This is my monthly reading log for a swap at Swap-Bot, and I also include a monthly wrap-up of posts that I've posted here on my blog. This month was another typical one for me. I got in some reading, despite feeling like crap, from a cold for 6 weeks. I'm so glad to be almost over it now. I hope December sees an increase in my reading again. I started out with a goal of reading 152 books this year as I thought I'd be spending more time reading. I ended up reading a ton more than that, and I'm hoping to hit 300 books for the year. Should be dooable. :)
Here's what I read for November ~
New Color Coded Ratings
1 ★ 1.5 ★ 2 ★ 2.5 ★<--Bad 3 ★ Great-->3.5 ★ 4 ★ 4.5 ★ 5 ★
Good
01 ~ The Hunt for Atlantis (Chase & Wilde 01) by Andy McDermott
Completed 11/2
4 of 5 stars
The Chase & Wilde series follows archeologist Nina Wilde and her bodyguard turn boyfriend, Eddie Chase as they travel the globe searching for ancient artifacts and lost civilizations. This series is over the top action with them always getting out of the craziest of circumstances and always moving forward and on, when everyone around them is usually dying. I first read the 2nd in the series, years ago, when I didn’t know it was a series. I decided to start the series over by listening to the audiobooks when I found out a narrator I enjoy reads them. In this first one, they are off to find Atlantis.
02 ~ Walking on her Grave (Rogue River 04) by Melinda Leigh
Completed 11/5
3.5 of 5 stars
Back to Melinda for this last book in the series. I didn’t mind it as much as I did the first book by this author, but it still wasn’t as enjoyable as the ones Elliot wrote. With this one, we finally got the whole story and found out who was behind everything. I was actually surprised by who it was, so that was good, because surprising me is hard to do. I definitely enjoyed this series overall, it was had really good characters, setting and story.
03 ~ Irresistible Force (K9 Rescue 01) by D.D. Ayres
Completed 11/8
2.5 of 5 stars
I had trouble deciding what to rate this one. I HATED the female MC, Shay. Like a lot. But I loved the male MC James and his dog Bogart. Shay rubbed me the wrong way from the start. If she had just been upset and let him go, I would have respected her more, but she didn’t. So, 2 stars for Shay and 4 stars for James/Bogart. Settled on a 3 for a GoodReads rating. I’ll try the next in the series and hope that the female MC isn’t so awful.
04 ~ InSight by Polly Iyer
Completed 11/8
4 of 5 stars
Abigael is a psychologist who is blind. She specializes in clients who have recently become disabled in some way. Her new client is Luke, a cop who has lost his hearing and has been made to ride a desk instead of being out on the streets. Attraction flares, but she resists as she can’t date him and see him as a patient, but that goes out the window after she is threatened. Suspense and romance abound. Great characters, great story. Would love to see more books about them.
05 ~ The Tomb of Hercules (Chase & Wilde 02) by Andy McDermott
Completed 11/8
3.5 of 5 stars
The 2nd in the series, and the book I read years ago. I didn’t remember details but as I was listening to everything I would remember it as it was happening. I really like listening to this series, especially since I like the narrator, Gildart Jackson. In this one, they are looking for the tomb of Hercules and it’s filled with the usual craziness.
06 ~ Hunted (HRT 03) by Kaylea Cross
Completed 11/10
4 of 5 stars
Hunted was Zoe and Bauer’s story and my favorite so far. I really like Zoe, she’s unique and spunky and she stood up for what she wanted, which was Bauer. Bauer reminds me of my hubby, doesn’t care a hoot about anyone other than those he lets in his tiny circle. He doesn’t want to let Zoe in at first, but slowly does, realizing how much he does want her after she’s kidnapped.
07 ~ The Great Zoo of China by Matthew Reilly
Completed 11/11
5 of 5 stars
My vote on best book released this year!!! OMG it was FANTASTIC!! This is an action adventure story about CJ Cameron ~ a reptile expert and National Geographic reporter who is brought to China to preview a brand new zoo that has opened up. This zoo has animals never seen before and it’s AWESOME. In classic Jurassic Park fashion, all hell breaks loose and chaos reigns. The people in the park are fighting for their lives. It’s over the top Reilly, an author I love, and it’s FANTASTIC. I highly recommend this book to fans of action adventure.
08 ~ The Secret of Excalibur (Chase & Wilde 03) by Andy McDermott
Completed 11/12
3.5 of 5 stars
Another action packed story, this one following Excalibur. I liked the story, for the most part, but didn’t like one character and what came of that character. Kind of funky how it was done though, but overall, I didn’t like it. Other than that, another great over the top story with tons of death and explosions and running wild around the world.
09 ~ Killer Instinct (Naturals 02) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Completed 11/13
4 of 5 stars
The 2nd book in a series about a group a teenagers who were gathered together by the FBI for their natural talents of being able to read people. Two of them are natural profilers, one is a human lie detector, and so on. The FBI uses them on cold cases. It’s a great series with good characters. In the first book, it was about Cassie. This book is more about Dean and his back story. Really enjoyable.
10 ~ The Lost Key (Brit in the FBI 02) by Catherine Coulter & J.T. Ellison
Completed 11/15
2.5 stars
I love the FBI series by Cathering Coulter, and this is a spin off of that series, done with another author. So far, I have been underwhelmed by these books, but it’s been about the actual stories, I really like the characters. The characters are great, and this book starts out really well, but then it loses me and it just didn’t keep my attention. They were searching for and old WWI U-Boat and it just got really slow and dull in places.
11 ~ Haunted (SCU 15) by Kay Hooper
Completed 11/15
3 of 5 stars
Another series that I love, the Special Crimes Unit deals with the supernatural. This one wasn’t bad. Like the book before, I love all the characters of the story but sometimes the actual story is more boring for me. That’s how this one was. Three agents are in town trying to find out who is murdering the men who are in “The Group”, a group of friends who have been friends most their lives.
12 ~ Temple by Matthew Reilly
Completed 11/16
2.5 of 5 stars
Not one of my favorites by Reilly, my 2nd least favorite actually, but it was specific stuff I didn’t like. In this one, Will Race is a linguist who is taken to Peru to help find an Incan artifact. I enjoyed all the action done in present time, with them going to Peru and all the stuff that happened there. At the same time, he was translating an ancient manuscript in which there was some action and that stuff was OK. It was more dull, then all the times of them TALKING about everything bored me. If it was just the action in Peru, it would have been a 4 star book. It just kept going from action to talking and back and forth and I would be enjoying it one page and be bored the next.
13 ~ The Black Circle (39 Clues 05) by Patrick Carman
Completed 11/16
3 of 5 stars
The next in the Cahill adventures. This one took them from Cairo to Russia. This one actually was better than more recent ones. In this one they were on their own, driving around which was crazy (since they aren’t of driving age) and they used the Holts during this one, so that was kind of neat. Most of these stories are all the same, just different places, but this one was more appealing for me.
14 ~ Blood of my Blood (Jasper Dent 03) by Barry Lyga
Completed 11/18
4 of 5 stars
The final (I think) book in the Jasper Dent series. Jasper is the son of a serial killer. In this one, it starts off with him left bleeding in a storage unit. This story was really good and though I was surprised somewhat by the end, I didn’t really care for the end. I wish the whole big reveal wasn’t who it ended up being. Instead of being really surprised, I was more like “oh”. It wasn’t shocking for me, I guess. Still, great series and book.
15 ~ Silenced (Lucy Kincaid 04) by Allison Brennan
Completed 11/18
3 of 5 stars
I love Brennan’s older stuff, but I think I’m getting tired of this stuff. I really am not a fan of Lucy, but I am slowly keep going with this series. Lucy is too insecure and it gets on my nerves. It’s like a crutch for her to be insecure. We get it already, move on. Ugh. In this one, prostitutes are being killed as a killer is searching for someone. Lucy is, of course, the one who connects the murders. It was an ok story, just tired of Lucy.
16 ~ Five by Ursula Archer
Completed 11/20
2.5 of 5 stars
I received this book for my review from NetGalley. It started out neat, and the premise was good. The end was really great. The how and why the killer was killing those people was really neat. All the stuff in the middle sucked!! It just dragged on and on and on with stuff I didn’t care about, like how much of an ass the MC’s ex was, or how whiney her kids are. If it kept with just the murders and the investigation, it could have been a 4 star, or better, book. Instead, it went on about her jealousy and all kinds of other stuff that had no bearing on the story. The murders, which were found by going geocaching, were neat.
17 ~ The Covenant of Genesis (Chase & Wilde 04) by Andy McDermott
Completed 11/21
3 of 5 stars
Another great story. This one was all over the globe and a lot of craziness. The beginning of this book is classic action adventure. Nina, Eddie and a few others are on a boat, diving the bottom of the ocean. Three other boats come along with tons of firepower, including rocket launchers, but of course Nina, Eddie and one other end up surviving. These books are crazy over the top, never could happen action, but that’s what I love about them.
18 ~ Black Friday (Maggie O’Dell 07) by Alex Kava
Completed 11/21
3.5 of 5 stars
In this one, 3 teens were given what they thought were jammers for phone/internet to take to the Mall of America on Black Friday to create chaos. Instead what they had were bombs that a remote bomber blew up. Maggie comes in to try to figure everything out. She’s a profiler with the FBI and finds out that her stepbrother has been caught up in the action. Good characters, good storyline.
19 ~ Butterman (Time) Travel, Inc (Butterman 01) by P.K. Hrezo
Completed 11/22
4 of 5 stars
This book was chosen for me for my TBR List Poll on my blog. Though there was an aspect about the book (drug use) that I didn’t like, overall, I loved the book. Bianca Butterman is a teenage time traveler who works for her family’s private travel company. Teeny bopper Tristan comes along and will pay anything to return to a point in time a year ago to retrieve something. A lot of other things are going on with the story and it kept my interest throughout the book. Definitely different than other time travel books that I have read and though I didn’t like the drug parts (he’s a recovering addict) I liked the rest well enough to enjoy it all.
20 ~ Diary of a Teenage Time Traveler (Butterman 00.5) by P.K. Hrezo
Completed 11/23
3.5 of 5 stars
This novella is done in the form of a Bianca’s diary and we learn more about her life growing up a time traveler and some of the places she visited and how she feels about what she does. I’m not a huge novella fan, I’d rather have the whole story, but overall, I enjoyed it.
21 ~ The Pyramid of Doom (Chase & Wilde 05) by Andy McDermott
Completed 11/24
3 of 5 stars
This one had it’s typical funny moments, especially when the others go to open the great Sphinx, which has never had humans in it before. HA! If only people would have listened to Nina! But of course they don’t, and it’s up to Nina and Eddie to save the world, again. A new character, Macy, is front and center in this book and I didn’t like her at first, but she ended up growing on me. This one was neat because it was about Osiris and even referenced The Mummy movie, which is my favorite movie!
22 ~ Hover Car Racer by Matthew Reilly
Completed 11/25
4.5 of 5 stars
Another FANTASTIC Matthew Reilly book. The last of his books I hadn’t read yet, with the exception of 2 that aren’t really my thing, but I may still try someday because I LOVE Reilly’s stuff. In this one, it’s about 14 year old Jason and his brother Bug, who are hover car racers. The book was just a FEEL GOOD book, it made me smile the whole time I was reading it. I started it, on audio, around 11pm at night. I’ll usually listen until I’m too tired to stay awake anymore. I could NOT turn this one off and listened to the whole thing, until it ended at 5:30am. It was FANTASTIC!!!
23 ~ The Vault of Dreamers (Dreamers 01) by Caragh O’Brien
Completed 11/26
4 of 5 stars
This book is hard to describe, but it was enjoyable, until the end, which lost me a bit. Rosie is at a fine arts school where the school broadcasts every minute of their day for the world to see, and the world votes on who gets to stay and who they like. But Rosie doesn’t conform to the rules and finds out there’s something else going on that might not be good. Overall, I loved this book, it was different and enjoyable. The end lost me a little, and I still don’t know what the very end was about, so I look forward to the next book to get some answers.
24 ~ Induction Day (Butterman 02) by P.K. Hrezo
Completed 11/27
2.5 of 5 stars
I can’t really describe this one too well, without giving spoilers, because this one should only be read after the first. I enjoyed the time travel stuff the most, but I hated everything with Tristan, he was a complete ass in this one, much more obnoxious than in the first. I also don’t agree with the direction she took Bianca in, I wouldn’t have done the stuff Bianca did. I’ll likely read the next and hopefully it’ll be good again.
25 ~ Deadly Obsession (Brown & DeLuca 04) by Maggie Shayne
Completed 11/28
4.5 of 5 stars
I LOVE this series. If you are a romantic suspense fan, I highly recommend it. Rachel DeLuca is a self-help guru. Mason Brown is her detective boyfriend. There is a lot going on with this one, including Mason running into a fire to save kids and a nurse who might be up to no good. Such a great story and wonderful characters. Love it!
26 ~ The Sacred Vault (Chase & Wilde 06) by Andy McDermott
Completed 11/29
3 of 5 stars
More crazy action. This one taking them to Tibet. Another madman who wants to destroy the world and be reborn into it creating a better world. It’s amazing the crazy people that they come across in this series. J A lot of favorite characters are back for this one, when they come to a party given to celebrate Nina and Eddie’s wedding. Enjoyable.
27 ~ In Too Deep (39 Clues 06) by Jude Watson
Completed 11/30
3 of 5 stars
This one takes them Down Under,, and is mostly enjoyable. I don’t like one thing that we’ve suspected but come to find out suspicions are true but we don’t know anything else yet. Ugh. Crazy that two kids are around the world on their own, basically, with this hunt. Not in any way realistic, but fun to read as a quick book. Listened to this one early morning and was done before football started. J
What I posted in November
Books I Reviewed in November
My "It's Monday! What are you Reading?" posts ~
Other bits of Randomness ~
