Monthly Reads: October 2018

Posted November 2, 2018 by Rowena in Features, Giveaways | 12 Comments

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Casee: October has been such a great month. The Dodgers lost the World Series in a pretty spectacular way. I really enjoyed giving Rowena hell about that. When it comes to sports, she’s surprisingly easy to rile. Then there was the fact that I read/listened to a lot of books. As of Friday, I was leading this pack. Then something happened. I’m not quite sure what, but everything started going downhill. Everything basically went to crap on Monday. I think it was karma for giving Rowena such a hard time. It was worth it, though. I read/listened to 14 (!!!) books this month.

Shadow and Ice by Gena Showalter | 3.5 out of 5
Rock Addiction by Nalini Singh | 4.5 out of 5
Rock Hard by Nalini Singh | 3 out of 5
Rock Redemption by Nalini Singh | 4.25 out of 5
Rock Wedding by Nalini Singh | 3.5 out of 5
Steadfast by Sarina Bowen (audio) | 4.25 out of 5
Keepsake by Sarina Bowen (audio) | 4 out of 5
Scandal Never Sleeps by Shayla Black and Lexi Blake | 4.25 out of 5
Seduction in Session by Shayla Black and Lexi Blake | 4.5 out of 5
Bountiful by Sarina Bowen (audio) | 3.5 out of 5
Big Easy Temptation by Shayla Black and Lexi Blake | 4 out of 5
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang (audio) | 4 out of 5
Speakeasy by Sarina Bowen (audio) | 3.5 out of 5
Smoke and Sin by Shayla Black and Lexi Blake | 3.5 out of 5

My very, very, very favorite book of the month was Seduction in Session by Shayla Black and Lexi Blake. Wow. This writing team is dynamite. Surprisingly, one of my least favorite books was Bountiful by Sarina Bowen. I was really looking forward to reading Zara’s book, but it just didn’t do it for me. I was highly disappointed by Shadow and Ice by Gena Showalter because I’ve come to expect only the very best from her.

Holly: I had a pretty slow reading month. I listened more than I read, and I didn’t have nearly the time to focus as I’d have liked. I listened to and/or read 18 books.

Fantastical by Kristen Ashley (reread) | 3 out of 5
Broken Dove by Kristen Ashley (reread) | 3.25 out of 5
Midnight Soul by Kristen Ashley (reread) | 2.75 out of 5
Soaring by Kristen Ashley (reread) | 4 out of 5
How to Date Your Dragon by Molly Harper (audio) | 4.25 out of 5
Love and Other Wild Things by Molly Harper (audio) | 3.75 out of 5
Lionheart by Thea Harrison | 4.25 out of 5
The Scribe by Elizabeth Hunter (audio) | 3 out of 5
The Singer by Elizabeth Hunter | DNF
Archangel’s Heart by Nalini Singh (reread/audio) | 4.25 out of 5
Archangel’s Prophecy by Nalini Singh | 4.5 out of 5
Shadow and Ice by Gena Showalter | 3 out of 5
Speakeasy by Sarina Bowen (audio) | 3.25 out of 5
If He’s Daring by Hannah Howell (audio) | 3 out of 5
Steadfast by Sarina Bowen (reread/audio) | 4.5 out of 5
Once Upon a Sure Thing by Lauren Blakely (audio) | 3.75 out of 5
On the Surface by Kate Willoughby (audio) | 3 out of 5
Red Wolf by Jennifer Ashley (audio) | 3.5 out of 5
Natural Dual-Mage by K.F. Breene (audio) | 4 out of 5

My favorite reads of the month were Lionheart by Thea Harrison and Archangel’s Prophecy by Nalini Singh. I’m still not recovered from AP. I need the next book SO BAD! My least favorite reads were The Scribe and The Singer (which I DNF’d) by Elizabeth Hunter. The premise was really interesting, but I’m annoyed The Scribe ended in a cliffhanger and The Singer was basically just a recap of The Scribe for the 35% I read.

Rowena: My reading took a hit this month and I blamed all of my reading from September on that. I went through a couple of weeks of not being in the mood to read so I didn’t pick anything up. I also blame baseball. My team made it all the way to the World Series, played in the longest post-season baseball game in the entire history of the MLB, we won that game (it went 18 innings!) and then came back the next day and stunk it up. We lost the following two games at home and the Boston Red Sox won the World Series. Gah. Freaking Dodgers.

I did manage to read 10 books though and here’s a list of what I read:

Rebel Hard (Hard Play #2) by Nalini Singh | 4 out of 5
Fight or Flight by Samantha Young | 4 out of 5
Archangel’s Consort (Guild Hunter #3) by Nalini Singh | 4 out of 5
Shadow and Ice (Gods of War #1) by Gena Showalter | 2.5 out of 5
Phoenix Unbound (Fallen Empire #1) by Grace Draven | 4 out of 5
Fireworks (True North #6) by Sarina Bowen | 4.25 out of5
Never Seduce a Scot (The Montgomery’s & Armstrongs #1) by Maya Banks | 4.75 out of 5
The Other Miss Bridgerton (Rokesbys #3) by Julia Quinn | 4.25 out of 5
Iron Kissed (Mercy Thompson #3) by Patricia Briggs | 4.5 out of 5
Bone Crossed (Mercy Thompson #4) by Patricia Briggs | 4.25 out of 5

My favorite read of the month goes to Never Seduce a Scot by Maya Banks. I read this book for my book club and I ugly cried my way through it. The heroine turns out to be such a strong woman that I couldn’t help but root for throughout the entire book. She went through so much and when the hero comes along to become her champion, grows to love her more than he hates his enemies? Gah, it hit me all up in my feels and I just adored it to pieces. My book club and I enjoyed it so much that our book discussion book for next month, is the next book in the series. I can’t wait to jump back into that world.

My least favorite read of the month goes to Shadow and Ice by Gena Showalter. I’ve never read anything by Showalter and I don’t think that this was the best book for me to begin my reading adventure through her books. I just wasn’t invested in what was going on and it took me a long time to connect with the hero because he was so cold and deadly and the heroine drove me batty with how crazy she was.

Giveaway Alert

Three lucky winners will choose their prize (one book) from any of the books we logged this month. If you want to be entered to win, leave a comment on this post telling us what your favorite – and least favorite – reads of the month were.

Monthly Reads: October 2018

So…what was your favorite read of the month? And your least favorite? Use the Gleam Widget to enter! Good luck!


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12 responses to “Monthly Reads: October 2018

  1. I really love how Casee’s team didn’t even make the playoffs, hasn’t been relevant in years and are battling it out for the last place in our division (year after year after year) and she still thinks she can talk shit about my team. [eyeroll] How did I not know you were a Giants fan when we met?

  2. Celine B

    I loved Duchess by Design by Maya Rodale! Definitely my favorite of October and easily in my top ten (maybe five) reads so far this year.

    My least favorite was Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren. I couldn’t get past not liking the heroine.

  3. Kareni

    Overall, it’s looks like you’ve all been busy readers in October!

    I discarded several books that weren’t grabbing me. I only listened to half of Moriarty and found Empire of Bones by Terry Mixon rather underwhelming.

    I liked the Thomas Lynch mysteries by Stephanie Gayle. I also enjoyed re-reads of Lake Silence by Anne Bishop and Katherine Addison’s The Goblin Emperor.

  4. I was really looking forward to Shadow and Ice but after seeing so many dissapointed reviews I am almost wanting to not pick it up. Have to admit, I have been really dissapointed with Gena Showalter for awhile now and it’s such a shame since she was an auto buy for me.

  5. Jana Leah

    My favorite was Darynda Jones’ The Trouble with Twelfth Grave. There weren’t any that I didn’t enjoy, but A Deadly Eclair was probably the one I liked the least.

  6. LSUReader

    My favorite reads of the month were The Hollow of Fear by Sherry Thomas and The Christmas Sisters by Sarah Morgan—both wonderful. My least favorite was Anna Bradley’s More or Less a Countess. Thanks for the giveaway.

  7. Glenda M

    My least favorite was a Halloween anthology that I DNFed all but one novella – and that one wasn’t entertaining either. Hard to decide my favorite – I went back and read Kelly Bowen’s A Season for Scandel series and started Lenora Bell’s Disgraceful Dukes trilogy

  8. JenM

    My favorites were How to Break an Undead Heart, a UF by Hailey Edwards and Tempting Fate by Pamela Clare. My least favorite was Less by Andrew Sean Greer, which I read for bookclub. It just wasn’t my cup of tea.

  9. Anita H.

    My favorite one was Suddenly One Summer by Julie James. I really love her style of writing and really enjoyed the characters. And I didn’t have a least favorite because it was a really slow month of reading.

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