Mountain Climbing Challenge: Q3

[Joanna Loves Reading, Bluestocking of HR novels]

This challenge is meant to help you climb your TBR Mountain and get those books finally read.



This will be a quarterly challenge, with a new theme each quarter. The theme this quarter will be COLORFUL COVERS. Whether in dreamy or cringeworthy way, choose from your TBR books with covers you are drawn to.

HOW IT WORKS:
1) The first poster will post 5 book titles that they pick from their TBR shelf.

2) The next poster will choose 2 books from the first poster's titles and choose 5 book titles off their own TBR. The first poster will then choose to read at least 1 of the 2 books chosen.

3) The third poster will choose 2 from the second posters list .... and so on.

4) Each participant will have the entire quarter to read their book(s), post their rating and review. And tell us what you think of your book in this thread.

5) You are not limited to 1 time. You can return to select and post more options as often as it suits you.

[Missy]

For Darbella, One Fine Duke and For the Love of a Duchess.

Edit:

1. Captive of My Desires by Johanna Lindsey. The cover looks like a cover for a contemporary romance. - completed 2.5 out of 5 stars

2. For the First Time by Kathryn Smith. So much purple.

3. The Debutante Is Mine by Vivienne Lorret. - completed 1 out of 5 stars

4. After the Abduction by Sabrina Jeffries.

5. To Marry the Duke by Julianne MacLean.

[Priya]

Interesting theme!

I will wait for Missy to post her selection before I post mine.

[Missy]

Priya wrote: "Interesting theme!

I will wait for Missy to post her selection before I post mine."

Done!

[Priya]

Missy, I pick Captive of My Desires and The Debutante Is Mine.

My colourful five are:

1. Gentlemen Prefer Spinsters

2. Chills

3. The Seduction of Lord Stone

4. Beauty

5. The Duke's Mistress

[Missy]

Thank you, Priya.

[Missy]

Completed Captive of my Desires. Gave it a 2.5 rating. Not one of the better books from the series.

Anybody going to pick two books for Priya?

[Joanna Loves Reading, Bluestocking of HR novels]

I will! I was limiting myself until I had actually read at least one of Q1 & Q2 picks...turns out I already have. I am not as far behind as I thought!

[Joanna Loves Reading, Bluestocking of HR novels]

Priya, I pick for you:

Chills and Beauty.

Pretty and colorful covers.

Will come back to add mine.

[Joanna Loves Reading, Bluestocking of HR novels]

Here’s my five:

1. The Lion's Daughter

2. To Ruin a Gentleman

3. The Earl and The Enchantress

4. Enchanting the Earl

5. Beautiful Bad Man

[Priya]

Joanna Loves Reading wrote: "Priya, I pick for you:

Chills and Beauty.

Pretty and colorful covers.

Will come back to add mine."

Thank you, Joanna!

When you said colourful covers, the first thing that came to my mind was a rainbow. So, I decided to pick covers in that colour order and ended up with these covers. I didn't even read the blurbs:) This challenge is really helping me to read those long-standing books on my tbr.

[Joanna Loves Reading, Bluestocking of HR novels]

Priya wrote: "Joanna Loves Reading wrote: "Priya, I pick for you:

Chills and Beauty.

Pretty and colorful covers.

Will come back to add mine."

Thank you, Joanna!

When you said..."

Yeah, it’s helping me more than I realized! It looks like we all kind of pick an array of colors. It’s fun too see what everyone chose.

[Mariana]

I am late to the Q3 party.

Joanna, I pick for you To Ruin a Gentleman and The Earl and The Enchantress. I have both of these books on my own TBR list, so I look forward to reading what you think about them.

Here are my five:

1. Unmasking Miss Appleby

2. To Ruin a Gentleman

3. The Viscount's Runaway Bride

4. A Ravishing Night with the Mysterious Earl

5. Secret Dreams of a Fearless Governess: A Clean & Sweet Regency Historical Romance Novel

[Tanya]

Mariana I'll pick The Viscount's Runaway Bride and To Ruin a Gentleman. I liked the blurb so I'm hoping either one of them is a good read :)

I didn't exactly understand the Colorful concept, so I just went with the covers in my TBR that made me do a double-take:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

[Mariana]

Tanya wrote: "Mariana I'll pick The Viscount's Runaway Bride and To Ruin a Gentleman. I liked the blurb so I'm hoping either one of them is a good read :)

I didn't exactly under..."

Thanks! I'm going to start The Viscount's Runaway Bride today.

[Mariana]

Darbella wrote: "Finished . 4.5 stars The daisies on the cover actually appeared in the story. How cool is that?
The heroine of this story is smart and knows how to break spy code..."

Quick as always! Thanks for posting your thoughts. It sounds interesting. I have thought to try Lenora Bell but have not done so yet.

[Joanna Loves Reading, Bluestocking of HR novels]

Glad you enjoyed your book, Darbella! I haven’t read Lenora Bell yet, but I think I have her on my TBR.

You can pick for Tanya when able. I thought I saw you ask, but maybe I am just imagining things.

[Mariana]

Darbella wrote: "Finished . This has such a pretty book cover. Sigh! I did not like the story. One star from me. This book has mostly 4 and 5 stars from other reviewers..."

Thanks for the warning. This would be a no go for me.

[Joanna Loves Reading, Bluestocking of HR novels]

Darbella wrote: "Finished . This has such a pretty book cover. Sigh! I did not like the story. One star from me. This book has mostly 4 and 5 stars from other reviewers..."

Eek, does not sound good. Sorry Darbella!

[Joanna Loves Reading, Bluestocking of HR novels]

Darbella wrote: "Joanna, I did ask but deleted it because I did not want to discourage anyone else from joining us:)
Tanya, I choose for you Regarding the Duke..."

Ok! I see. We may get more to join in when I put the next newsletter out, but we can start a new round.

[Jennie-Lee~abookishwonderer~]

Hey all! I’m a bit late to this but I guess I’ll jump in for Q3 if that’s ok. It sounds fun. Here are my five picks.

1. The Trouble With Honor

2. Cowboy Charm School

3. In the Field of Grace

4. Forever Your Earl

5. Once and Always

[Joanna Loves Reading, Bluestocking of HR novels]

Jennie-Lee wrote: "Hey all! I’m a bit late to this but I guess I’ll jump in for Q3 if that’s ok. It sounds fun. Here are my five picks.

1. [book:The Trouble With Honor|182..."

Absolutely OK! Those are great covers for your picks :)

[Missy]

Completed my second book for this Q3. I really had to force myself to finish it. You can read my review for The Debutante Is Mine, if you'd like.


Jennie-Lee, my two picks for you are
The Trouble With Honor and Once and Always.

I'm a fan of Judith McNaught. I love the new covers for her books. I hope you enjoy Once and Always.

[Jennie-Lee~abookishwonderer~]

Missy wrote: "Completed my second book for this Q3. I really had to force myself to finish it. You can read my review for The Debutante Is Mine, if you'd like.


Jennie-Lee, my two picks for you..."

Thanks for the picks! Once and Always will be the first book I’ve read by Judith McNaught. I’m looking forward to reading it and am hoping to enjoy it.

[Missy]

My two favorites by Judith McNaught are A Kingdom of Dreams and Almost Heaven. Once and Always is probably #3 on this list.

[Mariana]

I finally finished The Viscount's Runaway Bride but don't even want to take the time to write a review.

I am generally a fan of both Ruth Ann Nordin and virgin heroes, but I do NOT recommend this book. I have a shelf for stupid heroines, and this will be on it. I did not have one for stupid heroes, but I may have to create one just for Anthony. He was betrothed to his sister Celia's best friend Loretta and thought nothing of it when he happened across the hitchhiker Damara and married her the same day. Not only that, he spent the entire winter cacooned away with his new bride who told him nothing of herself while Celia and Loretta ordered a wedding dress and planned the entire event. What about breach of betrothal contract? Could Damara be a mass murderer or con artist? Anthony who is supposed to be intelligent (other than being manipulated by his sister) and good at business never considered any of this or anything else. Aside from the stupidity, the story was also just boring; and there was no development in either individual characters or relationships between them!

Okay. Breath. That's the end of my rant. Maybe I shouldn't actually add a review directly on the book?

[Tanya]

Oh wow - that's a pretty unlikable hero. Also, the blurb basically spells out the entire book then - which is another no-no.

Sorry this one this didn't work out Marianna - Hope the next book is better :)

[Mariana]

Tanya wrote: "Oh wow - that's a pretty unlikable hero. Also, the blurb basically spells out the entire book then - which is another no-no.

Sorry this one this didn't work out Marianna - Hope the next book is b..."

Thanks! Me too. :)

[Mariana]

I finished To Ruin a Gentleman.

The premise of this book was interesting. Plus the narrative choice of a father sharing a secret tale with his son was also unique. The sex scenes were erotic. However, something about it just fell a little flat for me. I didn't find it so engaging I couldn't put it down.

I will say that everyone else I know who read this enjoyed it more than I did.

[Joanna Loves Reading, Bluestocking of HR novels]

Mariana wrote: "I finished To Ruin a Gentleman.

The premise of this book was interesting. Plus the narrative choice of a father sharing a secret tale with his son was also unique. The sex scenes w..."

Hmm.. I sometimes feel that way with Galen’s books. Overall I really like her style but I think she may output too quickly. This is what I had planned to read for this challenge too but I have not picked it up yet.

[Mariana]

Joanna Loves Reading wrote: "Mariana wrote: "I finished To Ruin a Gentleman.

The premise of this book was interesting. Plus the narrative choice of a father sharing a secret tale with his son was also unique. ..."

When you do, I will be interested to find out what you thought.

[Priya]

I am way behind in MCC and RATA challenge. I hope to finish the Q3 book in October.

[Joanna Loves Reading, Bluestocking of HR novels]

I still haven't read my Q3 book either, so we can keep this thread up for now. I did just post the Q4 thread also.

[Mariana]

Yay!

[Priya]

Joanna Loves Reading wrote: "I still haven't read my Q3 book either, so we can keep this thread up for now. I did just post the Q4 thread also."

Ditto! I didn't finish Q3 book either.

[Joanna Loves Reading, Bluestocking of HR novels]

I have a plan to get my third quarter book read. I used a credit to purchase The Earl and The Enchantress on Audio so it is queued up.

[Joanna Loves Reading, Bluestocking of HR novels]

Joanna Loves Reading wrote: "I have a plan to get my third quarter book read. I used a credit to purchase The Earl and The Enchantress on Audio so it is queued up."

I finally finished my third quarter book!

[Priya]

I started reading Chills, but couldn't get into the story even after 6 chapters. So, I DNF it. I shall try the second pick sometime later and see if I like it.

[Mariana]

Oh, no, I had Chills on my TBR list.

[Priya]

Mariana wrote: "Oh, no, I had Chills on my TBR list."

It is slow paced and there wasn’t much interesting happening in the first few chapters. I wasn’t in a mood to continue.

I hope you like it better than me.

[Mariana]

Priya wrote: "Mariana wrote: "Oh, no, I had Chills on my TBR list."

It is slow paced and there wasn’t much interesting happening in the first few chapters. I wasn’t in a mood to continue.

I hope you like it b..."

I think I'll postpone indefinitely. :)

[Priya]

Mariana wrote: "Priya wrote: "Mariana wrote: "Oh, no, I had Chills on my TBR list."

It is slow paced and there wasn’t much interesting happening in the first few chapters. I wasn’t in a mood to continue.

I hope..."

😀