Hooked on Books discussion

🔐 Welcome to Your Box.

The lock is real. The box is closed. But the two of you? You have the keys.

This is your personal team thread. Each week, you’ll receive a new reading prompt. Each of you will choose a book, read it, and post your reflection here. Once both reflections are posted, a key turns—and the box reveals a message just for you.

You must complete all 12 keyholes to open the box in Week 13.

You can use this thread for:
🔐 Weekly reflections
🔐 Talking with your partner
🔐 Celebrating when a new lock opens

Your first prompt arrives Sunday at 6pm CT. You’ll know it when you see it.

Until then: get to know each other. Decide who’s reading what.
And whatever you do… don’t open it yet.

📖 Weekly Check-In Format
When you finish your book, post the info below in this thread to let your partner know you're ready. Once both of you have posted your reflections, one of you should check in on the main thread to unlock your keyhole.

• Week: (e.g., Week 1)
• Book Title:
• Author:
• Page Count:
• Reflection: Your response to the week’s prompt.

🔎 Weekly Check-In Thread
This is how your keyhole gets unlocked.
No check-in, no click.

How to check in:
Just post your team name and a link to your team thread.

Example:
Team: The Locked Hearts
Thread: [insert link here]

Once I see your check-in, your message will appear in your thread—if you’ve earned it.

Partners
🔐 Michelle
🗝️Julia

Hi Michelle, excited to partner up with you for this challenge!

I'm from Austria, so I'm on CET.

I'm crap at writing reviews, but have been pushing myself to do it more, so I'm curious to see how the whole reflection part of this challenge works for me 😉

Hi Julia...

I'm in New York so I'm EST. If I'm converting right you should be 6 hours ahead of me. I work evening so I am usually on late at night.

I've starting writing more reviews because of another challenge group that I'm in requires it. Sometimes it's hard coming up with something, but when I start thinking about the book and what happened I just let it all out. Sometimes it's neat and tidy, other times the review is a bit of a bullet point post and kinda chaotic.

Awesome! I suppose we need a team name... Any suggestions?
How about Once upon a Box?

Julia wrote: "Awesome! I suppose we need a team name... Any suggestions?
How about Once upon a Box?"

I think that's perfect.

Awesome! I'll check us in 😉

🔐 Week 1 Prompt: What You Bring With You
Some locks don’t need a key—they open for what you carry.
Choose a book that reflects something you bring to this partnership:
a personality trait, a past experience, a strength, a flaw—anything that shapes how you read and relate.

Each of you will choose your own book and explain what you're bringing to the box.

Our deadline is Sunday 14th.

I'm going to need to think about this one.

Week: Week 1
Book Title: Underdog
Author: L.A. Witt
Page Count: 338
Reflection: I am a passionate equestrian, so I'm always super excited about horse-themed books. I'm super picky when it comes to weak plotlines or flat characters, and don't even get me started on unnecessary plot devices such as miscommunication... But if there's horses, I'm usually happy to overlook any flaws that the book might have otherwise. Luckily, this book was rather well-researched when it comes to the horsey parts of the story, even though there were some minor errors. But I understand that the typical, non-horse-obsessed reader won't care the slightest bit about those.

Week: 1
• Book Title: They Own the Night: Surviving the Pilliga by
• Author: Luka T. Jacobs
• Page Count: 130
• Reflection: I hate talking about myself or what I bring to things. It weirds me out so here goes. I read a lot of different genres. even some of the strange ones. I'm open to many different situations and experiences. I know some people would read this book and think the family was nuts or just attention seeking. I do not, I believe their story was valid. There are a lot of things that we don't understand in this world or know is out there. Do I believe in sasquatch type creatures? You bet I do. There are to many stories out there for them not be real.

Will you check us in once you've added your reflection? 😊
(I'm on CET, so I probably won't be online again until time's up and we get the next prompt...)

Julia wrote: "Will you check us in once you've added your reflection? 😊
(I'm on CET, so I probably won't be online again until time's up and we get the next prompt...)"

Sure will.

We are checked in. I have no idea why that was so difficult for me 🤦‍♀️🤣

Awesome! LOL I also found this task WAY harder than I expected 😅 I'm really curious whether the next tasks will be similar...

🗝️ Week 1 Response
This box doesn’t open on its own.
It opened because you showed up as yourself.

What did you learn about each other through these picks?

This message is yours to unlock together. Keep the responses flowing between you; nothing else needs to be checked in.

OMG why is this so hard?! I actually do have a question though... Does your pick reflect the kind of books that you typically read? You mentioned that you like to read all kinds of genres - what are some of your favourites?

My pick does actually reflect my weirdness. I love creature feature genres the most especially bigfoot/sasquatch. I like to scare myself silly. If it has some sort of cryptid in it, I will read it. However I do read almost every genre out there. Reverse Harem, Dark academia, or enemies to lovers are a few that I don't read often. Once in a blue moon I will if the plot is good, otherwise it's a no go. Currently I am listening to mystery/thriller/western on audio and a YA historical fiction in book form. My most favorite are paranormal, urban fantasy, thriller/mystery, and young adult.

🔐 Week 2 Prompt: Judge This Book
Some locks don’t care what’s inside—only how it looks.
Choose a book based solely on the cover.
No blurbs. No reviews. No second guesses. Just vibes.

Week 2 is a little easier.

Agreed, that's definitely easier!

Michelle wrote: "My pick does actually reflect my weirdness. I love creature feature genres the most especially bigfoot/sasquatch. I like to scare myself silly. If it has some sort of cryptid in it, I will read it...."

Looks like we're the exact opposite 😂 I'm really bad with scary books/movies, and I rarely read paranormal or mysteries. I mainly stick with contemporary fiction, sometimes also historical or fantasy. The most important things for me is that it's a romance (and preferably a spicy one!).

Julia wrote: "Michelle wrote: "My pick does actually reflect my weirdness. I love creature feature genres the most especially bigfoot/sasquatch. I like to scare myself silly. If it has some sort of cryptid in it..."

I read contemporary fiction some. I guess I can say that I'm not really a romance reader. I'm good with some romance, but would prefer it to not be the main plotline. I love J.R. Ward though, but her stuff is mixed with vampires. I have dipped into some Mia Sheridan. Romance is more my daughter's domain. She really likes the spicy, dark, romance stuff.

Week: Week 2
Book Title: Work for It
Author: Talia Hibbert
Page Count: 284
Reflection: I'll admit that I did not choose this book completely randomly, but from my tbr pile of books that I already own. I try to avoid buying new books for challenges whenever I can since I already have so many that I haven't read yet. I'm a sucker for flowers on a cover; I just think they look so pretty. Also, I'm just realizing that that makes me sound like a big fat liar since there's also a half-naked man on the cover and here's me like, oh, no, I chose it for the background, not for the super-sexy cover model. LOL. My subconsciousness works in mysterious way. Joke's on me, though, the book ended up being rather disappointing, unfortunately. Lots of insta-lovey, overdramatic BS including the dreaded third-act breakup. Ugh.

Also, I'm just realizing that that makes me sound like a big fat liar since there's also a half-naked man on the cover and here's me like, oh, no, I chose it for the background, not for the super-sexy cover model.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I ain't judging. If you say it's for the flowers, then I wholeheartedly believe you 💯

Week: 2



• Book Title: Battle Mountain by
• Author: C.J. Box
• Page Count: 358
• Reflection - Like Julia, I also did not choose this randomly, nor do I buy books for challenges unless they are from a favorite author and I can't get it any other way. This is one of my favorite authors. Just look at this cover. The scenery, the bird, the sky...everything is gorgeous and makes it very atmospheric. I would have to say that this is my favorite cover from this series and if it was from a standalone, I probably would have picked it up. The stormy looking sky, the mountains, and that hawk all call to my soul.

We are checked in

🗝️ Week 2 Response
Looks can be deceiving.
But sometimes… they’re not.

What do you think your partner would have expected from your cover—and were they right?

This message is yours to unlock together. Keep the responses flowing between you; nothing else needs to be checked in.

Uhm... There's definitely too many "you"s in that prompt, I don't quite understand what we're supposed to do... Should we talk about our own cover or each other's? I'll ask in the Q&A...