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That's perfect :-D

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Cold Curses by Chloe Neill
Series: Heirs of Chicagoland #5
Shelf: GR's UF shelf (shelved by 16 people)
Category #6: Kindness to Animals Day (book contains wolf shifters)
Read: 24 Nov
Rating: ✮✮✮✮½

My Review:
Cold Curses wraps up Neill's Chicagoland heir spin-off. In this finale, Elisa and her team gather to try to restore the city's fallen wards and expel the demons that are wreaking havoc. Connor helps as he can, but he's bombarded with challenges for his ascension to Apex.

If you've been wondering about Jonathan Black, Neill answers Elisa's questions about him and his heritage. He's always been a bit of a question mark for me, so it was good learning what he's truly been up to in the previous books. Additionally, Elisa's "Monster situation" is brought into the light.

�� ... there are many ways to make a family. And family is what matters.��

I've enjoyed reading about the heirs. Lulu and Alexei are cute. Lulu has grown and changed quite a bit throughout the series. I've also enjoyed the evolution of Elisa and Connor's relationship. They are a good match, each trusting in the strength and abilities of the other. And, while they've appeared briefly in other installments, I liked the larger inclusion of the Chicagoland OG's for the finale, as well.

The final discussion between Elisa and Merit was phrased in a way that could, if the author was so inclined, lead to future shorts or possibly another spin-off. But, I'm happy with the way she ended this series.

CONGRATULATIONS, Prose Before Bros!
We now have an updated BINGO card with a stamp on 'Nat'l Cat Day'. 

[Our updated BINGO card can be viewed on page 1]

Yay!! :D

Congratulations on the stamp Prose Before Bros!

Thank you, ladies! :-)

Ok, confession time.. I spent the day gaming instead of reading.. oops!!

But I think I've definitely had my dose now and will be spending more time with my nose in a book for the rest of the week hehe.

Hey guys. New shelf ��
Category #7 ~ 29 Nov: Nat’l Mad Hatter Day
Requirement ~ Read a book featuring an author or character named Alice -or- "Alice" in series name or title

I’ll be reading
Main character named Alice

That’s a winning one for Team 3. And they seem to be all caught up. But I’ll check my shelves for an Alice in a bit.

If Team 3 doesn't win this week, I'll be reading Alice in Zombieland. Alice in title, and MPG Urban Fantasy

Completion Post

Kindness to Animals Day
MPG Paranormal Romance
Book: Wolf's Bane
Date Read: 11/29
Rating: 3.5 stars
Review: I think Hadley does a better job when her Paranormal is pure fantasy, rather than a contemporary setting. I have read some rich worlds with complex characters from her, but this world fell a bit flat, and the characters weren't very well developed. I will read the next one, to see if she can improve on it, but I may need to go back to Rise of the Iliri for a refresher on how good she can be!

Sad that it's a winning shelf :-(

I wouldn't be sad though if I didn't have to hunt for an Alice character. Because my Alice authors are not in the SOS genre, and I have nothing with that name in title or series name. Unless I actually have a copy of Alice in Zombieland lying around that hasn't made it onto my GR shelves, which I'm not ruling out since it's a book I've had my doubts about whether I want to read it or not, so I might very well have a secondhand copy somewhere :-)

Flipping the Bird by Carrie Pulkinen
Series: Shift Creek #1
Shelf: GR PNR
Category #7: Nat'l Mad Hatter Day (MC's name is Alice)
Read: 30 Nov
Rating: ✮✮✮☆��

My Review:
Flipping the Bird, like all of Carrie Pulkinen's click lit PNR I've read, was a quick and enjoyable read. Shift Creek is a town in Texas Hill Country with a creek running through it. This creek was magicked to heal the supernatural, however it's losing its power and the members of the Rainecourt family, that has the power to fix the problem, are unreachable or unwilling.

Alice is a crow shifter. She and her best friend Megan (a raccoon shifter) own Shifted Treasures. They sell art made from reclaimed treasures. One night, Alice (as her crow) is drawn to a purdy shiny amulet in the trash of the newest resident of the Rainecourt house. Her hopes are high seeing someone in the house - he must be able to help save the town and fix the creek. But, she overhears his name it's not Rainecourt.

Alice and Donovan, warlock and town newbie, flipflop over each other at their first meeting. From there, things move quickly. While they've both kept secrets, the level of Donovan's anger felt off when he learns Alice's, which was disappointing. Otherwise, I enjoyed the start to this series about the town of Shift Creek. And, Donovan's gassy familiar mongoose, Marty, was a hoot.

I'm actually going to read Alice in Zombieland because I got the lovely Horror category #1 in Michelle's White Elephant challenge, so I'll post here when I'm done to complete our shelves even if we can't win. :)

It's always sad times when Bingo is over :-(

It was lovely playing with you ladies!

I should hopefully finish one of my books today, finally (down with a cold and fever atm so reading is meh), so I'll post a completion for that at least.

Same to you, Eldarwen. Hope you’re feeling better soon!

Steph wrote: "Hey guys. New shelf ��
Category #7 ~ 29 Nov: Nat’l Mad Hatter Day
Requirement ~ Read a book featuring an author or character named Alice -or- "Alice" in series name or title

I’ll be reading [bookco..."

If such a category is ever needed again, might I suggest that an additional option be reading an Alice in Wonderland re-telling? There's one I've been wanting to read, but her name is Allison, so it didn't fit.

Eldarwen wrote: "It's always sad times when Bingo is over :-(

It was lovely playing with you ladies!

I should hopefully finish one of my books today, finally (down with a cold and fever atm so reading is meh), so..."

Hope you're feeling better! I've also just finished one, so I'll post so it can be counted for the stats.

Completion Post

Week 7 - Nat'l Mad Hatter Day
Book: Alice in Zombieland
Date Read: 12/5
Rating: 4 stars
How it fits: Alice in title/MC; MPG Urban Fantasy
Review: I enjoyed this one much more than I expected I would. For the first little bit, I thought it was going to turn into YA angst with a love triangle. Which I sometimes like, but I haven't been in the mood for lately. But it quickly shaped up into something with more depth/character than usual. Alice was a little angsty, but her family just died, so I can forgive that. She heals, as life happens. I did keep looking at the other characters and trying to figure out which Alice in Wonderland character they were suppose to represent, but finally came to the conclusion that they were each just themselves.

Completion Post
Reader's Choice aka Nat'l Book Month


Book: The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard
Pages: 417
Date Read: 6th December 2023
Rating: 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars
How it fits: Urban Fantasy MPG
Review:
It was an enjoyable book with an interesting take on fallen angels, their magic, paired with a sort of murder mystery in a devastated post-magic-war Paris. The dystopian setting was right up my alley, so was the mystery and the magic. However, I had such a hard time sticking with this book sometimes. While the beginning was a little confusing, which is normal when diving into a new world with its own setting, because let's be fair, even if one knows what Paris looks like, a ruined Paris after a war waged between magic users is not the same thing at all.

Then there were the characters. I liked Philippe, but not many of the others, though that was probably also intentional on the part of the author. Some of them I found to be fluctuating a bit too much in their personality, especially Isabelle, though I can see it making sense in light of the story, but it bugged me a little.

The mystery started out really cool and it wasn't all too easy to figure out who the "villain", for lack of a better word, was. It just took too long for the characters to get there. I sometimes found myself wondering when on earth it was finally going to be revealed, which took away some of the fun of the story unfortunately.

But there was so much to enjoy, especially also the fact that some Asian mythology was woven in as well. It wasn't just a book about the Fallen and their belief in God, or rather lack thereof, which wasn't even a focal point of the story anyway.

I'm rambling in my review, which just goes to show how difficult it is for me to try to make up my mind about the book haha.

It was a dark story as well, which I personally enjoyed.

CONGRATULATIONS, Prose Before Bros!
We now have an updated BINGO card with a stamp on 'Nat'l Book Month'. 

[Our updated BINGO card can be viewed on page 1]

Yay!! :D

Laura wrote: "If such a category is ever needed again, might I suggest that an additional option be reading an Alice in Wonderland re-telling? There's one I've been wanting to read, but her name is Allison, so it didn't fit."

👍🏼 I'm not sure why I didn't think of that, Laura. 😆

Steph wrote: "Laura wrote: "If such a category is ever needed again, might I suggest that an additional option be reading an Alice in Wonderland re-telling? There's one I've been wanting to read, but her name is..."

It's easy to think up a singular task. You were coming up with multiple tasks for multiple shelves all at once. :)

I'll take it, thanks 😉

Congratulations on the stamp Prose before Bros!

Thanks :)

Thanks for the stamp, ladies :-)

For what it's worth, I'm also currently reading another book I wanted to read for Bingo, so can still always post a completion for that as well once I'm done. Hopefully this weekend.

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