Romance Readers Reading Challenges discussion

Diane T. wrote: "Ladies, could you all start adding the date you finished reading your book when you post the review and rating. It makes it easier on me. Please and thank you :)"

Sure thing. I thought I had done that. Oops.

MountainKat wrote: "Oh goodie, another football fan!"

Well, if we're going to discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly...I just may have you beat. Born and raised in the midwest, I'm a to-my-death fan of the Bengals and Browns. But we have loyalty...even when they don't deserve it lol.

Gianna wrote: "Well, if we're going to discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly..."

Not that this is a competition for worst football teams/best fans (;-))...but we're Lions fans at my house. My husband and son watch every game - football season is a very moody time for us! :-)

So Kat and I can feel your pain! We know exactly what football season is like. LOL

Gianna wrote: "So Kat and I can feel your pain! We know exactly what football season is like."

Yes!! Every year, I ask the boys "Why do we do this to ourselves?!?" And they just look at me like I'm talking crazy.

I love this! How often do you get into a group of romance readers who are also football junkies?! Where is ~KarenH~, she would fit right in with us?! But her team won last year, good thing it was my second team - grew up in the northwest!

Gianna, do you remember the year the Chargers and Bengals were vying for overall worst record in football?! That was a tough year! Although probably a little tougher for you though...

Chargers, Bengals, Browns and Lions - I guess the best thing you can say is they keep it interesting! And win just enough to keep us fans hanging on. =)

Oh, I know! When you stick with a team no matter how bad they are, you know you're a true fan LOL

Yes, I do remember that! It was a very sad year for us as fans. Not that I've had much hope lately. The Bengals had a shot at being a good team right after they acquired Carson Palmer. If only the offensive line could have stayed out of jail! lol

Haha! I know the jail thing is a real issue with sports in general, some teams more than others!

Chargers have a ton of potential, some extremely talented players, but if they make the playoffs it is by the skin of their teeth and then they fall short. And that is after a season of close losses and last minute victories!

I can get into a huge discussion about the whole jail thing and sports.

I haven't even checked out the Bengals or Browns...aside from Manziel being drafted. And don't get me started on that. Hugely disappointed fan. LOL

I'll throw my team into the mix. Die hard Cowboys fan. Which is a really bad thing when you live in PA, Steelers country, and are married to a PA guy, die hard Steelers fan. To say I feel out numbered around here, is to put it mildly :P

What were you thinking?! =P

I was thinking that I was in love and it was spring...not football season...lol. I tell my hubby things might have turned out differently if we had met in the fall :D

That is hilarious!

My hubby and I have this routine we do over and over again in the fall. He looks at me and asks 'what do you have planned for the weekend?' and I give him a look like 'seriously'?! Then I tell him 'I'm going to be watching football' and he looks stunned then asks 'all weekend?'. He gets another glare then! Of course the answer is yes! And Monday night too! He knew this about me when we were dating and he acts like it is a new revelation every year...

Oh, Diane! Stay away from my house then! LOL I have no problems with it myself. But my husband and his entire family are Giants fans LOL

And I absolutely hate the Steelers. Even though I lived 30 minutes from Pittsburgh, with football I'm an Ohio girl. Cannot. Stand. Them. I'm there with you in spirit!

Oh I go through something similar. Except my husband will look at me and say, "You actually want to watch the game with me?" We've been together 13 years (on the 20th) and married for almost 4 years (July 16). He should know this by now. Men *shakes head* that's the reason they have the Y chromosome LOL

That Y chromosome causes all the problems!!

I had a funny experience one Super Bowl Sunday - hubby was working out town so I got invited over to some friends house to watch the game. They knew I was a fan, but they thought I was a fan like the other wives were fans. The husbands couldn't get over the fact that I understood the game, knew facts and rules, had opinions about calls and on and on... It still cracks me up when I think about it!

Well, as wives we gotta keep them on their toes. I shocked the guys at one game when I called a penalty before a flag was ever thrown. 8 men just suddenly turned to look at me like I was an alien. Was really funny too!

Sounds like it!

Completion Post
Week #2
The Wicked Deeds of Daniel Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley
Finished 6/11/14
4 stars
I love Jennifer Ashley's historical romances. They're always adventurous, highly romantic, and sensual. Daniel Mackenzie's book is no exception. It was great to see "young" Daniel as a grown man with a fascination with machines, specifically these new-fangled motorcars ;-). This is the second historical romance I've read dealing with the development of the automobile - the first was A Lady Never Lies - and I find it interesting to learn about that part of history. For the record, A Lady Never Lies is a better read for motorcars, but The Wicked Deeds of Daniel Mackenzie I think is a better romance. The author brought Ian Mackenzie into the story several times which I greatly appreciated as he's my hands-down favorite Mackenzie. If you haven't read The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie, OMG - you have to stop everything and go read it now! There's plenty of the other Mackenzies in the book too and I love how the family has developed and grown through the series.

I read awhile back. Absolutely loved it. I got away from historical romances for awhile. But this series brought me back. I just haven't gotten around to moving on to the next one.

I love all those Mackenzie men too!!

BTW, this is another series that is very well done in audio for those of you interested!

Week 2: Book by an author whose first or last name starts with the letter 'J'
The Lady Most Willing...: A Novel in Three Parts by Julia Quinn, Eloisa James and Connie Brockway, 384 p. per GR
Written by Julia Quinn and Eloisa James

Completed 6.11.14, *4 Stars*

This was really enjoyable and very easy to listen to! It is full of fun characters and interesting situations. I liked how there were three parts and three couples by three different authors and yet it all worked together well. There were slight differences in style when the story switched from one couple to the next, but I really only noticed because I was listening for a change. I thought the narrator, Susan Duerden, did a very good job and made the listening experience even better!

That took much less time to listen to than I expected! Yay! Now off the get some other books read before the new theme is announced.

I've been trying to cross plan other books I need to read in other challenges to match categories for this one. And then read fill-in challenge books in between too. I'm slowly getting there.

Sooo many books and so little time to read...lol

Oh, I know. I have sooooooo many on my TBR. I'm finishing up a few challenges at the end of the month. Then I'll start focusing more on the authors/series I've been wanting to read. At this point I'm almost at my yearly goal anyway. So I may increase it as I get closer.

You are doing great Gianna! I am having a hard time keeping GR off my back - it keeps nagging me that I am behind on my yearly goal... I finally got it to back off a little this week, I finished two books yesterday so now I'm one ahead. But I'm going out of town again next week, it is so hard to read while visiting. And I'm hoping to start Outlander sometime soon and I know that is going to put me behind again. I only increased my goal a little over last year, but this year seems to be more of a struggle so far and the tough end of the year with the holidays is still to come!

It helps that I work from home. And with my jobs I only need to actually "work" when I have a project to do. I do have 3 beta reading and 2 review projects lined up though. And I'm hoping I'll have 3-4 blog appearances lined up too. So when I'm not working on a project or coaching softball, I read :D The challenges are for fun and to keep the reading more interesting LOL

Do you participate in the holiday party the EE and BDSM groups do at the end of the year?

Gianna wrote: "Do you participate in the holiday party the EE and BDSM groups do at the end of the year?"

I am not familiar, now I am wondering what I am missing out on...

And sounds like an ideal job! =)

Erotic Enchants and BDSM. They do a joint holiday party in November and December. They do all kinds of contests and games. Each group has their own and they have some that are together. Tons of prizes. Last year I won 17 books! It was a lot of fun. I can get you links for the groups if you want...

I love it! I used to work retail until just over 2 years ago, right before my surgery actually. I wasn't able to do my job anymore so they let me go, instead of offering me a different position. After 6 1/2 years... I took the opportunity while I was recovering to work on making my own company, something I always wanted to do. It's not too successful yet but I'm working on it.

Good for you! What is your business if you don't mind my asking? I haven't really gone back to work after my last surgery either, don't really feel safe doing it. I would in a pinch - if my friend needed an assistant and no one else was available. I am going back to work at our itty bitty little post office again soon, that is what the training is for next month. I worked there part time a number of years ago, but I had to stop when my dad was ill and I was traveling to help care for him every month or so - just wasn't available.

Please get me the links so I can check them out, I don't have a lot of time to get to other groups much though. Between this group and reading, I have a hard time checking out more stuff around GR!

The name of my company is GreenFairy Creations (Remember 3 Goddesses and a Fairy from round 1?) It's a weird combination. I am an independent beta reader/editor/reviewer. I also crochet custom designs and my own personal designs. Recently I also became an Independent Consultant for Jamberry. My surgery was originally supposed to be cleaning up the torn parts of my meniscus. By the time surgery came I needed most of my tendons and ligaments reattached, including the patellar tendon. It sucked. We have an itty bitty post office here too! You put two people in the office and it's crowded.

Sure thing!
Erotic Enchants: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

BDSM: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

I do remember that! Sounds like a you are busy with your business though! I used to crochet all the time, and really should start again, but I am not good at my own designs. I am great at following patterns, even altering them when needed, but not good at creating.

That stinks about your knee - I know lots about bad knees! I was born with ovoid meniscus, which makes the knee pop painfully and be really unstable! What they did for that in 1970 was to remove the meniscus. And apparently I tore my ACL about 10 years later... After walking without a meniscus or ACL for 30 - 40 years, the only option was knee replacement. Not fun, but worth it! But having bad knees my entire life led to back problems so I had fusion surgery last year. Great times - NOT! I'm just hoping my other knee lasts at least 5 more year, 10 would be sooooo much better though!

Thanks for the links - I'll check them out!

That's where the fairy part came in. I get busy times, but I'm not always busy. I have 3 beta reading projects lined up, one possible long term, and one review. As for my crocheting part, it's just whenever someone wants something. I like that kind of freedom.

Ouch! I can imagine how painful that would be. I know what I suffered when my knee problems first started. I was born with an extra vertebrae, which wasn't discovered until about 10 years ago. They did a minor surgery to fix that and to correct my tilted pelvis from a horse riding accident. It's amazing what we can endure!

The groups are awesome! They don't care what you read really as long as it fits with the theme of the group. And the admins are amazing! Oh, at BDSM, if you decide to join, tell BookAddict (she's an admin) that I still don't like FemDom lol

Week 2: Book by an author whose first or last name starts with the letter 'J'

by Jennifer Dawson 6-12-14 2 Stars

I had a little bit of a hard time following the writing in this book. The storyline was good but the actual book was just choppy for me. This is my first time reading this author so I need to see if any of her other books are written like this. Maddie is your typical runaway bride looking for a way out of her crazy life. Mitch looks like the typical bad-boy bartender type guy but has a secret good-boy past that shows up. I liked the characters just wanted more from the book.

Ladies, I have come down with a stomach bug. I will update as soon as I feel like it. So far, no news on this weeks theme.

Feel better Diane!

Don't worry, Diane. Kat and I will keep things going for you while you're sick. Feel better soon!

Waiting, waiting, waiting...

Yay - New theme!! From Jane:

Week 3

Theme: 12 - Read a book with at least 450 pages per GR
Option 2 key date: 11 December 2013 (must be rated at least 3 stars, and you can't go back further than this 'date read' if you select from a team-member's bookshelf)

There are a few rule clarifications on page length in the Q&A posts (msg 2 & 3) at the beginning of this thread, so please read them first if you have a question :)

Sorry to all those members who have just started DGabaldon's new book! But I blame the randomiser...

Ugh, I was planning to put off Outlander until the end of the month! Don't know whether to go with it now or find something off one of your shelves...

I can't find a book that has 450 pages. So I'm taking option 2.

Week 3

316 pages according to goodreads
It qualifies because it was on Mrs. Soule's read shelf. She rated it 3 stars and read it on May 7, 2014.

Nicole wrote: "I can't find a book that has 450 pages. So I'm taking option 2.

Week 3

It qualifies because it was on Mrs. Soule's read shelf. She rated it 3 stars and read..."

Nicole, could you add the number of pages to your post? It still must meet the minimum number and all the info has to be included in your selection post. Thanks!

Nicole - what Kat said :) Need those pesky page numbers for that book.

Week 3: Read a book with at least 450 pages per GR
Lion and the Falcon by Eve Langlais, 272 p. per GR
Option 2: On Diane T.'s Read Shelf, read 5.7.14, rated 3 stars

I wanted to go with Outlander, but I need to hold off for a couple of weeks. I have 2 weeks early next month where I will be in the car A LOT and think it will be best for then.

I'll post my book probably tomorrow. It's bachelorette weekend and I have friends hanging out with me.

Have a great bachelorette weekend!! Sounds like a lot of fun!

Week 3 Read a book at least 450 pages. Option 2: read by a teammate before 11 December, 2013

I'm going with Option 2! (which has never happened before lol)


On Kat's list, April 30, 2014, rated 3 stars
176 GR pages

Week 3: Read a book with at least 450 pages per GR
Switching to Option 2!
by Nalini Singh
Qualifies per on Gianna's read shelf with 5 stars.
368 pages per goodreads