Tuesday, October 1, 2019

Halloween Bingo 2019 | Update #3 and Mid-game Book Rambles


Halloween Bingo 2019


This post will be both, an update of my stats and progress, as well as a collection with some ramblings of all the books I've read for Halloween Bingo 2019 thus far.  In other words, this will be a fairly long post to mark the mid-game point of Halloween Bingo.

At this time in the game, I've so far finished nine books, which is a little less than half of the books I need to read before the game is finished.  I'm currently reading The Visitor by Amanda Stevens for the Grave or Graveyard square, and Dreamer's Pool by Juliet Marillier for In the Dark, Dark Woods.  Both books are quite long, so I may or may not be finishing these two books anytime soon.  There is also always the possibility of starting a new book...

And also, I just realized that I'd somehow inserted the wrong bingo card as my unmarked card above, so this will be rectified starting today...  I'll go back and change earlier update posts when I get a chance.  This is what happens when you get lazy and simply do a lot of copying and pasting from old posts to new posts.  I had gone back to last year's Halloween Bingo updates and did a copy and paste and apparently forgot to swap out for my 2019 card.

Ah well...

Meanwhile, I'm going to try my best to blackout my card, because it IS possible for me to read sixteen books in a month, but at my current pacing, I'm not sure that'll happen.  My other option may be to pick up a couple short stories, though short stories have never truly been my thing.  We'll play by ear, because I'm not entirely too concerned with getting a blacked out card, if I want to be honest with myself.


Updated Marked Card:




Read: Red-Eyes Penni
Called: Green Square Outline


Currently Reading:




Up Next:


 


Books Read and Unallocated:


TBA



Book Ramblings:


The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle
Rating:  3.0 Stars

I can't say that I enjoyed this Sherlock Holmes story as much as I've enjoyed the very few others I've listened to previously.  There wasn't much of a plot twist to the mystery, and dare I say, the story itself was a bit flat.

But there was a romance for Dr. Watson that irritated Sherlock, so that was something to giggle about.  As with other classics, I don't really know how to review this save for the few sentences above, so I'm just going to leave it at that.




The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by F.C. Yee
The Epic Crush of Genie Lo #1
Rating:  3.5 Stars

I was delighted to find this book while searching for something to read for Diverse Voices.  I don't know why I was so resistant to use a book by, say, Sherry Thomas, but I wanted to read something diverse written by someone diverse, and unfortunately, while Sherry Thomas is Chinese, she writes rather mainstream historical romances set in England.  So even her Lady Sherlock series, a historical mystery, was something I was hesitant to pick up.

A book written by an Asian author based on a well-known, beloved Chinese legend was like dangling a carrot in my face.  Journey to the West and anything Monkey King is such a widely known story in Asian culture, as well as something I grew up with, so I just couldn't resist the temptation.  While it wasn't everything I had hoped and dreamed for, it was still entertaining.  And you also get a very millennial-ish retelling of Journey to the West in the protagonist Genie Lo's voice, contained within two pages--quite intriguing if you don't already know the tale.

See my review:
Long Rambling Thoughts: The Epic Crush of Genie Lo




Footsteps in the Dark by Georgette Heyer
Rating: 4.0 Stars

My original intention was going to be to read Behold, Here's Poison by this same author, which is why I read Death in the Stocks before the start of Halloween Bingo.  But then Footsteps in the Dark became available via library hold, and I found that it was a book in the Country House Mystery reading list, and the premise sounded much more interesting, what with a haunted house and all.

I'm not certain that this book felt like a Country House Mystery when all was said and done, but I'm not entirely an expert on mystery, so I'm simply going by the fact that it was on the list.  I mean, well the book DOES take place at a country house... it just isn't really a closed circle mystery, truth be told.

I will willingly read Behold, Here's Poison, though if this is the case.

See my review:
Quick Thoughts: Footsteps in the Dark




Half-Off Ragnarok by Seanan McGuire
InCryptid #3
Rating:  4.0 Stars

I'd been meaning to get back to the InCryptid world, and I figured that Halloween Bingo was a great reason to do so.  It absolutely fits perfectly into the Monsters square, so there we have it.

This book wasn't as squee-worthy as the first two books, but I loved it nonetheless.

See my review:
Thoughts: Half-Off Ragnarok




Ice by Linda Howard
Rating:  4.0 Stars

Ice storm--check.  Nighttime danger and suspense--check.  I'm so happy I found this book, because this square was going to get Transfigured otherwise.  I now have a bit more free room to use my Transfiguration cards as needed.

What can I say?  Linda Howard is a go to author for some of my random Romantic Suspense needs.  I enjoy some of her books, and I find some of them kind of bleh.  This one was actually quite entertaining and suspenseful, so there is that.

See my review:
Fairly Brief Thoughts: Ice




Mercy Strange by Alisa Woods
Legal Magick #2
Rating:  3.0 Stars

I was originally going to read Sourcery by Terry Pratchett for this square, but on a whim I decided to read the next Legal Magick installation instead, since I DID very much enjoy the first book in the trilogy.  I'm a little conflicted as to whether or not this was ultimately a good idea, because while the book was entertaining and easy to read, I didn't find it as enjoyable as I'd been hoping, which was disappointing.

Last year, I'd read Alisa Woods' River Pack Wolves trilogy and loved it as a guilty pleasure.  The books weren't all that great, but they were so much fun and enjoyable that I loved them despite all the many glaring flaws and writing quibbles.  The same could be said about Ever Strange, the first book in this series.

Unfortunately, somehow I couldn't really overlook the flaws in Mercy Strange, and while I breezed through the book and found it agreeable enough, a nagging sense in the back of my head kept telling me that this book was way too juvenile for the content matter and the target audience... as well as the characters.  Mercy Strange is supposed to be some sort of genetics expert... but she often comes off acting like a teenager, which ended up making it really hard for me to take her seriously.  And the love interest, Swift was kind of stereotypical and one-dimensional.

But whatever, I will be reading the last book, and maybe I'll like it, maybe I won't.

It was still entertaining.  I'm probably not going to officially review this book by itself, so the last two paragraphs will probably be it.




Lost Among the Living by Simone St. James
Rating:  4.0 Stars

Another great historical ghost mystery by Simone St. James--a great haunted house mystery with a lot of unexpected twists.  While things might have gotten a bit chaotic as the story progressed, I still very much enjoyed this one a lot.

See my review:
Brief Thoughts: Lost Among the Living




Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson
Truly Devious #1
Rating:  3.5 Stars

Maureen Johnson has a great sense of wit, and a quirky sense of humor, giving us fairly non-standard YA heroines that are fun to follow.  Truly Devious was a cute little mystery, involving a young girl who dreams of becoming a great detective, with aspirations for joining the FBI.  This book wasn't perfect, but it was quite entertaining.

See my review:
Thoughts: Truly Devious (link coming soon)




Firelight by Kristen Callihan
Darkest London #1
Rating:  3.0 Stars

This book wasn't really what I was expecting, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.  When I was choosing for this square, I was mostly looking at Amanda Quick or Sherry Thomas, but happily decided to go with a series titled Darkest London, because, why not?

See my review:
Some Thoughts: Firelight (link coming soon)


Squares/Books/Called Dates/Update Post Links:


Progress on my card:  11 squares called || 9 books read || 6 squares completed



Called: 9/28/19
Read:
Called:
Read:
Called: 9/26/19
Read:
Called: 9/22/19
Read: 9/19/19
Called:
Read:
A Study in Death
by

Anna Lee Huber
book
by

author
Dreamer's Pool
by

Juliet Marillier
Mercy Strange
by

Alisa Woods
Thornyhold
by

Mary Stewart
~*~*~*~
Called: 9/20/19
Read:
Called:
Read:
Called: 9/27/19
Read: 9/15/19
Called: 9/13/19
Read: 9/11/19
Called: 9/23/19
Read:
book
by

author
The Broken Girls
by

Simone St. James
Ice
by

Linda Howard
Footsteps in the
Dark
by
Georgette Heyer
The Vanishing Stair
by

Maureen Johnson



~*~*~*~
Called:
Read:
Called:
Read:
Called:
Read:
Called:
Read: 9/17/19
Called:
Read:
book
by

author
The Visitor
by

Amanda Stevens
book
by

author
Truly Devious
by

Maureen Johnson
book
by

author
~*~*~*~
Called: 9/17/19
Read: 9/29/19
Called:
Read: 9/14/19
Called: 9/1/19
Read: 9/23/19
Called: 9/30/19
Read: 9/1/19
Called: 9/4/19
Read:
Firelight
by

Kristen Callihan
Half-Off Ragnarok
by
Seanan McGuire
Lost Among the
Living
by

Simone St. James
The Sign of
the Four
by
Arthur Conan
Doyle
book
by

author
~*~*~*~
Called:
Read: 9/2/19
Called:
Read:
Called:
Read:
Called:
Read:
Called:
Read:
The Epic Crush
of Genie Lo
by

F.C. Yee
book
by

author
Pocket Apocalypse
by

Seanan McGuire
book
by

author
book
by

author



Daily Calls

Date Square Date Square
09/01 Ghost Stories 10/01 No Call or Free Space
09/02 Genre: Horror 10/02
09/03 Creepy Crawlies 10/03
09/04 Amateur Sleuth 10/04
09/05 American Horror Story 10/05
09/06 Dystopian Hellscape 10/06
09/07 Fear Street 10/07
09/08 Black Cat 10/08
09/09 Relics and Curiosities 10/09
09/10 A Grimm Tale 10/10
09/11 Stranger Things 10/11
09/12 Creepy Carnivals 10/12
09/13 Country House Mystery 10/13
09/14 Classic Horror 10/14
09/15 Supernatural 10/15
09/16 Psych 10/16
09/17 Darkest London 10/17
09/18 Cozy Mystery 10/18
09/19 Southern Gothic 10/19
09/20 Read by Flashlight or Candlelight 10/20
09/21 Modern Noir 10/21
09/22 Spellbound 10/22
09/23 Dark Academia 10/23
09/24 Deadlands 10/24
09/25 Slasher Stories 10/25
09/26 In the Dark, Dark Woods 10/26
09/27 It was a Dark and Stormy Night 10/27
09/28 Paint It Black 10/28
09/29 Truly Terrifying 10/29
09/30 Locked Room Mystery 10/30

10/31

Transfiguration Spell:



2 of 3 used




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