R20: Team #2 ~ Too Hot to Handle

[D.G.]

I fixed the post in the captain's log with my new read and updated message 9 with the latest.

[Steph, Serious series addict]

CONGRATULATIONS, Hotties!
We now have an updated BINGO card with a stamp on 'free space' and 'sci-fi romance'. 

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

Yay!! :D

[Steph, Serious series addict]

LOL! "... yes, I get that Wyr mating is mysterious, bla, bla, bla but still." I read that one and the next one back in 2016, but haven't returned to the series. I kinda lost interest with anyone outside of the "main group". I've thought about returning to it because later editions include Pia and fam, but I haven't.

D.G. wrote: "No worries, Steph! You have enough to do as it is!! I'll post the new review and edit the Captain Log's."

Thanks, D.G. :)

It's been over a year since we played a round of bingo, so it's understandable. I've shared links to the rules on all threads, just to refresh as needed:
❉ Bingo Rules
❉ Free Space Rules

I'll be back with my review. Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

[Steph, Serious series addict]

Echoed Defiance by K.N. Banet
Series: Jacky Leon #4
Shelf: 'series to finish' (shelved by 1 person)
Read: 11 March
Rating: ✮✮✮½

My Review:

❝ We’re all monsters. It just depends on what we want to be monstrous about. ❞

In Echoed Defiance, there's trouble with the Russian wolf pack. Heath and Jacky are getting closer, so he starts to share more wolf news with her. She's also pulled into Heath and family's dealings with Child Protective Services and the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs. Seems the welfare of his human daughter is checked yearly and Jacky's time with Carey was brought to their attention. The agents believe Jacky to be human as well, but as a growing part of Carey's life, they insist on checking in with her. Jacky's not big on strangers entering her sanctuary, but she puts up with it for Carey and Heath.

Soon after she receives a call from a werecat whose cryptic call forces her to head to Minnesota. She takes Heath along with her because they suspect it might have some connection to the Russian pack troubles. What she finds there shocks her. Someone she never thought she'd see again has called the Minnesota cat to Duty, but she's not telling the whole truth and Jacky must decide how to proceed.

I have to say, I was surprise by how much I didn't like Jacky's "charge". I didn't like the reunion. But, I did like seeing the growth in Jacky's character and her relationship with Heath and Landon. And, overall, I am loving this series! I'm anxious to jump into the next book, especially after that ending 🥰 I'm also planning to check out Banet's Kaliya Sahni series, which run concurrent, I think, with Jacky Leon.

❝ I am not leaving you alone again. Don’t dare think I would. Never underestimate how serious I am when it comes to you. ❞

[Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required]

Congrats on the stamps Hotties!

Fixed the stats D.G. :)

[Steph, Serious series addict]

Thanks :)

[D.G.]

Steph wrote: "I read that one and the next one back in 2016, but haven't returned to the series. I kinda lost interest with anyone outside of the "main group". I've thought about returning to it because later editions include Pia and fam, but I haven't."

There's a spinoff that I'll probably read but I won't read any of the rest of the novellas that follow - I just can't get pass the whole Liam thing. If she wanted to play with that concept, he should have been like Grogu.

[Steph, Serious series addict]

TBH, I can’t remember much. It’s been so long. I’m sure it’ll come back to me when/if I get back to it.

[Steph, Serious series addict]

Happy Shelf Day!

Shelf #4 ~ 17 March: Shapeshifter(s)
DIRECT LINK(s) ~ Shapeshifter -OR- Shapeshifters (+ SOS' shifter or SOS' were-shifter)

I'll be back with my book choice :)

[Steph, Serious series addict]

Perfect timing! I just finished my re-read of Mercy #3, so for 'shapeshifters' I'm gonna read: :)

[D.G.]

I was really hoping for First in Series so I could read but thankfully, ONE person shelved it as Shapeshifters so it works here too!!

[D.G.]

Steph wrote: "Perfect timing! I just finished my re-read of Mercy #3, so for 'shapeshifters' I'm gonna read: :)"

Oh wow, that's out already! I have to catch up on a couple of books still.

[Deanna]

I'll read for Shapeshifters.

[Steph, Serious series addict]

Yep, just came out :). How’s that series? Sounds interesting. Is it YA?

I was gonna continue with that series too, Deanna. How are you liking it? I’ve been really enjoying it and binging.

[Deanna]

When I saw shapeshifters for this week, I immediately checked the library for Wild Sign, but it's still in processing. Maybe I'll be able to use it later this month.

I'm really enjoying the Jacky Leon series. I've enjoyed the way she and her cat family are starting to reconnect and learn to understand each other. I really like her relationship with Heath and am curious to see if their working together can have an impact on werewolf/werecat relations which seem to have been stuck in the same mistrustful circling of each other for centuries.

[D.G.]

Steph wrote: "How’s that series? Sounds interesting. Is it YA?"

Not YA! It's a spinoff of the Heartstrikers series, which I loved!!

[D.G.]

Deanna wrote: "I'll read for Shapeshifters."

When I saw this book I was like...didn't you read this already? But it was Steph!!

I've never heard of this series. Looks interesting!!

[D.G.]

Minimum Wage Magic by Rachel Aaron
Shelf #4: Shapeshifters (shelved by 1 reader)
Date finished/Rating: 3/19/21 ★★★★
Review: Minimum Wage Magic is set 20 years after the (fabulous) end of the Heartstriker series. This is the story of Opal, a (supposedly) not very good mage who has her back against the wall trying to pay a debt. Everything has been going wrong on her job when all of a sudden she finds a dead guy and the possibility of a payout beyond her wildest dreams.

There are some similarities to the Heartstrikers - like Julius, Opal is a good person, who's not willing to compromise her principles, with an overbearing, evil parent. I liked her ok enough although she could be judgemental at times. As for the cast of characters, not sure about them yet. I didn't like Nick that much and definitely not Sybil, the AI.

Still, loved this world and I'll definitely be continuing the series. BTW...this is how to do a spinoff...where you use the worldbuilding and with very subtle hints that something else happened but with no connection whatsover to this story so you don't feel you missed anything. Still, I hope we get to see Julius (and Bob!!) in future books. Julius was mentioned a lot but by his moniker and by the way Opal describes him, you can't tell she doesn't know what a nice guy he is.

[D.G.]

Now that I went back to the Heartstrikers world, I couldn't help but restart the series! So goood!!!

[Steph, Serious series addict]

Deanna wrote: "I'm really enjoying the Jacky Leon series. I've enjoyed the way she and her cat family are starting to reconnect and learn to understand each other. I really like her relationship with Heath and am curious to see if their working together can have an impact on werewolf/werecat relations which seem to have been stuck in the same mistrustful circling of each other for centuries."

Me too!

It is an interesting series, DG, you should check it out. I like the twist on shifter (cat/wolf) relations, as well as the main/side characters. Really glad I went back to the series. I'm totally hooked now!

D.G. wrote: "Not YA! It's a spinoff of the Heartstrikers series, which I loved!!"

👍🏼 I'll have to check it out!

[Steph, Serious series addict]

Wild Sign by Patricia Briggs
Series: Alpha & Omega #6
Shelf #4: Shapeshifter(s) (shelved by 12 people)
Read: 20 March
Rating: ✮✮✮✮☆

My Review:

With Anna he had no shield—Charles belonged to Anna with all his complicated soul and uncomplicated heart.

A part of me is always drawn to A&O a touch more than Mercy. I love Mercy, Adam and pack. Yet, I have always enjoyed the deeper look we get into Charles and Anna's relationship, Charles' thoughts and feelings and Anna's strength. I love the way they fit together so perfectly, bring balance to one another and work so well together "in the field" - each instinctively knowing where the other is stronger.

Wild Sign takes us on a Virginia's Roanoke-type journey as Charles, Anna and Tag try to find a missing community and beat a dangerous presence once and for all. We also get a thorough look into Leah's past, which was greatly appreciated and made it possible to finally understand her history, relationship (or lack there of) with Bran. We also get a MT cameo.

I gotta know ... (view spoiler)[Coyote noted, He hadn’t lied to Charles and Anna, but he had concealed this thing from them. All of the Singer’s children had not died. This one last child had survived. Sam's daughter? Is Anna pregnant? Whose child(ren) remain? (hide spoiler)]

And, that ending! The epilogue really left me wanting more, but, sadly, I know it'll be a while before we get more A&O.

I really enjoyed Tag! He was a great addition on this trip.

Tag said solemnly, ❝ You can feed your wallet, or you can feed your soul, but you seldom can do both at the same time. ❞

TOO TRUE!

Finally, shout out to my fellow SOSers who will understand the LOL/cringeworthy reaction I had to Anna's remembrance of the old anime movie she watched in high school. ICK! 😝

[Deanna]

Echoed Defiance by Kristen Banet
Series: Jacky Leon #4
Shelf #4: MPG Shapeshifters
Read: 3/18
Rating: ✮✮✮✮

Jacky gets called to Duty again, but this time it is her human twin sister needing help. I honestly didn't like Gwen. She violated her oath as a physician and deliberately let a man die and never once felt like she had done anything wrong. Her constant belittling of Jacky made her come across as entitled and manipulative, while Jacky was trying to save her life.

Heath and Jacky made a great team. I loved how loyal and supportive Heath was through the whole situation. He really does understand her far better than her werecat family. The slow development of their relationship is truly a beautiful thing to watch.

I was surprised that the other werecats didn't realize how Jackie's human family could be used to blackmail her. They just seem more our of touch with the world than I would expect of the ruling werecat family. The fact that the Russian wolves were basically abandoned and left to be abused by their pack leaders infuriated me. I was glad to see that someone else on the Tribunal was finally going to step up and handle their own mess. Overall a great book. I'm hoping I can read the next book for the next shelf.

[D.G.]

Great job, Hotties!! Just waiting for Katharine reads for Series To Finish and Shapeshifters for our two new stamps.

Now that we've had 4 weeks of read and our main post has lots of links and books read, I remember how useful is the spreadsheet! :)

I've also been re-reading the Heartstrikers series...so, so good!!

[Sam]

Steph, for your spoiler, I took it to mean (view spoiler)[the garden was a child of the Singer. That is why it is so alive with magic. Or else there is something living in the garden that makes it so alive. (hide spoiler)]

[Steph, Serious series addict]

Deanna, I completely agree with your thoughts on that Jacky Leon installment. Her sister was the worst and I kept hoping she’d just let her be, not put herself in danger. Glad it doesn’t seem she’ll have a big part going forward, I was worried she’d be some frequently recurring character - bleh!

Thanks, Sam! That’s something I hadn’t thought of but he did head there, so makes sense.

Happy Shelf Day, teamies!
Shelf #5 ~ 24 March: Auto-Buy(s)
DIRECT LINK(s) ~ Auto Buy (+ SOS' auto-buy)

I’ll be back later with my book choice. Hope everyone’s well.

You doing well, Katharine? Sorry we haven’t had a chance to catch up yet this round.

DG, I’m still envious of your spreadsheet, even though I’ve no idea what it looks like. 😆 I’m nerdy that way. Thanks for keeping track of us.

[D.G.]

Hahaha, you want to see the spreadsheet? Here it is!!
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

First tab has all our info for each week. Once the spreadsheet is set up, I only have to fill out the highlighted cells and it creates the post for me (in second tab). I pretty much copy and paste the whole thing up to the week we're up to. :)

[Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required]

Love the spreadsheet D.G. !!

[D.G.]

Sandra wrote: "Love the spreadsheet D.G. !!"

Hahaha, thanks. It's a beast!!

I wonder at people that shelved The Count of Montecristo as auto-buy. Really???

[D.G.]

I don't have that many books that fit this shelf so it will take a me a bit to find something that works...

[Katharine]

OK team. I'm back. I've been going through some junk and it's hopefully getting better. I have to post my review and get caught up with the last 2 shelves. I should be able to do it all by Tuesday or Wednesday this coming week.

[Katharine]

I'm reading for shifters and for auto buy.

[Steph, Serious series addict]

Hi Hotties! Thanks for sharing your beast'a spreadsheet, DG! Wicked! For auto-buy I'm going with one on the SOS bookshelf: . Don't forget to look there too, DG.

Sorry things are crazy for ya, Katharine, hope things are getting better for ya. (((K))) You picked two of my favorites! Hope you enjoy them! My hubby and I have been really been loving Alice Worth. I'm anxiously awaiting book 7 hopefully coming out this summer.

[D.G.]

I'm not finding much I want to read in the Autobuy shelf - because I've read most books in there that interest me - so I'll go with the Alt choice - Second in Series:

which follows the book I read last week.

Although it will take me a bit to get it started...after reading Minimum Wage Magic, I started re-reading the Heartstrikers series. I'm almost done..so good!!

[D.G.]

Thanks for letting us know Katharine and posting your books! Hopefully things will get better.

Post 9 (and the spreadsheet) have been updated. :)

[Deanna]

My hold finally came through! I can pick it up tomorrow. That means I'll be reading tagged auto-buy 2 times.

[Steph, Serious series addict]

Sounds good. Enjoy!

Glad you were able to get your hands on it, Deanna. Enjoy!

I’ve finished mine. I’ll get my review written soon.

[Steph, Serious series addict]

When He's an Alpha by Suzanne Wright
Series: Olympus Pride #2
Shelf #5: Auto-Buy (shelved @ SOS 'auto-buy')
Read: 26 March
Rating: ✮✮✮✮☆

My Review:

❝ You’re giving your past too much power over your present and future—that’s never going to end well. You’ll just keep sabotaging your own happiness. ❞

Tate Devereaux (pallas cat) is now the alpha of the Olympus Pride and instead of looking for his mate, he's happy having no commitment flings. At least that's what he's convinced himself up until Havana Ramos, his current no-commitment-fling, realizes she's no longer happy with their "relationship" going nowhere. She and her tassie devil don't want to say goodbye, but they know they deserve more than Tate is apparently willing to give. The moment she says "it's over", Tate realizes he can't let her go.

❝ You can never have too many books—everyone knows that. ❞

Ya got that right! 🤓

I liked these two, Havana more than Tate, which surprised me. They make a good pair. Havana's BFFs, Bailey and Aspen (mamba and bearcat shifters respectively) were a hoot! We also get a few cameo appearances from The Phoenix/Mercury Packs.

[D.G.]

I haven't even started mine...sigh...I'm in a serious book hangover after I finished the Heartstrikers series...

[Steph, Serious series addict]

Book hangovers SUUUUUUCK! I feel for ya!

[Deanna]

Wild Sign by Patricia Briggs
Series: Alpha and Omega #6
Shelf #5: tagged Auto-buy 2 times
Read: 3/26
Rating: ✮✮✮✮✮

Anna, Charles, and Tag head to northern California to a piece of property that Bran purchased when he met Leah a couple of centuries before. (My first thought was if Bran knew there was something so potentially dangerous on the property why didn't he keep a closer eye on it.) Anna and Charles as a pair are always a joy to watch because they complement each other so well and make an amazing team. Reading about Anna briefly losing her memories back to the worst part of her life was gut-wrenching. I was truly glad her memories were not lost for very long.

Tag was a delight. It has always been said that the wolves in Bran's pack are damaged, so I was surprised at how well he managed to deal with Anna's memory loss and Charles' temporarily losing control to Brother Wolf. I didn't totally understand the mentions of Tag's berserker side, but I would love to see a short story about Tag in the future.

The epilogue was wow! My heart breaks for Samuel. Now I have to wait another year and hope that Samuel's story is picked up in the next Mercy book.

[Steph, Serious series addict]

I really enjoyed Tag too and I’d love to learn more about him.

Happy Shelf Day, Hotties!
Shelf #6 ~ 31 March: Urban Fantasy
DIRECT LINK(s) ~ Urban Fantasy (+ SOS' UF & SOS' UF w/romantic elements)

I’ll probably hop back into Jacky Leon and read , I’ll let ya know if I decide on something else.

[D.G.]

I was hoping for a non-genre shelf because after my serious book hangover with The Heartstrikers, I'm changing genres to kickstart my reading.

Hopefully in a couple of days I can start something UF/PNR and start to catch up!

[Steph, Serious series addict]

👍🏼 No worries. Hopefully you can find something that’ll help ya crawl outta the slump.

[D.G.]

I think I'll switch my auto-buy read to so I can start catching up with the Mercy Thompson series. If I really like this one, then I can move to book #12 for the UF shelf.

[Katharine]

OK team. I'm really back. All my books are done, just haven't been able to write my reviews. I just started a new job where 2 competitor merged and it has been completely overwhelming. I will have all 3 reviews and my selection for UF posted tomorrow afternoon.

[Katharine]

Heart of Malice
Series: Alice Worth #1
Shelf: Shapeshifters
Read: 3/28
Rating: 4 stars

I saw on my feed that Steph had read this book and it appeared to be a great start to a series and it was. Like I need more series to read, but I'm glad I picked it out.

Shifters, vamps, ghosts, steamy romance, mystery, oh my! Strong Alice is a treasure trove of secrets. Love the humor in the book as well as the world-building. It's definitely a page-turner for me. Next book is definitely on my list.

[Katharine]

Series: Hunger Games #0
Shelf: Series to finish
Read: 3/14/21
Rating: 4 stars

I'm not a huge Hunger Games fan, yet I really did enjoy the series and this book was no exception. In it, we get some insight into Coriolanus Snow's (President Snow) younger years and the extent of his role in the tenth Hunger Games. Is he truly evil or is he a victim of the toll participation in the Games can take on a person. That's for you to decide after reading the book.

[Steph, Serious series addict]

D.G. wrote: "I think I'll switch my auto-buy read to so I can start catching up with the Mercy Thompson series. If I really like this one, then I can move to book #12 for the U..."

Good plan! Enjoy!

[Steph, Serious series addict]

Yay! Glad you enjoyed Alice, Katharine! It quickly became a must-buy series for me, after I binged them all ;)

I've got that prequel TBR; glad you enjoyed it.

Hope you're able to settle in your new job (congrats!!) and things calm down for ya.

[Steph, Serious series addict]

I'll probably finish my UF book tonight, but won't get to my review until next week probably. Got a busy weekend ahead. Hope y'all have a good one!