The Lost Challenges discussion

Hi everyone. Same old, same old here - still tired, still suffering endless broken nights. The joys of parenting!

I've got 80 pages to go of my book. I'll either get it finished tonight or tomorrow as it is a really quick read...

And, I've managed to finished it:

by Laurie Cass
Read: 11 March 2015
Rating: ★★

I know cosy mysteries aren't supposed to be all that serious, but this one was just a bit silly. It wasn't the cat itself that was silly - sure, most of the things the cat did to help solve the murder of elderly property developer, Stan Larabee, were far fetched, but I could buy them. That was all part of the fun. But the narrator, Minnie Hamilton, was just so saccharine sweet and full of cliched silliness that I couldn't buy her at all. It was all too predictable. The fact that she, as a librarian, managed to solve what wasn't a particularly complex murder while the police didn't come close was part of it. But this book, although not badly written, felt like little more than a stack of tired ideas covered in icing.

Friend: "You're my friend, that's what friends do." p.86
Desk: "...then rotated the driver's seat to face the computer desk." p. 23
School: "I was going to bring books to schools..." p.13
Box: "A white paw reached out for the pizza box." p.122
Silver: "Is he a silver tabby?" p.276

Great job on finishing the book, NancyHelen! But sorry it wasn't great.

Good morning Team! I'm still working on my book. It's been a slow reading week. But I should finish today.

I am headed to Shreveport again tomorrow morning. But I should be on sometime in the afternoon. This is getting old!

We are doing great!

Hey ladies

Nancy~
Bless you, I am currently organising a surprise baby shower from my best friend, she has all this to come and it is her first!

Leslie~
I hate slow reading weeks, I love it when I pick a book I can't put down! Good job I have insomnia ;) it comes in handy.

Still all fluff for me. Should be done with my book tonight.

Jade - yes!! I am normally quite a fast reader and feel quite frustrated with myself. But RL keeps getting in my way.

Read: 3/13/14
Rating: 3 stars
Review:

This was a fluffy, oddball book that is TOTALLY different from what I'm used to from Jennifer Estep. I think maybe I read this at the wrong time. Because it was cotton candy, sweet as gold, let me see you tootsie roll fluffy. So the h decides she is going on a crusade to unmask heroes and villains because her bf and fiance, a villain and a hero were getting it on the day of the wedding. It a little bit of an Incredibles feel to it, except I don't love this like I love the Incredibles.

I get what was happening but some things stood out for me:

1. If they were really villains why didn't the ones she unmasked just off her?
2. The hero was odd at first too. There was an awkward sex scene pretty early in the story...and apparently he had his mask on the entire time because she didn't know his name or know how his face looked. So I guess that's a nod to faceless cosplay sex?
3. Damn that was fluffy.
4. It was also woefully predictable.

Friend - He ran his fingers - the ones that weren't latched to her best friend's ass - through his blond hair. p.7
Desk - Everyone and his brother stopped by my desk to congratulate me p.12
School - Hermit most likely had my bank records, credit history, library card number, grade school report cards, everything. p.78
Box - Piles of cardboard boxes greeted me. p.12
Silver - Fog puffed up from the silver cannisters.

Week 4: Friend
BOW: Desk


3/13/15 4★
Review:Hard to believe this is #40! It took awhile for me to to get into but once I did, it was great. Interesting storyline and it's great to see Eve so befuddled that she has so many friends to worry about. And of course there is Roarke! It's all good.

Friend she could see herself as your friend and partner p. 178
Desk she went directly to her desk p. 161
School It just strikes me as middle school p. 172
Box the killer grabbed the box p. 143
silver several big silver clips p. 92

Okay, whew!!! I finished just in time to leave! Way to go team. Great job this week.

yayay!!

Week 5

WOW: Bottle
Bonus: Dinner

And again with the WOW being a word we've already claimed! Grrr!

Anyway, I am going to read

Amazingly enough, it has every single word in it!

Grrrrr indeed Nancy!

I will have look through my books :)

I will read .

Has all words except Sister & Teacher

Hi Team - and how annoying!! Thanks for posting NancyHelen! Right after I got to Shreveport, my youngest called and was in an accident. So we may have to turn around and head back. Ugh!

I will look and see what I have for this week.


Okay, so far I have found

Bottle (no points)
Dinner BOW
Husband
hospital
gold

Can everyone do these words or do we need others?

I can do all I think. Hope everyone is safe Leslie x

Thanks, Jade! She's ok, I think. Air bag deployed and the car is totalled. Big brother is taking her to doctor to get checked out because not only was I not in town, my mom was out of town as well. I hate hate hate not being there when my kids are hurt.

We just need to hear from Danielle and these will be our words for the week.

Oh Leslie! I really hope she's OK.

thanks, NancyHelen. Just waiting to hear from them. They are at ER. She says she feels "fine". But we all know how that can change the next day. My family tends to minimize any kind of hurt or illness and we all hate doctors, so it's hard to assess. My husband and I are driving back in the morning and bringing her an extra car we have. I am trying to get the kitchen packed this evening! In between breaks of checking GR's LOL!!

I'm going to read for

Bottle (no points)
Dinner BOW
Husband
hospital
gold

Great! Thanks Danielle.

I think we are set for this week.

Week 5: Bottle (no points)
BOW: Dinner



Husband
Hospital
Gold

Good morning Lemon Drops! Headed home after a busy weekend packing. Kitchen is done! Truck is rented for next Saturday. My daughter Emily is OK. Her face got pretty banged up and she stayed home from work yesterday, but managed to go out with friends last night!
Hope everyone is doing well!

Glad nobody was seriously hurt!

Week 5 -

Bottle (no points) ;(
Dinner
Husband
Hospital
Gold

Week 5: Bottle (no points)
BOW: Dinner

SunshinePractical Demonkeeping
JadeIndulgecompleted 3/18/15 Review Post
NancyHelenFangirlCompleted 3/18/15 Review Post
DanielleAlmost a Bride
LeslieDead Heatcompleted 3/18/15Review Post

I finished my book and will post my review at lunchtime! How is everyone else doing?

i'm at 80% so will also be finished later, really enjoying this weeks ;)

I finished mine last night. Just need to get the kids fed and bathed then I'll post it up.

Week 5 - Read 18/03/15 ♡♡♡

Well I started off loving this book getting really into it.

Telling the tale of an MC gang who get hooked up with the Mafia and a Mexican drug cartel.

Buck one of the bikers falls for a girl who has ties to both as her Father has got mixed up with the wrong people and she is used to teach him lesson. The book started off quite fast pased with lots of sex and typical biker behaviour, but then from about 65% it just fizzled out and I was left hightly dissapointed! One of the most traumatic parts of the book just seemed to be rush and glazed over.

I love the Biker genre and have read so many great books, but this book just left me hanging!

Bottle:they shared a bottle of pinot noir ~Loc 109
Dinner:your pupils were the size of dinner plates ~Loc 710
Husband:Grandma's late husband ~Loc 61
Hospital:she was still in the hospital~Loc 1053
Gold:The other guy with gold teeth ~Loc 2283

Week 5: Bottle (no points)
BOW: Dinner


3/18/15 4★

Review:
Anna and Charles are one of my favorite book couples and their relationship is strong in this lovely book. Charles goes to an old friend's house who is dying and wants to buy a horse for Anna. While there they become involved in a Fae kidnapping case. I loved all the discussion of horses, but I am slightly horse mad and the search for the Fae killer is engaging and intense. Great addition to the series!

Bottle: drinking from a bottle of water p. 276
Dinner: What's for dinner p. 22
Husband: When she called her husband p. 29
Hospital: Even if they were at a hospital p. 50
Gold: trimmed in gold p. 235

Week 5

by Rainbow Rowell
Read: 18 Mar 2015
Rating: ★★

I am not a particular fan of YA, or of chicklit for that matter so perhaps a 2 star rating is a bit unfair. There was not a lot about this book that appealed to me. But saying that, I have read YA I really like and I have also read chicklit which wasn't too bad either. Sadly, for me, this book didn't achieve either. It was just too predictable and I felt it just didn't go anywhere. I got so tired of the Simon Snow excerpts between chapters as well that I barely read them by the end as they just didn't seem to help the story at all. Cath, the anxty main character, was pretty annoying at the beginning, but just didn't seem to improve even by the end of the book. In fact, I cared so little about her that I can't even remember the end I skimmed it so quickly. So for me, the combination of lack of reality, contrived 'sub-story', annoying characters and a pretty pedestrian plot and I didn't enjoy the book much at all. Perhaps I am just too old for it and so I couldn't read it for what it was? But I know so many people who have raved about how good it was, most of whom are adults as well. Perhaps it isn't my age, its just me. Ah well, live and learn.

Bottle: "Wren held up her beer bottle..." p.121
dinner: "OK', her Dad said, walking back into the living room, 'dinner...'" p.338
husband: "Laura was texting someone, probably her husband..." p.357
hospital: "At the hospital now..." p. 357
gold: "Stay gold, Ponyboy." p.182

Sorry about the book, NancyHelen. I think you and I probably think pretty much alike on books like that. I just can't handle the angst - in books or real life!

I'll be done with my book soon. It's not the most interesting read so far. It's just okay.

Sounds like we are all having a "meh" week on books.

Sunshine wrote: "Sounds like we are all having a "meh" week on books."

Your right there Sunshine, I have just finished another book ;( wish I hadn't bothered! It is in a series I have really enjoyed this far....but this instalment was like reading a book from another author!

We are doing great, Team!! Hopefully the word we get tomorrow will give us some points. I'm headed up to Shreveport again tonight. Truck comes Saturday. So I will be checking in tomorrow.

Safe journey!

Week 5
by Christopher Moore 3/19/15 ★★

...polish off a bottle of tequila...Kindle Loc 17
Pizza was too informal for a dinner date. Kindle Loc 1362
...home almost five minutes and couldn’t find her husband Kindle Loc 2280
...they had taken him to the hospital in Clarion. Kindle Loc 2528
...she noticed that the threads were gold. Kindle Loc 2725

So, I'll admit that I mostly read this book because the cover appealed to me. The story itself was ok. I felt like one minute it was a funny demon-following-me-and-I-don't-know-how-to-get-rid-of-him, then next it was all feminist power, then it was a good murder mystery. It all came together at the end but it was long in getting there and I got easily distracted. Guess I can't give a decent review cause I was "out" for some of it.

Week 5
Book:
Finished: 2/19

This review is going to be fairly short since my other one didn't save. Almost a Bride fell flat for me. It was one of the first books that I one-clicked despite the fact that I don't read westerns or contemporaries. I picked it up because it had one of my favorite romantic tropes which is the marriage of convenience. A little bit of the part of this trope that I like was lost in this one since the hero and heroine had been in a serious relationship about 5 years before this book took place and had broken up. So I feel like they didn't have to learn each other as much... maybe this trope works best with historicals.

I'm also not a huge fam of westerns so maybe I set myself up not to enjoy this book from the beginning. IDK but I don't think I'll be continuing this series. It's just not for me but it's nice to finally "crack the spine" on this freebie that I've had for 3 years.

"While she put the bottle on the counter..." p.159
"If I recall, the phrase you used when I called to ask you to dinner" p.9
"I now pronounce you husband and wife." p.45
"First, I did PR for another corporation, but then I moved to a big university hospital." p.80
"...so the pair of gold rings winked at her" p.61

Unfortunately I am at a funeral today so won't be around when this weeks words are announced. Will check in later this evening or tomorrow with my choice. Lets hope it some words we can get points on ;)

I'm so sorry, Jade. I will keep you in my prayers. Thanks for letting us know.

Danielle - will you be posting a review and your word list? I hope it got better!

I've never read any Christoper Moore, Sunshine - though I've been tempted on occasion. I have problems with humorous paranormal books. Not sure why.

Well it's more fantasy than paranormal. Author's note says mixture of horror and whimsy. lol. I looked into Moore a bit more and turns out this was his first book. I may try him again but look into later books.

Sorry y'all I prematurely pressed save and then my comp died in the middle of the edit. I'm going to update in about an hour when I get home.

Danielle, let me know when you update your post. Thanks :)

This weeks words! Couldn't resist checking in :)

Wife
King

Thanks Jade! Just got back from picking up the big UHaul truck! It's a beast.

We get points this week!! Yay!!!!

:) yay indeed!!

:) yay indeed!!