Stephy Reading Challenge - Book 2

 

Bite

Featuring "The Girl Who Was Infatuated with Death" by Laurell K. Hamilton, "One Word Answer" by Charlaine Harris, "Biting in Plain Sight" by MaryJanice Davidson, "Galahad" by Angela Knight, and "Blood Lust" by Vickie Taylor

I've read this one a couple times before and fully enjoy it each time. Each story is great and I love them all. 

I'm pretty sure I bought this book for the Laurell K. Hamilton story. Which is part of the Anita Blake universe and I'm a big fan of that. This story was great and had an adorable ending.

I think this was my introduction to the Sookie Stackhouse books/stories. Which would explain why I was never a fan of the Sookie and Bill relationship. I had prior knowledge of how that turned out so I never got attached.

Queen Betsy is fantastic and I really need to get on the ball and read more books with her. 

Loved the Galahad story. Love the whole universe Angela Knight built and need to read more of it. 

Blood Lust was superb, even if I saw the Sue Ellen plot twist coming. That's a me problem, not a story problem. 

All in all, great and pleasurable read. Highly recommend it to anyone that enjoys paranormal romance. 

Stephy Reading Challenge - Book 1

 

Bound by Blood

by

Amanda Ashley

This is apparently the second book of a series and someone on GoodReads said you would need to read the first one to understand what was going on in this one. 

Nah.

I understand what was going on.

It was just sort of shit.

I feel like I should state that I have read quite a bit of romance novels in my time, so don't come at me when I complain about the typical romance novel shit in this book. My issues weren't because of a lack of knowledge of the genre. This book just did it badly.

Let me lay it out for y'all:

This book is about Zack and Katelyn. Katelyn is a half-vampire, half-human from a clan or whatever of Born Vampires. Zack is an Other, which just means he was turned into a vampire. And of course, the born vampires hate the ones that were turned. This means of course Zack and Katelyn fall in love.

Now, if the book just focused on that plotline, it would have been good... ish... But it didn't. So it wasn't.

Also that plotline had no real conflict. Katelyn spent about 12 hours being all "we can't be together!" before giving that up and being all in love. And then her father (who, *gasp* would never approve!) spent about two days being all "He is the enemy" before apparently just shrugging it off.

Characters were equal parts annoying and boring. Zack had moments where I was slightly amused by him, but not enough for me to actually give a shit about him. 

It took 42 pages to get a physical description of Zack. And then after that, almost every new character got an info dump of physical descriptions. I can't even remember what Katelyn was supposed to look like, but I remember her car was baby blue. 

So much head-hopping. So much. 

The entire book takes place over a few weeks. I think. And we went from Katelyn and Zack meeting to getting married. Within a few weeks. Now, I am aware that characters in romance novels move pretty quickly, but damn, guys. Paranormal romance books sometimes explain away the fast-paced romance by introducing things like lifemates and such. That ONE person you can be with for hand-wavy fiction reasons. But this book did not have that. 

And the good parts...

Uh... 

I liked that Katelyn's father, Drake, apparently turned into a cat. That was nifty.

I enjoyed the sometimes banter between Zack and Drake. 

That's all I got, really. 

Ramblings of the Steph

 I know. I haven't been consistent. I will be trying to remedy that. Really. I swear. 

Really, I've been putting way too much pressure on myself to make "awesome" posts and I need to stop that. So, hopefully, moving forward, I'll get a post out every week. Even if it's just something like this, where I'm rambling about random shit. 

So, enjoy some rambling!

I spent a few hours last night trying to find some sort of reading/book challenge to do. But pretty much all the ones I came across required some sort of research on my part, which wasn't what I was going for. So, I'm doing an alphabet reading challenge. Basically, every book title or author has to start with whatever letter I'm on. Only requirement is that I own the physical book, really. Not gonna use any books I have on my Kindle. Mostly because I am trying to read more of my physical books so I can clean out my Books to Read Mountain. After I finish a book, I will write my thoughts about the book here. Which... Gonna just throw out this warning - I am not in the headspace to be reading romance novels. But I am stubborn and lazy so I'm not gonna dig out another book for A. 

I've been having a shit couple of months so I'm hoping that between the reading, sharing my thoughts on the reading (to someone other than Ryan, who really should be pitied for how much of my shit he has to deal with) and Animal Crossing I can get through shit. 

Which, my island on Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the best. Even though I just lost another villager. It's okay though. Trying to fill the island with lazy personalities or hamsters. Cause the hamsters in that game are friggin' adorable. I need to figure out how to share pictures on here. I'll get on that soon. Really. Cause I need to show off my island. 

Okay, that's all I got for now. Umm... Go read my fan-fiction (Ooooo Linky Link) and tell me how awesome I am. 

Fan-Fiction Recommendations: Random Good Fics

Infinity (and Beyond) by Lissadiane

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Clint Barton/Bucky Barnes

Clint and Bucky are in the Spirit World together. Kissing happens. 

Wrong Number by Deenerann

Schitt’s Creek

David Rose/Patrick Brewer

An alternate version of Schitt’s Creek, in a way. What if in the beginning, David texts a wrong number, and that wrong number ends up being Patrick?

As Seen By by taelynhawker

Schitt’s Creek

David Rose/Patrick Brewer

Just some little shorts from the viewpoints of others about David and Patrick.

Through the Streets of Long Gone Dreams by Rivulet027

Marvel

Clint Barton/Bucky Barnes

Bucky can’t sleep. Lucky decides to help. Clint and Lucky are a package deal.

What Do You Mean We Left Clint on Mars? by sara_holmes

Marvel

Bucky Barnes/Clint Barton

The Avengers were on Mars. They left. Clint was in the bathroom. He has to stay on Mars and wait for them to come back for him. While he’s waiting, him and Bucky chat and fall in loooooooove. 

Super cute story. Loved it.

I Could Be the Sun That Lights Your Dark by ghostinthelibrary

Witcher

Eskel/Jaskier

Jaskier is cursed and the only way to break it is True Love’s Kiss (it’s totally a thing!) so Eskel makes it his goal to find Geralt, who he thinks Jaskier loves. But… It’s not? Maybe?

6 Random Bits I Love in Video Games

 Note: Go here for a version of this post with gifs.

In case it hasn’t become obvious, I love video games. They’re fun and relaxing and let me live out a fantasy world where I actually do shit instead of staring at a wall thinking about doing shit. This is a list of random bits in video games that make me all warm and fuzzy inside.

Slight spoiler for Mass Effect 3. 

The end. I get such a feeling of accomplishment when I finish a game. I am easily distracted. I lose focus on games a lot. So when I get all the way through and those end credits start rolling, I’m so proud of myself. And usually sad that it’s over. But mostly proud.

Petting Toby in Crimes and Punishments: Sherlock Holmes. If you put an animal in a video game and I’m gonna try to pet it. And petting Toby was even better because you got an achievement/trophy for it!

Meeting any historical figure in the Assassin’s Creed games. I’m a history nerd so I squeal like a fan-girl any time a historical figure strolls onto my screen while playing the Assassin’s Creed games. My favorite is probably Leonardo da Vinci. Though I sadly have only played up until Assassin’s Creed 3 and I’m probably missing out on a lot of historical figures. But I doubt Leo will ever get too low on my list of favorite real people in an Assassin’s Creed game. Even with all those pirates in Black Flag. Oh gods, I need to focus and get to that game. Need me some pirates in my life.

Getting anything accomplished in any Elder Scrolls game. Seriously. I get so distracted by everything in those games. I get lost when I can’t fast-travel to where I need to go. There’s always skulls and books I need to collect for my house. Random people are just standing around ready to send me on some random fetch quest. Children to adopt. It’s shocking that I get anything done. 

Using the Renegade Option to kill Kai Leng in Mass Effect 3. Fuck that guy. I hate him. I tend to play video games as a “Nice Guy”. Wait. No. I’m not a Nice Guy. I play as a good person. I avoid the mean dialogue options. I help every annoying little NPC that happens to mention needing help within my hearing range. I do the nice thing. All the time (well, most of the time). But the second that renegade option popped up I was on it. Fuck you, Kai Leng. Have fun in hell.

Getting an achievement/trophy. I’m not that focused on achievements. I spend pretty much no time trying to collect them. I think the only one I went out of my way to get was that Calendar Man one in Arkham City. Which was creepy as fuck, by the way. Loved it. But yeah. Achievements/trophies are not my goal when I play a video game. But gods if I don’t get all excited and make embarrassing noises when I get one.

6 of My Most Hated Parts of My Favorite Video Games

(also posted on my Tumblr - with gifs!)

Video games are great. I love video games. Love a day of just relaxing and playing a nice video game. Until I get to these parts. Then there is screaming and tears and just an overwhelming sense of dread. 

Okay, that’s not entirely true. I’m being dramatic. But fuck, do I hate these parts in some of my favorite video games.

There be spoilers ahead for Dragon Age: Origins mostly.

The Broken Circle in Dragon Age: Origins 

This part has become less hated by me the more often I play it. The first time I spent days stuck in the Fade. Screaming mostly. Now I can bust it out in a few hours with only the occasional scream. But even going in knowing I can easily make my way through it, and deal with the enemies thrown at me, every time I step into the Circle Tower my brain just starts screaming. 

Orzammar in Dragon Age: Origins 

Unlike the Fade, Orzammar still takes me days to get through. There’s all the actual Orzammar bullshit, plus the Deep Roads. Dear gods… The Broodmother. And that boss fight against Branka. Every time I think about playing Origins I just remember that part and start screaming. And then, after all that you get to help decide on a new king. Because of course you do. Bhelen is kind of a dick (and if you’re playing as a dwarf noble, even more of a dick). Harrowmont seems like a good dude. Ah, but you find out at the end of the game that Bhelen is probably the best option for the good of Orzammar. Fuck Orzammar. May the darkspawn take you. 

Night Terrors in Dragon Age 2 

And we’re back in the Fade. This time the Fade part takes an hour or so of gameplay. Fairly straightforward and almost easy. At least until all your companions start betraying you and you have to fight them. Except for Anders, which is shocking to anyone who has played this game to the end. So the best option is to just ditch everyone before heading into the Fade. Take Anders if you are feeling lonely, but Justice takes over and is kind of a dick. And make sure you say the right things to that sleeping guy or he’ll go a little crazy and beg for death. Besides all that, super fun times in the Fade.

Arrival DLC for Mass Effect 2 

As this is DLC, it is completely optional. And if you do complete it, the payoff is pretty decent in the third game. Not decent enough for me to have played this more than once. Fuck the Batarians. Not really, sorry guys. But ugh, this mission. And for reference on how much I hate this mission, I play all the other DLC (but the multiplayer stuff… Stephy no play multiplayer…). I get traumatized by Overlord every time, and cry every time. I play the fucking Hammerhead missions, guys! The Hammerhead! But Arrival? I look at that entry in my journal and just nope right out of there. 

Any timed mission in all the Assassin’s Creed games 

I am not good with timed missions. I turn into a complete moron if there is a timer onscreen. I forget how to play the game completely and can’t remember what button is what. Even though I was kicking ass right before the timer appeared. But for some reason, they seem worse in the Assassin’s Creed games. Races and such never get done if I don’t have to do them. They’re just constant little reminders on my map about how I am a failure at running. And if a main mission has a timed portion, you better believe it is going to take me at least five times to get past it. 

The vaults in Mass Effect: Andromeda 

I fucking hate these things. I start panicking the second I step into one and it just gets worse the longer I am in one. The worst part is the fucking death clouds. I think I have been killed by those maybe twice. And each time it was something silly. You know, shit like getting stuck behind a barricade because I didn’t see it for whatever reason. But as soon as I hit that button for the death cloud I start screaming and don’t stop until I am on the planet’s surface again. A close second to the worst part of these things is some of the puzzles I have to go through just to get to the death cloud. There are a couple that I cannot do without looking up a walkthrough. Though, in the game’s defense, sometimes I just get frustrated trying to do puzzles and give up earlier than I should. Then the next time I play I’m like “Oh yeah! Now I get it!” But still, I hate them. Fuck the vaults. May the darkspawn take them. Wait. Wrong Bioware game. 

That’s it from me on this subject. For now. I mean, there are more bits in games I hate. I just hate so much…