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R20: Team #9 ~ Reading to the Nines

I’m very sorry for your loss Mary.

We spend the day with my brother and his kids today. When Opa was mentioned my 4 yr old niece says "Opa is in heaven and I miss him". Broke my heart.. But it was so good to see family. They are only 10 minutes away but with Covid we've stuck to Zoom. It's not the same.



This was a lot of fun! The world building is really interesting, and so much of it appeals to nostalgic obsessions I had when I was younger. It was also nice since it was a book that I didn't have to think too hard about, but it was still attention grabbing. I thought about it when I wasn't reading. I really liked most of the characters, and the writing style had this great way of saying something kind of absurd in a way that made you go "Oh yeah, of course that's true." Overall very enjoyable!

At work but I'm going to try and post my reviews now.

Book:

Fits: On the Group Bookshelf.
Read: 3/5/2021
Rating: 4 stars
I'm really enjoying this series. But I'm a sucker for graveyards and ghost stories. Seriously when I go some place new, I always look and see if there's an hold cemetery that I can visit. So these are the perfect set up for me and I wish they'd turn it into a TV show. I am a little worried that it's going to turn into an on again and off again thing with Amelia and Devlin. Not a big fan of that in long running series. But at least there isn't a never ending love triangle. I also like that her characters aren't clearly defined good guys and bad guys. They can turn back and forth and that keeps you guessing.


Fits: Shelved Book Boyfriend 14 times
Read: 3/9/21
Rating 3 stars
This is you run of the mill "fated to mate" paranormal romance. Entertaining but no real surprises. This one was different in that they weren't immediately in love just because fate told them they were mates. Still they fell madly in love very quickly. But I don't go into these expecting great works of literature. I read them because I want to be entertained and they do just that.


But I might change that if an audio book I put on hold is available quickly.

Laura - The Thief by J.R. Ward 3/13/21 **** Laura's series to finish review
Mary C - Blood Rites by Jim Butcher ***** 3/17/21 Mary C's series to finish review
Tori - A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness **** 3/26/21 Tori's series to finish review
BarbaraAnn - Marked in Flesh by Anne Bishop **** 3/15/21 BarbaraAnn's series to finish review


For Free Space: The Staff and the Blade, which is #57 on the Paranormal Romance series list.
For Series to Finish: Wild Sign, which is tagged 4x.
I'm holding off on finishing The Staff & the Blade until Sunday, so I can use it for the Uno mini-challenge (it has twins!), but I will have it done early on Sunday. And, of course, Wild Sign releases on Tuesday. So I should have it read on Tuesday.
Hoping to fit in my Sci-Fi Romance book this week!


It's all about the groups you join!
I started out with playing Uno in The Perks of Being A Book Addict. It runs every year from February to April. The first year I played, my teammates introduced me to AMMP (A Million More Pages), and now I'm a mod over there. Our sister group, Game Night, also runs challenges. And, of course, there are a bunch of challenges at NBRC (Nothing But Reading Challenges).

Edge of Eon by Anna Hackett
**** 3/10/21
Anna Hackett is one of the best sci fi romance authors I've read. Edge of Eon, like most of her other books, has fully fleshed-out characters and plots giving the characters reasons for why they do what they do. The romance is hot, but it's the plot that gives Ms. Hackett an edge over other authors in this genre. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

tagged 9x as series to finish"
Mary C wrote: "I'll read:

Tori wrote: "I'm going to do A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness for Series to Finish; it's been tagged 21 times!"
All of those are such excellent choices!

Call: Series to Finish
Book: The Thief
Date Read: 3/13
Rating: 4 stars
How it fits: Tagged Series to Finish 10 times
Review:
The Brothers continue to break my heart and make me fall in love with them more and more! I'm so happy that V & Jane finally reconnected. And Assail and Sola made me happy. I've been waiting for their story for so many books now. I can see exciting times in future for the Brothers, and I can't wait for the next one!

Call: Series to Finish
Book: The Thief
Date Read: 3/13
Rating: 4 stars
How it fits: Tagged Series to Finish 10 times
Review:
The Brothers continue to break my hear..."
BarbaraAnn, I'm so sorry to keep changing things up on you. But when you realize you just finished a book that works, you got to go with it! :)
Will have my Free space book done tomorrow.

Call: Series to Finish
Book: The Thief
Date Read: 3/13
Rating: 4 stars
How it fits: Tagged Series to Finish 10 times
Review:
The Brothers continue to..."
No problem Laura. It's always a good thing to find a book that will fit multiple spots.

tagged 9x as series to finish"
Mary C wrote: "I'll read:

Tori wrote: "..."
A Discovery of Witches has been on my TBR for so long, but I've always had trouble finding an audiobook version, so I'm really excited my libraries finally got it and I get to read it! (I mostly do audiobooks because of my terrible attention span. It's way easier to listen while doing something with my hands instead of sitting down to read from a book book.)

❉ Bingo Rules
❉ Free Space Rules
Happy Reading!

❉ Bingo Rules
❉ Free Space Rules
Happy Reading!"
This makes me nervous! Did one of us miss something? There is a reminder in the discussion thread specifically that books must be at least 200 pages.
Actually, looks like this went to all (or at least most) teams. So maybe not us. But we should all check our book length, anyway!

Shelf: Free Space
Book: The Staff and the Blade
Date Read: 3/14
Rating: 5 stars
How it fits: #57 on the Paranormal Romance series list.
Review: Every time I finish a book in this series I'm excited to start the next one. And then something happens (probably crazy challenge tasks) and it gets pushed back. And then, muuuuuch later, I finally get to it and wonder, "why did I let so much time go by?" Well, not this time. I vow to get to the next one ASAP!
I loved Sari & Damien's story. It was at times sweet, at times fierce, at times totally heartbreaking. Of course, many of the events in the past were unknown to us, but having already read books 1-3 and knowing the modern events, but from a different point of view, it was easy to focus on the characters and their relationships. When you know what's going to happen, you can immerse yourself in the people. And Elizabeth Hunter writes some of the best people out there!

Actually, looks like this went to all (or at least most) teams. So maybe not us. But we should all check our book length, anyway!"
Sorry, I was worried it might, but there's no need to worry. The reminder was sent to all teams. We went a year without any rounds of BSB and just wanted to make sure everyone was up on our rules. :)

Actually, looks like this went ..."
No worries. I can never remember page length. Some groups/challenges are 100. Some are 150. Some are 200. I always check! :)

Actually, looks l..." the 200 page limit is good to know. I didn't see that in the Bingo rules so wasn't aware. I doublechecked all my books and they were all over 200 pages. Can everyone else please check as well?

Act..."
I usually check if I'm concerned :)
Don't forget the re-read rule, that's also a rule that gets forgotten.

Across the Universe by Beth Revis.
** (2 Stars)
Read 3/14/21
This was a decent sci-fi dystopian romance. The concept was fine. The plot leads you in the right direction so you feel accomplished when your suspicions are confirmed, but leaves enough twists for the reader to go "OH!". The romance between Amy and Elder was okay. I wasn't like super sold on it, but I could see it. Overall for me this was an adequate enough YA Dystopia, and I could see myself recommending it to teens at my library. Totally 3 stars until the very end with the last twist, which just made me mad. Literally pulled out my headphones and when WTF to my partner. That knocked it down to just two stars for me.
TW for sexual assault and suicide.


Marked in Flesh by Anne Bishop
Read 3/15/21
****
This book wasn't as strong in character development as the previous books. It felt like a filler book to catch up on what's been happening in the world outside the courtyard. I did like how the wolves are adding more humans to their pack and to get a hint of the Others in the wild country. There were a lot of new characters and it was a bit hard to keep everyone straight.
That being said, it was interesting and I'm still looking forward to the next book in the series.

No Problem Mary C - life happens and that's got to come first.


Hi Sandra - I did that a few minutes ago. I'm sorry for the delay. I entered the info into the captain's log on my lunch hour and then got caught up with work.

You now have an updated BINGO card with a stamp on 'free space'.
[Your updated BINGO card can be viewed on page 1]
Good Job!! :D

Just double checking you, because the tag has to match the called tag exactly. You said it was tagged as Shape shifters (two words), but the called shelf is one word, Shapeshifters.
ETA: Never mind. I see that is was tagged 43 times as Shapeshifters. :)

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Plus MIL having a 2nd hip surgery would be a pain in the neck! All the best to your family.