Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

That looks great, Cynthia. My first TBR add for 2015...

I finished by Gore Vidal this morning at about 12.15 am. It had been sitting unfinished on my shelf since June. It was dark, strange, funny but definitely not for the faint-hearted.
Rating: ★★★★

394 pp, ★★★★

New YA Fantasy series about witches - this time will the MC a young male witch. Very minimal romance. Very short; nice way to pass the time. (I can't sleep tonight!)

The 13th Gift: A True Story of a Christmas Miracle by Joanne Huist Smith 1/1 ★★★★ 226 pages

My first book of 2015!

by Kass Morgan, 323 pages

finished 1/2/14, 4 stars

I'm a big fan of the tv-show based on this book. The book was different and moved more slowly than the story in TV-show. Very interesting idea, though. 100 young criminals sent ahead from the spaceship to test that the Earth is inhabitable after nuclear war destroyed all life on it.

298 pp, ★★★

I started this book for some reason that now escapes me. I can make it fit a couple of challenges so no great loss. I may end up reading the next two just for the challenge fit.

I did like the latter half of the book much better than the beginning.

@ Captains: I checked our spreadsheet but I can't see the points for the BR of Cress, thread is here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

◆ Blood Harvest by S.J. Bolton 421 pages ★★★★ 1/2/15

Audrey Jane wrote: "@ Captains: I checked our spreadsheet but I can't see the points for the BR of Cress, thread is here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/......"

Got it, Audrey - all updated now...

Lauren, I think you're just adding books now (as they are appearing on the spreadsheet!) Could you let me know how many pages Hunting Fear has? It hasn't come through so I was just doing an override.

oops missed that the page number didn't come through. I read the Kindle edition of Hunting Fear, which has 384 pages.

Updating the spreadsheet now.

◆ Devil's Claw by J.A. Jance 416 pages ★★★★ 1/3/15

(Joanna Brady #8) for our climbing challenge

|| Series Buddy Read|| 3 stars || 448 pages ||

Study Series #3 for the climbing mini-challenge

416 pp, ★★★★, and I hope someone will interact for a BR but I'm not holding out much hope LOL

This is the 2nd book in The Unwind Dystology. It's just different enough from the first one to be interesting, and it's a fairly quick read. I picked it up today from the library and read most of it making dinner. Oh if only Sarum moved this quickly!

OK so Cynthia has a series # 2 book there for our climbing challenge. I'll work on a different #.

Oh I thought we had a series #2 already. I was scouring my list for a #4. My bad!!

I think I'm mainly working on standalones this weekend, with the exception of Cress. It's a #3 and we already have that, I believe.

by Darynda Jones 4 January 2015 ★★★1/2 stars
- 339 pages
- Fifth installment of a very enjoyable light UF series with a heavy dose of humour. I do not much care about the romance part in the book since I'm not that fond of the male love interest, but I'm having a good time with the series and think it's really funny (view spoiler)[I laughed out loud when Strawberry Shortcake brushed Charley's hair with a toilet brush! (hide spoiler)]. Also the side characters are great and I wish we get to know more about them, the focus of the series is a bit too much on the two main characters. I would like the have chapters from the side characters' point of views, they seem in some occasions more interesting to me. Planning to continue the series.

* Mini-challenge: #5 in the series.

◆ Hemlock Bay by Catherine Coulter (FBI Thriller #6) 1/3/15 ✿✿✿ 394 pages

# 6 in series climb

I think I may have read the first book in this series a long time ago. It sounds familiar. Does it start with a woman that's a private investigator that has ghosts in her apartment? I'm sure that narrows it down a bit...but I can't remember anything else about it.

Sheila are you going to get high enough that I should read Blue Labyrinth? It's a #14. Not a problem. It's due in about 10 days anyway.

310 pages ★★★1/2 which I rounded to 4

The Curse Workers #1, a Holly Black series. Coming of age type story. I like her writing style. So easy to read.

At the rate we are going I think we will probably get to 14 Cynthia.

Okay I'll start it tomorrow. It's awkward to hold in the bed.

I've read 4 books today and I think I only posted 2 of them.
If these 2 are repeats, I'm sorry. I don't see them on the thread, though.

310 pages, ★★★★
Rowell always blindsides me. By now I should expect a big emotional wallop from her books, but still I go in all smiley and happy and come out with too much to think about. This is my third Rainbow Rowell book and I love her. This isn't a Young Adult book.

320 pages, ★★★★
This book is more than a ghost story. It's about secrets, and forgiveness. This was my first Lauren Oliver book. Beautifully woven story and I'll read more from her.

I've updated our mini challenge to here, but the spreadsheet is throwing me an error at the moment, so I might have to try updating it a bit later.

by Sylvia Day, 368 pages,BR (back room)
finished 1/4/15, 2,5 stars
Crossfire #4 for series challenge

I really don't know why I still continue reading this series. It's a train wreck.

OK, the spreadsheet seems to be behaving itself and we have 12760 points - YIPPEE!

@Cynthia - I'll post in the the buddies bailed thread about your book and we'll see if someone will pop in to comment :0)

There's a buddies bailed thread? I had no idea. I should check that out. I wouldn't mind being a buddy sub.

It's in the captains thread. I only remembered that when I was looking for it to post, lol!

◆ Dismissed With Prejudice by J.A. Jance 388 pages 1/4/15 ✿✿✿

(J.P. Beaumont #7)

517 pages, ★★★★, Buddy Read

2nd Book in the Daughter of Smoke & Bone series. It was so different from the first book that I find it hard to compare the two. I've requested the 3rd book.

This is for the 451-600 page category in the readathon.

◆ And She Was: A Novel of Suspense by Alison Gaylin 1/5/15 ✿✿✿✿ 389 pages

|| ★★★ || 166 pages

Finished by Katie MacAlister 6 January ★★★ 329 pages
- Third installment of an enjoyable, light, humorous PNR/chick-lit series. My favourite character is the demon dog and his untimely & slightly inappropriate comments. On to the last book in the series.

* Mini-challenge: #3 in series.

130 pages, ★★★

Interesting twist on the Frankenstein story, but the execution was a little predictable.

602 pages, ★★★★★

This book didn't miss a beat. A great debut, and I can't believe I have to wait until the end of the year or early 2016 to read the next book. This is an epic fantasy that doesn't overwhelm with world-building and characters. It also isn't overburdened with pointless dialogue to pass time during journeys. I think I may have screamed out 'I love you James Islington!' when I turned a page and read 'Three weeks had passed' and then it continued on. No need to recap the stuff that happened in those three week because it didn't add to the story.

This is a Kindle Unlimited book, probably one of the best I've read in the program.

I haven't been able to post a book I read yesterday. It simply won't post. In English. I think I can post it in German, though. I guess that's good enough.

Saphirblau369 pages. ★★★, Buddy Read
2nd book in The Precious Stone Trilogy. The title is misleading, as the 'precious stones' are people and the sapphire doesn't even appear in this one. I was a little let down!

, 252 pages
Finished 1/7/15, 3,5 - 4 stars

|| ★★★★ || 481 pages

Is book 1 covered in the climb-up mini challenge? :) If not yet, this fits.

||Buddy Read || ★★ || 288 pages

384 pages, ★★★

Anthology of 9 dystopian short stories. I rated it ★★★ because some of the stories are just not as good as the others. I expected I would love Carrie Ryan's, but its my least favorite. Still a good collection.

Also I think we have around 21 books for the readathon, plus most of the categories are covered. Still outstanding are the top 2, which Skandia is covering with New York and I'm covering with Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.

101 pages

Finished 1/7/15, Elder Races series book #6.6

◆ Abandon by Blake Crouch 437 pages 1/7/15 ✿✿✿✿


◆ Close Case by Alafair Burke 368 pages 1/7/15 ✿✿✿

(Samantha Kincaid #3)

Finished by Diana Wynne Jones 7/01/2015 ★★★ - 212 pages
- Altough this is not one of her best, I really enjoy D.W. Jones writing style. This book is clearly meant for a very young audience compared to her later books. It's the kind of book that you read for your children. All D.W. Jones writings are intended for a young audience but they show a lot of maturity, especially compared to today's YA.

416 pages, ★★★, Buddy Read

First book in the Raven Cycle series (YA Fantasy). It had its problems, but I am a sucker for a story with ley lines and secret magic and faeries. The kids were much less annoying than a lot of teens in this genre, so that was a big plus for me.

283 pages, ★★★,Buddy Read

I couldn't wait for this to end. The first half was excellent, absolutely everything I expected. The 2nd half was some of the worst stuff I've made myself read. I don't mean scary or horrible or graphic. It was boring. I cannot understand the cultural impact of this novel based on a casual reading. I'm sure a study of it would be much more exciting than actually reading it.

I had to give it at least 3 stars because I recognize it's influence on the psychological thriller, and the first half was excellent. That has to bump it up at least 1 star.

@Cynthia - Can you post the ink to the Buddy Read for The Shadow of What Was Lost - I can't seem to find it. Thanks :0)

I read , which is also a buddy read. I'm waiting for someone to comment in the thread before adding the points to our spreadsheet.

The spreadsheet is up to date (up to post #363) and we have 13430 points :0)

◆ Crash and Burn by Allison Brennan 315 pages 1/9/15 ✿✿✿

Lauren wrote: "@Cynthia - Can you post the ink to the Buddy Read for The Shadow of What Was Lost - I can't seem to find it. Thanks :0)"
The Shadow Of What Was Lost wasn't a Buddy Read.

Missing Buddy Reads:

Sapphire Blue (The Ruby Red Trilogy #2) - Informal Buddy Read

UnWholly Buddy Read
(Thanks for the request to comment!)

Pretty Little Liars Buddy Read
Read 12/06 - Buddy Read just started

Just finished
550 pages, ★★★, Buddy Read
Cress Buddy Read

304 pages, ★★★★
416 pages, ★★★★

Thanks Cynthia. I see now that it was SaphireBlue that was the BR :0)

Thanks, Lauren! I should be putting links to the BRs in my posts.

Cynthia wrote: "Thanks, Lauren! I should be putting links to the BRs in my posts."

:0)

We are all up to date again, lol! Now we have 13660 points - Yahoo!

The Givenchy Code by Julie Kenner 1/10/15 ★★ 384 pages