Danielle The Book Huntress ’s Comments (group member since Jan 27, 2010)

Danielle The Book Huntress ’s comments from the Dangerous Hero Addict Support Group group.

Here's our 2025 reading thread. Dive in!

Danielle's DHASG Fall into Autumn Quarterly Challenge

Date: 22-September-2024 to 20-December-2024

Introduction: It’s now officially autumn. The falling leaves, the chill in the air, the pumpkin spice, the cozy and spooky reading. It’s time!! Let’s celebrate the autumn season through our reading.

Challenge Options:

Option A: Fall Cornucopia
Description: A cornucopia is a horn-shaped container overflowing with produce. How do we represent it? Spell it out!
Spell out CORNUCOPIA with your reading, using the author’s first or last name, the name of a character, the first letter of the book title, the name of the series, etc.

C-
O-
R-Remender, Rick, Deadly Class, Volume 1: Reagan Youth 9/28/2024
N-
U-
C-
O-
P-
I-
A-

Completed: 1/10

Option B: Fall Harvest

Description: Represent the “fruits of the season” with your reading. Pick a # of items to fill up your bushel for the harvest by reading books that fit the theme of these fruits/veggies. How? That’s up to you. This can actually be fall fruits and veggies or other staple items of the season.
Some suggestions:

Fall Veggies:

Artichokes
Broccoli
Broccolini
Broccoli rabe
Brussels sprouts
Carrots
Cauliflower
Celeriac (celery root)
Chayote
Chicories (radicchio, endive)
Greens
Leeks
Parsnips
Rutabagas
Sunchokes
Sweet potatoes
Tomatillos
Winter squash

FALL FRUITS:

Apples
Cranberries
Figs
Grapes
Pears
Persimmons
Pumpkin
Pomegranates

Other Fall Must Haves:

Fall drinks
Mushrooms
Cinnamon/Nutmeg/Warm Spices
Turkey
Nuts (walnuts/chestnuts/pecans)
Can you think of others

Option C: Fall to Do List

Description: Compile a list of your favorite fall activities, including holiday celebrations, things you do in the fall, and seasonal standards.

Watch scary movies
Rake leaves
Go ice skating
Play hockey
Go to football games
Pick apples
Go on a hayride
Go to fall festivals, ie Oktoberfest
Go to a corn maze
Carve a Pumpkin/Visit a pumpkin patch
Go to a haunted house
Make a bonfire
Go Camping or Hiking
Take walks and enjoy the fall scenery
Watch tv
Curl up with a book
Drink pumpkin spice drinks or cocoa
Bake and make sweets and treats
Celebrate Thanksgiving
Go Trick or Treating
Go holiday shopping
Go horseback riding
Decorate for the holidays
Attend or throw a Halloween Party
Make crafts/sew/knit
Play outdoor games
Visit family and friends
Pull out your fall/cool weather clothes (sweaters, heavy jackets, winter books, gloves and hats)
Can you think of other traditionally fall activities?

Option D: Make it Spooky!

Description: For this part of the challenge, you can go all in with the spooky fall vibes. Just read all spooky/horror books. Here are some options to pursue if you so choose. (all of these can be crossover with romance if you would like)

Read a haunted house book
Read a Gothic horror or Gothic Romance
Read a vampire horror book or romance.
Read a serial killer/slasher book.
Read a monster/zombie horror book.
Read a rural horror book.
Read a cosmic or Sci-fiction horror book
Read a dark romance novel
Read a murder mystery (can be supernatural or not)
Read a book where the character is trapped/stranded in a dangerous and scary situation.
Read a thriller/suspense novel.
Read a dark tone witchy themed book.
Read a dark academia novel.
Read a dark fiction/horror/thriller/suspense book that doesn’t fall into any of the above categories.

Please let me know if you have questions or suggestions!

Arch wrote: " Danielle The Book Huntress wrote: "I am doing a lot of Kindle reading lately. I want to read more physical books, but I end up picking up my phone and using the Kindle app or my Ipad kindle. I don..."

Not really. I like that I can adjust the side of the font. I find that I have more trouble with small print books.

Hey I just wanted to say that I extended this challenge until the end of official Summer, September 21st, since I didn't post a Summer challenge. Hope that's okay!

Challenge Participants

Cassie Cruel
Danielle TBH
RaeRae

DHASG Fall into Autumn Quarterly Challenge

Date: 22-September-2024 to 20-December-2024

Introduction: It’s now officially autumn. The falling leaves, the chill in the air, the pumpkin spice, the cozy and spooky reading. It’s time!! Let’s celebrate the autumn season through our reading.

Rules:
1. The books must be read between September 22nd to December 20th.
2. Sign up for the challenge on this thread and update your progress regularly and when finished. Please list the challenge and the book and criteria used for each part of the challenge.
3. Books may only be read once for each option. (you can repeat books across different options)
4. Rereads are allowed.
5. Any member of DHASG may participate.

Challenge Options:

Option A: Fall Cornucopia
Description: A cornucopia is a horn-shaped container overflowing with produce. How do we represent it? Spell it out!
Spell out CORNUCOPIA with your reading, using the author’s first or last name, the name of a character, the first letter of the book title, the name of the series, etc.

C-
O-
R-
N-
U-
C-
O-
P-
I-
A-


Option B: Fall Harvest

Description: Represent the “fruits of the season” with your reading. Pick a # of items to fill up your bushel for the harvest by reading books that fit the theme of these fruits/veggies. How? That’s up to you. This can actually be fall fruits and veggies or other staple items of the season.
Some suggestions:

Fall Veggies:

Artichokes
Broccoli
Broccolini
Broccoli rabe
Brussels sprouts
Carrots
Cauliflower
Celeriac (celery root)
Chayote
Chicories (radicchio, endive)
Greens
Leeks
Parsnips
Rutabagas
Sunchokes
Sweet potatoes
Tomatillos
Winter squash

FALL FRUITS:

Apples
Cranberries
Figs
Grapes
Pears
Persimmons
Pumpkin
Pomegranates

Other Fall Must Haves:

Fall drinks
Mushrooms
Cinnamon/Nutmeg/Warm Spices
Turkey
Nuts (walnuts/chestnuts/pecans)
Can you think of others

Option C: Fall to Do List

Description: Compile a list of your favorite fall activities, including holiday celebrations, things you do in the fall, and seasonal standards.

Watch scary movies
Rake leaves
Go ice skating
Play hockey
Go to football games
Pick apples
Go on a hayride
Go to fall festivals, ie Oktoberfest
Go to a corn maze
Carve a Pumpkin/Visit a pumpkin patch
Go to a haunted house
Make a bonfire
Go Camping or Hiking
Take walks and enjoy the fall scenery
Watch tv
Curl up with a book
Drink pumpkin spice drinks or cocoa
Bake and make sweets and treats
Celebrate Thanksgiving
Go Trick or Treating
Go holiday shopping
Go horseback riding
Decorate for the holidays
Attend or throw a Halloween Party
Make crafts/sew/knit
Play outdoor games
Visit family and friends
Pull out your fall/cool weather clothes (sweaters, heavy jackets, winter books, gloves and hats)
Can you think of other traditionally fall activities?

Option D: Make it Spooky!

Description: For this part of the challenge, you can go all in with the spooky fall vibes. Just read all spooky/horror books. Here are some options to pursue if you so choose. (all of these can be crossover with romance if you would like)

Read a haunted house book
Read a Gothic horror or Gothic Romance
Read a vampire horror book or romance.
Read a serial killer/slasher book.
Read a monster/zombie horror book.
Read a rural horror book.
Read a cosmic or Sci-fiction horror book
Read a dark romance novel
Read a murder mystery (can be supernatural or not)
Read a book where the character is trapped/stranded in a dangerous and scary situation.
Read a thriller/suspense novel.
Read a dark tone witchy themed book.
Read a dark academia novel.
Read a dark fiction/horror/thriller/suspense book that doesn’t fall into any of the above categories.

Please let me know if you have questions or suggestions!

I honestly didn't know about it until about maybe 3 months ago, and then I promptly forgot. LOL!

I am doing a lot of Kindle reading lately. I want to read more physical books, but I end up picking up my phone and using the Kindle app or my Ipad kindle. I don't actually use my Kindle much because I use my Ipad more. I am doing a lot of Netgalley books lately and it's so useful. I do buy Kindle books though I have way too many books on my Kindle. LOL!

Yeah, it gives me kind of an icky feeling when a character is with more than one person from the same family. I tend to actively avoid this theme. I feel like this was a big one in the 80s and 90s that was considered taboo in series romances, so they did it a lot. I can't imagine a family get together where you are encountering your ex at the same table as your current partner. Whew! Too much drama.

I think it's very hard to do a childhood friends to lovers book well. In general, I think friends to lovers is hard to pull off for me.

I admit I was reading "dark romance" before it was a genre, but now that it's a distinct genre, I don't know if it's for me. I am slowly dipping my toes into it. What about you?

If you do read it, which books do your recommend to a newbie who might have some potential triggers?

Hi, reading friends.

I have been meaning to chat with my DHASG friends about a topic, and I just kept forgetting.

So what do you guys think about Dark Romance?

I'll never see Walmart the same. :) I would like to see how Cop makes toothpaste a weapon. That was a great scene.

I also liked Sanjar and Cop's wordless communication.

Thanks for posting, Arch!

Danielle's DHASG Floral Bouquet Quarterly Challenge

Dates: 25 March 2024-30 August 2024



Option A: Create Your Own Bouquet.
For this challenge option, you can make a "bouquet" out of the books you read by picking books related to flowers/ornamental plants. It can be very literal, in other words, a character in the book, the name of the book, the book has the specific flower on the cover, or the author's name is a plant or flower.

Completed: 3/??

1. The Only Purple House in Town by Ann Aguirre 4/5 --Heroine's name is Iris
2. Damned If I Duke by Anna Bradley 4/9 --Heroine is holding a bouquet on the cover
3. Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey 4/25--Scene where character and horse are in a field with apple blossoms falling over them.
4. Kill Her Twice by Stacey Lee 4/28--Flowers on the cover and character's name is Peony
5. Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan 8/31--Lead character seeks a special flower.

Thanks for signing up, Suzanne!

Thanks, Eleven! It sounds good!

DHASG Floral Bouquet Quarterly Challenge

Dates: 25 March 2024-21 September 2024

Foreword: Instead of a traditional Spring challenge, I thought it would be fun to do a Floral Theme for our Spring challenge, and it will last through the main growing season. I'll still post a Summer challenge, so don't worry.

Instructions: For this challenge, we are going to read books with an all things floral/growing plants in mind. That can include plant friendly insects such as butterflies, bees, moths, and ladybugs, etc.

Rules:
1. Books must be read between 25 March and 21 August of 2024.
2. Any genre of book counts for this challenge but a book can only count once per option.
3. Please sign up here and update your progress regularly and when you are done.

Option A: Create Your Own Bouquet.
For this challenge option, you can make a "bouquet" out of the books you read by picking books related to flowers/ornamental plants. It can be very literal, in other words, a character in the book, the name of the book, the book has the specific flower on the cover, or the author's name is a plant or flower. The character could be a florist, so they work with different flowers. The exception is we cannot use vegetables and fruit (that's for summer!) You could use Cherry Blossom, just not Cherry.

Here's a longer list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...

Option B: Spell out your floral dream. Use one of the following phrases and spell out your books.

1. “The earth laughs in flowers.” 22 Letters
2. “Flowers don’t tell, they show.” 23 Letters
3. “Every flower blooms in its own time.” 29 Letters
4. "The birds and the bees" 18 Letters
5. "April showers to May flowers" 24 letters
6. "Bloom where you're planted." 22 letters

Option C: Word Bank
Choose any of these words for inspiration related to your reads. Variations in tense are always appropriate.

Petal
Bloom
Seed
Butterfly
Hummingbird
Wildflower
Birdsong
Spring
Rain
Garden
Sprite
Plant
Grow
Posy
Wedding

Feel free to add your own floral/blooming related terms.

Any questions?

Challenge Participants

Suzanne wrote: "Dangerous Hero Addict Support Group
DHASG Winter Reading Challenge
Duration: December 21st, 2023-March 19th, 2024

Progress: 18 out of 18

Description: Let's read some winter-themed books to celebr..."

Way to go, Suzanne!

DemetraP wrote: "For a dangerous hero, try this merman.

Faraway by Abigail Kelly was a great read. The hero is a merman. She is a human witch. She moves to an island where nobody lives to be a liaison to the mer-..."

Thanks for the rec, Demetra!

Who are some characters that on the surface you would normally despise or seriously dislike, but you actually ended up liking or loving them?