Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

◆ L is for Lawless by Sue Grafton 353 pages 12/3 ★★★

This is the first of the 4 books I'm going to read to Fix the Chimney in the Christmas Quest

My recently finished books and fits Find More Paint. They're white and green. I'm thinking of pink books and I can't think of a single pink book.

Kathleen, I've got the pink book and I'll start it tonight. I'm listening to a purple book right now, but it's also a GCA nominee so we can use it there if someone else is reading purple.

258 pp, ★★★, Buddy Read
I would also like to use this for Check the List as a bad girl book.

Oh I'm curious. What pink book will you be reading?

by Samantha Young, 380 pages, ★★★, finished 12/4/14

Blue cover if needed or "good girl" if approved by mods. I just asked Renee to confirm it.

130 pp, ★★★
The Highland Laird is most definitely a good guy, rescuing the Lady Jane from certain misery, all the while being quite handsome and a lover like no other.

100 pp, ★★★
Is Jason Blackthorne a good guy or a bad guy? I think he starts out as the bad guy and is transformed by the only thing can have any affect on his cold dead heart - the love of a pure, unblemished spirit (and also she is apparently quite hot, so that helps).

This book could go in the good/bad section or in the slim book section.

And I'm done with novellas for a couple of days. And romances.

Kathleen wrote: "Oh I'm curious. What pink book will you be reading?"


I found a few, but I decided to go with what I have at hand. My choices for pink are:


The Earthsea book looks pink when it's next to purple and purple when it's next to pink, so I don't think it's a good choice even though I really want to read it. It can just join a constantly growing list.

There's a buddy read for Earthsea? I've got them books. I know I'm gonna sign up again despite my growing BRs. This is addicting indeed.

Thank you for reading the novellas Cynthia even if you weren't into Romance. This is the best team everrr. Go Thundercats!

Man in the Blue Moon by Michael Morris 12/3 ★★★ 400 pages

Save Christmas Quests
Find the Missing Elf

|| ★★★★★ || 480 pages || Series Buddy Read

341 pp, ★★★★, PINK!!!
I basically chose this book because it was short and pink, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'll probably read th rest of the series eventually. Beware - the protagonist is a 16 year old girl in a romance with a man that's lived nearly a century.

The next book in the series is . That looks predominantly blue to me.

Finished by Kerstin Gier ★★★ 5 Dec
- Quick and light read but not that invested to continue the series.
- 336 pages
- BOM: Yes - here here
- Thundercats Christmas mini-challenge: The cover has a christmassy vibe to it with the red and silver colours, I don't know if the judge will let this pass :p

*Save Christmas Quest: Red cover + BOM

◆ All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris 12/5 ★★★

My 2nd completed book in the
*Save Christmas Quest:- fix the chimney task

by Paullina Simons, 810 pages, finished 12/5/14, (3,5 stars), BuddyRead

Difficult book to read for me personally. WW II horrors described in this book have touched my family very closely.

*Save Christmas Quest: 800+ pages book

I finished which works for orange on the Find More Paint or S for the Fix the Chimney quests.

Lauren wrote: "I finished which works for orange on the Find More Paint or S for the Fix the Chimney quests."

Lauren for it to work on the fix the chimney task it would have to start with a D and end in a S

Sheila wrote: "Lauren for it to work on the fix the chimney task it would have to start with a D and end in a S "

Thanks Sheila. I noticed now that you also read a Charlaine Harris for the Chimney :0)

438 pp, ★★★★, Buddy Read

Find More Paint - black

Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell by M.C. Beaton 257 pages 12/5 ★★★★

My third book for the fix the chimney task in the Christmas Quest.


For the 4th book for this task I've changed the book I'm going to read from Death Masks to Delirious by Daniel Palmer if you want to change it on the unofficial spreadsheet for the Christmas Quest.

Great work, Sheila!

417 pp, ★★★★★, Buddy Read

I'm so glad I was trolling for extra buddy reads and saw this one. I love this book. It has so much that touches me, especially because I'm an adoptee.

This is my first Diane Chamberlain, but I definitely want to read The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes soon!

Also, I totally forgot this cover was purple until just now. I can put my efforts into something else, then.

384 pp, ★★★★, GCA nominee for the Santa's Sleigh Quest

Truthfully, I picked this book out of the GCA nominees for its purple cover so it could go either way if someone else read purple/GCA first. But it was an excellent little HF ghost story.

Thanks again, Sheila, for loaning me the book so I could finish it quickly. I can highly recommend the audiobook for those that enjoy them.


304 pp, ★★★
Obviously, this is for yellow.

I think there's a BR for this some time in January, but I needed a yellow book now! It was okay, but I didn't care for it enough to continue with the series. It's not my type of book.

|| 330 pages || ★★★ || BoM

If we still need red for the Find More Paint challenge, we can use it. It also fits Nancy's christmas mini-challenge because of the title and color of the book.

by Kylie Scott, 320 pages, ★★★★★

There is a genuine bad boy, if we still need one :)

Delirious by Daniel Palmer 448 pages 12/7 ★★★


This is the final book to complete the Fix the Chimeny in the Christmas Quest

(A)gatha Raisin and the Love from Hel(L)
l
l ------------------------------- I
---------------------------------- S
T
o ---------------------------- F
g ---------------------------- O
e ---------------------------- R
t
h --------------------- L
e --------------------- A
r --------------------- W
------------------------ L
D ---------------------- E
e ---------------------- S
a --------------------- S
(D)eliriou(S)

Woot! We need one more directional book and we've finished the entire thing!

511 pp, ★★★
My least favorite Logan McRae book yet. I'm just tired of the same thing spoiling arrests over and over. How many times does a suspect have to konk you over the head or stab someone or whatever before you start taking it seriously?

This should count for the lost elf quest. 'Next to' is on the suggestion list, and 'close' is practically the same thing. Don't count on it, though. One of the mods discounted 'beyond' which actually fits right in with the other words. Go figure.

Wow, you're right Cynthia, we are so close to finishing!

I have put in for purple which means we have finished the Find More Paint challenge.

That does mean we are still missing a GCA nominee. I could move to there, which would leave us with two directional books? Let me know as the day goes one - that would at least give us the points for the Santa's Sleigh challenge and we'd only have one challenge we'd need to get points for.

Cynthia wrote: "Woot! We need one more directional book and we've finished the entire thing!

511 pp, ★★★
My least favorite Logan McRae book yet. I'm just tired of the same t..."

I will check with this over on the confirmation thread.

Nancy, I read for purple and

for GCA.

Just checked the spreadsheet and had no BOM points for Ruby Red :)

Cynthia wrote: "Nancy, I read for purple and

for GCA."

Ah, sorry. I missed the purple read. Updating now.

Kathleen wrote: "Just checked the spreadsheet and had no BOM points for Ruby Red :)"

Now added, Kathleen.

◆ Kissing Christmas Goodbye by M.C. Beaton 260 pages 12/7 ★★★★

Should get me some points for our own Christmas challenge. Lots of Christmasy things on the red cover.

|| ★★★ || 247 pages

It was action-packed but lot of plot points felt too conveniently placed. I don't like that in my mystery books.

Could fill in for Nancy's mini-challenge because of the word list :) We all make Christmas lists during the season! ;)

390 pp, ★★★★, Buddy Read

This is a story based on the Cinderella fairy tale, but it's science fiction rather than fantasy. With a smidge of kinda sort romance, and a teenaged protagonist, it has a YA feel without being overwhelmingly so. (Not disparaging the YA genre, just acknowledging that they aren't all excellent).

I enjoyed it enough to continue with the series. When I've made a dent in my TBR pile. Ha!

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein 353 pages 12/7 ★★★★

BR - Yes

Code Name Verity

◆ The Lovers by John Connolly 400 pages 12/8 ★★★

by Michelle Gable, 378 pages, finished 12/9/14, ★★★

This book was frustrating. I really loved the Paris setting and the alternative story in the past but didn't like the story in present and it's characters.

I didn't get credit for the Buddy Read.

Here's the thread: Cinder BR with Shinjini

384 pp, ★★★★ , Buddy Read
This is the 2014 Goodreads Choice Awards winner in the Science Fiction category. It received over 4x the # of votes that my choice got, probably because it's more accessible. This year people are in love with the 'lone astronaut in jeopardy' situation. (I thought Gravity was one of the worst movies I've ever seen).

609 pp, ★★★★ , Buddy Read
2010 Goodreads Choice Awards winner for Science Fiction. Are you seeing a pattern? Totally unintentional.
A zombie book that focuses on people and politics v. zombies. My favorite kind of zombie book. I like zombie books because it puts people in life threatening situations against an enemy that absolutely cannot be reasoned with,
an enemy that nonetheless has the power to completely transform the world. And looks like people! So much to work with there.

Finished by Katie MacAlister 9 Dec 2014 ★★★★ -- 334 pages
- Recommended to readers who like a healthy dose of humour with their paranormal romance (If you enjoyed First Grave on the Right you will probably enjoy this one too).

◆ Flesh and Blood: A Scarpetta Novel by Patricia Cornwell 12/9 ★★★★ 400 pages

'Scuse Me While I Kill This Guy by Leslie Langtry 12/10 ★★★ 340 pages

Funny assassins, really.


City Of Bones by Michael Connelly 12/10 ★★★★ 393 pages

Gotta love Harry Bosch!


This one has been on my TBR since May 12, 2012!

|| 2 stars || 333 pages

Instalove + not so good worldbuilding botched up the really good premise. It was all over the place. I'm not even sure if this one should be categorized as young adult? The characters were young adult sure;y but a lot of the scenes were more for the older YA or early 20s maybe.

405 pp, ★★

I thought this book would never end. I'll stick with my Dark Tower Series re-read if I need a King fix.

407 pp, ★★★★★, Buddy Read
I can't think of anything negative to say about this book. I only hope Carey doesn't write a sequel. It would by necessity have a very different tone and I don't think I would enjoy it - but I would read it anyway.

**Neither of these books fit the mini challenge.

by Kristin Hannah, 385 pages, finished 12/11/14, 4 stars

Kristin Hannah made me cry again. Powerful story.

*this book was on my TBR since 2012

|| 752 pages || 5 stars! || BOM

|| 390 pages || 5 stars || Buddy read supposedly but no one popped up so I'll claim it when I find somebody to discuss it with :)

305 pp, ★★★★★
Excellent memoir. Mini-challenge book TBR since 2011.

416 pp, ★★★★★, Buddy Read
Although there were some elements similar to The Hunger Games books, there were also some similarities to other 'young adults in a dystopian world use a game to rise up' books. The tone of this book is darker than HG, and the pace is faster. And, as always, I'm a sucker for Mars.

OK, I think the spreadsheet is up to date to here - message #207. Also updating the mini-challenge so don't forget to tell me if something has been on your TBR for ages!

The Paper Moon by Andrea Camilleri (Commissario Montalbano #9)

264 pages 12/12 ★★★

This is a fun series set in Italy where Commissario Montalbano and his motley police force have to solve some really bizarre crimes usually with political implications.

In this case a man is found shot up on a roof with his penis hanging out of his pants. There are plenty of suspicious people around him including his sister who just seems way too cozy with her brother. There is always lots of humor in these books as Montalbano who reminds me of the Italian version of Columbo stumbles through the investigation along with his often inept officers.


Added to my TBR Oct 09, 2012