R4: SSS Fried Brainiacs (3)

[Jonquil]

I'm going with a #4 that's also W.

[Suzanne]

Shelby wrote: "Yay!!! I had told Jenne I was going to give you until around now before rolling. You have excellent timing my dear! :D

I'm going to go roll now."

I barely made it! I went canoeing with the family yesterday and all day I was bugging my hubby, "I gotta get home before midnight, I got post my book club review!"

[Gea]

I'll read it sounds intersting :D

[Jonquil]

Got sidetracked by a book that's due back sooner. Switching to Falcon Mercenary Group Book 1
.

[Jonquil]

Gea wrote: "I'll read it sounds intersting :D"


It certainly does, anxious to hear your thoughts.

[Jonquil]

Review
Into the Mist 9/8 ★★

I should have stuck with dragons.
The opening was intriguing, sculpted, egotistical man watches woman enter and cross crowded dance club--we're not sure if we should root for him or her. His inner dialogue is horny jerk bordering on sexual predator. She's a mess of contradictions. She slips something into his drink. They have supposedly mind-blowing sex. Then there's supposed character development--I didn't believe these fools were mercenaries and I didn't believe anyone's back-story. There's supposedly a plot--I kept thinking okay now we're gonna get somewhere, there'll be a plan, motivation, the vivid, rapid-fire descriptions of near-misses, honed skill and bravado that made my heart pitter-pat when I first read "mercenary" on the cover." I really, truly yearned to see it, any of it. Harry Potter had better crafted incursions. Matilda was more gifted at revenge scenarios. These people just awkwardly filled pages between sex scenes.

[Gea]

Jonquil wrote: "Gea wrote: "I'll read it sounds intersting :D"


It certainly does, anxious to hear your thoughts."

I didn't finish it. I didn't like the beginning and then read a review that says the hero and heroine don't meet until almost half of the book. I'm not interested in reading so many pages of a male escort who talks about the story so I just stopped.

I don't know yet what will I read now but probably

[Suzanne]

Week 2: Space 14: Series #1



Read: Reckless by Skye Jordan
Finished: 9/9/2014
Rating: ***
Review: Whew, this was steamy! Plus it was cheap! Free on Kindle with a 1.99 upgrade on Audible :) Loved the hot scenes and the main characters were interesting even if the way they met was not completely believable. However, I enjoyed it!

[Shelby]

Suzanne wrote: "Shelby wrote: "Yay!!! I had told Jenne I was going to give you until around now before rolling. You have excellent timing my dear! :D

I'm going to go roll now."

I barely made it! I went cano..."

Suzanne...Lol! Nice job cracking that whip. ;)

I've finished my book, but I'll post shortly. Gotta write my review.

Week 2 (14 - Series #1) Angel and the Assassin - 203pgs/GR

[Shelby]

Week 2
Space 14 - Series #1
Angel and the Assassin by Fyn Alexander


Read: 9/9
Rating: ★★½

I am essentially a fifty-fifty split on this book…while I enjoyed Kael I pretty much loathed Angel. The story as a whole just didn’t work for me though certain elements did. I kept wanting to throw things out of sheer frustration. The writing style as a whole was pretty simplistic and didn’t do anything to enhance the story for me either.

Kael Saunders is an assassin, albeit one sanctioned by the British government. His life is obsessively managed down to the minutiae from his job with the Secret Intelligence service to his personal life as a Master. In fact the line between them blends at times. Still he never expected to meet someone on a job, especially when he’s out killing an arms dealer. But one look at the kid hiding from him and he’s taken in in spite of himself.

Angel is eighteen and all he wants is to have a Daddy for himself. He’s dreamed of it for a long time. All Angel wants is to have someone love him who will help guide him, and who will take care of him. When he stumbles on a man shooting his step-father in the head fear sends him running, but attraction soon has him willing to follow the man where he leads. His mother was already off with her new uber-rich lover and he has nothing in his life. The chance to finally have the Daddy he’s always wanted is a rich temptation Angel has no intention of ignoring.

Oh my god!!! I wanted to punch Angel in his face. I can deal with Daddy kink normally but this was beyond absurd. If he said Daddy one more time I was going to scream. I mean even in other BDSM books I’ve never seen a sub say sir that many times. *headdesk* Over and over ad naseum on repeat. Just so obnoxious. Not to mention the fact that despite being a stated eighteen years old he acts no more than like ten. Tantrums, bouncing around like a child on sugar, overly affectionate, all of the things he wants to do are so childlike I couldn’t get behind the idea of him in a sexual relationship. Starts to feel like child abuse. :-p That’s just Angel as Angel is though.

Kael on the other hand was all hot sexy dangerous man. I’m not a fan of sex outside of the established partnership, but ok I get it in this case. Still didn’t like it, but I get it. Kael is so ruthlessly controlled it was fun to see how off balance Angel made him. I enjoyed him as a dom, he’s got the bad ass bit down. The scenes in his dungeon were interesting and probably the best part of the book for me.

As for the storytelling aspect…well it really doesn’t come together all that well for me. The first kill Kael makes was beyond ridiculous as far as I was concerned. It seemed rather unnecessary and over the top. The whole tenets of BDSM safe, sane, and consensual seemed very loosely interpreted there. I mean two complete strangers and the guy just shows up at your hotel and you’re going to become all sub happy and let him do anything he wants to you? Questionable. The rest of the pieces of the story were so loosely connected as to be only slightly believable. I mean sure they were plausible, but they didn’t motivate things like I would have liked.

Overall this story just didn’t do it for me. But I liked Kael well enough to want to potentially read the sequel. I’m curious whether Angel grows up at all to become tolerable rather than utterly obnoxious. The prep work to turn him into something else entirely is there. I’m a little curious to see how it develops. I don’t know though if I can get past the writing style and my frustration with him enough to actually sit down and read it. So yeah, in the end didn’t like it, almost hated it, but there was enough redeeming in Kael to keep my curiosity peeked.

I would probably list this as between a 2.5-3 stars but since I'm still curious about where this book goes I'll list it at 3 for GR purposes.

[Shelby]

Week 2, Spot 14 - COMPLETE


Jonquil - Msg. 56 -
Gea - Msg. 63 -
Suzanne - Msg. 58 -
Shelby - Msg. 60 -

[Gea]

I'm sorry but I will be a bit late. I got an all-day job yesterday and took it so there was no time for reading. I don't have much of my book left so I'll try to read it this morning before I leave for work or I will read it later and post it at 7 pm my time (ten hours from now).

[Gea]

Space 14

Book: Until Nico (Until #4) by Aurora Rose Reynolds
Read: 11-Sep-2014
Rating: ★★★★
Review:
I was looking forward to Nico's book and I liked it very much. It was my favorite from the series and it was nice seeing Mayson brothers with their families again. The last part of the book promises the continuation of the series with the children and that should be interesting to read in the future.

[Shelby]

Not a great roll this week. :-p Rolled a 2 so we are on spot 16


Series #1, Series #6, Stand Alone or Silver/Grey

[Jonquil]

Shelby wrote: "Not a great roll this week. :-p Rolled a 2 so we are on spot 16


Series #1, Series #6, Stand Alone or Silver/Grey"





It's a fine roll, Shelby--I'm certain all 4 of us have at least one Series #1 option near at hand. :)

[Gea]

I started reading and will use it

[Jonquil]

I've decided on

[Shelby]

Week 2.5 (16-Series #1) The Good Fight - 200pgs/GR

[Jonquil]

Review
Ghoul Interrupted (Ghost Hunter Mystery #6) 9/12 ★★★
Not awful, not great, just okay.
Laurie writes believable descriptions of ghosts and psychics, but she never convinced me that there was a demon in this story. I accept that it actually existed, but I have clearer images of the MCs riding around in their rental car than I do of the main "antagonist." Most of the demon-related descriptions were of the results of the demon wreaking havoc- claw marks, fire, property destruction. The recurring ghosthunter characters reported being afraid of the demon, beyond that I never got a sense of it, it didn't feel corporeal, or powerful, or evil, or menacing--it seemed less threatening than a teen-manifested poltergeist. This lack of menace really cut the legs out from under the story. That, combined with a ho-hum mystery, moved this one level below airport read to a laundromat book.

[Suzanne]

Week 2.5: Series #1, Series #6, Stand Alone or Silver/Grey



Read: One Night of Sin by Elle Kennedy
Date: 9/12/2014
Rating: ****
Review: Another hot and heavy read from bowels of my kindle library! Bad boy club bouncer meets good girl grad student and she decides she wants to walk to the wild side. I liked it a lot!

[Suzanne]

Jonquil wrote: "Review
Ghoul Interrupted (Ghost Hunter Mystery #6) 9/12 ★★★
Not awful, not great, just okay.
Laurie writes believable descriptions of ghosts and psychics, but she never convinced ..."

Is the first book in this series any good?

[Jonquil]

Suzanne wrote: "Jonquil wrote: "Review
Ghoul Interrupted (Ghost Hunter Mystery #6) 9/12 ★★★


Not awful, not great, just okay.
Laurie writes believable descriptions of ghosts and psychics, but she ..."

Suzanne-
She really does write "beach books". I don't love her characters and her plots are not that strong and I don't particularly care how the MC's relationships evolve, but the books are a fast read so I eventually get around to each one. I certainly would only borrow them from a library rather than pay for them.

[Jonquil]

Suzanne wrote: Is the first book in this series any good?"

Suzanne-
If you're looking for a next book, I glanced at your optimistically-ambitious TBR and saw two possibilities for Series One books.
One is the fun kid's book by Patricia Wrede Dealing with Dragons about a kick-butt princess.

The other a dark, twisted (villains we love despite themselves or ourselves) book full of wordplay that the Showtime series completely lost: Darkly Dreaming Dexter. When this book came out, I was forcing it on people I love because it was so unique.

Both of these are popular and old enough to likely be available at your public library.

[Gea]

Space 16

Book: Monster in His Eyes (Monster in His Eyes #1) by J.M. Darhower
Read: 13-Sep-2014
Rating: ★★★★
Review:
This book was a pleasant surprise for me, as I didn't expect to like it nearly as much as I did. I like when the age difference between hero and heroine is noticeable but they're both usually at least in their twenties and not 18-36 like Naz and Karissa are. It was really weird at first because she was barely an adult but it didn't bother me later in the book when I got used to it.
I guessed what was behind the scenes pretty quickly and it's good the next book comes out in two weeks as I don't really like this kind of endings.

[Shelby]

Week 2.5 - Spot 16
The Good Fight by Andrew Grey


Read: 9/12
Rating: ★★★★

This story was really sweet and also dealt with a serious social justice issue as well. One not even connected to gay culture. This story is also dealing with custody issues within the Native American community. There was a really nice blend of the romantic elements of the story and the social commentary. I really enjoyed Jerry and John’s romance as both were lovely guys looking for something more in their lives.

Jerry Lincoln moved back to Sioux Falls to help his grandfather at the end of his life. The move came at the perfect time in his life, he needed to leave San Francisco anyway to get away from some issues. Staying in Sioux Falls after his grandfather’s death though was never the initial plan. Yet his company has been doing well and as he owns an IT consulting business he can work anywhere. Now he’s got more work than he can handle and it’s time to think about hiring himself some help.

John Black Raven is proud of the job he’s done putting himself through college and getting his AA. He’s taught himself a lot of what he knows about computers. While he’s never had a job in an IT field yet, he’s confident in his skills. The chance to work with Jerry is incredible and his attraction to the man more than a bit distracting. The temptation isn’t one he’s sure he can make a move on though as his focus in life has to be on gaining custody of his sister’s children who were placed in foster care after her death.

I really enjoyed these two together. Both men were mellow and not without their own issues, but they complimented each other well. Their strengths were offset and allowed them to be each other’s support system when they needed it. I really enjoyed how nonjudgmental Jerry was and his willingness to just throw himself into helping John right the wrong done his family in the run around the state is giving John in getting his niece and nephew into his custody.

The biggest reason this story looses a star for me is the shift in tone about half way through the story. The first half is all about the IT business and what is going on in Jerry’s life, where he comes from, what he’s looking for out of life. After he gets over his hesitation to go for the chance with John though everything switches to John’s problems. While we don’t see a lot of the Indian culture in John’s background his focus is on preserving that for his niece and nephew. Suddenly everything is about the oppression being forced on the Native American populace by a corrupt government office seeking to benefit from the financial gain removing Indian children from their homes gives them. While I appreciated the social justice aspects of this story, I just wish everything had been a little bit better integrated. The switch was drastic without any balance between the two. I would have liked to see more of the IT bleed into the custody battle and the custody battle into the office.

The secondary characters in this story were lovely and rich as well though. I enjoyed John and Bryce’s friendly relationship in the office and Jerry’s friendships with the other openly gay couple in town. It was a bit more than coincidental though that every character we like in this story other than the women are all gay. I would have enjoyed at least one straight man standing up for what is right.

Mr. Grey does do a good job though of presenting his social justice agenda in a non preaching manner. He presents things in a clear picture without making the reader feel like they are being talked down to, preached at, or condemned. He’s brought the reader’s attention to an issue that is morally repugnant and made it clear how wrong the idea is. I appreciated that this wasn’t just an issue of gay rights but a human rights issue.

Altogether this story is lovingly told with very sweet likeable characters. I enjoyed both the MC’s and their relationship as well as the host of secondary characters and the children. It’s a light easy read that still manages to present the issues it deals with in a clear concise light without needing to beat the reader over the head with them. I enjoyed the book very much and will look to read more in the future.

[Shelby]

Week 2.5, Spot 16 - COMPLETE


Jonquil - Msg. 69 -
Gea - Msg. 74 -
Suzanne - Msg. 70 -
Shelby - Msg. 75 -

[Shelby]

:-p someday I'll manage better rolls. We're now on spot 19 after a 3 roll.


Series #1, Series #9, Stand Alone or Title: N

[Jonquil]

Thanks, Shelby. I'll be reading (Silver Dragons, #1)

[Jonquil]

Review
Playing With Fire 9/14 ★★★★★

Fun! It's been four years since I've read a Katie MacAlister novel and it was entertaining to revisit her dragons. It helped that I already understand the rules of this universe, but I suspect an uninitiated reader could start with this book and not feel lost. There was a nice balance of suspense, threat, mystery, romance, friendship and bridging between previous books and future ones. A terrific way to escape on a chilly weekend.

[Gea]

Space 19

Book: Incandescent (Knights Rebels MC #1) by River Savage
Read: 16-Sep-2014
Rating: ★★★★
Review:
Incandescent was yet another biker book for me and it was good enough but I miss those biker books that are so good I want to re-read them immediately after finishing them. River Savage is a new author and I'll be on a lookout for her next books.

[Shelby]

Week 3 - Spot 19
The Nothingness of Ben by Brad Boney


Read: 9/18
Rating: ★★★★

I've put off reading this book for a very long time, and I never could come up with an sort of real reason why. It just seemed like every time this book would pop up on my radar I'd have some silly reason why reading something else was more appealing. I've put this book off, and put this book off for nor apparent reason, and for the first half of the book I was worried there was a good reason I'd put things off. I severely disliked Ben, but over time and the course of the book he grew on me as did the story.

Ben Walsh left Texas and his family behind to move to New York and really be himself. His family never out and out turned against him because of his homosexuality, but things weren’t comfortable either. In New York he’s has a fantastic job as a lawyer in the biggest law firm in the city, has a new boyfriend and plenty of friends, everything is coming up roses until the phone call that tilts his entire world on it’s ear. Both his parents dead in a car crash and all three of his younger brothers left at home, Ben is forced to return to Texas to figure out how to move forward.

Travis Atwood works at the local garage and has become quite close with the boys that live across the street. Their parents had always taken him in and invited him over for a meal or two. Of course the boys are devastated by the loss of their parents and turn to the surrogate older brother they know. Travis is intrigued by the older brother he’s never met. Ben seems so distant and unsure how to deal with his brothers. But at the end of the day he steps up and decides to take guardianship of his brothers. Travis has no problems stepping in to help him even as his feelings for Ben grow outside of anything he’s ever considered in the past.

So as I mentioned in my intro I wasn’t a huge fan of the beginning of this book. I really disliked Ben and the way he was handling things. He was selfish and cut off from his family. He was not the best boyfriend and really didn’t know what he wanted. Yet in this story I really did feel like Ben grew up. He became the man he was always supposed to be by the end of this story and his relationship with Travis is what helped him get there. I appreciated the relationship he started to develop with his brothers and the life he was trying to build once he figured his own head out.

Travis…oh Travis…he was just too sweet. I did feel like he dove into the sexual side of things a little too easily for some guy who has never even considered a gay relationship before. Yet I liked his relationship with Ben very much. He was sweet and caring. He was cute in his blue-collar roots. I liked how comfortable in his own skin he was. Travis knew who he was at his core, he was just working to accept this new facet in his life, being attracted to a guy.

For three kids who’ve had their entire lives turned upside down I really did enjoy Ben’s brothers. I liked the differences in their personalities and how they related to everyone. I enjoyed Collin and his steam roller best friend tendencies. The group dynamic was fun and entertaining. There was a good natural quality to the dialogue and interactions of the characters.

All in all this is one of the books I had to build into. I needed Ben to grow up to be able to appreciate him and enjoy the story. Together Ben and Travis were a lovely couple and I enjoyed the ups and downs of their story. I liked that they took time apart to figure things out and that it wasn’t a romance totally wrapped up in the worst time of Ben’s life. By the end of the story I really felt the potential of the perfect HEA for this family. That Thanksgiving was just lovely and beautiful. ☺

[Shelby]

Week 3, Spot 19


Jonquil - Msg. 79 -
Gea - Msg. 80 -
Suzanne - Msg. 83 -
Shelby - Msg. 81 -

[Suzanne]

Week 3 - Spot 19



Read: The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
Date: 9/18/2014
Rating: ***
Review: Not really a fan of epic fantasies, just because they are so long, drawn out and "detaily". There were parts of book that was attention grabbing but then other times it just dragged on. I'll probably keep reading but I'll check out the comic version before I continue to book 2.

[Shelby]

Oh man no wonder it took a bit to get it finished. That book is epic. Haven't read it since I was a kid, but I know it's like 800+ pgs. :-p

Heading out to roll now. :)

[Shelby]

I am the worst roller known to man. :-p Rolled a 3 so we're on spot 22.

Series #2 or Location: Australia

[Gea]

I'll read it fits both criteria

[Jonquil]

Shelby wrote: "I am the worst roller known to man. :-p Rolled a 3 so we're on spot 22.

Series #2 or Location: Australia"

Truly, maybe we should ask Jenne to hand you some new dice. ;-) I'm predicting a streak of sixes in the home stretch.

[Jonquil]

I'm going with (I-Team, #2)

[Suzanne]

Suzanne wrote: "Week 3 - Spot 19



Read: The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
Date: 9/18/2014
Rating: ***
Review: Not really a fan of epic fanta..."

I feel like I've READ a marathon instead of RAN a marathon

[Shelby]

Jonquil wrote: "Shelby wrote: "I am the worst roller known to man. :-p Rolled a 3 so we're on spot 22.

Series #2 or Location: Australia"

Truly, maybe we should ask Jenne to hand you some new dice. ;-) I'm p..."

Awesome. Glad to hear it's coming soon. ;)

[Shelby]

Week 3.5 (22-Series #2) Book Of Secrets - 258pgs/GR

[Jonquil]

Review
Hard Evidence 9/19 ★★
She's a journalist, he's undercover, there are three teens, she's a journalist, he's undercover, there's a gang, she's a journalist, he's undercover, sometimes there's sex.

Three hundred twenty eight pages of repetition with less plot development than happens in 44 minutes of a prime time police drama.

[Shelby]

Week 3.5 - Spot 22
Book Of Secrets by R.J. Scott


Read: 9/20
Rating: ★★★

This book lacks a little bit of explanation for me to truly enjoy it. I still loved the four boyos and the history elements of this story, but Alex’s powers and what’s going on this time around weren’t as clear as in the first book. I was left with a lot of questions of why and felt like I basically had to just accept that that was the status quo rather than truly understanding the situation.

Alex is determined to right the wrongs he did with his ex and their stealing. Only now he’s returning everything he ever stole without the help of the powers being connected to Oracle gave him. Still so far his retrieve and replace plan has been going well with the help of Griff and Chris. Of course he’s still head over heels in love with Luke and adores watching his man pour over his manuscripts and translations. When one of his jobs goes a little sideways the tingling that he’s thought might be his powers returning takes over and he disappears from the guard’s view he knows something truly is up. And there are other players this time around that want something from Alex and Luke, and will do anything to get it.

So I liked the premise of this story. The new bits of action and adventure were fun. But everything felt very rushed and incomplete. I kinda felt like I was bopping through the highlight reel instead of getting to dive into the details. I liked that Alex powers were coming back and weren’t quite as controllable as before, but I had loads of questions. Why now? Why so different? What brought them back? Are they back for good? None of which did I feel was answered. Alex’s nerves about how Luke would react and their coming together and Luke accepting him for who he is was great though.

The action plot was a bit suspect as well in that it was a lot of bullet points without much meat. I’m left at the end with a little bit of a “so what” feeling. What was the point of it all? I would have loved to see them doing more research and figuring out what exactly was going on. And I would have preferred the end result to be something more long lasting and enduring than the pretty bow this was all tied up in.

My favorite part of this story was really just getting to touch base with the characters I enjoyed from the first book. I liked that Chris and Griff were still around and that there was a fun balance among the four of them. Luke worries about Alex and his jobs, but Chris and Griff are along helping smooth things out. These four are definitely fun friends. I actually also really liked the character of Dragan. It was clear in the beginning there was more going on with this guy than met the eye. This was one of the few plot twists that I actually appreciated. His character and reasonings made sense and helped drive the story. It was just the pat ending the bugged me there. (view spoiler)[The essentially “deus ex machina” ending of something that apparently can never be completed again was silly in my opinion. Especially because they all stumbled into what happened without ever really trying anything or understanding what was going on at all. (hide spoiler)]

All in all this particular series leaves me a little bit frustrated by all the potential and teases at the history I love while never really completely satisfying my inner desires for intrigue and complexity. I love the ideas but the execution always seems to fall just a little short for me. The stories end up feeling a little white washed which I hate. There are such great ideas going into this that could have made everything so rich and vibrant. The characters are fun and could be utilized as a team so much more effectively. I want to know the hows of the jobs they pull off and the banter between them. I want to see the details that go into everything and instead feel like I’m getting just the outline. Still it was a fun, quick little read and I’m glad I read it. Call me a hedonist but I want more juicy details. :D

[Shelby]

Week 3.5, Spot 22


Jonquil - Msg. 92 -
Gea - Msg. 95 -
Suzanne - Msg. 100 -
Shelby - Msg. 93 -

[Gea]

Space 22

Book: Enjoy Your Stay (Sugartown #2) by Carmen Jenner
Read: 20-Sep-2014
Rating: ★★★
Review:
I hated the first book so much I never really intended to read this one but as it's set in Australia and I don't have many books from there I put it on TBR and waited.
The book was much better than the first one but the author just doesn't suit me so the next book from the series will have to wait just like this one did.

[Gea]

I just managed to finish my book before bed, if everything goes like I hope I shouldn't have problems choosing a new one in the morning :)

[Gea]

Or not :( I just hope I don't pick a book that will suit this challenge again

[Shelby]

Hehehe - I have to work in the morning which is unusual for me on a Sunday. It's normally my day off. But I'll try to check in before work to see if Suzanne has posted so we can roll. :)

[Jonquil]

Gea wrote: "Or not :( I just hope I don't pick a book that will suit this challenge again"

I'm with. ya, Girlfriend, I'm so tired of writing negative reviews! I'm starting to think that I just need to find three familiar #2s, #3s, #4s, #5s, etc. using my library's book number # search. Life's too short to read disappointing books. And I'll be skipping Sugartown! :)

[Suzanne]

Week 3.5, Spot 22



Read: Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
Date: 9/21/2014
Rating: ****
Review: I liked this book just as much as the first! The "book geek" world that it is set in is so incredibly unique! I love it, I wish I could live there. It makes me want to go back and read some of the classics.