Series: The Good Guys #1-6

Posted on August 30, 2024 by Yrsha

Series: The Good Guys by Eric Ugland
Books 1-5: One More Last Time (2018), Heir Today, Pawn Tomorrow (2018), Dungeon Mauling (2018), Four, The Loot (2019), Dukes and Ladders (2019), Home, Siege Home (2019)
Narrator: Neil Hellegers

I might have mentioned that I am currently listening to the series The Good Guys, a series where a guy happens to find himself inside a computer game. While he is there, all he wants to do is to relax and fish. Lets just say that this is not exactly what happens.

This series belongs to a genre called LitRPG, short for literary role-playing game. This genre is new to me so I cannot compare the series to others of the same type but I am intrigued by this one enough to have the ambition to explore more in the same genre.

I really enjoy listening to these books. The main character has a bit of a trouble past from earth and does his best to redeem it in this new world, good intentions but might not always think (so much) before he acts. Montana, our main character uses a lot of references to our world that the other characters do not get so they think he is a bit weird.

In the first book we get a lot of stats and character sheets, things are repeated when things are changed and we get to see all the notifications. In the later books, these are not as important anymore. I think the first book does a great job of setting the game environment but I can understand if some people think that it gets a bit repetitive while listening, it is not as easy to skim read those stats and notifications when one listens.

I am currently listening to book number seven in the series, The Bare Hunt. There are still some unanswered questions regarding the world, and things yet to be used. This makes it feel like the author has a plan for the series and drives the story forward, I just hope there is a plan and that it is not forgotten.

A lot of the times I have no idea where the stray is headed, what side quests he is going on get stuck in or who (or what) he going to run into next. But, I also feel that the further into the story we get, the more predictable the character gets. But maybe we are just getting to know him and know how he would act? But things are also very easy for him and sometimes running a bit too smoothly at times.

These books are funny and the narrator does a great job in telling the story. I will definitely continue this series!

I gave these books 4 out of 5 stars – I really liked them.

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Weekly update #86 – I have been to the library

Posted on August 26, 2024 by Yrsha

During that time where we all were a bit afraid of germs, I stopped going to the library. It was mainly because the library was closed but also because of the germs part. I love libraries and think that they are great but after that time, I have not really gotten back into reading library books. I am working on changing that. So, I have been to the library twice the last two weeks. Mondays are a good day, then the library is open after I get home from work.

This stack is a mix of books that I reserved and those I picked up on a whim while I was there. Two of these books written by Ruta Sepetys has been recommended to me by my friend Js. I am currently reading Between Shades of Gray (Swedish title Strimmor av hopp). It is well written and from a perspective of the Second World War that I have not read from before.

I am very close to finishing Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross. I have seen this being hyped a while back, and lately not heard anything about it. I am not sure what I was expecting from it but not this. I have been enjoying reading it and at this point I do not know where the author is going to leave the story in the end. I think it is part of a series, Letters of Enchantment, and I feel like we are going to leave off on a cliffhanger.

We have decided the next books in my two book circles. With work, we will be reading Sleeping Beauties by Stephen and Owen King and with my university friends we will be reading Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin.

Are you in any book circles? What are you currently reading?

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In a Badger Way

Posted on August 23, 2024 by Yrsha

In a Badger Way – Shelly Laurenston
Series: Honey Badger Chronicles #2
Type of book: audiobook
Narrator: Charlotte Kane
Length: 13 hours 43 minutes

Synopsis from Goodreads:
Petite, kind, brilliant, and young, Stevie is nothing like the usual women bodyguard Shen Li is interested in. Even more surprising, the youngest of the lethal, ball-busting, and beautiful MacKilligan sisters is terrified of bears. But she’s not terrified of pandas. She loves pandas.

Which means that whether Shen wants her to or not, she simply won’t stop cuddling him. He isn’t some stuffed Giant Panda, ya know! He is a Giant Panda shifter. He deserves respect and personal space. Something that little hybrid is completely ignoring.

But Stevie has a way of finding trouble. Like going undercover to take down a scientist experimenting on other shifters. For what, Shen doesn’t want to know, but they’d better find out. And fast. Stevie might be the least violent of the honey badger sisters, but she’s the most dangerous to Shen’s peace of mind. Because she has absolutely no idea how much trouble they’re in . . . or just how damn adorable she is.

I did think book number one was kind of bananas. I think this one was more bananas than the first on some ways but had a better red thread throughout the book. This book felt more like the events in the book were leading up to something.

A lot of my thoughts from the first book are also valid in this book. I think that they did improve on the cover a bit for this one, actually including an animal (but they could have skipped the guy also haha).

We are getting to know the youngest of the three sisters in this book. It was nice to get to follow one of the other sisters but I felt like the dynamic shifted a lot. Charlies characteristics and strengths were quite different from what we experienced in the first book and I thought it was a bit weird. The way Charlie handled upcoming conflicts in the first book were non existent in this one.

I am not sure what to say, it is bonkers, entertaining and a bit ridiculous. I am not fond of the naked scenes and I did actually skip forward past some of it.

I give the book three out of five stars – I liked it.

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A few things I have been reading lately

Posted on August 21, 2024 by Yrsha
  • That Time I Got Drunk and Yeeted A Love Potion At A Warewolf – Kimberly Lemming: This is a funny monster romance. The spicy scenes were a bit too rough for me, but the author warned about those before the story started so I knew kinda what was coming. 3/5 stars.
  • The Spanish Love Deception – Elena Armas: At the start of this book there were a couple of things I did feel a bit weird about, for example the persistence of the guy. But in the end I thought it worked and I was fearing a third act breakup that would be worse than it was. 4/5 stars
  • One More Last Time – Eric Ugland: I would probably not picked up this one if it had not been for it being recommended to me. I am glad I did. Funny and unpredictable and I have already read three more in this series. 4/5
  • Plucked by the Orc – Jenna Larkin: Another monster romance. There were things I chose to not look too closely at because the story might not hold up super well. But I did enjoy the reading and will probably read more by this author. 4/5 stars (might have been a little generous with this rating)
  • The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir – Jennifer Ryan: Read in Swedish with the title Damkören i Chilbury. Sometimes you find yourself at a place without a self-brought book to read. Then you can check out the other books in the vicinity. I chose this one and it was a good pick. I enjoyed following the different characters and the different diary and letter entries. It made me want to pick up a couple of other books in the same time era. 4/5 stars.
  • People We Meet on Vacation – Emily Henry: Read in Swedish with the title Sommarmöten. It did make me cry. It did also bore me a little. A hard one to rate. Will probably read more by this author to get another feel of the author. 3,5/5 stars
  • The Unicorn Herd – Arizona Tape: This did unfortunately fall short. Did feel quite “childish” in the way it was told and the whole long distance relationship part felt unnecessary and annoying. 2/5 stars

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Weekly update #85 – crocheting project finished!

Posted on August 19, 2024 by Yrsha

After crocheting years on and off on the granny square blanket – it is finally finished! It has been fun to work on but all the colour switches created a lot of ends to weave in. My next project is a purple poncho.

I have recently been enjoying the first couple of books in the series The Good Guys by Eric Ugland.

I have not read so many books that takes place inside a game, mostly because I thought that would not be my cup of tea. But I did get this series recommended to me as a very funny series and that the narrator did a great job with the audiobooks. I am currently on the fifth book (the fourth book did get four stars as well) and I do agree. The narrator does a great job, and I never know what turns the story takes (except for that early slide down the mountain). Highly recommend!

When I am not listening to The Good Guys, I am reading Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys (it is making me dream weird dreams) and The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England bu Brandon Sanderson (not so far in yet but like it!).

It is time to choose a new book for the work book circle. We haven’t finished the current one but this time we are choosing the book earlier to strip down the waiting time in between the books. We have picked the theme to be horror and will probably start a voting round today or tomorrow. For the Uni book circle we are between books at the moment.

Have you read anything good lately?

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Hot and Badgered

Posted on May 14, 2024 by Yrsha

Hot and Badgered – Shelly Laurenston
Series: The Honey Badger Chronicles
Type of book: Audiobook
Narrrator: Traci Odom
Length: 13h 15 min

Synopsis from Goodreads:
It’s not every day that a beautiful naked woman falls out of the sky and lands face-first on grizzly shifter Berg Dunn’s hotel balcony. Definitely they don’t usually hop up and demand his best gun. Berg gives the lady a grizzly-sized t-shirt and his cell phone, too, just on style points. And then she’s gone, taking his XXXL heart with her. By the time he figures out she’s a honey badger shifter, it’s too late.

Honey badgers are survivors. Brutal, vicious, ill-tempered survivors. Or maybe Charlie Taylor-MacKilligan is just pissed that her useless father is trying to get them all killed again, and won’t even tell her how. Protecting her little sisters has always been her job, and she’s not about to let some pesky giant grizzly protection specialist with a network of every shifter in Manhattan get in her way. Wait. He’s trying to help? Why would he want to do that? He’s cute enough that she just might let him tag along—that is, if he can keep up . . .

This book is a bit bananas and quite absurd. I do not think it tries to be anything else and that is what makes it work. I do have a few thoughts.

I like that family is present in this book. There are some people missing, some people that we (the main characters) do not like and then there is the three sisters that stick together. I feel like the main character often is isolated from family and sometimes also friends in a lot of books so it was pleasant to have some family present and close.

There was not a lot of shifting. I thought that we would see a lot more of shifted shifters, especially when we were in more shifter territory. Maybe we will get more shifting in the upcoming books when we have a different main character?

There are some unanswered questions, things that I did not feel like I got an answer to. But, since it is part of a series, perhaps we get those answers later.

For quite some time, I felt like the cover of this book was quite misplaced. I do imagine that the books that typically has these covers has more naked in them than fighting than the other way around. I do still think that the cover could have been different, I would have liked the sisters or a badger or something on the cover, but the last part of the book was maybe more to what the cover promises. I do wish that there would have been more spoken consent. We did not get anything that either character did not want but it would have been nice to have the question, at least waiting for an encouragement or something before diving in.

There is some mental illness representation in this book. I have not done any research about the book nor author so I do not know the background of why it is here but my interpretation of it is a kind of normalising about the topic that is done in a jokingly kind of manner.

A lot of things happens in this book. It almost feels like this book could have been separated into several books. The red line throughout the book was not very clear, things just keep happening and the direction was a bit fuzzy. the events were no really connected in a way that drove the plot forward. Since the whole book is a bit bananas, I accept and take it.

I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars – I enjoyed it and I have already started on the next book in the series.

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Weekly update #84 – spring is here

Posted on May 12, 2024 by Yrsha

Spring has finally come! The grass is green, the leaves on the trees are coming and spring flowers are blooming. Today was a warm summery kind of day and we had a long walk in the sunshine. These coming images are actually from last weeks evening walk, today’s walk had more tulips but not many photographed.

I am currently listening to Cursed Claws, book number three in the series Nine Lives Magic by Danielle Garrett. It is a cozy listen and a bit different to the Beechwood Harbor Magic Mystery series. I like the cat, she is my favourite character.

I do a lot of other crafts at the moment and my reading is therefore a bit slow. I mostly do crocheting and puzzling at the moment. Those are great things to do while listening to audiobooks but sometimes I just enjoy the silence, or keep a tv series in the background.

I am a couple of books behind in my Goodreads goal. Since it is still early in the year, I feel like I have time to catch up, I do have a couple of books that I know will be quick reads coming up. I did for example finish a Nancy Drew today, not a favourite but a bit entertaining amd a quick read. A good in-between book.

What are you currently reading?

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Down the TBR-hole #13

Posted on May 8, 2024 by Yrsha

A blog called Lost in a Story started with the Down the TBR Hole posts. I have written more about this in my first post in Swedish. Shortly it’s about cleansing your to be read (TBR) shelf on Goodreads.

It’s been a while since I last did one of these posts. I felt like it was time to do give them a go again! The first two books were in the last post as well (I was thinking of trying to explain as to why they happen to be here but lets just roll with it) but as they happen to be here today, let’s take a look and see if we still want to keep them.

Perfected – Kate Jarvik Birch
I did have it home from the library after the last post but did not get around to actually reading it. I am still interested in reading it though so I will keep it for now.
Verdict: Stays.

Outlander – Diana Gabaldon
Last time I added this one to my audiobook service and it ss still there waiting for me. I think I still want to read it at some point so lets keep it.
Verdict: Stays.

The Nightingale – Kristin Hannah
It feels like someone might have recommended this one to me. I am torn as to whether I think I would enjoy this one or not but I am a bit intrigued. I will keep it a little while longer
Verdict: Stays.

Witchstruck – Victoria Lamb
This book is not available at my audiobook service or the library. I am a bit hesitant towards buying it but I am intrigued. Staying?
Verdict: Stays.

Cherry Ames (book 19, 20, 22, 13, 21, 18, 24) – Helen Wells x7
I am still making my way through this series. They are very cosy books and I understand why they were so big during their time. I am missing the next book in my collection to be able to continue so I need to track the next one down.
Verdict: Stays.

Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death – James Runcie
I have seen a couple of episodes of BBC’s tv series based on these books. I think that this series is something that I could really enjoy, question is when I will come to it
Verdict: Stays.

How did it go this time?
Books in the TBR shelf at start: 240
Number of staying books: 12
Number of leaving books: –
Total amount of leaving books: 46
Number of reserved books at the library: 0
Number of books put in to-borrow-shelf: 0
Number of books added to audiobook-account: 0
Current amount of books in my TBR shelf: 260

Maybe a bit boring results from this round, no leaving books. It has been a while since I made one of these posts and I have added a bunch of new books to my shelves during this time. My to-read-shelf has now more books in it than when I started making these posts. I don’t think that is necessarily a bad thing, I enjoy finding new things to read and I have actually been reading stuff from my TBR shelf as well! But, I could be better at actively picking up books from this list.

I enjoyed the Pick a random number challenge that I did a while back, I could try to do more of those to to prioritize some of these books.

Have you read any of these books? Are there any that I should try to prioritize?

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Baka bullar

Posted on May 4, 2024 by Yrsha

Baka bullar – Fredrik Nylén
Typ av bok: Inbunden
Förlag: Semic

Beskrivning från förlagets hemsida:
Välkommen till Fredriks härliga bakvärld!

Finns det något bättre än nybakade bullar? Att få till en smidig deg, grädda bullarna och fylla huset med doften av hembakat är magiskt.

Här hittar du de bästa tipsen på hur du lyckas med ditt bullbak! Pröva över 30 recept med allt från klassiker som kanelsnurror och solskensbullar till helt nya skapelser som citronknyten, bananbullar och bulltårta. Dessutom härliga fyllningar och recept på en riktigt god glutenfri bulldeg som passar bra till många av recepten.

När jag fyllde år för flera år sedan fick jag en bok full av bullrecept. En mycket passande present eftersom jag tycker mycket om att baka. Nu har ett par månader (och några år, för jag publicerade aldrig recensionen när jag skrev den) fått och jag har hunnit provbaka en del ur boken. Jag har bakat kanelbullar, chokladsnurror, bananbullar, solskensbullar, hastbullar, de glutenfria bullarna och lussebullar.

Recepten i boken är lätta att följa och bullarna blir saftiga och goda. Jag äger (ännu) ingen bra maskin som kan hjälpa till att blanda bullsmet men det är inga problem, det resulterar bara i en lite tröttare armar efter lite längre vevande.

Det här är en mycket bra bullrecept-bok! Känner jag för att baka lite bullar är det här definitivt en av böckerna jag bläddrar i. Bara att skriva om boken gör mig sugen att bläddra och se vad jag skulle kunna testa på härnäst.

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Bluebeard and the Outlaw

Posted on May 2, 2024 by Yrsha

Bluebeard and the Outlaw – Tara Grayce
Series: A Villain’s Ever After #3
Type of book: audiobook
Narrator: Liz Brand
Length: 5 h 2 min

Synopsis from Goodreads:
Marriage: the ultimate heist.
Robin of the Wood spends her days robbing from the rich to feed the poor. But she and her merry band of brothers never seem to get anywhere. The more she steals, the more the evil Lord Guy “Bluebeard” taxes the villagers.
When Robin discovers that Lord Guy plans to marry yet again, she conceives a plan for a final, big score. As Guy’s wife, she will have access to his wealth. The lord is notorious for killing his wives shortly after he marries them, but Robin has no plans to be dead wife number four.
The only problem is that Lord Guy is devastatingly handsome, brooding, and nothing at all what she expected. If she isn’t careful, she might just find that he steals her heart before she can rob his riches.

I felt like this story had quite the potential but not did not really live up to what it could have been. Where do I start?

It was fun that Hood’s band was her brothers but that did not help the story. It felt a bit forced that all of them were siblings and that they just followed everything Robin says blindly. It felt like Robin could not do anything wrong, she did not have any faults. Even when she did play a noblewoman quite poorly, no-one questioned whether she was the person she was pretending to be or not.

I would have expected that someone who had spent a lot of time chasing a person would have suspected something? And they could have done more with the sheriff, there was a potential for him to take a bigger character role in the beginning of the book? Now it did not really make sense as to why he was spending so much time at that house?

As an archer I always find it fascinating to read descriptions of shooting arrows and bows in books. This one was perhaps not spot on but it was not any major errors that poked me in the eye while reading anyway.

I think that I am giving this book a weak 3 stars out of 5. I did enjoy listening to this book, it was a fun variant of the Robin Hood story, but it could have been so much more.

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