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R5: Team #12 ~ The Dirty Dozen {1st Place}
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KarenF
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Aug 05, 2012 07:40AM

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I can't wait to read your review on this! I read Mistress of Rome a few months ago and loved it!


Shelf: Next in series
Date Finished 8/6/12
Ratintg 5 stars
This was great! I loved the dark angsty feel this had.
Rydstrom, King of the Rage Demons, is known to most of the lore as an upright, honest guy. And he is. But woah! He has a hidden dark side that's kind of kinky. I like it ;) When he finds his mate, Sabine, Queen if Illusions, he couldn't have found someone who more opposite than him. Sabine wouldn't tell the truth for all the gold she could get. She's sneaky, manipulative, and falls head over heels in love with Rydstrom. They really ended up balancing each other out very well.

Will do! Historical fiction's not normally my genre, but I won an ARC of Daughters of Rome from Goodreads last April and read it all in one night -- it was absolutely enthralling! This one focuses on Vix and Sabina growing up, and I love it so far. <3

Going to go in a totally different direction and finally finish the Fifty Shades trilogy. So I will be reading "Fifty Shades Freed"

No updates in days. Was wondering what happened to my group! LOL...y'all are posting, but just didn't know!
Anyhow, I'm reading

Happy reading, all!


Shelf: Series Catch Up
Date Finished: 8/7/12
Rating: 5 stars
I loved Andrea's debut as the POV character in a full length book. Like Kate, she's tough and kick-ass with a wicked and sarcastic sense of humor. Her relationship with Raphael is on the rocks at the beginning of this story and I simultaneously feel for each of them and want to knock their heads together when they are hurting each other. And although these are firmly UF and not PNR, like Kate & Curran, Andrea & Raphael do work it out.
The plot was pretty typical for this series. It was heavy on mythology and involving myths and Gods from a number of cultures. As usual, there's a good balance between, action, investigation, humor and relationships.
It was great fun to see the characters through a different POV. I loved the scenes where we see Kate & Curran through Andrea's eyes. As always, there are some great secondary characters, Doolittle has a large role, we see more of Jim and Roman gets some expanded screen time and makes the most of it. I certainly hope we see more of him as he was charming, slightly cheesy and completely kick ass.
This series is in my top 3 UF series (with Harry Dresden and Mercy Thompson) and I really enjoyed the change in POV and think that getting Andrea's story expanded the world in new and interesting ways. I'm always torn when new Ilona Andrews book comes out. I'm excited to read it right away but now since I did I have a longer wait until the next one.


Shelf: personal: *series catch-up
Date finished: 8/8/12
Rating: ★★★★☆
Thoughts:
The word for this week is "distracted"...when it came to reading, that was my problem. I wanted to be sucked in by this, I would have been sucked in by this, but I still had to function like a responsible member of society and get grades done.
This is Limos' story...she's the darling female of the four horsemen, and poor dear, has gone 5000 years without any nookie, due to her over-possessive fiance, Satan. I guess she's got a reason to be grumpy and b*tchy. The story starts with Arik, Runa's brother, stealing a kiss...and he goes to hell...literally. Not what he expected at all.
Arik's a tough guy, and he has to be to deal with the object of his affection, not to mention the threat from her fiance. What seems to be an impossible situation gradually resolves into an extremely complicated one. They get their HEA, perhaps! With the threat of all the seals breaking still hanging over their heads, well... At least Limos does have the chance and a willing partner in her end-5000-celibate-years-with-a-vengenace quest (though, scorching scenes don't play a major part in the book...lots of tension, attraction, and other kinds of riveting action)so at least there is HFN (happy for now). (I do have faith that LI will give us a happy end to the series overall...I mean, really, this is in the spectrum of romance!)
The action starts quick, and keeps going. We learn more about the three brothers, and Thanatos gets an unexpected visitor, setting the stage for book 3. (Now...got to shuffle through the pile cause I'm sure it's in there somewhere...)

Wait for the new shelf, or pick up that? OR pick up Lethal Rider? Or finish my library book that has to go back in 5 days...that I really wanted, but am not getting into (summer heat, post-grade exhaustion, 8 days of vacation anticipation...) Should I wait for Mr. R?
Changing "distracted" to "indecisive"....
Suggestions welcome.

What is your favorite summer event????

This is September, so I'm not sure if it still counts as summer, but I go down to Atlanta for the ProgPower music festival. 14 bands in two days, with autograph sessions and plenty of chances to mingle! It's a great time.


My favorite summer event is just being at home. If I still lived in Louisiana, my favorite event was at the end of September in my hometown. We host the Sugar Cane Festival and there are parades, fair rides, dances, and beauty pageants.
I'm leaving tomorrow to head to Georgia for the next week. It's the last week before school starts for the girls and we're spending with Hubs at his place. One of my girls joined the high school marching band last week, so I had to get permission for this trip cause she'll miss the whole week of practices. How was I to know they'd ask her to play in the marching band when we planned this? LOL But don't worry, even though I'm going there, I have my bag of books packed, Braxton filled with books (Braxton is the kindle) and I've got my iphone. So I'm good to read :)

Just realized I'm getting my numbers wrong...10 man to 12 man which translates to 1 to 1.2 million (pesky zeros!...too much number crunching this week!) BUT...still a lot! (Resident population of our town is 280,000 or so, prefecture (aka, state) is 850,000 or so...) Big OOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPSSSSSSSSSSSSSS...still, lots of fun. Maybe I should go to sleep now...

Until I Die

Completed: August 2, 2012
Rating: 5 stars
I absolutely loved this book, so much so I don't think my review will come close to giving it justice.
In the second installment of the "Revenants" series, we continue off where we were left at the end of the first book, "die for me". Kate and Vincent continue to fight for their relationship and the Revenants' enemies, the Numa are once again present, creating havoc for all. What you don't expect is a huge twist on the storyline. Big surprises and edge of your seat action continued to keep me from wanting to put the book down.
The story continues to take place in France and the author is so descriptive and creative that you can actually envision the story in your mind. The characters remain strong, yet interact with devotion and comradery. The author introduces us to new characters, builds on the existing ones and continues to weave them together in a successful and interesting way.
After reading this second book in the series, I am a devoted Amy Plum fan and can't wait until book 3. The way book 2 ended left me chomping at the bit!

So I think I saw from some earlier posts that we have at least one other Adam (as in Mercy Thompson's Adam) fan here. I'm always eager for a new Mercy book but I just saw this blurb from Patricia Briggs' website and it has me especially excited:
But in this case, the rule got broken, and we get a chapter in Adam's head. Adam who had been kidnapped and is now awake, and surrounded by wounded pack members. Adam who has tried to hide what he sees as the monster within. Adam who is angry. . . . And so, Hulk Smash!, and the readers get an understanding of why werewolves were feared.

You now have an updated BINGO card with a stamp on 'urban-fantasy'.
[Your updated BINGO card can be viewed on page 1]
Good Job!! :D

Double Hooray...ADAM!!!!!!!!!!! Is this in book coming out in February? (I think that's the month...though it might be March...hoping Feb or earlier...)

Oh, and favorite summertime thing is the Lowell Folk Festival. Lowell is a fairly small city (a little over 100,000 people) and I live just across the river from it. For the Folk Festival they shut down the whole center of the city to car traffic for the whole weekend and have multiple stages with all kinds of traditional music, blues, soul, zydeco, Irish folk, even polka. There's no charge to see any of the acts and you can just walk around from stage to stage (and there's a bunch of crafty type things for the kids during the daytime). But the best part is definitely the food. For it's small size Lowell has a very diverse population and it seems like every local church, synagogue, temple and other non-profit has a booth selling homemade ethnic food. I'm a very strict vegetarian and usually have trouble finding much food at these types of things but this one has so much variety that even I was able to pig out on many different dishes. :)

Shelf: 8/12 ~ angels (N14)
5/5; stamp requested 8/20; stamp received 8/20
Judithe: Grave Witch | finished 8/13/12 | 4.5 stars | review
Karen F: Angels' Flight | finished 8/17/12 | 4 stars | review
Susan: Bared to You | finished 8/20/12 | 4 stars | review
Tania: Covet | finished 8/19/12 | 4 stars | review
Valerie: Skylark | finished 8/18/12 | 4 stars | review






I'm way behind on my series catch-up read, so I'll work on that and come back with my "angels" choice. :D
edit: Oh man. Whoever the lone person is who shelved Skylark as "angels" on pg. 4: I love you. x)

For Angels I'll read:




Shelf: *personal: series catch-up
Finished: 8/11/12
Rating: 3.5 stars
Thoughts: Daaaang, what just happened?!
While I really like Stiefvater's other books, I wasn't a huge fan of Shiver -- I thought the world-building was a little funky and I didn't like Grace and Sam at all. So, why did I pick this up? I'm craving more of her writing and I heard that Isabel, the one character from Shiver that I liked, has a POV in this. And while I still rolled my eyes at Grace and Sam, I loved reading about Isabel and Cole. Cole's POV was especially gritty and hard-hitting. (view spoiler)
There were still some things that didn't sit well with me, like how Grace (view spoiler) , but the way things fell together at the end really surprised me. (view spoiler) Stiefvater's writing remains lyrical and a joy to read. The ending actually twisted my gut, which I wasn't expecting, and I'm interested in checking out Forever now.["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>

BUT...I've picked up


Really slow week, hard time reading. Sorry but will get my act together...
I will be reading "Crave" Fallen Angels book 1 by J.R. Smith.
My review will be up first thing for Fifty Shades "Freed". 4 stars.
Hope everyone had a great weekend!




Shelf: Angels
Date finished: 8/13/12
Rating: ★★★★☆ 1/2
Thoughts:
I've had this sitting around for awhile, always meaning to get to it. Glad I finally did!
This is the first in the Alex Craft series. Alex is a grave witch in a world where the fae have finally "come out". There is the expected human/fae/magic user tension, though that is not the major element of the story. She is a PI, and sometimes called magic eye (not complimentary). She can call up shades (memories of dead people) which is slowly being accepted legally, and enough people have questions of dead relatives that she makes a living. Barely.
Everything changes when she gets a call from her sister (Alex is estranged from her family...Dad, who is not all he seems to be...is a big guy in the "Humans First Party"), and that sets her onto a nearly fatal chase after a megalomaniac. Along the way, she gets to know Death a little better, and is stuck with Falin, a very irritating but scrumptious homicide detective with a few secrets of his own.
All in all, a very exciting story, interesting and "real" heroine. I loved it. I ran and ordered the next two...they should be here the day after tomorrow. Now, got to squeeze in more time to read!





on August 10, 2012
Rating: 4 stars
Thoughts:
Mixed feeling about this book. This is the third in "Fifty Shades" series that has been on the top seller list for a few months now,
Really like the characters and how they all interact. The main characters Ana and Christian, continue to have their emotional turmoil and a sexually dominant relationship. This book also had a teeny bit of action/thrill to it, but after reading my preferred paranormal books, found it hard to adjust. Much more even keel, less action and too realistic for me.
The biggest bonus is that it borders on the erotic, so lots of steamy bits. The character development is also well written and I found myself really rooting for Christian. Without giving too much away, lots of breakthroughs for his character and he really shines in this installment. I did find Ana to be a bit weak and subservient to Christian, but hey which woman hasn't dated a "bad boy" thinking we could change him...
Overall good book, steamy series and would recommend it for a change if pace.

You now have an updated BINGO card with a stamp on 'Series Catch-up'.
[Your updated BINGO card can be viewed on page 1]
Good Job!! :D


Shelf: Angels
Date Finished: 8/17/12
Rating: 4 Stars
It's always difficult to rate anthologies as I end up liking some stories more than others. That was the case here but overall I really enjoyed this trip into lesser seen parts of the Guild Hunter's world. So onto the individual stories:
Angels' Pawn I read this one when it first came out and I have to admit it confused the hell out of me. I loved Ashwini and Janvier, both individually and with their fun, flirtatious banter together. Knowing more about this world of Angels and Vampires it made more sense to me this time. But while I still love Ash & Janvier the actual plot of the story to me wasn't all that engaging. Still I'm really hoping Ash & Janvier get a book of their own, we're always hearing about them as a thread through some of the other books and they really are a fun couple.
Angels' Judgment If you've read the other books then you already know Sara and Deacon as an established couple. This one goes back in time to tell their story. We get to really know Deacon as a character as well and I have a whole new respect for him now. This also provided a fascinating look at some of the inner workings of the Guild.
Angel's Wolf This may have been my favorite story although it is probably the most standard PNR set up. Female angel under threat from an assassin and male vampire still emotionally recovering from being tortured sent to help her. Still I really enjoyed Noel and Nimra's slow dance of a courtship. It's a sweet love story set in a more typically violent world.
Angels' Dance I wanted to love Jessamy and Galen's story. I did love how they first got to know one another. I loved the 400 year ago look at Raphael and how he was as a new Archangel. We get more info on Jason, which is nice as his book is coming up next. So while I did like a lot of this story, and I liked Jessamy and Galen each as characters, their story dragged for me once they left the Refuge. It may have just suffered for me by being the last story. I tend to genre hop a lot with each new book so four stories in a row set in the same world is a lot for me. Someday I want to re-read this alone and see if I enjoy it more. I bet I will.
Is it September yet? Bring on Archangel's Storm!

75% done Covet and will finish it today. Finding it a really interesting change from your regular paranormal book. Enjoying it despite slow start, glad I didn't give up on it.
Happy Saturday to everyone!
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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)