Month: May 2018

The State of the Game…Er…

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Hello, lovely people.  I usually post my biweekly State of the Gamer update, but all I have to offer you today are excuses.  I left work a little early because I was hella tired, came home, fed my cats, read a chapter of Dune, then passed out.  I didn’t wake up until about a half hour ago.  Thankfully, my wonderful husband made dinner, which I’m about to nom on while watching a Let’s Play.   Alas, I don’t have the wherewithal to do the update.  I might not have eaten enough today, or I might be wiped from the weekend (we moved our sectional out in preparation for the new one being delivered this Saturday), or it could just be my old friend chronic fatigue.  Either way, I apologize.  I’d say I’ll just do one next week, but I have my posts set up so I’m not doing them all back to back.  I did play quite a lot of games this week, finished LPs, started new ones, all kinds of stuff.  Hopefully, I’ll be back on schedule the next time, or if I’m lucky, I might be able to just postpone it until tomorrow.  Only time will tell.

Thanks for sticking with me ♥

Heartborn by Terry Maggert (Shattered Skies #1) (DNF)

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Title: Heartborn
Series Title: Shattered Skies
Date Added: July 3, 2017
Date Started: October 9, 2017
Date DNF: October 18, 2017
Reading Duration: 9 days
Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Young Adult

Heartborn coverPages: 239
Publication Date: September 1, 2016
Publisher: Self
Media: eBook/Kindle

Her guardian angel was pushed.

Keiron was never meant to be anything other than a hero. Born high above in a place of war and deception, he is Heartborn, a being of purity and goodness in a place where violence and deceit are just around every corner.

His disappearance will spark a war he cannot see, for Keiron has pierced the light of days to save a girl he has never met, for reasons he cannot understand. Livvy Foster is seventeen, brave, and broken. With half a heart, she bears the scars of a lifetime of pain and little hope of survival.

Until Keiron arrives.

In the middle of a brewing war and Livvy’s failing heart, Keiron will risk everything for Livvy, because a Heartborn’s life can only end in one way: Sacrifice.

Fall with Livvy and Keiron as they seek the truth about her heart, and his power, and what it means to love someone who will give their very life to save you.

Before the end of Heartborn’s first chapter, the main character’s brother cuts off his wings and pushes him out of “heaven,” and I was so ready for the promises of Paradise Lost references with a heavy helping of Revelations.  The chapter ends with Keiron’s fate unknown, and I didn’t miss another possible homophone reference in his name with Charon, the ferryman of the river Styx, who not only dwells in between but also serves as a sort of guide for those thrust into that liminal state.  Since this novel’s blurb indicates Keiron as a “guardian angel,” it’s a cleverly benevolent subversion to the original, darker paradigm.

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The State of the Reader: 5/23/18

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<–The State of the Reader: 5/9/18          The State of the Reader: 6/6/18–>

A weekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Books Purchased: 1

Books DNF: 1

Title: The Shadow Soul
Series Title: A Dance of Dragons
Author: Kaitlyn Davis
Date Added: June 15, 2016
Date Started: May 14, 2018
Date DNF: May 15, 2018

The Shadow Soul coverMedia: eBook/Kindle

The opening of this book was pretty meh.  It’s your typical Destroyed Hometown (haha, the picture they use XD) followed by vengeance seeking fare, and no I’m not a hypocrite for not falling in love with every story that has that paradigm (see the picture they used), because this novel didn’t do anything remotely new with it.  Even having the female protagonist disguise herself as a boy is pretty cliched.  I didn’t feel any deep emotion towards the destruction of Jinji’s village, which is disappointing as it’s clear the author attempted to make it that way with her best friend braiding her hair in the style it be would for the rest of her life.  I think it’s because there wasn’t much to really distinguish these characters from ones I’ve read a thousand times before.

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The State of the Writer: 5/20/18

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<–The State of the Writer: 4/22/18          The State of the Writer: 6/3/18–>

A biweekly post updated every Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 6

Book Reviews: Master of Crows by Grace Draven – 5/7/18
Tags: The WIP Tag – 5/8/18
Game Reviews: Paper Mario Color Splash – 5/10/18
Awards: Mystery Blogger Award #4 – 5/10/18
Book Reviews: Moon Called by Patricia Briggs (Mercy Thompson #1) – 5/16/18
Book Reviews: The Diamond Tree by Michael Matson – 5/19/18

It was a productive two weeks 🙂

Project: Story
Title: The Broken Rose
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Fanfiction (FFVII) Novel
Current Word Count: 261,336
Prior Word Count: 261,419
Word Difference: -83
Status: Revising
Progress: First edit of Chapter 5

Quill pen with shadowI made some good progress in these last two weeks and am currently halfway through the first edit of the 5th chapter (that is a lot of numbers).  I think once I finish this I’ll be able to continue with my regular editing and posting schedule…after I consult my checklist of course 😉

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The Diamond Tree by Michael Matson

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Title: The Diamond Tree
Author: Michael Matson
Date Added: January 26, 2016
Date Started: September 28, 2017
Date Finished: October 1, 2017
Reading Duration: 3 days
Genre: Fantasy, Fairy Tale, Short Story, YA/Mid-Grade

The Diamond Tree coverPages: 70
Publication Date: July 12, 2010
Publisher: Untreed Reads
Media: eBooks/Kindle

Dall is eager to prove himself a worthy prince, but what do you do when your older brothers have already slain every dragon and rescued all the princesses? You heed the advice of an old woman and set off on a quest! When Dall starts finding diamonds along the way, he discovers his quest may have a more unique ending than he had planned. Ages 6-12 and great for parents to read with their children.

This is a cute, little fairy tale with all the proper elements.  I could’ve done with a bit of something different from the typical Rescue Romance, but there might have been some Tarot references within concerning main character Prince Dall (The Fool), a literal Hanged Man, and a wise old woman who could play the part of The Hermit.  Regardless of its foibles and cliches, it was a fun, quick read.

3 stars.

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs (Mercy Thompson #1)

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Title: Moon Called
Series Title: Mercy Thompson
Author: Patricia Briggs
Date Added: August 23, 2016
Date Started: September 6, 2017
Date Finished: September 27, 2017
Reading Duration: 21 days
Genre: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Supernatural, Paranormal Romance

Moon Called coverPages: 298
Publication Date: January 31, 2006
Publisher: Ace
Media: eBook/Kindle

Mercedes Thompson, aka Mercy, is a talented Volkswagen mechanic living in the Tri-Cities area of Washington. She also happens to be a walker, a magical being with the power to shift into a coyote at will. Mercy’s next-door neighbor is a werewolf. Her former boss is a gremlin. And she’s fixing a bus for a vampire. This is the world of Mercy Thompson, one that looks a lot like ours but is populated by those things that go bump in the night. And Mercy’s connection to those things is about to get her into some serious hot water..

Mercedes Thompson walks two worlds: one as a first class mechanic (yes…she’s a mechanic named “Mercedes”) while the other is a bit more supernatural.  With her fingers (or paws) in so many ponds, Mercy acts like a liaison between werewolves, vampires, fey, and humans, since she can’t be counted among any of them and can therefore serve as a sort of neutral party.  Unfortunately, aspects of her nature haven’t always had positive results, since she was forced to flee her foster home (and hometown) because of it.

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The State of the Gamer: 5/15/18

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<–The State of the Gamer: 5/1/18            The State of the Gamer: 6/12/18–>

A weekly post updated every other Tuesday detailing my current gaming projects.  I have an account at Grouvee, which is a site you can use to keep track of your backlog, so please feel free to friend me there!

What I Played

Title: Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle
Series: Mario, Rabbids
System: Nintendo Switch

Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle coverDate Started: May 14, 2015

This is surprisingly fun, and I say surprisingly only because I’ve never played any Rabbids game before.  They remind me of Minions, which I hate much less than the average internet user (I’m also a bit confused why they’re so abhorred besides the propensity of Baby Boomers to share memes of them, which I usually just scroll past.  I think the Minions themselves are cute), so their antics don’t bother me.  The combination of Mario and the Rabbids actually works, probably because there’s always some crazy shenanigans going on in the Mushroom Kingdom, so an invasion of raving rabbids with a device that can combine two separate things isn’t that far fetched.

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Mystery Blogger Award #4

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I am four times more mysterious than I ever could have imagined.  Apparently my mysterious nature is a mystery even to me.

The Mystery Blogger Award was created by Okoto Enigma, and I am delighted and honored to have been nominated for the award by  Dani of Touch My Spine Book Reviews, a wonderful book blogger and an ultimate sweetheart ♥

The Rules:

  • Put the award logo/image on your blog.
  • List the rules.
  • Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
  • Mention the creator of the award and provide a link as well.
  • Tell your readers 3 things about yourself.
  • You have to nominate 10 – 20 people.
  • Notify your nominees by commenting on their blog.
  • Ask your nominees any 5 questions of your choice; with one weird or funny question (specify).
  • Share a link to your best post(s).

Well, we’ve already accomplished the first four items on the list, so I believe we’re doing passably well.

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Paper Mario: Color Splash

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More video game reviews can be found here.

Series: Mario, Paper Mario
Genre: RPG
Developer: Intelligent Systems Co., Ltd
Release Date: October 7, 2016
Platforms: Wii U

Paper Mario: Color SplashLet’s Player: Olizandri

I’d heard some pretty scathing critiques about this latest Paper offering’s battle system. but it’s still a Paper Mario, still a Mario RPG, and I wanted to see if the mechanics weren’t too wonky to overlook or if the rest of the experience would override an overly complicated card clash.

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The State of the Reader: 5/9/18

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<–The State of the Reader: 4/25/18          The State of the Reader: 5/23/18–>

A weekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Books Purchased: 3

Books Finished: 1

Title: The Bone Doll’s Twin
Series Title: The Tamir Triad
Author: Lynn Flewelling
Date Added: June 9, 2016
Date Started: March 22, 2018
Date Finished: April 30, 2018

The Bone Doll's Twin by Lynn FlewellingMedia: eBook/Kindle

This book was fantastic.  I put the next one on my to read list.

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