17, 2014 04:40PM
Welcome back BC! Hope you had a great trip!
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It was wonderfully relaxing. We were in Minneapolis last weekend - lots going on with two football games (U of MN and Vikings) as well as a "zombie stomp" (a couple thousand people doing a bar hop downtown). Then on Monday (our anniversary) we went up north to a lovely little cabin on a lake - gorgeous fall colors and the weather was spectacular ... even warm enough a couple of days to use the outdoor shower! Relaxing, relaxing, relaxing ... but we're glad to be back home.
Book Concierge wrote: "It was wonderfully relaxing. We were in Minneapolis last weekend - lots going on with two football games (U of MN and Vikings) as well as a "zombie stomp" (a couple thousand people doing a bar hop..."Sounds like a wonderful getaway! What fun you had (other than the Vikings game...GO PACK GO hehe! ) I need a nice little getaway like that soon..
I'm heading to St. Louis next week for work so some good down time on the plane to do some reading here!
Welcome back, BC! Glad you had a great trip (although I'm 800% with Tara, GO PACK! My husband just got me an Aaron Rodgers jersey for my birthday yesterday and I'm in LOVE).Everyone's been added to the list except for BC. I'll wait to hear which of the books you grab tomorrow before I put it on. We all got our choices in so fast! Must have been an easy number to fill. Great job! :D
Cait wrote: "Welcome back, BC! Glad you had a great trip (although I'm 800% with Tara, GO PACK! My husband just got me an Aaron Rodgers jersey for my birthday yesterday and I'm in LOVE).Everyone's been added ..."
YES! Nice pick for jersey...I wore my #4 Favre jersey today! And I'll wear my #52 Matthews on Sunday to watch the game!
Welcome back, BC! Cait, you might have already seen it on the other thread, but Jenne approved
for me.
NancyHelen wrote: "Welcome back, BC! Cait, you might have already seen it on the other thread, but Jenne approved for me."Thanks ... and I have that on my TBR as well!
Also found another that I already have in hand, and I've asked Jenne if it's okay for animal on cover (since it's a silhouette and not a real animal)
I'll post my final choice by the end of today.
Cait wrote: "Welcome back, BC! Glad you had a great trip (although I'm 800% with Tara, GO PACK! My husband just got me an Aaron Rodgers jersey for my birthday yesterday and I'm in LOVE) ..."Ha .. yes, we are DEFINITELY Packers people. It's just that Minneapolis was nuts with the two games going on (we never thought to check the football schedules when we booked the vacation ... and we were staying at a hotel that is on the U of MN campus ... S I G H) On the plus side, we had the art museum pretty much to ourselves...
We did NOT participate in the zombie stomp either ... but got caught in the traffic mess when we left the symphony that night. Couldn't figure out why all those streets were closed! LOL
UPDATED message # 300Okay - confirmed with Jenne that the silhouette of the cat works ... so I'm reading
Cait's Week Eight Review
by Rachel VincentDate Finished: 10/19/2014
Rating: ★★★
Well then. It was certainly far better than the first book in this series but still way below mediocre on any actual scale. It wouldn't touch the list of "Good YA I've Read In My Lifetime" at all but... It's short and mostly fast, so there's that.
My main complaint about these books (aside from the amateurish writing) is that everything is so convenient. Always. The author makes up random rules for the supernatural world that don't make any sense whatsoever...but they conveniently solve a lot of the characters problems. It just comes across as lazy.
There's really no redeeming character that makes me want to keep going with this series. Tod is my favorite if I had to pick one, but I'm not really invested in him either. Kaylee whines about everything, Nash just tries to screw her every other page, and Emma is the human embodiment of lazy rules to conveniently solve things as mentioned above.
Meh. Mehhhh. I don't know. I guess I'll check out the summary for the next one but I don't feel like I'll be missing out on anything if I don't pick it up for another few years.
:-p to all you NFC North people...Gotta tell you it's all about the SEAHAWKS!!! About to go through my #3 Russell Wilson jersey on and head out to meet up with a friend to watch the game. :D
Guys, I just realized that there's a really good chance next week will be our last week together. I'm so sad all of a sudden!................................even though Shelby is a Seahawks fan and the Packers are clearly the superior team (:P)......................... This challenge went SO FAST!
Week EightWhat We Rolled: 7
We Are On Spot: 62
What You Can Read:
- book #6 in a series
- book #2 in a series ✓ Three, Four ... Better lock your door
- book #62 in a series
- a book with an animal on the cover
★ ★ ★ I read book #2 in the Rebekka Franck series...the main character is a newspaper journalist and in this book investigated a series of murders that occurred in a small Danish town. I had not read book #1 in the series, so I'm not sure how much I missed by not knowing more of the back story, but overall it was a decent read.
There were a lot of editing issues for me...in some cases it was mis-use of words, in other cases it was bad punctuation (quotes in the wrong place/missing, commas used incorrectly, etc) which were very distracting at times. I'm not sure if it's because English is not the author's first language, but it caused me to have to reread some items a few times.
I had a feeling I had solved the "who dunnit" about 60% in...I was partially right, but still a little bit of a twist was thrown in. It did feel a bit rushed towards the end once it we learned who was doing the killings, and I feel a little cheated as to more of the "whys".
I am considering reading more of the series (or at least going back to read book 1 (One, Two ... He Is Coming For You just because the characters are kind of interesting and I'd like to see where they are taken in the series. They wouldn't be top on my list, but I won't forget about them either.
Cait wrote: "Guys, I just realized that there's a really good chance next week will be our last week together. I'm so sad all of a sudden!................................even though Shelby is a Seahawks fan and..."I was thinking that too earlier today! I'm kind of bummed that it's nearly over. This has been fun.
And yes...the Packers are the superior team! :-)
I don't want it to end either. I have loved waking up each Friday morning and then having to figure out what I am going to read. I am going to miss all of you guys as well. Lets hope we can be together in some other team challenges!
Anyway, I have also finished my book:Cover with an animal
by Eowyn IveyFinished: 20 Oct 14
Rating: ★★★★
I was only going to give this book 3 stars for the first part, but it definitely got better towards the end. There is no doubt it was beautiful - the descriptions of Alaska were amazing, and you were never quite sure whether Faina was real, or whether she really was the snow child from the fairy tale. But I felt the book was too long and I also found myself getting really irritated with the character of Mabel, at least until the final section. However, it finished really well and overall I really enjoyed the story.
NancyHelen wrote: "Anyway, I have also finished my book: by Eowyn IveyFinished: 20 Oct 14
Rating: ★★★★
..."
Glad to hear you enjoyed it. This is on my TBR and I think I really must move it up in priority.
NancyHelen wrote: "Anyway, I have also finished my book:Cover with an animal
by Eowyn IveyFinished: 20 Oct 14
Rating: ★★★★
I was only going to give this book 3 stars for the f..."
I thought the same thing when I read it. Like I was enjoying the story and I wasn't bored, but then I would put it down and have no problem not picking it up for a while. It didn't GRAB me until the very end and then I was furiously turning pages like TELL ME WHAT HAPPENS!
UPDATE to Message # 300 - I've finished my book and posted the reviewReady for Friday ... and hopefully a GOOD book.
Week 8Spot 62 - Series #2
Full Disclosure by Kindle Alexander
Read: 10/21
Rating: ★★★★½
So while I didn’t love the first book in this series I always knew I was going to read the second. I’ve enjoyed Ms. Alexander’s writing style too much not to continue on in the series. Besides there’s enough of a cliffhanger sort of ending in the first one with the gay bashing case to keep me intrigued. Plus I always liked Mitch. ;) I was definitely curious to see where this story was ultimately going to go. I was not disappointed. ☺
Deputy United States Marshal Mitch Knox has always been a bit of the rebel, the love ‘em and leave ‘em sort. But watching the perfectly clear bond of love between Colt and Jace during the case and now with their evolving friendship has made Mitch start to think that maybe there’s more out there. Getting to visit with the guys while on assignment in Dallas just keeps prodding that little niggle of a thought in the back of his brain, the gorgeous blonde sitting alone at the bar though blows it wide open. Mitch finds himself drawn to this other man and unwilling to take no for an answer.
Texas State Trooper Cody Turner has never out and out hid his sexuality, but he’s never made a big deal of it either. He has been committed to his career path and it’s finally almost within his grasp. His new promotion to the mounted division is one giant step forward in his plans to become a part of the Texas Rangers. A celebratory night out at the premier gay bar in Dallas seems like a perfect present to himself. Sure he has little plans to actually go home with someone, but he so rarely gets to even look Cody’s going to take his chance with this one. When the hottest guy in the bar starts his way Cody can’t believe his eyes, and yet he knows he can’t let the studly Mitch into his life. His carefully laid plans would go all to hell.
So first of all Mitch…OH SO HOT!!! Cody…absolutely adorable and completely sexy. Together…burning up the pages SMEXY, deliciously hot fudge sundae type awesomeness! Ok, I might be a bit biased because, DAY-UM but tattoos really do it for me, but these two made me smile. I loved seeing Cody’s shy side and his passion and commitment towards his career. Yet, Mitch’s domineering nature just kept stumbling so sweetly over his feelings for Cody. Sure he’s pushy and direct, but that’s just Mitch. His inner turmoil was adorable.
I thought for a long time I wasn’t going to ultimately like the way this book was going as it was clear that Cody and Mitch were going to spend a significant portion of this book a part. How can you build a romance then??? Well apparently I needn’t have worried as that was handled so wonderfully. I kept waiting for Cody to miraculously be brought in as another law enforcement official on the case, or to provide Mitch with some amazing outstanding insight that broke the whole thing wide open. Not exactly what happened at all and yet I was in no way disappointed by how the major elements all played out.
Not to say that some of the details didn’t bother me. Similarly to how annoyed I was with the lack of attention to detail in the football elements in the first book, but to a lesser degree, the law enforcement elements here bugged me I teensy bit. Not the over arching pieces of the case or anything, but more in the way things were handled. There were parts of the story (view spoiler) that came across as more Hollywood “who cares how it really works as long as it makes an interesting story,” and less true to life realistic. Not necessarily a bad thing if it doesn’t bother you personally, but something to note. In a story like this I’m more interested in the storyline and the fun of it all than the details. I want to know the bad guy gets caught and the good guys win out. I’ll let a few technical details slide. Thus why this one doesn’t get knocked down as much. Other things were way more interesting than a technicality. ;)
I really enjoyed Cody and Mitch. Cody’s blushes made me smile every time. I loved how anxious Mitch was and the way they worked on communicating over the distance. It made the beginning of their relationship unique and fun. They we’re in each other’s laps seeing each other every five seconds. The little communications mattered. Even though at times Mitch’s disregard for authority and proper procedure irked me, I loved his spiciness and f’it it’s me attitude. His shirts were awesome. And when it counted he always made sure things were done right even if the edges were a little fudged for speed.
I admit I’m very happy to see the progression of the case that had Colt in the hospital in the first book. Things are certainly heating up in that regard. Knowing there was another book coming I wasn’t surprised by the way the cliffhanger appeared at the end of this story. I’m already looking forward to our next duo, I enjoyed both of them in this book. ;) Can’t wait for more. This one is definitely a keeper. I’ll round it up to the 5 stars for GR, but it gets a slight knock to 4.5 stars overall for some slightly unrealistic elements.
That's everyone! Great week, ladies! Hopefully if this coming roll really is our last one together we all get amazing books to finish out the challenge.
Fingers crossed. And I know I have said it before but it is worth saying again - Cait you have been a FAB captain. Thank you!
Thank you! I'm so glad you think so. I really enjoyed being captain and you all made my job so easy.I see you're captain over at your team on the Tower Teams, NancyHelen! They're lucky to have you, you were so awesome during the Wheel A Thon. That will officially be my first team challenge without you on my team haha
*blush* Thank you :-) I'll pop over and visit you to see how you're going!
Week NineWhat We Rolled: 10
We Are On Spot: 72
What You Can Read:
- book #7 in a series
- book #2 in a series
- book #72 in a series
- a book with a multi-colored cover (more than 3 colors)
Shelby- Long Time Gone by S.E. Jakes :: #2 :: Review
Book Concierge- The Ugly Little Boy by Isaac Asimov :: Multi-colored
NancyHelen- Maura's Game by Martina Cole :: #2
Tara- What's Life Without the Sprinkles? by Misty Simon :: Multi-colored
Cait- Girl in a Blue Dress: A Novel Inspired by the Life and Marriage of Charles Dickens by Gaynor Arnold :: Multi-colored :: Review
Well ladies, it looks like this will be our last week together. I guess the dice must be as sad about that as I am since it gave us a pretty good farewell! I hope everyone is able to fit this book as easily as I was (which I think is the first time I've said that lol)I'm going to be reading
by Gaynor Arnold, for the alternate option of "more than 3 colors".
Bummer....oh well, that's still okay....we gave it a great shot! I'm going to read
....although it's mostly pink, there's tons of colors in all of the sprinkles!
Lol - I'm on the exact same number for my SSS team. Hehehe - Guess it'll be easy to get both books in again as they get to be the same ;)
Yeah, we were so close! I think if we had gotten a decent roll that week we got a four we would have been in it but alas. Three away is still pretty dang good, especially since we never went beyond Thursday night or used our free pass. I'm proud of us!Nice, Shelby, that'll be easy then! This was such an easy spot to fill. Almost every book I have is a #2 or a multi-colored one. I just ended up with this one since it's already waiting for me at the library.
Week 9 / rolled 10 / Now on Spot # 72Reading Alternate - multi-color cover
✔ - 27Oct14 - 3***The Ugly Little Boy by Isaac Asimov & Robert Silverberg
Alternate title: The Child of Time - Interesting science fiction fantasy. What happens when a
Neanderthal child is plucked from the Ice-Age and deposited into a “bubble” in a 21-st century scientific laboratory. One compassionate nurse, hired to care for the child, gradually becomes very close to the frightened child, and recognizes that what may be good for science is not necessarily good for the boy. First published as a short story in 1956, Robert Silverberg teamed with Asimov to add more information on the Neanderthal tribe from which the boy was taken, as well as a subplot involving a self-proclaimed child advocate adept at media relations.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Jenne confirmed my cover is "multi-colored" so I'm going with the alternate this week.
And I've changed my book - also confirmed by Jenne has having enough colors.
I think we've done brilliantly, even during the tougher weeks.I thought I would do The Likeness but then realised that
helps me to complete two other challenges this month, so as it is a #2 it will have to be that one.
NancyHelen wrote: "I think we've done brilliantly, even during the tougher weeks.I thought I would do The Likeness but then realised that
helps me to complete two othe..."If you end up reading The Likeness during Tower Teams you'll have to pop over to the Witches of the Bayou and tell me what you thought!
I will, Cait. I have it from the library and I have already had to renew it once as I have had so many other things to read with various team challenges. But I am determined to get it read before it has to go back.
Week 9Spot 72 - Series #2
Long Time Gone by S.E. Jakes
Read: 10/24
Rating: ★★★★½
So remember how I wasn’t that huge a fan of the first book in the series, I mean I liked the characters and all, but the overall book just didn’t pull together for me…yeah NOT the case this time around! I really, really enjoyed this one. Of course snarky alpha males and crazy shenanigans always make me happy.
It’s been four months since Tom chose to leave the partnership with Prophet to protect the man he was falling for from Tom’s bad luck. And he’s been nothing but miserable since. Leaving Prophet was the biggest mistake of his life and Tom knows it. He’s written the man an email almost every day since, holding out hope for some sort of response even if it was to tell him to back the hell off, and in four months, nothing. Now there’s a hurricane bearing down on his home in New Orleans and all he wants is to get home to help keep his aunt safe. Being on the back ass side of nowhere on assignment though, and under orders to stay there, isn’t helping keep Tom sane.
Prophet hasn’t let himself read any one of Tom’s emails because he knows once he does he’ll head back to the man that left him behind. Notwithstanding the fat that when Tom ran so did Prophet. He’s buried himself deep into a few black ops missions and left EE behind. It’s now or never though. Prophet knows if he takes the next assignment they want to hand his way he won’t be coming back up for air any time in the near future if at all. Reading Tom’s letters is the life line he needs to pull him back and they quickly send him straight into the eye of a hurricane to protect Tom’s loved ones from nature’s deadly force. Now if only the hurricane was the hard part of this trip.
First of all I’m more than a little in love with Tommy and yes, I still melt every time Prophet calls him that. There’s something about that boy that just does it for me…oh so hot piercings and tattoos certainly help. I like that in this book Tommy certainly doesn’t want to open up about his past and reveal his vulnerabilities, but he’s realized his stupid and is working to get past it. None of that is easy though and it’s still like pulling teeth but he’s learning.
On the other side I want to smack Proph and make him open up a little bit. You can just feel him yearning to trust Tommy and tell him all, but not wanting to get Tom hurt. I want to just shake him and say SPILL IT ALREADY! Stupid boys! I do enjoy snarky Prophet though and like him as a compliment to Tom. They’re a good, strong team.
I appreciated that the paranormal type elements were a bit more toned down here. Tom’s hunches and voodoo senses are still in play, but there was a lot less of the shenanigans with Prophet’s ghosts. I’m still not even really sure what’s going on there and those segments usually throw me out of the story a little bit.
If I had one other minor little irksome thing about this series it’s that sometimes I get a little confused as to who is talking between Prophet and Tom as their voices are very similar. When they get to talking back and forth to each other and throwing out their own little jokes and jabs the “he said/he replied’s” get left off and I’d lose who was saying what. It’s a minor annoyance as it doesn’t happen often enough to really bug me, but is does detract from my ease at reading the story at times.
Still I enjoyed Tom’s past coming back to slap him in the face and say deal with me. I liked that it forced Tom and Prophet to start talking to each other and stop being quite so stupid. The epilogue really sealed the deal for me that these two are making progress. I know that Tom’s not going to back down, but is going to be there to help Prophet out when the going gets rough on his side.
Of course if I could have had anything more in this story to make me happy it would have been to see more of Aunt Della and her lovely borders in Dave and Roger. These three were awesome even when they’re getting their titillation on spying on some crazy hot reunion sex between Proph and Tommy. All three made me giggle at times and I wanted to see more interactions with the lot of them.
All in all the past history in New Orleans for Tom explained a lot and old grudges returning helped bring these two closer together. I’ll definitely be looking for a similar reveal on Proph’s part in the next book. It’s time he let Tommy in a whole heap of a lot closer. ☺ I’d give this one a solid 4.5 stars overall but I’ll round up this time as I really did enjoy the read and I want a Tommy to claim for myself! This could potentially be a bad thing though…they might have to commit me, I’m sure someone would think I was the crazy loony woman. ;) As I’d be a mindless drooling mess every time I looked across the room.
Cait's Week Nine Review
by Gaynor ArnoldDate Finished: 10/26/2014
Rating: ★★★
I was surprised to find how much I enjoyed this book. Historical fiction is pretty much the last genre I'll pick up willingly so to find one that I was actually interested in was surprising. I wouldn't call this a quick read although it's fairly straightforward. It is fairly dense and tends to ramble in places, especially near the end.
But man, does it make up for it with emotional impact! I wanted to throttle the already-dead Alfred for being the biggest possible...I can't think of a word severe enough. And poor Dorothea. I think it's been quite a while since I've come to genuinely care for a character as much as I did her. Such a sweet woman who deserved so much more than that scumbag that's for sure.
It's definitely not an uplifting story either so I'll ditto some of the other reviewers who have said to steer clear if you're already feeling down. But if you like historical type things and you hate men, this is probably right up your alley.
Man....I'm so behind this week! I haven't even started my book yet! I hate stopping a book in the middle to read another so I kept going on the book I was on Dark Places...this is the 2nd book of hers I've read and both have taken me WAY LONGER than normal. Finally finished today so I'll start on my book tomorrow but looks like it won't matter since the other 2 teams in the running are almost done. Boo hiss!!!
The game is officially over! Team 14 won it this morning.So don't feel like you need to post your reviews or anything like that, the rush is done haha
I just wanted to say I have so enjoyed playing with you ladies, getting to know you and stealing books of yours to add to my to-read shelf. I think these games are only REALLY fun when you have a fabulous group to work with and I think we definitely did. I hope to be able to team up with you all again soon!
I'll post mine up later today as I have finished reading the book so I thought I might as well.Well done team - its been wonderful playing with you all. And I'll see some of you over in Tower Teams!
Wonderful job ladies! I agree...I love seeing books that some of you have read. While I think our reading preferences may be quite different at times, I enjoy finding books that some of you have read that could help me in a task that I may not be as proficient in! I definitely look forward to seeing several of you around! I am glad I joined this challenge to see some of the wonderful other challenges out there...darn you, SRC! I have also joined the Tower Teams (although I did it a bit late but I still have a team!) so that will be nice just to be able to read whatever works for other challenges!
Hope you all have a wonderful Monday! And congratulations to Team 14...but cheers to us for being right there up to the end!
It was fun playing with you all. What a great team, and a fabulous team captain!I've finished my book and will update my post with my review once I've written it (but don't feel in a rush to do so now ...)
I know its academic now, but here's my review:
by Martina ColeRead: 28 Oct 2014
#2 in a series
Rating: ★★
What do you get if you cross Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Made in Essex and Eastenders? A bit of a cliche, that's what. This book felt cliched the whole way through. Maura is the head of a criminal family. Her surviving brothers are violent and unhinged and she seems to be the only voice of reason amongst them. When a turf war begins, Maura somehow manages to keep her head, even though her lover has been killed and the bodies are piling up. It sounds like it should be OK, but it was pretty predictable and not that believable. There was a lot of violence and people just seemed to be killed left, right and centre to the point that it became boring! The whole book felt like a back and forth - he killed one of ours, we'll kill one of his, so he kills one of ours... and so on. I also found the characters were stereotyped dreadfully - apart from Maura herself, every woman in the book is a dumb, leggy bimbo who only thinks about money and handbags, and every male wants to beat up his woman or shoot people. I won't be reading any more of this series I don't think - it just wasn't for me.
Updated Message 330 to include review ...Thanks for a great ride!
Fun playing with you all! I think I'm going to have to cut back on my challenges for the rest of the year if I'm going to finish up the things I need to get accomplished. Work is of course insane right now. But I'm glad I played this one. :)
Shelby wrote: "Fun playing with you all! I think I'm going to have to cut back on my challenges for the rest of the year if I'm going to finish up the things I need to get accomplished. Work is of course insane..."What??? Not going to keep up 35+ challenges? Say it's not so! :-p
Oh I'm not dropping any of the challenges I'm currently in. It's just I'm not going to add any more. ;)
Or at least that's what I'm currently trying to tell myself.
Shelby wrote: "Or at least that's what I'm currently trying to tell myself."Riiiiighhhtttt!!!! ☻
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The Challenge Factory
Books mentioned in this topic
Maura's Game (other topics)Dark Places (other topics)
Girl in a Blue Dress: A Novel Inspired by the Life and Marriage of Charles Dickens (other topics)
Long Time Gone (other topics)
Long Time Gone (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Gaynor Arnold (other topics)S.E. Jakes (other topics)
S.E. Jakes (other topics)
Martina Cole (other topics)
Isaac Asimov (other topics)
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