SOS: Serious Overload of Series discussion
Archive: Past Team Challenges
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R5: Team #12 ~ The Dirty Dozen {1st Place}
Hmmm...I just want to be able to read one of these...
...Please, please, please, Mr. R!BTW, I'm working tomorrow....all flippin' day (testing poor souls' English ability...feeling slightly evil as that will keep me from reading.....) Will pop in as soon as I can!
2nd BTW, too intrigued by the book, Valerie! Nice review.
I've heard such great things about that Stacia Kane series... her blog posts are always awesome, too. I might have to check her out. Thanks! It was really emotionally draining by the end, hah. Totally worth it.
BINGO R5: The Dirty Dozen
Shelf: 7/8 ~ shifters (G17)
5/5; stamp requested 7/15; stamp received 7/15
Judithe: Once Burned | finished 7/10/12 | 5 stars | review
Karen F: Lothaire | finished 7/10/12 | 4 stars | review
Susan: Call of the Highland Moon | finished 7/8/12 | 4 stars | review
Tania: Tempting the Beast | finished 7/14/12 | 2 stars | review
Valerie: Hex Hall | finished 7/8/12 | 2 stars | review
I'm anxiously awaiting the announcement for the next shelf LOL It looks like you are too, Valerie :)
I totally am! I just browsed the sci-fi-romance shelf and picked out a few more interesting books just in case that's picked. :D I should be getting some great stuff in the mail soon, too, and I was having fun seeing what shelves they'd fall under.
I just ordered the first book in the Meredith Gentry series by Laurell K Hamilton. I'm hoping it's on a shelf that's called, but not until I get it LOL
I'm going through the shelf right now! I've got 4 or 5 so far to pick from LOL
Hey, Judithe, Mr. R listened! Lothaire's shelved as "shifters" by twelve people, and one lovely person tagged Once Burned as "shifters" all the way on page 20: http://www.goodreads.com/work/shelves...
Up to 14 to choose from LOL This is not going to be easy...and shifters are my least favorite UGH
Alright, I am totally getting overwhelmed with this shelf! I went through the first 30 pages and found 19 that I own and would read LMAO I'm kinda leaning towards
or
or
or
:) I'm gonna finish the book I'm reading and then decide. Any suggestions?
Sheesh, I hate it when the goodreads emails let me down. I don't check and I miss a ton of new messages!Anyway, for Shifters I'll read: Lothaire (I was also hoping to work that one in Judithe!)
Color me interested in the N.K. Jemisin new series too. I've only read The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms but I loved it. I need to finish that trilogy first.
Valerie wrote: "I've heard such great things about that Stacia Kane series... her blog posts are always awesome, too. I might have to check her out. Thanks! It was really emotionally draining by the end, hah. To..."
Oh, you've got to read it!!!!! (But it won't fit this shelf. Sigh.)
Valerie wrote: "Hey, Judithe, Mr. R listened! Lothaire's shelved as "shifters" by twelve people, and one lovely person tagged Once Burned as "shifters" all the way on page 20: http://www.goodreads.com/work/shelves..."VALERIE! I LOVE YOU!!! I just got back from work (8:40-4:00) where I interviewed 44 people for an English ability test. Pooped is rather too mild a word for my energy level. I said we'd go out to dinner IF spouse did dishes & vacuumed today. He DID! Now, I also can just grab up my book without going through alllllllll those pages. Bliss! Though, I'm still torn....Lothaire along with Karen, or Once Burned...with VLAD (if it were Bones, well, no contest, but will just have to see which opening page grabs me!)
Oh. Just decided. I checked the page count, and this week's schedule.For shifters, I'm reading
(and looking forward to Karen's review~just warn me if you're putting in spoilers! ;D
I decided on
for this shelf :)
Karen, I really liked The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, too! I have The Broken Kingdoms on hand and am not-so-secretly hoping to use it for a future shelf. :D
Shelf: shifters
Finished: 7/8/12
Rating: 2 stars
Thoughts: Aaagh. I'm really sorry, but I wasn't a fan. :(
PROS: It was an incredibly quick read. The prologue was hilarious and hooked me in. The twist with Archer kinda interested me, and the semi-cliffhanger made me a bit curious about the next one. Oh, and Jenna was really cool!
CONS: It really reminded me of Marked, a book I read earlier in the year and didn't enjoy at all. I thought the boarding/high school tropes were a bit tiring, especially the focus on the "mean girls," etc. There were several things that just didn't make sense to me, such as the "I'm not telling you for your own protection" cliche, which was abundant here. Small things nagged at me, like Sophie somehow never having been in a cellar before, despite supposedly living in nineteen states. And I saw some of the plot twists from a mile away.
Sophie's decision at the end of the book was intriguing, but I'm not sure if I'll be reading the next one. I'm glad I gave this a shot, but ultimately, it wasn't for me.
Valerie, sorry you didn't care for Hex Hall. I read Marked several years ago when it came out, and continued with the next few in the series until it became too tedious to read. One book only covered like a 2 days worth of action. I figured it would take forever to conclude the series so I gave up LOL
Valerie,So sorry Hex Hall didn't work for you. Guess it works for some, but not others.
Thanks for the anniversary wishes. Just about to pick my shifters read, then will complete my review. Sorry for the delay guys.
Hope everybody is having a great weekend.
I have chosen
for my "shifters" book.No9w will work on my review before dinner
A Blood Seduction
Completed: July 5, 2012
Rating: 5 stars
I absolutely loved this book, so much so I don't think my review will give it justice.
The author managed to totally captivate me for the entire book. From the action packed storyline to the amazing characters. Not only do we have a kick-butt heroine, we also have blood thirsty vampires (that are so sadistic they prey on pain and fear as well as blood), werewolves, rippers and traders.
Imagine a world almost parallel to ours run by the darkest creatures, dark, dreary and deed... then imagine you can't leave....ever! What would you do to save your family? This is what the main character Quinn, must figure out. Without giving too much away, our main character may have powers she didn't even know exhisted. Powers that may cost her life and the lives of those she loves. This novel follows her journey through both worlds, fear, seduction, death and hope.
With attention to detail, the author brought me right there to that sweet spot where you feel like you're right there along-side the characters. I raced through this book, wanting more. I loved the characters, the writing, the environments and the fact that the author actually created new types of paranormals.
Would totally recommend this book and can't wait for the second installment!
Shelf Shifters
Rating 4 stars
Date Completed 7/8/12
I am not usually a big fan of shifter books, but this one was really good. I think it may be cause it combined shifters with my unnatural obsession with the Highlands and longing to look at good looking men in kilts.
Gideon McInnes was destined to become the Alpha of his pack. In his quest to determine if that is what he really wanted, he left the Highlands of Scotland and traveled the world to see if he was missing something elsewhere. As he finally decided to go home and assume his role as Alpha, he met what he was missing...his mate, Carly Silver.
If there has ever been a heroine I could identify with, it's Carly. She owns a book store that only sells romance books and little baubles for women (my dream job). She's shy and a little intimidated by men and lives more in her books than in real life. Did I say I could identify with her? Oh, yeah, I did. When she meets Gideon, it's not in his human form, it's in his wolf form and he's been hurt. Carly immediately decides to take care of him because she has a soft spot for animals.
Well, one thing leads to another and Gideon realizes his cousin is trying to kill him and take over as not just pack Alpha, but as a dark lord to the whole world. All, and I mean ALL, the action in this book takes place in the last 20% of it. I could not put it down! Gideon tries to leave Carly (for her own good), fights the dark wolves, takes Carly back to Scotland when he realizes he can't live without her, and fights his cousin and the Ultimate Dark Lord while Carly transforms into a wolf after being bitten.
Naturally, Carly and Gideon get their happily ever after. But guess what?! There's just enough there for a second book! And Gideon has a hot Scottish brother named Gabriel. I'm off to download it and read it :)
Hooray for our soon to arrive stamp!And I feel like a total slacker! Reading OB every chance I get (LOVIN' IT!!), just getting kicked in the b*tt by RL @ the moment!
I'm just thankful it's summer here and I don't have to work in the summer, otherwise I wouldn't be reading near the amount I'm reading right now LOL
Shelf: shifters
Date finished: 7/10/12
Rating: ★★★★★
Thoughts:
Vlad...Leila. Fire wielder and electricity channeler, which means sparks will definitely fly, and wow, do they!
After an accident when she was a child, Leila became able to channel electricity, as well as "see" various things with a single touch. There are plenty of drawbacks for her, especially in the romance department as she tends to electrocute anyone she touches with her right hand, but her extra abilities make her a very tempting "instrument" in the vamp community. She's kidnapped to track down Vlad, which results in him tracking HER down. She joins her rescuers team, and they are off to hunt down whoever is trying to get Vlad.
For more details on that, read the book! Really, it was great. From the snarky humor, hot tension and more between Vlad and Leila, fast-paced plot, and tantalizing glimpses into who Vlad is, it will keep you up all night reading it, and loving it!
(OK, I admit it didn't keep me up all night reading it yesterday & I was "sensible" enough to finish work before I picked it up again, but I wanted to, exhaustion just sucked me in...at least I retained enough wakefulness to set it aside when sleep was hitting me like a sledgehammer!
Oh, point number two. There is not one single shifter in this entire book. Someone was very misguided in putting it on the "shifter" shelf, and I do feel guilty about that...but it is there according to rule guidelines. Now I'm off to find a "for-real" shifter book to help kick my guilt feelings!
Judithe, do I need to read anything before this? I heard its from the same world as the author's other books, which I haven't read.
Hmm....my first thought is, "No, you don't." Some characters make a cameo, but are not central to the action. You won't understand that conversation (short, as in on one page), but it won't take away from the reading pleasure (just adds to it!). You won't know as much about Vlad, (and I find myself wanting to go back and read cause there is some stuff I've forgotten,) but I think it's written well, and so that you don't HAVE to have all of the original one. There's a couple of others reading this for this round...you might ask for some other opinions on the Discussion thread and see what other people think as well.
CONGRATULATIONS, Dirty Dozen! You now have an updated BINGO card with a stamp on 'New2You: series'.
[Your updated BINGO card can be viewed on page 1]
Good Job!! :D
Congrats on the stamp Dirties!
How's everyone doing? I got something awesome-looking in the mail and I want it to be shelf day so I can read it. :( -paces-
I'm good. I'm rereading
right now. What'd you get in the mail today?
oooh! I've heard really good things about that!
Shelf: Shifters
Finished: 7/10/12
Rating: 4 Stars
It's taken me a couple of days to put my thoughts together on this one. In some ways I really loved this book. As a story I thought it was great. Lothaire is an entertaining, crazy, larger than life figure and this world is one that I love and after 11 books am completely invested in. And here we're tossed onto the other side of the Lore with Lothaire, the Enemy of Old.
I admit that I went into this wanting a Nix/Lothaire pairing. But I can see how two crazy people would be tough to bring together. They each need someone to ground them. And I ended up liking Ellie more than I thought I would. She's smart and brave and although tossed into an impossible situation she always tries to make the best decisions she can.
Which leads me to what didn't work as well for me, and that's the romance itself. I love Lothaire as a character but as the romantic lead I had some issues. They certainly had sexual chemistry and Cole can write the hell out of a sex scene as always. But this is the same issue I had in the last book. The "hero" is just too far on the other side for my taste. I love him as a villain and if this were a UF type book, I'd probably give it 5 stars. Maybe I'm taking my vampire romance too seriously but I want to root for our couple to get together and overcome their obstacles. And while Lothaire didn't treat Ellie as badly as Declan treated Regin in the previous book, it skirted too close to a Stockholm Syndrome thing for my taste.
All that means is this isn't a 5 star book for me. I still enjoyed it a lot. The nearly 500 pages flew by and I was picking it up at every opportunity to read it. I guess it just worked better as a book than as a romance for me.
PS - No shifters to speak of in Lothaire either.
KarenF wrote: "I loved The Iron Duke and Devil's Bride! Love me some dukes apparently. :)"heehee, so do I :)
Ahhh....still looking forward to reading it, Karen! I was thinking the same about Nix/Lothaire, but am looking forward to it still!Waiting for the shelf....fingers crossed for
...but only have 20 pages left of my current book. What to pick up until Bingo shelf....aghhh!
Judithe, that's another series I haven't started but have heard good things about.
Meant to clarify that I was talking About the Unholy Ghosts series.
And that's another one I whole-heartedly recommend you start...soon! I know it isn't for everyone, but despite reservations I had after reading the blurbs, it was a fantastic read for me. I read the first three almost one after another, and it was just evil to have to wait so long for more. This year just feels like a bonanza 'cause there are two (one in April, and one that just arrived....)
Judithe wrote: "Ahhh....still looking forward to reading it, Karen! I was thinking the same about Nix/Lothaire, but am looking forward to it still!"Oh, it's definitely worth it. It really is a good read. I thought the review may come off more negative than I actually felt. I really liked it, I just didn't "clutch it to my chest at the end" love it. I was willing for forgive Lothaire a lot because he's just so gleefully, OTT, eeeeevil. But (without spoilers) there was one thing he did that I just couldn't get past while reading it. So I knocked it down a star for that. But it was still a really fun read!
BINGO R5: The Dirty Dozen
Shelf: 7/15 ~ ghosts (G16)
5/5; stamp requested 7/21; stamp received 7/23
Judithe: Chasing Magic | finished 7/15/12 | 5 stars | review
Karen F: The Darkest Seduction | finished 7/17/12 | 4 stars | review
Susan: Halfway to the Grave | finished 7/21/12 | 5 stars | review
Tania: Die for Me | finished 7/17/12 | 5 stars | review
Valerie: The Rose Garden | finished 7/20/12 | 4 stars | review
I'm not sure what I'll pick yet, but...
This shelf gives us 3 in a row in two different places! :D Hooray!
edit: Oh, wait, this gives one team four in a row. Erm. Let's all cross our fingers and hope that male lead isn't called next. :)
Well, I guess I'll be starting the Stacia Kane series now LOL I'm reading
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)
Valerie, it would be cool if we got one of those next!