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R13: SS Team 13 - 13 Going To 1st
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Meg
(last edited Mar 17, 2022 02:55PM)
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Mar 16, 2022 02:52PM
Going great!!! Just one more!
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The deadline is in another 4 hours, right?
I mean the deadline for the free pass. My brain can’t calculate timezones right now 🤭
I'm terrible with time zones, too! But from my perspective, the time that it's due for free pass is 11:59 Central Time, which is 9:59PM Pacific Time, which is my time. It's now 3:59PM, so there is 6 hours to go from here. I'm not sure where your time zone is, though.
So we're out for this week, right?
Actually we have a couple more hours for Bouchra to post her review. If it had come in on Thursday we would have earned a free pass, but we're still able to play if she posts it tonight.I'm keeping my fingers crossed. It would be beyond sad if we have to sit out the next week.
Hi team,I’m really really sorry, I wanted to finish the book last night, but I fell asleep reading, then had a really long, packed day with work.
Tonight, I promised myself no sleep until I get the book done, and I’m finally done at 4 AM after many mini-naps 😂
I’ll be posting my review here in a minute. Sorry to have let you down on earning the free pass. I promise to do better next time 🙈
Week 8, Spot 46
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
Date Read: 03/19 (4 AM my timezone)
How it fits: Alternate — yellow cover
Pages: 296
Rating: *****
Review: 🤯🤯🤯
That’s just how impressed I am with this book. I haven’t read non-fiction in a while, and I usually struggle with my attention span on them. I have wanted to read Deep Work for years now, but I always resisted it for some reason or another.
I cannot believe I’m saying this, but I really wish I’d read it earlier. I’m glad I did finally.
It is well-written and articulate, even though it describes an idea and suggestions recommendations that a lot of people cannot and will not be able to stomach.
One of my extreme stretch goals for this year is to 15X my business income from last year, and I believe the way forward is with deep work and aggressively cutting out the shallow. I’m now elbow-deep in multiple projects and I’m “working” up to 12 hours a day, but I’m struggling with focus.
Most of the work that requires focus is relegated to secondary status, which is not ideal. I’m also not sleeping well because I’m worried about my workload.
Thanks to reading this book, I now have some ideas on what I should do next to cut out the shallow work and do more and more deep work to actually get closer to that stretch goal I mentioned above.
It seems like 2022 is going to be the year of experimenting and aggressive boundary-setting at work!
Meg wrote: "Actually we have a couple more hours for Bouchra to post her review. If it had come in on Thursday we would have earned a free pass, but we're still able to play if she posts it tonight.I'm keepi..."
Oh, I see. Thanks, Meg. I was seriously confused on how that works. I didn't realize it was for the free pass and not for the chance to roll.
Bouchra wrote: "Hi team,I’m really really sorry, I wanted to finish the book last night, but I fell asleep reading, then had a really long, packed day with work.
Tonight, I promised myself no sleep until I get..."
It's okay, I'm glad you were able to finish. Until 4AM, though, wow. Hopefully you'll have a better work week next week!
Okay got our next roll: 57Read series book #5 or #7 or #57(!)
Alternate: 57. Young Adult/New Adult
Master List, Week 9 - roll 57Meg - Murder Handcrafted, Isabella Alan review 4*
Jamie (TheRebelliousReader) - 200 Hours, Natasha West review 4*
Bouchra - The Forgotten Sisters, Shannon Hale review 4*
Darkness - Anyone But Rich, Penelope Bloom review 4*
Jeanne - Memorial Day, Vince Flynn review 5*
Alex - Down Among the Sticks and Bones, Seanan McGuire review 4*
I'm going to read for the Alternate and read
. New Adult, 239 pages.
I'm going to take on another Vince Flynn . . . book # 7, Memorial Day, 430 pp.
I'm reading The Forgotten Sisters by Shannon Hale, which is a Young Adult book. I'm already 1/3 the way through the book, and I intend to try and finish today before I am inundated with work next week.
Our list looks great!I'm partway through my book and should finish today,
Week 9, Spot 57 - Alternate
200 Hours by Natasha West
Date Read: 3/20/22
How It Fits: New Adult
Pages: 239
Rating: ★★★★
Review: A very sweet and low angst romance. Lola and Abby meet during community service and they are from opposite sides of town. Lola is the bad girl and Abby is the goody goody rich girl and I am a sucker for that trope.
I really enjoyed this. It’s well written and the humor worked for me and both characters were very likable even when they were being stubborn. Their romance developed at a great pace and I loved their chemistry and banter with each other. The ending was perfect and made me smile. These two are just too cute together. This was a very fun read and I will definitely be picking up more by this author soon.
Week 9, Roll 57
Murder HandcraftedRead: 03/20
Pages: 329
How it fits: #5 in series
Rating: 4
Review: Angie's mother hires Angie's friend Jonah to carry out the kitchen remodel that dad started. Things go haywire when the electrician for the job is found dead early the next morning. Jonah becomes the prime suspect, spurring Angie to start sleuthing to prove his innocence.
This was another good read in series. I enjoyed having Angie's parents play more visible roles. I was also gratified to see an old resentment get cleared up, one I felt was just over the top to begin with. This was sadly the last in the series, but I do have a couple to backtrack to that I skipped over. As well the author has other books in other series that I plan to jump into.
Delitealex wrote: "Changed my book to 
Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire Young adult 190 pages"Got it!
Reminder, everyone, that it's already Thursday so reviews are due between today and tomorrow evening!!!
Just finished the last 200 pages. Had to drive to New York for a funeral (almost 700 miles each way). Working on review now.
Week 9, Spot #57
Book: Memorial Day by Vince Flynn
Date: 3/24/2022
How it Fits: Book #7 in the Mitch Rapp series
Rating: 5*
Review: We join this book with the interrogation of a Muslim member of al-Qaeda who had participated in or was somehow complicit in the deaths of two American CIA agents. In the course of the interrogation, information is obtained about a terrorist cell operating from the Pakistan/Afghanistan border. Intending to lead a retaliation, Mitch Rapp assembles assets for a nighttime, commando raid on the terrorist cell. The raid results in the elimination of the cell and the capture of several high-level terrorists.
Also, during the raid, a treasure-trove of information is obtained leading to the conclusion that the terrorists have obtained weapons-grade nuclear materials and plan to detonate a nuclear bomb at the Capital during a Memorial Day tribute to the veterans of World War II. While the CIA/FBI ultimately locate the nuclear material, the terrorists are believed to have more than one goal toward bringing this nation to its knees.
This was extremely interesting, well written, and with non-stop action. Although the main character can be a bit abrasive, there is no doubt that he intends to do whatever it takes to protect America.
Jeanne wrote: "Just finished the last 200 pages. Had to drive to New York for a funeral (almost 700 miles each way). Working on review now."My sincere sympathies for this sad occasion. 🙏🏼And what a long drive that was.
Week 9, Spot 57
The Forgotten Sisters by Shannon Hale
Date Read: 03/23
How it fits: Alternate — Young Adult
Pages: 326 pages
Rating: ****
Review: What an interesting end to the series!
It was such a lovely book, the twist at the end was completely unexpected, but I really liked it.
I will definitely be exploring more of Shannon Hale’s books, and I think this is a trilogy that I will introduce to my daughter when she is old enough to read YA!
Week 9, Spot 57
Anyone But Rich
Date: 25/3
Pages:249
How It Fits: Alternative - New Adult
Rating: 4
Review:
Seven years ago Kira and her BFF made a promise to never date any of King's brothers. High school ended their brothers become billionaires and left town but now they are back. Rich wan to apologize to Kira for what he has done but at the same time, he wants her bc she is after all real reason why he agrees to come to his hometown. I like his brother very well and her BFF were fun. There is one thing I was kind of surprised when I read and that is Ritch fake dating a lesbian in the closet. I like her so much she is fun.
Week 9, Spot 57Date Read: 3/25
How It Fits: Young adult
Pages: 190
Rating: 4 stars
Review:
I was so happy to finally learn more about Jack and Jill. The world they ended up in was interesting I liked seeing how the twins responded to going to this new place so unlike home. I am enjoying this series they are so quick to read. Can't wait to see what happens next especially Kade's story
Our new roll: 67 (5+5)Read #6 or #7 or #67(!)
Alternate: 67. Cover Item: Food/Drink
I'm going to read
for the alternate task food/drink on the cover. 334 pages
So, let's give it a try again to get the reviews all in by Thursday. That said, I've had long books for the last couple, so am taking a break with with the "Food and Drink" alternate, Killer Green Tomatoes by Lynn Cahoon, 186pp.
I'll get everything entered, and pick my book (!), in awhile.... I'm boxing books to donate to the library and driving them out there.
Meg - Killer Kung Pao, Vivien Chien review 4*Jamie (TheRebelliousReader) - The Crush, Susan X. Meagher review 4*
Bouchra - The Two Lost Mountains, Matthew Reilly review 4*
Darkness - I Hate You, Fuller James, Kelly Ann Blount review 3*
Jeanne - Killer Green Tomatoes, Lynn Cahoon review 4*
Alex - Dirty Martini, J.A. Konrath review 4*
Week 10, Spot 67 - Alternate
The Crush by Susan X. Meagher
Date Read: 3/26/22
How It Fits: Drink on the cover
Pages: 334
Rating: ★★★★
Review: I’m not gonna lie I was a bit iffy about this one in the beginning but that was only because the main character, Nicola, was so annoying. She’s whiny, and self absorbed and I was not feeling her at first. However, she does go through some really fantastic character development and I ended up loving her in the end. I loved her growth. The way she stands up to her awful dad and her aunt had me rooting for her every time. She’s a very determined and headstrong character.
The story takes place in Tuscany and Nicola is running a winery for her father even though she had no interest in it in the beginning. She has a one night stand with Chiara and they end up falling for each other. I really liked the romance. It was so sweet and swoon worthy. They had great chemistry though I will say that I wish we had dived a bit more into Chiara’s character. I feel like I didn’t really know her which is unfortunate. I did like her but I wanted more.
The setting and description were beautiful and vivd. This was my first Meagher book and I really loved her writing style. It’s paced well, it’s romantic and entertaining. I have quite a few of her books on my kindle and I’m excited to get to them. This was a really good place to start.
Week 10, Spot 67 AlternateBook: Killer Green Tomatoes by Lynn Cahoon
Date Read: 03/28
How It Fits: Food on the cover
Pages: 184
Rating: ****
Review:
Angie Turner and her best friend Felicia own the newest, farm-to-table restaurant in a small town outside of Boise, Idaho. Angie is always tweaking favorite recipes of her beloved grandmother for use in her restaurant. To Angie, nothing tastes more like summer than her Nona's fried green tomatoes and she is anxious to add this item to her restaurant menu.
She has found the perfect produce supplier, who happened to be the cousin of her sous chef. There is just one problem . . . the cousin is a notorious ladies’ man and his current girlfriend turns up dead. Of course, the cousin is the prime suspect and the sous chef is absent from the restaurant.
So, between managing her restaurant, her new boyfriend who is the owner of the local farmers’ market, and enlisting personnel to take the sous chef’s place, she needs to find evidence to clear the produce supplier and get her restaurant back on track.
I read several of this author’s series and find them enjoyable. Her characters are well-drawn, her plots are simple but effective, and her books are readable in a short time.
Week 10, Roll 67
Killer Kung PaoRead 03/27
Pages 304
How it fits: #6 and alternate: Food on the cover
Rating: 4
Review: Another fun visit to Asia Village with Lana Lee and the other denizens of both her family's Noodle House and the neighboring shops. The death of a vengeful community member starts off Lana's latest sleuthing, brought about at the pleading of the lead suspect's sibling. She is reluctant, to say the least; for one thing, said suspect is another thoroughly unlikeable character. For another, she promised herself and others that she'd stay out of this one.
During this episode we once again get to spend a little time with Lana's family, her detective fiance Adam, best friend Meg, and other familiar friends. Which is what makes this series so endearing, along with the descriptions of the yummy food. I had already read the next in the series for another challenge a couple months back, but happily there is a new one waiting in the wings.
How is everyone else doing with their books? We have three reviews in so far, and Thursday is coming up fast!
Week 10, Spot 67
The Two Lost Mountains by Matthew Reilly
Date Read: 03/29
How it fits: #6 in series
Pages: 432 pages
Rating: ****
Review: Matthew Reilly never ceases to amaze me with his impeccable writing. It feels as if you’re watching a movie, not reading a book. The level of detail and description is simply… wow.
I’m a big fan, but I did feel like this book dragged on quite a bit. I understand he wanted to have the Trial of the Mountains to be separate from the Labyrinth, and I haven’t read the last book yet to know about the level of detail needed for that particular challenge, but I feel like they could’ve been combined together in one book. Or, perhaps, the book could’ve been a little different… instead of arriving just a few seconds late to the Fall every time, it could’ve been more interesting if something impeded them on the way… it was a little too easy, how everything just narrowly missed.
Week 10, Spot 67
A Match Made for Thanksgiving
Date Read: 30.3
How it fits: Alterative- Food on cover
Pages: 101
Rating: ****
Review:
Cute love thanksgiving story. I don't celebrate thanksgiving after all I am not from us so it's fun to read about the holiday. This has an older woman and younger male relationship which was cute to me. One night stand to end up being a match for Nick's brother but ends up in love with Nick. His family is insane. You will laugh while reading this its pure joy.
I hate to say this, Darkness, but the book is too short. 😓I posted somewhere that "the minimum for the challenge is 140p."
Do you have another one to read quickly that meets the minimum? We have until tomorrow night to get our reviews in. Thanks!!!
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Authors mentioned in this topic
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K.G. MacGregor (other topics)
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