Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Welcome to our All-ATY Read-A-Thon! If you need a reminder of the rules (or if you have a question), check out our Introduction and FAQs thread.

We will have five genres of books, and shelf tags that go along with each genre (plus a few freebies, for those of us finishing up monthly challenges). Our goal, as a group, is to cross off as many of these shelf tags as possible by the end of the day next Sunday (April 26th).

For this thread, we have ROMANCE.

THE TAGS

1. romance - Edie: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
2. love-story - Robin: Silk by Alessandro Baricco
3. chick-lit - Traci: One Plus One by Jojo Moyes
4. new-adult - Bec: The Bride Test by Helen Hoang
5. steamy - ZeeJane: The Governess Game by Tessa Dare
6. rom-com - Errlee: The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
7. up-lit - Kathy: The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan
8. love-triangle
9. reese - Lisa: Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal
10. part-of-a-series - Jillian: Black Jasmine by Toby Neal
11. adult-fiction - Amy: Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish by David Rakoff
12. 5-stars - Pam: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
13. own-voices - Suzanne: Sabrina & Corina: Stories by Kali Fajardo-Anstine
14. audiobook - Rachel: Small Admissions by Amy Poeppel
15. 2018 - Sarah: The King's General by Daphne du Maurier

As you complete your books, post them here with the title and author, which tag you are choosing to complete (please only choose one), and a brief note about your book (so we can all get recommendations!).

No, you do not have to read a book in each genre for it to count! It only has to have the tag on the book. (For example, you can read any book tagged 2018 to complete that tag... it doesn't have to be a romance.)

If you need help finding books, Goodreads has an easy way to see the most popular books on each shelf. Just head to www.goodreads.com/shelf and search for the shelf you're looking for.

Silk - Alessandro Baricco - 3 stars
Pages - 132
Tag 2 - Love Story

I chose this book for the readathon because it is short. It reminded me why I don't generally care for short books. It is more like a fable or prose poem than a novel. The characters are sort of archetypes, especially the mysterious love interest who somehow the hero falls for after just seeing her face.

Great, Robin! I've marked you down!

Totally agree with the short books thing. I'm so hesitant to pick up a book that is thin.. I like my character development!

I finished Sabrina & Corina: Stories by Kali Fajardo-Anstine which works for "own voices." Alternatively, I listened to it as an audiobook if that tag works better.

I started reading this book in February because the author was coming to do a reading at the college where I work. Unfortunately, that event was canceled due to a snowstorm and I lost my motivation to finish reading it at that time. The writing was good but the stories are mostly sad. Many have themes of abandonment. This collection was a finalist for National Book Award for fiction.

Got it down, Suzanne. I don't read short stories often, but I enjoy the ones that have similar themes throughout (although... abandonment might not be the most uplifting theme lol)

The Book of lost Friends By Lisa Wingate 14 hrs left
Romance Tag#2>Audiobook

Jo, are you finished these books? Or just marking down what they fit for?

I finished One Plus One, which works for "chick-lit".

I picked it up because I needed a green cover the the spring reading challenge, and wanted an easy audiobook. It also knocks off book reads read harder romance with a single parent. I enjoy this type of romance that isn't steamy and has a lot going on other than just the romance. It was more focused on the family, working on their problems, and their relationships.

I finished The Bride Test.
It seems it would fit for any of these:
1. romance
4. new-adult - I don't actually know what new-adult is but it's been tagged by 103 users as new-adult.
10. part-of-a-series

I choose this book as I read the Kiss Quotient last year. I only gave that 3 stars so not sure why I wanted to read the second, but it fit the non-diverse character prompt so I went for it. Both my kids have autism so I guess that's why I wanted to read it. I enjoyed this one more than the first (based on my reviews looks like I found the first had too much sex, which I wasn't expecting).

I have these recorded!

Bec, new adult is basically the time between YA (high school) and adult fiction (post-college). The genre started off as mostly college-aged romance fiction, but it's kind of expanded now to include other genres set during college and early adulthood.

The Book of lost Friends By Lisa Wingate 13 h and 32m left
Romance Tag#2>Audiobook

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Romance Tag #1 Romance

Got it, Edie!

I finished Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish. It's tagged 14x as adult fiction (but it can work for several others as well)

Got it, Amy!

Emily wrote: "I have these recorded!

Bec, new adult is basically the time between YA (high school) and adult fiction (post-college). The genre started off as mostly college-aged romance fiction, but it's kind o..."
Ahh okay thanks. Esme goes to a community school, and is in her early 20s so I guess that's it.

I did not listen to it as an audiobook, but I finished Small Admissions which has been tagged "audiobook" 24 times.

Perfect, Rachel! Got it down!

How did you like it? I thought it was a really cute book.

I so rarely read this genre but for some reason I had The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren out from the library before they closed so I just finished that. It wasn't bad - light fluff, which is not a bad thing these days. The main character was well done I thought.

I think this can go for #6 rom-com.

BTW - what is the "reese" tag?

Reese Witherspoon has a book club similar to Oprah, where she recommends one book a month.

Robin wrote: "Reese Witherspoon has a book club similar to Oprah, where she recommends one book a month."

I thought it might be referring to Reese Witherspoon but wasn't sure! Thanks for clearing it up.

Yep! I looked at a few different tags for her book club, but "reese" was the one that had the most options (over reese-witherspoon or reese-book-club or other things like that).

The King's General - Tag #15 2018 (13 people tagged this way)

10. part-of-a-series (2 people tagged it)

29. An underrated book, a hidden gem or a lesser known book
Black Jasmine by Toby Neal

It was a book I owned that I think I got for free several years ago and it worked for task 29. It was an easy mystery/cop-romance book.

Got them down!

I just finished Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows. I enjoyed the story, but it wasn't my favorite read of the month. It has multiple tags including the word "reese", so I think it fits that prompt (#9).

Finished The Governess Game this morning, which has a top shelf of Steamy :) It could also work for the 5-stars tag (I also rated it 5 stars!).

Tessa Dare is my favorite historical romance author, every one of her books are so lovable! Endearing characters, lots of humorous dialog and great romance stories. Highly recommend!

Got those two down!

Tag 12: 5 stars
Finished The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. I enjoyed it but not quite a 5 star read for me. I loved the writing and the ambience/sense of place the author created.

Got it, Pam!

I finished The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan. It works for the tag "up-lit."

4 start read for me. It's a lovely read about people and their choices.