Sunday, 3 December 2017

Chuckles Cover Love #54


If there is one thing that makes a great book even better, it is when it has a cover that we love! The cover design is what catches the eye as we browse through a bookstore shelf or check out the Amazon or Goodreads recommendations. The right cover makes me look closer at a book, to read the blurb and maybe make a purchase. A poor cover might mean I never look at the blurb at all.

This week-Glenn J Soucy!

 This is an example of covers that just don't match. I haven't read these books but I like the cover for book one. My down side to this is that book two's writing is different from book one, though I like having the series book number on it, and three seems to have no relation to the others in design, which is a bit annoying. It does look creepy though..






















Posted by at 6 comments:

Saturday, 2 December 2017

Chuckles Weekend Roundup


Welcome to my new feature Chuckles Weekend Roundup where I will be looking at what books I've received, anything interesting I've done or bought or watched and other random stuff. I'll be taking a look back at what happened in my blogging world too, sort of like The Sunday Post that some of you do! 

Please note that I'll be visiting your STS/SP as normal, but I don't follow or leave comments on blogs run by Google Plus, or DISQUS as I refuse to join something just to leave comments, and I won't allow DISQUS to follow new people, update my profile or post tweets 'on my behalf'. I am the only one who does that on my social media! I won't comment on any blog that makes me sign in using another account. Sometimes, I have problems leaving messages on blogs hosted by Wordpress-they try to block me because I deleted my account with them but I will persevere as it only happens the odd time!

****************
December already-this year has really flown by! I'm glad I don't have the Christmas panics like most people. I have my food ready-duck fat roast potatoes, bread sauce, cheese sauce, teriyaki sauce, katsu sauce and others, gammon roasts with crackling, pork roasts with crackling, turkey joints with stuffing, belgian chocolates, After Eight mints, chocolate orange flavoured cheese, a full cupboard and freezer...no more supermarkets required until January! Everything else I can get at the local shops, so I'm all set. No Christmas crowds of irate shoppers, no dodgy Christmas music, no fights for parking spaces...I'm a chilled out Chuckles!
 
I'm still suffering what I think is sinusitus...I'm having decent days and bad days as it seems to be taking an age to clear up. It's driving me mad! As suggested by a kind blogger, I'm trying these acupressure things which do help temporarily but I'm impatient to get rid of it! But enough of my complaining, there is also good news...I read two books this week! I finished the Morganville Vampires series at last (book 15 and the rest of the Midnight Bites anthology) plus a Hunter Shea book-Savage Jungle. After the mega reading slump I'm pleased with that and the 100 pages of A Feast For Crows I did yesterday! I hope I'm back on track! I did buy a book pile as FINALLY Robert Boren has released his Bug Out series in paperback so I had to grab them all, and the new spin off set in California plus a few nice downloads...
 
DOWNLOADS:
 
  

PAPERBACKS:


 
Chuckles Blogging World
The computer is back to behaving itself after I adjusted the power setting. It was so annoying that these updates change everything when you have it set up to run nicely. Anyway, it's working again so that's the main thing. I'm running a bit behind on everything this week with the sinusitus taking most of my attention but I did manage to get my regular posts out. This week I'm working on getting my regular posts done in advance to cover the whole festive period to give me a bit of time to watch sports and dvds! As usual, I have links beside all the posts so you can go to anything you missed this week.
 
Book Reviews 
I'm pleased to say that I got some reading done this week and got a couple of book reviews up yesterday. I'm pleased to complete the Morganville Vampires series and its companion anthology. Next year I need to be getting a lot more done in the way of series catch ups! Need to start planning a few things I think...
 
Rachel Caine-Daylighters (Morganville Vampires #15)

Rachel Caine-Midnight Bites

Regular Posts
This week I did go sampling and around the blogs. Cover love featured Jenna Nelson, Top Ten Tuesday looked at my winter TBR, and Can't Wait Wednesday was all about Keith Taylor. 

Chuckles Goes Sampling

Chuckles Cover Love
 
Around The Blogs With Chuckles

Top Ten Tuesday
 
Can't Wait Wednesday

Discussion Posts
This week on Chuckles Chat I looked at Book Tags and Game of Thrones Gossip looked at Olenna, Mace and Loras Tyrell.
 
Chuckles Chat

Game of Thrones Gossip
 
Film Reviews 
none this week
 
Special Posts 
A Chuckles Health Update
 
 
Book Tags/Blog Awards 
 none this week

Book Challenge Updates
 
My Goodreads Challenge-199/200
 
TBR books I own but haven't read-821
 
Currently Reading/Next Up 
 I was pleased to finish The Morganville Vampires series this week and get a chunk read of A Feast For Crows. I'm hoping to get back into it full time and get it finished in the next week or so. We'll see how that plan goes!


Next Week on the blog
Chuckles will be sharing my experience with a few more samples and going around the blogs. Cover Love looks at Glenn J Soucy, Top Ten Tuesday is Bookish Settings, Can't Wait Wednesday is JT Sawyer, Chuckles Chat discusses Blogger Awards and Game of Thrones Gossip looks at The Red Wedding.
 
Posted by at 18 comments:

Friday, 1 December 2017

Book Review: Midnight Bites by Rachel Caine


Rachel Caine said this in her recent newsletters

MIDNIGHT BITES, the new Morganville Vampires short story anthology! It will bring together almost everything that I've written in short form about Morganville ... though I did leave out some of the original "diary" entries that appeared on an earlier version of the Morganville website, simply because they were just scenes and not stories, and were generally really short snippets. This is all short fiction, and it's been carefully organized into the timeline, so you can read from the earliest adventures (some of which belong to vampires) all the way through some post-Daylighters goodies.

MIDNIGHT BITES includes a total of more than 50,000 words of brand new content, which makes me very happy indeed (and I hope will also make you happy, too). From stories featuring our favorite bunny-slipper-wearing mad scientist to a mystery solved by police chief Hannah Moses, I think you'll find this is a diverse group of stories that will shine a little more light in the murkiest corners of Morganville.

My Review: 

Myrnin's Tale: A woman sells her son to be apprentice to an alchemist vampire as she fears he may be mentally ill like his father (3 star)

Nothing like an angel-Lady Grey, beheaded and returned as a vampire rescues Myrnin from his prison cell and nurses him back to health. (3 star)

Sam's Story-Sam loses his wife Melinda and has to bring up his son Steven alone and falls in love with the vampire Amelie, allowing her to turn his grandson Michael. (3 star)

Grudge-When Shane rejects the advances of Queen Bitch Monica he has no idea of what horrors are going to be in store for his family. (4 star)

New Blood-Eve and Michael try to find out why Monica is involved in a blood drive through the school as they witness what she does to destroy Shane. (4 star) 

First Day of the Rest of your Life-Eve is about to turn 18 and she is determined to reject Brandon as her vampire Protector...if she survives the night before. (4 star)

Amelie's Story-Oliver reports that Shane's father is back in town at the Glass House and she wonders if she was wrong to protect those who live there. (3 star)

Wrong Place Wrong Time- A gang of bank robbers think that the all night bank in Morganville is going to be an easy target but Richard has other plans. (4 star)

Dead Man Stalking-Shane and Michael are both kidnapped by Frank but the fates of both are to be very different. (3 star) 

 Lunch Date-Claire is alarmed at the thought that someone else is in the house with her one lunchtime. (2 star)

 All Hallows-Michael is abducted near the Blood Bank because Miranda decides that she wants to be turned. (4 star)

 Murdered Out-When Claire's spained ankle almost leaves them stranded outside at night, Shane decides he needs to buy a car. (3 star)

 Worth Living For-Bishop has escaped captivity and Shane is following Michael to see if he is helping his former master. (4 star)

 Drama Queen's Last Dance-Gloriana is the new vampire in town and is a master seductress. When she sets her sights on Michael, Eve won't take that lying down. (4 star)

 Vexed-Myrnin and Oliver are forced to team up to bring a dangerous vampire back after he escapes but a haunted house will be more of a test. (3 star)

 Signs and Miracles-Hannah is trying to find out who attacked a young woman and left her for dead, and why none of the vampires went near her to feed. (4 star)

 Anger Management-Shane goes into therapy with Theo and is challenged to get through 24 hours without getting into a fight. (4 star)

 Automatic-A new blood vending machine is installed to feed vampires when the Blood Bank is closed. Michael is to be the first to try it. (4 star)

 Dark Rides-Eve and Michael are looking for a vampire prisoner in a dark and dangerous theme park (3 star)

 Pitch Dark Blues-Myrnin pays Shane to be his bodyguard in a time travel adventure to get hold of an important book (4 star)

 A Whisper in the Dark-An ancient Russian vampire asks Eve for help but his motives are not what they first seem to be (4 star)

 And One For The Devil-Claire and Eve have to save Myrnin when he goes missing in a haunted hotel (4 star)

 Overall, this was a very enjoyable anthology and I'm always happy for more Myrnin in my life! It fills in the history gaps, explains why Monica hates Shane so much, how Eve became estranged from her family and turned goth, and revisits Morganville after the book series has ended. If you love the series, you should enjoy this.

 My only niggle is that the author hasn't given an indication of exactly where each story fits into the book series timeline.

 Read-all year!
4 stars
Posted by at 4 comments:

Book Review: Daylighters by Rachel Caine (Morganville Vampires #15)


Something drastic has happened in Morganville while Claire and her friends were away. The town looks cleaner and happier than they’ve ever seen it before, but when their incoming group is arrested and separated—vampires from humans—they realize that the changes definitely aren’t for the better.

It seems that an organization called the Daylight Foundation has offered the population of Morganville something they’ve never had: hope of a vampire-free future. And while it sounds like salvation—even for the vampires themselves—the truth is far more sinister and deadly.

Now, Claire, Shane and Eve need to find a way to break their friends out of Daylighter custody, before the vampires of Morganville meet their untimely end…

My Review: 
Claire and her friends have arrived back in Morganville and receive a shock at the town border. The vampires are disabled and taken away by the police, and they are escorted to meet the new power in town-Rhys Fallon of the Daylight Foundation. Humans are taking back the town and facing a vampire free future...which Claire is going to have to destroy to save her vampire friends.

I'll be honest, I didn't much like book 14 which introduced the idea of the Daylighters and their anti-vampire plans, and I really hated the way the last book ended with the shocking welcome home in Morganville. I was somewhat reluctant to even pick up this book, thinking that I wasn't going to like the plot. Thankfully, my fears were unfounded and I found this to be a decent plot and satisfying ending to the series.

Morganville is totally different when the group return home. deserted buildings are being renovated, homes and businesses painted and restored, people out having fun and no longer afraid of the dark. However, the vampires have all been rounded up and put in a deserted shopping mall with shock collars on to keep them subdued, and are half starved. The Daylight Foundation claim to have a cure and vampires are to be subjected to it against their will to remove their threat through cure or death. Claire, Eve and Shane are well aware that if they want to save their vampire friends from this fate, they are going to be destroying the hopes and dreams of a lot of people in the town.

Within hours of going home, Claire becomes aware of just how difficult the situation is going to be. Miranda is tied to the house but has heard that the Founders Houses are going to be destroyed by the new regime. To save Miranda and the house from their enemies, they are going to have to be ready to defend themselves. When the police do a sudden search for illegal weapons, they find a dead cop's body in the basement and arrest Claire...and with Eve and Shane in hiding, who is going to save her?

I don't want to go any further into the plot in this book as it will spoil the entire plot if I do. I liked the idea of the vampire cure and how many vampires had no interest in going back to being human. There was also the terrible situation that Eve and Michael find themselves in with attitudes towards their union hardening, and a dangerous choice awaits them if they want to stay together. My one niggle is that when something dangerous is happening, Claire and Shane seem to have time to kiss and grope each other first, which is somewhat annoying when others need to be saved.

I was happy enough with the ending of the series compared to other favourite series that ended with a whimper. There was a proper conclusion to the story and it was left in such a way that it would be easy to pick up the threads of Morganville in the future. It is kind of sad that the main series is over but I very much enjoyed it while it lasted!

Read November 2017
4 stars
Posted by at 2 comments:

Chuckles Chat #45 Book Tags

Welcome to Chuckles Chat where great blogging minds unite to discuss the topics of the day mainly in the book and blogging world. I'll be sharing my thoughts on a topic and then inviting you all to share your thoughts. It's ok to disagree but PLEASE be respectful of each other's views! All of the comments on my blog are moderated and offensive posts ie racist, bigoted will not be published! 

NB: I don't follow or leave comments on blogs run by Google Plus, or DISQUS as I refuse to join something just to leave comments, and I won't allow them to follow new people, update my profile or post tweets 'on my behalf'. I won't comment on any blog that makes me sign in using another account.  

This week I'm looking at Book Tags.

Love them or hate them, they are very much part of our blogging world and you see a lot of them during blog visits. There are some about books, some about hobbies, some about blogging and life in general. There are probably book tags to suit the interests of most readers.

Personally I like them! I'll do the tag if I find the questions are reasonably easy to answer, regardless of whether the main theme appeals. To give you an example of what I mean, I once did a tag called Four London book tag. I've never read this book series but I loved the graphics and thought the questions were interesting so I did all the questions except the bonus ones which asked about the series itself. I guess you could say that the name of the tag never puts me off looking at the questions to see if I find it interesting. I'll always take a look at a tag that I see on blogger friends blogs and see what I think.

There are of course some types of book tags that I don't do. I have my computer downstairs in our living room so that I can chat to my dad during the day as I blog. There are no books or bookcases in this room at all. All my bookshelves are in my bedroom for easy access when I read at night and that's where they stay unless I need to bring a book down to finish reading early in the morning before the computer switches on. Due to this I never take part in these tags where you have to pick books off shelves and refer to page numbers and names etc. I try to avoid going up and down stairs as much as possible as it makes me breathless so I avoid tags where I need to fetch and carry books to take part!

While I'm thinking about book tags, there are of course questions that seem to keep popping up in them that have no appeal to me and occasionally don't make sense to me. 'Pick a book that you were forced to read' is a good example. If we are talking about required reading for school or university, yes I get that but if we are talking about being forced by friends, then I don't get it. No friend will ever persuade me to read something I really don't want to! Friends can recommend books to me or say how great they are but they can never make me read something that I am dead set against! The final choice in reading a book will always be mine. This kind of question doesn't personally appeal to me.

I also never answer questions about book boyfriends. I'm just not into that kind of thinking. I read the book then move on, and don't sit thinking about dates with fictional characters! I don't really get the book boyfriend thing. I don't have book hangovers either-I don't get why I would need to take several days between books to analyse it and sort out my feelings before reading my next book! I literally put down one book and then pick up the next! Well, unless it is time for bed when I finish the first one...then I'll start the next one the following day! I'm also the kind of reader who DNFs a book and then forgets about it so I never answer questions about books I keep going back to before I get it finished. I either finish it first time round or not at all. No second chances for books I'm just not enjoying. The same goes for books I struggle with. If I struggle with a book I DNF it-I don't struggle on for weeks forcing myself to get it finished, so I never answer that question either.

 On the whole though, I find book tags are fun if you like this kind of thing. One thing I often ignore are the rules. I don't believe in tagging other people to take part as I'm not always aware who has or hasn't done the tag or who may not take part in things like this. I get round this by offering an open tag to anyone who wants to take part, and leaving that choice to the individual. If there are too many rules, it can be offputting so I'm always happy to see a straightforward tag!

Do you take part in book tags? What kind of book tags do you like or dislike? Which questions in book tags do you generally not answer or don't get? Do you tag certain people or leave it open? Are you put off by too many rules or complicated tags?
Posted by at 8 comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)