Julia’s Comments (group member since Aug 13, 2025)

Julia’s comments from the Nothing But Reading Challenges group.

@Claire: You did everything right - as Mel mentioned, the formulas sometimes just need a bit of extra prodding. Sometimes it helps to delete the Ref and enter it again.

Claire wrote: "I have two books with a genre that doesn’t appear in the genre list: Claudine op school en Notities voor John. Am I doing something wrong? I’ve seen one of the task..."

Claire, your books should be showing up in the Mini tab now. Please let us know if there are any other issues 😉

VNerdbooks wrote: "No problem, switch wherever you like 😁"

Awesome, I've moved you to C26.

Actually, @VNerd, I see that you have already listed alternative options for your book Crafting for Sinners. Both C03 and C26 are still available. Do you mind switching?

Claire wrote: "I have two books with a genre that doesn’t appear in the genre list: Claudine op school en Notities voor John. Am I doing something wrong? I’ve seen one of the task..."

There are two books that have been added for G36, that is why your book Claudine op school does not show up. Is there another Mini option that would work for this book? If so, please try to enter an alternative in the SS and see if that works.

Looks like we'll definitely have enough people reading Six of Crows to get a square. I've put mine down for M01 Top of Square 1 - feel free to claim M02, M03, and M04 if you're reading Six of Crows or Snow of Ashes.

Six of Crows works nicely for Round 1 (ALN Bardugo, CFN Inej, CFN Jesper). There's no rush, though, with five main characters, I am sure that this book will work for most spellouts.

Wow Sophie, this is amazing!! Very impressive. I can highly recommend The 5th Wave, I thought it was fantastic (that was ten year ago, though...).

I wanted to do a Six of Crows reread at some point next year, but since both Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom are on the BOM list, I'm thinking of rereading them for this challenge. So if anyone wants to team up for a square or ladder and one or both of those titles work with one your books, let me know 😉

Claire, the book you've claimed on the SS starts with O, but the reference you entered is an I (R1L011). Do you want us to move that book to an O, or does it work for I after all if we were to use something other than the title?

Must be some kind of bug, I can't switch on the notifications for this thread either. Let's hope it gets resolved soon!

Melindam wrote: "Talking of MM romance, while it's not my usual genre, I really enjoy KJ Charles' books.
And, Julia, Tal Bauer was recommended to me by others, so I may try one of their books some time. :)"

K.J. Charles is the GOAT! I have yet to read a book by her that I don't adore.

Tal Bauer writes BIG love stories, and I totally get why some people call his books cheesy - I usually don't like too much of that either, but something about his books just works for me. Really looking forward to reading his new novel, especially since it's been a while since he's published anything, but it's freaking 810 pages long and I've been reading lots of long books lately. Might need a few shorter palate cleansers first before I tackle that behemoth.

ClaireB wrote: "You can call me ClaireB. I don't mind. I'll change my profile name to avoid confusion for the duration of the challenge."

That's great, Claire, thanks. I've already updated the tracking SS, so hopefully, there shouldn't be any mixups.

ClaireB wrote: "Contemporary Romance: Ali Hazelwood, I love her books"

That's awesome. I've only recently gotten into her books as I mainly read MM romance, but I'm obsessed! Currently listening to my second audiobook and I'm eating it up!

We have two Claires on our team. Would either of you be okay with us adding the initial of your second name or something similar to your name on the spreadsheet so that we can tell you apart? It could also be a random letter or number or a nickname, anything at all, really. I was going to just add your country, but you're both from Belgium 😉

Hello Team Tongariro Alpine Crossing 😊

Delighted to be co-captaining this challenge together with Mel and Karen.

🌍 Where are you journeying from?
I'm joining you guys from a small town in Austria.

💖 A book, author, or genre that’s always “preciousss” to you?
I mostly read contemporary romance novels, although I do love to throw the odd fantasy novel in there to mix things up. As long as I'm getting good character development and a swoony love story, I'm a happy gal!

🍫 Optional snack check: if you were bringing second breakfast for the road, what’s in your pack?
I love ice cream, but that might not be the best snack for the road... Fruit or chocolate, maybe?

🧿“Who is your favourite villain… and why is it obviously Me, Sauron?"
Well... If we're talking Sauron from the Rings of Power series... Mmmmh, yes please!

💍 Which unread book on your shelf whispers to you most like the Ring?
Briar Prescott's and Tal Bauer's new releases that I haven't gotten around to reading yet. And Quicksilver, but I'm waiting for #2 to be published before I dive in.

🌋Which books/characters did you feel like throwing into Mount Doom?
Any book that features miscommunication and a third-act breakup. Such a lazy and unneccessary way to create additional drama. If I could, I'd yeet them all into Mount Doom and not regret it for one second.

🥾What’s your favourite real-life walk… and why is it clearly the Road to Mordor?
I must say, nothing beats the walks in NZ. I lived there for a year 10 years ago. Never got to do the Tongariro Crossing, since the weather was really bad when I was on the North Island, so I guess I'll just have to go back at some stage. But yeah, definitely some great hikes there.

🎒 Would you survive the Tongariro Alpine Crossing carrying Sam’s cookware set and Frodo’s the Mighty Lord Sauron's Ring?
I like to think that I would. But maybe I'm just delusional. To be determined, I guess.

⚔️ If you needed rescuing, which literary character(s) would you choose would you choose the Nazgûls, the Balrog or the Orcs?
Nazgûl all the way! (Horse girlie here, so this is a non-brainer.)