Thurman, Rob--Moonshine ( #2) Informal buddy read starts May 1, 2019

[Dev]

also cathy feel free to still comment on the thread for the first book if you want. i love this series so i love talking about it lol

[E.]

Devann wrote: "so who is wanting to read the next book and when do you want to start? we were thinking of doing one every two weeks but i know some of you were a bit behind w/ this one so idk if you would want to..."


I'm in for the next book! Idk when I'll be finished with Moonshine, but it should be soon, so i'm good whenever p much.

[E.]

okay, so i also wanted to say that i forgot that niko is in grad school in this and probably the next couple of books (those all take place in the same year, yeah? when cal is like, 20?) and i am like, extremely tempted to write a fic that's just "history papers written by niko leandros, with instructor comments."

what does niko's graduate thesis look like? i'm dying to know.

[Dev]

i also never really remember it because it's only ever mentioned as like 'niko had to get someone to cover his classes' and i'm always like how do you even stay in school you are constantly moving from one world ending emergency to another lol. i also always forget that he has a fucking goatee at this point and i'm just like NIKO NO. although the 'zen hair ratio' comment always makes me laugh.

[E.]

oh my GOD the goatee

[Mary X]

Yeah I've been wondering about that too-the school thing.

Hey. My fiance has a goatee. Don't be knocking the goatee.

I do miss Niko's long hair. I love long hair on a guy.

[Dev]

i mean don't get me wrong there are some guys who can rock a goatee, but i just never pictured niko as one of them. also he's like ALWAYS wearing a trenchcoat so there's just this super tall dude with a goatee and a little half ponytail and a trenchcoat stalking around new york lol but yeah i agree that i miss his long hair. i always bookmark how long cal says it is at the beginning of each book because my horny brain is just like ~long hair boy pretty~

[Dev]

have any of you read The Demon's Lexicon? i'm finally reading the sequel and the series is at least 50% YA nonsense but nick reminds me a lot of cal both in looks and attitude and he's got an older brother he is on the run with etc.

[E.]

well i always flrget how sad the georgie/cal thing is in this book. poor cal just. can't catch a break here.

[Claudia]

@Essie Yeah I think that was my take on it to. I thought it was sad that Cal is just so messed up and feels he can’t do a relationship even though he really wants to because of how he fears what will come from it and drawing George even more into danger.

[Claudia]

@Devann I’ve never read the Demon’s Lexicon. Is it worth reading?

[Dev]

i would say that depends on what you're hoping to get out of it lol. i mean it's not reinventing the wheel and the big 'twist' reveal at the end i thought was pretty obvious, but i like books with brotherly angst and i like sarcastic assholes with questionable grips on morality so i can overlook some other things like just how completely and utterly mid/late 2000s YA it is. you could always give it a try and stop if you don't think you'll like it. it's on archive.org if it's not at your library.

i find it weirdly intriguing but also like i'm reading the second one right now and it has to have one of the worst covers i've ever seen lol

[Claudia]

@Devann yeah that covers pretty bad. Is this a self published ebook?

[Dev]

i just looked it up and apparently it's published by a simon & shuster imprint soooo ...yeah there is no excuse for that lol. also i mean the cover for the first one is not amazing by any means but it's not godawful either. then the second one is just awful and the third one is like ...still bad but anything looks good after that second one lol

[Mary X]

The Georgie/Cal thing might be what keeps me from continuing with the series after awhile. I hate having the same thing rehashed over and over in a book series.

[Dev]

@Mary i guess this is like mild spoilers for the rest of the series but (view spoiler)[the george/cal thing is most prominent in this book so if you don't like it then don't worry, you've basically gotten through the worst of it lol (hide spoiler)]

[Mary X]

OK good. I just hate the whole "I can't be with this person I really want because of who/what I am" dragging on for several books. Especially if they keep getting close and then not progressing. It gets tiring.

I feel the same way about love triangles. If a love triangle lasts more than a couple of books than I will drop that series like a hot potato. Series like the Stephanie Plum and Hannah Swenson books ruined love triangles for me forever.

[Dev]

yeah i agree. i am not really one for romance-focused narratives in general but it's awful when it's like 'will they won't they' for several books. and oh god, i generally won't even ADD a book if i sense a love triangle in it. like seriously if i'm reading a summary and it's like 'she loves A but the new guy B is so intriguing' i'm just like NO. also if a love interest is described as some variation of like 'sexy but infuriating'. this saves me from my tbr being 3 or 4 times the size it already is though so i guess i almost can't complain about horrible romance trends in fiction ...almost ;)

[Claudia]

So this is the first time I read these books. I didn’t know this George/Cal will they won’t they and "I can't be with this person I really want because of who/what I am" was going to continue beyond this book. I don’t know how I feel about that. It sounds kind of annoying actually.

@Devann I don’t like love triangles either they annoy me. I think the only series I ever felt did it right was the Mercy Thompson books. And that was because it only lasted three books and it was never about her having to choose who she really wanted to be with. The love triangle was more about Mercy herself and not about the trying to decide beside the person she used to be and how she wants to live her life and her concerns about how she thinks her life will be based on how she chooses. Her issue that causes the love triangle is about fearing losing independence not her feelings for the two guys. I liked that it was a love triangle where the two guys actually didn’t matter at all.

[Dev]

ok i'm just gonna put more concrete spoilers for the cal/george under the cut to maybe help you guys decide how you feel lol. (view spoiler)[she leaves town in the next book or maybe the one after that but they never end up together and i don't think she ever actually makes an in the flesh appearance again except for shortly in another character's pov. so even if you found the whole thing really annoying - which i get because honestly i do too, i hope you'll at least try one more. (hide spoiler)]

i read the first mercy thompson book -i think lol, honestly all the shifter books just blend together for me and i don't really care for any of them - but i didn't want to continue because i hated both the guys and wasn't crazy about some of the world building aspects either. i agree that it is possible to do a love triangle without it being annoying though, it's just incredibly rare so i try to avoid it when i can. like yeah maybe this will be that 1 time in 20 where it works but i don't want to have to suffer through the other 19 lol

[Claudia]

@Devann Yeah I love the Mercy Thompson books but there’s a lot of world building aspects that i hate. Like there is a whole lot of misogynistic ideals floating among the wolves like the whole women take their position from their mates, women can't be lone wolves, all the wolves are homophobic, etc. I like the book series cause it’s mainly Mercy being like screw that and shoving change everywhere she goes

[Dev]

yeah and isn't mercy thompson the one where there are hardly any female werewolves because they ~aren't strong enough~ to withstand the shift? i mean i'm sure there are some exceptions but generally i just find myself asking why all werewolf books are Like This [TM]

[Claudia]

Devann wrote: "yeah and isn't mercy thompson the one where there are hardly any female werewolves because they ~aren't strong enough~ to withstand the shift? i mean i'm sure there are some exceptions but generall..."

Yeah there is that. Like I said while I like the series certain attitudes in the books annoy me. But i get what you mean that this is really common in shifter books. There seems like a lot of testosterone and misogamy in them like there trying to be like it’s because they’re wilder and ruled by their animal nature. IT pretty annoying so normally I don’t really read any shifter books.

[Dev]

yeah i just find like ~alpha male~ behavior so annoying anyway so i usually can't do it

[Dev]

hey just wanted to say that the thread is up for the next book and is set to start on the 20th