Howdy all! April was a good reading month, between just wanting to read for the RPG game I'm doing, plus Dewey's. Got a lot read and some good books as well. Also got some posts up here at the blog which I'm trying to do more again. I'm working my way through my NetGalley books, of which I have a ton, so that helps with posting.
If you are on GoodReads, I hope you'll come join us at Nothing But Reading Challenges. We're about to announce our new team challenge and it's going to be a CRAZY one. Come join in the fun! Prepare to WOBBLE!!! :)
April Reading Log 2016
From ~ ImzadiRose
1 ★ 1.5 ★ 2 ★ 2.5 ★ <---Bad 3 ★ Great---> 3.5 ★ 4 ★ 4.5 ★ 5 ★
Good
On my 1st Quarter Log, I was questioned if I only read comics (though if she actually read my log, I don't know how any description read as possible comic) since I read so much. No, not lately anyways. I just read that much. I read what I want, when I want, and often it is many books. So, I figured I’d start adding in page numbers of the books I read. Changing up the formatting a bit, see how it works for this log.
01 – Built to Last by Aurora Rey
Completed 4/1/16 | ★★★★ | 264 pages
This is a cute lesbian romance book. I had been searching for some, as it’s not easy to find good ones. I liked this one, but it could have been better. The story was that Olivia bought an old home to live in/restore and Joss’s company is contracted to do the restoration. At first, I didn’t like Joss very much, she seemed stuck up and condescending, but as the story went on, Joss grew on me and I didn’t like Olivia much at all by near the end.
02 – Nexis (Tricksters 01) by A.L. Davroe
Completed 4/2/16 | ★★ | 412 pages
I had been looking forward to this book for a WHILE before it came out and I was soooo disappointed with it. I didn’t like the main character at all, so because of that it took me a long while to get into the book. It’s about her in a virtual reality world after losing her father, who created the VR. It just didn’t grab my attention at all. I didn’t like the characters, the story was slow moving. Meh.
03 – I am Alive (Episode 1, 2 & 3) by Cameron Jace
Completed 4/3 & 4/4 | ★★★.5 | 290 pages
This was actually 3 separate books/episodes, but since it was just one long story, I put them all together. I actually rated the first two a 4 star and the 3rd one a 3 star. In the story, teens are ranked when they turn 17 and if they land under a certain number they are considered a “monster” and are sent to an area to fight to the death between each other and creatures there. The worse thing about these were how short they are and I don’t have the rest of the series, yet, so I can’t find out what happens next. They were enjoyable though.
04 – What Could Possibly Go Wrong (St Mary’s 06) by Jodi Taylor
Completed 4/3 | ★★★★★ | 476 pages
I spent a lot of March reading the first 5 books of the Chronicles of St Mary’s and loving each of them. It’s a time traveling series and is FANTASTIC!! I loved all the books a ton and I can’t wait for the next one (this is the last for now) to come out in May, though I do have the short stories still to read. In this one, Max is training and getting into her usual insane situations. The whole series is great, and I recommend it to any time travel fans.
05 – James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Completed 4/5 | ★★★ | 151 pages
I have actually never seen the movie or read the book before now. I read this because for a challenge I needed to read a book with 100 mentions of bugs in it, so this fit the bill. It was cute for what it was. James is stuck with mean aunts when he receives some magic in a bag, which he drops and it creates the giant peach. He goes inside and finds all kinds of insects his size. It was cute and a quick read.
06 – Jet (Jet 01) by Russell Blake
Completed 4/6 | ★★★ | 229 pages
Jet is a Mossad Operative who fakes her own death because she wants to leave the Mossad and lead a different life. She’s found and people try to kill her so she has to find her old team to find out what is going on just to find most of them dead. The story was ok, the characters were ok as well. The book had some of my triggers in it though so I won’t be continuing with the series.
07 – Burned (Alex Verus 07) by Benedict Jacka
Completed 4/9 | ★★★★★ | 416 pages
Alex Verus is back and is being targeted for death. Not just him but his friends as well and he doesn’t have long to figure out who wants him dead and how to keep them all alive. A great book and the end was so great, made me want the next one already. This series is good for Dresdan fans, which I’ve actually not read, I didn’t enjoy the first book when I tried it, but I love Alex Verus. He’s a mage in London that owns a shop.
08 – Circus Games (Circus 02) by Lilliana Rose
Completed 4/9 | ★ | 67 pages
This was a typical crap lesbian erotica story about a circus that travels around going to different planets. The writing was awful, the characters were awful. It was just BAD!
09 – What we Find (Sullivan’s Crossing 01) by Robyn Carr
Completed 4/10 | ★★★ | 384 pages
I read everything Robyn Carr writes, or at least I try to, so new series of course I was going to try it. It wasn’t my least favorite of hers, but definitely wasn’t Virgin River/Thunder Point. The MC Maggie had a bunch of crap happen so goes home to recharge for a while and ends up staying, figuring out life and of course falling in love. Mainly this book had some of my triggers in it, so I didn’t like that too much and I didn’t care for Maggie, though Cal was great.
10 – Targeted (Callahan & McLane 04) by Kendra Elliot
Completed 4/13 | ★★★★ | 352 pages
Back to Mason and Ava in this series and in this one, law enforcement is being targeted starting with Mason’s boss and no one can figure out why. The story was good and the characters are good in this series. I don’t like Ava’s sister and I hoped we’d seen the last of her. She is mentioned some, but not like the last book which was good much, so I enjoyed this one more. Good mystery and story.
11 – Ensnared (Splintered 03) by A.G. Howard
Completed 4/13 | ★★★ | 420 pages
I read the first 2 books a while ago and the 2nd one bored me after liking the first one, so I actually wasn’t going to finish it out. But I needed a book with a butterfly on it for a challenge, so I decided to go ahead and read it and I enjoyed it more than I remember enjoying the second one, though I was disappointed with the end. A good retelling overall.
12 – Tag, You’re Dead by J.C. Lane
Completed 4/14 | ★★★★★ | unknown (over 200)
I received this book (like a lot others, I don’t always say) from NetGalley to review and I LOVED it. It was about a game of Tag being played in all of Chicago and it was also a deadly game of tag, if the runner got tagged, they were dead. It was a little simplistic, but it made a very easy book to read, tons of action and character you loved or hated. Just a great fun book!
13 – Arena by Holly Jennings
Completed 4/17 | ★ ★★★ ★★★★ | 336 pages
This was another book I was looking forward to, it was a book about a competition in virtual reality, both things I love. Now, you may have noticed my weird rating. For the sake of GoodReads I rated a 3, but it wasn’t what I wanted to rate it. If I could have rated the book I would have rated the VR stuff a 4.5, the drug usage a 1, the extreme change of the MC a 2, the lesson in Daoism a 2….. there was just so much to it. I really liked the main story of the VR comp, but I actually liked very little else.
14 – The Inventor’s Secret by Andrea Creamer
Completed 4/19 | ★★ | 336 pages
I didn’t really get the point of this one. I mean I did, I just found it boring is the best way I could put it. I couldn’t get behind the characters or the story. I liked the first part of the book but when they went to the city it was all different and I didn’t like it very much at all. The end was great, too bad it had lost my interest by then so I won’t be continuing with the series.
15 – January (Calendar Girl 01) by Audrey Carlan
Completed 4/20 | ★★★★ | 105 pages
I read this book for the Book of the Month in my group at GoodReads and it was enjoyable… too bad it didn’t stay that way for long. The story follows Mia whose ex is a loanshark and had her father beat up for owing money. Mia takes on the debt and needs money fast, so she joins her aunts escort service. She agrees to be a high priced escort staying with a new guy each month for a year to pay off the loan. It’s an erotica, so not much details about each, just where she was, who she was with and what I though. The first one was good. It was a cute story with good characters. I liked Mia and her first guy, Wes, who is a screenwriter. It was a quick and fun book.
16 – February (Calendar Girl 02) by Audrey Carlan
Completed 4/20 | ★★★ | 101 pages
Mia moves on to Seattle and her Frenchman who wants to use her as a muse. While I didn’t like the Frenchman (that’s what she called him so I can’t even remember…. Now I do, his name was Anton) I did like the art he created with her, a series about forbidden love. I could see the pieces and they sounded beautiful.
17 – March (Calendar Girl 03) by Audrey Carlan
Completed 4/20 | ★★★★ | 106 pages
Through the first 8 books (as far as I’ve read as of writing this) this one was my favorite. Mia heads to Chicago to pose as the fiancée of a big wig in restaurants. She arrives to find the reason she’s needed is because he’s gay and trying to hide his relationship. The whole book and characters were so cute. I loved the book.
18 – April (Calendar Girl 04) by Audrey Carlan
Completed 4/20 | ★★★ | 122 pages
While the story line of Mia going to a baseball stadium to pose as the girlfriend would be something right up my alley, she went to Boston (boooo!) and the player was an ass. So, it wasn’t my favorite one, but the overall story of how she helped things to end the way they did was cute.
19 – May (Calendar Girl 05) by Audrey Carlan
Completed 4/20 | ★★.5 | 112 pages
Mia is down in Hawaii and for a photoshop for “plus” size women. She’s a size 8, I don’t see how that’s freakin plus size. SIGH. There were some bigger, and she was the smallest one, but still, the world sucks that size 8 is “big”. Anyways, this one bored me and felt more like a history of Hawaii than a fun book like all the others.
20 – June (Calendar Girl 06) by Audrey Carlan
Completed 4/20 | ★★★ | 115 pages
In this one Mia is in DC and things got real for the first time. She’s been lucky that she’s be around good people, and the man who hired her was good as well, but his son wasn’t and Mia was attacked and almost raped. Her friends saved her and the book was a difficult one, but good overall.
21 – July (Calendar Girl 07) by Audrey Carlan
Completed 4/21 | ★ | 111 pages
In this one, Mia is down in Miami to be a part of a hip hop video. She’s having flashbacks from the attack and can’t even stand for the man she’s down there with to touch her in any way. All of that is good, but then her boyfriend shows up and all of the sudden she is fine and can have wild sex with him. Nope Nope Nope. That’s not how it works. Doesn’t matter that they are in love, it just doesn’t work that way.
22 – August (Calendar Girl 08) by Audrey Carlan
Completed 4/21 | ★ | 112 pages
This one was lame, and the reason I haven’t read any more, though a friend is reading through them now so when she gets to this point I’ll read the rest with her. In this one, a man is looking for his long lost half sister, whose name is Mia…. Has the same birthday as Mia….. yeah, you already know it IS Mia, but she didn’t. Even when she met him and he seemed familiar, she didn’t know, and even when she remembered him in a dream she didn’t know….. it was AWFUL!!
23 – Known (Bone Secrets 05) by Kendra Elliot
Completed 4/21 | ★★★★ | 348 pages
In this one we revisit Chris who we met in an earlier book. He’s having a weekend of quiet in his cabin when he smells smoke and goes to investigate and finds a woman and her daughter barely escape the fire. Then there is another attempt on the woman and they all are trying to stay alive and find out who wants her dead. It was another good and enjoyable book in the series.
Time for Dewey’s (a 24 Hour Read-a-Thon). I like to read a variety for Dewey’s and shorter stuff to switch it up. The following books were all read within 24 hours.
24 – The Obsession by Nora Roberts
Completed 4/23 | ★★★★.5 | 464 pages
Another wonderful Nora book. In this one Naomi’s childhood is stripped away from her when she finds a women being hidden by her father. In the investigation that follows it comes out that he’s a serial killer and she’s saved the woman from death. The book follows her life as she tries to move on from her past, but has bodies turning up near her. The killer was not a surprise, but the book was really enjoyable.
25 – Jacob (Kings of Guardian 01) by Kris Michaels
Completed 4/23 | ★.5 | 130 pages
A woman is rescued and makes plans to meet with her rescuer a year later. They meet up and love falls in line, of course. The positives of this book were the team, the first mission and the plans for the ranch, but there were more negatives which included the insta-love, the dialogue and all the rest of the story. It was very rushed, jumbled at times. A good idea but not done well.
26 – The Very First Damned Thing (St Mary’s 00.5) by Jodi Taylor
Completed 4/23 | ★★★★ | 74 pages
I saved these short stories specifically for Dewey’s so I could read them when my eyes were getting tired (had on audiobook). I LOVED this series, can’t say enough good things about it, so while I don’t particularly love short stories (I’d rather have a book) I was looking forward to these. This one was my favorite and established how St Mary’s got going and the Director bringing in all the people we’ve come to know and love into St Mary’s.
27 – When a Child is Born (St Mary’s 02.5) by Jodi Taylor
Completed 4/23 | ★★★ | 32 pages
My least favorite, but I knew it would be. Max and gang were going to watch an event when they were waylaid by an injured man and Max ends up delivering a baby.
28 – Roman Holiday (St Mary’s 03.5) by Jodi Taylor
Completed 4/23 | ★★★ | 36 pages
An ok story about Max and gang going to see Julius Caesar and getting knee deep in all the stuff again! J
29 – Christmas Present (St Mary’s 04.5) by Jodi Taylor
Completed 4/24 | ★★★ | 41 pages
I was wondering about something in book 5, and this made it clear, so YAY for clearing that up. It was a good and cute story.
30 – Ships & Stings & Wedding Rings (St Mary’s 06.5) by Jodi Taylor
Completed 4/24 | ★★★ | 51 pages
I love the theme she has going of these short stories being at Christmas time. I love how they pointed that out in this one. So fun. J This made me chuckle, definitely a good one and they are in Ancient Egypt.
31 – Don’t Get Caught by Kurt Dinan
Completed 4/24 | ★★★ | 336 pages
Max receives a note from an exclusive club in his school, or so he thinks. He and some others end up getting in trouble and they want revenge. It’s a book of pranks at the school, who can one-up the other group. It was good, but not great. Enjoyable enough and an easy read.
32 – I Totally Funniest (I Funny 03) by James Patterson
Completed 4/24 | ★★★ | 330 pages
Patterson is great to read for read-a-thons. So quick and easy. I read the first two of this series on another read-a-thon, might have been the last Dewey’s, I can’t remember. Jamie Grimm is a kid comedian who has won some contests and in this one is going for the biggest one, the final 4 to see who is the Nation’s funniest kid. It was a cute book.
33 – I Funny TV (I Funny 04) by James Patterson
Completed 4/24 | ★★ | 336 pages
After Jamie’s win from the previous book (come on, it’s not really a spoiler), he gets his own tv show, but it doesn’t go the way he thought it would. I didn’t really like this one much at all, a lot of crappy stuff happening in it and it just wasn’t as enjoyable. Of course it all works out in the end and is a cute series overall.
^^^ End of Dewey’s. 24 Hours – 4 Novels, 1 Novella & 5 Short Stories ^^^
34 – Departure by A.G. Riddle
Completed 4/25 | ★★★★ | 318 pages
This one was different, and not really what I was expecting. I was thinking a “Lost” type thing (tv show) but it was very different. They figure out they are not in their own world, or time, pretty early on and that part of the book I found pretty boring, but once they started getting going, about 60% into it, it was quite enjoyable.
36 – Slow Burn (Nascar 07) by Pamela Britton
Completed 4/27 | ★★★ | 378 pages
I read the first 6 of these ages ago, and read this one because I needed to read the 7th book in a series. It was enjoyable. Dana wins a date with a race car driver, and she doesn’t want to take it because she’s newly out of an abusive relationship. It was typical with the abuse and how she was, which I didn’t like, but the rest of it was good enough.
37- The Dangerous Days of Daniel X (Daniel X 01) by James Patterson
Completed 4/27 | ★★★ | 308 pages
Another quick and easy book from Patterson. Decided to try this one to see if I’d like it for a simple series I could work through. It was OK, I don’t know if I will continue with it or not. Daniel is an Alien Hunter, and he has a list he’s working through to hunt down the most dangerous aliens. It was definitely different, but a quick and easy read.
38 – The Assignment (Assignment 01) by Evangeline Anderson
Completed 4/28 | ★★★ | 155 pages
A M/M romance that was OK. Not the best pair I’ve read about but reading how they were acting around each other was cute. It was sweet and simple. I definitely get tired of the overuse of the term “babe” but that’s just me. Cute enough, but the next books in the series are all short stories, so not going to continue with them.
38 books / 8554 pages
What I posted in February
Books I Reviewed in April
- Review: Dancers After Dark by Jordan Matter ~ 5 stars (artistic nude photography book)
- Book Review: Known by Kendra Elliot ~ 4 stars
- Bunch of Mini Reviews
Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon Posts
- Dewey's 24hr RaT ~ Kickoff
- Dewey's 24hr RaT ~ Mid-Event Survey
- Dewey's 24hr RaT ~ Wrap-Up
Awesome month for you! I loved James & the Giant Peach when I was a kid. Happy May!
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