Karsyn's Kickass Jocoserious, Kooky, Jannock book blog: March Reading Log & Wrap-Up Post

This is my monthly reading log that I am posting for a swap at Swap-Bot. March saw my usual reading numbers again, this was because I spent a few weeks sick and a few days I laid around doing nothing but listening to audiobooks. Plus, we started a new challenge in my group at GoodReads, so of course I started reading a lot for that. I found a good mix of reading and gaming, though sometimes I do want to get to games more, but have kept with books for the challenges.

As for what I read in March ~

March Reading Log 2015 ~ ImzadiRose

Color Coded Ratings

1 ★ 1.5 ★ 2 ★ 2.5 ★<---Bad 3 ★ Great--->3.5 ★ 4 ★ 4.5 ★ 5 ★

Good

01 ~ Callsign: King Book 2 (Chess Team 03.4) by Jeremy Robinson

Completed 3/1

3 of 5 stars

Back to King for the 2^nd of his 3 books in this novella set. This one he teamed up with a friend and they went to investigate some crazy things happening in Arizona. This one was pretty enjoyable with some underworld creatures they encountered. King was also hunted by an assassin so it was crazy all around with King being chased and the creatures loose.

02 ~ Callsign: Bishop (Chess Team 03.5) by Jeremy Robinson

Completed 3/2

3 of 5 stars

Bishop is the team member that I felt like we haven’t seen much from. He’s very quiet and keeps to himself, even when in the team, so I looked forward to his story. Unfortunately it was my least favorite of all the books so far, from novellas to the novels. I think it’s because it was really rushed. Even as a novella, it was super short and really predictable. It definitely was disappointing.

03 ~ The Rook by Daniel O’Malley

Completed 3/5

2 of 5 stars

I read this for the Book Club Feb swap and I was very disappointed. The concept was interesting, the characters were good, it’s just that there was WAY too much going on. The book was long and covered about 2 weeks of the main character’s life, but there was letters and a binder that was a few months of her life from before. Then there was the story of who was trying to kill her, the bad guys plus her every day stuff. It was just way too much in one book.

04 ~ The Martian by Andy Weir

Completed 3/7

5 of 5 stars

I LOVED THIS BOOK!! I finally decided to give it a try and I’m so glad that I finally did. I started it on audio around 11pm and I could NOT turn it off. I ended up staying up all night to listen to it. I finished it up around 6:30am. The Martian is about Mark Watney who gets stranded on Mars. I didn’t have any expectations going in, as I didn’t know anything about it, and I just loved it so much. I insisted my hubby read it and He’s reading it now. J

05 ~ Callsign: Knight (Chess Team 03.6) by Jeremy Robinson

Completed 3/8

3 of 5 stars

Knight’s tale was a good one. He’s in China dealing with creature that is much like Hydra, with regenerating capabilities. He meets back up with Anna Beck, who we have met before, and they along with some soldiers are in an abandoned city fighting the creature. He also comes across some children that he is looking out for. It was an enjoyable book.

06 ~ Island 731 (Kaiju 01) by Jeremy Robinson

Completed 3/10

2 of 5 stars

I decided to read this because the narrator was the one who narrated The Martian and I thought he was fantastic. Island 731 wasn’t very enjoyable for me though. In it, Mark and a boatload of others end up on an old WWII Island that was used for crazy experimentations on animals and humans. It was a little disturbing at times so I just didn’t like it as much as I wanted to.

07 ~ Scripted by Maya Rock

Completed 3/11

2 of 5 stars

I read this for a swap that needed a spring looking cover. It felt short in every way. It was about a group of teens who lived out their lives on reality tv. They know they are characters and behave as such. They must act in certain ways and say certain things. The main character Nettie is ok, though she’s pretty spinless until the end. Her best friend Mia pretty much ruined the book for me, she was such a bitch. It could have been a lot better with better characters and more of a developed world.

08 ~ Callsign: Deep Blue (Chess Team 03.7) by Jeremy Robinson

Completed 3/12

3 of 5 stars

In this one, Deep Blue is trapped in the Manifold lab in NH when mercenaries come in to try to steal some of the technology. A lot of deaths in this one. I mean there’s a lot anyways, but this one had a lot of the good guys dying too. It was good overall, since they were trapped within a mountain with only 3 locations that they were fighting to keep control of, from the mercs and from the creatures that started to take over.

09 ~ Salt & Stone (Fire & Flood 02) by Victoria Scott

Completed 3/13

4 of 5 stars

The next book in the series, this book is about Tella and a bunch of other people who are competing for a cure for a loved one. They have already been in the desert and in the jungle in the 1^st book. In this one they are braving the ocean and the mountains. Tella grows a pair in this book, standing up for herself a bit more than she did the first book. It has good and bad outcomes. It was definitely a good follow up and I really hope there’s another one to tell us what comes next.

10 ~ The Impossible Race (Cragbridge Hall 03) by Chad Morris

Completed 3/13

5 of 5 stars

I love this series so much! In this one Abby and Derick are back trying to save the world again. In a message they receive from the future, they are told if they don’t change the future Derick will die. They have to compete in a school wide race of few different things going on, all while trying to figure out who is trying to change everything. I love the series, the characters, the story, everything about it. I can’t wait for the next book!

11 ~ Callsign: King Book 3 (Chess Team 03.8) by Jeremy Robinson

Completed 3/14

3 of 5 stars

Back with King for the final book in the novella set. In this one, King is sent to France to stop the guy who has been acting as Brainstorm, a supposed computer that’s setting out to rule the world. In this one, Brainstorm teamed up with a hacker to create a super computer, but the hacker had other plans and unleashes a black hole in the Louvre. Deep Blue had sent King’s girlfriend and daughter to Paris to surprise him after his mission was over, so they are caught in the middle of the mess. It was a good conclusion to the novella books and I can’t wait for the team to be back together in the next book, though by the description, it’s going to be an effort for that to happen.

12 ~ Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

Completed 3/15

1 of 5 stars

I hated this book for one reason and one reason only. This book was a book scavenger hunt, like geocaching but with books and puzzles. It sounded just like my kind of book and I was really really looking forward to it. It was right up my alley. Unfortunately “Steve” ruined my opinion of this book, completely. When Steve was first mentioned, I thought it was a joke. It was not. According to my Kindle, Steve was mentioned 35 times in the book. Who is Steve and why did he bother me so much? Steve is a COWLICK!?!? WTF? I’m serious and it was lame. L

13 ~ Tether (Many-Worlds 02) by Anna Jarzab

Completed 3/16

4 of 5 stars

In this follow-up to Tandem, Sasha returns to Aurora for Thomas and finds Selene, another analog of hers and Juliana. Selene is more powerful than Sasha or Juliana and she’s been communicating so much with Sasha, she sometimes doesn’t know the difference between herself and Selene. It was another enjoyable story that left me wanting to know how it all will end. Thomas was a bit of a jerk in this one, but he redeemed himself by the end.

14 ~ The Queen (The Selection 00.4) by Kiera Cass

Completed 3/19

3 of 5 stars

This is the Queen’s story, set before the first book. It was enjoyable. It made Clarkson seem more likable and personable, rather than the jerk he is in the later books. It was an enjoyable short story.

15 ~ Ragnarok (Chess Team 04) by Jeremy Robinson

Completed 3/20

4 of 5 stars

The next novel in the series, the team is still all split up across the globe and they are all battling the same forces. It was one of my favorites so far. I enjoyed the story and how they were all spread out but still fighting the same thing. It was good when they finally all got together at the end and I was thrown for a surprise, which is rare for me in books.

16 ~ Broken Symmetry by Dan Rix

Completed 3/21

2.5 of 5 stars

Blaire is able to walk through mirrors and become her reflection. In the mirrored world, she can do anything that she wants without any kind of consequences to herself in the real world. It was an ok book. It was enjoyable but got really really confusing at the end, and that’s saying something for me because I can usually follow crazy stuff. It was enjoyable.

17 ~ Qualify (Atlantis Grail 01) by Vera Nazarian

Completed 3/21

5 of 5 stars

In Qualify, an asteroid is hurling towards earth and the Atlantian race, who long left the planet, come back and offer to help some of the population escape. They do this by offering a competition and only those who compete and quality will be taken off earth. It was a really enjoyable and different book. The characters, for the most part, were fantastic and the story was engaging. I can’t wait for more!

18 ~ NYPD Red 3 by James Patterson

Completed 3/22

3 of 5 stars

Zach and Kylie are detectives who solve crimes dealing with NYs elite and the rich. In this one, the son of a businessman is kidnapped but he doesn’t tell anyone about it, so the cops are unable to find out what is really going on. It was an ok story, a bit slow and dull but the characters are overall good, though Zach was a bit of an idiot.

19 ~ The Calling (Endgame 01) by James Frey

Completed 3/23

1 of 5 stars

I hated this book and skimmed most of the last part of it. It was about some race to save humanity and it just never got going for me. I didn’t like the characters, I didn’t like the story. It was so dull and slow moving and I can’t even remember much about it at all, except for it’s repetitiveness, which I REALLY really hated, it would repeat words and sentences over and over. It was annoying!

20 ~ The Game (Game is Life 01) by Terry Schott

Completed 3/23

5 of 5 stars

If you have any kind of interest in reading about virtual reality (like Ready Player One) than this book is a must read. I can’t even talk about it, without giving things away but it is fantastic. It’s about what if one persons game play in virtual reality could change everything. REALLY enjoyable!

21 ~ Digital Heretic (Game is Life 02) by Terry Schott

Completed 3/23

4 of 5 stars

The 2^nd in the series, and I didn’t like it QUITE as much as the first, but it was still really enjoyable. In this one, it focused more on Danielle, instead of Zack from the first one, but it was about everything that was going on and kept the story moving well. Such a good and engaging story!

22 ~ Off to be the Wizard (Magic 01) by Scott Meyer

Completed 3/24

3 of 5 stars

This book bored me for the most part, but it was so weird, I had to give it a good rating. In it, Martin discovers a file that can change things in his life, such as his height or giving him unlimited money. When he gets chased, he escapes to the middle ages and hangs out there as a wizard. It was definitely different and weird. It had the potential to be really good but was mainly just dorky and goofy but wasn’t horrible.

23 ~ Double Digit (A Girl Named Digit 02) by Annabel Monaghan

Completed 3/24

2 of 5 stars

I loved the first book in this series, and this one just fell flat. Digit was more whiney and girlie in this one, which I didn’t enjoy, and John was an idiot at times too. The story just didn’t flow well for me in this one, it was even more off the wall and bizarre than the first. It seemed more childish to me than the first one did it just wasn’t good.

24 ~ Running Blind (One Eyed Jacks 03) by Cindy Gerard

Completed 3/24

4 of 5 stars

I’ve been reading Gerard for years and this is the newest in her newest series. It was yet another great story with great characters. The team is targeted by a sniper and one of their own is wounded, so the search is on for the sniper. Sparks fly between two of the members, as is the way with these books, as they work together. Predictable but enjoyable.

25 ~ The Canidates (Delcroix Academy 01) by Inara Scott

Completed 3/25

2.5 of 5 stars

This book had to do with a school that had students who had abilities such as being able to move objects or control the environment, but the abilities were hidden and the book was less about that, and more about the romances going on between the main character and the two boys she liked. I would have liked this book a lot more if it had been about the abilities and not about the romance. It was still ok, though I didn’t like the one boy at all.

26 ~ Interlude – Brandon (Game is Life 03) by Terry Schott

Completed 3/25

4.5 of 5 stars

In this one, we get more of a history of what we were reading in the first two books. It answers a lot of questions but opens tons and tons more. I had correctly assumed one thing, but it was more than that, and bigger than that, so I was also confused by a ton of stuff. It was fantastic because so much is going on and it’s huge and crazy!!

27 ~ Breaking Creed (Ryder Creed 01) by Alex Kava

Completed 3/26

2 of 5 stars

I’ve been reading Kava for years but I’ve been getting bored with the Maggie O’Dell character of the other books. In this one, it’s a new main character and I did like him, but Maggie was still a part of the book. It was a pretty dull story and just never really got going for me. Dunno if I’d read more. They are easy and quick to read, so that’s something.

28 ~ The Marked (Delcroix Academy 02) by Inara Scott

Completed 3/26

2 of 5 stars

In this one, Dancia learns more about the school and everyone’s abilities but it just falls short. It’s all about her feelings and the boys rather than the powers and the bad stuff that is happening. It was all about the battles and the conflict, it would have been a much better story, and I would have really enjoyed it. Way too girlie for me.

29 ~ I am Spock by Leonard Nimoy

Completed 3/26

4 of 5 stars

I read very few autobiographies and wanted to try this after Nimoy passed. It was a good audiobook read by him, which made it more enjoyable for me. It was stories about Star Trek and other stuff he did in Hollywood. It was short and enjoyable. I was glad I listened to it.

30 ~ Virtual Prophet (Game is Life 04) by Terry Schott

Completed 3/27

4 of 5 stars

There was soooooooo much going on in this book, it was all craziness. I didn’t know what was going on half of the time, but neither did the main characters, so it was really good. This series is great for fans of virtual reality, it’s so crazy with so much going on and great characters. It’s so good, I can’t wait to get my hands on the next one.

31 ~ The Nowhere Emporium by Ross MacKenzie

Completed 3/28

4 of 5 stars

This book tried REALLY REALLY hard to be The Night Circus. It wasn’t, by a long shot, but in it’s own way, it was really cute. Daniel comes across a shop and finds out that it’s a magical shop that is full of wonders and for the night people can come in and experience it all, but when they leave in the morning they have forgotten all about it. It paralleled EVERYTHING from The Night Circus (which is my all time favorite book) so I found it sad and comical that it didn’t try to be it’s own thing. But it was cute with cute characters. It didn’t hold the same amount of magic that The Night Circus does.

32 ~ The Thornthwaite Inheritance by Gareth Jones

Completed 3/28

1.5 of 5 stars

This was a lame middle grade book. I’m sure middle grade kids might like it, but I read a lot of middle grade books because I find them cute and fun and this one was just dull. It was about 2 siblings who spend their whole lives trying to kill each other. It just was repetitive, even after they called a truce but things kept happening anyways. It was just dull and boring.

33 ~ The Puzzling World of Winston Breen by Eric Berlin

Completed 3/28

1.5 of 5 stars

Another middle grade book that fell short for me. I like books with puzzles in it (The Inventor’s Secret was a perfect example and was AMAZING) but this one seemed like a book just for the sake of having puzzles. There was no real story to it, it was just a series of puzzles put into the book. I’m sure kids would like it and find the puzzles enjoyable. It was dull to me.

34 ~ Shock Point by April Henry

Completed 3/29

4 of 5 stars

In this one, Cassie is shipped off to a “school” in Mexico after she found some damaging information about her stepfather and tries to go to the authorities about it. The school is supposedly for delinquent teens but is more of a place of torture. The book was really short but Cassie was a good character and the story was engaging. Would have liked it to have been longer and to have read more of what was going on there, but it was good for a short quick read.

35 ~ Brilliance (Brilliance 01) by Marcus Sakey

Completed 3/29

4 of 5 stars

It took me a while to get into this one, but I ended up loving the last quarter of the book or so. It is about a world where some of the population are “brilliants”, genius type people who have special abilities such as being a human lie detector or detecting patterns. The main character Nick was likable and the story was engaging once it got going. Definitely really liked the last half better than the first half.

36 ~ Ultraviolet Catastrophe by Jamie Grey

Completed 3/29

1.5 of 5 stars

This book sucked. Lexie discovers that her parents have been lying to her her whole life and keeping her IQ manageable so that she didn’t know that she was super smart. But when she finds out and finds out there are people after her, she’s sent to a school for the gifted that her father works at. The characters fell flat, the story never really got going at all. I wasn’t invested in it at all.

37 ~ Inherit Midnight by Kate Kae Myers

Completed 3/30

4 of 5 stars

This was quite enjoyable! Avery is the black sheep of her family and is shipped to a school where she breaks out but when she does, a boy had been sent to collect her. Her grandmother has set up a challenge for Avery and her family to compete in, to find out who will inherit the family business and fortune. The characters were good, the challenges were enjoyable to follow. The story was a good one and I enjoyed the book a ton. It’s a shame that it’s a standalone, I would have enjoyed hearing what came next for Avery.