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Archive: Past Team Challenges
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R21: Team #7 ~ The 007s
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Sandra, Kindle Operator Licence Required
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Feb 26, 2022 03:10PM
Congratulations on the stamp Bond, James Bond!
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For shifter shelf i will be reading
I'll pick a shifter book in the next couple of days. I'm sorry I'm a bit behind at the moment. My city got flooded. We lost power in the middle of the night 3 days ago and management evacuated my building (just got a call saying power is back on and we can come home but there's still a few feet of water in the parking garages). I managed to get to my parents place and all my loved ones are safe. Just been busy helping people try and muck out houses in the area and saving whatever we can.My place will all be okay because I'm on the fourth floor but it's just been a bit hectic.
I left my kindle at home but only just realised I could borrow an ecopy from the library and read on my phone. So I'll catch up before the next weeks shelf call!
Sorry to hear that Kate. Are you up in Qld?
I am Sandra. I'm in Brisbane right by the river which is usually an amazing place to be. But the weather at the moment is wild. I hope you're keeping safe down south too! NSW looks like it's in for a tough time weather wise as well.
I'm about 15/20 mins away from the Hawkesbury/Nepean, so far enough away to not be directly affected. Plus I live on the top of the ridge, bushfires might get me but not floods. But its still pretty soggy underfoot.The pics of Brisbane are pretty heartbreaking with all the mud. The same with Lismore, damn weather!
Oh wow sorry to hear that definitely stay safe.
tagged shifters 49 times for week 5.I just wasn't feeling Rachel Morgan this week, so I switched to
tagged shifters 36 times.
Shelf #4: MagicBook: Heart of Stone by Lisa Edmonds
Date Read: 2/25/2022
Rating: ★★★★
Review:
This is my favorite book in the series so far. Alice has such a big heart. Missing children are always hard cases; but when she realized that he had been taken by a cabal knowing exactly how horrific his life would become, it wasn't surprising that she would risk everything to free him and his mom.
Her relationship with Sean has come a long way, so it was disconcerting when she started pulling away from him for no discernable reason. It was hard to see the tension between the two of them, but I found the introduction of witch magic and its differences from mage magic shown through this subplot fascinating. Still it was a relief when the spell was finally broken, and their relationship went back to normal.
I'm looking forward to seeing the conflict between Alice and her grandfather now that her identity is no longer secret. I had high hopes for the end of the book and was a bit disappointed that he escaped. She took such a huge risk trying to protect her people by helping take him out that it was disheartening to see none of the other parties in her alliance keep their part of the bargain.
4 stars
Kate wrote: "I'll pick a shifter book in the next couple of days. I'm sorry I'm a bit behind at the moment. My city got flooded. We lost power in the middle of the night 3 days ago and management evacuated my b..."So glad you were able to get to your family and y'all are safe, Kate!
Shelf #4: MagicBook: Grave Visions by Kalayna Price
Date Read: 3/7/2022
Rating: ★★★★★
Review:
I have been needing to get to this book for sometime and I don't know why I waited so much time well I do and I don't I really need to do a reread of the series to make sure I didn't forget any minute details but other than that I remembered the main things. This ending though man it was a roller coaster of things. She is fighting for her independent nature and to keep out of Fae politics. And so many others have their own agenda. Her and Death are going to need to talk soon I hope there is more of him in the next book I don't know why I like him so much but Falin is cool maybe she needs a 3rd option because these two are just not cutting it. I am definitely needing more of these books and am glad there are more to read. Since these seemed to come out slower I think that is another reason I have put this one off for so long. Hopefully the Winter Queen will give her some leeway from now on probably not but I am hopeful.
Shelf #4: MagicBook: A Fistful of Charms by Kim Harrison (shelved 279 times as magic)
Date Read: 8/3/2022
Rating: ★★
Review:
I liked the beginning and I liked the ending but I wasn’t overly fond of the rest of it. This is a book which I felt was setting the scene for the next instalments of the series. It was heavy on talking and showing how Rache’s relationships have evolved since we met her. It was a transition book and it did offer a bit more of a glimpse to her life now and how she felt about various characters. The only problem is I found myself wanting a little less conversation and a little more action please. Also Rachel was so thirsty in this book! I didn’t really love her constant comments about (view spoiler)
I did enjoy the Jenks/Jax interactions. And it was cool to see the Were’s being more of a focus than in the previous books of the series. But overall I wasn’t as hooked by this story as I had been the previous ones.
Reading a few other reviews it seems I’m alone with my thoughts on this one. But I will still continue with the series. I like the world building and for the most part I do enjoy the characters and Rachel’s antics. But this book in particular just left me a bit distracted and flicking through hoping to get to more action and less talking.
We are checked in for Week 4: Magic! Great job all!
For Shelf #5 I'll be reading The Beast in Him by Shelly Laurenston (shelved 269 times as shifters)For some reason when I tried to add book it wouldn't find this one. Odd.
Things seem to be going back to normal. We are back home and despite not being able to park the car underneath or use the lifts (elevators) it's life as usual for me. I'm glad I don't life any higher up. I'm not as good at stairs as I should be :D
CONGRATULATIONS, 007s!You now have an updated BINGO card with a stamp on 'magic/users'.
[Your updated BINGO card can be viewed on page 1]
Good Job!! :D
Congratulations on the stamp Bond, James Bond!
Shelf #5: Shifter(s)Book: Dark Currents by Jacqueline Carey
Date Read: 3/9/2022
Rating: ★★★★
Review:
Daisy is Hel's agent in charge of enforcing the rules among the eldrich in her small town. This book had a little bit of everything and a lot of originality. I loved the premise of a half-demon MC in a domain controlled by the Norse goddess Hel. The werewolf and vampire characters were fairly standard, but the ghouls were quite unique. I found the idea that they had been rejected by both heaven and hell and fed off of emotions intriguing. As far as world-building, the series is off to a solid start.
The mystery portion, finding out who killed the human frat boy, was nicely paced and well-plotted. I guessed what was happening about the same time as the MCs figured it out. I thought the interacting between Daisy and the human police was well thought out and believable. I look forward to the next book in the series. 5 stars
Shelf #6 ~ 9 Mar 22: Urban FantasyDIRECT LINK - Urban Fantasy (+ SOS' UF & SOS' UF w/romantic elements)
I will most likely read
i am addicted to this series right now
Shelf #5: ShiftersBook: The Beast in Him by Shelly Laurenston
Date Read: 11/3/2022
Rating: ★★
Review:
I read the first book in the Pride series so long ago and I couldn’t remember why I didn’t continue as it felt like a series I should love. Strong alpha shifters, plenty of steamy romance and strong families who support their pack mates no matter what. As I started reading The Beast in Him it didn’t take me long to remember exactly why I abandoned the series after only one book. What makes this series a bit different from most shifter ones I’ve read before are how animalistic the characters are. They aren’t just mostly human with a little wolvishness or with a sprinkling of wild dog. Rather they are very quick to violence and behave almost like the hyenas from
The Lion King. And it’s something I found a bit hard to adapt to. I didn’t love how antagonistic they are or how casual violence was just a part of their lives. I also had a few issues with how the childhood bullying of Jessie Ann was almost ignored and just attributed to that’s how these shifters are so it’s all good.
The plot was okay but the overall climax was odd with everything not related to the romance storyline fading to nothing. I liked the romance between Smitty and Jessie Ann. But I was frustrated by her having a problem with the relationship and knowing he didn’t understand what was wrong but she was going to punish him anyway until he somehow worked it out. Miscommunication and playing games is something I don’t love to read about in my romance.
It’s a weird one because I like that it’s different from the other shifters I’ve read about in the past. But I didn’t like those differences after a while. They were all so aggressive and up to start a fight just because they could. They were deranged and I found it hard to care about them because I didn’t like them as people. But I did like that they weren’t the stereotypical damsels in distress. They were their own heroes but they just exhausted me reading their scenes. My favourite characters were the teens who weren’t like the adults and hadn’t become as animalistic as their elders.
Overall I can’t see myself continuing the series as the characters are too intense for me, the romance issues could have been solved with a simple conversation and the main other point of drama and angst fizzled out disappointingly. But I can appreciate a different style of shifter and maybe I’ll try this series again in the future when I’m in a different frame of mind.
Shelf #5: Shifter/ ShiftersBook: Caressed by Ice by Nalini Singh
Date Read: 3/12/2022
Rating: ★★★★★
Review:
Oh man why are these so good. This one I think is my favorite yet. I loved how strong Brenna was through everything even though she had her issues. I was worried about Judd for a while since he seemed to get stuck and wanted to stay where he was and be scared of hurting Brenna. I liked that this story showed that pain and dark people can come from all backgrounds not just the ones with no emotion, emotion has its dark places as well. Though I have always found it better to embrace yourself the dark with the light but not all have both at a good balance to truly be called balance. Hawke is very interesting to me I definitely want to know more about his past and his future. I am curious if a certain wild one will be the death or something else for him. These books I feel have the perfect balance so far of story and romance they show enough of the world and the pressure between everything while getting some sexy times in there.
We are checked in for Week 5!! Fantastic job team!
Shelf #6: Urban FantasyBook: Mine to Possess by Nalini Singh
Date Read: 3/14/2022
Rating: ★★★
Review:
This one wasn't as good as the previous one but still had me going kept me intrigued and turning the page. It is again building more and more of the world. I think that is why I keep picking up this series because I want to know more about the world and how it works more importantly how it works with them all working together. And of course it helps that we meet the characters in future books so you want to know how they will get their happily ever after and what their story is. This one should have come with a bit of a warning though it can be a trigger to those that have had similar past. Also its hard to read these some times because I know that it isn't all rainbows and unicorns it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to get accept it and live with what had happened. Part of me wants for that alone to make it a 3 star but it was really good and made me keep turning the page. Okay I have thought about it I am going to make it a 3 star but only because when it felt or sounded more real like the 1st half of the book I was flipping through and lost track of time I wanted to know how they got through the rough times. The second part of the book it was getting to easy and they were just not wanting to deal with the hard stuff. I slowed down in reading compared to the first half.
Shelf #6: Urban FantasyBook: Mentored in Fire by K.F. Breene
Date Read: 3/14/2022
Rating: ★★★★★
Review:
Reagan has been rescued from the elves by her father Lucifer and taken to the Underworld with only the druid Cahal as an ally. Meanwhile her mate Darius along with the dual mages Emery and Penny team up for a dangerous journey into the Underworld to help free Reagan from her father.
Reagan is quite different from the brash, charge in without a plan and solve the problem with brute force bounty hunter in the early books. To have a shot at escaping Lucifer and the Underworld, she applies all the patience and trickery that she clearly learned from her vampire mate so that her father and his allies will underestimate her allowing her a chance to escape. I was a little surprised that Lucifer hadn't done more research on his daughter ahead of time. Anyone who knew Reagan would never have believed the facade that she and Cahal put together.
My favorite part of this book was Reagan meeting and bonding with her dragon. It was the one part of the first 2/3 or the plot where Reagan was most like herself and just reading about her delight and excitement with the dragons was lots of fun. Overall 5 stars.
CONGRATULATIONS, 007's!You now have an updated BINGO card with a stamp on 'shifter(s)'.
[Your updated BINGO card can be viewed on page 1]
Good Job!! :D
Congratulations on the stamp Bond, James Bond!
Shelf #6: Urban FantasyBook: Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire
Date Read: 16/3/2021
Rating: ★★
Review:
Discount Armageddon has so many elements I love from a book. Interesting world building, different creatures, rivaling factions, and a sassy protagonist. But despite the cryptids, the exciting world of ballroom dance and a generations long feud - I found this book was lacking something. And the more I read the more convinced I was that what it needed was some chemistry. I didn’t feel the sparks at all. Not between the main character Verity Price and her love interest. I didn’t feel them between her and her passion of dance either. It’s hard to feel over invested or engaged by the happenings in a novel when you feel like the main character is somewhat checked out herself. I did enjoy the variety of fantastic beasts who appeared. They were a little bit quirky and not creatures I’d read much of in the past. I also loved the concept of Verity - a girl trained her whole life to live under the radar and be sort of peace keeper between those who go bump in the night and the humans ignorant of anything other. But Verity herself was almost too cool for it all. And despite her leaving her life with her family behind for a chance to dance professionally, the dance kind of felt like it was only there because of a joke. Like how funny she spends her nights alternating between foxtrot and fighting ghouls.
(view spoiler)
Overall, I enjoyed the plot and the variety of side characters and creatures. There were many funny moments (the mice like creatures living in Verity’s closet who love nothing more than a religious festival to celebrate. They were hilarious!) and the secondary cast, especially Verity’s cuckoo cousin, were great. But I won’t be continuing the series because I couldn’t connect with the main character and found her lack of enthusiasm distracting.
What a name for a shelf… Swoon worthy! :D I’ll be reading The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (shelved 4 times as swoon-worthy)
We are checked in for shelf 6! Way to go!
I didn't see much on the shelf list from my tbr, so I'm going to revert back to the In Death series this week.
has 1 swoon-worthy tag😁.
I will be reading
for swoon-worthy
CONGRATULATIONS, 007's!You now have an updated BINGO card with a stamp on 'UF'.
[Your updated BINGO card can be viewed on page 1]
Good Job!! :D
Congratulations on the stamp Bond, James Bond!
Shelf #6: Swoon - WorthyBook: Hostage to Pleasure by Nalini Singh
Date Read: 3/22/2022
Rating: ★★★★
Review:
Is it bad that Amara really intrigued me and I am very interested to see where she goes from here. She also is an anomaly from the others in the web of stars. I love how this is evolving and changing as it continues to grow. I am very interested to read the next book with Merc, though I wish there would have been a little bit more of her we saw bits and pieces but these books mainly focus on the two main characters and all other characters are to the side. That is the only thing I miss from each book is more of the side story that is happening with past relationships and possible future ones. Also lowkey upset they did not try to explain the gene therapy thing or what went into it to us just basically explained it was fix like magic almost! Tada! I probably would have believed it more if the soul mate thing cured it like it did with the last book more so than this. But it wasn't a major part just something I wouldn't believe from that kind of a world.
For this kindle freebie shelf I will read
Shelf #6: Swoon - WorthyBook: Divided in Death by J.D. Robb
Date Read: 3/19/2022
Rating: ★★★★
Review:
In this installment, Eve investigates the murder or two HSO agents in order to clear one of Roarke's employees of murder. The espionage and intrigue aspects added a different flavor to the story keeping the series from getting stuck in a rut. High marks for the mystery portion of the plot. The tension between Eve and Roarke, however, felt off. Having them at odds for a large section of the book over whether or not the HSO agents who left Eve in her father's abusive hands as a child should be punished, made it hard to slog through that section of the book. I felt like they should be better at talking out this issues by this point instead of avoiding each other. I was relieved when they finally reached a compromise and the focus shifted back to the case. While this will never be my favorite book in the series, I still think it deserves a solid 4 stars.
Shelf #7: Kindle FreebieBook: Grave New World by Demitria Lunetta
Date Read: 3/24/2022
Rating: ★★★★
Review:
I gave up having expectations going into a kindle freebie a while ago, so this book, while not perfect, came as a pleasant surprise. First, the characters were well-developed. The ex-husband was an annoying jerk, and I thought Paige showed great restraint in not hitting or strangling him. I have mixed feelings about Paige. She was strong, hard-working, and determined on one hand. Her attitude toward supernaturals and constant thoughts about being with one of the guys was just annoying and detracted from the story.
The mystery had potential that I don't think was fully realized. It started well when she found her ex-husband holding a knife and standing over his dead vampire brother. The addition of the secret O.H.I.O. started out well, and then it just didn't go anywhere. They never really discovered anything about the organization or the people involved. Then suddenly they get one name in the organization, the murderer is arrested, and then everything is covered up. It was interesting, but it just didn't flow well.
If I could get the series on Kindle Unlimited, I would try another book or two in the series to see if it gets better. It didn't sell on buying the next book in the series. It's actually more like 3 1/2 stars for me. I just rounded up to 4.
Shelf #7: Swoon-worthyBook: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Date Read: 25/03/22
Rating: ★★★
Review:
I find it hard reading books which have such hype surrounding them and The Song of Achilles is one which I have heard so many good things about for the past decade. I avoided reading it for so long because with books which have such a positive reputation I often find myself missing what was so good about them and feeling disappointed. I didn’t love this one as much as so many others who have read it did but I enjoyed the story. It’s a bit weird knowing somewhat what was going to happen due to my knowledge of the Iliad and being incredibly familiar with Brad Pitt movies from the early noughties. But I put all of that aside and enjoyed Madeline Miller’s version of the Trojan War. The narrator, Patroclus, takes us on a journey from his being a small boy to being a man and the adventures he went on as Achilles’ companion. I wasn’t hugely fond of Patroclus' narrative style and it took me till almost the end of the novel to appreciate him and his storytelling but I did get there eventually. There is a somewhat naive quality to him despite him at times having the wisdom of someone decades (if not centuries) older.
The pacing was a bit slow but in some ways it made sense considering the classic events this story was following. Where this book really shone for me was the ending. It felt emotional and epic. I truly enjoyed where we ended up even if I thought it took quite a while to get there.
The supporting characters are interesting and I liked how they were portrayed even if we only saw them though Patroclus eyes given he didn’t seem impartial at all. The gods themselves were also portrayed in a different way. They were both physical entities and divine beings. The gods for these characters weren’t just stories but they would see them and live with the consequences of the gods' fickle ways.
It’s an interesting take on classic myths and a must for fans of Ancient Greek stories told in a somewhat modern way.
I have a copy of Madeline Miller’s Circe and after reading The Song for Achilles I can’t wait to read it and continue on in her version of the classic stories.
We are checked in for shelf #7. Way to go team!
Shelf #3: Favorite CouplesBook:House of Earth and Bloodby Sarah J. Maas
Date Read: 3/25/2022
Rating: ★★★★★
Review:
OMG this book had me on a roller coaster of emotions and it started from the very beginning where I shipped two characters and I definitely shouldn't have I got my heart broke from the beginning to end. There were twists and turns I was not prepared for. I am glad the second one is already out so I can continue on but man if that is the way these books are going to go I have to heal some before going into the next one . I am excited to learn more of Ruhn and hopefully see where he goes with things. Hunt definitely kept me intrigued and I love how smart and quick witted Bryce is though she has to be. The only think I miss was getting to know Danika, Conner and their pack more. Bryce herself went through so much growth through this entire thing. I need more of the kitty demon I am not remembering his name right now and Jezabel. I feel like this world and these people can bring on so much more I am so excited to read what comes next.
CONGRATULATIONS, 007's!You now have an updated BINGO card with a stamp on 'swoon worthy'.
[Your updated BINGO card can be viewed on page 1]
Good Job!! :D
Congratulations on the stamp Bond, James Bond!And I'm pretty sure you can also claim the Favorite Couples stamp if you haven't already requested it :)
SOS: Serious Overload of Series
Books mentioned in this topic
On the Edge (other topics)The Darkest Passion (other topics)
Marked (other topics)
House of Earth and Blood (other topics)
The Song of Achilles (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Demitria Lunetta (other topics)J.D. Robb (other topics)
Demitria Lunetta (other topics)
Madeline Miller (other topics)
Elisabeth Naughton (other topics)
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