Michelle, the Bookshelf Stalker's Reviews > Hard Bitten

Dint start reading it? :)

Dinjolina wrote: "Dint start reading it? :)"

Still waiting to receive it. LOL. I can't wait to get this one especially with the major cliff hanger (which I still don't know yet..thankfully).

C,c,c...poor baby :)
I almost had a heart attack when I could not Kindle it :)

Btw did you read her Firespell series? Horrible stuff. Now that I read one more of the Chicago vamps book I can not make my mind to connect these thing as something ONE author wrote.

Dinjolina wrote: "C,c,c...poor baby :)
I almost had a heart attack when I could not Kindle it :)

Btw did you read her Firespell series? Horrible stuff. Now that I read one more of the Chicago vamps book I can not m..."

I never could get beyond page 4 in the firespell series.

Good for you!
I have a must finish ...fetish ...even when it comes to bad books. But Firespell 2? Even I could not do it. :/

Dinjolina wrote: "Good for you!
I have a must finish ...fetish ...even when it comes to bad books. But Firespell 2? Even I could not do it. :/"

I don't have that problem. Usually, I give up too easily and then I miss out on a good book. But, I will go back and read some books later on that I didn't like the first time around.

But do you ever get baffled when you see some of your older rews? My amazon rew are so off track with the stuff I like now...sheesh. I gave stars like it was bread around Christ.

Oh you haven't read it yet. Yikes. Good luck. It was one of the best books I have read and the worst.

Curiousity got the best of me. Even though I have a copy coming in the mail, I just downloaded it on my Kindle. I have too many books that I need to read next! LOL

I don't blame you, Michelle! Hah.

PS, I keep hearing the same things about the Firespell books...haven't read them yet, and it doesn't look like I'm missing much.

You are not missing a thing! Horrible stuff :/

Wendy wrote: "I don't blame you, Michelle! Hah.

PS, I keep hearing the same things about the Firespell books...haven't read them yet, and it doesn't look like I'm missing much."

I know the cliffhanger is really bad, BUT if I don't read the book soon, I'll peak at the spoilers & then I'll be pissed!

Dinjolina wrote: "You are not missing a thing! Horrible stuff :/"

I know, I know but I still need to read it so I can find out how horrible it is.

Oh Michelle, good luck! I am still pissed about the cliffhanger 5 weeks later!

Jen wrote: "Oh Michelle, good luck! I am still pissed about the cliffhanger 5 weeks later!"

ouch! it must be a bad, bad cliffhanger!

I guess it depends on how you feel about certain parts of the series. I know people that were happy about it. Very few, but some were. Are you going to start it?

Jen wrote: "I guess it depends on how you feel about certain parts of the series. I know people that were happy about it. Very few, but some were. Are you going to start it?"

I'm going to finish Pretty When She Dies: A Vampire Novel and then I'll start it. I'm looking forward to it.

That's a bold move, isn't it, Michelle?

I refuse to read this. First C. Harris ruined Eric for me, then Neill did this, and now I'm waiting for Karen Chance to get rid of Mircea in some way or other so I can stop reading UF altogether. :D

Not that I would, but I'm tempted from time to time.

So you didn't care? Any idea why not? Did you just not like the book as a whole?

Tatiana wrote: "That's a bold move, isn't it, Michelle?"

By the author yes, you risk the people like me or you risk the really pissed off people that are super angry.

Maja wrote: "I refuse to read this. First C. Harris ruined Eric for me, then Neill did this, and now I'm waiting for Karen Chance to get rid of Mircea in some way or other so I can stop reading UF altogether. :..."

Yes, authors need to stop screwing up a good thing.

Jen wrote: "So you didn't care? Any idea why not? Did you just not like the book as a whole?"

(view spoiler)[I never felt anything overwhelming about Ethan. In fact, all the characters seem void of any real passion. I think Mallory is the one that seems to have any depth to her. The book is so robotic. It's like a grocery list...I got up, I brushed my hair, I went downstairs, I ate breakfast, it is very similar in writing to Red-Headed Stepchild. While I like these types of books in general, they lack umph (yes, that is my own word, what it means, I have no clue). It lacks passion. It seems so mechanical. Not being a writer myself, I have no clue what I'm saying but I don't feel the characters. Thus, when one kicks the bucket, I'm like "oh well". (hide spoiler)]

I understand that. Not everyone likes all books! Bummer that you didn't like it better though. I was quite distraught!

Jen wrote: "I understand that. Not everyone likes all books! Bummer that you didn't like it better though. I was quite distraught!"

You probably connected better to the characters. I've been known to bawl my eyes out at the end of a book. I was chatting in another thread about how I cried so much at the end of Feed that people looked at me and asked if I was ok. I literally had swollen eyes, and the tears would not stop!

Michelle, you are not the only one who feels that way. Your review reminded me of Kat's

Tatiana wrote: "Michelle, you are not the only one who feels that way. Your review reminded me of Kat's"

Wow, you are right on that. Especially the part in her review regarding the "journal like entries". I feel exactly the same way. Chloe Neill does it as well as Jaye Wells. The writing is so strange that I become disconnected from it. I still read the books and attempt to get into the story but the writing style makes me feel disassociated from the characters.

yup, that's a great way to say it. Journal-esc. It is hard to maintain a relationship with the characters when your so disjointed.

Tatiana wrote: "Michelle, you are not the only one who feels that way. Your review reminded me of Kat's"

(view spoiler)[A lot of people do. Me? I am one of those that had a problem with the way Mer was sparring with the evil vamp C-something chick ...she fight,and fights and the the chick is going to kill her...oh!Ethan died instead!And them Mer finished the fight. Huh? She just finished it? How? (hide spoiler)]

Erika wrote: "yup, that's a great way to say it. Journal-esc. It is hard to maintain a relationship with the characters when your so disjointed."

I agree.

Dinjolina, be careful...spoiler in your comment...

Sorry.Edit-ed. I always do that! Delete from my wall but forget to spoiler.

Dinjolina wrote: "Sorry.Edit-ed. I always do that! Delete from my wall but forget to spoiler."

It's okay, I did that one time and I had 5 very angry fans after me. I learned my lesson..lol!

Dinjolina wrote: "Tatiana wrote: "Michelle, you are not the only one who feels that way. Your review reminded me of Kat's"

[spoilers removed]"

I thought the entire scene was weird. it was (view spoiler)[very stagey (new made up word). I kept thinking that the author wanted to create a scene that made ethan sacrifice himself for Merit but didn't care what the scene was as long as Ethan ended up dead. It didn't seem real. The entire fight scene was poorly written. (hide spoiler)]

Wow Michelle, I am just now seeing your review. I had to force myself to keep reading this book. And by the time I got to the end, I just did not care. Also (view spoiler)[ I never cared for Ethan or her realtionship with him. I do not care if he is dead. (hide spoiler)] For me that is a huge sign that this series is not for me. I enjoyed 2 and 3, but ah -- disconnected is a great way to describe it.

Regina wrote: "Wow Michelle, I am just now seeing your review. I had to force myself to keep reading this book. And by the time I got to the end, I just did not care. Also [spoilers removed] For me that is a hu..."

Yeah, I'm done with it unless the next book falls on my lap without any effort on my part. :)

So this will be a nice little experiment for me, because I'm a huge spoiler-fiend and cannot control myself. I recently got started on this series and have books 2 and 3 from the library sitting on my desk.

As of now, I have not clicked on "view spoiler." Let's see how long I last ...
::crossing my fingers::

God, the fact that you only gave it 3 stars is making me SO curious. Okay, deep breaths. I will not look. I will not look. I will not look.

Leaving the page now.

Okay just before I clicked away my eyes glanced on your above comment and now I'm DYING to know. ::breathing deeply:: ::exerting strong self-control::

Juliana wrote: "Okay just before I clicked away my eyes glanced on your above comment and now I'm DYING to know. ::breathing deeply:: ::exerting strong self-control::"

DO NOT CLICK ON IT! I will feel so bad. It is a huge spoiler. Please, please please do not click on it!

I'm super proud of myself - I have not yet clicked. :-D

I've found that the longer I'm able to hold out, the easier it becomes, so right now I'm not as tempted as I was an hour ago ... let's hope that remains the case!

And I'm leaving now because I'm starting to want to again. God, I'm like an addict.

Juliana wrote: "I'm super proud of myself - I have not yet clicked. :-D

I've found that the longer I'm able to hold out, the easier it becomes, so right now I'm not as tempted as I was an hour ago ... let's hope ..."

I am proud! I usually don't do spoilers at all since I hate the thought I'd ruin a book for someone. It happened to me so I don't want to do that to someone else.

I think if you put the spoiler alerts or the very, very cool spoiler tags (genius person thought of those!) it's completely fine and fair. Also useful for those who do want to know the spoilers or for people who have read the book and want to discuss things that people who haven't shouldn't know about.

For some books, I do want to know the spoilers in advance, especially if it turns out there's some cheating that goes on or something of that variety; am very bothered by reading that in books so I always like to know ahead of time.

In this case though, I'm resisting. I was starting to skim through the reviews of the other books in the series after finishing number 1, but got to one where someone wrote they wanted to throw the book across the room and couldn't believe the author did that (luckily didn't say WHAT had been done) and I realized I needed to stop, or my curiosity would get the better of me.

(I still have not clicked! Superwoman-strong control here going on, woohoo!).

Juliana wrote: "I think if you put the spoiler alerts or the very, very cool spoiler tags (genius person thought of those!) it's completely fine and fair. Also useful for those who do want to know the spoilers or ..."

That IS self control. I agree what you said about spoilers. If I am not continuing a series (like Sookie Stackhouse series, after book 10, I couldn't take the series anymore) but I am still curious about what happens, I'll read nothing but spoilers for future books.

Lol, yeah, or books that are getting slammed by some of my GR friends but the reason they disliked it is a spoiler - I know I won't be reading the book, but am therefore dying to know what it was that set them all off, so I'll read through all of the spoilers written.

I did think the ending was anticlimactic. Action scenes are not Neill's forte, LOL. I did feel as though we got to know Ethan better in this book, and that he expressed himself more, but I do see what people mean about disconnection with Merit. She does seem more narrator than invested sometimes.

new_user wrote: "I did think the ending was anticlimactic. Action scenes are not Neill's forte, LOL. I did feel as though we got to know Ethan better in this book, and that he expressed himself more, but I do see w..."

Yeah I was having issues with this series from book 2. I only really enjoyed book 1 and then book 2 and book 3 were bleh to me. I have so many books to read that if I'm not really into the characters/story, I'm not going to continue with the series.

I 100% about her action scenes. It was like "insert cheesey action scene here" in between dialogue.

So I finally read it and I actually ended up loving it. There was so much build-up about WHAT everyone was upset about, and in the end I wasn't really upset because ... well, it's detailed in my review in spoiler tags. I cannot wait to read the next book - do you think you'll pick it up or are you really completely done?

P.S. I did manage to hold out! So many people had spoiler tags in their review (uhhh, how could you write about this book and NOT?!), but I was able to control myself and didn't click on a single one. And I completely agree with you - it would have ruined the book if I had.

Juliana wrote: "P.S. I did manage to hold out! So many people had spoiler tags in their review (uhhh, how could you write about this book and NOT?!), but I was able to control myself and didn't click on a single one. And I completely agree with you - it would have ruined the book if I had. ..."

Wow, I don't know if I could have avoided all the spoiler tags! Good for you! off to see your review.

And to this review....lol

I, too, am impressed with your hold out! I am that person that jumps straight to the end to read the last page. Imagine my shock with this one. Bad idea.