Romance Readers Reading Challenges discussion

The Amazing Race Team Challenge
April 11, 2020 through June 6, 2020
8 Week Dash For the Win!

Team 16:

★ CB
✓ Nikk the Sapphired Book Dragon
✓ Christina T
✓ Sassafrass

The Amazing Race Team Challenge
April 11, 2020 through June 9, 2020
8 Week Dash For the Win!

Tracking:
Task 1 - 1. Each player reads a book by the same author, teams decide author - no pass for this task. Assigned 4.12.2020 / Completed 4.18.2020
Task 2 - 17. Read 4 books that are stand alones. Assigned 4.18.2020 / Completed 4.24.2020
Task 3 - 69. Read over 750 pages in books about the same profession, teams decide which profession. Assigned 4.24.2020 / Completed 4.29.2020
Task 4 - 52. Read 6 books set in the same location, teams decide the location. Assigned 4.29.2020 / Completed 5.4.2020
Task 5 - 14. Read 4 books with fewer than 500 reviews. Assigned 5.4.2020 / Completed 5.10.2020
Task 6 - 66. As a team, pick a list with over 100 romance books on it, each member reads a book from that list. No pass for this task. Assigned 5.10.2020 / Completed 5.13.2020
Task 7 - 51. Each teammate reads a book published in the same month and year, teams decide. No pass for this task. Assigned 5.13.2020 - Completed 5.19.2020
Task 8 - 48. Read a minimum of 750 pages in books featuring shifters. Assigned 5.19.2020 / Completed 5.25.2020
Task 9 - 45. Read 4 books by one of the 2020 FACs. Assigned 5.25.2020 / Completed 6.1.2020
Task 10 - 43. Each teammate reads a book that has been read by one of the RRRC moderators. No pass for this task. Assigned 6.1.2020 / Completed 6.5.2020
Task 11 - 21. Read a book recommended to you by a teammate - no pass for this task. Assigned 6.5.2020

The Amazing Race Team Challenge
April 11, 2020 through June 9, 2020
8 Week Dash For the Win!

Challenge Dates:
Signups open until April 11, 2020 at 9 PM US EDT.
Remaining Teams Assigned after signups close on April 11, 2020.
First Task Assigned April 14, 2020 at 6 PM US EDT.
Challenge Ends on June 9, 2020 at Midnight US EDT, tasks will not be accepted after this time.

Each team will work together to complete tasks. Once complete, you will be given another task to complete. After the first task, teams will be on different paths with tasks randomly assigned. The same tasks may be assigned to different teams at different times, but no task will be used more than once by the same team. Each team works at their own pace and the team that completes the most tasks at the end of 8 weeks will be the winner!

After the first task is given to everyone, when a team finishes their task they will need to report their completion in the Tracking/Q&A thread. I will confirm the completion and assign their next task. New tasks will not be assigned more frequently than every other day. I will attempt to respond quickly to confirm completion and assign new tasks, but please allow up to 24 hours. If I am unavailable, another mod will assign the task.

Each teammate will need to participate in each task, but may take a pass for one task during the course of the challenge. For some tasks, no passes will be allowed. Completions posts will need to be made when finishing each book for a task, similar to the PtP and Bachelor Challenges. A player will be removed if they make no comment for 5 days after a new task is assigned or 3 days after the rest of the team completes the task (whichever is later), despite attempts to make contact.

Information required when posting your completion/s:

Task
Book/cover link
Page numbers with source
How book qualified, with links or cover as necessary.
Date Completed.

There is a 150 page minimum for books, rereads and audios ok. Books may only be used once per player during the challenge. Players may read the same book for a task unless otherwise specified. Books do not have to be romance, but must be fiction.

**For this challenge, use the GR Kindle first edition page count if available. Ebook page count will be acceptable if no Kindle page count available. The acceptability of other page counts will be made on an individual basis**

I think most of you know each other, at least a little, but feel free to introduce yourself again. Please give any relevant information, especially time zone as that helps know when it is best to communicate. 😊

Please select a team leader to help keep track of where your team is in any given task. And as necessary guide discussions for task decisions. Any teammate can report your completions though.

PS - If you want to be known as anything other than Team 16, you are free to come up with a team name. 😉

Hi everyone! I'm Christina from southwest Iowa in the States. We don't have official Stay-at-home orders from our governor here in Iowa but she's closed the casinos (which I work) until April 30th. So I'm on a furlough with the majority of the population.

I read or listen to 2 to 3 books a week and often a slave to the digital library holds. I swear I'm on the hold list for books I want and they all become available all at once LOL.

I have thousands of books already owned so I don't generally purchase books for challenges but choose to whittle down Mt. TBR 🏔📗. This rarely works because I end up with tons of recommendations from my teammates.

Hi I am Nikk from Sydney Australia.

While we are not in full lockdown yet, we have been advised to stay home unless getting specific items from supermarket, exercising or going to an essential job that cannot be done from home. There are also heavy fines for going out for other reasons.

My work closed a few weeks ago so I have been stood down for the foreseeable future so am currently at home assisting my 8 year old to learn from home.

I am managing to get some reading done though have also been binge watching the old tv show Eureka. Its been years since I last watched it.

I read anything from 2 - 5 books per week depending on what else is going on. I make good use of kindle unlimited but am also a member of a couple of libraries so access to digital borrowing also

Looking forward to getting started

Hi everyone! I'm Sass and I live right outside of Philadelphia, PA.
We have stay at home orders but I'm a doctor so I've been...busy.
Reading has helped me keep my sanity these last few weeks so I'm excited for this challenge. I can read as little as 2 books but as many as 8 books over the course of the week. It will really just depend on how slammed I am.

I try not to buy anything if I can help it because I've got Kindle Unlimited, Audible Escape, Hoopla from the Library but my Library's ebook holdings. Usually I can find something.

Hi ladies! I wish we could start now!!!! I'm impatient. LOL. Sass my bestie just moved to Philly in November. Do you know him? LOL just kidding. He loves it there. Of course he started a new job recently and now they are closed. I'm worried he has no income and not enough time in the new company for furlough unemployment. Not sure what he is going to do. I miss him so I wouldn't hate it if he had to come home but even that could be problematic crossing so many state-lines.

My reading tastes are buried somewhere in the main thread but I thought I'd go more in detail here.

I enjoy various romances: Contemporary, Paranormal, Suspense (I prefer the latter two over the first but I have read some CRs I've adored).
In CRs I have been enjoying Christina Lauren's latest few (first read them a last year with Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating which I loved), Susan Elizabeth Phillips books, Kristan Higgins, Jill Shalvis, Susan Mallery, Brenda Novak, Nora Roberts (I could go on but those are some of my faves.)

Paranormal I've enjoyed Christine Feehan (I haven't really read many of her books in at least 10 years though....I've only read one during that time and didn't care for it LOL), Lynsay Sands, Nalini Singh, JR Ward, Kerrilyn Sparks, Kresley Cole.

Suspense: JD Robb, Maggie Shayne, Katie Ruggle (recently read one of her books and liked it a lot can't wait to read more), Cynthia Eden, Suzanne Brockmann, Allison Brennan, Karen Rose.

I also love Urban Fantasy: Darynda Jones, Patricia Briggs, Jeaniene Frost, Anne Bishop, Ilona Andrews, Jennifer Estep.

I also read cozy mysteries and thrillers/mysteries and some horror (really haven't ventured out past Stephen King, Dean Koontz, or John Saul in that genre though). I'm currently doing a cozy mystery bingo challenge and it might go a few more weeks and over lap this one. I'm glad MKat has said any genre will work as long as it's fiction, just in case my other challenge hasn't ended in time.

So, what are some of your favorite authors?

Hi everyone - sorry for the late check in, I didn’t realize the team threads were up, my bad. Looking forward to this challenge - as everyone has said, it will be a good distraction from all the current craziness.

I live in Northeast Ohio and work in the financial industry, so my days are pretty tied up, but in the evening reading has been a great distraction. Sass, several of my friends are physicians and I know they are dealing with a lot right now, hope you are doing ok.

I’ll typically read 3-5 books per week, obviously reading more on the weekends these days. I read a lot of paranormals, urban fantasy, and contemporary romance, and you’ll see sub genres on my read lists like sports and mafia romances. I also have kindle unlimited, borrow frequently from the online library, but I also buy books for those authors I love.

Any thoughts as to a potential team name? I’ll admit I’m not terribly creative when it comes to those.

I'm not creative either. I'm a math/science person and got zero creative genes. I'm also super laid back and will go with whatever....I see already some creative team names coming out. I'm a bit jealous.

Hi guys. Gotta minute. I'm not creative either but maybe this will get people's creative juices flowing:

BOOK-ing to the finish line?

I’ll throw out a couple ideas too to add to the mix:

Books on the Run
Marathon Readers
Book Sharks
Chicks that Read
Backroads Bandits

Since I'm not creative I went to a name generator and here are some results...

The Readers Readers' Club
Between the Hearts and the Pages
A Dash of Dreams and a Pinch of Books
Reading Twins (Times 2)
Puddle of Books
Reading at the Disco
A Box of Hearts with Amazing Books
Bookie Book Brigade
Twilight of the Book Godesses
Riot of the Purple Prose and the Angry Bookies

Does anyone have any strong feelings towards a team name?

Also, since I had time today, I looked at the list MKat put together of possible challenges, and there are a few where we would need to decide on something together as a team. Since everyone is busy and we also have different time zones in our team, I picked out the ones where I thought we could look at them and start to think in advance of a potential assignment:

*Each player reads a book by the same author, teams decide author
*Each player reads a book in a series, teams decide.
*Each teammate reads a different book by the same author.
I did a book comparison with each teammate (hey, those stay at home orders are giving me more free time on the weekends 😉), and I saw a number of authors every team member had in common - Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews, Darynda Jones, Anne Bishop, Kristen Ashley, Kresley Cole, and JR Ward. Then 3/4 of teammates had these authors in common - Thea Harrison, Sarah Maas, Jennifer Ashley, and Faith Hunter. So for the 3 challenges above, may make sense to look to some of these authors.

*Read 6 books set in the same location, teams decide the location
My first thought was maybe either NYC or London? Tons of books in various genres take place in those locales.

*Read 6 books set in the same country outside the US, teams decide country.
Again, thinking about maximizing book options, so thought maybe England? Any other thoughts?

*As a team, pick a list with over 100 romance books on it, each member reads a book from that list.
I randomly picked 4 lists below that each have several thousand books on the list, so I would imagine we pick one big list with lots of options for everyone and be done with it
Best Paranormal Fantasy Romances
Best Adult Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance
All Time Favorite Romance Novels
Best Romance Books Ever

*Read 6 books with a specific item on the cover, team selects item.
I looked at covers on various books in my collection, across different genres, and these were some items I saw a lot of - Sword, gun, knife, tattoo, wolf, sunglasses, shoe, tie, etc. Just some initial ideas.

*Read over 750 pages in books about the same profession, teams decide which profession.
Just some random professions that occurred to me - Musician, law enforcement officer, hockey player, detective, lawyer, teacher, etc. Other thoughts?

*Read 6 books that have the same romance trope, teams decide which trope
Some examples that came to mind - friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, arranged marriage, marriage of convenience, second chance love, fake relationship, forbidden love, office romance, hidden identity, etc.

Anyway, just thinking in advance on a few of these - would love to hear others thoughts or ideas. Hope everyone is having a nice weekend.

I like Books on the run

I think we should go with NYC for the city and then outside of US could be England. That way we aren't reading for England twice.

I like books on the run also

Lol I thought books on the run was a trope! I like this one for a team name as well and since CB suggested it, we now have a team name!

Sass I like your thinking on the location. I'm ok with NYC for US and England for outside US.

CB wrote: "*Each teammate reads a different book by the same author.
I did a book comparison with each teammate (hey, those stay at home orders are giving me more free time on the weekends 😉), and I saw a number of authors every team member had in common - Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews, Darynda Jones, Anne Bishop, Kristen Ashley, Kresley Cole, and JR Ward. Then 3/4 of teammates had these authors in common - Thea Harrison, Sarah Maas, Jennifer Ashley, and Faith Hunter. So for the 3 challenges above, may make sense to look to some of these authors....."
I have plenty to read from each of the authors CB listed. I would love to read the last book in Ilona Andrews' Kate Daniel series but I also have several more to go in the Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones. I'm part of a group called 2-3-4 Challenge which motivates us to get these series books completed as many of us have tons just sitting stagnant.

*Read over 750 pages in books about the same profession, teams decide which profession.
Just some random professions that occurred to me - Musician, law enforcement officer, hockey player, detective, lawyer, teacher, etc. Other thoughts?
I prefer law enforcement, detective, security expert, body guards over athletes but I do have several books on standby for hockey or baseball. I also have one that would fit Rugby.

I’m good with law enforcement. For the 750

Also for amuse author, I also have the last Kate Daniels and ever the clean sweep series to catch up with by Ilona Andrews. Also I think one of their other series.

I just updated on the Q&A thread our team name, so we’re all set. Also, I saw that MKat just posted that depending on if the last few people check in, she may start the challenge early and post tonight (MT).

I think NYC for same location challenge, and England for the outside US challenge makes total sense, sounds good to me.

I’m good with law enforcement officer for the same profession challenge.

I love Ilona Andrews as well - I have not read their Kinsmen series yet, so I could read either of those books for the same author challenges.

Sassafrass wrote: "I’m good with law enforcement. For the 750

Also for amuse author, I also have the last Kate Daniels and ever the clean sweep series to catch up with by Ilona Andrews. Also I think one of their oth..."

man, I really have to check my posts after posting. I have no idea what autocorrect was doing! HAHAHA

Do you have a team leader? 😊

Does anyone have the desire to be the team leader? If not, I’ve not done this for one of these challenges before but I’ll do it if no one else wants to do so.

You sound like a great choice, CB! My vote is for you!

Task 1 - ALL TEAMS!!


1. Each player reads a book by the same author, teams decide author - no pass for this task.

Ready, Set, GO!

Sorry I cannot be a team leader only because my internet tends to be a little unreliable and I'm afraid I won't be able to fulfill duties in a timely manner.

Ladies did we want to read Ilona Andrews for this task? It looks like we all have at least one on our want to read shelf.

Nikk, are you good with the choice of Ilona Andrews as the author for us all to read from? If so, then that’s our author of choice and everyone find their book to read.

Have fun!

Sassafrass wrote: "You sound like a great choice, CB! My vote is for you!"

Thanks, Sass! 😉

I am good with Ilona Andrews- just need to confirm which book

Task 1 -
1. Each player reads a book by the same author, teams decide author - no pass for this task.

Ilona Andrews....I'll be reading Magic Triumphs. I've been stalling picking up this book only because I didn't want my experience with this series to end (big sigh).

Christina T wrote: "Task 1 -
1. Each player reads a book by the same author, teams decide author - no pass for this task.

Ilona Andrews....I'll be reading Magic Triumphs. I've been stalling picking u..."

I'm going to read Magic Triumphs as well

I’m going to read The Kinsmen Universe, always wanted to read it and just never got around to it yet

Completion Post
Task #1



The Kinsmen Universe by Ilona Andrews
Pages: 231 (GR)
How book qualifies: Each player is reading a book by the same author, Ilona Andrews
Date Completed: 4/14/2020
Rating: 4⭐️

Completion:
Task #1

Magic Triumphs by Ilona Andrews
Task: Read book by same author
How it fits: Author Ilona Andrews being read by each team member
Pages: 336 pages/GR (kindle)
Date completed: 4/14/20
Rating: *5 STARS*

Completion Post
Task #1



Diamond Fire by Ilona Andrews
Pages: 160 (GR)
How book qualifies: Each player is reading a book by the same author, Ilona Andrews
Date Completed: 4/15/2020
Rating: 5⭐️

so are we just trying to finish the tasks as fast as we can to win?

or do we get eliminated if we are the last to check in?

Hi Sass - no team gets eliminated in this competition. And yes, the challenge is to try to finish the tasks as quickly as we can, with the team who completes the most tasks winning the Amazing Race competition. As soon as Christina T posts her completion of her book, we’ll update the Team Challenge Q&A thread that our team has completed the first task and then sometime that same day (depending on when we post), MKat will give our team our second task.

Christina T, just checking in - how are you coming along with your book? Thanks!

I'm about half way through. I'm still working on another challenge at the same time and unfortunately because of this week's task they didn't line up well. I'm hoping to finish before bed tonight though.

Ok, thanks for the update. As soon as you finish your book, please post your completion. Thanks!

Hi Christina T, just wanted to check in as to how you are coming along with your Ilona Andrews book? As soon as you post your completion post, we’ll be able to get the next challenge assigned to the team. Thanks!

Completion Post
Task 1


Magic Triumphs by Ilona Andrews
Task: Read book by same author
How it fits: Author Ilona Andrews being read by each team member
Pages: 336 pages/GR
Date completed: 4/18/20
Rating: 5 Stars

Sorry it took me so long to finish my book.

Thanks, Christina T - I just posted our completion to the Q&A thread.