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That manga sounds adorable Gord! And yes second book Lackey issues are pretty typical. Dont burn yourself out on challenges too much

I'm honestly thing about talking the rest of the year off from things like bingo games and what not. I have something like 6 or 7 on the go and for the first time in years I didn't complete any of them. Don't get me wrong I made a healthy dent in them as expected but it just got to be a bit much. They start out easily enough but then you always get those one or two left that you need to hunt down. With the amount I have on the go that suddenly turns into a lot of things to hunt down.

Totally fair. I just go into them not expecting to completely finish

I finished my 50th book

I finally finished mostly a good book, a little more unnecessary feeling drama near the end than I prefer but an adorable way to tell a love story.

Starting for a buddy read here now as my audio

I finished this weekend and I really enjoyed it! It was very intriguing and I just loved all the horror movie references!

Up next I'm going to be starting cause I'm still in the mood for sci-fi.

Oh! I still want to read Warcross too! Maybe I'll listen to that next...

Oooh let me know if you do! It sounds really fun!

I'll see how quickly I get through Sorcery of Thorns. If I'm done quick, buddy read Warcross?

Yeah! I haven't started it yet, but I might read a chapter or two tonight. No rush though. I haven't been doing a lot of reading lately anyway.

If you want to make a buddy read thread for it and I'll jump in after

Sure!

I finished my 51st book

For the past few days I finished several interesting reads :)

- a short brilliant story by Neil Gaiman, Norse mythology is one of my favourite themes to read.

- it's great and now I want to read the next one :)) Waiting for the release while re-reading his other series.

- I'm in love with the series though one final moment with Feyre sisters I don't like.

- the beat thing is the amazing descriptive language and libraries.

- was just ok, maybe the timing was wrong as I thought I'm going to enjoy this one more.

I struggled getting into Gideon so put it down and cant seem to want to start it again so I get that.
Yay for enjoying ACOTAR!
Are you totally up to date on Sanderson? I have so many to read still!
Norse myth is wonderful

I've got a lot to cover and it's all over the map in both genre and scores.

-3 Stars
This was pretty much exactly what I expected but I'm not sure if this is true middlebookitis. To me middlebookitis implies that the book is a bridge between the story in the first book and the story in the third book. There is simply nothing here that felt like any sort of set up for a third book. We had about 100 pages of action/plot and then things just kind of ended. There was no set up for the third book, there was no hints of what is to come, it just kind of ended. Outside of that it was a Lackey book through and through. I have to say though the she does a great job of describing the Vales. It really makes me wish I could see one and experience all the wonder and beauty that comes with it.

-4 Stars
I'm coming to realize that I'm a bit of a sucker for these "teenagers in a survival situation" kind of books. This one was definitely on the younger side with the MC only being 13. I didn't have much in the way of expectations heading into this book and I was reading this for a challenge. I was pleasantly surprised by what I read in this book. Basically a young girl on a small fictional island off the coast of Seattle has her first babysitting job when the "big one" hits. Her parents and the parents of the two young ones she is babysitting are not on the island when the earthquake hits. What ensues is four days of trying to take care of her charges while dealing with earthquake issues, injuries, her asthma, etc. For the most part it was fairly touching and you felt the tension of the situation. There was one moment that was a little bit of a stretch of the suspension of disbelief and that was when there just happened to be a collection of old encyclopedias and other information in boxes just sitting out for donation to charity. A little skeptical of that but overall an enjoyable read.

-3 Stars
Classic Hardy Boys. Missing jewels, missing kid, shady characters, town bullies. A nice quick easy read.

-3 Stars
I'll be honest, I've been aware of this whole 39 Clues series for sometimes but for whatever reason I never really got into it. That was until I needed a book set in Russia and this was a quick easy fill for that task. It's kind of hard to judge this series jumping in at book five but there is some interesting potential. This might be one of those things that I'll circle back around and give a closer look at some day.

-4 Stars
I knew this was a cozy mystery series so I had some expectations for this book. I was expecting some sort of small town murder mystery that is the usual standard for books of this nature. What I got was a simple mystery about an item found in a secret location in the house. This book was pure feel good fluff from beginning to end. No real drama, no tension, no dead bodies, no shady characters. Just a simple tale about figures that had lived in the manor house in the past. I really enjoyed this book.

-3 Stars
This is the second book that I've read in the newest Hardy Boys and there is just something that doesn't sit right with me. I honestly think a lot of it boils down to me being old and this not being "my" Hardy Boys. I grew up on the classic series and the series from the 80's. In the classic series you had the boys facing more serious threats like spies, smugglers, thieves, etc. A lot of the same could be said about the series from the 80's as well. This one here just doesn't seem to match that level of threat. For instance in this one they were dealing with a gang of teens pulling pranks in Bayport. That just doesn't feel as serious, as threatening, or as intense as say one of the books about a gang smuggling stolen cars. It just doesn't feel the same.

-2 Stars
This was my first foray into the world of Nora Roberts and oh boy was this a rocky introduction. I know I've read a lot of her In Death stuff under the J.D Robb name that I love and I'm not going to judge her entire career off of this one book. Especially as it's one of her older ones from 1987. That being said I can't escape that fact that this book was just plain boring. This book was 322 pages and it felt like it had more than 3000 pages. I know all books rely on tropes to a certain extent but this book really felt like it leaned on them heavy. First it's a romance novel and I could not stand either of the main leads. They followed the stupid trope of knowing that they like the other character but not wanting to admit it for what ever stupid reason so the only way they know to express themselves is by being the worst human beings imaginable. I swear 90 percent of this book was just them being absolute jerks to each other while secretly falling for each other and it was just boring. Then of course it's a suspense book with a hidden treasure and this part of the story was just meh. The main bad guy felt like Dr Claw and the minions felt like something from something straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon. Only showing up to remind us that the story had bad guys and then being quickly foiled by our heroes following by them being chastised by Dr Claw. I just didn't care about anything in this book. Not the story, not the characters, not the treasure, nothing.

-2 Stars
I'll be honest this book was a solid three stars for me, until the ending. This book was pure, simple, middle grade fluff about kids being stuck on a tropical island. I might even finish reading the trilogy. So what was so bad about the ending? There wasn't one. This book had the audacity to pull a stunt that I normally only see in Kindle freebies as a hook to make you want to buy the second book. I hate it there but kind of let it slide because I got the book for free. This book you have to buy and then buy the rest of the books so it's even more scummy. I'm not even talking about giving a resolution to the overarching story either. The kids are in the middle of a race and just before they get to the end there is a plot twist and the book just ends. The book couldn't even give us a resolution to the one main plot point that this book had. For that reason alone it gets booted down to two stars.

-5 Stars
More In Death with characters and chemistry that I love. This mystery was a rather emotional one due to the nature of the crimes committed and made the tension and stakes just a bit higher.

Not a lot planned for rest of the week but I am on vacation for the next week so I have nothing but time for reading.

Brittany wrote: "I struggled getting into Gideon so put it down and cant seem to want to start it again so I get that.
Yay for enjoying ACOTAR!
Are you totally up to date on Sanderson? I have so many to read still!..."

I'm not totally up to date but I've read about 70% of his books. I've also bought the 4th book of the Stormlight Archive that's why I decided to re-read the series. And it's so great you have so many books to read and enjoy :)

@Gord that's a lot! Yay for all the 4-5 stars :)

Totally get the reread of Sanderson. There's supposed to be so many little things you notice across Cosmere on rereads

I finished my 52nd book

Brittany wrote: "Totally get the reread of Sanderson. There's supposed to be so many little things you notice across Cosmere on rereads"
So true! I think it's going to be my yearly re-read, so good! :)

I wish I could but those books, while amazing are too long for frequent rereads for me. Too many things to read, never enough time

I finished my 53rd book

What does everyone's July book plans look like?

I'm taking 8 days off work and going out of town so I likely won't get as much reading done this month. That being said this is my list

Currently reading (audio) and (ebook)

My ideal monthly tbr includes as many of the following as I can find time for

Want to finish and , have about three hours left of that one so should finish it soon, likely by Monday. Also want to read our BOTM and would be great if I could check off either of my outstanding e-books, so or .

I don't have any plans for July, just decided with whatever I'll be into reading. Planning works for me in almost every aspect of my life except books :)

And I finished several interesting books recently:

- it took me so long to finish this one but I enjoyed so much!

- thanks Lili for the rec, it was an amazing sassy read :)

- first I wanted to go with another book for the Africa prompt on our bingo challenge but switched to this one. And didn't regret. Actually both are amazing but I wanted something totally new

- thanks Brittany for the amazing rec. I get the same vibes as I got while reading the Shadowhunters series. I'm definitely going to continue reading the series.

- just a cute romance^ nothing special but a nice light read when you're tired of all the heavy fantasy books.

Hurray for finally finishing The Lightning Thief, Elena! 😆 That is such a fun series! I need to get back into Uncle Rick's books... I am SO behind. I need to finish the Magnus Chase series and I still need to start the Apollo series 😬 I'm so glad to hear that you enjoyed the Evil Librarian! I just finished the trilogy last month and I am really going to miss sassy Cyn. Lol.

Currently reading as well. I'm just over the 50% mark and so far I'm enjoying it. I don't usually plan out my reading because my mood wants to do what it wants to do. Lol. After finishing this, I may read the sequel, but I also have on the way from the library! And of course, Fear Street is always an option over here. Lol. Especially with the movies coming out on Netflix this month!

Hi everyone. I am new here and on this app so still learning how to use. I just finished All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven and really enjoyed it. The movie was great but not as great as the book (naturally). I loved the romance and accurate portrayal of depression. If anyone has any suggestions for other books I would appreciate.

Elena yay for finishing Lightning Thief finally!! Also glad you enjoyed the A&O prequel! Totally go look at the reading order for the two series, I think they are better read together! Love them but I am so far behind again.


Welcome John, what other books have you enjoyed and what are your favourite genres and all that?

Hey John! All the Bright Places is one of my favourites. Some books I liked with the same topic are My Heart and Other Black Holes and How to Make Friends with the Dark

Welcome John! 😊

Liliana wrote: "Hurray for finally finishing The Lightning Thief, Elena! 😆 That is such a fun series! I need to get back into Uncle Rick's books... I am SO behind. I need to finish the Magnus Chase series and I st..."

I am also behind on Rick's books Lili, though not as much, I still have to read the last two books in the Apollo series. Honestly, I've kind of outgrown them, but I would like to finish out the Camp Half-Blood story since there are only two books left.

I finished my 54th book

Welcome John! :)

@Lili I'm even farther behind on his books :D

@Brittany Thank you for the advice. I'm going to check the order before reading the next book :)

I've just finished and have some mixed feelings about the book. There are so many different events happening in one book so I felt bored! Isn't it strange? The book was boring because of too much happening there? It's the first time I have this feeling. Though overall I enjoyed reading but had some issues with the writing style and the author's wish to make everyone happy.

Elena wrote: "Welcome John! :)

@Lili I'm even farther behind on his books :D

@Brittany Thank you for the advice. I'm going to check the order before reading the next book :)

I've just finished earlier in the year and put it down about 200 odd pages in because nothing was happening. I thought I'd go back, but haven't felt the pull to!

I actually loved ACOWAR but I do agree there were some issues with it, particularly the need for everyone to be happy and the continued use of particular plot devices and tropes. It did have a lot going on but I liked that. It also could have been partly the narration though.

My and Jo's issues were completely different :))) but it's great!

@Brittany I had the same issues with the Throne of Glass series up to book 5 or 6.

Now I'm thinking of taking a break from all the YA romantic fantasy and read some fantasy classics like D&D universe.

Yup those same issues are definitely in ToG. I am waiting to hear if her newest series does the same thing. While I love the worlds she creates I am not up for those same plot devices and such.

A break from YA fantasy romance is needed sometimes for sure!

I felt like I read more than I really did this week for some reason. Here is what I read.

-3 Stars
I rather enjoy the laid back nature of these series and this book continues that vibe. We get some dungeon diving, a new character added to the family, the Witches Cafe makes a return, and we get some backstory on Beelzebub. It was enjoyable read.

-3 Stars
Some classic Nancy Drew. I'm really curious how the new series handles this franchise.

-2 Stars
Here is the start of a bit of a midweek slump for me. I needed a book under a 100 pages for a challenge ending in June. I hit up my pile of Kindle freebies and dug this book up. It was a short quick read at 30 pages and I just felt confused and disappointed. There is a part of me that thinks that this story has a lot of potential but it couldn't really be fully explored in a 30 page format. It's part of the reason why I'm generally not a fan of shorter stories. There isn't enough time to properly build a story for me to fully sink my teeth into. Then there is the ending. I'll be perfectly honest here, I didn't understand it at all. Maybe I'm just dumb, maybe I'm just a common pleb who doesn't understand the authors artistic intent, but it made no damned sense. The start and the middle had some interesting idea and some interesting set up. The ending was essentially random gibberish thrown on the page with no explanation.

-2 Stars
Here is the other book in the midweek slump. Where to start with this train wreck? I needed a dystopian novel and this one had a horror tag and it fit some other challenges so I decided to give it a whirl. The book didn't start off bad but it never really grabbed me either. The more I read the book the more things just kind of came apart for me. In this world there was a summer of brutal gang violence that resulted in the government passing new stricter laws for children. Basically children committing crimes get tossed in this prison called The Furnace for life. Apparently young girls commit no crimes at all because there is nothing but boys in this prison and no mention of any other prison system. It's stated if you are a child and commit a crime it's off to The Furnace for you. This is just the start of the issues I had with the story in general. In the beginning our MC is framed for murder by guards from the prison, it's established that several other children have been also framed, but it's never explained why. Why are they doing this? Why did they target the MC? How did they know who he was? How are they able to get away with this? This is just the tip of the iceberg of world issues I have with this book. I could rant for a while about them. Another issue I had with the book is the MC. This character is beyond dumb and there was one moment that just pushed me over the edge. Our MC and friends discover a potential way to escape from this prison. This information needs to be kept secret or they will literally be killed by the warden. Not five minutes later here is our MC telling two random strangers this critical secret. The sheer stupidity of this all was just mind boggling. The ending was another one of those cliff hanger buy the second book to see what happened kind of endings, not as bad as Forbidden Passage from last week but was just the cherry on top of this turd. Needless to say I won't be reading on in this series.

The other thing I wanted to touch on was the horror tag I mentioned earlier. Horror is like saying fantasy when it comes down to describing something. It's a super broad term with dozens of sub-genres. This book is a YA book that decided to go the body horror route. Now this is a bold option as body horror is a rather disgusting sub-genre and it's one I enjoy. It works great in a visual medium like manga or comics or you need an author who is great at describing things. This book felt like body horror lite, a diet body horror if you will or a PG-13 slasher movie. The horror didn't go far enough for me. If you want to do body horror than lets get disgusting. Like this



-3 Star
This was another series from my childhood that I was interested in reading. Now I didn't remember much about this series outside of childhood genius designs stuff. After doing some research I discovered that this series is actually older than the Hardy Boys with the first book in the first series going back to 1910. This particular book was the first book in the second series that came out in 1954 and is about Tom Swift Jr, the son of the Tom Swift from the first series. I was really surprised with the book and it had much more of an adventure feel to it. It was interesting to see "futuristic" science from the 1950's. The main invention was an atomic powered jet aircraft that could take off vertically that still used short wave radios. There some odd moments where I had to stop and remember the time this came from. Like the scene where they get this aircraft up to 50,000' and where excited because they had set a new record. I had to remember that at that time we still hadn't even been to space. There was also aspects of the book that didn't age as well but it's kind of expected for an older book. I'm not going to judge it to harshly for stuff like that.

-4 Stars
This light novel, for me, is in the same vein as Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear and I love it. The book is about a young girl, in game name Maple, who is convinced by her friend to play a VRMMO. This is the first time playing a game like this and as a result she doesn't think like a normal gamer. As a result she ends up creating a completely broken character that is an absolute monster in the game. She dumps all of her points into defense and takes a great shield class. By the end of the first book there is nothing that can penetrate her defense and the admins actually have to nerf her character to try and make things fair. This second book focuses on her friend, Sally and the second big event in the game. It took some time establish that Sally is just as much of a monster as Maple but her character is more focused on speed and DPS. This book was just a riot to read and it was hilarious to see the admins just losing their minds when Maple finds new ways to break the game. Flying turtles and acid rain is all I'm going to say. I can't wait for the next book in this series but I have to wait until September for that.

-3 Stars
This was a resounding meh overall for me. It was basically a very middle of the road book. This book is about a category five hurricane that rips through Puerto Rico before making landfall in Louisiana. The story primarily takes place from two POV's. One from a young girl in Louisiana and one from a young boy in Puerto Rico. Here is my biggest issue with this book. When reading books like this I like reading about the characters matching their wits against nature and struggling to survive. Seeing how they make use of their skills, the resources on hand, and their wits to survive the situation. This book didn't have those elements. It felt like all the characters and myself, as the reader, were just on a roller coaster ride going along seeing the attractions. I never really felt like there was that matching of wits against nature, there wasn't that struggle to survive.

-3 Stars
What can I really say after reading nearly 40 of these books? This one was about Annja tracking down this library of rare books that was hidden by Ivan the Terrible. It was set in Russia and had all the usual tropes for this series and for books set in Russia. It was a great popcorn read.

Not fully sure what I plan to read next week. Two books I have planned are and

Gwen wrote: "Hey John! All the Bright Places is one of my favourites. Some books I liked with the same topic are My Heart and Other Black Holes and How to Make Friends with the Dark"

Gwen wrote: "Hey John! All the Bright Places is one of my favourites. Some books I liked with the same topic are My Heart and Other Black Holes and How to Make Friends with the Dark"

Thank you so much! I will check them out!

Not one of your better weeks Gord, not as many good books this time around. Hopefully next one is better

Jo wrote: "Liliana wrote: "Hurray for finally finishing The Lightning Thief, Elena! 😆 That is such a fun series! I need to get back into Uncle Rick's books... I am SO behind. I need to finish the Magnus Chase..."

I don't read a lot of MG books actually... probably one or two a year. And to be honest, I last read a Rick Riordan book back in 2015! It's been SO long!

I read very little MG typically myself but the Rick Riordan books are just fun. Sometimes need a book just like those. Totally get what you mean about outgrowing them though Jo

Yeah which was sad because they were a massive chunk of my life at one point, but ah well. I've been reading Victoria Schwab's Cassidy Blake books, but that's about the only MG I read anymore.

I just read the book If I was your girl by Meredith Russo and it was probably one of the best stories I have read in the last couple years outside of All the Bright Places. I don't have any personal connection to the transgender community, I don't even know anyone that I am aware of, but the story to me from my point of view was amazing. It absolutely made me think differently about the struggles that children can go through in that situation. It's 100% worth a read.

Finished so that's my latest audiobook done. I wasn't a massive fan, I don't think I'll be reading the other two books in the series. Moving onto as my next audiobook and I'm super excited for it, because I loved The Rose Code, also by Kate Quinn and this one has the same narrator as that who was brilliant, plus Brittany recommended it, so it should be great!