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R4: 4ever Reading (4)
Cait's Week Eight Review
by Juliet MadisonDate Finished: 1/4/2015
Rating: ★★★★
Honestly, I cannot believe how much I enjoyed this book. The cover is cheesy, the summary leaves a bit to be desired, it was cheap as hell on Kindle which is usually never a good sign, and it's about a gorgeous model who's full of herself and living a perfect life. It had a lot of strikes.
But it was genuinely funny and heartwarming. I chuckled out loud and grinned through quite a lot of it. The story moves at a great pace and the ending is so perfectly satisfying.
Week Eight
Fiendish by Brenna Yovanoff
Date Finished: 1/4/2015
Rating: ★★★★★
Maybe 4.5? But I liked it a smidge more than I've liked her other books, so it gets a higher star rating.
It's one of those books that you can *see* happening as you read it. Something that would make a really amazing, visually stunning and disturbing movie. (I might already have 3 or 4 directors in mind who could do it justice.)
There were a few little fiddly things that keep me from all out 5 stars, but if you enjoy Brenna Yovanoff's other works...you'll definitely enjoy this one.
Thank you for checking in, Danielle :) Updated the post with your book!
Week 8
(#5 in a series)Date Finished: 1/8/15
Rating: 4 Stars
Review:
It is fun to spend time with Georgia, as always!! I enjoyed this installment just as much as the previous ones, if not more! This series reads like episodes of a light hearted sitcom. Some of the situations that Georgia gets herself into are full of hilariosity, but still very believable. The writing is just very easy to read, and just FUN! This one ended with a cliff hanger (again) and more of a cliff hanger than usual, in my opinion. I already have book 6 lined up. I don't usually follow book series. I read one, at most 2, and then I just lose interest. That is not the case with these books. I really enjoy reading them. If you are a cat lover, you might like to know that cats play a big role in these stories as well.
Week 8:Read
on the 9thRating: 5 Stars
Review: This was a reread of my favourite book in the Celta/Heartmate series and it was just as enjoyable this time as the first time I read it. I was unsure about how well getting back into the series would go after finding the most recently published books in the series bland and kind of annoying but I didn't find it a problem at all. Actually since it is such a connected series I am finding myself looking forward to rereading some others I liked which were reasonably early in series.
Week NineWhat We Rolled: 11
We Are On Spot: 65
What You Can Read:
- book #6 in a series
- book #5 in a series
- a book with an at least 50% purple cover (run it by Jenne on the discussion thread if you're not sure :) )
Hilary- Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers by Louise Rennison :: #6 :: Review
Danielle- Silver Shadows by Richelle Mead :: #5 :: Review
Morgan- The Forever Song by Julie Kagawa :: Purple :: Review
Cait- My Soul to Keep by Rachel Vincent :: Purple :: Review
Trea- From the Moment We Met by Marina Adair :: #5 :: Review
My book for the week is going to be
, for the purple cover option.Also yay a big number! Two good weeks back to back :) We're almost back in this thing.
I am going to go with
, #6 in a series.
The Forever Song -- Julie KagowaPurple Cover. Sorry, phone/no link.
ETA:
Ok ladies Trea will be joining y'all :)
Wonderful!Welcome to the group, Trea. So glad to have you :)
Cait wrote: "Wonderful!Welcome to the group, Trea. So glad to have you :)"
Thanks, Cait! Do you need me to read a book this week, or am I waiting until next week to read?
Trea, it's your call. You're welcome to do either :)
Whichever you decide is totally fine. If you'd like to pick a book just let me know and I'll get it added to the post up there. Otherwise I'll start adding your name next week :)
Ok, Jenne just posted in the sign up thread that we can read for this week or start in next roll and that it's the call of the replacement player. I'm going to jump in and read for this week, as I just started a book yesterday that will fit right in with this week's roll.My read for the week will be From the Moment We Met by Marina Adair, book 5 in the St. Helena Vineyard series.
Cait wrote: "Sounds good! Added you to the post."Thanks, Cait!
Thanks to the group for the warm welcome! Just a bit of background: I was originally part of the challenge over on Team 7 for week 1, but due to homeschooling my son and the holidays, I had to drop out, as I couldn't devote the time I wanted to to reading. Now that I've gotten him settled into his routine more, I have more time to read and felt I would be able to participate in the challenge again! I was going to wait until next round, so I'm glad that a space has opened up on a team!
Well we're glad to have you! We've lost a few members so far this round so it's nice to have a full team again.Props for doing challenges while homeschooling. My oldest is in Kindergarten full time, I have no idea how I'd manage this stuff if I was teaching him at the same time.
Cait wrote: "Well we're glad to have you! We've lost a few members so far this round so it's nice to have a full team again.Props for doing challenges while homeschooling. My oldest is in Kindergarten full ti..."
*grins* It's a juggling act, that's for certain! We "practiced" school a bit over the holidays, as I made the decision to follow the breaks he would have had in traditional school for now, and when he started back up last Monday, I didn't have the problems I had before the break! I think the practice helped!
Going to change my book for the week. The library is taking it's sweet time sending it.Swapping to
.
Week Nine
The Forever Song by Julie Kagawa
Date Finished: 1/13/2015
Rating: ★★★★
Each book has slipped just a smidge for me. I put #1 as 5 stars, #2 as 4.5-4, and now this one is a pretty solid 4.
Allison as a main character loses a little of her BAMF in this edition...as is always the case, because of a boy. I swear they have to be kryptonite to most strong female character types.
It was another volume heavy on the action. It keeps you on your toes with what will happen next and will they be able to stop Sarren.
It lost the other half star for me, because I found myself tempted to skim bits of the action. The fighting got a little...monotonous? But also kind of exhausting because everything was go go go go go go go go go go goooooooo go. GO!
Even though the situations were different, the issues were different, the obstacles to overcome and the various injuries and injured parties were different... I still caught my eyes straining forward for dialogue.
Week 9 = Space 65Task: Series Book #6, Series Book #5, Series Book #65, or Book that has a cover with that is at least 50% purple
Task Chosen: Series Book #5
Book Read:
From the Moment We Met by Marina AdairDates Read: 1/11/15 to 1/13/15
Rating: 3 stars
Review:
By the time you get to the fifth book in a series, you've either built up some pretty massive anticipation for a particular couple's story, or you've lost me as a reader because I haven't found anything in your series that speaks to me. When I finally sat down to read this book, I was in the massive anticipation for (Jack) Tanner and Abby's story camp. However, when I finished this book tonight, I found myself wondering if I should continue the series.
Abby is the sheltered and protected little sister of the DeLuca family, and she's mainly let that ride for the first four books. In this book, she finally gets her claws in so many ways, and yet in so many others, she winds up being a whiny, spineless shell of what she started out as. I found it very annoying. It took a character I hated from the beginning of the book to point out to Abby how spineless she really was, then she finally took charge of what she wanted. There was also a lot of miscommunication in this story, which could have been cleared up if only (Jack) Tanner and Abby had talked with one another! (Jack) Tanner was also the silent type, too much so, as he wound up taking a lot of crap from all of his supporting characters in the group, to the point where I wondered if he had "doormat" as a secondary nickname. To be fair, I did chuckle and laugh at a good handful of places in the book, which has saved it from a 2 star rating, but in my opinion, this book is the weak link in the series, and I'll be waiting for a library copy of the 6th book in the series to read it before purchase.
Cait's Week Nine Review
by Rachel VincentDate Finished: 1/14/2015
Rating: ★★★★
In all honesty, I was dreading reading this book. Because up to this point this series has sort of been like eating Taco Bell. You don't do it for a while and then one day it randomly sounds good so you try it and a half an hour later you regret your life and all your decisions. In other words, the first two books sucked, why the hell did I keep going?
I don't know. I'm an idiot.
BUT! This book was actually good! Somewhere between the second and third book, Rachel Vincent learned how to tell a decent story! I was totally into the plot of this one, the characters were slightly more enjoyable (I didn't even hate Kaylee! Who I usually want to kick in the face!), there was sufficient enough Tod to make me very happy. Nash is finally shown to be the raging douchecanoe that I always knew he was. I actually don't have any complaints.
Please let the fourth one be decent, please let the fourth one be decent...
Week 9:Read
on the 15th for book 5Rating: 4 Stars
Review: I actually had almost given up on this whole series after the previous book been so bland but I am glad I didn't as one really redeems the series. I found the plot absorbing despite the topics and really like the characters in this novel.
Week 9:
(#6 in a series)Finished: 1/15/15
Rating: 4 stars
Review:
Wonderful, as always. I enjoyed the 6th installment of the Georgia Nicolson series. This one is longer than the others, and it does seem like more things happen! The excitement surrounding Georgia's trip to Hamburger-a-go-go land was fun to read about, and it was neat to see America through her eyes. The scene where Georgia's shoes were too small made me cringe! ouch! You will know what I mean if you read this story !! As always, she is filled with confusiosity over who she should love, and the lucky girl has several options! Like always, this story was vair, vair funny, and ended in a cliff hanger! Time for book #7!
Week TenWhat We Rolled: 11
We Are On Spot: 76
What You Can Read:
- book #7 in a series
- book #6 in a series
- a book with a moon on the cover
Hilary- Startled by His Furry Shorts by Louise Rennison :: #7 :: Review
Danielle- Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead :: #6 :: Review
Morgan- Love in the Time of the Dead by Tera Shanley :: Moon :: Review
Cait- Moon Called by Patricia Briggs :: Moon :: Review
Trea- Before Midnight by Jennifer Blackstream :: Moon :: Review
Another big number! Making up for those early rolls now, ladies.I'm going to be reading
this week for the alt option of a moon on the cover.
Hilary, you read books with the strangest titles lol Every week I look forward to what you're going to pick.
Lol I know! The other day the dentist asked what am I reading? And I was embarrassed to say because it sounded so weird. But the titles are lines from the book so it makes sense after the book is over ;)
Changing my book to
because that Muse book was disappointingly awful :(
Week 10 = Space 76Task: Series Book #7, Series Book #6, Series Book #76, or Book that has a cover with the moon on it
Task Chosen: Cover Item Moon
Book Read:
Before Midnight by Jennifer BlackstreamDates Read: 1/17/15
Rating: 5 stars
Review:
This book was awesome! It's a fairy tale retelling, one of my favorite types of romance novels, but with an interesting twist: the retelling has a paranormal element. The element for this book was shifters, and while I normally stay away from shifter novels, this one was rather interesting! It also retold the story of Cinderella, but again with a twist in the form of her stepfamily. It was also in a somewhat French setting, yet in its own unique universe. I liked the prologue quite a bit, it was a very eloquent way of stating that the stories are tied together and bigger than themselves, part of a whole tapestry really. The mixing of mythology with this also piqued my interest, and I'm eager to see what the bigger picture really is! At first, it struck me as similar to Marie Hall's Kingdom series, but I actually prefer this series to that one! My one nitpick is that this story ended about 85% into the book and the other 15% were promos for other novels. I would have preferred a 5 to 10% promo ending to the book, but the story wasn't short changed because of the long promos. I'm following this author for certain, and eager to read the next book!
You had me at werewolves and fairytales, Trea. lol.
Morgan wrote: "You had me at werewolves and fairytales, Trea. lol."I grabbed this one while it was free, Morgan, and I think it has come up as free again, but I would gladly pay money for this too! The next book is a vampire one, and in the prologue for this one we see who the heroes for the books are: werewolf, vampire, angel, demon (of the incubus variety, of course!), and a god! I also know there is a Christmas novella, but I think it is a retelling of A Christmas Carol and not a fairytale. All in all, it was a great read, and one I needed after slogging through Robyn Carr's The Wanderer.
Free is also always a good thing--especially when the books that come from it are enjoyable. Nice to have a few of the easy to read "brainscrub" variety around between some heavy or less-enjoyable ones.
Morgan wrote: "Free is also always a good thing--especially when the books that come from it are enjoyable. Nice to have a few of the easy to read "brainscrub" variety around between some heavy or less-enjoyable..."True this!
Week Ten
Love in the Time of the Dead by Tera Shanley
Date Finished: 1/18/2015
Rating: ★★★
3-3.5
The "romance" part of this is what brings it down. That by itself is more of a 2 star. It tries to be a love triangle, but there's no real tension there to speak of. You go through the whole thing knowing who she'll end up with, because every other male is either a prick, an asshole, or not interested/interested in someone else.
There's one girl she's friends with and almost every other woman she meets is a total, irredeemable bitch. Two of them could be practically interchangeable. It's something I would have expected more from a male writer who is not capable of writing multi-faceted female characters.
The zombie fighting kick-butt parts are more of a 3-4 star. That loses points for bits of plot that are entirely not followed up on as the book progresses.
There were also a couple small editing issues that irked me.
That said, I enjoyed Laney as a character and her friendship with the one other woman who wasn't a psycho hosebeast (though she was the classic shy/frightened damsel type). I did tear up a little at the end which gives it the possible .5 star bump.
It was a quick read, but needs a good deal of fleshing out story-wise even though it has a good foundation. I wouldn't recommend it specifically, but I've read much worse.
Cait's Week Ten Review
by Patricia BriggsDate Finished: 1/19/2015
Rating: ★★★
Meh. Mehhh. I need to write a better review than that but I just finished and all I feel is "meh". I don't really get all the hype surrounding this series and this author. The whole thing was just really long and convoluted for such a simple ending.
I didn't really find myself caring about any of the characters. Mercy totally lost me with the absolutely ridiculous and unnecessary religious crap. Adam and Samuel were okay, I suppose. But not enough to make me enjoy the read any more than "just barely finishable".
I don't think I'll keep going with this series.
Cait wrote: "Cait's Week Ten Review by Patricia BriggsDate Finished: 1/19/2015
Rating: ★★★
Meh. Mehhh. I need to write a better review than that but I just finishe..."
I felt the same way when I first read it, Cait, to the point where I don't even want to re-read it for review purposes!
Right? The entire experience was just so underwhelming that by the time I was done reading I was just annoyed at having wasted so much time on it. Everyone and their mother just raaaves about this series but...Dunno. Guess I like a little more naked wolves in my paranormal books.
YEAH IM SHALLOW I'LL ADMIT IT. I was waiting for Samuel to get naked. I'm sorely disappointed.
Week 10#7 in a series
Finished 1/21/15
Rating : 4 fun stars
Review:
It is great to have finally read this installment of the Georgia Nicolson series! I saw this book in the discount bin at the store years ago, and it caught my eye because it was cute. I had never heard of the series before... But with my book addiction.... I just had to add this book (and all the other books in the series) to my collection. So, now I have finally read it! It was just as good as the other books. The main events were Masimo's decision, Georgia being on the rack of lurve, the MacUseless production, and Rosie and Sven's wedding plans! As usual, there were lots of funny, laugh out loud moments. The ending of this one struck me as even more abrupt as the previous installments. It basically ended mid-scene!
Read
on 22/01/2015Rating: 4 Stars
Review:
I am not sure if it is because I am going to the series after reading the Bloodlines series but I didn't enjoy this book as much as I did originally. Overall, it is still a pretty good ending to the series and I was slightly less bothered by set events of this book now that I know what happens next from the Bloodlines series. That said- there was just no wow factor so to speak; it did not standout as a novel despite been one of the better books in the series.
Week ElevenWhat We Rolled: 8
We Are On Spot: 84
What You Can Read:
- #8
- #4
- a "V" named author
Hilary- Love is a Many Trousered Thing by Louise Rennison :: #8 :: Review
Danielle- Destined for an Early Grave by Jeaniene Frost :: #4 :: Review
Morgan- Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer :: V Author :: Review
Cait- My Soul to Steal by Rachel Vincent :: #4 :: Review
Trea- Sex and the Single Princess by Bonnie Dee / Marie Treanor :: #4 :: Review
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My book for the week is going to be
According to her text, Morgan's is going to be