R18: Team #2 ~ Getting Our Ducks in a Row

[Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required]

Congrats on the stamp Duckies!

[Eldarwen]

~Melissa~ wrote: "Eldarwen wrote: "Wow, that sounds.... delightful..."

Lol ~ maybe I should have waited a little longer to do my review so it would’ve been a little less rant-y 😜"

Noo, the ranty ones are the best! ;-)

[Eldarwen]

Thanks for the stamps, ladies! :-)

[~Melissa~]

Yeah - new stamps :)

[Tori]

Completion post!
Shelf: Alpha-male
Book: Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews
Qualification: Shelved 59 times
Pages: 260 (Mass Market Paperback
Date read: 4/23/19
Rating: 4 stars
Review: I really liked this one. It felt like there was a lot more plot stuff happening now that we've gotten the base world-building established; Kate's allusions to her heritage are getting more obvious, and we're getting more looks at a caring Curran. Alpha male types can rub me the wrong way in books, but I feel like they're doing more to balance Curran. I really liked the whole food is caring thing. I am disappointed in (spoilers) Bran's fate, though I suppose it was inevitable since he did the whole save the baby thing. I just hope this isn't going to be a repeating factor in every book, where they introduce an interesting character that tries to sleep with Kate then dies. Overall, a fun book, and I'll probably be continuing the series.

[Eldarwen]

And the books will only get better from hereon out :-)

[Eldarwen]

Completion Post
Alpha Male
Book: Kiss of Midnight by Lara Adrian

How it fits: tagged 39 times
Date Read: April 24th 2019
Rating: 4 stars
Review
I read the novella revolving around Gideon and Savannah quite a while ago and found that enjoyable, so I finally decided to completely dive into the series. Lucan was a bit too selfish at times in certain respects when it came to Gabrielle, but all in all, I enjoyed the story. I would have loved seeing more conflict around the whole Kendra issue though - just a little bit. Gabrielle didn't take shit from Lucan whenever he tried to wave off any kind of insight she had into him, which I found amusing.

[Sam]

New shelf: Psychic Abilities

[Sam]

I think I'm going to read Sense of Evil by Kay Hooper. It is shelved 4 times and has 384 pages.

[Eldarwen]

I think I'm going to go with , tagged 6 times.


Eta:
Another option would be - tagged 4 times.
Or - tagged 1 time.

[Tori]

I'm going to read The Rook by Daniel O'Malley. It's 496 pages and been shelved 3 times.

[~Melissa~]

I think I'm going to go with by Kay Hooper 390 pgs/GR
it's tagged 1 time as psychic abilities.

[Sam]

Completion post
Shelf: Alpha Male
Book: Dark Predator- Christine Feehan
Qualification: shelved 4 times
Pages: 385 pages in kindle edition
Date read: 4/26/19
Rating: 4 stars
Review: Zacarias is a very old Carpathian who has been fighting the vampires for centuries. He is very close to turning vampire himself, so he decides to end his life before he loses his honor. Marguerita works for the family and when she finds Zacarias burning in the sun, she drags him to the house to rescue him. Of course, he discovers that she is his lifemate but he isn't sure how well they will suit as he is very old fashioned and she is more modern. It was interesting to see how he learned to deal with Marguerita. Of course, there were vampire attacks and other attacks. I always enjoy this series, even though it feels like it has been going on for a long time. There are a lot of similarities between the books, but I still enjoy them a lot. I will be continuing this series.

[Eldarwen]

Alpha Male stamp requested :-)

[Sam]

Sorry I held us up. It's been a rough week.

[Eldarwen]

No need to apologise!! :-)

Science Fiction stamp still needs to be done as well, and that was before Alpha Male haha. (I'm hoping to be done with my book for that by the end of the weekend.)

[Tori]

Sam wrote: "Sorry I held us up. It's been a rough week."

I hope your next week is better!!

I'm being a little slow on my books too, but I'll be playing catch up next week; my last two papers for this semester are due tomorrow night, so once I get done with those I'll be free for the summer!

[Sam]

Completion post
Shelf: Psychic Abilities
Book: Sense of Evil- Kay Hooper
Qualification: shelved 4 times
Pages: 384 pages in kindle edition
Date read: 4/28/19
Rating: 4 stars
Review: Rafe is the chief of police of Hastings. He has a serial killer on his hands. He calls in the FBI SCU for help and finds that he is strangely attracted to one of the agents sent. He also discovers the secret of the SCU. I liked the interactions between Rafe and Isabel. Hollis got on my nerves in this book. The killer fooled me completely, but I think it was a cheap shot by the author because it would be very hard for anyone to solve this mystery. Even Isabel, Hollis and Rafe were caught by surprise. I do like this series and will continue reading it.

[Steph, Serious series addict]

CONGRATULATIONS, Duckies!
You now have an updated BINGO card with a stamp on 'alpha male'. 

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

Good Job!! :D

[Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required]

Congrats on the stamp Duckies!

[Eldarwen]

Thanks, ladies :-)

[Eldarwen]

Completion Post
Science Fiction
Book: Unwind by Neal Shusterman

How it fits: tagged 1813 times
Date Read: April 29th 2019
Rating: 4 stars
Review
This story threw up a lot more questions than I thought it would. I was expecting some questions about the worth of life, considering the subject matter of the plot, but there was even more to it than I thought there would be. And I loved that.

I enjoyed the plot, the flow of the writing, the movement of the story and the characters. They were flawed and had odd thought processes from time to time and it made them interesting. Lev in particular underwent an interesting evolution, though both Connor and Risa have endeared themselves to me.

The story could theoretically be finished with a very open end, but if I can get my hands on the second book, I definitely won't mind reading it.

[Eldarwen]

Tori wrote: "Sam wrote: "Sorry I held us up. It's been a rough week."

I hope your next week is better!!

I'm being a little slow on my books too, but I'll be playing catch up next week; my last two papers for ..."

Nice! Hope all went well with the papers :-)

[~Melissa~]

Completion Post
Psychic Abilities
by Kay Hooper 390 pgs/GR
it's tagged 1 time as psychic abilities.

Completed 5/1/19
Rating 3.5 stars
Review: so it's been a while since I've read a Bishop book but as always once I get into it it's kind of like coming home. This one did sort of feel out of sync though. Especially since Bishop wasn't really in it - nor were any of the other players/team you're used to. Anyway, suspense, intrigue , mystery and creepy psychic abilities were all present. Sarah was interesting in how matter of fact she was about all the changes that she was going through since she became psychic. Hoping things come together a little better and make more sense with book 2.

[Sam]

New Shelf: Series

[Sam]

I'm going to read Once Upon Stilettos by Shanna Swendson. It is shelved as series 55 times and has 320 pages.

[Eldarwen]

Hmm, I just can't decide.... but these made my selection ;-)

The Final Empire - tagged 937 times
Tintenherz - tagged 850 times
The Colour of Magic - tagged 563 times
Howl's Moving Castle - tagged 517 times
Allegiance of Honor - tagged 60 times

I'll finish my psychic abilities book and then I'll see if I want to continue with Psy-Changeling or if I want to pick up one of the other books. I think I'll just have to sit down with all of them, read a page or two and see which one strikes my fancy.

[Cat]

Eldarwen wrote: "Hmm, I just can't decide.... but these made my selection ;-)

The Final Empire - tagged 937 times
Tintenherz - tagged 850 times
The Colour of Magic - tagged..."

Howl, for my money :)

[Eldarwen]

Hehe, I've been meaning to read that one for ages now. Even more so since I've seen the movie and completely fell in love with Hauru ;-)

[Tori]

Eldarwen wrote: "Tori wrote: "Sam wrote: "Sorry I held us up. It's been a rough week."

I hope your next week is better!!

I'm being a little slow on my books too, but I'll be playing catch up next week; my last tw..."

They went pretty well, thank you! Only one has been graded so far, fingers crossed about the second one.

For series I'm going to read Once & Future byAmy Rose Capetta. It's 336 pages and has been shelved 33 times.

Also I swear I'm chugging away on the other two books, I should hopefully be done with them soon.

[~Melissa~]

I’m going with tagged 524 times as series....and I forgot to look at the page count but I’m sure it’s above the needed pages, lol.
Feel like doing a second time through and on audio this time 😆

[Eldarwen]

Definitely enough pages, and the audio is actually not that bad! Roarke gets an interesting accent on audio :-))

[Tori]

Completion post!
Shelf: Psychic abilities
Book: The Rook by Daniel O'Malley
Qualification: Shelved 3 times
Pages: 496
Date read: 5/3/19
Rating: 3.5 stars
Review: Hmm. I thought the premise was really interesting, and I liked learning about the organization it takes place withing, but there were parts of it that made me unsure. It felt like it should have been more obvious to her coworkers that Myfwany lost her memory, and there were moments where she or other female characters were described that made me pause and say "Ah... This was written by a man." (Not that men can't write female characters, but sometimes it's just obvious in very weird ways.) I was intrigued by all the different powers, and Gestalt was both intriguing and offputting. I like the narrative juxtaposition between the letters and her inner narration. Overall, I liked it, but I don't know that I'll be totally motivated to pick up the next one in the series.

[Tori]

Completion post!
Shelf: Series
Book: Once & Future by Amy Rose Capetta
Qualification: Shelved 33 times
Pages: 336
Date read: 5/5/19
Rating: 4 Stars
Review: Oh man, what a good space romp. I love sci-fi and fantasy blended together, and this reincarnated King Arthur tale set in the future where the universe is controlled by an Evil Corporation was so fun. It was so diverse and the tropes were fun. There were moments where the writing felt a little shaky, but for the first in a series it was really good, and I will definitely be picking up the second when it comes out.

[Tori]

Also, I should be done with Artemis tonight! I gotta say, it's been weird switching back and forth between Artemis and Once & Future since they're both sci-fi's set in outer space dealing with Capitalism (TM), but a good time.

[Eldarwen]

Not always easy to switch between two books that are similar on a certain level!

I may be able to finish Shards of Hope by tonight but as things stand at the moment (headache), I'm not sure. Tomorrow at the latest. And then I'll have to brave a decision on my series book haha.

[Tori]

Completion post!
Shelf: Sci-fi
Book: Artemis by Andy Weir
Qualification: Shelved 3126 times
Pages: 305
Date read: 5/5/19
Rating: 2 Stars
Review: Hmm. I wanted to like this more than I did. I liked the premise and the idea of the character, but ultimately it fell flat to me. There were too many conveniences (she knew the Star Ship Enterprises registration number because "someone must have told her that at some point and she doesn't forget things" and it was the correct code). Whatever. And there was so much technical detail that I felt my eyes glaze over frequently. I did like her emails with Kelvin. But I dunno, overall it felt a little shallow.

[Tori]

Eldarwen wrote: "Not always easy to switch between two books that are similar on a certain level!

I may be able to finish Shards of Hope by tonight but as things stand at the moment (headache), I'm not sure. Tomor..."

I hope your headache goes away and you feel better!

[Eldarwen]

Yeah, they usually don't last. They're just sometimes an extreme nuisance :-) Thanks!

Sorry to see your science fiction book was such a disappointment.

[Eldarwen]

Science Fiction Stamp has been requested! :-)

[Steph, Serious series addict]

CONGRATULATIONS, Duckies!
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

[~Melissa~]

Completion Post
Shelf: Series

tagged 524 times as series
294 pgs/ GR
Finished 5/5/19
Rating 4 stars
Review: so fun to go back to where it all began! I can't even remember how long ago I started this series I just remember thinking how weird all the tech stuff was that she was talking about in the books. It must have been pretty close to when it came out as I didn't have children yet when they came out so more time for reading, lol. Anyway - reading now I was thinking yep we have that, yep we have that too. I forgot the whodunit part although it came back little by little. I love Eve and Roarke. Fun watching them circle each other. This is one of my favorite cop series. I'm thinking of doing a whole 're-read' in audio of the series just for the fun ride.

[Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required]

Congrats on the stamp Duckies!

[Eldarwen]

Thanks for the stamp, ladies!

[Eldarwen]

Completion Post
Psychic Abilities
Book: Shards of Hope by Nalini Singh

How it fits: tagged 6 times
Date Read: May 7th 2019
Rating: 4 stars
Review
Aden has been growing on me for a while now but this book definitely sealed the deal. He might even have become one of my favourites characters in this universe. The story was full of action and conspiracy and I loved the focus on interpersonal relationships all over. The way Aden, Zaira and Vasic care for the Arrows and especially the children was heart-warming. And it's always nice to encounter the alphas. I'm curious to see who is behind the evil masterplan though. Guess I'll have to read the next book to receive an answer and that will be such a harship, I'm sure ;-)

[Eldarwen]

Psychic Abilities stamp has been requested! :-)

[Sam]

New shelf: Next in Series

[Eldarwen]

I think for Next in Series, I'm going to go with which has been tagged 18 times.

[Sam]

I'm going to read Storm Cursed by Patricia Briggs. It is shelved 32 times and has 384 pages.

[Eldarwen]

Ooooh =))

I have to wait until that comes out in my paperback edition, which isn't until January 2020 :-( I hate it when they do that! That's also the reason why I'm only now reading Burn Bright. That edition only came out a couple of months ago.