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R3: SS Reneg8 Perusers (8)
Thanks Jenne - Just found DotD on Kindle Prime/Unlimited and downloaded. Yay!
Spot 5
Recipe for Satisfaction by Gina Gordon
Rating: 4 Stars
Finished: 8/29/14
I have had this book on my TBR for a year and a half. I have not idea why it took me so long to read it. Honestly, this kind of quick, fun, sexy story is right up my alley. Gina Gordon is great at setting up a story, letting you get to know the characters and then giving you an amazing payout by bringing two great characters together.
I loved Jack and Sterling. The two of them were just what the doctor ordered for each other. I have the next two already waiting on my Kindle, but while I do really appreciate Neil and Finn...I am dying to get my hands on Cole.
Dang Paris - You're a machine!!!Is that the format of what we need to do when we finish with our spot 5 book & review?
I finished another book after that one yesterday Kristin. lol I just can't stop myself. Of course, now I'm tired today cause I went to bed late.That is what your review should look like, although instead of posting the review itself in this thread, you can link to your review on the books page. (does that make sense?)
Yep, makes perfect sense - thanks! I have only 5 pages left to finish my book...which drives me crazy. Maybe I should duck out of this family shindig and take a long "bathroom break". LOL!
Finished Red Fox and plan to have my review done tomorrow. Should be an easy one to write because I absolutely loved the book!
Kristin wrote: "Finished Red Fox and plan to have my review done tomorrow. Should be an easy one to write because I absolutely loved the book!"Yay!! So glad you enjoyed it!
Spot 5 - Selected alternate book based on title beginning with 'R'
Book: Red Fox by Karina Halle
Finished: 8/30/2014
Rating: ☆☆☆☆.5
Review: My Review
Let me know if you need anything else with this. It took me 3 tries to get the correct link... **sigh** Apparently I need another cup of coffeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Kristin that's perfect. Love your review. I'm so glad you're going to continue the series.
Week # 1Was closing out a crazy weekend so couldnt inform on the book I was reading. Apologies for that. Thanks for following up, Paris. Appreciate it.
Roll # 1
Spot on the Board : 5
Requirement : Book with an R Title
Book Read : The Rosie Project | Graeme Simsion | 8/31/2014
Rating : ★★★★
Review
This book was literally sitting on my TBR pile for sometime now and for each time for some reason I would never get around reading it. Thanks to this challenge, I could finally pick it up and finish it with a smile on my face towards the end.
After reading The Curious Incident of the Dog at the Night-Time and The Reason I Jump : The Inner Voice of a Thirteen Year Old Boy with Autism, I definitely have a special place for books with Aspergers Syndrome / Autism themes, and this book was definitely a better tale in terms of characterization and story-flow (and branched beautifully apart from just centering around the disease), but it never spiked to an elevated level. It plateaued towards the middle and stayed there. A story with two contradictory personalities who come together not for love but happen to eventually fall in love is a bitten-to-death plot, but I must say that Graeme Simsion gave it a nice spicy-sweet flavor and paced the narration correctly thereby eliminating a lot of possible dull moments. Rosie and Don are definitely a couple to watch out for and with the send installation of this series on its way to release, it would be interesting to know what happens next with them.
The Rosie Project has garnered plenty of rave reviews and accolades all across for its storyline and narration, I, for one, will not be the one to entirely refute those. But having said that, owing the hoopla around the book, my expectations when I picked it up were sky-high.. and that probably was the main reason why I had a lingering underwhelmed feeling when I closed the book shut.
Awesome! Thanks Apoorv! We are now one step closer to getting the Free Pass! If we can get all of our reviews a day before the next roll, we can have a free pass to use during the game.
Roll 1, Spot 5: Alt. - Title: RThe Road Taken
4 stars
I have absolutely no clue how I want to start this review. One thing I can say that I would recommend that you should read the first book Just Playing to fully appreciate the part 1 of the book. I haven't read that book yet and think that probably why I struggle with the first part of this book. In part 1 I was nearly drowned with all the angsty moments in this book. The character felt real and tragic with the struggle of wanted to be together but also wanted to be successful in achieving their goals in wanting to be musicians. Even though I struggle a bit to get thru part 1 I wanted to smack even single character(including Jamie and Michael) that was against Michael and Jamie. Part 1 mostly dealt with the struggle of conforming to what everybody wanted them to be and failing at achieving it.
Part 2 of the story is when everything just click for me. It the part of the story where everybody laid their stuff on the table. Michael and Jamie stop having inner monologue within themselves and start having an actual conversation with themselves and everybody involve or witnessing their drama.
Overall this story was nicely written and I would definitely recommend to anyone who looking for super angsty novel involving musicians.
Tayajay that sounds good. I'm gonna have to see about the first one.
Hi everyone! I'm sorry I wasn't around much for the past few days, had a hectic end-of-the-month reading weekend as well as husband's birthday party. I finished my book today, working on the review now and will post it as soon as I'm done!
Elena - Yippee! Hope your hubby had a wonderful birthday! Paris - Does that mean we'll get a free pass? :)
Elena, hope your hubby had a great birthday! Totally understand hectic weekends/weeks.Kristin, as long as her review is posted before 12 pm CST tomorrow we get the free pass. So it's looking great!
Spot 5 - Read 5th book in the series
Book: The Lost Colony (Artemis Fowl, #5) by Eoin Colfer
Finished: 9/3/2014
Rating: 4 stars
Review:
Thousands of years ago when Fairy People decided to move underground to shield themselves from humans and make their existence secret, one of the families, the demons, chose to take their settlement to another dimension and wait it out until they were strong enough and ready to battle human race again. However things went wrong and the demon island Hybras ended up stuck in the Limbo with no warlocks to bring it back or reverse the unraveling spell which is threatening to dematerialize Hybras and bring destruction to the demon race. When teenage criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl realizes what is about to take place, he tries to step in and do what he can to prevent the exposure of the fairy world only to have his plans interfered with by a new brilliant opponent.
The Artemis Fowl series is a great joy and fun to read and this fifth installment is the worthy continuation of the adventures of the boy genius and his friends. The old gang of the beloved characters is reunited once again and is facing unimaginable obstacles in their attempt to avert a crisis. The reformation and development of the main character, Artemis, that started in the earlier books is taking a new turn here as our hero reaches the age of puberty. I also really enjoyed meeting all the newly introduced characters (especially Number One) and hope to have more of them in the following books. Overall a highly entertaining and enjoyable read with plenty of adventure, humor and magic to keep me turning pages and look forward to the next book in the series.
Woohoo! Way to go team! I'll roll tonight. Hoping for a big number this time!
BIG but not TOO BIG... I don't have any good books for double sixes... HaHa!
Kristin wrote: "BIG but not TOO BIG... I don't have any good books for double sixes... HaHa!"I'd like one that allows me to read the same book for SS and SSS cause I've got a busy weekend planned....or more realistically a tiring one. My nephew is coming to stay the night tomorrow night and he's an almost 4 year ball of energy. Last time he stayed over, after he left, I went to watch tv, the next thing I knew it was three hours later and I had passed out. lol
Haha! I can see where you might need to double dip on the same book this weekend - 4 year olds are like insanity on crack!
Alright team, tonight I rolled a 7, so we are now on spot 12. Options
~ book 1 in a series
~ book 2 in a series
~ book 12 in a series
~ a stand alone book
~ a book with a title that starts with C (remember A, An, And, The do not count).
This is good ! All nice and dandy options to chose from :PThank you, Paris for being so on your game ! :)
I'm so on the game, I actually predicted earlier that I was going to roll a 7. Actually, I just said I needed to roll at least a 7, but close. lolThere are a lot of options this week.
You rock, Paris! It took me a bit longer to decide what to read this week but I'm going to go with
which is book 1 in The Jenna Fox Chronicles
Great roll, Paris, and so many choices! I'm still deciding on a book, I started two stand-alones and there's far too many series I'd like to work on!
Week 2: Spot 12Book 1 in series
Book: The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
Finished: 9/6/2014
Rating: ☆☆☆.5
Review: My Review
Spot 12First in Series
by Robin YorkRating: 4 Stars
Finished: 9/6/14
I really enjoyed this book, the way it was paced, the way it was set up. I felt an instant connection to Caroline. I hate what happened to her, but honestly, had cell phones and the internet been a big thing when I was straight out of high school, I probably would have ended up just like her. I trusted too easily at times and didn't question the things I knew I should have.
And West...he was just like the kind of guys I went for...or wanted to back then. Although, yeah he was probably a little more complex with his background and everything, but I knew guys almost exactly like him.
There were moments when even though I enjoyed the way things were paced and playing out, I still felt like the story was moving a little slow. It was probably just me though cause I was really wanting more to happen. I was waiting for that more and knowing that it had to be soon.
I've already started reading Harder because I need to know what goes down between Caroline and West. There is something epic here between them and something amazing that they are doing for each other. She has her serious issues with the revenge porn and his family is dragging him down. They need each other and I hope in the end, they can find their happily ever after.
Fantastic review, Paris! I'm looking forward to reading this one planning to start tomorrow!
How are everyone's books coming? Apoorv, what did you decide to read this week?
I had to change my pick for this week.Roll 2: Spot 12
Book 1 in a series
Guns n' Boys: Book 1, Part 1,110,000 words/GR
My Review:
The blurb perfectly gives you the bare basic of what this book is going to be about. I must say that I just love authors that can successfully inject humor in an otherwise dark book. The book basically starts with one of the MC getting his finger cut off. That right there should tell you that this is not going fluffy, lovey-dovey or rainbow shooting out their tushy book. This book had me from beginning to end. I want more and I want more now. I have no problem with reading brocest but sometimes that trope can be overdramatic/fluffy and just kills the story. Thankfully that that didn't happen in this book. I admit that brocest threw me for a minute but my brain refuse to believe that they were actually half brothers so I just glaze over that fact like Seth and especially Dom did. Dom and Seth were hot together and thankfully they weren't quickly throwing out " I love you's" at each other though their action lead us as reader that there is a real chance of that happening.
Overall this was a great story to the start the series. I will be on the look out for the next book. (4 stars)
I should have my review in my tomorrow. When you have a lot of options, like we had this week, it can get tough to chose.But, I am reading Safe Haven, which is a standalone.
I'm here, I'm here! :) I have three books done that fit the category this week, working on the review now and will post it later today. I will most likely choose
(first in the series, 308 pages) for the challenge.
Roll 2: Spot 12 - 1st book in the series
Book: The Eye of Minds (The Mortality Doctrine, #1) by James Dashner
Finished: 9/10/2014
Rating: 2 stars
Review:
Michael is a gamer who spends most of his time in the immensely realistic virtual world called VirtNet. He is obsessed with leveling up in the game Lifeblood and is not beyond occasionally hacking his way through it to bring himself and his two best friends closer to their goal. And when he is assigned with a seemingly routine task to talk another gamer out of committing a virtual suicide to gain a few extra points, he has very little idea of the whirlpool of events that will follow.
This is the first book by James Dashner that I’ve read and I have to admit it left me utterly underwhelmed. I was prepared to love it – futuristic setting, technology so advanced that it allows full immersion into the virtual reality, threat of cyberterrorism, and a talented hacker recruited to get to the bottom of things – perhaps not the most original ideas but surely good ones to make for a great story. And this one just wasn’t. In fact this whole book seemed underworked to me as if the writer weren’t going to meet the deadline and submitted a draft. There was hardly any worldbuilding and characterization and the plot appeared for the most part to be a fantasy quest masquerading as cyberpunk. The bits of technology that did make it into the narration weren't explained and looked to me to be mere devices to get to all the action and quest elements that took place. Writing could use a great deal of polishing which I wouldn't mind so much if the story was gripping enough but unfortunately it failed to fully come together for me. I'm not yet sure if I'll continue with this series (it did end with the twist and I'm kind of OCD when it comes to series :)) however I'm still curious about The Maze Runner and would like to give it a shot someday.
Hey y'all. I'm really tired and since Apoorv hasn't posted his review yet, I can't roll. I'm gonna go to bed and I'll try to check in before I go to work tomorrow. If I don't get a chance to do that, then I likely won't be able to roll until I get home from work tomorrow night (after 6 pm my time). Sorry.
Week # 2I hate this ! I literally slept while writing this last night, so I am going to keep it short and simple to save time this morning. Sorry for that ! Wish I could plan my reading and the crazy 16-hour work schedules better !
Roll # 2
Spot on the Board : 12
Requirement : Standalone Book
Book Read : Safe Haven | Nicholas Sparks | 9/11/2014
Rating : ★★★.5
Review
Its Nicolas Sparks, it has to tug your heart-strings if you connect to his words (which I most often do). Firstly, although I havent read extensively on this topic, but I am sure there arent many people who depict North Carolina as beautifully as Nicolas Sparks does. Nearly all of his books are set in this gorgeous state, yet each time he brings in a different flavor to the table.
Safe Haven, on the other hand, is a slow relished-bit-by-bit story. When I say slow, its coz it drags on, on a few instances and that is a major setback to the book. But coming from Sparks's The Notebook and A Walk to Remember, this was a pleasing surprise for me in terms of the change in the writing from the author. Both the aforementioned books made you mushy and weepy, this made you cry too but out of pain felt for the happenings in the story.. and this whole idea of emotional-captivity, is what Nicolas Sparks excels.
I happened to skim through a few parts (because I had to finish this before the deadline.. shh!), so I might just go back to this to get more involved in the story next time.
I rolled a 9 this morning, so we are now on spot 21Options
~ book 2 in a series
~ book 1 in a series
~ book 21 in a series
~ a stand alone book
~ a book written by an author whose name starts with I (first, middle or last)
I think I might read
, but that could change depending on what happens this weekend. We have a lot of options again this week.
We do! Good roll, Paris! I'm going to read
this week. It's book 2 in the Mindjack Trilogy. It's 342 pages.
Week 3 (Spot 21)
Book: Closed Hearts by Susan Kaye Quinn (Series Book 2)
Date Read: 09/14/2014
Rating: ★★★
Review: My Review
Spot 21Book 1 in a series
by Tara SivecRating: 5 stars
Finished: 9/15/14
I absolutely loved this book. It was so hilarious. I laughed out loud more times than I could count. Claire is a great narrator. I felt an instant connection to her. I know a lot of people think it's too vulgar and the humor is over the top, but I could easily see myself hanging out with these people. These are the thoughts I have, the things I say. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've had some of these conversations before with friends.
One of the funniest parts of the book is Claire's son Gavin. He steals most of the scenes he's in. He's got quite the mouth on him for a 4 year old and actually reminds me of my nephew, although my nephew only repeats some stuff he hears, not all of it. Thankfully, I don't think he's heard what a vagina is yet.
I immediately read Future and Frostings after this was finished cause I had to stay in this world. I'm going to continue the series and then jump to the spin-off which has Gavin as the main character in the first one. I cannot wait to see what kind of trouble he gets into as an adult.
Glad to see you enjoyed this book - it was one of my favorites! It seems people either love it or hate it. I thought it was hilarious!
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The Challenge Factory
Books mentioned in this topic
Evil Eye: Four Novellas of Love Gone Wrong (other topics)Unexpected Family (other topics)
The Husband's Secret (other topics)
The Devil's Metal (other topics)
The Devil's Reprise (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Joyce Carol Oates (other topics)Karina Halle (other topics)
Karina Halle (other topics)
H.G. Wells (other topics)
Karina Halle (other topics)
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I'm all ready on page 180/310. I have the house to myself for another hour so making the most of it. :)"
I agree. Darkhouse is good, but a little slow moving. Red Fox is where it all picks up.
Jenne, DotD looked great and I loved the sample I read, just haven't been able to fit it in yet. argh!