Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy discussion
Monthly Reading Challenges
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March 2009 Reading Challenge
Hey, since you guys were following my diaper cake dealio - here's a link to my blog entry with photos (My Mommy To Be loved it btw): http://tinyurl.com/d8wrxqMeanwhile, I've really zoomed in my Heroes Arise book. I'm already 2/3rds done! WOOHOO! :) Hope everyone else had a great Sunday of reading!
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I didn't think I really staggered up the stairs. I did stagger trying to get my shoes off while holding this thing... HAHAHAHA One of those sets of stairs were the ones outside - all slick from the rain. FUN... HAHA Then it was a half set of stairs inside. Let me tell you, huge platter and narrow stairs? Not so fun! LOL
I think the shower went well. Especially considering none of us party planners ever met in person. We did everything via email and twitter and texting! And one manic phone call trying to save self from Teh Cute at Babies R Us. LOL
UPDATE1.ON THE PROWL *****FINISHED 03/11
2.NightKeepers - Jessica Andersen
3.Forbidden Magic - Cheyenne McCray
4.BLUE MOON - LORI HANDELAND *****FINISHED 03/15
5.Morrigan's Cross - Nora Roberts
6.THE HARLEQUIN - LAURELL K HAMILTON **** FINISHED 03/09
7.ETERNALLY - MAUREEN CHILD *** FINISHED 03/09
8.Dead Witch Walking - Kim Harrison
9.Urban Shaman - C.E.MURPHY
Blue Moon was a fantastic read, it has a kick-butt heroine called Jessie, a yummy love interest called Will, Werewolves, Native American Legends, Nazi plots and lots of fast action. This book is the first in the Nightcreature Series by Lori Handeland and one series that I am looking forward to following.
1.Anthology - Beyond Magic, by Kearney, Cunningham and Sims2.Fantasy/Magical romance - Kiss of a Demon King by Kresley Cole (Sony Reader book)
3.Futuristic Romance - True Deception by Patricia Waddell.
4.Shapeshifter - Mortal Sins by Eileen Wilks (Sony book) ** 03-7-09
5.Vampire Romance - The Undead Next Door by Kerrelyn Sparks
6.Time Travel Romance - TBD
7.Romantic Fantasy - The Smoke Thief by Shana Abe.
8.Romantic Science Fiction/ Futuristic Fantasy - Wanderlust by Ann Aguirre. (Sony book)
9.Romantic Urban Fantasy - Gale Force by Rachel Caine
Well, dang. I haven't finished any more of these. I read PROMISES IN DEATH by J.D. Robb... Which isn't on my list, but I can probably stick it in somewhere...
I'm not getting many of my Challenge books read, am I? But it's just now past the 1/2-way point... I'm writing more than reading. Does that count?
Shazzy, Me too. But they didn't do that sort of thing in the 90s. LOL I heard they became popular cause they had one on sex in the city. I didn't know anyone on that show had a baby. But I guess that was an eventuality given the name, right? ROFL Thanks for the compliment!Diane, I really enjoyed that book... I have the next two ready to roll at some point!
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1. Anthology
2. Fantasy/Magical Romance
Atlantis Rising - Alyssa Day
3. Futuristic Romance
4. ShapeShifter Romance
5. Time-Travel Romance finished 3/16
6. Vampire Romance
Dark Curse - Christine Feehan
7. Romantic Fantasy
One Foot in the Grave - Jeanine Frost
8. Romantic Science Fiction/Futuristic Fantasy
Dead to the World - Charlaine Harris
9. Romantic Urban Fantasy
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Yz - 5 books done
Ann - 8 books done
Barbara - 3 books done
Melissa - 2 books done
Lori - 4 books done
DarkHeart - 2 books done
Shazzy - 4 books done
Lady Ozma - 6 books done
Angie - 5 books done
McKayla
Gail - 1 book done
Kristen - 2 books done
Dawn - 6 categories (10 books read)
Nicole - 5 books done
Michelle M - 8 books done
Diane - 4 books
Karen - 7 books done
Kenjii - 2 book done
Martina - 7 books done
Brandy - 3 book done
Terri - 1 book donene
Jamie - 2 books done
No one had signed up since last update.
Group's running total: 91 books read.
Great work, ladies!
Signing up will remain open throughout the whole month.
Note: For ease of tracking, please repost your official list with your progress after every update. Striking out the title and/or a finished date after the book's name will be best.
Next update will be March 21.
We're doing great!!! :) Good job everyone!!
okay after I finish the brotherhood books that I recieved I will finish my list of challenge books. I just can't leave the brother's hanging I have to know what happens...sorry guys
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Yep....my good friend Michelle, turned me onto the Brotherhood. And honestly have not turned back.So I am trying to get caught up for Rehv's book.
I just can't wait and I have not even finished the series yet.
I am just now on book 4. Good thing I like to read and I can read fast. (but I catch all the good deatils)
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3. Futuristic Romance
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8. Romantic Science Fiction/Futuristic Fantasy
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Well, there it is. All 9 finished. I know I said I was going to try to NOT re-read anything. But this month that desire fell through. So, anyway, I re-read my last book (SciFi/Futuristic fantasy). The last few days have been hectic, to say the least. And my hubby is sick (cold) so that makes things worse. I wasn't able to concentrate with him calling me every 5 minutes, so I decided to re-read one, that way I didn't have to worry about "missing" any special nuances. This is the 3rd book in a 5 book arc. The first 2 are straight scifi, this one is scifi with romance. The 4th book is also scifi with romance, and then the last one is back to straight scifi.
I'm having trouble finding some good Time Travel books. Mostly b/c I'm not very interested in time travel going BACK in time - I'd rather have them going into the future. The one I currently have on my list is "Time Transit" by Kay Austin, but I just can't get excited about it due to some pretty bad reviews.
Anyone else have a GOOD recommendation for futuristic time travel. Either that or something really GOOD that has our protagonist traveling back to Regency-era England. I'm a big Jane Austen fan so Regency-era still sometimes works for me. I just don't read these anymore - I pretty much exclusively read PNR or UF with a bit of futuristic romance mixed in (unfortunately not TIME TRAVEL futuristic romance). *sigh*
I am planning to read Rough and Ready by Sandra Hill it got really good reviews. It is about Vikings and this guy he is a SEAL he goes back in time to hurt the viking that hurt his sister and destroyed his home. It is supposed to be funny, have action and a good romance
Ooh that sounds good! Maybe I will have to change mine.. hrmmmm
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You can check out Deidre Knight's Mignight Warrior series. They have elements of time travel, plus its a sci-fi romance. It's one of my favorite series, even though I'm not really into "alien" stories. Check it out.
One more knocked out, and one change.3. FUTURISTIC Romance - Susan Kearney's "The Challenge" is next up!
4. SHAPESHIFTER Romance - Soul Song by Marjorie M. Liu
9. Romantic URBAN FANTASY - I'm changing this to Emma Holly's Fairyville; the other one was looking less inviting by the minute.
Lori wrote: "Nicole, have you read the first two in the series? If not, these are best read in order or I'm afraid..."I haven't! They didn't have them at the local bookstore. Part of the reason I went with "The Challenge" was because I couldn't get the first book in the series "Caressed by Ice" is in. (That was a problem with several of the futuristic series, actually - they were missing the first couple of books.)
Lady Ozma wrote: "Nicole: If your borders is like mine they aren't a book store. Hope yours is selling loads of CDs and DVDs!!! That's what mine pushes, and their coffee. It's more like 'Oh yeah, and we have some books..."It's not quite like that at mine. Their book section seems to still be respectable. I'm noticing the same thing in the CD and DVD sections; it's like all the shelves are only half-full.
Ann - I gave you a book for that topic! What happened?Nicole - The people in our Borders obviously aren't there for the books. They didn't know about NYT bestsellers I was asking for. Another time they told me a book wasn't in but then I found a giant stack of them in the corner of the store. It's pretty bad. I have NO respect for that store.
Martina's Update:1.
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5. TIME TRAVEL ROMANCE - TBD
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1. 2. Fantasy/Magical
3. Futuristic Romance
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5. Time-Travel
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8. Romantic Science Fiction/Futuristic Fantasy
9. Romantic Urban Fantasy
Martina wrote: "I'm having trouble finding some good Time Travel books. Mostly b/c I'm not very interested in time travel going BACK in time - I'd rather have them going into the future. The one I currently ..."
Yes... Martina, Lori Foster's newest is a time travel forward. I'm having trouble with it - it's my first forward time travel... and my mind is having trouble wrapping itself around that. LOL. But the writing is good, the plot is fascinating, and soon I'm sure my brain is gonna catch up with the idea.
Martina, have you read Outlander? It's a time travel romance involving time travel from the 1940's back to the highlands in the 1700's. It's the first of a very popular series. It's a big book but I really enjoyed it.
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Give them another try, they really WILL grow on you. At least they did ME. I enjoyed the 3rd book the best, simply because of the fun of a family with 1 adult and 11 kids trying to understand Hollywood.
And Oz--its your Dad's fault I couldn't get into the book you loaned me. I re-read page 3 about a dozen times because he seemed to KNOW when I picked it up and yelled for me to do something for him (run to drug store, make tea, fix food, etc). By re-reading the Andre Norton, it didn't matter if I lost track of where I was on the page.
Martina, I have just started My Man Michael by Lori Foster. It's time-travel and seems to be pretty good so far, IMHO.
You need to read that series. It's great. Very hard sci. She's like a physicist. ;) 
UPDATE:1)
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8) Romantic Science Fiction & Furturistic Fantasy: Heart Fate by Robin D. Owens
9)
Martina ... try .. Author NINA BANGS ... she has one book in particular that deals with a young woman and a travel group in the future who travel back to 17th century scotland ... ITS GREAT and FUN
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UPDATE: 1.
2. Fantasy/Magical
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5. Time-Travel
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8. Romantic Science Fiction/Futuristic Fantasy
9. Romantic Urban Fantasy
Thanks everyone for all the recommendations for the Romantic Time Travel category!I just ordered Parallel Attractions by Deidre Knight & Twist by Colby Hodge. They'll both be here in a couple days and I'll decide then which one to read for the challenge.
I read Outlander (& subsequent series books) starting back in 1991 when it first came out. Basically I've just moved on from the time travel genre as the "backwards in time" plot line started to get old after reading hundreds of books of the same vein. I LOVE the futuristic ones though! So, if you have any more suggestions for futuristic time travel, please let me know!
Oz, we had a discussion somewhere on goodreads, about how the quality of Borders varies wildly depending on where you live. Some of them are fantastic, with very knowledgable staff. And others are terrible, and staffed with morons. It sounds like you have one of the latter... (I'm lucky and have several good ones in my home town.)
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But I have to agree with her--we definately have one of the YUCKO (with capital letters and screamed) ones. They don't even have an "employee recommends" shelf.
Well, having finished off my list for the month, I'm now scrounging at our (brand new, just re-opened) local library branch. Its about twice the size it was before. I'm reading a mystery now (Hunter's Moon by Randy Wayne White) that seems to be interesting. I might have to go find the REST of this series, if it stays this interesting.
No Borders here. Just B&N and BAM. Both are decent, both have their quirks. Depends on what I want as to where I go. Also depends on traffic. LOL
I have a Borders, a Books-a-Million, a Barnes & Nobel, and a Half Price Books all within a few miles of my house. As I said, I'm lucky. I probably like Borders the best because they are usually the friendliest, and they don't charge for their membership dodad. BAM tends to shelve things oddly. It's always more of a scavenger hunt there.
I refuse to buy the B&N membership thing, but I discovered if you give them your email address, they will keep you well stocked with 10% coupons.Of course, the coupon is only good for one item so if you buy a ton of books from them it's worth it to buy the membership. But I only buy books from B&N... maybe one every couple of months, so the coupon is awesome.
I have a B&N membership, but I have a terrible book buying habit, so it more than paid for itself within the first two months, and now I enjoy my 10% discount on everything plus my regular discount coupons. I just prefer them to Amazon anymore, if for no other reason than the site has a brilliant paranormal & urban fantasy forum that I frequent.
Alright, finally finished On the Prowl for my anthology. I really enjoyed all of the stories and now have another few books to read because of it!1.
2.
3. FUTURISTIC Romance - Not sure
4. SHAPESHIFTER Romance - Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs
5. TIME TRAVEL Romance - The Highlander's Touch by Karen Marie Moning
6. VAMPIRE Romance- One Foot in the Grave by Jeaniene Frost
7. Romantic FANTASY: Heart of Lightby Sarah A. Hoyt
8. Romantic SCIENCE FICTION & FUTURISTIC FANTASY - Not sure
9.
Jennifer - Listen to my mum. It's so bad. I went to a fantastic Borders in Baltimore once. Heck, the one in Dale City isn't too bad. It's kind of small, but they win because they have a very kind and friendly staff. This one though is bad. I heard Borders is not doing well. It's because of stores like ours. I just have issues with a book store where the employees aren't aware of the NY Times Bestsellers.The sad thing is, I've had three friends go and work at that store. They all left within a couple of months because they said the working situation was abysmal. :( Shame. They actually knew books!
You are so lucky. When I was in Ohio I had a B&N and I had a membership. I heavily used them as well as the little shop up the road from me. Actually teh little shop up the road was owned by B&N so I could use my card there but I had the staff I knew. I can't remember the name of it. Man that was an awesome place. And three of hte five employees I knew read paranormal! That's awesome! :)
I finished Heroes Arise!!!! I decided to put this down as my futuristic romance. It wasn't exceedingly sci fi except for the fact that it's on another planet with an alien and a human. The science part was pretty low. They were pretty low tech, though this author definitely thought out the alien race a whole lot - from societal aspects as well as biological.
It was her first novel, but very well written. I'm the only person who has rated/reviewed it on Goodreads. I'm definitely going to recommend it.
The romance aspect was not really there, but kind of. The alien was trying to gain permission from the spirit of his dead wife as well as regain honour so that he could remarry. More romance than that Blood Lite book. LOL
I only have two more books to go!
So here's my updated list:
1. Anthology: Blood Lite (Pearl Nominated)
2. Fantasy/Magical Romance: Fool Moon by Jim Butcher (Technically not a Pearl but others in the series are, so I'm claiming it a pearl.)
3. Futuristic Romance: Heroes Arise
4. ShapeShifter Romance: Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs(Pearl Nominated)
5. Time-Travel: In the Garden of Iden by Kage Baker
6. Vampire Romance: Dead Sexy by Tate Hallaway
7. Romantic Fantasy:
8. Romantic Science Fiction/Futuristic Fantasy:
9. Romantic Urban Fantasy: Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs(Pearl Nominated)
Also read from the PEARL list:
Wolfsbane and Mistletoe - Too bad I can't fit it in somewhere. LOL
So This month I've read:
5 PEARL books (counting Dresden)
3 non Pearl Books
For 8 books in total, 7 for the challenge!
UPDATE I am all done!! YEAH1. Anthology:
Originally I was going to read Dead of Night by J D Robb and I could not get into it and since I wanted to revisit the Rachel Morgan story. At any rate I would recommend Holidays are Hell I liked all of the stories.
2. Fantasy/Magical Romance: You Slay Me by Katie MacCalister
3. Futuristic Romance: A Taste of Crimson by Majorie M Lie
4. ShapeShifter Romance:
Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs
Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs
Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs
5. Time-Travel Romance: Beyond the Highland Mist by Karen Moning
6. Vampire Romance:
A Quick Bite by Lynsay Sands
Bite Me if you Can by Lynsay Sands
7. Romantic Fantasy: Kiss of the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon
8. Romantic Science Fiction/Futuristic Fantasy:
Eternal Pleasure by Nina Bangs
9. Romantic Urban Fantasy:
Ravenous by Sharon Ashwood
Desire Unchained by Larissa Ione
Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy
Books mentioned in this topic
To Serve and Submit (other topics)Lover Revealed (other topics)
The Stardance Trilogy (other topics)
Dreamcatcher (other topics)
The Challenge (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Susan Kearney (other topics)Susan Kearney (other topics)
Patricia Waddell (other topics)
Patricia Waddell (other topics)
Susan Kearney (other topics)
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(He's the guy who owns the house we were at yesterday morning. He is in Europe right now so his wife is flying solo and hosting parties... LOL)