SOS: Serious Overload of Series discussion
Archive: Past Team Challenges
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R5: Team #12 ~ The Dirty Dozen {1st Place}
Yay! I would say most of the Councillors hate each other and scheme against each other more than against anyone else, including the changelings.As to who is the Ghost, we'll just have to wait and see :)
Susan (susayq) wrote: "I sobbed reading the last 20 or so pages..." Oh, I'm glad I'm not the only one. I bawled like a baby reading that part. :)
Sometimes I think Kaleb is the ghost but then I think - he can't be! It's too obvious! I swear I love the Psy and Changeling politics as much as I love the romances in this series.
Yeah, my daughter walked into my room to check on me while I was reading cause she could hear me crying over the tv in the living room LOL the politics are very engaging.
Awww, Isn't that nice of her!
Yeah it was. It was one of my good kids that checked in me. If the one I wanted to kill last week would have been here, she'd have just let me sob ;)
Well, if I'd still wanted to kill her, I wouldn't want her to see me crying anyway. LOL.
No problem, Susan. :D Glad you enjoyed it!
I cried, too! That scene with Katya....
I'm such an emotional reader - I'll cry or laugh out loud or get furious with a character. My Hubs says I take it too personally. I say I enjoy my reading :)
Susan (susayq) wrote: "Alright. Valerie, you're gonn want to kill me (hopefully not) but I changed my favorite shelf read again ROFLOL I ended up getting my hands on a copy of 
and I've read th..."How could anyone hate you for getting us one step closer to a stamp! LOL!
And you're right...(hmph, men!) that's the best way to read & enjoy!
We're awful quiet this week LOL
Shelf: Favorite series
Completed: June 25, 2012
Rating: 4 stars
Review:
I really enjoyed this book, but took one star away, as I found that this book contained so many events that the overall quality and description suffered.
As with the previous books in this series, Hawkins continues to delve into the lives of her lovable main characters and readers have no choice but to follow along for the ride. The strong characters, their relationships and exciting events continue in this installment.
This book successfully concluded the series, flowed nicely and gave further insight on the characters and their history. As with it's predecessors,this book was interesting, had a great story line and was capable of capturing my full attention.
I did find that there was just too much covered in this book and the interactions between the characters were a bit simple and left me wanting more. (But that is also a sign of a great novel)
I would recommend this series and cant wait to read more from this author.
Shelf: Favorite Series
Rating: 4 Stars
Finished: 6/28/12
I liked this one a lot more than the last one from this series. I think I have to get over the "it's not Dragon Bound" issue because nothing is going to be that book. Oracle's Moon was enjoyable in it's own way.
Here Harrison returns to a similar dynamic, somewhat otherworldly male with nearly godlike powers with a more down to earth female with powers of her own (even if they aren't of the physical kick ass variety). And I have to say that that dynamic works. I liked both Grace & Kahlil and enjoyed watching their relationship unfold. The kids were adorable plot moppets and Grace's struggle to pay the bills and raise her niece & nephew lend some realism to the paranormal story. Kahlil remains a bit of an enigma as most of the story feels like it's Grace's POV.
I did feel that the ending was a bit rushed and it seems like there are some threads left over in Grace & Kahlil's story. Since we've revisited couples from earlier books (in fact, the next one refocuses on Dragos & Pia) I feel certain that we'll see more of Grace and Kahlil and I'm looking forward to it.
Shelf: favorite-series
Finished: 6/30/12
Rating: 4 stars
Thoughts: The second book in Maggie Stiefvater's Books of Faerie, this follows the story of James, Deirdre's friend from Lament and overall smart aleck. After the events of the previous book, he and Deirdre attend Thornking-Ash, a conservatory for talented young people. However, it's not just a boarding school; it's in place to protect them from the Fair Folk. The theory is that those with natural musical abilities have a heightened supernatural affinity. James is on the low scale -- he's a psychic, but he's more prone to feeling things rather than seeing them. Deirdre, however, is a cloverhand; her very presence summons faeries. And since she's going to a place where the motive is to protect humans from them... well, things don't go very well.
Things start going wrong from the start. James hears music and sees a man with giant antlers, with a voice in his head singing about the dead. And then there's Nuala, a solitary fae who's destined to burn and revive every 16 years; her status makes her somewhat of an outcast, neither fully fae nor fully human. She rides along peoples' thoughts, and offers deals to people of talent: give me a few years of your life, and I will make you play the best you ever have. It's how she feeds, it's how she lives. Her latest target is James, but of course, things get complicated.
I wasn't really sure what to make of this book at first. I liked Lament because it was different from Stiefvater's other works; there was more action and an underlying sense of humor that I really enjoyed. However, Ballad is a bit more serious, and the author tossed in her trademark alternating POVs instead of focusing on James alone. I wasn't sure if I liked Deirdre in the first one, but she really got on my nerves here, with all of her important yet unsent texts. I swayed between liking James and wanting to shake him - he and Deirdre (view spoiler) in the first book, and with Nuala in the picture, a good chunk of the book seemed to consist of them getting petty revenge on each other. Which was really stupid. But what saved it was that they realized they were being dumb teenagers, and the ending was quite spectacular -- there's an underlying creepiness to the author's fae that I really enjoyed in Lament, and that wasn't lost here at all. I'm looking forward to the conclusion, which should be coming out in... 2013? I think so.
Slow at points, but still solid.
Annnd requested our second stamp -- sorry that took so long, everyone. :)
CONGRATULATIONS, Dirty Dozen! You now have an updated BINGO card with a stamp on 'favorite-series'.
[Your updated BINGO card can be viewed on page 1]
Good Job!! :D
Congrats Dirties!
Sandra wrote: "Congrats Dirties!"LOL! Love the nickname ;)
I piled on a lot of PNR/UF this past week to finish off some challenges so I'm going to use the "may be any genre" rule.For New2You Series I'll read: Flat-Out Sexy
I'm going to cash in on the "may be any genre" rule too and read The Gamble. We're doing a buddy read of it in the Romance Lovers for the Challenge Impaired group and it starts tomorrow :)
BINGO R5: The Dirty Dozen
Shelf: 7/1 ~ new2you: series (personal shelf) (B1)
5/5; stamp requested 7/9; stamp received 7/10
Judithe: Lord of the Vampires | finished 7/2/12 | 3.5 stars | review
Karen F: Flat-Out Sexy | finished 7/2/12 | 3 stars | review
Susan: The Gamble | finished 7/3/12 | 4.5 stars | review
Tania: A Blood Seduction | finished 7/5/12 | 5 stars | review
Valerie: The Killing Moon | finished 7/7/12 | 5 stars | review
I'm contemplating my choices here. I'm leaning towards
-- it's due back at the library very soon but I was never in the right mood for it. I only got 60 or so pages in, so it'd be easy for me to start again from the beginning and see if I'm more keen on it this time around. Other possible choices:
OK...crazy week! Sorry for being so invisible! Hooray on our stamp! Haven't gotten to review reading yet, but looking forward to that!I'm reading
for New2You Series
Done! But review won't be until tomorrow....Hope everyone's having a good start to the week!
Wow! You're a fast reader, Judithe! I'm interested to see your thoughts on this. I read it and wasn't all that impressed.I am thoroughly enjoying my read for this shelf! It's slow going though....lots of pages and details.
I apologize as well. We went to the trailer the second my son was done school! Almost done "everneath" finding it hard to grasp for some reason...Hope everyone had a great weekend!
I'm going to follow the "any genre" rule as well and do
.Hope that's okay. Also working on my free space read,
Valerie,Would totally recommend Hex Hall. Just finished the series and really enjoyed it!
Happy Monday to all!
I really might go with Hex Hall, I'm having a hard time getting into any book lately and The Killing Moon is a bit too dense for me at the moment -- it's beautifully written but not what I'm in the mood for.
Shelf New2You:Series
Finished 7/3/12
Rating 4.5 stars
4.5 stars! I really, really liked this. Max was so swoon worthy! Yes, he was overprotective and bossy, but he wasn't ugly about it. He truly had Nina's best interest in mind, and he tempered all his bossiness with affection.
The reason this didn't get a full 5 stars is because Kristen Ashley almost lost me with only 5% left to the book. When (view spoiler) I almost put the book down. Then I realized I only had a few more pages. And honestly, the few more pages made up for those ill feelings cause the epilogue was AMAZING!!!
Will I read more by Kristen Ashley? yes, but probably not immediately. She fills her books with lots, and I mean LOTS, of details. If all her books are like this one, they'll be very time consuming to read.
Shelf: New2You Series
Finished: 7/2/12
Rating: 3 stars
This is 3*s for being up and down for me, not 3*s for being meh. The parts that I liked I really did like but there were some things that pushed my personal buttons.
On the plus side, I really liked Elec. He's a wonderful hero. I also really liked the relationship that developed between him and Tamara. I loved his interaction with her kids and the way his behavior as a family really made her fall in love with him.
For the most part I liked Tamara too. I loved her interactions with her friend Susan and I liked her early flirtations with Elec. But she kind of bugged me with her constant need for reassurance about her looks. I get that he's younger than her and she's had a couple of kids but it just got to be too much for me. I get that it's probably more realistic for a heroine to have these doubts but it got to be like the pretty girl at the party who keeps saying how bad she looks so someone will contradict her.
I have to say that the beginning of this one was rough for me. But it's more a personal pet peeve. I cannot stand the whole frat boy/guy culture that tries to dictate what being a "man" is. So the whole thing (that was supposed to be funny) where Tamara's date was belittled because he wasn't wearing the proper clothes, didn't pay attention to sports and was short really, really bugged me. It made me start out not liking any of the characters involved. I guess that's why I loved Elec so much, he hadn't made an appearance yet so he didn't start off in a hole for me. But again, that's just a pet peeve of mine, YMMV of course.
So, up and down. Loved the hero and the relationship. I ended up liking some of the friends despite the beginning. I'll read more in the series but I'm not sure I'll be rushing out the door to do so.
Shelf: Free Space
Finished: 7/04/12
Rating: 4.5 (Gave it 5, as you can't do halves)
First thing I can say, amazing! As this book covered a new paranormal genre for me, I found it hard to get into initially. But, boy once I did there was no stopping this book from getting right under my skin!
Perfect characters, strong story line and amazing interaction between the various people in this story. It is rare to feel connected to many characters in a book, of course the main characters, but the was this is written, I actually felt connected to "most" of the characters. Not sure how the author did that !?!
I found the "everneath" concept a new one, which may be why I would have like the book to be more descriptive on the concept, environment and it's characters. However, I may have read it differently than others, as I was so taken with the characters in this book.
This book was a pleasant change to the sometimes superficial and romance/sexual focused novels. Character development, innocent young love and the turmoils of the choices one makes; hit home with this reader.
The ending, well it's not very often I stand up when reading and say "come on", this is one of those. If I had the next in the series, I would have started it right away... I need to know what happens!
Sorry for rambling. This one was a pleasant surprise and I would recommend it to all!
Since I'm done my free space review, I'm challenging myself to stick with my SOS genre and read [bookcover:A Blood Seduction|12907355. for my New2You Series read.Sorry for the change so late. I saw that it was one of the monthly SOS reads, so figured, why not???
Hope everyone is having a great week and Happy 4th of July all!
Don't worry about it. :D I just requested the Free Space stamp, hooray!Also, The Killing Moon is finally working for me, yay! Restarting it did the trick. I should finish it by the end of the week.
YIPPEE!! Another stamp requested!Valerie, sometimes restarting a book helps. Lord knows I've had to do that several times before.
by Gena ShowalterShelf: New2You: SeriesDate finished: 7/2/12
Rating: ★★★.5
Thoughts:
Now, this was a very fun read. But..... Maybe it's a mood thing, like, wanting a little more depth. Still not quite sure about that (and I've been sitting on this for three days!). So, 3.5 rather than 4 stars (and GR won't let us do halves, so went with the higher one there.)
Jane and Nicolai. Jane is such a plain, ordinary name, with so much "blandness" associated with it (apologies to anyone with the name, not meaning YOU, cause I've met some very fascinating "Jane's"). Nicolai has a slightly exotic feel, and Mr. Studly, amnesiac vamp has that going for him. Obviously, the memory thing is a problem. Jane also has a curse-problem, there's also the sex-crazed princess of Delfina-problem, and various horny ogres. What all this ends up with is a fun, steamy read, with a HEA. I can't wait to see how the other authors develop their parts of the stories, and hope the absolute final outcome is the expected one. As I have the other three on hand, I will be reading them all. But...two very long awaited books have arrived this week. They're coming first. I'm not even opening the box for one...waiting for shelf...is it too early to start chanting? Steph??
Judithe wrote: " by Gena ShowalterShelf: New2You: SeriesDate finished: 7/2/12
Rating: ★★★.5
Thoughts:
Now, this was a very fun read. But..... Maybe it's a mood thing, like, wa..."
DEPTH! You just named what I thought was missing from the book! I had no idea what to call it until now. This was my least favorite from this series, and my 1st Gena Showalter. To say I was disappointed, after hearing such great things about this author, is an understatement.
CONGRATULATIONS, Dirty Dozen! 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
Susan (susayq) wrote: "DEPTH!... ":D Not that I disliked it, but I'm glad to hear that the others get better!
Hooray on our stamp!!
Congrats on the stamp Dirties!Glad to hear they get better as well, I haven't started them yet.
Yay! We got another stamp!!!
I don't know about ya'll, but I'm ready for another shelf LOL
Yee Haw on the stamp!I have finished my new to you series book and will be posting a review either Saturday or Sunday.
Going into the city for the day and then dinner followed by bingo to celebrate our anniversary. ( will try to work on the review while we are driving.
Great reviews and hope you all have a great weekend!
Shelf: *new2you: series
Finished: 7/7/12
Rating: 5 stars
Thoughts: The first time I started this, I got 60 pages in and wasn't fond of where it was going. But when the shelf name was announced, I went back to the beginning and tried again -- and it worked marvelously. (The library fines are totally worth it.)
This is the first book in N.K. Jemisin's Dreamblood duology. I liked the first book in her Inheritance trilogy; her fantasy is very big on the mythology aspect. Her world-building is STUNNING. This is set in the city of Gujaareh, which apparently is partly inspired by Egypt. There's an intriguing mythos around dreams that's a combination of magic and medicine: Jemisin took the "four humors" concept and applied it to dreams and sleep (dreamseed, dreambile, dreamblood, and dreamichor). These four humors can be taken, shared, and applied to treat various ailments of the body and mind. There are Sharers, who collect the humors and provide them to others... and then there are the Gatherers.
The Gatherers are a select few citizens with one purpose: to collect dreamblood and carry souls into the land of dreams. Basically, they euthanize people. Gujaareh's main tenets is peace, so the Gatherers provide this to people. However, dreamblood is addictive, and has a tendency to corrupt. Corruption is a massive, massive theme in this book: what is corruption? Who is corrupt? How much power can one have before eventually abusing it?
The cast of characters is really interesting. There's Ehiru, a Gatherer in shame after failing a task; Nijiri, an aspiring Gatherer who looks up to Ehiru despite his shortcomings; and Sunandi, an outsider and ambassador who's blatantly horrified by what goes on within Gujaareh's walls. There's a Prince who can't get enough, and a Reaper -- a corrupted Gatherer.
There's also awesome battle scenes. And politics. And tidings of war.
By the end of the book, it was shaking in my hands and I was close to tears. Jemisin's prose is fantastic, and she writes emotion wonderfully. I can't wait to get my hands on the next one. If you want lushly-written fantasy that's a bit different, try this.
It'd be pretty rad if we got vampires or sci-fi romance as the next shelf...
SOS: Serious Overload of Series
Books mentioned in this topic
Visions of Heat (other topics)Visions of Heat (other topics)
Bonds of Justice (other topics)
The Peach Keeper (other topics)
Grave Dance (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Neil Gaiman (other topics)Susanna Kearsley (other topics)
Gena Showalter (other topics)
Jennifer Estep (other topics)
Melissa Marr (other topics)
shelf: Favorite Series
date completed: 6/26/12
rating: 5 huge stars!!!
If me reading this in less than 24 hours doesn't give you any idea of how I feel about this book, let me make it clear - I LOVED IT!! It had a very different feel from the other books in the series. I think it's because it didn't have a Changeling as either the hero or heroine. However, Dev could easily be mistaken for an alpha of a predator changeling pack with the way he acted around Katya. He was possessive, obsessed, demanding and unyielding. And I loved every minute of it.
I sobbed reading the last 20 or so pages (view spoiler)[ when Dev, and everyone else thought Katya was going to die (hide spoiler)]
Once again, I loved what's going on in the psynet. I'm pretty sure (view spoiler)[Kaleb is the Ghost. (hide spoiler)] especially if I read that correctly LOL and the fact that more than just other Councilors dislike Ming LeBon puts a new spin on things.
This is a series I honestly didn't think I'd like when I started it. I'm not much of a fan of shifter stories. But I've fallen in love with this world.