Challenge: 50 Books discussion
2010
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Julie's Flight to 50 and Beyond (2010)
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I read this book in one evening. Very fast-paced, well-woven plot and intriguing characters. Crafty take on a ghost story!
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by Janet EvanovichHilarious as usual and a good mystery to solve. Loved Ranger's role in this one ; ) Stephanie always cracks me up!
This series continues to make me laugh out loud and enjoy reading the origins of characters and places that I've read about in her later books.
Read through this one evening...very enjoyable, light read that keeps ya turning pages.
Wow! This book really surprised me. It was suspensful and intriguing...bit of romance, action, mystery, and heartache, with likeable characters. Apparently, there is going to be a second book about Billie SanGreal, the tough cookie 15-yr. old, who also happens to be one of the few remaining Knights Templar. Awesome.
by Janet EvanovichMan, this series just cracks me up. This installment does not disappointment...making yet another nicely brief and humorous escape from reality.
, #5 in the Septimus Heap series by Angie SageI'm glad I didn't give this series up after the last one, which kind of bored me a bit. This one had a more interwoven, mysterious plot with a few new characters to enjoy. Ready for #6!
-Omnibus of short stories by Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse series)I listened to this collection via audio cd. A few of the short stories I read previously in other omnibuses, but a few were new to me. It was one woman for all of the voices, which were a little off the mark in my mind, naturally, but the stories were intriguing, humorous, and a little suspenseful, all the same. Enjoyable and quick.
by Janet EvanovichCute and humorous, but you can tell this is the first with Evanovich's "Between the Numbers/Holiday" portion of the Stephanie Plum series...they get more exciting, funny, and mysterious as the series continues on. Interesting to see where "Diesel" comes from...I love him!
This book surprised me. I finished it up in one sitting...fast-paced and intriguing plot, without going overboard on endless details or inner monologues of characters (which sometimes enhance stories, of course) - this tied together nicely in a quick-read package and left you feeling happier at its end.
by Patrick NessTold in prosey narrative form, complete with personal misspellings ("explunashun") and farm-boy accent, this story rapidly weaves through a dystopian world of violence, adventure, and desperate hope. Humanity (specifically, man) has taken a turn for the worst on New World, an alternate planet civilization, where all the thoughts of living creatures and men (but not women) float about for everyone to hear/see. The story focuses on "young Todd Hewitt" and his escape from Prentisstown, where there are, mysteriously, no women left. He and his dog, Manchee, reluctantly go on a fast-paced, knock-down, nearly hopeless adventure, in search of safety and humanity. They meet up with beings believed to be long gone on New World and places completely unknown to Todd. Everything Todd grew up believing is challenged and changed along the way, with harrowing escapes, heartbreak and hurt, and a little bit of hope. Filled with suspense and tangible emotion, the story leaves you hanging on a cliff, going "Oh geez!" and desperately wanting to know what happens next to the main characters in the story. Scarily intriguing and gripping to the last word.
P.S. If pregnant, feeling down, or rather emotional, you may want to skip this book until you're feeling better. Even if I weren't pregnant, I probably would still have had a similar reaction, but I absolutely bawled my eyes out over one chaotic tragedy. Def. worth the read, though.
Wasn't too sure about this book at first, but it quickly picked up its pace once the lead character, Dru, meets up with a plucky new (male) friend, Graves. The two stick together, since adults have abandoned them, passed away, or you know, been reanimated as the living dead. Some of the writing is a little hard to follow when Dru gets her moments of the "touch" going, but the plot is increasingly suspenseful and full of questions as the story draws to a close (that leaves you thinking, Are they safe? How long can this last? What will happen next?). Luckily, the 2nd book in the series, Betrayals, is available to hopefully quench some of the questions.
This book is definitely for older teens and up, if not for the some of the violence/gore, then for the rampant sailor-like cussing. Enjoyable read, though, look forward to the 2nd one!
Enjoyable continuation of this series, but sometimes slowed down by the repetitive rehashing of previous thoughts and events (mostly taken verbatim from book 1). The suspense and mystery building around Dru and the characters she encounters, is intriguing, though without all of the reminiscing and rehashing of emotions and events, would not have taken very long to tell at all. I'm still curious to see what happens next in "Jealousy," though the whole more-than-one-boy in love with the main girl of the story is a bit overdone. Can't these teenagers ever make up their minds??
This is a quick read for tweens, with similar elements to typical fairytale witches. The witch is vindicated and is able to tell her side of the story, proving she's not as supposedly evil as the villagers make her seem. While the character of Isabelle captured my attention with her plight to regain her memory, the story was neatly and a little too swiftly wrapped up in a nice, neat, not so plausible ending. The ending worked, but could have been expanded upon, with more detail and insight into the other characters' perceptions of Isabelle's decisions. Interesting little read, but kind of anti-climatic.
Another humorous edition to the Stephanie Plum series...though typically similar to the rest of the series and more predictable than usual. The "Webmaster" killer was obvious early on and I'm not sure why she didn't have Steph put it together, especially when clues had been dropped about his quirkiness early on in the story. Regardless, the entourage of "Ranger's Merry Men" that Steph goes through as bodyguards is hilarious because they each end up getting hurt in some wacky way instead of Ranger's cars that she usually borrows and destroys. The suspenseful climatic scene towards the end was good, but this woman would have been dead a long time ago. It's very convenient that Ranger and Morelli always manage to show up just in the nick of time to save her. I love this series and Stephanie Plum, but I would like to see her be able to defend/save herself a little bit more. Enjoyable and funny for a light read, I'm glad I was able to catch up and get this one done.
- A Seven Realms NovelI had mixed feelings about this book. Even though it started out with an exciting event right away, it still took me awhile to get into the flow of the book - which alternates between Han, the main male character, and Princes Raisa, the lead female. I enjoyed the intertwining of the worlds (high-class castle-goers vs. the clansmen out in the Wilderness). I liked that Raisa has a determined, fairly clever spirit, bent on not becoming a pretty puppet-like figure like her mother, the queen. She flirts and dreams, feels frustrated and hopeful, goes out in disguise amongst the townspeople, and struggles to find her future place without relying solely on a coerced marriage. Han is a complex character, doing whatever it takes to survive the harsh life of living in town, but connected to the clansfolk out on the Vale through friendship and being raised there. The 2 characters do meet up at one point and seem to have their futures likely to meet up again. Each character has his/her own love interest, which the author creates as a good fit for each person, but as new events and past histories come to light, it seems as though each character is destined for perhaps each other or someone else entirely. I can't really see the princess and Han becoming romantically involved because of their current interests in others (I love Amon Bryne and wish he could be with Raisa, but his military duty prevents that!), but they are intrigued with each other and an attraction does exist with slight curiousity. I have become attached enough to the plight of the characters to give the next installment a try, though I hope it is easier to dive into, rather than slowly building up interest.
I just love this series...I think I'm just about caught up now on all of the Stephanie Plum books out. This one did not disappoint...I laughed out loud or chuckled each time I picked the book up. Between a house filled with weed (disaster waiting to happen), Steph's ex-husband gone missing, a taxidermist who creates exploding mounts, and shared "protection" between Ranger and Morelli, the laughs and action come nonstop.
Ooh, I really enjoyed this suspenseful, paranormal (super-telekinetic type powers) romance book. It surprised me with its intriguing plot and characters. I liked it enough to want to read the second one...there are still questions unanswered and characters to meet and unravel.
, Book 3 in the Darkest Powers Trilogy by Kelley ArmstrongI absolutely loved this trilogy and this was a great installment. I loved the way the characters developed, the suspense, the romantic snippets, and the excitement. My big beef with this novel is that it does not seem like this could POSSIBLY be the final book (although it says "trilogy" in the back of the book)...several new ideas and a newish character are introduced in the second half of this story that could continue into another installment: the head demon guy briefly introduced who shows plenty of interest in Chloe (was that issue resolved or not?), Simon and Derek's dad, Kit, arrives at the end, a batch of new contacts with supernatural powers to find and warn, Tori and her connection to Kit, Chloe wanting to get in touch with her dad, the whole group being on the run from the supposed Cabal (another dastardly supernatural group), Chloe and Derek's tenuous but exciting relationship...Will Derek ever meet up with other werewolves that are friendly - and why was he never "trained" by the man who helped Kit raise him (he never showed up in the story)??? What about the mention of supposed vampires? There are so many things left hanging that despite being a very enjoyable read, the story does not come to a satisfying close overall (sure, the kiss is nice, but it just smooths over all other loose ends). I am really hoping the author changes her mind and adds another installment to this because it could go on for a whole series.
Julie wrote: ""I have this on the front seat of the car as I write. Glad to know someone liked it going in.
An interesting little ghost story set in post-Katrina New Orleans. The story has mystery and suspense, and a slight hint of young romance. There's also snotty prep girls at a private school, plenty of ghosts milling about the streets, and a cemetery where most of the action goes down. This book seemed popular on here with readers, but it didn't draw me in or have me flipping through the pages faster and faster to find out what happens. I probably could have passed on this one - I found myself skimming often.
A fairly humorous collection of memoir-like essays about different, rather insignificant, moments in the author's life. Raunchy, unbelievable, and sometimes cringe-inducing, I did read through it all in one sitting.
I was pleasantly surprised with this book. A refreshingly witty, somewhat sarcastic lead female and a mystery-laden supernaturals school, with a focus on witches. This reminded me of a cynical Harry Potteresque/House of Night school for supes. I look forward to the next one!
I really enjoyed the mystery and plot behind this story. It was an intriguing tale of witchery, family ties and lies, and a budding young romance. It also had a wide-open ending for more in the series to come.
This is an awesome book that nicely fills the gap from the ending of the Percy Jackson and Harry Potter series'. It's a magical action-adventure focused on a brother-sister team dealing with the gods, myths, mysteries, and lore of an Ancient Egypt that still swirls to life in present day. Loved it and can't wait for the next one!!
This series continues its momentum...still very fast-paced and enjoyable - a survival adventure with magic, myths, and immortals. This one actually cuts off suddenly at the end, which left me sputtering for more. This edition did provide a sneak peek into the next book, "The Warlock," which looks just as great. Many things were introduced in this book and left for future installments, so I'm already anxious for the next release.
Challenge: 50 Books
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Interesting to hear this great poet talk about his life and to read his poems.