The Lost Challenges discussion

Week 7

by James Ellroy
Read: 2 April 2015
Rating: ★★★★★

I thought this was going to be a bit of a run of the mill crime novel, but I was very wrong. This isn't just the story of the brutal murder of Elizabeth Short. Actually it is the story of Bucky Bleichart who's life and career is changed completely because of this one case. Both a boxer and a cop with the LAPD, Bucky is reluctantly pulled into the case when his partner, Lee Blanchard, becomes obsessed with it. But rather than resolution, Bucky finds corruption and darkness even amongst the ranks of the police. No-one comes out looking good - there is no good guy/bad guy divide. The historical detail of the late 1940s is great and the writing is gritty, dark and fast paced. The book is a mix of noir and psychological thriller but I can see why it has become a classic.

Street: "Newton Street and 77th Street Divisions..." p.76
dream: "It was always the same dream." p. 236
Mother: (super bonus) "Your mother would love that." p. 165
lamp: "My eyes caught a floor lamp." p. 240
pink: "The girl in the pink." p. 310
teacher: "Her work as a substitute teacher..." p. 71

Yes, that's what I'll do. Thanks for helping me think it through. It's been such a stressful week!

How is everyone else doing? I will be out off the internet all day tomorrow as it's Good Friday. Please feel free to decide on what words to find and I will find a book. See you Saturday!!

Nice review, NancyHelen! So glad you enjoyed your book. You were due a good one!

Nearly finished mine about 20% to go

I decided to get on in the morning and check on things since I finally have my internet working properly!

Since we didn't get the points for Teacher (bad me!) this past week and I used sister - I will find Teacher in this week's book and if everyone else can look for sister that will take care of the points.

Have a great day everyone!

Week 7 -
Finished: 3rd April 2015
Rating:☆☆☆

Review:
I am really disappointed with this book, looking at other reviews and it being a genre I usually enjoy I should have loved it but I just couldn't get into it.

I don't know if it because I have so much going on right now or that I have just read another book which was awesome and gripped my attention that this one just couldn't complete.

MacKayla the main character recieves a phone call to say her Sister has been murdered, she travels to Ireland in search of clues and retribution but finds more that she bargained for and a whole new world that is foreign to her. I warmed to ber character and fohnd her tather spunky which kept the book and quite light. I found Barrons character quite entertaining but I opted for the audio and kindle version and the accept the narrator used was annoying so I had to keep switching back and forth.

Being a huge fan of Moning's Highlander series I thought I would inhale this series. I am however going to re-read it at some point because I honestly haven't seen one bad review and am sure I must be missing something.

Street:it took me a while to find Pearce Street. Loc 380
Dream:The dream had been so vivid. Loc 611
Mother:Women nest like mother hens. Loc 175
Pink: my favourite pink polka dot bikini. Loc 110
Teacher: my teacher, and-although I knew. Loc 3127
Lamp: topped by a lamp. Loc 301

Apologies for spacing issues and spelling, had to use the web version on my tablet and it isnt very user friendly!!

Hi Ladies, hope you're all well.

This week we have:
Red
Diamond

Happy searching!!

I need to read Suite Française this week.

It has red, diamond and sister
It has all of the things, but the only place it has is home (it is set in France which means it doesn't have any US States in it). Hope that's OK? If we want to try and claim State this week, I'll switch it for a US based book.

Hey sorry everyone! I meant to post my review last night but fell asleep and then forgot today!

Is it too late for me to claim the points?

I want to read .

It has Red, Diamond, Sister, and Home.

I'd like to claim Umbrella cause it's a word I can never seem to find.

Danielle Book Mafia Enforcer wrote: "Hey sorry everyone! I meant to post my review last night but fell asleep and then forgot today!

Is it too late for me to claim the points?"

It is just too late to claim the .5 bonus point. You still want to claim the rest. So, be sure to post your book :)

Thanks!

Finished: 4/2
Rating: 2 stars

Words:

Street: "The north-south street over there, Xander pointed, is Peachtree Street" loc. 1292
Dream: "She fell into a bizarre funhouse sleep with oddly realistic and suffocating dreams" loc. 339
Mother: "...she needed to call her mother..." Loc. 128
Pink: "...glossy pink lips..." Loc. 1355
Lamp: "He planted the bug underneath the lamp..." Loc. 344
Teacher: "From teachers to trash collectors..." Loc. 620



Review:

Sooooo I picked this book up as a freebie and to be honest I don't remember purchasing it at all. Either way there was something about the blurb that said to me, "you might like this". I've been looking for adult dystopians with romance so this could have been a good fit. The premise has potential. A society that has been wiped out by a terrible disease that killed off like 98% of the population. So to rebuild, paranoia ensues and a society is created where everyone is genetically tested in an effort to eradicate diseases in general (of any sort). There are designations and as with many of these books, characters undergo a test and from there we have the adjustment to a new world.

So like I said the premise was good. But once that initial world building is laid out, things go downhill from there. People in the amber zone act a little like shifters do in other books. And other than saying there is a lot of touch and no one understand personal space...it just seems weird. Jaci attempts to commit suicide and a day later is like oh this life is going to be awesome. Her roommate, our hero, finds her and is all like I'm going to protect her from herself...plus I have a hard on. It was just plain weird. I'm sitting here reading like dude, this girl clearly has some mental and emotional issues that she needs to overcome and you are all "the things I'm gonna do to her". Gross and turned me completely off from this book.

Things don't move much beyond that. There are some menage scenes - our hero and his friend actually have one in the second chapter - at the end of the day this is an erotica with a macho male who has BDSM leanings set in a dystopian world.

Danielle, you need to claim a person, thing, color and one extra item from any category for your super bonus.

These are all the words your team claimed for Week 7...

Mother
Teacher
Street
Lamp
Pink

Jade I just realized you didn't claim LAMP

arrgghh its because I was using my tablet had to paste the words and kept over keying! I have it in the book, is it too late to claim?

Sorry I didn't get on yesterday to help with things.

I feel your frustration, Jade! And thanks for posting the word this week.

Jennifer, are we too late for the bonus points?

Okay Team, it looks like this is what we need for this week

WOW: Red (ugh - no points)
BOW: Diamond

Add'l words

Home
Sister (Teacher for Leslie)
Umbrella

Does this seem right?

~Leslie~ wrote: "Sorry I didn't get on yesterday to help with things.

I feel your frustration, Jade! And thanks for posting the word this week.

Jennifer, are we too late for the bonus points?"

Unfortunately, you are too late for the .5 bonus point but not for the super bonus.

I'll be reading

WOW: Red
BOW: Diamond

Add'l words

Home
Sister
Umbrella (parasol)

Okay, thanks JenniferPP! I am looking for my book now.

I'll be reading

WOW: Red
BOW: Diamond

Home
Umbrella
Teacher

I thought we had already claimed red, but when I looked at the spreadsheet, it wasn't marked off. Did I forget a week?

~Leslie~ wrote: "I thought we had already claimed red, but when I looked at the spreadsheet, it wasn't marked off. Did I forget a week?"

No, you gals have not claimed RED yet!

Thanks! Good to know.

Week 8 -

Connected by Kim Karr

Red
Diamond
Home
Umbrella
Teacher

Week 8: Red
BOW: Diamond

JadeConnectedCompleted 4/9/15 Review Post
NancyHelenSuite Françaisecompleted 4/7/15 Review Post
DanielleThe Duchess War
LeslieSea Sweptcompleted 4/10/15 Review Post
SunshineIll WindCompleted 4/9/15 Review Post

How is everyone doing this week? I'm about halfway through my book.

Sunshine - how are you liking Ill Wind? I love this series. It had its ups and downs but always kept me entertained. I've read all the spinoff series by her as well. I just enjoy her writing.

It definitely jumps right into the action. So far, so good!

~Leslie~ wrote: "How is everyone doing this week? I'm about halfway through my book."

I am also at the halfway point, so far so good. I opted for the audio version this week and the narrator is getting on my nerves a little, but I am enjoying the plot.

I'm enjoying my book as well! I love a good historical!

I'm done...

Week 8

by Irène Némirovsky
Read: 7 April 15
Rating: ★★★★

This novel is very much a snapshot of a tumultuous time in France, when the Germans invaded in 1940. The stories show all of the players to be incredibly human, often in the worst way. There is very little heroism, none of the pride and glory that propaganda would have you believe. The people in this novel are petty, prejudiced, bitter, selfish and judgemental. Both in the first half of the novel, which describes the exodus from Paris when it was understood the Germans were soon to arrive, and in the second, which describes several months in a village in occupied France, shows people as they really were. The author was an astute observer of human nature. This book is the literary equivalent of a portrait which shows the sitter exactly how they are, warts and all.

Red: "The young girl retorted, red as a cherry" p. 222
Diamond: "...encrusted with fake pearls and diamonds." p. 53
Home: "we stopped at your home..." p. 263
Umbrella: "...she opened her umbrella." p. 258
Teacher: "The teacher had taken the girls out..." p. 229

NancyHelen, you already claimed teacher. Just let me know what you switch it to :)

Jennifer ♔Princess Penguin♔ wrote: "NancyHelen, you already claimed teacher. Just let me know what you switch it to :)"

Oh, whoops! Thank you for picking that up. I should be claiming sister...

sister "To my dearly beloved sister..." p.120

Week 8 -
Finished: 9th April 2015
Rating: ♡♡♡♡

Review:

There were times when I loved this book, and I had a huge smile on my face other times when I thought wht only 25%read I feel like I have been reading for ages! I think it was because the story kept flipping back in time.

Dahlia has been best friends with Ben since they were 5 years old she doesn't really know how they became a couple it was justa natural progession. After Ben is murder by a shooter, Dahlia struggles to put her life back together. That is until she meets River an up and coming rock star she met briefly years before and felt a hugh spark for.

The book finished on a major cliff hanger and I so need to read the next installment to see how Dahlia and River react and see what happens next!

Red: holding red solo cups. Loc 240
Diamond:gold and diamond bracelet. Loc 652
Home: coming home from Mexico. Loc 288
Umbrella: no umbrella can stop me. Loc 1011
Sister: my little sister has the worst timing. Loc 513

Great job team!! I should be finished with my book tonight.

Week 8:
by Rachel Caine 4/9/15
Rating: ✮✮✮✮

What a fast-paced book! It starts out already at a run and you have to try to keep up. Joanna is on the run trying to find Lewis and not being very successful at it. It's hard to get anything other then crypic messages from Djinns while fighting off rain storms. There were so many twists! I found myself having to reread parts to go Yup, that just happened! Though I did figure out David. :)

Between the control-of-the-elements aspect and the genies-in-a-bottle aspect, this is a great start to the series.


It had flame-red tulips planted in mannered rows under the windows... Kindle Loc 51
Estrella's house shone like a diamond in a sack of coal. Kindle Loc 3715
Either he'd been home earlier, or he'd stopped his mail altogether. Kindle Loc 70
...and trudged back to my car, lugging beach bag and beach umbrella. Kindle Loc 2035
I looked at her over the bowl of cookies. My friend. My sister. Kindle Loc 3776

Week 8: Red
BOW: Diamond

4/10/15 ★★★ 1/2

Review:Nice start to a sweet romantic series. Cam is one of three brothers that were adopted. After the father dies in a car accident, they discover he has adopted another boy and have to change their lives to take care of him. These brothers are pretty great - but certainly not cookie cutter perfect. They fight and cuss and act like idiots. The story is pretty straightforward and the romance is quick and fierce. I look forward to the next story in the series!

Red: "and one red rose" loc 46
Diamond: "tossed white diamonds onto the water" loc 731
Home: "I have to go home" loc 78
Umbrella: "tables with umbrellas" loc 2689
Teacher: " he'd been teacher and friend loc 299

Way to go, Leslie!

Thanks NancyHelen!!

Danielle - how are you coming along?

Words have been announced

WOW: Candle
BOW: Piano

Great will start scouring the kindle :)

I will read . It has all needed/available words

- 4 stars
4/10

What a fun book! I loved the heroine, she is one of my favorite. So smart, clever and witty. There is a line early in the story where the MC are having a conversation and the hero goes with the assumption that she will "go to war" with him balls to wall, trying to out him in public about what he's doing behind the scenes and after he playfully confronts her about not being a good person to go to war with she says "You probably think battles are won with cannons and brave speeches and fearless charges. They're not. Wars are won by dint of having adequate shoe leather. They're won by boys who make shells in munition factories, by supply trains shielded from enemy eyes. Wars are won by careful attendance to boring detail. If you wait to see the calvary charge, Your Grace, you'll have already lost"

I love how she put him in his place but all it did was turn him lol.

Will definitely continue this series!

red:"Can you not once dream about yourself dressed in a gorgeous red silk...?" p..18
diamond: "She drew in a breath; that diamond shuddered on her bosom" p.218
home: "She'll keep a good home." p.7
umbrella: "shoving an umbrella into her hand." p.166
sister: "But nobody remembered Caroline's sister marrying" p.13

Hmm, this has been a bit more of a challenge...

I think I'll read by Henry Miller

It seems to have everything, including California for state.

Candle and Piano

Can also do:

father, brother
city, will have to check the planet option with the judges
pink, black

I can do all apart from cookie!

With

Great job, Team!!

I'm still looking and will post soon!

Tough words this week! I was also trying to find a book with the word Ambulance in it! lol