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Lord of Misrule (The Morganville Vampires, #5)
Lord of Misrule (The Morganville Vampires, #5)
Rachel Caine | 2009 | Horror
8
8.1 (11 Ratings)
Book Rating
This book centered around a singular event, and the outcome of that event has the potential to change everything that the town of Morganville is about and how it is run. I found the plot of this book to be very unpredictable - which is a good thing - except for the fact that every book always centers around Claire and the choices she makes. The one-liners are as fantastic as always, and I love the introduction of a few new characters, such as Theo and his family, and the ex-Marine Hannah. I also found the introduction of a natural disaster as a major plot point to be refreshing - even though terrifying for the characters - since few books I read seem to work uncontrollable bad weather into the plot. For less than 300 pages, this book packs alot of sub-plots in, with the retribution against Monica, who I'm not convinced has learned from her mistakes yet, managing Mynin's bipolar behavior, and keeping track of what is happening with each of the four main characters/ Glass House residents. All of the possibilities in a town gone anarchic are explored to some degree, although I found that the lines that were used to control the college students to be less-than-believable. I am curious to see what happens to the human factions that were trying to exploit the mini-war by rebeling against the Powers That Be in the next book, Carpe Corpus (Morganville Vampires, Book 6), as well as how Mynin's disease plays out as it affects others en masse. The fact that Claire basically hardly ever goes to class and still manages to makes A's still bugs me, but I'm getting used to it. She has more exciting things to attend to!
  
Secret Burdens (Stories of Lorst #3)
Secret Burdens (Stories of Lorst #3)
Suzanna J. Linton | 2018 | Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Secret Burdens (Stories of Lorst #3) by Suzanna J. Linton
Secret Burdens is the third book in the Stories of Lorst series, and I was happy to dive back into this world. However, Clara wasn't at her best, and I was left wondering what was going and why - pretty much like everyone else in the book! It didn't take long before I was sucked into the story, with all of its glorious twists and turns that kept my attention, and definitely left me needing to read 'just one more page'.

This is an intricate story, and my admiration for Suzanna J. Linton knew no bounds, as the story effortlessly flowed. How she managed to keep up with the writing, making it easy to read, which still maintaining the mystery, I will never know!

The characters are a delight to return to, and in fact, has left me wanting to return to Clara, just so I can start the series again. With no editing or grammatical errors that I noticed, I have no hesitation in recommending this story. Absolutely brilliant, and I can't wait to read more.

If you're wondering why I didn't give it 5-stars when I've been raving so much, it is down to something that happens right at the end. I won't say what, as it would spoil the story. That being said, I can't wait to see where the story is taken next. Read it for yourself, and you'll become hooked on these books too!

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and my comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
  
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Merissa (12889 KP) rated The Shadow in Books

Dec 17, 2018  
TS
The Shadow
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Shadow is the second book in The Original's Trilogy, and although I haven't read book 1, this in no way impaired my enjoyment of this book. Trina is a witch that has always had trouble with her powers, and now she is literally disappearing. There is a quick synopsis given as part of the story as to what happened in book 1, and the consequences to Trina because of that. Duncan is sent to her by the Vampire Council to kill or kidnap her, depending on what happens to Lilith. Instead, Duncan decides to go with his instincts, and tries to help Trina in every way he can, even before he realises she is his mate. These two both have things in their past that make them act the way they do, so it's all part of the story as to how they work past that, and save the world from Armageddon.

This is an intricate paranormal read, with witches, daemons, Watchers, and even minions! And, no, they're not yellow wearing denim dungarees! Instead, you get an intriguing story where not everything is as black and white as you would assume. The story concludes nicely in this book, whilst providing a satisfactory preview into the next. It is very well written, with no editing or grammatical errors to disrupt the reading flow.

Although I haven't read book one, I would actually recommend it before reading this one, simply because I feel that you would get a greater appreciation for the characters and their world. Still, saying that, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and definitely recommend it.

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and my comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
  
Immortal Beloved (Immortal Beloved, #1)
Immortal Beloved (Immortal Beloved, #1)
Cate Tiernan | 2010 | Paranormal, Young Adult (YA)
8
8.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is another of those books where I've had it for years on my Kindle and just never had the urge to read it. So, yes, this is being used for another challenge on Goodreads. This one is another A-Z challenge but for Paranormal Romances and Urban Fantasy books.

I think one thing that put me off is this books lack of a proper description on Goodreads as seen above. You really do have no idea what it's going to be about. I have done a bit of searching and found a better more evolved description.

I assumed this would be about vampires with the name but it's not. Just people who live a really long time that call themselves Immortals. Nastasya - Nasty to her friends - comes to realise that she's hanging out with a bad crowd after her best friend of hundreds of years breaks a mans back for no reason. She seeks out a fellow Immortal she met about 50 years ago who offered to take her in and spends time at her sanctuary.

Nasty goes from being a careless party girl to someone who actually doesn't mind working and likes being busy. She begins to have proper friends and people who care about her and who she cares about. She feels like she has a purpose in life again.

I'll admit I liked this more than I thought I would. It dragged me in and I was intrigued by how Nasty and a certain blond Viking type Immortal, Reyn, knew each other. It took about 80% of the book to figure it out and then, though they knew they should hate each other, they were still drawn to each other. I am VERY interested in seeing what happens next with this lot.

I cannot wait to continue this series.
  
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Kurt Vile recommended Interstellar Space by John Coltrane in Music (curated)

 
Interstellar Space by John Coltrane
Interstellar Space by John Coltrane
2020 | Pop
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"Well, that was another one I burned on my way. At first, I was into the earlier John Coltrane, and then when he went into more free jazz, at first I didn't like it as much because I was so into his early tone and the swing and the melody of this more classic jazz, but the next one's more like that. Jesse [Trbovich, bandmate in the Violators] turned me on to it. We got stuck on the way home from an LA show or somewhere, we got dumped off in Phoenix, Arizona, and we had to stay for the night. We knew a really good record store there, Revolver Records, there was just a ton of jazz. I was wanting to stock up so I got Interstellar Space as a recommendation. When I first listened, I was like, [shrugs] yeah, 'cause he's just freaking out, just him and a drummer, Rashied Ali, then I burned it anyway. Usually what happens is that it sounds so good 'cause it's burned from those original vinyls and then you crank it in your headphones and it just sounds unreal, so that's what happened with that one on the way to Joshua Tree. My mind was blown and it's just so open and such raw emotion and so psychedelic without any of the pretensions that 'psychedelic' eventually became - he's just the real thing. It's just wide open and sprawling. 'Lost My Head' for sure has that jazz influence... obviously it's a white man's, with limited skill. The convenience of the key of C, for instance - you play all those sevenths with the same formation all over the place, so that's why the piano's beautiful, but that's got the McCoy Tyner or whatever thing in it."

Source
  
Dancing in Circles (Circles Trilogy #1)
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
So once again I was stuck for choice for what book to read next so I random number generated (RNG) it and got this, #22, which just shows you how old it is (2012).
I'm hoping my tastes haven't changed that much that I won't like it but we'll see what happens.

Okay, I'm going to DNF this at 35%. It wasn't that bad a story but as I mentioned in my status update, I can't help but picture Robert/Bob as some sort of Mexican thug/drug lord/drug runner with how he talks. I know he's from the wrong side of town but I'm sure they don't necessarily have to talk like he was doing. Then the fact he's in a gang...meh.

The main reason I'm not going to finish this is because I got a little bored. It was a bit too predictable. Bad boy, good girl. Meet, fall in love. Live happily ever after. Now if it had been the other way around; bad girl, good guy...then I might have stuck around for completion because I haven't read that situation often and I find it much more intriguing.

The characters were also a little strange in their actions. Stuff happened that a normal person would freak out about and instead our characters just sort of got on with life as if nothing had happened.

My taste in books has changed a fair bit in the three years since I downloaded this, when I downloaded almost everything that was free in the romance category.

I'm now going to go read something that I've paid for and actively sought out.

Not necessarily a bad book just not to my tastes.
  
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ClareR (5879 KP) rated The Betrayals in Books

Dec 14, 2020  
The Betrayals
The Betrayals
Bridget Collins | 2020 | Dystopia, Fiction & Poetry, Mystery, Science Fiction/Fantasy
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Firstly, I should say that The Betrayals is a phenomenal book. It opens up a whole new world to the reader. It brought to mind the type of society that I imagine we would have had under National Socialism: men in charge and better educated than women, women expected to know their place, only state sanctioned religion permitted, and those of other religions or schools of thought are ‘disappeared’. I really would have liked to have read more about this outside world, but I don’t feel short changed at only having read about what happens within the confines of Montverre. It is strange actually, that such a major part of Montverre, the grand jeu, is never explicitly talked about. We get the impression as a reader that it’s a performance consisting of maths, music, philosophy and state sanctioned religion. It’s held in extremely high regard: studying it is a sure fire open door to a position of power afterwards.

So what IS The Betrayals about? Well, betrayal, actually. Everyone is backstabbing and lying to everyone else in this book, and they’re lucky if they live to regret it. It’s the cloistered version of Dallas (with less sex)! I loved it. This was a hard book to put down, and one I steamed through far too quickly. This ticks a lot of boxes for me: historical fantasy (double whammy straight away), a mystery to solve, dystopian and a smattering of magical realism. I’m glad it looks like a book that could have a sequel - even if it never as one. It leaves the reader able to make up their own next moves (yes, I do that).

Huge thanks to the publisher for providing me with a NetGalley copy of this book - it was one of my reading highlights of 2020.
  
Infuriated (Daywalker Academy #5)
Infuriated (Daywalker Academy #5)
Maya Daniels | 2020 | Paranormal, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Infuriated is the fifth book in the Daywalker Academy series and it should definitely be read as a series or you just won't understand the nuances of what is going on.

We start where the last one ended almost. Franky is hiding out with Myst and Tenebris is keeping her company, whether she wants it or not. That's okay until Myst has had enough and lets Zoltan know where she is. Franky returns to the Academy with Zoltan and the fun starts.

There is a lot that goes on in this book - like the others in the series. You have to hold onto your hat and follow it word for word or you may get lost. Ms. Daniels certainly knows how to write an amazing fight scene and I love how Franky reacts and copes when someone attacks her, even if they think they are protecting her.

Unfortunately for me, Franky also annoyed me slightly in this one. She was full of how Roberti knows her and pushes her buttons so she needs to stop and think. Only trouble is, at the first opportunity, she throws that out of the window and goes off by herself to do something she's already been warned about. I know it describes Franky's character (as well as helping the story to move along) but seriously? Listen to yourself and maybe hesitate for just half a second before you go rushing off!

Overall though, it was a fantastic story with Tenebris and Zoltan still remaining my firm favourites. I absolutely recommend this book, the whole series, and I can't wait to see what happens next.

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!