Audrey Jane’s Comments (group member since May 27, 2014)

Audrey Jane’s comments from the Nothing But Reading Challenges group.

Lovely, just ate a piece of camembert. It was time I finished it because the fridge was smelling a bit too much imo 😅

Completion post


Book: Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
Date Read: May 20, 2025
Pages: 324 (word count: 61 954)
Rating: ★★★
Tasks:
- Mini 1: Set in Mongolia
- Mini 2 - 8. Read a book that is an against all odds / survival story (characters are locked up in a tower for 7 years with not enough supplies)
- Mini 3 - letter D - Dashti (Main character)

I'm a mix of all three as well: audiobooks, physical books, and kindle. It's my 3rd kindle paperwhite so far. The first one I had for 10y and then suddenly it wouldn't turn on anymore. The 2nd one unfortunately I left on the radiator a couple of months later and the battery melted :/

I've finished my last pre-challenge book today. Can't wait to start 🎉 !

Coincidentally the book I'm trying to find in one of my moving boxes is around 700pages and I really want to read it during this challenge haha. Book where are you ?!

Just like Eldarwen, most of my books are around 350 pages or more. I think it depends on the genre. I mostly read historical fiction and those books tend to be on the longer side. Same with fantasy books.

My first read for the challenge will be my retelling book set in Mongolia, Book Of a Thousand Days. After that I have a couple of books around the 400 pages planned.

Welcome to the team, Charlotte and Ashleigh !

I agree, I like when completion posts are posted on the team's thread during the challenge, that way I have more visibility on the team members reads and it increases my TBR with books that haven't been on my radar ;)

Will add my planned books to the tracking sheet tomorrow.

Eldarwen wrote: "That's a problem haha. But I'm sure you'll find the right box eventually :-) And you'll probably discover a handful of other books you really want to read right away while looking for this particul..."

Yes, it will be like opening christmas presents :) I sometimes forget some of the books I have.

During the challenge I'm planning to read Book of a Thousand Days (hard - set in Mongolia) and Infamous Lady: The True Story of Countess Erzsébet Báthory (midlevel - set in Hungary). That last book I purchased online from a thrift book shop and is still on its way to my mailbox.
The rest of my reads will depend on my mood and accessibility :) I very recently moved and all my physical books are still in boxes. There's one book in particular that I want to read but I can't remember in which box I've put it :')

Hello everyone ! Checking in 🤗 My name is Audrey, I'm a flemish speaking belgian living in France with my companion, Khan (a belgian tervuren). I love history and studied it at university. My favourite genres are historical & gothic fiction, retellings and occasionally mysteries.

I've played TT before and really like this pretty easy going team challenge. Looking forward to play with you all :) !

My shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Will join you ladies with the sweet white wines, the darker the better. My favourite is Monbazillac.

Richard wrote: "Camembert & muscat is such a taste explosion.

Agree. Ate some baked camembert, a piece of baguette with jam on it and cider yesterday 😋

Melindam wrote: "I have A Splendid Defiance on my TBR as I think it was mentioned by my Dorothy Dunnett loving GR friends, but will put The Parfitt Knight on my TBR, too. 😊"

I haven't read A Splendid Defiance yet, I'm adding that one :)

Melindam wrote: "Lisa - (Aussie Girl) wrote: "So completely off topic. But question for our European team mates.

Next year my friend and I have been besties for 50 years through thick and thin. We are thinking of..."

I agree with Mel about historic cities in Germany and Austria, they are well known over whole Europe. On a sidenote, I love Vienna as well, it's in my top 3 European cities :) (the other two are Rome and Edinburgh ♥️).

The biggest Christmas market I'm familiar with is the one in Köln (Germany), Strasbourg (France) and Colmar (France), the location of that the last two are beautiful and fairytale-like ! Bruges (Belgium) is also pretty. Basically in France the region of Alsace is most famous for Christmas markets :)

This year I'm going to visit the Christmas market of Leuven (Flanders, Belgium) again and the one of Tours and Amboise (France). Although cute and very pretty, these are markets on a smaller scale.

Melindam wrote: "The author Stella Riley has been on my radar for some time now, I should really try one of her books. 😊"

I honestly think you might enjoy Stella Riley's Rockliffe series, Mel :) I read a couple of books by Georgette Heyer and seeing that you enjoy her books I think Stella Riley might work for you as well. Would be curious.

Finished my last book for this round, The Nightingale's Castle which is based on the real Countess Elizabeth Báthory.
I recently listened to a podcast about Elizabeth Bathory and was fascinated ! The guest, Kimberly L. Craft, told her story in such a way I wanted to know more so I added the author's book Infamous Lady: The True Story of Countess Erzsébet Báthory to my TBR and look forward to read it :)
I like history and also enjoy listening/reading about cold cases or historical true crime so this is right up my alley.

I second Mel's recommendation of the The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery ! I plan to re-read that book around Christmas.

A couple of my favourites historical romances were The Parfit Knight by Stella Riley, Night in Eden by Candice Proctor and Silver Lining by Debbie Macomber.

Captains, I will be able to finish The Gathering but had to remove my N book from the 7th spell-it-out. I was a little bit too optimistic when adding my books for this week 😅 considering I was still struggling with jetlag.

And I concur Ilona Andrews books are always a lot of fun :) Still need to read the last 2 books in the Innkeeper series.

Thank you captains/Mel for adding my book !!! Much appreciated :) ! Glad to read we're currently 1st ! If I remember correctly I was on the winning team with team Thundercats and District 11 (not 100% sure, can't check on the phone).

I was on team Cher as well :) That was a lot of fun too. 'If I could turn back time' was stuck in my head the whole challenge :D

I'm currently in transit and will be in front of a PC this weekend, which will be much easier in order to have a better overview of things. I have a couple of books I mind for round 3 but will have to check for the letter X.