Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

Oh. Great I could probably add 1 more book (cross fingers). Thanks Lauren!

No stress, Kathleen. It is a relaxed update tomorrow - so we will update the spreadsheet sometime during the day. I am going to aim to get at least one finished tonight, but we are absolutely storming it with nearly 2000 points already this week.

Skandia wrote: " by Deborah Blake, 352 pages, finished 11/14/14 ★★★★

Good start to a new Urban Fantasy/ PNR series. Loosely based on the Russian folk tale character Baba Ya..."

I'm looking forward to read this one!

Finished by Eileen Wilks 15/11/2014 ★★★
- 393 pages
- BR: Yes - here

I thought I had posted these already, but I don't see them in the thread. I know they're on the spreadsheet, but I like seeing what everyone is reading.



Furies of Calderon 550 pp, ★★★★, Buddy Read in the Codex Alera Series read thread
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Strong, smart women and men. I like that there's a bit of romance, but it's more about relationships than sex. The magical system is interesting, as are the world inhabitants. I'm left wanting more, but don't feel like the book ended with a true cliffhanger. Just enough unanswered questions to propel me into the next book soon.

Prince of Thorns 399 pp, closer to ★★★ than ★★★★, Buddy Read
Another bad boy fantasy, coming perhaps to quickly on the heels of The Lies of Locke Lamora for me to appreciate it. Comparisons are natural and not in this books favor. It could use 50 more pages to flesh out the story a bit more. It's a very exciting world, with some interesting people...but something is missing to elevate to 4+ status. I think it's detail.

I received a response to my comments on the BOM thread. Can I get BR credit? I don't know how much back and forth is required. I would have liked to read it in real time with someone, but it was just a couple of weeks ago that it was BOMed so interested parties read it then, I assume.


I think the person that suggested reading has decided not to read it. Which is fine, I wanted to read it anyway. I answered a few sets of questions on the BOM thread, and got a response from someone I mistakenly thought was in our group (we do have 2 members whose names start with 'K', so it's not outrageous...) Again, I don't know if that qualifies as 'buddy reading' by the challenge standards. It's rather lean IMHO, but I'm not a rule maker.

by V.E. Schwab
★★★★★
150 pp || 10 pts || BOM or BR: NO

Cynthia, I just got a copy of The Miniaturist. If you're not yet finished reading it and can wait for the next weekend, I can buddy read it with you.

I'm finished with it, but it's a good book and the questions in the BOM thread are interesting ones. some books are better for discussing than others, and this one is twisty-turny enough to make it good for stopping and chatting about.

I've done the update now, and we're finishing the week with 2160 points! Cynthia, I have added in both of your old BOMs but will get confirmation.

Way to go Thundercats!

I'm almost done with my latest book and will post it soon :0)

I finished another book and am almost done with a second.

Raging Heat by Richard Castle 292 pages

Finished 11/16 ✿✿✿✿

This is # 6 in the Nikki Heat series by fictional/mystery (as in who really writes these books) by fictional character Richard Castle. These are a spinoff of the TV show Castle.

In this one Nikki and Rook are trying to solve the crime of how a body fell from the sky. Based in NYC during the days when Hurricane Sandy was approaching the primary subject of their attention is one of the officials in charge of the disaster preparedness team.

I don't know who writes these books but they are always enjoyable. ✿✿✿✿

First the Dead by Tim Downs 368 pages ✔
11/16 ✿✿✿✿

Excellent book set in pre - post Hurricane Katrina that hit the gulf of Mexico and was so devastating to Louisiana.

The main character is part of the disaster team that is sent to New Orleans to help identify bodies killed by the hurricane. When he arrives however he becomes part of the rescue team to help save the many people stranded by the floods.

This was a great murder mystery in an interesting and dreadful setting of a huge disaster. ✿✿✿✿

This is set in Louisiana so should count towards the mini challenge

The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths 320 pages
11/16 ★★★★★
BOM - Yes


I found this book through a friend that recommended the series and I am so glad I read it. The setting is a rather bleak area in England called a saltmarsh. It was a land known for druids and Stonehenge like areas. The MC is Ruth Galloway who is a professor of forensic archeology at the local university. She gets involved in the case of a missing girl when bones are found on the saltmarsh and a local DCI asks for her to determine if the bones are ancient or more recent.

This was a well told mystery and I can't wait to continue with the series. This may be my first 5 star book of 2014

➜ I re-read this one and participated in the BOM discussion https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

➜ Also works for the country mini challenge since it is set in the UK

Finished by Jennifer L.Armentrout , 452 pages (kindle edition),11/16/14, 5 stars!

A Man Called Ove 337 pp, ★★★★★, Buddy Read
This is a story about loss, love, friendship. It's incredibly touching and also quite funny. I can't recommend it highly enough. It's my favorite read of TT3 so far.

The Dinosaur Feather 544 pp, ★★★★
I like Scandinavian Noir. The characters are well developed, and the minutiae of the investigation takes a backseat to the people and their stories. I didn't like the central character, Anna, but this is a small thing and is part of the story rather than a detraction.

◆ Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhadden by M.C. Beaton 256 pages ✔ ★★★★ 11/17

➜ Also works for the country mini challenge since it is set in the UK



◆ Grave Peril by Jim Butcher 388 pages ✔ ★★★★ 11/17

➜ Also works for the country mini challenge since it is set in Chicago, Illinois USA


◆ Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter 357 pages ✔ ★★★ 11/17

by Elly Griffiths
★★★ || 325 pp || BOM: YES || 50 pts

Mini-challenge - UK

Big Little Lies 460 pp, ★★★★★, Buddy Read
I liked this so much more than The Husband's Secret, which I rated 4 stars. It was perfect and I wouldn't change a thing about it. I don't say that too often, though it may seem like it because we're reading such good books lately.


Poison Study 431 pp, ★★★1/2, Buddy Read
A new series, billed as YA but doesn't read like it. A magical world, but it's not overwhelmingly so. I have a feeling the next book in the series will be heavy magic though, since it's called Magic Study.

by Colleen Hoover, 337 pages
finished 11/18/14, ★★★★★, Buddy Read

I would have given more stars if possible. So beautifully written, it made me cry, it broke my heart into million pieces and put it back together again in the end.

by Scott Lynch
Finished: 17 Nov 14
Rating: ★★★★
I would have given this 5 stars but I found it was a bit slow to start with. However it certainly picked up the pace and I loved it by the end.

537 pages, BOM
I wish I wasn't so honest! I know there were other editions of this book which would have given us extra points, but this was the edition I read so I'm going to have to settle for fewer points :-(

NancyHelen wrote: " by Scott Lynch
Finished: 17 Nov 14
Rating: ★★★★
I would have given this 5 stars but I found it was a bit slow to start with. However it certainly picke..."

The word count is the same on all editions, regardless of how many pages we turned. The mods requested that we all shelve the same edition so it would be consistent.

It's not cheating, really! We all read the same amount.

Finished by Elly Griffiths 18 Nov 2014
Pages: 320
Rating: ★★
BOM: Yes - here - here - here

Finished by Karin Slaughter 19 Nov 2014
Pages: 392
Rating: ★★★★

♦ Mini-challenge: The Crossing Places is set in UK. Blindsighted in USA.

Magic Study 448 pp, ★★★★, Series Buddy Read We've requested that the mods set up a series read, but until then we've been discussing the books on the Poison Study thread. So many BR threads to set up, only so much time!

This is the 2nd book in Maria Snyder's Study series. Kidnapped at 6, our heroine from book one travels into the southern lands to meet the family she had believed dead for most of her life. She has to leave her lover and her friends behind, and prove herself to these new people. Can't say more...too full of twists, turns, surprises!

Ancillary Justice 410 pp, ★★★
This book is told from the POV of an artifical intelligence, millennia old, whose intelligence has embodied thousands of people (or ancillaries as they are called). The timeline jumps from present to 15 years ago to 1,000 years ago and back and forth. I was halfway through the book before I realized this, as it was only then revealed that this wasn't all happening within the present and very recent past. To make just a little more frustrating, despite living something like 3000 years and encountering multiple alien species, our AI can't tell boy people from girl people and calls everyone she. Give. Me. A. Break.

I started this for the 2014 GCA Reading Challenge and put it down in frustration more than once. I don't think it's all that.

◆ Missing Justice by Alafair Burke 368 pages ✔ ★★★ 11/19

◆ Helsinki Noir by James Thompson 280 pages ✔ ★★★ 11/19

◆ The Nightmare Thief by Meg Gardiner 368 pages ✔ ★★★ 11/19

None are Bom's or Br

Last night I completely forgot to mention the number of pages and the mini-challenge. I updated post 74.

The spreadsheet and mini-challenge should now all be updated.

Cynthia, I think you have forgotten to add yours to your tower-teams shelf which is why the spreadsheet hasn't picked them up yet...

If I have missed any books from the mini-challenge which you think will fit, then do let me know!

by Maria V. Snyder || 431 pp || ★★★★ ||
BR: YES (Series buddy read)

by Maria V. Snyder || 448 pp || ★★★★ ||
BR: YES (Series buddy read)

I just checked the spreadsheet and I noticed that which has 466 pages (Kindle edition) is under 161-450. :)

This TT3 challenge is saving my ass. Reaching m 150 GR challenge now seems possible! *whew*

NancyHelen wrote: "The spreadsheet and mini-challenge should now all be updated.

Cynthia, I think you have forgotten to add yours to your tower-teams shelf which is why the spreadsheet hasn't picked them up yet...

..."


I did totally forget! Thanks NancyHelen

Kathleen wrote: "I just checked the spreadsheet and I noticed that which has 466 pages (Kindle edition) is under 161-450. :)

This TT3 challenge is saving my ass. Reaching m 150..."

It's all OK on the Official spreadsheet. I'll manually update the unofficial one when I get a few minutes!

Oh my bad, I'm sorry I did not think of checking the official spreadsheet, I read the mini-challenge spreadshhet. Thank you Nancy!

Finished 11/20

Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler 496 pages ✔

Takes place in UK for country challenge.


Wild Thing by Josh Bazell 388 pages. ✔


Into the Night by Suzanne Brockmann 400 pages ✔

Grave Mercy 549 pp, ★★★★, Series Buddy Read
Another little gem I stumbled upon while haunting the buddy reads thread. This is a YA historical fiction (protagonist is 17) set in 15th century Brittany. Both the first and second novels in the series are focused on events surrounding Anne of Britanny and the drama of her marriage and coronation, and the attempts to maintain independence from France.
Ismae, our protagonist, is an assassin trained in the convent of the sisters of Mortain, or Death.

I forgot I was reading a YA novel. Ismae could well be much older and the story would be the nearly the same, but I suppose YA is a big market now.

Dark Triumph 385 pp, ★★★★, Series Buddy Read

Second book in the His Fair Assassin series. This time the story is told from a different assassin, Sybella, a minor character in the first book. Set during the same time period, the story overlaps the end of the first book briefly.

I may have like this 2nd entry better than the first one. I think the pace is a little faster, there's more action in the beginning. I will probably read the 3rd book since my library has it.

Both of these books are available at the 3M Cloud Library and in Kindle Unlimited. I prefer KU to 3M because I have to read the 3M books on my iPad.

|| ★★★ || 448 pp
BOM or BR: No

◆ Burn by James Patterson 496 pages ✔ 11/21 ★★★★
BOM or BR: No


◆ Legally Dead by Edna Buchanan 368 pages ✔ 11/21 ★★★
BOM or BR: No

A Room with a View by E.M. Forster , 256 pages, 11/21/14, ★
(set in UK, written by an English author, for mini-challenge)

Smart, Sexy and Secretive by Tammy Falkner ,143 pages, 11/21/14, ★★★★
(set in USA, New York, for mini-challenge)

I forgot to post this one yesterday.

The Lewis Man 373 pp,★★★★, Buddy Read

The 2nd book in May's Lewis Trilogy, set in the Hebrides. As with the first book, the characters and setting are just as compelling as the mystery. Maybe even more so. My library doesn't have the third book, don't ask me why. I may have to buy it. For certain I will be reading more Peter May.

|| ★★ || 131 pp

|| ★★★★ || Buddy Read || 430 pp

Finished by Ann Aguirre 22 Nov 2014
Pages: 337
Rating: ★★★

Spin-off of the Sirantha Jax series.

Fate's Edge 372 pp, ★★★, Series Buddy Read
I like this one a little less than I like the first 3 books of the series, which surprised me. It has some of my favorite characters from this world, but it felt incomplete. I also tired of the constant wooing, which undercut the seriousness of the mission.

Mortal Heart 464 pp, ★★★,Series Buddy Read
The 3rd book in the His Fair Assassins series. This book was very different in pace and tone, and I liked it less than the first 2. A lot of introspection on the protagonist's part, and I could have done with much less of it.

The Cinderella Murder by Mary Higgins Clark (Under Suspicion #1) 320 pages


Finished 11/22 Rating ★★★★

It's 1994 Susan is attending Berkley with the hope of becoming an actress. With the prospect of landing the big audition that might start her career she meets an up and coming producer. Instead she is found dead in the park. The crime goes unsolved.

Fast forward to current day and a young producer of a Dateline type show that showcases cold cases decides to profile this unsolved crime. People aren't happy about it and threaten her family.


** This book is the hot off the press new Mary Higgins Clark novel who many people including me, consider the queen of the modern mystery. I have a personal attachment to MHC. I didn't really start reading books for pleasure until I was close to 50 years old and when I went to the library I didn't have a clue where to start. I asked the nice librarian who she would recommend and she walked me to the MHC section. The rest is history :)

Not a buddy read

499 pp, ★★★★

Stone Spring is the first book in The Northland Trilogy, set in the Mesolithic Period - the Middle Stone Age. I like prehistory. (Remember Auel's Earth's Children Series?)

Where does this novel diverge from reality? In real life, all sorts of things like plate convergence and polar ice melting and other sciency stuff happened that resulted in Britain the island. In this novel, the area we know as Britain is connected to France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany due to human intervention.

The next book is set in the Bronze Age, but has very poor reviews so I probably won't read it. (Which means I will read it, but I'm not in any hurry to do so).

by Sophie Kinsella, 400 pages , finished 11/23/14, ★★★

*UK author

374 pp, ★★★★★, Buddy Read
Not many people have commented on the BR thread yet. It's not due to start until 12/1, but I read it early.

I thoroughly enjoyed this short book. It's set in a near future dystopia, but not what I would classify as a science fiction novel. I suppose you could stretch it and call it social science fiction.

Anyway, it's full of 80s references that I completely got and I love the main character.

◆ No Time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay 482 pages ✔ 11/23 4 stars


A teenage girls entire family disappears in the middle of the night. She spends the next 25 years searching for answers. Extremely convoluted story but kept me hooked.

Tumbling Blocks by Earlene Fowler 332 pages Finished 11/23 Rating ★★★

Benni has mother in law trouble.

Cynthia wrote: " 374 pp, ★★★★★, Buddy Read
Not many people have commented on the BR thread yet. It's not due to start until 12/1, but I read it early.

I thoroughly enjoyed thi..."

This book has been racking up reviews lately in my newsfeed.

193 pp, ★★★★★, Buddy Read

Winter's Bone is a very short novel that packs a powerful punch. So much is packed into this thin book, and the words are just beautiful.

Ree is only 16 (this is not a YA novel) but is no doubt the head of her family. Her Dad, a meth cook, has gone missing and everything is at stake if Ree can't find him - dead or alive.

***I was checking off my BRs and noticed that I didn't get points for Furies of Calderon, which is a series BR.

I just checked the spreadsheet and noticed that I didn't get points for Poison Study and Magic Study which is a series buddy read here.

Finished by Ilona Andrews ★★★★
- Definitely better than the first one.
- 480 pages (kindle version)
- BR: yes - here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Edit: Mini-challenge: takes place in USA - Louisiana.

◆ Steel Guitar by Linda Barnes Finished 11/24 Rating ★★★

Carlotta is hired by an old friend that is now a country music star to find an old friend that is blackmailing her. Lots of the not so glamorous side of the music business in this book.

No buddy read. Takes place in US