Pokemon Go Book Tag

Disclaimer: Pokemon Go belongs to Niantic and Nintendo.

So, we've been playing Pokemon Go with our kiddos for the last couple of weeks, and it's been fun. And addicting, despite being something I (Jen) never thought I'd do in a million years. So, when I saw this tag created by the lovely Aentee at Read at Midnight, I knew we had to do it. It combines our new addiction with our old favorite and it's adorable to boot!



Jen: The only one of these guys I've seen so far is Bulbasaur. While waiting for April to finish her part of this post, we captured all three of these little guys! :D But I should admit that I'm not very well-acquainted with the world of Pokemon yet, despite it being 20 years old and having been a thing when *I* was a kid myself. The shame. It pains me.

I loved the traditional faves as a kid - The Giving Tree, Where the Wild Things Are, etc. - but reading this series starting in the second or third grade, I think, was the beginning of my love affair with the written word:


It was the first thing I'd read on my own that was just so imaginative and fantastical and I remember checking my own mother's wardrobe to see if it was a doorway to Narnia. Sadly, it wasn't.

April: All three of us have been playing. I've never really been into Pokemon. My brother was obsessed with it so I know some of the characters. I love Squirtle. Sadly I do not have one yet. I caught the Charmander on my first shot. Brian got the Squirtle and Aubrey got the Bulbasaur. lol

There weren't a whole lot of options for me to read as a kid. My mom had a bookshelf full of horror books and she told me to read one of those.. but that I couldn't read any of the V.C. Andrews ones because they were too mature for me. 

Dawn was the first one I snuck off the shelf. I couldn't help myself. There were 5 in that series I think, all together, and my mom caught me reading them by the time I got to book 3. She didn't yell though, so looking back on it, I wonder if it was almost reverse psychology. 

Jen: Oh, why, oh, WHY did I not know about the cheat where you would get Pikachu at the very start of the game. This is why I'm not usually an early adopter. Sometimes being an early-bird, go-getter type bites you in the arse.

If you've seen any of the previous tags I've participated in, you can probably already guess which classic I'm going to pick. But it's a classic for a reason and I love it and I'm not sorry.


April: I'm with Jen on the Pikachu trick. My brother actually uninstalled and restarted the game just to get it. And that was after he upgraded his phone so that the game would run. lol. We caught a Pikachu when we went out for pizza. There is was, just hanging out in the parking lot.

If I had to choose, I probably would have said Pride and Prejudice as well. I was that girl who read all of Jane Austen's books for fun. So when it came time to write book reports.. Easy Peasy. Mansfield Park was another favorite of mine.


Jen: Katie and I (and my husband, let's be honest -- we're all playing on Katie's account, lol) haven't run across too many Zubats yet. I work in a nine-story building and have now seen plenty of Zubats while playing at work, lol. We have more Rattatas than anything at home, though.

As for a book that I lost interest in...well, I still kind of want to read this book, but I just can't make myself right now. My main reason is because I just wish she'd write something that wasn't Shadowhunter-related so I could see if it's just me, the writing, or that world. I loved TID and liked TMI well enough - at least until the second half was announced after I'd already bought a boxed set so that I could finally read all three books back-to-back - but I'm just afraid of throwing myself into yet another book in this world. Especially since I still haven't read City of Heavenly Fire.



April: Aubrey and I have had a ton of Zubats, Brian on the other hand, not so much. What we really get the most of are the Pidgy and Weedle. They are everywhere!

A book I lost interest in recently was The Girl on The Train. It's my own fault though. I thought if I watched the movie trailer it would hype me up more. That's how it usually works for me, but this time it didn't. I think it revealed too much of what the book was about. I was much more interested when all I knew was a lady witnessed something on a train.

Jen: Yet another Pokemon I've yet to encounter. But we have a Pokehunt scheduled for this weekend in Dallas near where I work and it looks to be very fruitful. Much more so than the rural area I live in, lol. Not much going on there, though we did run across a kid trying to hatch his egg the other day on our four-wheeler ride around the "neighborhood". It was kind of adorable, like this little guy.

Anyway, this is actually a perfect topic for me, as I just read the first book in a series that everyone basically claimed was a rip-off of another beloved author's work when it first came out.


It was very reminiscent of Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series, but honestly it felt like all six of those books squeezed into one, so I'm hoping the subsequent books will be better and/or different whenever my library holds finally come in.

April: Ahhhh, I have not see this Pokemon yet, but I want it badly!!! We don't have a whole lot in our area either. It's very rural, though there is a tiny church close to us that's a poke spot. That's usually where we nab some of the more rare ones.

Red Queen has been compared to a few popular books out there. Regardless, I still loved it. I think that's in part because I buddy read it with my friend Jess. We had a great time comparing thoughts throughout. :)







Jen: Ha, that should be my husband's nickname! Just kidding...sort of. :P

I don't usually let a book or series' size intimidate me. In fact, the number of pages in a book or books in a series sometimes increases my desire to read it. What can I say?

April: Aubrey has been watching the Pokemon shows on Netflix, and we just saw the episode with Snorlax. We saw him on top of a red gym the next day.

Large books don't really intimidate me. However, I'm always hesitant to start a large series when I have so many other series books to finish. I'm dying to started the Lost Hero, but I'll get sucked in for sure and neglect all my other books. I loved the Percy Jackson books.




Jen: Dude, I could tell you a MOVIE that recently kept me up...because of the creepiness factor: Crimson Peak. Though, that might have to do with the hubs putting Katie up to scaring the bejeezus out of me while I was watching it, a la The Ring-style alongside a creaky old door. But I don't normally mind ghosts, IRL or Pokemon or whatever. ;0)

The last book that I just had to stay up all night reading is one that doesn't even release until next year:


But it was amazing and you should definitely pick it up the first chance you get. I should also point out that I'm older now than when I started this blog, and I value sleep a bit more, so I rarely stay up reading. Honestly, unless I'm reading a review copy, I normally have a finished copy and the audiobook so that I can pick up listening the next day where I left off the night before. I'd rather sacrifice money than sleep, it seems. :D

April:  My husband caught one of these bad boys at work. I only have a Ghastly so far. :(

This book didn't really keep me up all night from reading, but it did give me bad dreams. It really creeped me the F out.



Jen: I'm not even going to pretend to know who those Pokemon characters are or what their lower forms are, but I definitely know about OTPs, having about a million of them.

Mine are fairly common pairings: Feyre&Rhysand (ACOMAF), Blue&Gansey (TRC) - though Ronan&Adam are a very, VERY close 2nd, Aelin&Rowan (TOG), Avery&Stellan (Map of Fates), and Lia&Rafe (The Remnant Chronicles)...plus many, many more.

April: I have dozens of those beasts in their lowest form. They are freaking everywhere. I wish you could get them to make eggs. That would pretty much complete the game for me. lol.

And OTP's. I can't even begin to list them all. So one of my all time faves: Rose and Dimitri (VA). Their story has been on my mind alot lately, I think I'm due for a re read.




Jen: That Pokemon looks like trouble. But the fun kind. :)

Which is exactly what this book was:


Once things start happening, they. Do. Not. Stop. And it was fan-your-face-hot!

April: Omg!!! I want that thing!! It's like a bad ass My Little Pony

This book was freaking awesome. From the very start it was non stop. I cannot wait until the sequel comes out. 

Jen: Hey, we actually have several of those! Lol. And we've evolved one into a Flareon. These little guys are super-cute, especially now that I know it can be evolved into a mermaid form, too! Katie's pretty ecstatic about that, too. :D

I'm always wary of spin-offs. I actually liked the Bloodlines series better than Vampire Academy, though, so I haven't sworn them off altogether, though I'm okay with no more books in that world. I am actually looking forward to more from Cinda Williams Chima and her Seven Realms world, though. I've already listened and re-listened to the Seven Realms quartet and the first book in the spin-off series (Shattered Realms) was fantastic.

April: We have a bunch of Eevees in our area. I've already evolved two into the Vaperon and the Sparky. Next I'll do a Flaron. The are adorable.

Bloodlines from Vampire Academy. I loved it, not more than VA like Jen, but pretty equal. I'm trying to think of other spin off's I've read, but I can't think of any. :/






Jen: I have yet to even see a Magikarp around us, but we've gotten a few Goldeens. Not sure if related or not, but it's a fish. Lol.


I thought that because the first book starts off with a much younger protagonist, I wouldn't like these books. But I was so very wrong. Alanna grows and her character arc progresses so much, even in the first book, that it didn't matter one iota. If you like fantasy with female characters who masquerade as boys to do the things they want/need to do, you should absolutely check out this series.

April: These are the funniest looking Pokemon's ever. They are so weak though. The hubby and I read that some people take over gyms and stick those little guys on the top as an insult to the other team. It's called Karping. lmao.

I had heard some mixed things about this series, but I really enjoyed it. I hope that she writes more.




Jen: When we got to Level 5 and Katie battled at her first gym, she went with Team Mystic. I don't know her reasoning behind it, but it seems rather cool, nonetheless. Like a reverse Sorting Hat, lol, the way you get to choose based on characteristics.

I like to think I keep up with what everyone else is reading, so there aren't really any new overly-hyped series I need to read...or that I at least want to read. Percy Jackson and the Red Rising books sound good in theory, but I really don't feel like I'm missing much with those, honestly. No, I want to read another series that is hard-core rec'd to me often but I've just never found the time for, mostly because it's not all available on audio.


I've actually read the first book - or rather, listened to it - but I stopped there when I discovered that my library only had the first and last book on audio. Boo. But I still really want to read it. Especially since people reference it ALL THE TIME.

April:  When we all started playing, we picked different teams. Me yellow, Hubby red, and Aubrey blue. Now that we know how the game works, we probably should have picked the same team. It's all good though.

This series has been raved over, but I still haven't gotten around to trying it. I have Grave Mercy, I snatched it up on a kindle deal I believe. Years ago. lol. I will get to it eventually.



Jen: Katie tells me we really, really need these guys. She has the card in her Pokemon collection and was telling me all about it, lol. :P This should be easy. I'm big on collecting. Gotta catch 'em all! Right?

But easier said than done because I want all of the books. I have some of the Leatherbound Classics series from B&N. But I want them all. And then I want the Puffin Classics. And then I'm sure I'll find another set to wish for.

April:  I really want these little guys. So cute.

I'm not to big on book collecting. At least not physical. I just don't have the room for it. I have always wanted this twilight collection though. My originals are so beat up from letting everyone borrow them. Plus, I was carting around an infant while reading the, so surely they have baby formula splattered in various spots. I'd love a nice collection to just sit on the shelf. Even if they are paperback.. but they are different looking and that's what I love about them.


Jen: We've got two eggs incubating right now and several more waiting in the wings. We've already hatched so many eggs that I can't remember what all we've gotten, but I know there were some duds and then there were some that we didn't have yet. I hope we get some good stuff out of the rest of them, though!

I love debuts because I love finding new authors to fawn over. And since I've already read and LOVED Caraval, this would be the one I'm most excited to read in the coming months:


It's a Labyrinth retelling. A LABYRINTH RETELLING. I expect it to be absolutely fabulous, too.

April: Today I hatched a Weedle. A stupid freaking weedle. But yesterday I hatched an adorable Goldeen. So it's hit or miss with these poke eggs. So fun though.

This book looks super awesome and I'm looking forward to it. I'm also looking forward to Jen's pick. That would have been my first choice.


Jen: I've seen the lure in action and I've spent hours wishing I wasn't at work so I could head over to that Pokestop right around the corner that's got one set up because even a few blocks away, I'm seeing an influx of Pokemon pop up. I don't know if the two things are related, but I'll take it.

I have loads of auto-buy authors. First and foremost: Maggie Stiefvater, Victoria Schwab, Sarah J. Maas, Leigh Bardugo, Libba Bray, and Laini Taylor. I also throw my money at Amie Kaufman and whoever she's collaborating with (Meagan Spooner or Jay Kristoff), Marissa Meyer, Marie Rutkoski, Mary E. Pearson, Alexandra Bracken, April Genevieve Tucholke, Morgan Matson, Emery Lord, Heather Demetrios, Rainbow Rowell, and Kasie West. Just to name a few. :D

April: Someone dropped a lure at my work... did I mention my work is a pokestop? (Cemetery Perks) Anyway, it was a car full of teen boys. So I walked down the drive down to their car which was parked by he sign where the stop is. They probably thought I was going to yell at them, but I took my phone out and nabbed myself a Bulbasaur.

I have some select auto-buy's. Stephenie Meyer, Colleen Hoover, Jandy Nelson.. I'm really drawing a blank right now, but there are a few more.




Jen: Oh, my, the number of times we've encountered this screen. It's frustrating but you can't help refreshing, logging out and back in, in hopes that it's miraculously back up. And it can be up all day while I'm at work, but as soon as I get the kiddo from daycare, it's back down, meaning we can't hit any of the Pokestops we'd planned on that morning. :( :( :(

With the news that Stephenie Meyer has a new ADULT novel releasing next year, it's fresh on my mind that we still don't have the sequel to The Host yet. I want that book. The Host is my favorite of hers. I even liked the movie, though I know not everyone did. (I actually just really like the actors who play the three main characters, lol.) Sure, her new book sounds okay, but I want my sequel dammit!

April: The Host.. for sure. Also, I'd love to have the next book in the Well's End series by Seth Fishman. It was kinda left up in the air but I haven't seen anything about a future book coming out.

We don't usually tag folks, so we're not going to do that here either. But as Aentee said in her post, "Just embrace the Pokemon." It doesn't have to be your thing, but it's a thing that gives other people joy, so just let it be. :D

Are you playing Pokemon Go or do you think it's completely ridiculous? What level are you at? What team are you on? Do I sound like as much of a newbie at this as I think I do? Lol. My kid's been collecting the cards for the last year or so, so she definitely already knows more than I do. *smh*