This is my monthly reading log for Swap-Bot.
Hi all! I'm slowly making my way back from my funk. I was really down and depressed for most of March - June. I've been slowly getting more "me" and posting again, and doing some things again. I'm not up to doing a ton of swaps yet, and don't know that I'll ever get back to the crazy amount I was doing, but I'm at least sociable again, so yay for that! :)
My reading month has been a little better than it had been in the last few months. I've balanced out my reading and my gaming more. I've also joined back in with some challenges on GoodReads and that always gets me reading. I've posted some NetGalley reviews, though I still have a bunch more I need to do, it was a start.
Hope you enjoy reading about what I've been reading!
Swap-Bot July Reading Log 2015
From ~ ImzadiRose
1 ★ 1.5 ★ 2 ★ 2.5 ★ <---Bad 3 ★ Great---> 3.5 ★ 4 ★ 4.5 ★ 5 ★
Good
01 ~ Zoo by James Patterson
Completed 7/2
3.5 of 5 stars
Third re-read of the year for me. I decided to listen to the audio before we started watching the mini-series. It’s an enjoyable enough book, quick and easy read, a typical Patterson. Animals around the world are going nuts and attacking. It takes the main character quite a while to figure it out. Unfortnately, I did NOT like the mini-series and we stopped watching it after episode 2.
02 ~ Evil Never Dies (Lizzy Gardner 05) by T.R. Ragan
Completed 7/3
4 of 5 stars
The last in the Lizzy Gardner series, a PI who has, since the last book, turned more rogue. Some things are difficult to read, especailly for anyone who has issues reading about pregnancy or women who are pregnant being harmed, but overall it was a good conclusion to the series.
03 ~ Arena Mode (Arena Mode 01) by Blake Northcott
Completed 7/8
5 of 5 stars
Though there were some things I didn’t like, i? Mainly really loved this book. My main issue was the start, where it seemed like it was jumping straight into the action, but it was just a flash forward of sorts and it doesn’t get back to the action til 40%. Still, a really great book about super heros having a competition.
04 ~ The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman
Completed 7/9
3.5 of 5 stars
Didn’t wow me or sweep me off my feet but it kept my attetnion for the most part. A book about a librarian who travels to different times and places to collect rare books for a huge invisible library. The characters were OK, I wasn’t in love with them. I’ll try the next one, probably.
05 ~ Assult or Attrition (Arena Mode 02) by Blake Northcott
Completed 7/10
3.5 of 5 stars
Didn’t like this one as much as the first, didn’t like almost the first half at all. It was dull and slow moving. It picked up about half way and the 2nd half was good enough to make up for the 1st half. 5 stars for the last 50%, 2 stars for the first 50%. Liked most of the characters well enough, looking forward to the next.
06 ~ SecondWord by Jeremy Robinson
Completed 7/13
4.5 of 5 stars
This was definitely a different book for me. The MC is down in the ocean at at research facility when he has to surface and discovers that not only are there no people around, but he’s unable to breathe the air. He sets out to find out what’s going on. It’s a crazy story with really enjoyable characters. Looking forward to the novella that’s out and anymore than come.
07 ~ The Naked Eye (Kendra Michaels 03) by Iris Johansen
Completed 7/15
5 of 5 stars
I LOVE this series. If you are a fan of mystery with a great MC, this is a great series to try. Kendra was blind as a child and was able to recieve sight through a treatment. She uses her still heightened senses to help solve crimes, as she’s able to give a unique look at the situation. In this one, she’s the only one who is after a serial killer who was supposed to have been sentanced to death. Everyone saw him “die” so no one believes her when she says it was faked and he’s still out there. Really really good!
08 ~ Armada by Ernest Cline
Completed 7/17
4 of 5 stars
I have been waiting on this book since Ready Player One. Unfortunately it did not live up to RPO, which is one of my all time favorite books. The references are still there, more than just the 80s this time and mainly gaming and sci-fi references and it was enjoyable, but just not as good. MC Zack is one of the best at one of the most popular video games when he finds out that it’s not just a video game but a training tool to prepare kids like him from an alien invasion.
09 ~ Troll Mountian (Complete Novel) by Matthew Reilly
Completed 7/17
4 of 5 stars
With this book, I have read all of Reilly’s books to date. I LOVE this author. This was one of 2 books by him that was a change from his normal type book. The story was enjoyable. It wasn’t something I’d normally seek out, but it ended up being really cute for as short as it was (originally released online as episodes). In it, a boy heads off to troll mountian to try to steal some elixer for his sick sister.
10 ~ Mission Titanic (39 Clues: Doublecross 01) by Jude Watson
Completed 7/17
3 of 5 stars
I’ve been reading the 39 Clues books for a while now. I initially started the series YEARS ago when they first came out, but then I hadn’t read any in a while until I decided to restart the series and read them when I needed some shorter books. Now my go to books for read-a-thons, I’m up to date on this series for the most part. This starts a smaller series set within the 39 Clues books, with yet another person out to destroy the Cahill’s. It was enjoyable enough though I’ve never been an Ian fan.
11 ~ Book of the Dead (TombQuest 01) by Michael Northrop
Completed 7/18
3.5 of 5 stars
This series is supposed to be like 39 Clues, so I decided to give it a try. I really liked the first one, it was cute. The characters are good enough and it was like “The Mummy” (my favorite movie ~ the Brendan Frasier one) for kids. I put it off for a while because I didn’t like the premise of a boy being sick and his mother using the book of the dead to heal him, but I’m glad I read it. It was enjoyable, good quick read for read-a-thons.
12 ~ Amulet Keepers (TombQuest 02) by Michael Northrop
Completed 7/19
3 of 5 stars
Didn’t like this one as much as the first. The first kept my attention and this one bored me some but it was still ok. In this one they went to London in search of the next Death Walker. The characters were a little more annoying in this one, but it wasn’t awful. Definitely going to continue with it when the next one comes out.
13 ~ Nemesis (FBI 19) by Catherine Coulter
Completed 7/19
2.5 of 5 stars
I’ve been reading this series for years and enjoy most of them, for the most part. It was nice in this book to get back to Savich and Sherlock, but I definitely couldn’t get into the storylines. Sherlock’s, of having prevented a terroist attack at an airport was enjoyable enough but Savich’s storyline of a bizarre murder didn’t interest me at all.
14 ~ Melting Steele (Sarah Steele 03) by Aaron Patterson
Completed 7/20
3 of 5 stars
This series consists of really short books that are good for when I need something quick for a challenge or read-a-thon. Sarah Steele works for the DA’s office but when she returns from her recent trip (in book 2) she learns she’s been put on leave due to her actions. She decides to quit instead and open up her own business, but first she has to help out a murder case on an Indian reservation. It was enjoyable enough, looking forward to more if there is more.
15 ~ Blood of Elves (The Witcher 03) by Andrzej Sapkowski
Completed 7/22
3 of 5 stars
I needed to read a book with arrows on the cover for a challenge, so I decided to read this, which was a weird choice for me. My Hubby has been playing The Witcher 3 since it came out and I’ve been sitting here watching Him play it. I decided to read one of the books that the games were based on, and this one was the closest to what He’s doing in the game. It was ok, but a lot less action than I thought there would be.
16 ~ Three Times a Lady (Dana Whitestone 03) by Jon Osborne
Completed 7/23
1 of 5 stars
I loved the first book in this series, it was great. This one was tooooooo disturbing. I don’t mind gruesome crazy serial killer stuff, but I draw the line when it starts as abuse to the child. This one was wrong in so many ways, it was just bad. I wish I hadn’t kept with it.
17 ~ London Eye (Toxic City 01) by Tim Lebbon
Completed 7/23
2 of 5 stars
According to the description of this book, I was expecting “The Hunger Games meets the X-men in an exciting postapocalyptic debut.” I won’t go into my long review tirade but I didn’t get any of that. There was nothing of Hunger Games. All that was X-men was them having some abilities and there was nothing exciting about it at all. Definitely won’t read any more of them and it made me not interested in reading another book I had marked as to be read by that author.
18 ~ Hexad: The Factory (Hexad 01) by AL K Line
Completed 7/23
4 of 5 stars
This was one CRAZY book. Not for people who don’t like, or don’t grasp the concept of time travel. I like to think I understand the concept between stuff like Star Trek and other time travel reads, but even in this book my mind was going nutters. It’s like the author took all the words and concepts and put them into a blender and wrote what got spit out. It was crazy but I liked it overall. I couldn’t believe when I saw it was a series, definitely wanna see what happens next!
19 ~ Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle
Completed 7/25
4 of 5 stars
I decided to read this book because it had (I thought) something to do with a role playing game, and I’ve been on a gaming books kick. There was a game in it, but it wasn’t the main part of the book and the book was VERY VERY different and VERY VERY weird. Not my normal type book, definitely a bit dark, but I liked it in a weird way. It was definitely not for everyone, but it was good.
20 ~ Schooled (Lexy Cooper 01) by Christa Charter
Completed 7/27
3.5 of 5 stars
Different and quirky. I liked the MC except for her continued relationship with a married man. Other than that, I liked her and the story was fun. The narrator and the audio quality was horrible, it sounded really cheap but didn’t take away from the story.
21 ~ Servicing the Target (Shadowlands 10) by Cherise Sinclair
Completed 7/28
5 of 5 stars
I won’t go into the details of this one, as it’s an erotica, but Cherise is the mistress of BDSM books and this latest was great. It was a FemDom, which is the first of this series and it was good to get mistress Anne’s story. Enjoyable story, great characters, BDSM done the right way! All other erotica/BDSM should look to Cherise for inspiration.
22 ~ Solarversia by Toby Downton
Completed 7/29
5 of 5 stars
I LOVED THIS BOOK!!! Were there some flaws in it? Yes. Were there some things I didn’t like? Yes. But overall, this book was sooooo fun and enjoyable. It’s about a year long game being played out in virtual reality. The characters were flawed but likable, the game was fantastic. The author wants to make the game in the book an actual game, and I will sign up if I can, because that would be AWESOME!!! (***See my REVIEW, or see below to see how you can get this book FREE***)
23 ~ The Emerald Atlas (Books of Beginning 01) by John Stephens
Completed 7/30
3.5 of 5 stars
I decided to listen to this audiobook because I had listened to a few crappy narrators and I wanted a good one. This series is done by the great Jim Dale so of course it was going to be a great narration. The story was cute enough. 3 kids find out that they are part of something big going on when they find a book that allows them to travel through time. Enjoyable characters with a good story.
24 ~ Midnight Playground (Pleasure Playground 01) by Eliza Gayle
Completed 7/31
1 of 5 stars
I won’t give details since this is an erotica, but this book pissed me off, and it was just ONE thing (but a big thing) that got me pissed. The characters were good enough. The story was quick and enjoyable. If it hadn’t been for the one thing I probably would have given the book a 3.5 or 4 stars. But, she pissed me off, so I’m still ticked about it. If you are interested in BDSM, read Cherise Sinclair instead, she wouldn’t have done this stupid thing! If you want to know ~
Currently Reading ~
The Fire Chronicles (Books of Beginning 02) by John Stephens
Listening to audio @ 40%
3 of 5 stars (so far)
What I posted in July
Books I Reviewed in July ~
- Book Reviews ~ A New Hope & Wildest Dreams by Robyn Carr ~ 4 stars each
- ARC Review ~ Evil Never Dies by T.R. Ragan ~ 4 stars
- Sampler Review ~ Keep on Moving by Dick Van Dyke ~ 5 stars
- ARC Review ~ SOLARVERSIA by Tony Downton ~ 5 stars
Glad your spirits are rising! :-)
ReplyDeleteHappy August reading!