2018 books: Girl on a Wire, Prisoner (Werewolf Marines), World War 97
Girl on a Wire (Cirque American) by Gwenda Bond
Traditional or self-published: Self-Published [With this book I learned Amazon has a "publishing house" that publishes physical copies of "self-published books with sales potential". This book was "published" through that.]
Rating: Okay (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
This was one of those "free book a month for Prime members" that Amazon gives away, which was how it ended up on my Kindle. It wasn't bad, I liked some of the characters (including the main one, a smart teenage girl), and I liked the setting (a circus!), but stories set in the modern day real world just don't really interest me all that much. I'm more a fantasy and sci fi reader.
The plot followed the main character and her family (father and daughter are a high wire act, mother is an act with horses) as they join a larger circus. The conflict involved some old blood feud between their family and another circus family. I enjoyed the circus scenes, but the plot's mystery and all the feud background didn't work for me. Stopped reading at 30%.
Prisoner (Werewolf Marines Book 2) by Lia Silver
Traditional or self-published: "Indie" -- Published, sort of. The proofreading services section has multiple grammatical errors in it, the cover example in cover creation services is horrible.
Rating: Okay (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
This was an odd book. I had no idea it was book two of a trilogy, but that didn't cause any issues in reading. This story was about a marine who was also a werewolf. He got caught by Evil US Government Group and blackmailed into becoming an assassin for them. He also fell in love with Other Assassin.
Good points: I enjoyed all the werewolf-y stuff and the worldbuilding around that. All except the fact that every werewolf gets some superpower for some reason. It could be good, like super strength, or it could be bad like setting yourself on fire. Interesting, but I have no idea why a werewolf would automatically get a superpower.
Bad: Kind of everything else. The Evil US Government Group was over the top and silly. Other Assassin/Love Interest didn't work for me (mega powerful woman).
I couldn't even figure out what kind of book this was -- romance? urban fantasy? And when I googled to find that out, I learned that this book ends in the middle of the story and you have to buy the next one to continue. That is no longer acceptable to me, and since I was thinking about abandoning it anyway, I stopped reading at that point (67%).
World War 97 by David J. Normoyle [No Amazon page, link goes to Goodreads.]
Traditional or self-published: Self-published
Rating: Disliked (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
While I loved one book this author wrote, most of the rest of his books haven't worked for me. There was nothing wrong with this story, it just didn't hook me at all. I didn't like the characters, and the world setting didn't interest me much. I gave up early though (17% point), so maybe it would have gotten better if I had stuck with it longer. I just really hadn't liked the main character though, so I jumped ship.
Partial book credits:
Point reached in these book: 30% + 67% + 17% = 114%
Previous abandoned book total: 190%
New total: 304%
Traditional or self-published: Self-Published [With this book I learned Amazon has a "publishing house" that publishes physical copies of "self-published books with sales potential". This book was "published" through that.]
Rating: Okay (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
This was one of those "free book a month for Prime members" that Amazon gives away, which was how it ended up on my Kindle. It wasn't bad, I liked some of the characters (including the main one, a smart teenage girl), and I liked the setting (a circus!), but stories set in the modern day real world just don't really interest me all that much. I'm more a fantasy and sci fi reader.
The plot followed the main character and her family (father and daughter are a high wire act, mother is an act with horses) as they join a larger circus. The conflict involved some old blood feud between their family and another circus family. I enjoyed the circus scenes, but the plot's mystery and all the feud background didn't work for me. Stopped reading at 30%.
Prisoner (Werewolf Marines Book 2) by Lia Silver
Traditional or self-published: "Indie" -- Published, sort of. The proofreading services section has multiple grammatical errors in it, the cover example in cover creation services is horrible.
Rating: Okay (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
This was an odd book. I had no idea it was book two of a trilogy, but that didn't cause any issues in reading. This story was about a marine who was also a werewolf. He got caught by Evil US Government Group and blackmailed into becoming an assassin for them. He also fell in love with Other Assassin.
Good points: I enjoyed all the werewolf-y stuff and the worldbuilding around that. All except the fact that every werewolf gets some superpower for some reason. It could be good, like super strength, or it could be bad like setting yourself on fire. Interesting, but I have no idea why a werewolf would automatically get a superpower.
Bad: Kind of everything else. The Evil US Government Group was over the top and silly. Other Assassin/Love Interest didn't work for me (mega powerful woman).
I couldn't even figure out what kind of book this was -- romance? urban fantasy? And when I googled to find that out, I learned that this book ends in the middle of the story and you have to buy the next one to continue. That is no longer acceptable to me, and since I was thinking about abandoning it anyway, I stopped reading at that point (67%).
World War 97 by David J. Normoyle [No Amazon page, link goes to Goodreads.]
Traditional or self-published: Self-published
Rating: Disliked (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
While I loved one book this author wrote, most of the rest of his books haven't worked for me. There was nothing wrong with this story, it just didn't hook me at all. I didn't like the characters, and the world setting didn't interest me much. I gave up early though (17% point), so maybe it would have gotten better if I had stuck with it longer. I just really hadn't liked the main character though, so I jumped ship.
Partial book credits:
Point reached in these book: 30% + 67% + 17% = 114%
Previous abandoned book total: 190%
New total: 304%