September Book Wrap Up 2019

Monthly reading review – September 2019

This September I have read:

Angel & Faith: Live Through This (Season 9, Volume 1) by Christos Gage, Rebekah Isaacs (Artist) ★★★★
Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead ★★★★
Frostbite by Richelle Mead ★★★★★
Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead ★★★★★
Blood Promise by Richelle Mead ★★★★★
Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead ★★★★
Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead ★★★★
Lost Boys: A Reverse Harem Bully Romance (Crazy Vicious Love #1) by Eva Ashwood ★★★
Moonlight Ménage : Bisexual and Gay Threesome MMF Romance Novel by Karen Klinger ★★★
O čitateljskim grupama – metodički priručnik s primjerima dobre prakse by Ivana Bašić ★★★★★

1. How many books you’ve read last month? Are you happy with the amount you read?

I have stayed in double digits for this month and I’m very happy with the amount of books I’ve read in September.

2. What was the best of all the books you’ve read in September? Any scenes or characters that made a lasting impression?

For most of September I was deep in the Vampire Academy book series and I really loved some parts more than others. Only other book I’ve rated with five star mark this month was a methodology guide for organizing book clubs which I enjoyed more than I expected!

3. Were there any not so good books for you last month? What made it hard or not enjoyable to read?

Definitely weakest books for me in September were two Kindle books I’ve read. There is a notable difference in quality and the lack of editor work was especially visible with Moonlight Ménage book.

4. How did the books you were reading last month fit in your reading plans if you had any?

After finishing my Summer reading challenge I decided to finish reading the Vampire Academy book series and then I was mostly reading random picks for the rest of September.

5. Any updates on the series you are reading or are you starting any new series?

I don’t remember the last time that I finished a book series as fast I did Vampire Academy. Angel & Faith seem to be stuck at volume 1 for some reason. Crazy Vicious Love I will probably not be continuing anytime soon if at all.

6. Would you like to recommend any books or authors you’ve been reading this last month?

I will probably look up some more books from Richelle Mead. Her writing has made an impression and I would like to explore more of her work.

Book Reviews in September:

Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead – CLICK HERE FOR MY REVIEW

Lost Boys: A Reverse Harem Bully Romance (Crazy Vicious Love #1) by Eva Ashwood ★★★ – CLICK HERE FOR MY REVIEW

Moonlight Ménage: Bisexual and Gay Threesome MMF Romance Novel by Karen Klinger
★★★ – CLICK HERE FOR MY REVIEW 

Moonlight Ménage – Book Review

Moonlight Ménage : Bisexual and Gay Threesome MMF Romance Novel

by Karen Klinger

★★★

Expectation

When I first got Kindle I would download and get any free e-book I could find that would seem at least a bit interesting. It has been years since I went and got a Kindle freebie and while I was looking for what I could find this one popped up. I won’t claim I understand the way Kindle search engine works but most of the times my searches come up very colorful. I was interested in this one because it was new – it was released in the month I am writing this post. I wanted to see how new freebies compare to those I remember since I often find books I got as freebies before to not be free anymore.

I expected a short explicit story with traditionally summed up fantastic characters. I did not expect to spend more than a few minutes on it and scroll away in search of some cool new story for my Kindle library. The fact that I’m writing this review shows just how much wrong I have been about that.

Summary

The full title of this book as it is listed on Amazon store is Moonlight Ménage : Bisexual and Gay Threesome MMF Romance Novel. While that is certainly more than it can fit into one whole row of text it is also a bit deceiving in terms of content of this book. I find the title to be unnecessarily vulgar and misleading. Don’t get me wrong – for the most part the title is somewhat accurate but in my experience it implies a story that is sexually explicit and this one just isn’t.

It starts out slow and the characters are all introduced in a rather vague way – like the reader is just thrown in the middle and these character have already been trough at least half of the book. I had to go with the flow and take this for granted – something I was already prepared to do anyway. The story is also written for point of view of the characters and they switch around with chapters which gives some insight into their point of view and how they think.

There was one point somewhere at the beginning of the story where a werewolf was crudely compared as giving off friendly dog vibes that made me cringe and almost leave it at that. The threesome of the story gave of sadness instead of some wild passion and eroticism. I decided to categorize this one as drama.

I have no problems with reading HEA – Happy Ever After stories. And this one would be fine except for the few dramatic plot twists that surprised me. While most of the similar stories tend to be repetitive and predictable I found I was interested in how this one was going to pull trough.

Conclusion

This is a simple and quite muted HEA fantasy romance with a bit of drama. Other than the protagonists themselves and their gender there was nothing offensive in the way the book was written which makes me think that this book ended in the wrong category of Kindle recommendations section. It’s only around 200 pages long standalone story.
The characters were a bit more underdeveloped for story to be engaging for me as a reader and at times I felt this was a skeleton story of a bigger book. I wished author has left more time in the story for character introduction and development since I would have loved for them to be given a better backstory than what was only hinted. This way it reminded me of a fan fiction to a story I should already know.

 

 

 

 

Vampire Academy – Series Review

 

Vampire Academy Series

by Richelle Mead

1. Vampire Academy ★★★★

2. Frostbite ★★★★★

3. Shadow Kiss ★★★★★

4. Blood Promise ★★★★★

5. Spirit Bound ★★★★

6. Last Sacrifice ★★★★

Expectation

I started reading this book series as a part of my Summer reading challenge and a project for reading more of the books I own. Only the first book in the series was a part of the reading challenge and I have deliberately left it for the last book in the challenge in case I decide to read the rest of the series. Good thing I did!

 

Sometimes I get put off by the books everyone else is reading or thinks they are great! That is part of the reason I avoided this book series for so long. I got the books sometime last year at a library book sale out of town. When I saw how cheap they were and that they are in excellent condition as a set I decided to buy them. Worst case scenario –  I have many friends who would love to have them in case I don’t like them!

When I started I did not have any high expectations and I approached the book series as a way to catch up with some pop culture references. I am usually a fan of YA urban fantasy and I had a vague memory of a movie being not so good.

Summary

I am not a fan of the covers of Croatian editions and covers with faces of young people in general. While I usually love to enjoy the book I’m reading both by looking at the cover design and materials it is made from, the books I was reading were the cheap editions one could get in general stores or kiosks. I tried not to be bothered by that and I mostly succeeded.

I was pleasantly surprised with the first book and in two weeks time I quickly managed to read trough the whole six books of the series! I rated all the books quite high with  four and five stars out of five total. This puts the series general score at four and a half stars which is a big thing for me to do. The main reason for this is that I was mostly very pleased with how the books had a dramatic and at times even very sexual appeal without being outright dirty or offensive in sexual descriptions. I appreciated the the author did not use the vile curtain down and pretended that sex had nothing to do with real life or her story like some do. I see it as vital part of our lives and while many do not want to admit this – many of our life choices are heavily influenced by our sexual experiences and preferences. I was even impressed with the authors ability to make things fluid and believable – both the good and the bad.

There were many taboo topics hinted in the books. From unhealthy and even illegal relationships to privacy boundaries and honesty issues. Some of these resonated with me and I did not expect this to happen while reading a YA fantasy series since I do consider myself an adult and have read books in the YA category I was unable to understand from that point of view anymore. Some of the books of the series were very dark and I was shocked by how dark they got. The drama in the books was very high and I was impressed more than once.

I watched the move again and was actually mad at how much they twisted it. The comedic approach did not go well with the actual setting in the books. It seemed like the director or the producers could not take the theme seriously but they still wanted to make money. Only thing I really liked in the movie was the actress Zoey Deutch and her portrayal of Rose Hathaway. I had some issues getting the actor who played Dimitri out of my vision of the character. His role was much more physical in the books because of his mostly stoic nature.

I did not know there was a graphic novel edition but I should have not been surprised. I definitely would not mind reading those if I ever get my hands on them!

Conclusion

I loved that I read this book series. It made me rethink my occasional prejudice against mainstream favorites. Reading experience was a roller coaster of drama and emotion I had not trouble getting into. I even have a need to rant and vent about some of the characters and the ending itself but will have to refrain from that since the hype train for the books is long gone for most readers. I do recommend this book series and I’m even kinda sad I ended it so quickly!

Bookshelves showcase 2019

After finding some older pictures of my bookshelves I got a bit nostalgic. It was interesting to see the growth in the amount of books and how differently they look after moving into bigger space and with more bookshelves in general. Back then I had very little room to maneuver all the books I started hoarding and I used all nooks and crannies as places to hold books.

As a part of blog site reconstruction I decided to photograph all my bookshelves as they are now. Only I will be putting more focus on the books themselves. One of the things that will need revision is the main cover photograph of the blog. It is quite old and I can’t seem to find the original picture anywhere.

I made a new page under the Bookshelf porn category on this site and named it Bookshelves 2019 showcase. It shows most of my books and how they are placed on the shelves. If you are interested for more detail you can check it out HERE.

I have different editions of books. Some are in English and some in Croatian. Some editions I buy are strictly from American publishers and some book series I only buy UK editions of. For the books from Croatian publishers I try to pick hardcover editions if possible but there are exceptions to all of these when the opportunity presents itself. Most of the shelves are bare but I do keep some bookish related stuff among my books.

My bookshelves are no longer crammed in any space I can fit them but spread more evenly in the space I live in. I deliberately choose white color for the bookshelves because it makes the books stand out more. Along with them I have many shelves filled with board games but those are a topic for some other post.

TBR Jar Draw is back!

Few years back in my attempt to read more books I already own I decided to challenge myself by writing down my owned and not read books on tiny pieces of paper and place those in a jar. Every month I would then pull three options and read one of them. This ensured that I read at least one book a month I already owned.

You can check out my post where I explained the TBR Jar Draw HERE.

With years I have adapted more to my TBR and made some resolutions to help me with reading motivation in general. I am also running out of pink paper I used back then and will probably revise all my owned not read books at the start of next year.

I did some small check up on the titles left in the jar since I have neglected it and there were some books I’ve read in the meantime that I originally put in the jar back when I first started with this project.

I intentionally did not count the titles left in the jar or those I read and put in the little see trough box. I did make a list of the titles so I can better organize for the next year.

Until then I decided to keep it going without the monthly timeline pressure so that I have at least one owned book in currently reading category.

I started a new TBR Jar Draw and here are my first three titles:

1 #  Seven Seasons of Buffy: Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Discuss Their Favorite Television Show by Glenn Yeffeth (Editor)

I’ve had this book for a very long time. I loved the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show and I liked collecting everything Buffy like. This is one of the more serious Buffy books I have and I remember being very interested. I get little nostalgic just by thinking about it!

2 # The Emerald Talisman (Talisman #1)  by Brenda Pandos

This is one of my first Kindle freebies from when I just got into Kindle and was downloading all the free ebooks I could find! The Kindle edition of this book changed a few covers over the year as well! These days they are not so easy to find and I occasionally buy a Kindle ebook I get interested in. This is a second time I pulled out The Emerald Talisman from the jar!

3 # Lucky (Lucky Santangelo #2) by Jackie Collins

First book of the Lucky Santangelo series I wrote about when I was presenting books that changed me. You can find my post HERE. I read it when I was very young. after some time I came across the second book in English and decided to buy it. The edition I have is so old I couldn’t find a pic of it online. It is very yellow and chubby and it sometimes stares at me from the bookshelves!

All of my choices look interesting but I am not sure which one should I go with first!

New books in September!

After reading mostly books that I already owned for my Summer reading challenge 2019 I decided to buy some books off my wishlist. I only got two and both of them were on my radar for a few years now!

Kitchen Princess Omnibus, Vol. 3

(Kitchen Princess #5-7)

by Natsumi Andō

I got hooked on this manga while I was still working in a bookstore and discovered them by accident. I managed to get my hands on first five out of ten total volumes right then. Later I found out how difficult it is to find single volume editions these days since the original manga was published in English translation back in 2005.

After long considerations I decided to move onto omnibus editions that are basically 3 in 1 volumes. I got omnibus 3 that consists of volumes 5 to 7 which leaves me with only one volume extra – Volume 5. Next omnibus is the last one and I might get it after I read trough this one as well.

Stray

(Shifters #1)

by Rachel Vincent

This is another book series I was intrigued by but haven’t actually got to reading it that is over a decade old! I can’t explain what exactly got me to finally grab it and buy it but I’m glad I did! I found some encouraging reviews on it and I think I will love it. This will be start of a new series to read and collect but the good news is this one is done and it only has 6 books total!

It came out as a surprise at how chubby both of these editions are! I expected the manga omnibus to be a bit bigger but Stray really caught me by surprise. I hope I will get into both of them soon!

There is one other book that is new for this September. It’s the one I already read and reviewed – Lost Boys: A Reverse Harem Bully Romance (Crazy Vicious Love #1) by Eva Ashwood. This one is a digital book I got on Kindle.

You can check my thoughts on it HERE.

I’ve been thinking about one other book series I’ve been reading in the digital edition – The Dartmouth Cobras by Bianca Sommerland. I’ve read first five books of the series and there are total of nine books so far. Next book in the series – Iron Cross, I’m thinking of getting soon so I can continue after few years from the last book I’ve read. I wonder will my reading experience change with the years that have passed.

That would probably be all of my new bought books for September but I still have plenty of already owned books on my shelves and there is always a local library in case of emergency or book club reading assignments!

Reading Challenge update Monday

This will be the last update on Summer reading challenge for Summer 2019. I started it in last weeks of July and it lasted all through August for about month an a half total. Since my last Reading Challenge update Monday I was left with two titles – one graphic novel and one book.

Angel & Faith: Live Through This

(Season 9, Volume 1)

by Christos Gage, Rebekah Isaacs (Artist)

★★★★

I had some trouble getting into this story. It has been years since I’ve read other graphic novels in Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel series and they all have a continuing backstories and that affect each other. The actual artwork is much better than I remember and I do remember having issues with how the characters were drawn in the story. The Angel character was a bit off from what I remember him to be. I liked the story and how it was presented. Faith was always one of my favorite characters because of her obvious flaws and long learning curve. I’m still at odds with “after Buffy Season 7 slayer situation” in the world and I might have to reconsider reading Season 8 in graphic novel version again to clear some things out. I enjoyed reading this graphic novel in spite all the above mentioned issues.

Vampire Academy

(Vampire Academy #1)

by Richelle Mead

★★★★

For years I heard people talking how much they love this book series. But for some reason I always get turned off by popular or hyped books everyone else likes. I remember watching the movie and I have sudden urge to watch it again even though I did not like it very much.

The reason I finally picked this book up, aside for the challenge, is that I bought the whole series for a bargain price in Croatian translation at a library book sale few years ago. It was a category of an owned book I did not read and fit well with the challenge.

My experience with reading the book was a lot better than expected and I can safely say that I understand the appeal it had for some of my friends. I decided to continue reading the series and I’m in the process of finishing the second book as well. It might be a book series I will read trough by the end of the year if I push myself hard enough!

With these two books I have finished all fifteen books from the list. I am happy with the books I choose for this reading challenge and how it motivated me to read more after a longer period of barely reading. What I liked the most is that I read some of the books I’ve owned for years without reading them and made excellent progress with my TBR list in general.

A ✔ Anna Dressed in Blood (Anna book 1) by Kendare Blake
N ✔ Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
A ✔ Angel & Faith: Live Through This (Season 9, Volume 1) by Christos Gage, Rebekah Isaacs (Artist)
S ✔ The Ship of the Dead (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard book 3) by Rick Riordan
T ✔ Wayward, Vol. 4: Threads and Portents (Wayward volume 4) by Jim Zub
A ✔ The Demon Prince of Momochi House, Vol. 1 by Aya Shouoto
S ✔ Sigvald (Warhammer Heroes #4) by Darius Hinks
I ✔ I, Strahd: The Memoirs of a Vampire (Ravenloft #7) by P.N. Elrod
A ✔ Serpentine (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #26) by Laurell K. Hamilton

A  ✔ All These Things I’ve Done (Birthright #1) by Gabrielle Zevin
D ✔ Dune (Dune #1) by Frank Herbert
A  ✔ Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause
M ✔ 9 From the Nine Worlds (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard) by Rick Riordan
O ✔ Ouran High School Host Club, Vol. 1by Bisco Hatori
V ✔ Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy #1) by Richelle Mead

Lost Boys – Book Review

Lost Boys: A Reverse Harem Bully Romance

(Crazy Vicious Love #1)

by Eva Ashwood

★★★

Expectation

It has been a while since I’ve read something on my Kindle and while I scrolled trough some new recommendations this book caught my eye. I was in the mode for something angsty and smuty and this one fit by the description. A Reverse Harem Bully Romance in the title got me interested to see how a contemporary and relatively new author would make it work. I even went all in and bought it after reading the sample.

Summary

A Reverse Harem them is often done in anime with a generally comedic and silly touches. I usually liked how it was done in urban fantasy setting with some exceptions. Matriarchy is rarely done right in literature because for most of our patriarchal upbringing it is difficult to grasp.

But onto the book in question…

Most of this first book in the series is an introduction and setting the characters in the required situation that would justified the taboo of polyamory. While the female leading character Cordelia gets plenty of pagetime since the book is written from her point of view I felt like it was missing on character depth. Her evolution form a puppet of her estranged parents to someone who decides to fight for what she wants is somewhat sudden. The “sink or swim” situation she gets herself in might account for it but it seems a bit lacking in the end. I am trying to leave out any spoilers and this will seem vague without them…

The characters were interesting enough. I resented the author a bit for leaving out the color and depth from most of them. Characters had potential for much more angst and a bit more of the backstory would have made a big difference to the flow of the book.

The male characters were stereotyped so that that their description did not cover more than some basic physical traits as hair and eye color with mandatory ripped bodies. There were some hints as to character traits but nothing to set them apart in a more memorable way.

As I’m writing this, the second book “Wild Girl” is not out yet.

Conclusion

I have respect for writers for trying out taboo themes. There was a lot of angst in this book and the suspense was keeping me on the edge half of the book. The lack of character backstory made them seem shallow and their action had less sense for it. The overall impression left by this book was that the author could not move past the frugal writing style often used in short smut stories to make this book rise above it and give it life and more meaningful story. That’s a shame since the character had potential for more than just being described as physically pretty.

 

Reading Challenge update Monday

My Summer reading challenge is almost coming to an end. From last Reading Challenge update Monday I’ve finished reading two books and a graphic novel series.

I’ve finished reading All These Things I’ve Done (Birthright #1) by Gabrielle Zevin and I’ve even made a review – you can check it out HERE.

Threads and Portents

(Wayward volume 4)

by Jim Zub

★★★★

I’ve finished graphic novel series Wayward. Threads and Portents (Wayward volume 4) was on my list but I went with it and finished the series by reading Tethered Souls – Volume 5 and Bound to Fate – Volume 6. I was pleasantly surprised with short essays at the end of each volume. They explained motives authors used and gave much appreciated insight into Irish and Japanese lore. The main story was well rounded and it almost seemed too short for all six volumes. Each character was carefully presented and readers were only hinted at the back stories they all seemed to hide. I am very happy with this graphic novel series.

Norse Mythology

by Neil Gaiman

★★★★

My edition of Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology is a limited special edition with a box made by small Croatian publisher Mitopeja. It is extremely limited to only 500 numbered copies and specially designed from materials used to create it to carefully picked out font and cover design. In comparison to other editions on the market Mitopeja is one of the most beautiful and therefore a bit on the expensive side. Reading a book that is a work of art itself is an experience in itself. While the dark black is predominant on the book design the title and some of the stars on the cover are made to shine in the dark which gives it more shelf visibility when you least expect it!

Norse Mythology was an interesting read for me. I was very surprised at just how much I already knew and was familiar with from Rick Riordan’s Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series. The pacing of the stories was easy to read and the motives reminded me of my childhood and reading collection of folk tales from different countries of the world. These used to be my favorite as a child since they were short and I had difficulties of staying focused on longer literary forms. Folk tales teach readers that some things can’t be taken literally and sometimes a reader just needs to go on board with the stories rather then questioning logic where mystery and magic reside.

After these my Summer reading challenge score is thirteen books read and only two left. I’m starting with the last graphic novel Angel & Faith: Live Through This (Season 9, Volume 1) and might again read more than one. I’ve left Vampire Academy for last just in case I want to continue the book series which I already have on standby and ready. I think both titles will be done by next Monday update which will mean I will be done with the challenge soon!

A ✔ Anna Dressed in Blood (Anna book 1) by Kendare Blake
N ✔ Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
A  * Angel & Faith: Live Through This (Season 9, Volume 1) by Christos Gage, Rebekah Isaacs (Artist)
S ✔ The Ship of the Dead (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard book 3) by Rick Riordan
T ✔ Wayward, Vol. 4: Threads and Portents (Wayward volume 4) by Jim Zub
A ✔ The Demon Prince of Momochi House, Vol. 1 by Aya Shouoto
S ✔ Sigvald (Warhammer Heroes #4) by Darius Hinks
I ✔ I, Strahd: The Memoirs of a Vampire (Ravenloft #7) by P.N. Elrod
A ✔ Serpentine (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #26) by Laurell K. Hamilton

A  ✔ All These Things I’ve Done (Birthright #1) by Gabrielle Zevin
D ✔ Dune (Dune #1) by Frank Herbert
A  ✔ Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause
M ✔ 9 From the Nine Worlds (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard) by Rick Riordan
O ✔ Ouran High School Host Club, Vol. 1by Bisco Hatori
V    Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy #1) by Richelle Mead