Romance Readers Reading Challenges discussion

Maggie wrote: "Maggie wrote: "Selection Post

Task 15 - 79. Read 6 books that have the same romance trope, teams decide which trope.

No Good by [author:Stevie J. Cole..."

right on!

Completion Post
Task 15 - 79. Read 6 books that have the same romance trope, teams decide which trope. (enemies to lovers)
Enemies by Tijan

Qualifies: enemies-to-lovers x 6 (page 2, right column)
https://www.goodreads.com/work/shelve...
Completion Date: Nov 11/21
Page Count: Kindle Edition, 370 pages
Rating: 5+⭐
Review: I don't know what it is with this book but I just love it. One of my comfort reads, this may be my favourite enemies-to-lovers story cause the H, hot sexy footballer Stone, is just so dam mean.
It's a story about two close childhood friends, where the pre-teen Stone suddenly rejects his pal Dusty, and hangs out instead with his buds while practicing hard to become a footballer.
The story starts at the point where Dusty is now in college and Stone is playing in the NFL. There have been lots of complications with both their families, and they still have not talked all these years.
After some unwanted family interference happens, Stone reacts by being just mean, mean, mean to Dusty, who has gone through hell during those years and is still there. However, later in the story, when some tragic events occur in Dusty's life, Stone does step up & cautiously starts helping Dusty out, while she reluctantly accepts some of it, but not all.
Over time, with some lows & highs, and some steam & sweetness, we see an old friendship blossom again and a slow burn romance unfold between a transformed Stone and a brave Dusty. Very satisfying. ☺️💕 Well done Tijan!

💃💃🕺🏻 💃💃 Zowie!! we really did well on this task! 💃💃🕺🏻 💃💃

Great job, women!

It's been sent to Kat...let's see what fun she sends our way.

Here is your next task!

Task 16 - 103. Read over 1500 pages in books tagged ‘family’.

Books selected for this task need to be tagged/shelved as 'family'. Variations of the word and combo tags will be allowed in context, 'familiar' or 'no-family' will not work as examples. Tags/shelves are the only qualification for this task. Please include a link to the top shelves page with the qualifying tag along with the exact tag, number of tags and the top shelves page number in your completion posts. This information is extremely helpful if the link is broken or the tag moves - and both happen frequently! Remember to use the first edition Kindle page count.

MountainKat wrote: "Here is your next task!

Task 16 - 103. Read over 1500 pages in books tagged ‘family’.

Books selected for this task need to be tagged/shelved as 'family'. Variations of the word and combo tags wil..."

Wow, a bit challenging! if you have some book ideas, please share!
Does not need to be a romance book!

Single Fathers of Romance: Great Family Men (good list): https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...

Selection Post
Task 16 - 103. Read over 1500 pages in books tagged ‘family’.
Book/Author: The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang

Qualifies: Tagged Family 27 times
https://www.goodreads.com/work/shelve...
Page Count: 343 (Kindle Edition)

Selection Post
Task 16 - 103. Read over 1500 pages in books tagged ‘family’.
Marrying Winterborne by Lisa Kleypas

Qualifies: Tagged family x 27 - For family tag, see page 1, middle column https://www.goodreads.com/work/shelve...
Page Count: Kindle Edition, 337 pages

Selection Post
Task 16 - 103. Read over 1500 pages in books tagged ‘family’.
Book/Author: My Vegas Groom by Piper Rayne

Qualifies: Tagged Family-Series 2 times
https://www.goodreads.com/work/shelve...
Page Count: 247 (Kindle Edition)

Posted 2 books just in case

Shan ~A~ wrote: "Posted 2 books just in case"

that's great Shan!

Shan ~A~ wrote: "Selection Post
Task 16 - 103. Read over 1500 pages in books tagged ‘family’.
Book/Author: My Vegas Groom by Piper Rayne

Qualifi..."

Oh! I loved this one! I hope you enjoy Nikki and Logan's story.

Mony wrote: "MountainKat wrote: "Here is your next task!

Task 16 - 103. Read over 1500 pages in books tagged ‘family’.

Books selected for this task need to be tagged/shelved as 'family'. Variations of the wor..."

Authors I know who have series around families are:
YOU WILL NEED TO CHECK TAGS THOUGH!
These are just my go to reads when I'm down and need laughs or feel goods.

Claire Kingsley
1. Miles Family (in KU)
2. Bailey Family (in KU)

Pippa Grant - all in KU
I'll need to check tags, however family is interwoven in A LOT of Pippaverse books. Books that feature siblings directly though are:
* denotes single parents story lines WITH siblings as main characters in the plot.
1: Jock Blocked
2: The Pilot & the Puck-Up
3: I Pucking Love You
4: Charming as Puck
5: Flirting with the Frenemy*
6: Liar, Liar, Hearts on Fire*
7: Crazy for Loving You*

Willow Aster & Laura Pavlov
The GD Taylor series is about 4 brothers. All in KU

A.M. Hargrove
1: The West Brothers series (in KU)
2: The West Sisters series (in KU)


Kayley Loring
1: A Very Bossy Christmas
2: A Very Friendly Valentine's Day
3: Funny Business (Brodie Brothers)
4: Attachment Theory (Brodie Brothers)

Books one and two are two brothers and center around getting to family events.
Books 3 and 4 are part of a new series which is about a trio of brothers. Book 1 (Funny Business) is also a single parent.
All are in KU

Alley Ciz

1- The BTU series. All stand alones, but all interconnected. There are both blood related families and chosen families in this series. The latest one out is Scoring Beauty and the h is a single mom. (I did check Scoring there is a tag for Family by one person)

All of Alley's books are in KU

NOT in KU -

Shan actually found my favorites.
Piper Rayne have both the Baileys and the Greenes. Both are fun fast reads and for all the laughs in them Piper and Rayne carry a punch to the gut occassionally. I own a few of the Bailey books. If one catches your eye, let me know and I'll see if I own it. I know for certain I have The Demise of a Self Proclaimed Playboy. And I think the first one in the series. Austin and Holly's story.

Charity Ferrell has a great series Twisted Fox - the first in the series is about a single dad who winds up falling in love with his child's aunt. (yeah. it's complicated) I MAY own this one.

Hmmmm

Those are the ones off the top of my head.

Selection Post

Task 16 - 103. Read over 1500 pages in books tagged ‘family’.


Sweeper by Amy Daws
Qualifies: Currently MPG "Family >> 2 Users
Tagged as "family" by 2 people. First page, left column, 4th tag from the bottom
Page Count: 328 pages per Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09...

Selection Post

Task 16 - 103. Read over 1500 pages in books tagged ‘family’.


Southern Playboy by Jessica Peterson
Qualifies:
Tagged as "family" by 1 person. Second page, right column, 1st tag in the column
Page Count:Kindle Edition, 354 pages

Maggie wrote: "Mony wrote: "MountainKat wrote: "Here is your next task!

Task 16 - 103. Read over 1500 pages in books tagged ‘family’.

Books selected for this task need to be tagged/shelved as 'family'. Variatio..."

Wow, these are great...many thanks Maggie!

Selection Post

Task 16 - 103. Read over 1500 pages in books tagged ‘family’.


Fighting Shadows by Aly Martinez
Qualifies: Tagged family x10 -- First page, 2nd column, 22 down
https://www.goodreads.com/work/shelve...
Page Count: 260 pages

Mony wrote: "Maggie wrote: "Mony wrote: "MountainKat wrote: "Here is your next task!

Task 16 - 103. Read over 1500 pages in books tagged ‘family’.

Books selected for this task need to be tagged/shelved as 'fa..."

No problem. I had to adjust the ones I had under Alley. I went through the duet I mentioned and Uof J they don't work. I DID check on Scoring Beauty which has one tag for family. It's a stand alone.

If I have time before I leave tomorrow I'll go through and see if the Pippa and Kayley books I listed have tags.

I don't want you to work too much when you're off for your trip.
At my end, I seem to be good to go - got one book up & found 4 more in case I need to read a second one. Here are four more in case anyone needs more. From my favourite shelf. (Joe's gone for a week & had lots of time :) )
family x 6 The Takeover by T.L. Swan

family x 5 Wrecking Ball by P. Dangelico

family x 2 people p.3 You Can Have Manhattan by P. Dangelico

family x 2 - p.3 One Moment Please by Amy Daws

UPDATED
Number of pages from team's selections - need 1500

First selections - No. of pages
Shan 343
Mony 342
M 260
Maggie 328
TOTAL 1273

Second Selections - no. of pages
if Shan reads 2nd - 247 + 1273 = 1520
if Maggie reads 2nd - 354 + 1273 = 1627
If Mony reads 2nd - 337+ 1273 = 1610

From Ms. Kat...

‼️ PLEASE TAKE NOTE! ‼️

With the challenge ending on Wednesday, November 17th, there will a minor change to the last task. Beginning on Monday, November 15th, when teams post their completions and get a new task, they will all get the same task. For this task, instead of just completing it, you will continue reading to add to the total number of books read for your team. There will be no passes for the last task and to complete it, every team member must complete a book for the task and contribute to the overall book count. So, the task is considered ‘completed’ when every team member has read one book for the task, but you can continue reading in order to increase your overall book count for the task in case that is needed for a tie breaker. In the event that two or more teams are tied based on the number of tasks completed, the team with the highest book count will win The Amazing Race Team Challenge!

**Remember if your completion posts are incomplete or have the wrong page count, your books will not count. So help each other out by checking the posts!**

‼️ If your page count comes from a Kindle edition published on the initial publication date on the editions page, it will count. If your page count comes from a Kindle edition labeled '1st edition', it will count. If your page count comes from the earliest dated English language Kindle edition, it will count. I am looking for one of those three things when confirming your books! As long the page count you list is correct, I will accept any link to the book. ‼️

New selection post - just got a message from Kat that a group read book I just read late into the night qualifies - so I'll post it now.
By the way, this is what happens when Joe goes away - night reading, plus I found his secret chocolate stash. A luxurious read. LOL

Selection Post
Task 16 - 103. Read over 1500 pages in books tagged ‘family’.
Tiger Eye by Marjorie M. Liu

Qualifies: Tagged genre-family x 1 (see page 16, middle column)
https://www.goodreads.com/work/shelve...
Page Count: Amazon, 1st edition (Jan. 31 2005) Dorchester Lovespell, 342 pages

Completion Post
Task 16 - 103. Read over 1500 pages in books tagged ‘family’.
Tiger Eye by Marjorie M. Liu

Qualifies: Tagged genre-family x 1 (see page 16, middle column)
https://www.goodreads.com/work/shelve...
Completion Date: Nov 12/21
Page Count: Amazon, 1st edition (Jan. 31 2005) Dorchester Lovespell, 342 pages
Rating: 3.5-4⭐
Review: Tiger Eye tells the story of Dela who is visiting Beijing and goes to the Dirt Market looking for interesting eccentricities. A mysterious Chinese woman at one of the stalls convinces her to buy a small ancient "riddle box".

When opened in her hotel room, a "genie" appears who is at her command. So begins the action & fun. “WHAT IS YOUR DESIRE?” Dela stared, caught between laughter and a scream. “Nothing.” Hari: “Are you saying there is no battle to fight, not one person you wish me to kill?” Dela: “Hey, now. I don’t want anyone to die.” He gave her a slow once-over that, oddly, managed not to feel degrading. “If you did not bring me here to kill or fight, then I was summoned to pleasure your body.”

Two separate groups are now trying to kill Dela - one of whom is an evil Magi who needs the riddle box and the other for reasons yet to be discovered. Enter a special hot psi black ops squad, friends of Dela's, who could rival those hot guys in Rock Chicks. Non-stop action with Dela & Hari, the Magi & his bad guys, two NY Chinese mafia heads & their bad guys, mysterious Chinese woman, shifters, psi guys and more.

The characters were fabulous - both main & secondaries. Exotic Beijing as the setting was a real bonus. And Hari & Dela's experiences were exciting to watch. Writing was sooo good. Points taken off rating for the slow pace of the book, although with all the action I couldn't put it down until the end.

Still going to read this one - I have 3 books from this series to finish by end of November for Meet & Greet. :)

Selection Post
Task 16 - 103. Read over 1500 pages in books tagged ‘family’.
Marrying Winterborne by Lisa Kleypas

Qualifies: Tagged family x 27 - For family tag, see page 1, middle column https://www.goodreads.com/work/shelve...
Page Count: Kindle Edition, 337 pages

COMPLETION POST
Task 16 - 103. Read over 1500 pages in books tagged ‘family’.


Fighting Shadows by Aly Martinez
Qualifies: Tagged family x10 -- First page, 2nd column, 22 down
https://www.goodreads.com/work/shelve...
Page Count: 260 pages
Finished: 11/13/21
Rating: 4 stars
Review: I loved Flint's story. He went through so much from a very young age and carried so much on his shoulders. He had a great support system to help carry him through his troubled season of life. Ash stole the show. She was so perfect for him. I want to smack both of them a time of two. They both said some cruel things to try to push each other away. It eventually worked and it broke my heart. Her nickname for him made me smile each and every time. I'm pretty sure Quarry's story is going to devastate me.

Completion Post
Task 16 - 103. Read over 1500 pages in books tagged ‘family’.
Book/Author: The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang

Qualifies: Tagged Family 27 times
https://www.goodreads.com/work/shelve...
Page Count: 343 (Kindle Edition)
Finished: 11/13
Rating: 3 stars
Review: I've been in love with Quan since the first time he was introduced in this series, so I was excited to finally get his story.

Even with the love I have Quan, this book was hard for me. It was so much heavier than I was expecting. I understand that Quan had a major health scare, and if the majority of the book was dealing with him trying to move on in a romantic relationship due to that I would have understood, but that wasn't the case.

Yes he has a somewhat awkward romance with Anna, but that took a backseat to Anna's disability and her family issues. This book was more Chick Lit than Romance. Chick lit's plot line focuses more (even if only slightly) on the character's non romantic struggles. This book showcased Anna's struggle more than it did the romance that was budding between Quan and herself.

Did this make this book any less good? No, it just wasn't what I was expecting from this series.
Book 1 dealt with a male gigolo being hired by a science geek and they fell in love
Book 2 dealt with a woman being sent for an arranged marriage then they fell in love.

Those were beautifully done without the heavy feeling this one gave me, and they also dealt with people on the autism spectrum.

I will say that part of my problem may be that I wasn't expecting the heavy hearted feeling I got while reading this, because the writing was still good and I still enjoyed the story.

Completion Post
Task 16 - 103. Read over 1500 pages in books tagged ‘family’.
Marrying Winterborne by Lisa Kleypas

Qualifies: Tagged family x 27 - For family tag, see page 1, middle column https://www.goodreads.com/work/shelve...
Page Count: Kindle Edition, 337 pages
Rating: 5⭐
Review: Common born Rhys Winterborne has great wealth and success, is rough around the edges and works hard to get what he wants. And he wants Lady Helen Ravenel, who nursed him to health when he was seriously injured. Helen is the opposite - reclusive, gentle and quiet. As a result, she is overwhelmed when this larger than life sexy Welsh man pursues her to marry him. There are bumps in the road in their coming to an understanding about marrying. Helen finally makes her decision.
Helen: “I would rather marry you. It will be an adventure.”
Rhys: “I wouldn’t count on much adventuring if I were you. I’m going to look after you and keep you safe.”
Helen: “What I meant was, you are the adventure.”
Rhys and Helen are great together. We see how their marriage not only brings them closer together but also sparks changes in both of them. The hard and rude man we met at the beginning shows us his gentle and tender side. Helen blossoms and becomes more who she really is - tenacious, brave, and outspoken. Oh, and Rhys is a top book HUSBAND. Another great well written story by Kleypas!

So I was able to finish a second book for another challenge.
So no need for anyone else to read a second book.

Maggie is away so we just need to wait until she has time to read her book. No rush Maggie. 💃

I think these will be our page numbers.
First selections
Shan - 343
Mony - 342
M - 260
Maggie - 328
TOTAL 1273

Second Selection
Mony 337

GRAND Total 1610

Competion Post

Task 16 - 103. Read over 1500 pages in books tagged ‘family’.


Sweeper by Amy Daws
Qualifies: Currently MPG "Family >> 2 Users
Tagged as "family" by 2 people. First page, left column, 4th tag from the bottom
Page Count: 328 pages per Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09...
Read On: 11/16/2021
Rating: 5 Stars
Review: I adored this book. I'd read Blindsided which is a stand alone within the Benthal Green/Harris Brothers series, I also have a few of the actual Harris brothers themselves sitting in my Kindle waiting to be read. When Amy had posted in the event that I just attended that she had written this book, it sounded like it was based off of Christian Pulisic...which, loosely Zander is.. Physically, position wise, and "american phenomen in the Premier League wise" other than that - it was pure Harris Brothers. This book also utterly ripped my heart open and just made me sob. Zander is a secret Harris brother. Which he sort of discovers when his father passes away unexpectedly. He arrives in London with two goals - play the best football known to man, and confirm that he is indeed a Harris half sibling. Along the way though, he becomes close with Booker Harris, falls in love with the girl next door who is a Harris in law, they break each others' hearts, he grieves both his father's passing as well as the thought of never knowing if his dad knew who his bio dad was. He and his mother are at odds when he leaves the states and she winds up coming over to England when Zander is starting to tear at the seams and rip apart his life item by item as all the secrets he is keeping build up and eat at him. His neighbor is the one who steps in and helps his mother see her son for who he actually is instead of the fear of what may happen to him. In short - this is NOT the story I was thinking I would get, it was so very much more. I also accidentally gushed to Sarina Bowen that I had "just started reading Sweeper!" as I was leaving her table at the singing on Saturday. Only to stop, look at my bestie who was with me and say "Crap. That was the wrong author. Sarina only writes hockey. I feel like an arse." LUCKILY Amy Daws (the ACTUAL author of Sweeper) found this story amusing when I got to HER table to have my book signed by her.

Yay Maggie! By the way, I sent you a message. :)

So the next task should be coming soon. It is the last one as the challenge ends Nov. 17th at midnight.

For this last one, there are no passes. SEE MESSAGE 526.
So no point with anyone getting started unless we all confirm that it's a go to meet the deadline. Absolutely no guilt if it's not possible for you!!

So everyone should consider whether they can make it in time to finish by that deadline. Or perhaps finish right now and we crack the virtual champagne! We've read a ton of great books!

Let me know when you can. Having some wine now though...☺️🍷

Here is your last task!

Last Task. Read books with more than one person on the cover.

Books selected for this task need to clearly and obviously have more than one person on the cover. The cover does not need to show all of both people, but it does need to show enough that it clearly has at least two people on the cover. You can use any edition’s cover to qualify. Please include the qualifying cover in your completion post.

Remember completion posts with errors or missing elements will not count towards your team total or the completion of this task. The task will be considered ‘completed’ when each team member has completed one book for this task, additional books will count towards a tie breaker if necessary. Help each other out by double checking posts are complete with the first edition Kindle page count!

There is no need to post a team completion in the Q&A thread, I will be checking all team threads at the conclusion of the challenge. 😊

I can finish one more book by midnight tomorrow. :)

I can finish a book by midnight tomorrow.

I've got Flirting with the Rockstar Next Door

Maggie wrote: "I can finish a book by midnight tomorrow.

I've got Flirting with the Rockstar Next Door
"

Looks like a good one!

I will pick something shortish so I can be done by midnight tomorrow!

Yea, short is good! LOL

Mony wrote: "Yea, short is good! LOL"

Yeah, I'll want to get back to my arc fast haha.... It's really good!

M wrote: "Mony wrote: "Yea, short is good! LOL"

Yeah, I'll want to get back to my arc fast haha.... It's really good!"

What's the title?

The Ritual by Shantel Tessier - it's a dark college romance

M wrote: "The Ritual by Shantel Tessier - it's a dark college romance"

OOoo! I'm adding that one to my TBR.
Which reminds me ... I think I missed the cut off for the December MnG sign up. Oh well.

Maggie wrote: "M wrote: "The Ritual by Shantel Tessier - it's a dark college romance"

OOoo! I'm adding that one to my TBR.
Which reminds me ... I think I missed the cut off for the December MnG sign up. Oh well."

me too

Are we doing this? I can finish by 1159 tomorrow

Shan ~A~ wrote: "Are we doing this? I can finish by 1159 tomorrow"read!

Great! Yup, we were just waiting to hear from you. Let's do it! 💃

From Kat,

"Remember completion posts with errors or missing elements will not count towards your team total or the completion of this task.

Help each other out by double checking posts are complete with the first edition Kindle page count!"

Plus we can ask Kat if we have any question about our book.

Selection Post
Last Task. Read books with more than one person on the cover.
Book/Author: Tequila Rose by Willow Winters

Qualifies: More than one person on the cover
Page Count: 242 (Kindle Edition)

Wasn't sure if we had to post a selection post or not, but there it is.

Shan ~A~ wrote: "Wasn't sure if we had to post a selection post or not, but there it is."

Cool!

Selection Post
Last Task. Read books with more than one person on the cover.
One Enchanted Moment by Sarah Morgan

Qualifies: Has two people on the book cover
Page Count: Kindle Edition, 368 pages

Selection Post
Last Task. Read books with more than one person on the cover.

Just Breathe by Célia Pereira
Qualifies: Has two people on the book cover
Page Count: Kindle Edition, 217 pages

COMPLETION POST
Last Task. Read books with more than one person on the cover.


Just Breathe by Célia Pereira
Qualifies: Has two people on the book cover
Page Count: Kindle Edition, 217 pages
Finished: 11/17/21
Rating: 4 stars
Review: Sit down and buckle up because you're going to be on an emotional rollercoaster. This authors words will grip you from the first page and hold your heart hostage until the very last.

This story is real and not sugar coated. We see how Bailey has grown up. How she was treated by a person who should have always kept her safe and not brought her harm. She goes through what she does to keep her son, Logan safe. At all costs, that little boy's happiness and safetly will be her guiding light in the darkest of times.

Unable to take anymore, she gathers their belongs and sets off into the night. No destination set, just to get away. A small town will be where they rest for a bit, but she ended up getting more than a nights rest there. She found a place to maybe call home, even for a short time if that's all she could have. True friends, a job she enjoys and even the attention of one of the local heartthrobs. Gavin McKnight... the local tattoo shop owner with eyes that promise so much.

She knows she should keep to herself and not bring anyone into her life, but she has a hard time not wanting more. Gavin makes her want to try, want to trust, want to love.
Our past isn't always so hidden and our real life nightmares are sometimes closer than we think... Can she overcome hers to have a future with the one man who sees her, truly sees her worth and offers himself and his love in return.

This story was filled with moments that will break your heart, take your breath away and make you truly believe in hope and that love can win.... it's sometimes messy and we have to break before we are blessed with the sweetness of it.