Lethal Lifestyles

by LynDee Walker
Book 6 of A Nichelle Clarke Crime Thriller

I'm having a hard time deciding how to feel about this book.  On the one hand, this was an exciting, fast-paced read where the action just keeps the story moving forward.  On the other hand, you once again get Nichelle spending a lot of her time racing against the clock, the upper administration, her rivals, and now other mysterious higher powers, to find the truth in a murder mystery.  And once again, law enforcement is conveniently absent with no power to do any true investigating.

While I love that Nichelle is such a strong, resourceful heroine, I'm also exhausted after reading this book (and not only because I kept at it when I probably should have been sleeping).  There was SO MUCH going on in this book, and so much going on in Nichelle's life already, that I'm frankly kind of getting tired of the constant upward battle that she's facing off with with her weasel-y publisher.  And while I understand that the rivalries are fierce and probably necessary between her and other ambitious reporters, sometimes the battles get a little too catty for my liking... and maybe too repetitive.

BUT, on the other hand, I really DID enjoy the mystery in this book; sans all the office drama, I think I would have really loved all the action, the investigation, and all the strange twists that were thrown in.  I also loved that Nichelle and Kyle could team up and investigate the case together without romance or hurt feelings getting in the way--they DO make a pretty good team.

Unfortunately, speaking of the romance, I'm STILL not feeling Joey, the mysterious mafia love interest, now serious significant other.  I just don't see enough of him and don't know enough of him to care about this love story.  It's been six books into the series, and Joey is really taking the tall, dark, mysterious, and handsome love interest trope to a new level.  At some point, I feel like we need to start getting to know Joey more if I'm to believe that Nichelle and Joey are having a serious relationship outside of physical attraction.  And because of that, I'm actually warming up to Kyle a little bit more... even if I still like Nichelle's co-worker Grant Parker more.

At least we get to see Kyle on a more personal level and we're getting to know him better with each book.  His cockiness is also starting to grow on me, even if his over-protective streak is a bit tiring.

Apparently I'm hard to please.

As far as the series itself goes, I'm still very much enjoying it, so I'll definitely continue reading, even if I'm not planning on jumping into the very next book right away.


***

Booklikes-opoly 2019

Roll #20:
Square: The Stay-cation 6 | Read a book set in your home town, state, or country, or that you checked out of your local library, or that has been on your (physical) bookshelves since last summer.

How it fits:  This book takes place in my home country (U.S.A.)
Page Count: 372
Cash: $3

Madam, Will You Talk?

by Mary Stewart

Well, this isn't my favorite of the Mary Stewart books I've read so far, but I'll give a kudos for the strong start it had, although the book was punctuated by a lot of banal moments, some of which were quite idyllic, but others of which were just a little draggy.

The truth is, I really liked Charity a lot, because she comes off strong and flawed, all at the same time, which is what makes her an interesting character.  More so, I was really, really getting into the book as the danger and the conflict began to pick up.  And even as I started to find the rest of the mystery quite predictable, I still got drawn into the story and the atmosphere.

But then the instalove happened, and I found myself a bit jarred out of the book.  I guess after following Charity's high speed chases, her escaping from Richard, the man she believed to be an evil murderer... I hadn't really expected the sudden turn of events that happened mid-book.  The insta-attraction might have been believable to an extent, but the sudden declarations of love kind of threw me.

The second half of the book then proceeded to spin further out of control, and I'm not quite sure how I feel about the chaotic conclusion to the mystery and the thriller itself.  Everything kind of all happens at once to bring all the tangents to a head, and yet I kind of felt like the ending was a bit unsatisfying.

Nonetheless, this was exciting enough to keep me hooked until the end.

On a side note, was it just me, or was there an extremely unhealthy and unbelievable amount of smoking throughout this book?  Or was it just the time period?


***

Booklikes-opoly 2019

Roll #18:
Square: Robot Card | Create a number list of ten books, and let a random number generator pick for you.

Note:  Used in place of Beach Week 13.  See post for the numbered list.
Page Count:  372
Cash:  $3

First of all, to MM/MR and OB - 

(I went with a space theme in honor of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing.)

Stats:

Earned $75.00 and donated $3.00 to the bail fund

Landed on Race Car twice, The Cat once

Read 11 books

Read 5 historical romances (3 Gilded Ages, 2 European-set WWII era)

Read 1.5 contemporary romances (1 novel and 1 novella)

Read 4 nonfiction titles

Read 2 books off my Nixon Reading List

DNF 3 Books

Read 5 books by women authors

Read 3 books by male authors (1 book had 2 male authors)

Read 2 books by AoC (one woman and one man)

Authors who were read multiple times:

Jen Turano (2 novels and 1 novella)

Sarah Sundin (2 novels)

One series completed (Wings of the Nightingale trilogy)

My plan had been to compile the books I had read for the last half of Booklikes-opoly 2019 in one post, and then do another post for a wrap up, but I'm too lazy, so I'm just going to throw everything into this post.  So this post will be slightly longer than I'd intended, but there it is.

As far as final tallies go, here are my totals:

Final Bank:  $111
Bail Fund Donation:  0 pages
Books Read:  21
Pages Read:  7,085

I'm extremely satisfied with my progress for BLopoly this year, even though I'm pretty sure I read twice as many books the last time we played.  Of course, I think this year the game play duration was shorter, but if I had been reading at the pace I used to read at two years ago, them my totals would be a little different.  Nonetheless, I'm still very happy with how my game play went!

All-in-all, I managed to (mostly) stick to books on my already owned TBR shelves.  Of the 21 books I read, 15 of them were previously owned prior to the game start, 2 were bought during the course of the game, and 4 were library e-book check-outs.  I finished reading all the books for two different series that had been languishing on my shelves for a few yeas, so yay for that!  And then I caught up with all the books I currently own for one ongoing series.

Me being me, I was stubborn enough to make myself read for all the squares I landed on, with only one exception.  And because of that, I ended up with three Novelty Cards left in my pocket that never got used.  For fun, I may go ahead and "use" them post game just to determine my next few reads leading up to Halloween Bingo.  Maybe.

This was another great reading game from our favorite BLer game hosts, and again, I'd love to give them a great, huge thank you for always bringing so much excitement to the BL dashboard feeds!

The following are some rambles for the books I read during the last half of the game.  Here is also a link to the first set of books I read for the first half of the game:

BL-opoly 2019 | Mid-game Update

If anyone is interested, that is.

Afterward, I've included my tracking table and a repeat of my final stats once again at the end of this post.

Books and Squares

This book was slow to start, and took a while for me to get into.  I'm not certain if it was the book or my own personal life happenings that caused this, but for such a short book, it DID take a long time to finish.  I WILL admit that Brother Cadfael is an interesting man, and I wouldn't mind continuing to follow his story, and I DID find the antics of the Shrewsbury brothers quite amusing.

The conclusion of the mystery felt a little too convenient, and I'm not entirely sure that I really saw much investigation going on... though it could have just been that I was distracted and couldn't fully appreciate Brother Cadfael's investigation techniques?

Anyway, I didn't really write a review, so the short above paragraphs will have to suffice.

How the book fits:  This series was adapted into a television series.

What better book to read for "a hero's journey" than one about a superhero?  Although this book wasn't exactly what I'd been expecting, it was still enjoyable, and Leigh Bardugo continues to prove that she is a wonderfully solid author.  Unfortunately, I had recently seen the new film adaptation starring Gal Gadot... and so kept picturing the teenage Diana in this book with the Gadot's face... not that she couldn't pass off as a youthful teenager, really...

How the book fits:  This book follows a hero's journey.

See my review:
Thoughts: Wonder Woman  Warbringer

Simone St. James writes beautifully, and creates great atmosphere.  This wasn't my favorite of her books, and I was actually disappointed that the haunted hospital aspect felt a bit underused.  Nonetheless, a great read.

How the book fits:  This book is historical fiction.

See my review:
Quick Thoughts: Silence for the Dead

Jayne Ann Krentz always presents great characters, banter, and entertaining excitement in her romantic suspense books.  Sharp Edge was no exception.  I liked the tidbits about glass art.  And I also found the characters likable.  And I saw the conclusion coming ten miles away.

But I was satisfyingly entertained, as I usually am with Jayne Ann Krentz, so no real complaints.

There will be no actual review aside from the simple few lines above.  I have trouble reviewing JAK books anyway since they're fairly formulaic, even if I love them so much.

How the book fits:  This book is tagged as a 'mystery.'

This was another great romantic suspense by Laura Griffin that I enjoyed immensely and could not put down.  She never fails to deliver her usual dark and gritty, action-never-stops crime thrillers.

How the book fits:  The author's name begins with the letter 'L.'

See my review:
Thoughts: Her Deadly Secrets

I'd been meaning to get back to this series for a while, and this square gave me the push to do so, and I'm glad I did.  It's so easy to hop back into Nichelle's world and follow her around while she investigates murder when the local police are so stumped themselves.  Great writing and atmosphere, and Nichelle is always a top-notch heroine.

How the book fits:  This book is a cozy mystery.

See my review:
Some Thoughts: Devil in the Deadline

Hmm... while this book was a lot quieter and less gruesome in terms of details and investigation, I found I really liked it a lot more, if only because we're more focused on Nichelle's human interest story, the investigation, and the crime thriller itself.  Another excellent addition to the solid cozy mystery series.

How the book fits:  Our author's name begins with the letter 'L'.

See my review:
Some Thoughts: Cover Shot

Having actually landed on Beach Week 13, I decided to use one of my novelty cards since I wasn't feeling in the mood for any of the books on my TBR that would fit the square.  Since I had two Robot Cards in my pocket, I figured, what the heck?  So my list was made, and Madam, Will You Talk? was the winner.

This book is pretty suspenseful, and kind of dives into the story and the conflicts right from the beginning, even if there were moments of quiet.  An enjoyable Mary Stewart book, but probably not my favorite.

I will have a review posted pretty soon.

See my review:
Brief Thoughts: Madam, Will You Talk? (link coming soon)

Another interesting JAK book, although probably not one of my favorites.  Sometimes her characters get a little overly philosophical, and the dialogue gets a bit eye-roll-worthy.  But Deep Waters still had all the charm and "feel good" of any other JAK book.

And so, once again, a short review above in three sentences since I probably won't bother with a full, individual review post.

How the book fits:  The book's cover is definitely greater than 50% blue.  Also author's last name begins with a letter 'K.'

This was an exciting, fast-paced read with maybe a few quibbles from myself, but overall another great addition to the series.  It's a little early, so I don't have a review yet, and it should be out within the week.

How the book fits:  This book takes place in Richmond, Virginia; in the United States, which is my home country.

See my review:
Quick Thoughts: Lethal Lifestyles (link coming soon)

Table and Other Stats

Final Bank:  $111
Bail Fund Donation:  0 pages || in table: remain in parentheses in (italics and red)
Books Read:  21
Pages Read:  7,085

Table notes:
*Dates link to corresponding dice roll updates / other links for related activities included.
*Book titles link to reviews if written.
*Page/Cash values in parentheses are still pending reads/ not yet cashed out.
*Doubles rolls are depicted as such (dbls) under the dice roll number.

I managed to get my books from my last roll finished in time for one last roll, so I decided to use my final card for it - a Robot card.

1.   2.   3.   4.   5.   6.   7.   8.   9.   10.   

The random number generator gave me a 1. I'll be finishing the game with We Rule the Night.