The Challenge Factory discussion

Gil, thank you for such a great pick! I gave 5 stars!

For you, I'm picking

My next 5 are:

Book Completion - Chosen by Severina



Book - Network Effect
Author - Martha Wells
Date Read - 6/18/25
Rating - 1 star
Review - I don't know what is wrong with me because I don't get the hype behind this series. I keep trying to see it, hence why I am up to book 5, but this one just about killed me. It was as dull as a butter knife. Now don't get me wrong, I love Murderbot. He's funny and I love how he thinks, but everyone else sucks. Nothing was really going on that I would have written home about. When it did, I gave zero shits and was just glad it was over. So far this was the worst one in the series. I will continue on, but only because they are short. Please let the next one be more entertaining.

For Katrina G

My Choice for you is:



It sounds kinda scary! I can't wait to hear what you think.

My NExt Five:

Finished After Oz. Unfortunately I think the premise was better than the writing.

Michelle, I'll leave Murderbot alone since you didn't love the last one, and instead for you I will pick just because I love that title. :)

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My Next Five:

Severina, for you I pick:



My five:

Completion Post - Chosen by Severina



Book - It's Raining Cupcakes
Author - Lisa Schroeder
Date Read - 6/26/25
Rating - 4 Stars
Review - This is mostly a cute and lighthearted young adult novel about a young girl living in Oregon named Isabel. Isabel wants to travel, but for some reason her mom just doesn't want to go anywhere. Her family decides to open up a Cupcake shop and so her summer once again is spent at home, this time helping her parents get the shop ready. Isabel comes across a baking contest where the contestants are flown to NYC for a bake off. Isabel and her friend Sophie both enter the contest. While waiting to see if she won she spend the other half of her time trying to help manage her mom's moods. This is where the mostly cute novel stops. Although it is not acknowledged or named, but her mother seems to have some serious mental health issues going on. If the slightest thing goes wrong, her mom's mood turns into doom and gloom. Although she is not mean or hateful, the woman thinks that the world is ending (not really ending, but you get the gist), takes to her bed, and becomes severely depressed. It really affects her relationship with her daughter and her husband. It honestly made me super sad for Isabel when her mom got in these moods. For some reason I kinda focused on that because of my own childhood trauma. I guess that's what I get for reading this as a full fledged adult 🤷‍♀️. There is a happy ending and things do turn around for everyone. On the plus side, the book does include a couple of cupcake recipes that I'm hoping to try out before I have to take this back to the library!

For Gil-or (readingbooksinisrael)

I'm choosing this one for you: I added it to my list. It sounds really good.



My Next five

Michelle, I used to love the Black Dagger Brotherhood books so I have to choose this one for you:



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My next five:

Marla wrote: "Hey Chloe, I pick for you because assassin love sounds good.

My next BLUE 5:
..."

Rating- 4⭐

Gil, I pick for you

Enjoy!

My five:

Not sure what happened here because Gil wasn't in the lineup, but I'll go ahead and pick again and then repost.

EDIT: Oh, I see. Gil's post was the last one on the previous page. You have to make sure you pick the last page to get the current list. :)

Chloe for you I pick:


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My next five:

Im so sorry! Im not sure i saw your post 😢
My mistake, I must have done that by accident.

Completion Post - 1st book - Chosen by Severina



Book - The Chosen
Date Read - 6/28/25
Rating - 5 Stars
Review - WOW! There was a lot going on here and every male in the mansion seems to have lost their ever-loving minds. Quinn is in asshole mode from the very start and almost winds up losing everything after having a hissy fit and putting a few bullets into a wall in the mansion. He's not my favorite brother so if he went by the wayside, I felt there would have been no loss there. Blay deserves someone who is not quite a hot headed asshole. Layla fucks up and everyone is pissed at her, but in all honesty she couldn't help it. Tohr is not over the loss of Wellsie and acts like a shit and goes against an order from Wrath which almost gets him kicked out. Fucking Vicious...Geez dude, what is going on in that head of yours? I think you better figure your self out. Poor Wrath spent the entire book playing babysitter and refereeing the conflicts in the house. I felt kinda bad for him. Lassiter has something new going on and Fritz is cleaning up after the brothers still. The guy gets the girl in the end along with some new digs and the Lessers are making a comeback..

Whew!

For Severina:

I'm choosing for you:



The title sounds fun.

My next five:

Michelle

I am picking

The cover is giving me summer vibes

My 5

Absolutely loved the darkly comic Kill The Boy Band!

Carrie, I've heard great things about this series, so for you I pick

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My next five:

Completion Post - Chosen by Carrie



Book - Remarkably Bright Creatures
Author - Shelby Van Pelt
Date Read - 7/3/25
Rating - 2 Stars
Review - I don't know who told Cameron he was brilliant, but they lied to him. My cats have more sense that this guy and one of them is orange. He was a dipshit of epic proportions, lazy as the day is long, and had the IQ of a turnip. With no evidence whatsoever he runs to Washington to try and get money from a man he thought was his dad all based on a 30 year old yearbook photo.

I really liked Tova and her no nonsense attitude. She treated everyone the same including her aquarium friends.

I think my second least favorite character was Ethan. He was a gossipy busy body who really irked me. He spent his days talking about other people's business to whomever happened to be shopping in his store.

I thought the book was going to be so much better than it was

For Severina:



I don't know any of your books so I went with the one I thought had the prettiest cover. Hopefully it's a good story.

My NExt Five

Michelle for you I pick:


Hope you enjoy!

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My next five:

Severina, I choose for you:


My five:

Finished 5 stars!


Gil, for you I'm picking sometimes a collection of short stories can hit the spot

My 5

Finished and gave it 4★ (Thanks Severina!)

Carrie, my pick for you is Happy reading!

My five:

Jamie, my pick for you is:


Hope you enjoy!

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My next five:

Finished another 5 stars

Severina, my pick for you


My 5

Carrie, I choose

My next 5:

Katrina G, for you I choose

I hope you enjoy it!

My next five:

Completion post - Chosen by Severina



Book - The Sweet Dead Life
Author - Joy Preble
Date Read - 8/9/25
Rating - 3 Stars
Review - Jenna is a 14 year old girl who lives with her mother and her brother. Dad disappeared 6 years earlier and since then her mom has been in a non functioning funk. Her brother, Casey is working 2 jobs trying to support the family. Jenna starts to get sick. She gets sicker and sicker until one night her brother races to get her to the ER. On the way they have an accident. Before passing out she glances at her brother and knows that for a fact that he did not make it and she passes out. When Jenna wakes at the hospital, Casey is there looking better than he has ever looked in his life. Weird huh? Jenna seems to think so since she was sure he had perished in the accident. After going home Jenna and Casey seem to wind up with several mysteries on their hands. Casey did die in the accident and now he is an angel. How did that happen and why? After several blood tests are done it is found that Jenna is being poisoned, but why? Their mom they find out is also being poisoned, but why? And the biggest mystery of all, Where is their dad?

It was a cute premise, very much geared for the teen crowd. Casey was a bit of a goofball, but when your 16 holding down 2 jobs to support your mom and sister while still trying to go to school kinda deserves being a bit of a goofball. Jenna was a a bit dramatic and childish. I wanted to slap the girl with her friggen boots that I kept reading about. It was annoying to say the least. The ending was a bit crazy (good crazy), but I question the last act of their father. I don't to go into details, but I can't understand why he (view spoiler)[went back to live in Austin. That part did not make a lick of sense. Hopefully it will be explained better in book 2. (hide spoiler)]

It was a pretty good read and I will be following up with the next book.

For Severina:

I'm choosing for you:



It looks psychologically super creepy

MY NEXT FIVE

I finished and once again 5 stars, that's 3 in a row

Michelle, for you

My 5

Wow, Carrie, you are on a roll!

Completion Post - Chosen by Carrie



Book - When the Stars Go Dark
Author - Paula McLain
Date Read - 8/13/25
Rating - 5 Stars
Review - One of the first things I would like to point out is that 1993 should not be considered historical fiction. That was only a few years ago or so I like to tell myself. Well you can't blame an old swamp witch for trying 🤷‍♀️

In all seriousness, this has to be one of my favorite books I've read so far this year. It was beautifully written and very well researched by the author. Anna was quite the flawed character, and she did come to realize just how much so at the end of the book. She tried very hard to be a good person and do the right thing, but she never healed from her own trauma that happened to her when she was a young girl. This caused her to go overboard when taking on cases so much that she ignored everything else in her life. I can't wait to read more from this author.

For Carrie:

I'm Choosing for you:



MY NEXT 5

Michelle, for you I pick:



Hope you enjoy!

**

My next five:

Unfortunately, was a dnf at 31%

Severina, I pick

My next 5 are:

Completion Post - Book Chosen by Severina



Book - Murder Dog
Author - Doug Goodman
Date Read - 8/18/25
Rating - 3 Stars
Review - This is Murder's origin story and what a sad story it is. Most dogs would have died, but Murder has a drive in him to survive and survive he did. How? I think through sheer will, determination, and spite. Oh and his 2 legged mama, It's quite a sad story and very hard to read at times. Animal abuse of any kind makes me angry AF. There were times I had to stop reading for a few minutes because the story hurt my heart. This is not a light hearted read by any means so be prepared.

For Katrina G

Because I absolutely love the Dear America Series



My Next Five

Finished 5 stars again!

Michelle,

For you

My 5

My last read, Burn, unfortunately was not very good. 2 stars.

Carrie, I am picking for you. I hope you love it!

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My next five:

This was a DNF for me. I gave it till about 30%, but just couldn't get into it.

For Severina:

I am choosing for you:



My Next 5

Michelle, I used to love the early Anita Blake books, so for you I am picking

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My next five:

was a 5 star read for me!

Severina, my pick for you is . It sounds so charming, so I hope you like it!

My next 5 are:

Thanks, Katrina G. The Dog I Loved gets 5 stars. :)

Katrina G for you I picked , just because it looks different than everything else on your list. Hope you enjoy!

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My next five

Severina, was another 5 star read for me.

For you

My next 5

My last pick, Leave the World Behind, was a bit of a slog to get through. 3 stars for an intriguing middle third.

Carrie, I hope you like this pick as much as the last one. For you I am picking:

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My next five

Severina I hope you like this pick

My next five:

was a 4 star read!

RaeRae, I'm picking for you.

My next five:

Absolutely loved Dogtripping: 25 Rescues, 11 Volunteers, And 3 RVs On Our Canine Cross-Country Adventure. Thanks, RaeRae. :)

Katrina G I can't resist books about animals, so I have to pick this one for you:


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My Next Five:

Completion Post - Chosen by Severina



Book - The Lunatic Cafe
Author - Laurell K. Hamilton
Date Read - 9/1/25
Rating - 4 stars
Review - I've heard a lot of not so likable things with this series in regards to the whole romance portion and after reading this one it feels like it's just starting. I love the mystery part, I like what she does for a living, and I even like some of the paranormal politics, but I'm not too enthused with the whole love triangle BS going on. As a kick ass character, Anita rocks. Relationship wise, she acts like she has the IQ of a turnip. She keeps saying she loves Richard, but she doesn't act like it. She get's mad at him for him being himself. She agrees to marry him without giving zero thought to the implications of what a life with an Alpha werewolf would be like. And that's not even the main problem. In strolls Jean Claude and whenever he opens his mouth she falters. Now she is going to date them both to see which one can woo her the best. I'm not sure I understand why, but whatever floats her boat I suppose. I just think the whole relationship thing just takes away from the story. I'll keep slogging through and hopefully I won't be like everyone else who decided that the series took a turn for the worst

For Severina:

I'm choosing for you:



My Next Five