Chapter Adventure Reading Challenges discussion

The Motif this month is:

"Who's in Charge Here"

+ Read a book where the character's involvement in Royalty, Government, a Kingdom, or any ruling body plays a roll. +

Share with us!

What book did you pick? Did you enjoy the book and would you recommend it?

I picked Rogue Justice by Stacey Abrams.

It continues Avery Keene and groups quest to be in the middle of every save the world from corporate and government greed and doom situation.

It was a well written read. I didn't think it was anywhere as good as the first one, but still able to keep my interest until the end. There where holes, mostly on tech side. Not thrilled with ending. Still a good read for those looking for a story starring the government.

I listed to the Audiobook of The President Is Missing by James Patterson and Bill Clinton. The majority of the narration was done by Dennis Quaid and January Lavoy, and was enjoyable. The rest of the cast I enjoyed too.
The story is a thriller and I found listening at bedtime was hard to end and go to sleep. I reset the timer multiple times.
I had seen a couple bad reviews and delayed listening to the story. When I joined the challenge I decided it was fitting for this month. I also disagree with the bad reviews and give it 4 stars.

Challenge Complete: The Plots Against the President: FDR, A Nation in Crisis, and the Rise of the American Right by Sally Denton

It’s amazing how every once in awhile, usually when they’ve lost an election, the far right decides to take matters into their own hands, often with violent intent.

I had heard of both the assassination attempt and the plotted coup; both are well explained here with Denton’s coverage of how things unfolded once FDR became the Democrats’ nominee. While FDR would get flak from both sides, It was from the right that the true threat came. They would denounce him both as a socialist and a fascist (how someone can be both, the right has never bothered to explain,) Unfortunately, while thoroughly covered, I could have wished for better structure in the writing.

The strange plot cooked up by a group of Republican donors and Wall Street bankers, though found to be true by a Congressional committee, has never been well advertised. Maybe it’s about time that it was.

• Sea of Shadows - Kelley Armstrong
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

This was pretty good overall. It lost a star because of how annoyingly juvenile the twins are at times. For young women who have been basically raised and trained from birth to be Seeker & Keeper, their companions are forced to be awfully handsy with them (constantly grabbing cloaks/arms, clapping a hand over their mouths, etc) because they’re seemingly unable to control their actions/words, and react to situations maturely/logically.

• Empire of Night - Kelley Armstrong
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

My only complaint is the same I had about book 1. The twins seem incredibly impetuous and juvenile at times.

I read Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard which features 2 different class of people - the Silver, the ruling elite with magical abilities, and the Reds, the more subservient class. That is, until they discovered Mare Barrow - who showed some magical ability when there was an accident at court. Cue the political gameplaying. It was an interesting read but not sure it's interesting enough to continue the series.

Forest of Ruin - Kelley Armstrong
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

Jesus Christ, this book made me ugly cry. Which simultaneously sucks because my head hurts so bad right now, but also automatically gives it that extra star the first 2 books were lacking.

And now here come the spoilers….

I thought FOR SURE that Armstrong was building up to a big-baddie bait & switch. And since I’m usually extremely good at predicting what’s going to happen in books, and movies/TV series (seriously, my husband kind of hates watching movies/shows with me because I tend to spoil things by blurting out my predictions {well, that, and I have to look up every familiar actor to see where I recognize them from}), I was 100% convinced that the Emperor was in fact, secretly the big baddie of the storyline. Like, CONVINCED, convinced. And then at the end, Gavril….GAVRIL 😭
I hated him for a hot minute there earlier in the trilogy. But by the 3rd book my heart ached so bad over him being such a broken and hurting character, yet trying so damn hard to do the honourable/right thing. Now, I need to say, that while I myself am monogamous, I think polyamory is quite acceptable - I just know myself well enough to know it’s not right for me. But in my own made-up, unwritten future for these characters, Moria ends up in a polyam relationship with both Tyrus, and Gavril.

I read The #1 Lawyer by James Patterson and Nancy Allen.

"Who's in Charge Here"

Of the books read during the month of April, there were several characters that were in charge like police/private detectives or main characters that took over but the books listed here are specific heroes that involve Kingdom, Royalty, Government...



The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas - So here the main character is a hero assassin dispatched on missions but acts independently collecting allies in various short stories which is a prequel to an upcoming series of saving the Kingdom. 5 stars


A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles - this is the story of Count Alexander Rostov who because of being part of Royalty during a Bolshevik tribunal was sentenced to house arrest for life in a beautiful hotel. This is beautifully written about the years spent in this hotel and his point of view as world events happen outside. 4 stars


Words on Fire by Jennifer A. Nielsen
This book perfect for middle school grade level was surprisingly full of suspense and a page turner with danger lurking at all times and the fearless and brave protagonist faces danger straight on. This story is about the history of Lithuanian's independence from Russia and how it all started with the mission of preserving their heritage and language thru books and the perils of smuggling these books from Russian soldiers/government. 5 stars

Ruling Class - The King. This is set in Spain where there is a clear hierarchy between the ruling class, people with money and the servants. This was just an okay read for me. Some parts were interesting but I found it slow to get through and didn't feel like the story really got going.

I had a hard time finding a book to read for this month's motif, so I chose an eBook I got for free somewhere: A Political Proposal by E.C. Fountain. The male lead was running for political office and the female lead was the daughter of a senator. She gets pregnant after one night together. It's not my usual topic, and, unfortunately, it was probably my least liked read of the month. It wasn't horrible, just OK and rather predictable. I was participating in the Spring into Horror reading challenge (or my version of horror--thriller and mysteries), and I just found something quick to read to meet this challenge.

I read The Black Echo by MIchael Connolly. Sometimes tricky figuring out who was actually in charge, since many in the justice hierarchy here had non-traditional places, but most were covered. We just knew Harry has his own set of rules. Fun to get some background after watching most of the TV series streaming, the feel of the writing was much the same between book and screen.
My review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/edit...

CHALLENGE COMPLETE with the next Rivers of London book, Lies Sleeping.

I read The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold. Emperor Gregor Vorbarra was an integral part of the story. Hoping to finish the Vorkosigan Saga this year.