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Hi team! How's the reading going? I started my book the other night and it was fine but then it was my turn for the Magic Strikes audiobook at the library and I got side tracked by Kate and Curran. I'm going through a re-read before the next book comes out and I'm falling in love with the characters all over again :)

I'm about 3/4 through my book for the assassins shelf. I understand the Kate Daniels' world love.

For assassins I'm reading

- has been nonstop action and I was really enjoying it but now I'm at a 4 day event for work so I don't have as much time to read. Really enjoying Cat and Bones though.

I love the action in Jeaniene Frost's books, Danielle. I hope you continue to enjoy the series. :)

Oh yeah! She really knows how to write a fast paced story that doesn't seem rushed. Great scenes especially between Cat and Bones.

Just FYI:

I FINALLY decided on a book for the free space. I'll be reading

Shelf: Assassins
Skinwalker by Faith Hunter
Finished: 06/06/13
Rating: 3.5 stars



I don’t know for sure but it felt like this book had a bit of “first book syndrome� going on. I felt lukewarm towards it at the beginning and honestly, I skimmed a bit when she was describing rooms. The inner dialogue of the Beast took some getting used to as well.

I did enjoy the characters and I liked Jane. The last quarter of the book really took off and I couldn't put it down until after the epilogue. I liked all the nicknames too, Bruiser and Troll especially. I liked Leo and I really hope the twins make another appearance in a later book.

Speaking of Kate & Curran, have y'all read this yet?



Made me smile

Dead Ever After
Shelf: MiDDLE (free-space)
Rating: 2.5/5 stars
Brief Review:
Figured it would end that way after asking a question of Charlaine Harris on a blog several books back. Can't say I feel it was a satisfying ending. Very unsatisfying for me, actually. Definitely didn't leave me with a happy feeling. The person Sookie ended up feeling fraternal to me. Too weird.

I should add that it reminds me of something that happened in the TV Show BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER. I won't say anything else, because I don't want to spoil it for anyone.

Haha, yeah, Sandra posted it earlier today in another thread. I was cracking up :)(ETA: Curran Twitter)

Skinwalker is a book I've started a couple times and never got into. I have heard really good things about the series and I'm sure if I can get through book 1, it sounds like a series I'd really like. Yay for being the first to finish!

Bones and Cat are another fun couple, those books are so much fun. I really enjoyed the Vlad books too. I might like him more than Bones...

Yes Carrie, read the Way of Shadows! That book has been on my shelf forever. Maybe your review will motivate me to crack it open haha.

Vivian wrote: "Haha, yeah, Sandra posted it earlier today in another thread. I was cracking up :)(ETA: Curran Twitter)

Skinwalker is a book I've started a couple times and never got into. I have heard really goo..."

If you can get through the first half of Skinwalker, the second half should almost read itself. lol

FlibBityFLooB wrote: "
Dead Ever After

Shelf:
MiDDLE (free-space)

Rating:
2.5/5 stars

Brief Review:

Figured it would end that way after asking a question of Charlaine Har..."

Dang... I was hoping it would be an excellent end to the series.
Its just sitting on top of my TBR along with and about 200 others I've really been meaning to get to.

Etiquette & Espionage
Shelf: Assassins
Rating: 4/5 stars
Brief Review:
Though I wasn't as crazy about this spin-off as I have am about Gail Carriger's PARASOL PROTECTORATE series, I was still happy to be reminded of the author's witty writing style :)

This is a steampunk/paranormal world that I adore. Gail Carriger has quite a talent for writing the most bizarre names and situations into her world. As an example, here's the name of an alarm protocol in the book:

alarm protocol gamma six my eye is pickled and the earthworm sulks at midnight

I love her creativity.

I also love how she has her vampires pre-occupied with being foppish. as per one of the vampires who is a professor at this assassination-style finishing school says: "nothing is more distressing to a vampire than a stain".

As you can see, I'm back from my business trip. And I just got an email from the training that I took that I got 100% on my project for the class for work. YAY! :)

I wonder what our shelf will be next week.

Congrats Flib! I'm looking forward to E&E.

Yay Flib on the training! Bust on Dead Ever After but your review is on par with a lot I've seen. I will read it when I get it from the library but mostly because I've gone this far, gotta see it through. Did you hear there's actually another book coming out later this year? It's like an epilogue book of all the characters. I'm a huge fan of getting resolution but if you're going to claim it's a last book, make it a real "last" book.

Christina, you need to move Frost Burned up the list! It's soooo good, and you even get to read a little from Adam's POV :)

EEK! I had no idea there was going to be a follow-up for the characters in the Sookie-verse. I agree, a last book should be a last book.

Except in the case of Karen Marie Moning. Because in my brain, she's the schizzle. :)

Deadly Sting
Date completed: June 7
Rating: 4 stars

The writing has definitely improved throughout the series though I miss counting the repetitive phrase! Haha :)

Most of the story takes place during a gala where some giants try to pull off a major robbery. Even knowing Gin will come out of it okay, there were some nail-biting moments in the story. How is she going to save the day? And there's no Jo-Jo around to heal her! This was a lot of fun and moved at a decent pace but the ending was stellar.

All I'm going to say about the endimg. Karma baby.

And is there a new Big Bad coming into town? Maybe a potential love interest? That would make things interesting. Because we're all over Owen now.

Spoilerific comments below involving Owen
(view spoiler)[ What happened with this guy? I know my memory is bad, but didn't he initially encourage Gin to accept herself as the Spider and was totally okay with her as she was? We already went through this Donovan Caine! I understand it's hard to watch your gf kill your ex but this is the same ex who TRIED TO KILL YOUR SISTER. The one person you'd do anything for. I used to think Owen was so good for Gin :(

For such a hard ass, Gin gets so whiney over her guys.
(hide spoiler)]

I keep meaning to start the Elemental Assassin series, but I haven't yet. I've heard lots of good things

The characters are a big draw for me. I'm so in love with Gin and her friends, there's mostly good character and relationship growth throughout the series, and there will be characters I hate with a passion and wish painful suffering upon. Gin is a hardcore assassin with a marshmallow center when it comes to those she cares about. And as a side note, the food descriptions will make your mouth water!

On the other hand, if you can't get past repetitive writing, these books will drive you crazy.

I might be a few days late with my book (as I picked a long one) but at least it's only the start.

No worries Carrie. It is later on in the game when we need to be more careful with page counts. :D

Although, to be honest, that's one of the reasons I didn't pick The Way of Shadows myself. I try to stick to 300-400 page books for my bingo shelves.

I'm with you Christina. There were several fantasy books on the shelf that I want to read but they are just too long for me at the moment. Way of Shadows was one.

Carrie, the first week is nothing, bingo tends to go on for a while so no hurry :) are you enjoying it so far?

It is soo good so far, I'm hoping to read some more tonight. But I'm staying at my mom's over night, movie and pizza night for us. So if I can squeeze some in I will try.

Movie pizza nights are always fun , enjoy your evening!

I think I've finally decided. Going to read for my Free Space.

I see they posted our new shelf... I'm going to go ahead and read Lover At Last for book boyfriends shelf. I'm also going to skip the book before it (even though I haven't read book #10 in the series). Bad girl! I know! :)

FlibBityFLooB wrote: "As you can see, I'm back from my business trip. And I just got an email from the training that I took that I got 100% on my project for the class for work. YAY! :)

I wonder what our shelf will be..."

A little late, but Congrats, Flib!!

I'm also looking forward to E&E...



Vivian wrote: "All I'm going to say about the endimg. Karma baby." ROFL! Love it, and so true! (Also loved that book...now it's sit back and wait, wait, wait)

Flib! SHOCKED...reading OOO (out of order) ;)

Hehe, wait, wait, wait. Maybe I should do a count, 10 sec, 20 sec, 30 sec...

New shelf! Book boyfriends sound fun. I was going to read my free shelf book but it's more fun to browse and find future book boys ;)

Man.... Looking through that shelf, I found I have soooo many books on my to-be-read list where people have tagged the book as 'book-boyfriend'.

Who knew I read so many boyfriend-worthy books? EEK! :)

I did have to dig a while to find a paranormal themed book I had on hand to read. I guess you can always read a non paranormal book.

Judithe wrote: "Flib! SHOCKED...reading OOO (out of order) ;)"

hehehe. don't tell my husband. He'd probably give me a spanking!

Oooohhh, a spanking!!!! ROFL

Somehow I missed the shelf announcement. Luckily, ya'll caught it.:)

I'm going to read for the Book Boyfriends shelf.

Unless I find or on that list later on.

Cristina (a book away from an episode of hoarders) wrote: "Somehow I missed the shelf announcement. Luckily, ya'll caught it.:)

I'm going to read for the Book Boyfriends shelf.

Unless I find ..."

I'm sure Frost Burned IS on it...keep scrolling!! I saw it cause I had it tagged on my tbr-on hand shelf, but I've already read it...still gotta fix that!

Whoa, book boyfriends and spanking! This thread got interesting real fast lol.

I really liked Hex Hall. Very light fun reading :)

Not sure about my choice. There were a lot of non-supernatural books that caught my eye but they were still mostly part of a series. I'll finish my free choice first and then see what I'm in the mood for.

Finished: June 9
Rating 2.5 stars
Shelf: freespace

Sorry, I got to rambling a little...

Let's start with some of the good. I was really intrigued by the setting. Washington VC is an alternate universe where vampires are the top of the food chain and they are not your human-loving variety. These vampires are depraved and see humans as not more than food and something to play with. I wanted to know more about how people travel back and forth between the normal DC and the vampire city, and the different supes who live in both worlds.

The not so good. Our hero Arturo and heroine Quinn did not do it for me.

Arturo is a vampire from VC and full of contradictions. He tells Quinn not to trust him, but not to fear him because he will never harm her physically. He will never force her into sex but is okay with coercing her (view spoiler)[ in exchange for the safety of her brother (hide spoiler)]. He isn't necessarily likable but I can see his character changing and growing over time. Or the truth will come out and we will see he is truly a snake and untrustworthy. I'd find the latter more believable.

Then there's Quinn. Oh Quinn. I want to compare her to the girl from 50 Shades of Grey. Quinn is scared of Arturo, then decides to trust him, he deceives her, she gets mad, then he gives her sexy eyes, and she gives in to her desire. Repeat throughout the book. But maybe it's okay because they progress slowly from kissing and only have sex at the very end, they didn't rush into things *that's sarcasm*.

I did not see the loving relationship between Quinn and her brother. As readers, we're told that Quinn and her brother have a close relationship and she loved him from the moment he was born but the only interaction we see is a stilted conversation of 1-2 word sentences in the beginning. I need more showing, less telling.

Quinn is supposed to be an extremely powerful sorceress and she is finally starting to unlock her power by the end of the book. The ending also left me curious about what will happen next but I'm still undecided on whether or not I will continue the series.

Ya'll I'll be done with my book either this evening or tomorrow morning. I was at an event all week and didn't have as much time to read.

I did find Frost Burned but I still decided to read a library book instead of one I own (otherwise I probably would've chosen Sacrificial Magic). I do have a soft spot for Terrible.

That being said, I did change my book boyfriend book from Hex Hall to Kiss of Frost since the latter is due back next Monday. :)

Hey ya'll,

Just finished At Grave's End - 6/10

Rating: 5 stars
Review: Another action packed, fast paced read that adds greatly to an already strong series.

In this story we have Cat and Bones getting used to the married life while still battling the undead who refuse to adhere to not murdering their food source.

The primary story in this edition is the war that is happening between vampire factions.

The Good:

I love Cat and Bones as a couple. Ride or Die! They embody this slogan. Cat is super kick ass and Bones is just stellar. I think everyone needs a Bones in their life! I feel like the action occurred from beginning to end with no lull in between.

The story line was cool and different too. We got a few new vampires added to the character list (very interesting characters I might add) as well as some sadness that is likely set up for future books. I've read blurbs for books in the Night Huntress World novels so I'm SURE some of occurrences are set ups for other books. Either way the story moves a long very quickly and keeps you on the edge of your seat.

The Bad:

Hmmmmm I don't like coincidences or in the literary world "devices" that are really random and all of a sudden exist and no one has ever mentioned it until it's time to solve a problem.

For instance I'm talking about (view spoiler)[ Bone's "death" and "resurrection". Having a power that makes you look dead. Hmmm that's kind of random. Is it possum power? (hide spoiler)]. I feel like this has occurred in previous books in this series too such inOne Foot in the Grave (view spoiler)[ when Bones and Cat meet up at the wedding and they are both the best man and maid of honor (respectably) and somehow no one ever mentioned anything before? (hide spoiler)].

The UGLY:

Nothing ugly from me.

Great series! Can't wait to continue and read more about Cat and Bones and the spin offs.

Danielle RatherReadThanWork wrote: "Hey ya'll,

Just finished At Grave's End - 6/10

Rating: 5 stars
Review: Another action packed, fast paced read that adds greatly to an already strong series.

In this story we have Cat and Bones..."

Updated post #40 to include your review. Have you decided on a free space or book boyfriends book yet?

Not rushing you, just curious, making sure I didn't miss it if you did.

For book boyfriends,

I'll be reading

Danielle RatherReadThanWork wrote: "For book boyfriends,

I'll be reading "

Anita Blake does have a lot of book boyfriends, doesn't she? :)

Shelf: Book Boyfriends
Kiss of Frost by Jennifer Estep
Finished: 06/10/13
Rating: 4 stars



This book started almost immediately after Touch of Frost when we're thrown into Gwen's training with Logan.

I liked this book enough to finish it in one day although I have to admit that I knew almost immediately that you-know-who was a bad guy. I was a bit surprised about the identity of the attacker from the library (as well as the reasoning behind the attacks) and thought it was a bit excessive, even for Mythos Academy.

I'm definitely going to continue the series.

*snort* I'd say Anita does have quite a # of boyfriends ;)

I'll read later this month

LOL, no one has more boyfriends than Anita! Couldn't pick a better book off that shelf :)

I went off course and picked for my book boyfriends read. It's quite short so I finished it yesterday.

Unravel Me (not the sequel to Shatter Me)
shelf: Book boyfriends
finished: June 9
rating: 3 stars

I'm fascinated with psychology so the blurb of this book caught my eye right away:

Psychology student Ashlyn Drake’s neat, orderly life takes a turn for the crazy when she finds the perfect subject for her amnesia thesis � a young man without any memory of his previous life, including the murder he’s accused of committing.

We'll get some of the bad out of the way first. There were parts of this book that left me skeptical, and I had to remind myself that this is a short fictional story where timelines and rational thought don't always come into play. And the idea that no one was able to identify Logan for so long seemed far-fetched, especially after we learn who he is. But for the most part, I was able to suspend my disbelief and enjoy the story.

Book boyfriend, yes he is. If you would rather not have adult content in your books, steer clear. Ashlyn is not the most interesting lead character, but Logan is the perfect amnesiac boyfriend, he cooks, cleans, and is very good about taking care of her needs in the bedroom. And yes, those scenes are fun to read ;)

Overall, I thought the plot was enjoyable, but the end left me wanting more. I'm sure part of it is due to the length, but I felt a little gypped at the end. The murder isn't fully explained, and the conclusion felt rushed.

I loved the best friend Liz! She was a hoot and delivered some of the best lines in the story. Her story is told in book 2 and I might pick it up to read more about her.

I'm so torn with what book to read for this shelf, lol so many to pick from.

Danielle: I assumed you picked for your Free Shelf and added it to Post #40. Let me know if this isn't what you intended.

Carrie: I know, right? :) So many fictional boyfriends to choose from.

Just a general note, I'm about halfway done with Angel's Ink. Its interesting but I don't think its gonna be one of my favorites.

I've played this before and but I can't remember, the free space is one that's found on the groups bookcase right?