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R5: Team #4 ~ Better Off Read
message 51:
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Breann
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Jun 17, 2012 12:52PM
Okay I think we can safely say that our team name is Better Off Read!
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Free Space Read:
Date Finished: June 17th
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Review:
SK is about a Wraith Assassin (half-Fae/half-unknown entity that can turn into shadow when not in sunlight) and a Sunmage (I'm not sure exactly what Sunmages are or can do other than heal & call sunlight. This was definitely something that could have been expanded on). The assassin is a female named Lily & she's full-o-badass whereas the Sunmage is a male named Simon who is.....full-o-suck. I was thinking this was an UF novel, but its not. I was thinking the role reversal (good boy/bad girl) would be awesomesauce times infinity and beyond, but its not. Lily was a really good character. She's spent her whole life being the enslaved assassin to a vicious, sadistic vampire. There's all kinds of emo sadnosity there. *tear* But Simon? *shaking my freaking head* I've come across hundreds of TSTL heroines in my life, but rarely have I met such an idiotic TSTL hero. He's a healer. He likes to heal & stuff. Good, right? NOT GOOD. Why? Because he has not a single freaking ounce of self-preservation. There's a scene in the book where Lily & Simon are on the run & this bad guy who's out to kill them dead gets hurt. Does Simon say "LET'S KILL HIM DEADER!!!" NO. Does he even think "Let us get thee away before he has the strength to try to kill us again?" NO. What he does is pretty much say "WE CANNOT LEAVE THE MURDERING BASTARD TO DIE! WE MUST SAVE HIM!" *facepalm* See? No self-preservation whatsoever. That's how his mind works this whole book: bad people try to kill me but I'm going to heal them because KILLING PEOPLE WHO TRY TO KILL YOU IS WRONG!
Suffice it to say, I spent almost this entire book wishing Lily would break Simon's face. That definitely impacted my enjoyment of this book. You can be a good guy without being a dumbass, but apparently Simon didn't get the memo. Other than that, SK was alright. There were some sad scenes and some Lily-Kicks-Yo-Ass scenes and even a few smutty scenes. But there were also a few scenes where I did not understand WTF was going on. I'm going to give Scott a pass since this is a first-in-series book, but the world building bordered on crap. I'm also going to give the next book,
a try. It's about Simon's brother, the badass warrior Templar, Guy. *swoons* I did likey me some Guy in this book. The only thing he & his brother have in common is that they both have penises.ETA: And I bet Guy's penis is bigger.
LethalLovely~Don't Go Screaming If I Blow You With wrote: "Free Space Read:
Date Finished: June 17th
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Review:
SK is about a Wraith Assassin (half-Fae/half-unknown entity that can turn into shadow when not in sunlight..."
LOL! Maybe the second one will be better if you like the hero more. The hero is always a make it or break it for me! Dumbass hero? No thanks. The first of a series is always hard! There are always scenes when I don't know what the hell is going on because of the world building that is happening amongst the plot AND the character building. Three stars isn't bad though. Hope your YA is going well!
Lethal, lethal, lethal, I've missed your reviews. LOL. I've read this one and I'm glad I didn't take against Simon as much as you did, still you did bring back memories of dumbassary.
Young-Adult-Paranormal Read:
Date Finished: June 18th
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Review:
This book was interesting but didn't quite hit the mark for me. I attribute that partially to the fact that I didn't realize this was the first in a new series and not just a stand-alone when I picked it up.
The plot was simple; a deadly plague has attacked society and those of the lower-class are killed in spades. The upper-class avoid the plague by wearing ceramic masks and staying inside their tall tower homes. The writing style was sparse but I thought it fit the gothic aesthetic very well. I did want a little more exposition on how the plaque came to be and how it affected the world. The story flowed well, but there were a lot of loose ends left open. This is what really dragged the book down for me. I have so many unanswered questions. Of course, now that I know there will be a sequel, I'm not as bothered by it but it did affect my overall enjoyment. I feel like the book ended right when the story really took off. There was a lot of build up to some huge events and revelations, but right when we got to them, it was over.
The main character, Araby, was at times awesome and infuriating. I liked that she carried a heavy grief with her. It gave weight to her character as more than just some flighty, wealthy girl. Her struggles gave her a dimension missing from other characters in the upper-class. She was also trusting to a fault. I wish that she had done more digging into what was actually going on instead of just trusting those around her and being led into situations. I think this book represented a transition to adulthood for her though, so I have high expectations for her in the sequel.
The love triangle was well-written. It didn't dominate the story and both male characters, Will and Elliot, were complex and multi-faceted. As the book ends, I still am not fully behind either one of them for Araby, but I can certainly understand why she feels the way she does.
All in all, this was a pretty satisfying read and definitely an interesting take on Edgar Allen Poe's short-story of the same name. Even though I wasn't bowled over by this novel, I enjoyed it enough that I will seek out the sequel when it is published.
YA Paranormal
Date finished: 6/18/12
Rating:★★★★
Review:I really enjoyed this book! I think that it has to do with the fact that I have read her dark-hunter series so I was familiar with some of the characters. I don’t know if I would have liked it as much otherwise. I guess I can enjoy a book without smut. Huh. Who woulda thought?
The book begins with Nick telling the readers that this is the story of how his life should have gone. Which really confused me in the beginning, but was (somewhat) made clearer towards the end. I loved his character. He is smart, witty and fiercely loyal to his mom. When we first meet him he is just a regular kid who gets picked on at school (I think I have read this story somewhere before...). He and his mom struggle financially. His mom is a dancer and Nick goes to a private school on a scholarship. Needless to say, he doesn’t exactly fit in with the private school crowd. One night while with his friends they get into trouble and Nick is rescued by a man named Kyrian *swoon*. As a result of this, Nick is emerged into the world of the dark-hunters and all things supernatural. He meets vampire slayers (Tabitha. YAY!), were-hunters and or course, zombies. Nick meets different supernatural beings that all claim they are there to protect him. Nick was born with innate evilness inside of him and all of the men in his line have given into that evil. The people who are trying to help him want to guide him to make the right choices to keep him from going down the same path. At the same time, it is hard to tell where the characters really stand and if they really do intend to help Nick.
While all this is going on, somehow, students at his school were being turned into living zombies and were attacking other students. Nick and his friends were trying to get to the bottom of it. By the time they did there were now dead zombies wrecking havoc all over the city. I wasn’t really into the zombie plot. It was weird to me. A video game turned people into zombies? What? This is why I don’t like YA fiction. Because, well, it can be too YA and just feel silly to me.
I really did enjoy this book! I will definitely continue reading to find more out about Nick and his “protectors”. I love a plot that doesn’t have clear good and bad guys. There seem to be many shades of grey with the characters. Even Nick. Maybe male-lead will be a shelf name and I can read the second one for BSB!
I would much rather be at home reading my free space book. Instead... I am with the in-laws. Need I say more? Ugh. Okay, just needed to get that out into the Universe. I will be nice now.
I so know what you mean. ROFL.
Sandra wrote: "Lethal, lethal, lethal, I've missed your reviews. LOL. I've read this one and I'm glad I didn't take against Simon as much as you did, still you did bring back memories of dumbassary."*Lethal blushes* Thank you very much, Sandra!
@ Breann: The YA novel is going very well, thank you for asking. It appears that you enjoyed your YA novel loads as well. Yay! I quit Kenyon ages ago but I admit to being the slightest bit interested in reading her YA spin-off. Then again, maybe not. I've never been a Nick fan.
Glad you enjoyed your YA book, Breann! Lethal, how are your liking IR? I started it last week and put it down right after Kanin was attacked in the tunnels (not too long after he turned Allison). I haven't felt the urge to pick it back up yet. Does the pace get any quicker?
Christal wrote: "Glad you enjoyed your YA book, Breann! Lethal, how are your liking IR? I started it last week and put it down right after Kanin was attacked in the tunnels (not too long after he turned Allison..."
The pace does get quicker but it also gets slower sometimes. TIR had it's down moments where it wasn't action-packed, but even those were fascinating to me. I was never bored reading this book!
Should have my book finished later today on 72% :)
Young Adult Paranormal Read:
Date Finished: June 19th
Rating: ★★★★☆
Review:
Julie Kagawa is known for her wildly popular "Iron Fey " series. Everyone seems to love it, but when I read The Iron King last October, the urge to kill things made me almost DNF it. Idiotic, selfish & childish heroine? Check. Said heroine swooning over creepy, bad boy protagonist? Check. Nonstop whine-a-thons and crappy dialogue and plot lines that made me incessantly *headdesk*? CHECK! So when the opportunity to try another series by Kagawa arose, I was like HELL NO! HELL NO WITH BELLS ON! But I read TIR anyway-and loved almost every minute of it!
TIR follows the story of Allison Sekemoto (who's face it apparently is on the cover, but no way does that chick on the cover look Asian. Whitewashing at work, eh? *SMH*). She's a teenager (17 IIRC) struggling to survive in a post-apocalyptic (or is that Dystopian?) world where Vampires rule & humans are now glorified blood bags.
Let me just say that I LOVED ME SOME ALLISON! Right from the beginning, she was like "Step to this, bitch!" She resembles the heroine of "The Iron King" not one bit. She's so badass, I think she & Kate Daniels & Dorina Basarab should get together and bake cookies. That would AWESOMAZING! She was an extremely reluctant heroine. She never wanted to be all "I WILL SAVE YOU!" but she did anyway & I couldn't help but shed a tear & think "Bitch, you are awesome." And KANIN! He's like this superbad Vampire who has lots of tears & pain in his past & learning about his story made my heart ache. *Lethal sobs* And Zeke. *blink blink* Yeah. He was very underwhelming in the beginning but he kind of grew on me like fungus. The pacing for this book could be a little slow at times but even the less action-packed scenes were awesome because Allison would take out her Katana & be all "WAHTA!" & Kanin would be all "KAZAM!" & I would be like "WOOO! AWESOME!!!!"
The way this book works is Shit Goes Down. And even when it's not going down, Shit Is Really Actually Going Down behind your back, waiting to sneak up on you and make you piss your pants. If it wasn't the rabids (aka Zombies) or the super ruthless vampires (YES! THE VAMPIRES ARE ACTUALLY EVIL & STUFF!) it was Allison breathing & exhaling badassitude.
And there's a cliffhanger. Not a really bad one like in Dreamfever but enough of one that I'm spazzing out waiting for 2013. WHY GOD WHY MUST 2013 TAKE FOREVER TO GET HERE! WHAT HAVE I DONE FOR YOU TO HATE ME SO?!!?
*Lethal is done*
YA Paranormal Read:
Finished: 19th June 2012
Rating: ★★★★☆
Review
Well I have to say this book has been sat in my TBR read for ages! Having read the previous 4 books in the series I decided to have a break as I was getting sick of Mead dragging the series out and repeating things time and time again....
However, I am so glad I decided to give it another go, I am not sure if the difference is that I waited a while before heading back into the series or not, but I have remembered why I loved the books and especially Rose Hathaway!!
This book starts with Rose determined to bring Dimitri back from being a Stragoi, after a story of this previously happening she decided to break Victor out of prison to find his brother the one who managed to make the change and try to capture Dimitri so she can put her plan in motion. And as predicted here is not a lot Rose Hathaway cannot achieve when she puts her mind to it. It was nice to see Adrian finally get his chance in this books and see if there relationship can go anywhere, I think to most readers it has been obvious he has always had strong feelings for Rose.
I have to say however that I have always been Team Dimitri and have been dying to see the two of them back together...i'm still hoping!
It was great also in the book to see Vasalissa and Christian sort out their differences and work together, aww and in the end realise there has never been anyone else for either of them.....warms the cockles of my heart :)
Mead once again leaves my itching to find out what is going to happen in the next installment as Rose faces a murder charge, has me dying to start it right now and find out what happens!
Free Space Read:
Date Finished: June 19th
Rating: ★★★★☆
Review:
An Artificial Night continued the series upswing that began in A Local Habitation. Toby continued to get herself in trouble (repeatedly), but her world and the cast of supporting characters made it worthwhile.
Someone has been kidnapping fae and human children and it is up to Toby Daye to stop them. (This brings up the one thing that really irks me about this series, Toby's husband and daughter! I still don't think that was handled well and should have just been eliminated.) The plot was pretty straight-forward, but we got a lot of surprising revelations about Luna's background. There also seems to be something fishy going on with Toby herself. The Luidaeg refers to her as "Child of Oberon" instead of Titania and Tybalt makes reference to someone telling him lies that isn't Toby. Of course, being the King of Cats, he won't give her a straight answer as to what he's talking about. Fishy fishy.
The one thing that bothered me about this story was the amount of times Toby went back into Blind Michael's lands (3!). The first time it was really exciting. I enjoyed her outwitting him and the scenes with the children. The second time ended really sweetly but the third time was anticlimactic.
The supporting cast was really great in this novel. Tybalt was his swoon-worthy self. Every book we get to see another side of him. Quentin also did quite a bit of growing up here. Lily, Luna, and Sylvester all put in some time and we learn more about them. The Luidaeg was fierce here. I think she has really started to care for Toby and doesn't want to see her die. We also got a new character, Toby's fetch May Daye. She is supposed to be the harbinger of Toby's impending death, but she becomes a friend and a life-saver instead.
I am looking forward to reading Late Eclipses soon and hope to find out more about the mysteries in Toby's background.
Jade aka MrsTosh wrote: "YA Paranormal Read: Finished: 19th June 2012
Rating: ★★★★☆
Review
Well I have to say this book has been sat in my TBR read for ages! Having read the previous 4 books in t..."
Glad you liked the book, Jade. I've blacklisted Mead after she ruined the Dark Swan series for me. I'm afraid to read anything else she has written, lol.
Christal wrote: "Jade aka MrsTosh wrote: "YA Paranormal Read: Finished: 19th June 2012
Rating: ★★★★☆
Review
Well I have to say this book has been sat in my TBR read for ages! Having read ..."
I did the same thing to Mead because of Dark Swan. I didn't even finish the last one because I was so mad! Luckily I blacklisted her after I read Georgina! I did love Georgina!
Breann wrote: "I did the same thing to Mead because of Dark Swan. I didn't even finish the last one because I was so mad! Luckily I blacklisted her after I read Georgina! I did love Georgina!"Okay, I might have to give her Succubus series a try then :)
LethalLovely~Don't Go Screaming If I Blow You With wrote: "Young Adult Paranormal Read:
Date Finished: June 19th
Rating: ★★★★☆
Review:
Julie Kagawa is known for her wildly popular "Iron Fey " series. Everyone seems to lo..."
Looks good but I think I will wait until 2013 to read this one! I don't know if there is any cliffhanger that competes with Dreamfever. And if there is I hope it never finds me! It's too torturous!
LL, I may just have to read this one just for this - She's so badass, I think she & Kate Daniels & Dorina Basarab should get together and bake cookies. That would AWESOMAZING!But like Breann, looks like it'll be 2013 so I don't headbang the desk.
Wow! I didn't think we were calling shelves and reading til Sunday! My bad ladies! So sorry! I'm here now and I'll get right to choosing my book and reading. Glad to have you laxies on my team and thank you got the messages! :-)
Yay! Welcome, Angi!!!
Thank you Breann! I had my Sundays all mixed up! Thank you for looking out for me! :)I'm going to read City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, #3)
by Cassandra Clare (Goodreads Author) (shelved 4 times as young-adult-paranormal)
avg rating 4.39 — 139,855 ratings — published 2009
Usually I have a lot more to choose from in this category but not this time. However, this has been in my TBR pile for quite some time so why not now? :)
Have a great day ladies and great team name BTW!
P.S. In the first message I responded with my iphone.... I'm not drunk, that would be the infamous, "autocorrect" making me sound drunk with it's "fixes" for my "typos" lol
I know exactly what you mean ladies, the break in between reading the books definitely helped me! I was so mad after book 4 didn't want to read another one....but was dying to know what happened with Dimitri :) I had exactly the same problem with 'House of Night' PC Cast, the books were just being dragged out, I gave up!!
Ps Angi.....Damn Auto correct, mine is a nightmare and has gotten me into trouble a time or two ;)
@Angi - I've debated starting Cassandra Clare's novels. I hear such conflicting opinions about them. I hope you like the book!@Jade - I gave up on HoN too. Those books were just awful.
Honestly Christal, this series doesn't quite toot my horn. It's pretty good..... but not so much that I want to pick up the other one and read it right away. Hence, the TBR pile ;-) However, I really need to read it so I'm glad to finally start it. :) Here's hoping this one is better than the two previous ones.Jade, I'm glad I'm not the only one! lol
Glad to see most everyone enjoyed their reads! Lethal, love your review - ha!
For my free read I am going for
Jade aka MrsTosh wrote: "For my free read I am going for "Remember free space reads need to follow these guidelines. Just makes sure this book fits in one of the three categories listed. And then let us know which list you found your free space read in. Thanks Jade!
Breann wrote: "Remember free space reads need to follow these guidelines. Just makes sure this book fits in one of the t..."I forgot to post that too! /facepalm I found my book, An Artificial Night, on the SOS Bookshelf.
will have to re choose its not on the list!
Angi wrote: "Honestly Christal, this series doesn't quite toot my horn. It's pretty good..... but not so much that I want to pick up the other one and read it right away. Hence, the TBR pile ;-) However, I real..."I have a few series I read that are like that too. You pick it up when you have the time, but it's not a must pre-order. Those make for good filler books when nothing new is coming out. Are you finding your YA read better than the previous books, Angi?
Does anyone read the Downside Ghosts series? Chasing Magic comes out next week and that is definitely a book I have had pre-ordered for months! Maybe I'll get lucky and it will fit the second shelf. :)
Christal, I ♥ the Downside Ghosts series! Oh, Terrible! *swoons* The 26th is a day for A LOT of books I can't wait to get my hands on! On top of Chasing Magic, there's also:
I thought about pre-ordering like you, but I can't wait! I'd rather buy them for my Kindle the day they come out so I can get that happy "instant gratification" feeling.
Oh Terrible. I love you with your muttonchops and horrible grammar. I was thinking that I am going to have to read the next shelf fast because there are so many books coming on Tuesday! I can't wait to get my hands on the next Downside Ghosts! mmmm.... or Kissin' Tell... sexy alpha cowboys? Yes, please.
Terrible, oh yes, he is one of my favorite literary guys. Every time he calls her "Chessiebomb," I melt! I preordered for my Kindle. That way as soon as I turn it on in the morning, the book is waiting for me because I am bad about forgetting to buy a book on release day. :)Speaking of forgetting... I can't believe I forgot about Once Burned! I will definitely be reading that one as well.
I also have the next Jane True on preorder but I get that one in paperback because I love the covers. I didn't have a Kindle Fire when the first one came out so I bought print because of that. Now that I have a Fire, I still buy in print because I hate not having a matched set, lol. I either buy it all on Kindle or all in print.
Young-Adult-Paranormal Read:
Date Finished: June 23rd
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Review:
Well, as I expected, again, I was pretty indifferent with the third installment of this series. I just don't feel any connection with any of the characters so I think that is a huge part of why I just can't get into this series.
What I liked about this book was that a lot of questions were finally answered. There were a lot of unknowns that are finally, well, known :) ( I won't say what because I don't want to spoil it for anyone else!) Anyhow, I always love when things are tied up and rather happy. However, there are quite a few loose ends out there that I feel will definitely be showing up in the fourth book.... angry fairy queen..... angry vampire master. What's in store for Simon?
What I didn't like.... the weird relationship between Clary and Jace! Bleh. Too much talking about the same thing and the same emotions over and over and over......
Overall, I give it three stars. It was average... and again, I'm rather indifferent. I'll read the fourth one because that's how I roll... I have to know what happens just because I do. Will I be moving it to the top of my TBR pile? Definitely not.
Christal wrote: I have a few series I read that are like that too. You pick it up when you have the time, but it's not a must pre-order. Those make for good filler books when nothing new is coming out. Are you finding your YA read better than the previous books, Angi?Does anyone read the Downside Ghosts series? Chasing Magic comes out next week and that is definitely a book I have had pre-ordered for months! Maybe I'll get lucky and it will fit the second shelf. :) "
This one was about the same, Christal, but with answers, so I suppose a bit better. I'm still rather indifferent unfortunately. I really want to love the series like a lot of people seem to :-/
I LOVE The Downside Ghost series! I have "Sacrificial Magic" coming to me in my Booksfree order so hopefully I'll get to read it very, very soon! :)
BTW... I think I'm weird but Terrible doesn't do it for me. The way Kane describes him, maybe it's in my head wrong but he just doesn't seem like he's very attractive. I do LOVE that he's such a good guy to Chess which makes him endearing to me.
P.P.S. (Perhaps I could just answer in one post next time???lol - sorry!)I love Jane Tru! I'm on "Tempest's Legacy" which is the third book. These are really light, fun, reads I think.
Okay ladies, our first stamp has been requested! Yay us! We did pretty good with our YA books, here's to having some 5 star reads next round!
Angi wrote: "BTW... I think I'm weird but Terrible doesn't do it for me. The way Kane describes him, maybe it's in my head wrong but he just doesn't seem like he's very attractive. I do LOVE that he's such a go..."I think that's why I DO like his character so much. He isn't your typical hero. He is unattractive, uneducated and technically he is a bad guy, considering his job description. He just makes me all gooey inside.
Breann wrote: "Okay ladies, our first stamp has been requested! Yay us! We did pretty good with our YA books, here's to having some 5 star reads next round!"YAY!!!!!! GO TEAM!
That makes sense Breann- I can appreciate that :-)Yeah go team! Thanks for the stamp request! Here's to good reads for our second shelf :-)
Yay first stamp! I'm excited to see what we get for the next shelf. Re: Terrible - I think that's why I like him too. He has to be so hard all the time but when he is with Chess he gets to be himself and he is so sweet.
CONGRATULATIONS, Better Off Read! You now have an updated BINGO card with a stamp on 'young-adult-paranormal'.
[Your updated BINGO card can be viewed on page 1]
Good Job!! :D
Congrats Better Offs!
Thanks Steph & Sandra! WOOO!I'm going to read
for favorite series. It IS one of my favorite series but...*sighs* No book experience will be the same until I get my hands on CHASING MAGIC AND ONCE BURNED!*Lethal falls to her knees* 26th of June, please come soon. I am desolate without you!
I'm going to try and knock this shelf out before Tuesday too. For the favorite-series shelf, I'm going to read Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James. I've never read them so it isn't *my* favorite series, but plenty of other people shelved it that way.
SOS: Serious Overload of Series
Books mentioned in this topic
Bloodfever (other topics)Blaze of Memory (other topics)
Supernaturally (other topics)
Supernaturally (other topics)
Chasing Magic (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Douglas Hulick (other topics)Kelley Armstrong (other topics)
Philippa Ballantine (other topics)
Susan Elia MacNeal (other topics)
E.L. James (other topics)
