Julia’s Comments (group member since Jul 20, 2025)

Julia’s comments from the Hooked on Books group.

Same, I just can't say no to a good reading challenge. I was on a team with Jessica for the MM Scavenger Hunt, and she would always mention some exciting new challenge and encourage us to sign up, and things have kind of escalated from there... 😂

Janeylou wrote: "Julia, have you always been a MOD in this group as ive only just noticed it on you picture ....although im not the most observant 😄"

No, this is a VERY recent development! 😉 I'm the resident newbie mod.

Manically giggling because we got BOOKED! 😂

(Sorry. I know it's not funny. But I can't stop laughing.)

Love it! Happy reading.

I'll see how it goes, I'm currently reading a book that technically fits the prompt since it's written from a man's perspective, which, yes, is different than mine. But I'll admit that that's not a very creative way to go about this task... Depending on how I get on time-wise, I might be able to read something else that that fits the prompt in a more sophisticated manner, LOL.

MN Lisa wrote: "🗝️ Week 4 Response
Some keys are forged in pattern.
Whether you leaned in or tried to break free, you told us something.

Were you right about how your partner felt about their trope—or totally off?"

Hehe, look at us, already doing that before we were even asked to 😉

Team 11 - Slow Burn, Fast Escape

Team Thread: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Michelle wrote: "My best guess is that enemies to lovers is a trope you really like. It's romance and it's Ali Hazelwood and If you are like most other readers of hers, this was highly enjoyable. I don't think I have ever met anyone who had a bad thing to say about Ali Hazelwood. As for "third-act breakup" I had to google it because I had no idea what that even meant 🤣🤣. After reading it, I'm like oh that. I never really knew it had a name. If I had to make an educated guess, I'm thinking you tolerate it, but it's really not your favorite thing"

I'm assuming that we'll have to tell each other whether our guesses were correct in the next step, so I'm just gonna go ahead and do that 😉

Funnily enough, I mainly read M/M, and this was actually my first ever Ali Hazelwood book 😂 I must say, I was definitely positively surprised and I can see why she's so popular.

I love a good enemies-to-lovers, but only a very specific type. If the two love interests are members of opposing fractions that fall in love despite all the odds being stacked against them, sign me up! I will eat that up! However, if the MCs initially hate each other because of some stupid rivalry that is just between them, I usually find myself rolling my eyes, because come on, who has an enemy at uni?! That might be dislike or even hate, but I would not call that enemies, and I usually find that it just creates unneccessary drama that could be resolved if they weren't being so pig-headed.

The third-act-breakup, however, is a trope that I absolutely despise. It might actually be my most hated trope of all times, and it always causes me to drop at least one star from my overall rating. I feel like it implies that it can only be true love if we first get the big, fat misunderstanding, the breakup, and then the grand reunion and declaration of undying love. It's actually really hard to find a romance book that doesn't feature a spin on that tired trope, and I loathe it every single time. I'm so over it, and it always makes me want to throw my kindle straight out the window. I'd much rather read about them facing some kind of outside threat or obstacle together.

Hot Doggin' (223 pgs) might work, it's about two veterans. It's overall rather lighthearted, but there are moments that deal with PTSD, plus one of them has lost a leg.

Michelle wrote: "🔐 Week 4 Prompt: Pick a Trope, Any Trope
This lock is a little more dramatic than the others. It wants a twist.
Choose a book with a trope you either love, hate, or can’t stop reading.

[bookcover:..."

Uuuh, okay. I'm gonna say that you like slow-burn romance but don't necessarily need a love story at all in all your books - you mentioned before that you're not really a romance reader. So I'm guess if you do read a book with a romance plot/sub-plot, you prefer that relationship to develop over time.

As for the Chosen One trope... That's a tricky one, especially since I'm trying to not let my own thoughts about it influence how I think YOU feel about it. I'm gonna say that you really like this one, cause I feel like that might also go hand-in-hand with your penchant for paranormal/urban fantasy. I'm guessing that the Chosen One is a trope that you quite often encounter in your favourite genres.

Week: Week 4
Book Title: Bride
Author: Ali Hazelwood
Page Count: 410
Tropes: enemies to lovers, third-act breakup

I've only recently gotten into them, tbh. Tried them a few years ago and decided they were not for me; but then I discovered graphic audios a couple months ago, and now I like listening to those or to regular audiobooks in the car.

Question about the Week 4 Prompt: Pick a Trope, Any Trope. Do we have to feel strongly about this trope, i.e. love or hate, or can it also be a trope that we enjoy, but don't go nuts over? Or something that we only like if it's done in a very specific way?

🔐 Week 4 Prompt: Pick a Trope, Any Trope
This lock is a little more dramatic than the others. It wants a twist.
Choose a book with a trope you either love, hate, or can’t stop reading.
Enemies to lovers. Found family. Secret royalty. You know the type.

Your partner has to guess how you feel about it.

Michelle wrote: "🗝️ Week 3 Response

Is it possible that you just needed a break for awhile from this author? I can't binge read a series. I have to take a break in between books so that I don't get bored."

I think that might be true, yeah. Although there are still some books by her that I won't pick up any time soon since I know they're too shallow and cheesy for my taste.

And I feel the same way about longer series! I'm currently rereading Throne of Glass and I'm on book 7 now and I just can bring myself to to listen to it in the car any longer... Overall really enjoyed seeing all the characters again but I'm exhausted.

Same, I'm also always hesitant to pick up anything longer than 400 pages.

Sooo... Maybe you're more likely to give a long book by a new to you author a try, since your four star rating seems to indicate that you liked it after all? Would you read another book by this author?

Agreed, I'd also just go for it and purchase any property we land on for now, as long as we have the money...

Any book from the Throne of Glass series would work, since I'm doing a reread and thus already knew all the plot twists going in. They all have a high page count though...

Week: Week 3
Book Title: Outrun the Rain
Author: N.R. Walker
Page Count: 190
Reflection: N.R Walker used to be one of my favourite authors, but over the past few years, I found that her newer releases tended to be a bit too cheesy for my taste. This trilogy has been sitting on my TBR since it was published two years ago (I used to read her new releases within the month that they were published in). I finally read them now because they worked for this as well as two other reading challenges that I'm participating in. So glad that I did, because I really enjoyed the whole trilogy and binge-read it within a matter of days.

🔐 Week 3 Prompt: Your Missing Piece
Some locks stay closed because something’s missing.
Choose a book that fills a gap in your reading life—something you’ve been avoiding, neglecting, or meaning to try.
Even better if it’s outside your comfort zone.

Yeah... I had kinda high hopes since the reviews were really good.