Erica’s Comments (group member since Apr 05, 2019)

Erica’s comments from the Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge group.

Alice by Christina Henry. Horror refilling of Alice in Wonderland so this would knock off two prompts in one shot.

I'm a bit annoyed with this list. I joined started participating in 2019 and every year I've been doing the current list and one of the ones I've missed so the repetition is glaring.

I am confused that they told us months ago they would release this list and it looks like this was created five minutes before posting. Where's the 2023 theme? Changing "a favourite prompt from a previous year" to #19 instead of #40 does not disguise copy and pasting. That prompt is supposed to be the last for a reason. Also this is designed to sell books hence the "published sprin 23" and "published in the second half of 23" so why are there two silly rereads?

I may change the rereads out. I quite liked the idea about the 23 chromosomes and the 23 letter of the alphabet being W.

There were a few that were interesting though.

1 A book you meant to read in 2022 The Bridge Kingdom
2 A book you bought from an independent bookstore After Dead: What Came Next in the World of Sookie Stackhouse
3 A book about a vacation Happy Place
4 A book by a first-time author Crown of Coral and Pearl
5 A book with mythical creatures Cursed Fates
6 A book about a forbidden romance Shadow Princess
7 A book with "Girl" in the title Pemmican Wars
8 A celebrity memoir Tegan and Sara: Junior High
9 A book with a color in the title The Blue Castle
10 A romance with a fat lead Tastes Like Shakkar
11 A book about or set in Hollywood Into Every Generation a Slayer Is Born: How Buffy Staked Our Hearts
12 A book published in spring 2023 Mirror to Mirror
13 A book published before you were born Island of the Blue Dolphins
14 A modern retelling of a classic What Moves the Dead
15 A book with a song lyric as its title Heart on Fire
16 A book where the main character's name is in the title Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Omnibus, Vol. 1
17 A book with a love triangle Daughter of the Moon Goddess
18 A book that's been banned or challenged in any state in 2022 The Black Flamingo
19 A book that fulfills your favorite prompt from a past challenge: a book with a robot, cyborg, or A.I. character A Psalm for the Wild-Built
20 A book becoming a TV series or movie in 2023 The Crossover
21 A book set in the 90s Angel & Hannah: A Novel in Verse
22 A book with a queer lead The Girl from the Sea
23 A book with a mapHell Bent
24 A book with a rabbit on the cover Bunnicula
25 A book with just text on the cover Light For The World To See: A Thousand Words on Race and Hope
26 The shortest book (by pages) on your TBR list The Hurting Kind: Poems
27 A #BookTok recommendation Onyx and Ivory
28 A book you bought secondhand The Paper Palace
29 A book your friend recommended The Call of the Wild
30 A book that's on a celebrity book-club list Where the Crawdads Sing
31 A book about a family Rebound
32 A book that comes out in the second half of 2023 The Honeymoon Crashers
33 A book about an athlete/sport In Waves
34 A historical-fiction book Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption
35 A book about divorce The Recovery Agent
36 A book you think your best friend would like Other Words for Home
37 A book you should have read in high school Kinauvit?: What's Your Name? the Eskimo Disc System and a Daughter's Search for Her Grandmother
38 A book that makes you nostalgic Psyche and Eros
39 A book you wish you could read for the first time again Magic Triumphs
40 A book with a character with the same name as you Something is Killing the Children, Vol. 6
41 A book written during NaNoWriMo Fangirl, Vol. 3: The Manga
42 A book based on a popular movie Pan's Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun
43 A book that takes place entirely in one day Magic Tides
44 A book that was self-published Sweep of the Heart
45 A book that started out as fan fiction Dead But Not Forgotten: Stories from the World of Sookie Stackhouse
46 A book with a pet character The Sweetest Betrayal
47 A book about a holiday that's not Christmas Royal Valentine
48 A book that features two languages Golden Girl
49 The longest book (by pages) on your TBR list The Third Person
50 A book with alliteration in the title Cryptid Club

50/50 finished October 30

I guess all of the BOTMs would work for people who didn’t participate this year.

Out of curiosity does anyone have a specific book that they are excited to read for this challenge? I really want to read Stolen Heir by Holly Black for ps and The Secret Life Of Bees for aty which has a weird bees, bunnies or birds prompt.

I think you could just look up the closes t to you independent bookstore and see what their bestsellers were to combat the purchase element.

Ooh I really like the idea of 23 chromosomes for a prompt. The best I was coming up with for 23 was a prime number in a series ie second, third, fifth etc.

Well that is better than published in 2023, but it is a little uninspiring. Oh well it’s a prompt and I will have many books as options.

Jennifer W wrote: "I'm not sure how I feel about this book. I love it when I'm reading it, but I'm not eager to return when I put it down. I think because I don't favor character-driven novels. Anyone else running into this?"

I'm at chapter 11 and I'm sort of in the same boat. It's enjoyable to read but when I put it down it's easy to pick up something else instead. I like the children not the adults. Constant philosophy discussions are a big nope for me.

Happy Turkey day! I'm giving myself this last week to finish my one 2022 prompt and the BOTM so I can have December to read freely. Anyone else find that Nov-Dec is when your tbr increases the most?

Finished Reading:

The Summer I Turned Pretty ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Needed a mindless read and it was better than I expected.

Interstellar Cinderella ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Great artwork and a good adaption of Cinderella which is never getting old for me.

Apocalypse Taco ⭐
WTF! When picking a book by its title lets you down.

Firefly: River Run ⭐⭐⭐
Two short stories, the first was awesome but the second was a Christmas Carol story which I can't stand.

Bloodmarked ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Cliffhanger after so many pages urg! This was too long that I ended up getting annoyed with the main characters. Still this is my ya fantasy goodreads choice vote.

Zodiac Academy: Origins of an Academy Bully ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Short novella.

Spy x Family, Vol. 8 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This one is completely set on a cruise ship fyi.

PS 2022 49/50
PS 2015 50/50 ✅
Goodreads 253/250 ✅

Currently Reading:

The House in the Cerulean Sea
Slightly Tempted

QOTW:
First and foremost a healthier family than last year. We actually were able to get together.

Spy X Family, Vol. 8 is completely set on a cruise ship.

Thanks for keeping us informed Nadine.

HAHA are we an impatient lot or what?

If for some reason they lied and no list is available for 2023 will we as a group create a list?

Happy check-in! It felt cold to shovel today but really -13 isn't that bad. I need to start my xmas shopping soon but I don't feel ready for Christmas to show up. Can we go back to October or even better summer?

Finished Reading:

Meet Me in the Margins ⭐⭐⭐⭐
A cute rom-com centred around book publishers almost as good as Book Lovers.

Nick and Charlie ⭐⭐
A written novella that's after the graphic novels. I find Charlie so whiny and annoying.

Slightly Scandalous ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Third book aka follows a third sibling, in a Mary Balogh historical romance series. So far book 1 and 3 are really good book 2 was okay.

Honor and Shadows ⭐⭐⭐⭐
A good prequel novella to the sci-fi goodreads choice nominee of Hunt the Stars.

PS 2022 49/50
PS 2015 50/50 ✅
Goodreads 245/250

Currently Reading:

Bloodmarked
The House in the Cerulean Sea

QOTW:
It definitely bothers me when you have multiple books in a series and they don't match, but I mostly borrow books from the library and buy books at garage sales. So I take what I can get.

I Love Theodore! Talia is entertaining with her death threats, but I’m not finding Lucy’s to be the same. I’m still unsure of the other characters. The only real dislike is the DICOMY.

I’m in Canada so I’m curious if there are other countries involved.

@Sheri A Snake Falls To Earth is the big library read on overdrive for me too.

So I'm at 15/20

Musical feet lady, country that starts with A, read me, apple slice, gone with the wind are left.

Gone with the wind I've read your clues and they still don't make sense to me. (view spoiler)[They just randomly used a song title of Kate Bush's instead of a book title? I looked up songs by her and none of them made sense. (hide spoiler)]

I can’t get beyond the fact that the lady is wearing socks in sandals. I know that’s on trend but like mullets I will never think they’re okay looks.