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Karsyn's Kickass Jocoserious, Kooky, Jannock book blog: August Reading Log & Monthly Wrap Up & It's Monday! What are you Reading?

Monday, September 1, 2014

August Reading Log & Monthly Wrap Up & It's Monday! What are you Reading?


It's Monday! What are you Reading? ~ Hosted by BookJourney


I'm tired!  :)  So, I'm making this post a post of multiple things, so there's not separate posts for my reading log, and for the It's Monday!  What are you Reading meme I always join in.  Hope everyone doesn't mind a jumbled mess of things in one post.

First up, It's Monday!  What are you reading.  I'm just going to let you check out my log for this one, so I'm not posting a separate thing.  Since last Monday, I completed just the last 7 books listed, since I slowed down a lot at that point.  But, they were almost all fantastic, so that's always great! I put the above graphic as a tiny little one where my last week of books were so you can just skim down to that, if it helps.

Next, for my fellow Swap-Botters ~ this is my August Reading Log for the Carpe Librum swap.  Be warned, it's rather LONG.  I joined in a GoodReads team challenge that lasted 7 weeks (starting July 12th) and also did the week long Bout of Books Read-a-Thon, so I read a TON.  I wrote this for my 3rd quarter log (for Swap-Bot as well), so that's why the numbers are continued from July, didn't feel like changing all of them.  Sorry!

Hope you are able to get through what I've been reading.  It's a lot, and I'm rightfully burnt out!  I am glad to be done, finally, with the challenges and Read-a-Thons and am taking some time to do some things OTHER than reading!  :)

Finally, below the log is my monthly wrap-up, including the reviews I have posted this month, all my Bout of Books evening updates and other bits of randomness posted here.  As a reminder, my new review system ~ Rêveur Reviews ~ starts this month.  Make sure you follow me at Bloglovin', Facebook, or on your own feeds to get my reviews of all kinds of different books.  You won't see the books that everyone is reviewing, I'll be reviewing the books I read, good and bad.  I hope you'll enjoy that, and this post.  If you get to the bottom of it, bless you!  :D



August Reading Log ~ ImzadiRose
New Color Coding  ~  5,  4,  3,  2,  1


37 ~ Graduation Day (The Testing 03) by Joelle Charbonneau
Completed 8/1
4 of 5 stars
               Great ending to the series, though not as good as the first.  Loved this series.  It was like Hunger Games, but different too.  Enjoyable!

38 ~ No Show by Simon Wood
Completed 8/1
3 of 5 stars
               An ok mystery, a quick read about a missing woman and her husband trying to find her when no one believes him that she’s in trouble.  Ending was surprising.

39 ~ Kiss Me, Kill Me (Lucy Kincaid 02) by Allison Brennan
Completed 8/2
3 of 5 stars
               Another Lucy Kincaid, was ok, nothing great.  The end was good though.

40 ~ An Evil Mind (Robert Hunter 06) by Chris Carter
Completed 8/2
5 of 5 stars
               I LOVE this series, great crazy serial killers, and this one was another great one.

41 ~ The Philanthropist’s Danse by Paul Wornham
Completed 8/3
2 of 5 stars
               Good premise, boring completely boring story.  Bunch of jerks sitting around fighting over money.  The two who deserved it, were the 2 everyone else said shouldn’t have it.  Boring with horrible horrible people.

42 ~ S.E.C.R.E.T. (S.E.C.R.E.T. 01) by L Marie Adeline
Completed 8/4
4 of 5 stars
               Cute start to an erotica trilogy about women taking control of their sexuality.  Really good and enjoyable story.

43 ~ Three (Chandler 03) by J.A. Konrath
Completed 8/4
4 of 5 stars
               A good end to the Chandler series, a group of women who are assassins who are trying to save the world.

44 ~ The Big Blind (Nadia Wolf 01) by Nicolette Pierce
Completed 8/5
4 of 5 stars
               A good story about a female poker player.  A bit girlie, but not overly.  Enjoyed the more mystery parts of it.  Would like to read more.

45 ~ Silent Echo by J.R. Rain
Completed 8/5
3 of 5 stars
               This was a short book I found and it was definitely different.  It was about a cop who is pulled out of retirement to help a friend find his missing wife.  But the different part is that the MC is very sick (aids) and is dying through the story.  That was interesting and he had a wonderful friend.  The end was very very lame though.

46 ~ Gray Justice (Tom Gray 01) by Alan McDermott
Completed 8/5
3 of 5 stars
               Meh.  Pretty boring.  A man who had lost everything is out for revenge against criminals who have slipped through the cracks and who haven’t been brought to justice.

47 ~ Arctic Fire (RCS 01) by Stephen Frey
Completed 8/6
2 of 5 stars
               So much wrong with this book.  It seems like it’s all action, and it’s not at all.  Too much talking, not much else going on. 

48 ~ Taking It All (Surrender 03) by Maya Banks
Completed 8/6
1 of 5 stars
               Except for KGI, this book has made me done with Maya.  I hated this book.  It’s an erotica so I won’t give details, but I hate creating drama just to create a book.  It annoys me and she’s done this a lot lately.  Disappointing!

49 ~ Gray Resurrection (Tom Gray 02) by Alan McDermott
Completed 8/7
1 of 5 stars
               REALLY bad book.  MC is with a woman for years, goes on a mission and falls in love with a fellow captive he’s been with for 2 days.  UGH!!  Other stuff was dumb!

50 ~ Shared S.E.C.R.E.T. (S.E.C.R.E.T. 02) by L. Marie Adeline
Completed 8/8
4 of 5 stars
               Enjoyable 2nd book to the erotica trilogy.  Didn’t like the end of the 1st, which affected this one, but it was ok, until the end again. 

51 ~ Stirred (Jack Daniels 08) by J.A. Konrath
Completed 8/8
1 of 5 stars
               I hadn’t liked the last few of this series, but I wanted to finish it up.  I didn’t like it at all. 

52 ~ The 100 (The 100 01) by Kass Morgan
Completed 8/9
2 of 5 stars
               I didn’t like this book very much.  There are too many people, too many points of view.  Maybe the show would be different, it’s too much for one short book.

53 ~ Forgotten by Cass Patrick
Completed 8/9
4 of 5 stars
               REALLY REALLY enjoyable book about a girl who has no memory of the past, she only knows what is coming in the future.  It’s really different and enjoyable!  A must read!

54 ~ Dead Weight (Lizzy Gardner 02) by T.R. Ragan
Completed 8/10
3 of 5 stars
               A good series about a private investigator.  The one was more enjoyable than the 1st one, which I had read a while ago.  The sister of the PI is annoying, but not as much so in this.

55 ~ The Midnight Palace (Niebla 02) by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Completed 8/10
2 of 5 stars
               Not good at all, the first one was enjoyable, this one was pretty boring.  Didn’t like the characters, just couldn’t get into it at all.

56 ~ Game for Marriage (Game 01) by Karen Erickson
Completed 8/11
3 of 5 stars
               An ok erotica.  Silly storyline, ok characters

57 ~ Crash and Burn (Moreno & Hart 01) by Allison Brennan & Laura Griffin
Completed 8/11
3 of 5 stars
               Not what I was expecting, I thought it would be a story told together by both authors, instead it was two different stories about the 2 MCs.  I have never been a fan of Griffin and I still didn’t like her part, but I did like Brennan’s.  Her part was good, Griffins was dull.

58 ~ Illusive (Illusive 01) by Emily Lloyd-Jones
Completed 8/11
3 of 5 stars
               In the description of the book, it said it was “X-men meets Ocean Eleven”, but it wasn’t at all, unless they just sat around talking the whole time.  VERY boring, no action.  I can’t remember why I marked it a 3, there must have been something ok about it.

59 ~ S.E.C.R.E.T. Revealed (S.E.C.R.E.T. 03) by L. Marie Adeline
Completed 8/12
3 of 5 stars
               Didn’t like this one nearly as much as the first two.  Didn’t like what happened because of the end of the 2nd one and felt like Cassie was pretty dumb.  There was something she should have known the whole series, yet didn’t.  Ugh.

60 ~ A Dark Mind (Lizzy Gardner 03) by T.R. Ragan
Completed 8/12
3 of 5 stars
               My favorite one of this series so far, a serial killer is killing couples.  The annoying sister was back to being super annoying but the rest was enjoyable.

61 ~ Rush (The Game 01) by Eve Silver
Completed 8/13
4 of 5 stars
               Took me a while to get into this one.  But near the end, it really really started to get good and I ended up loving it.  Not my normal thing, but really enjoyable. 

62 ~ Push (The Game 02) by Eve Sliver
Completed 8/14
4 of 5 stars
               Great book from the beginning.  Loved it and can’t wait to read the next one! 

63 ~ If I Should Die (Lucy Kincaid 03) by Allison Brennan
Completed 8/14
3 of 5 stars
               A solid good book from the series.  Lucy and Sean are on a working vacation, trying to figure out who is trying to keep their friends’ lodge from being open.  Good overall.

64 ~ Obsessed (Lizzy Gardner 04) by T.R. Ragan
Completed 8/15
3.5 of stars
               The ending alone was a 5 star ending.  Wow!  Couldn’t believe it, and I definitely am looking forward to the next one.  The sister was more annoying than every so I didn’t like that.

65 ~ Naked (Blackstone Affair 01) by Raine Miller
Completed 8/16
1 of 5 stars
               UGH!  Horrible stupid erotica.  People tagged it BDSM, which is was not at all.  Just awful all around.

66 ~ Set Me Free (Fugitive 02) by Melissa Pearl
Completed 8/16
4 of 5 stars
               A really good conclusion to this 2 book series.  Enjoyable.

67 ~ Fated (Alex Verus 01) by Benedict Jacka
Completed 8/18
4 of 5 stars
               An Urban Fantasy similar to Jim Butcher.  Bit of comedy  with it, and really enjoyable.  Not what I typically read, but I enjoyed it a bunch.

68 ~ Dead Don’t Lie by L.R. Nicolello
Completed 8/18
4.5 of 5 stars
               LOVED this book, which appears to be the first for this author.  It was great, with one slight thing that I didn’t like.  Evelyn is a young detective with her own demons in her past.  There was a great moment I didn’t see coming, and it was WOW.  Great story and great characters.  Enjoyable!

69 ~ Our Broken Sky (Chaos Theory 01.5) by Sarah Harian
Completed 8/18
4 of 5 stars
               Enjoyable novella about one of the girls from the Compass Room.  We get her story and why she is there.  Good follow up story to the first book, which needs to read before this one. 

70 ~ Dirty Little Secrets (J.J. Graves 01) by Liliana Hart
Completed 8/19
4 of 5 stars
               An enjoyable new start of a series for me.  Glad that she didn’t take the easy way and the killer wasn’t who it seemed like it would be.  Love that best friends will find love together. 

71 ~ Chosen (Alex Verus 04) by Benedict Jacka
Completed 8/19
3 of 5 stars
               Ooooops, wasn’t paying attention and read this one out of order.  It was pretty enjoyable, though I wish I had read it in order. Look forward to the 5th book when it comes out.

72 ~ Blackbird (Blackbird 01) by Anna Carey
Completed 8/19
2 of 5 stars
               Sounds like it’d be good, but it wasn’t at all.  Written completely in 2nd person and I hated that.  It just didn’t work.  She was running but it wasn’t action-y at all.  Just dull.

73 ~ With Open Eyes (Kendra Michaels 01.5) by Iris Johansen
Completed 8/19
3 of 5 stars
               I’m not a fan of short stories.  I would rather get a full book.  But this one was fine for what it was.  I love Kendra so I enjoyed reading it, I just would have rather had a full book.

74 ~ Cursed (Alex Verus 02) by Benedict Jacka
Completed 8/19
3 of 5 stars
               Another good one in the series.  The only thing I don’t like about these books, is the author explains the same 3 or 4 things in EVERY book, every time.  So annoying.  But, overall, it’s a good series.

75 ~ A Dirty Shame (J.J. Graves 02) by Liliana Hart
Completed 8/20
4 of 5 stars
               Another great story and yay for best friends finding love.  She’s a little too insecure for my tastes, but overall it was good. 

76 ~ Taken (Alex Verus 03) by Benedict Jacka
Completed 8/20
3 of 5 stars
               Enjoyable again.  Not the best one, but still really good.

77 ~ Taken (Taken 01) by Erin Bowman
Completed 8/21
4 of 5 stars
               A really really great story!  In Claysoot, the boys disappear when they turn 18.  Grey watches his brother grow but then learns that what he’s always known about Claysoot might be wrong.  He and Emma try to figure out the truth.

78 ~ Frozen (Taken 02) by Erin Bowman
Completed 8/21
4 of 5 stars
               Not as enjoyable as the first, but a ton going on.  There was too much history lessons and talking but the action was really really great.

79 ~ Stolen (Taken 00.5) by Erin Bowman
Completed 8/21
3 of 5 stars
               A short story about how Bree grew up.  Again, not a fan of short stories, but it was good to read her story.

80 ~ The Testing Guide (The Testing 00.5) by Joelle Charbonneau
Completed 8/21
2 of 5 stars
               A REALLY short story, really really short.  Boring too, but ok I guess.

81 ~ One Kick by Chelsea Cain
Completed 8/22
2 of 5 stars
               A suspense, that part of the story was fine, but the characters, especially the main one,  Kick, were SOOOOOO annoying.  I hated her, and it made me not like the book at all.

82 ~ Time’s Echo (Chronos Files 01.5) by Rysa Walker
Completed 8/22
3 of 5 stars
               A good short story from Kieran’s point of view.  This series is good for people who are fans of time traveling stories.

83 ~ Nerve by Jeanne Ryan
Completed 8/22
2 by 5 stars
               Supposedly this book is for Hunger Games fans.  I don’t know how.  It was a glorified Truth or Dare and most of it was really lame.  For HG fans because there were guns?  UGH!

84 ~ Sweet Dreams (Mark Appleton 01) by Aaron Patterson
Completed 8/23
4 of 5 stars
               In the description of this book, it says only to read if you are ready for a book that defies genres.  Holy cow does it!!  The first 60% was OK, nothing great, but THEN it completely changes and holy shit, it was great!  Great end, great book!

85 ~ Clean (Mindspace Investigation 01) by Alex Hughes
Completed 8/23
2.5 of 5 stars
               The MC is a telepath who investigates crimes.  It was OK.  It had good and boring parts.  It was different but not overly enjoyable.

86 ~ Dirty Rotten Scoundrel (J.J. Graves 03) by Lilana Hart
Completed 8/24
3.5 of 5 stars
               Another good story, it ended abruptly for me, but overall it wasn’t bad. 


87 ~ Power (Faces of Evil 03) by Debra Webb
Completed 8/26
2 of 5 stars
               I had liked the first 2 books of this series, but this one I didn’t like much.  The one story, about the dancer, was ok, the other one about the missing boy was great.  MCs were both acting like idiots.

88 ~ The Rule of Thoughts (Mortality Doctrine 02) by James Dashner
Completed 8/27
4 of 5 stars
               While it wasn’t as good as the first, it was still a really great story.  Love this series, definitely worth a read for fans of Virtual Reality type books (like Ready Player One).  Can’t wait for the next one.

89 ~ Lock In (Lock In 01) by John Scalzi
Completed 8/28
5 of 5 stars
               REALLY fantastic book.  A disease swept across the world, for those who survived, some of them are left “Locked In”, which means their brain is active but their bodies are immobile.  Creations called Threeps are made which are sort of a robot that the Locked In can control, allowing them to “live” among everyone else.

90 ~ Unlocked (Lock In 00.5) by John Scalzi
Completed 8/28
3 of 5 stars
               A short story with a look at the background of Haden’s (the disease of Lock In) told by points of view of all different people involved.  Very interesting and amazing background on the book.  Awesome that he did that much detail!

91 ~ Harry Potter & The Philosopher’s Stone by JKR
Completed 8/29
5 of 5 stars
               Decided it was time for a partial re-read.  Decided to try Stephen Fry’s version of the audiobooks.  Supposedly JKR likes his the most, and it’s fine, but I prefer Jim Dale, though some of the stuff Fry does with the echoing affect (like for the howler) is neat!

92 ~ Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets by JKR
Completed 8/29
4.5 of 5 stars
               My least favorite of the series, but enjoying my re-read.

93 ~ Messenger of Fear by Michael Grant
Completed 8/30/14
2 of 5 stars
               This book is supposedly about games that are offered to the wicked to play.  There was ONE game, not games.  It was a bunch of standing around talking.  Very dull.  Ugh!

94 ~ Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban by JKR
Completed 8/30
5 of 5 stars
               My favorite favorite of the series.  Such a fantastic book.  The only thing the movie did better than the book with this one (which I feel is the weakest movie wise) is the end in the Whomping Willow.  In the book, it takes FOREVER.  Still, it’s awesome.  :)



In addition to all the books, I also read the following comics ~




What I posted in August


Books I Reviewed in August


My "It's Monday! What are you Reading?" posts ~


Bout of Books Updates ~


With BoB RaT 11, I ended with these stats ~

I completed 3 BoB RaT Challenges
I read for 62 Hours
I completed 20 books
I completed 7 comics
I read 5,117 pages (not including comics)
I completed 10 novels, 3 novellas & 1 short story on my Kindle Fire
I listened to 5 novels & 1 novella as audiobooks



Other bits of Randomness ~





3 comments:

  1. I have been doing a re-read of the Harry Potter books too! I never get tired of re-reading them. :)
    http://youmeandacupofteablog.blogspot.com/2014/08/its-monday-and-september-what-are-you.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. You did awesome all month, and all week, I bet its nice and relaxing to take a break. I still need to catch up on Chris Carter, It hink I only read like, 1 book so far LOL. I'm dying to read lock in, I think its next on my list of reads.

    Here's mine, but I think you already visited:)
    http://superbookgrl13.blogspot.com/2014/09/its-monday-what-are-you-reading.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. So many titles!! Awesome!!!
    Happy September reading!

    ReplyDelete