Romance Readers Reading Challenges discussion
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PtP - Not the Droids You're Looking For (8)

2. Jedi - reserve a couple of posts in this thread tracking your team's book selection and completion. (Alternatively they could convert a chat comment to the tracking post/s.)
3. Name your team. Using this round's theme of Disney+, come up with a team name. We are an open/public group with no age limit, so please make sure any chosen name is smart, not smutty ;)
Please PM your name to Jane(PS) by early Wednesday 4 September.
4. If you have a private profile, please 'friend' your team-mates. This is really important, because without this, your team-mates can't see your shelves to select a books under option 2.
5. Please post your book selections/completions in the format provided below. (This format is also posted in both the Q&A and Sign-Up threads.) We need to know the week that each book corresponds to, the page numbers, and how the book qualifies including names to lists/shelves (where applicable), etc. I can't stress this enough. When in doubt - link it*!
* don't link to your review in your completion post - reviews in your completion posts should be included in full within that post.
You don't want to start reading a book and then find it doesn't meet the requirements because some information (eg page count or theme link) was missing from your original post.
I will be monitoring this and your book will not be considered complete until I am satisfied that your selection and completion posts comply with the format rules of the challenge.
Remember - you can ONLY change your book selection in the week that the theme is called.
6. You MUST check in with your team each week, ideally once the theme is announced. Please let your team know if you expect to have spotty communication or are on holidays or having an operation.
7. When you post the completion of your book, you must post a review; enough for us to know you have actually read the book. Please don't link to a review. You must post the review in this thread.
8. Re-reads are allowed but you can't read the same book twice within this challenge.
9. There is no prize for the winning team - bragging rights only :)
10. Each week, the theme will be announced in the Q&A Annoucement thread. The full list of themes announced during this round will be maintained in msg 1 of that thread.
The Rule on the Pass Option
* Each team can only have ONE member using their pass each week.
* Each member can only use that pass once each 5 weeks.
* This means that one or two team members (dependent upon the size of your team) will miss using a pass in each 5 week block.
* No-one can use the pass option in the last week of the challenge.
* In the final week if Option 2 is used, members must select their book from another team. This will be advised in the week 11 announcement.

The format for selection posts Option 1:
Week #
Bookcover/link
Page numbers
How the book qualifies - please link or name the qualifying bookshelf/list where applicable (link if possible).
If the theme is based off the bookcover, post the cover. If there is a letter count in the title, publication date etc, please note these details.
The format for selection posts Option 2:
Week #
Bookcover/link
Page numbers
Name of the team-member, their star rating, the date they read the book.
Format for completion posts:
Week #
Bookcover/link
Rating (1-5)
Review
Please DO NOT CHAT in these selection/completion posts. It needs to be super clear.
If you 'waffle' about your decided book - please REPOST your selection once you decide. DO NOT go back and edit your waffling post.


Week 1: 8. The Star Wars movies are a major attraction to the streaming service.
MountainKat: The Rise of Magicks by Nora Roberts; message #45
Shelby: Honor Lost by Rachel Caine; message #69
Courtney: Choosing Theo by Victoria Aveline; message #47
Eugenia: Updated - Blind Space by Marie Sexton; message #60
Cathy M: A Killing Frost by Seanan McGuire; message #38
Danielle Gypsy Soul: My Fair Captain by J.L. Langley; message #39
Week 2: 2. Disney+ debuted in the USA, Canada and the Netherlands on November 12, 2019.
MountainKat: Option 2, Vengeance by Sloane Kennedy; message #83
Shelby: Best Man by Lily Morton; message #94
Courtney: Tough Guy by Rachel Reid; message #93
Eugenia: The Gentleman’s Guide to Getting Lucky by Mackenzi Lee; message #86
Cathy M: The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams; message #82
Danielle Gypsy Soul: A Pebble for Lewis by Amy Bellows; message #77
Week 3: 12. The Simpsons back catalogue is available for more of Bart, Homer, Marge, Lisa et al! ...Have you noticed how all the names are short? Even the writers' names are short - Matt, James, Dan, Al, Sam, Mike, John etc (Yes, I am conveniently leaving out a few names for the sake of this category ;)
MountainKat: Siren in Bloom by Sophie Oak; message #112
Shelby: Fit to be Tied by Mary Calmes; message #128
Courtney: Sweet Little Lies by Jill Shalvis; message #109
Cathy M: Savage Awakening by J.D. Tyler; message #116
Danielle Gypsy Soul: In the Wind by K. Sterling; message #114

Week 1: 8. The Star Wars movies are a major attraction to the streaming service.
MountainKat: Completed 9.7.2020; message #71
Shelby: Completed 9.5.2020; message #73
Courtney: Completed 9.6.2020; message #57
Eugenia: Completed 9.7.2020; message #64
Cathy M: Completed 9.5.2020; message #55
Danielle Gypsy Soul: Completed 9.7.2020; message #68
Week 2: 2. Disney+ debuted in the USA, Canada and the Netherlands on November 12, 2019.
MountainKat: Completed 9.15.2020; message #96
Shelby: Completed 9.14.2020; message #105
Courtney: Completed 9.13.2020; message #95
Eugenia: Completed 9.12.2020; message #89
Cathy M: Completed 9.20.2020; message #124
Danielle Gypsy Soul: Completed 9.13.2020; message #104
Week 3: 12. The Simpsons back catalogue is available for more of Bart, Homer, Marge, Lisa et al! ...Have you noticed how all the names are short? Even the writers' names are short - Matt, James, Dan, Al, Sam, Mike, John etc
MountainKat: Completed 9.22.2020; message #130
Shelby: Completed 9.19.2020; message #129
Courtney: Completed 9.20.2020; message #118
Cathy M: Completed 9.20.2020; message #125
Danielle Gypsy Soul: Completed 9.19.2020; message #132

Week 4: 7. There are a lot of 'classic' movies and serials on Disney+.
MountainKat: Option 2; Body and Soul by Jordan Castillo Price; message #144
Shelby: In the Ruins by Hailey Turner; message #143
Courtney: Someone to Love by Mary Balogh; message #142
Cathy M: Faith & Fidelity by Tere Michaels; message #141
Danielle Gypsy Soul: Better Than Friends by Lane Hayes; message #140
Week 5: 10. National Geographic is a very popular option on Disney+.
MountainKat: Red Fish, Dead Fish by Amy Lane; message #165
Shelby: The Omega Objection by G.L. Carriger; message #171
Courtney: Timber Wolf by Zoe Chant; message #162
Cathy M: Animal Magnetism by Jill Shalvis; message #175
Danielle Gypsy Soul: Once Upon A Wolf by Rhys Ford; message #168
Week 6: 11. The National Geographic magazine has been published continuously since its first issue on September 22, 1888.
MountainKat: Vengeance in Death by J.D. Robb; message #190
Shelby: Never by Tara Lain; message #186
Courtney: Big Rock by Lauren Blakely; message #187
Cathy M: Waking Hearts by Elizabeth Hunter; message #189
Danielle Gypsy Soul: Lawless by R.G. Alexander; message #194

Week 4: 7. There are a lot of 'classic' movies and serials on Disney+.
MountainKat: Completed 9.28.2020; message #145
Shelby: Completed 9.30.2020; message #160
Courtney: Completed 10.5.2020; message #177
Cathy M: Completed 9.30.2020; message #151
Danielle Gypsy Soul: Completed 10.2.2020; message #153
Week 5: 10. National Geographic is a very popular option on Disney+.
MountainKat: Completed 10.5.2020; message #179
Shelby: Completed 10.5.2020; message #178
Courtney: Completed 10.4.2020; message #172
Cathy M: Completed 10.9.2020; message #188
Danielle Gypsy Soul: Completed 10.3.2020; message #183
Week 6: 11. The National Geographic magazine has been published continuously since its first issue on September 22, 1888.
MountainKat: Completed 10.13.2020; message #195
Shelby: Completed 10.18.2020; message #224
Courtney: Completed 10.11.2020; message #192
Cathy M: Completed 10.11.2020; message #193
Danielle Gypsy Soul: Completed 10.13.2020; message #212

Week 7: 3. A week later, the Disney+ service was expanded to Australia, New Zealand and Puerto Rico.
MountainKat: Option 2; Secrets by Jordan Castillo Price; message #215
Shelby: The F Words by Anyta Sunday; message #230
Courtney: Hot Mess by Amy Andrews; message #227
Cathy M: Option 2; Instant Gratification by Lauren Blakely; message #208
Danielle Gypsy Soul: Option 2; The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune; message #218
Week 8: 4. 10 million users subscribed to Disney+ on its first day of operation.
MountainKat: Pucked Over by Helena Hunting; message #243
Shelby: Circe by Madeline Hunter; message #254
Courtney: Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor by Lisa Kleypas; message #241
Cathy M: Vendetta in Death by J.D. Robb; message #245
Danielle Gypsy Soul: Widow's Web by Jennifer Estep; message #236
Week 9: 9. Due to COVID-19, 'Hamilton' (the musical film) has skipped the cinematic release scheduled for October 15, 2021 and instead had a digital worldwide release on July 3, 2020 on Disney+. More than a year early!
MountainKat: Option 2; Holiday in Death by J.D. Robb; message #260
Shelby: Trade Deadline by Avon Gale; message #259
Courtney: Out of Bounds by Lauren Blakely; message #261
Cathy M: Emerald Blaze by Ilona Andrews; message #266
Danielle Gypsy Soul: Lucifer's Litigator by T.J. Nichols; message #268

Week 7: 3. A week later, the Disney+ service was expanded to Australia, New Zealand and Puerto Rico.
MountainKat: Completed 10.19.2020; message #221
Shelby: Completed 10.21.2020; message #232
Courtney: Completed 10.24.2020; message #237
Cathy M: Completed 10.19.2020; message #222
Danielle Gypsy Soul: Completed 10.26.2020; message #240
Week 8: 4. 10 million users subscribed to Disney+ on its first day of operation.
MountainKat: Completed 10.29.2020; message #253
Shelby: Completed 11.1.2020; message #269
Courtney: Completed 10.27.2020; message #249
Cathy M: Completed 11.3.2020; message #265
Danielle Gypsy Soul: Completed 11.2.2020; message #263
Week 9: 9. Due to COVID-19, 'Hamilton' (the musical film) has skipped the cinematic release scheduled for October 15, 2021 and instead had a digital worldwide release on July 3, 2020 on Disney+. More than a year early!
MountainKat: Completed 11.2.2020; message #272
Shelby: Completed 11.3.2020; message #270
Courtney: Completed 11.1.2020; message #262
Cathy M: Completed 11.10.2020; message #283
Danielle Gypsy Soul: Completed 11.9.2020; message #296

Week 10: 14. Naturally, watching the TV, you need snacks and drinks ~ treats and things that may be bad for you!
MountainKat: The Jackal by J.R. Ward; message #280
Shelby: Tied Up in Knots by Mary Calmes; message #294
Courtney: Polar Bared be Eve Langlais; message #279
Cathy M: Bloodline by Jordan L. Hawk; message #282
Danielle Gypsy Soul: Honored Vow by Mary Calmes; message #278
Week 11: 13. The Toy Story, Marvel and Frozen collections are huge hits with children.
MountainKat: Midnight in Death by J.D. Robb; message #313
Shelby: Final Play by Eden Finley; message #321
Courtney: Wintertime Heat by Emelie Blair; message #318
Cathy M: Uncaged by Harper Sloan; message #322
Danielle Gypsy Soul: Turkey in the Snow by Amy Lane; message #314

Week 10: 14. Naturally, watching the TV, you need snacks and drinks ~ treats and things that may be bad for you!
MountainKat: Completed 11.11.2020; message #298
Shelby: Completed 11.8.2020; message #307
Courtney: Completed 11.8.2020; message #287
Cathy M: Completed 11.10.2020; message #290
Danielle Gypsy Soul: Completed 11.11.2020; message #305
Week 11: 13. The Toy Story, Marvel and Frozen collections are huge hits with children.
MountainKat: Completed 11.13.2020; message #315
Shelby:
Courtney: Completed 11.13.2020; message #324
Cathy M: Completed 11.13.2020; message #323
Danielle Gypsy Soul: Completed 11.13.2020; message #317

Normally, I would do some sort of introduction and talk about how much I like to visit and play with the grandkids and go to Disneyland - yeah, none of that is happening these days. I'm home with the hubby - ALL THE TIME! Super excited that I get to start physical therapy next week, yeah that was sarcasm, but I will get to see people so there's that. And I at least know most of them, it is the place I've gone before for both knees, back and shoulder - so I've been there LOTS over the years. Looks like things just might be close to slowly opening up again, hubby's excited about being able to get a haircut - he needed one when this all started. It's been all I could do to keep him from buzzing it all off - not his best look. 😂
So how's the pandemic treating all of you?


ETA: So far the only 8 themed idea I could come up with is BB8 - droid from the Star Wars movies. Other numbers would be easier, but we don't need to include it, that is just where I started.
Just thought of another - Flo's V8 - from Cars movies and Carsland in DCA. Not that either of those are names, just ideas to work from.

I'm Courtney, a SAHM of two, American expat living in Taiwan!
Pandemic-wise, we're super lucky here. No local transmissions for over 100 days, so it's been pretty much business as usual all year.
I love pretty much all romance genres, except YA. I don't really have a favorite; I just go through moods, I guess. I've been circling back a lot to Historicals lately. Maybe I want to get lost in a simpler time 🤣
As for names, I think doing something Star Wars would be super cool. I'm really not very creative with these things though, but here we go :
Scruffy-looking nerfherders
Romance readers of Endor
Not the Droids you're looking for
A little short for Stormtroopers
I got a bad feeling about this

I'm Danielle - I live in Phoenix, AZ as a single mom to two teens and an awesome bluenose pitbull named Rex. I'm actually the opposite of everyone else - I used to work from home every day before Corona hit but my job was managing a commute program and the company currently has everyone working from home so I was moved over to facility management and now I go in to work every day. Thankfully my kids are both in high school so they can do their online schooling without me home.
I read mostly M/M (any sub genre within) but I also read some M/F fantasy/UF/paranormal (looking forward to starting Emerald Blaze and the new October Daye book! I'll occasionally throw in a M/F contemporary or historical. The only genre I really don't like to read is YA.

I’m Eugenia and I live in AK. I’ve been busy getting my legs under me for distance teaching—the first week 1.5 went well, but it’s 3x more work than in person teaching.
I have a daughter & husband along with two dogs.
Fall is coming here with the mornings turning cool and the leaves starting to yellow 😢
We haven’t had a lot of cases, but numbers are rising. At least we have lots of outdoor space here.
I love “Not the droids......” CLASSIC!
I love all MM genres as long as they are well written. If I had to pick a least favorite it would probably be MMM—just confusing 🤷🏻♀️ Trying to figure out all the body parts and emotions with 2+ men.

Danielle, how weird you have to go in now when you were working from home before. Hopefully you feel safe there, especially with how hard your area got hit! I haven't seen anything recently, but I think things are looking up in your region. 🤞🏼
Good luck Eugenia with the distance teaching! I have a couple of teacher friends and though they would rather be in the classroom, I think they feel better about teaching online for now.
I'm just hoping now that things are starting to open up again here that people don't get stupid and send us back to 'Go' again without collecting $200! The feeling I get from some are that we were being 'punished' and 'things are too strict and restrictive', so I'm afraid the inner rebellious teenagers might show their faces and screw us all - not that that side is ever well hidden anyway...


I'm Shelby, I live out in SoCal too. My quarantine has been crazy as my restaurant reopened back in June and we've been one of the only places to take advantage of being allowed to be open and flowed with the changes. I don't know whether that's good or bad. Some days it stresses me out completely. But I basically work constantly as we're the busiest restaurant in town right now. My city closed down the street our place is on as it holds a lot of restaurants and you could apply for a permit to place tables outside in the street which my spot did. We essentially have our whole restaurant outside at this point and are the only place on the block that has taken as much advantage of it. We're on a full menu with tv's outside showing all the sports as well as open late, we're open until midnight. Basically all that has meant that I deal with a lot of people on a regular basis who don't think Covid is a thing, which is incredibly frustrating, but I do feel a bit safer now that everything is outside. All of this though leads to us being busier than ever and having had to actually hire extra staff. My bank account doesn't hate it even if it does scare me at times.
Anyway enough of my ranting about that...I'm an incredibly avid reader who will read pretty much anything I can get my hands on. I do love MM a lot, but also enjoy plenty of MF too. At this point I like to mix up my reading. I love sci-fi/fantasy/paranormal as probably my favorite sub-genres.
Also love "Not the Droids You're Looking For." :)

Wow, 3 of us from SoCal! I'm originally from AZ and lived mostly in Korea growing up but am now living in sunny LA (West Hollywood). I work as an Office Manager of a law firm. Working primarily from home (1 or 2 days in the office) which luckily works for our office and don't think it will change any time soon (we all seem to prefer it). Except my hubby might get a job in S Carolina so we might end up moving across country (which I'm REALLY REALLY not wanting but we'll see)...
I pretty much read anything for a challenge but my genre of choice would be Urban Fantasy, Romance would probably be 2nd.
I'm good with the Droids name!

And it seems we are all good with the name, so I'll let Jane know.
I've also sent friend requests to those I'm not friends with to make Option 2 easier. 😊


Haha! I'm working on some M&G books now before September begins, so I'm not too far behind.
I should be working on getting another challenge ready, but I'm being lazy... Hopefully I won't regret that too much!

Yeah I'm working on both my M&G and GB books too, but I always get twitchy before new challenges begin because what if I read a book off M&G or GB that would have fit the specific category challenge. *headdesk* I might tend to over think things. :-p

At the moment, I'm just doing this one and the Countdown and Yahtzee ones.
I can't get over how different things are in the States right now. The outdoor restaurant thing is something I hadn't heard before. Really interesting.
And the online teaching thing sounds so hard! I really don't know how you teachers handle it all day and with such big classes. I used to work as a curriculum developer for an online teaching platform in Asia, and our classes topped out at 6. I can't imagine trying to handle more than that!

Funny, I've nearly finished 6 since the BTC ended! 😂

:-p"
YES! Jane sometimes does an early start for this challenge. 🤞🏼 I know when I finish the book I have going, I will be struggling over which book to start in the meantime though!

:-p"
YES! Jane sometimes does an early start for this challenge. 🤞🏼 I know when I finish the boo..."
Me too MKat! I have my women's bookclub book to finish for our bookclub on Thursday, but otherwise I figure on focusing on the 100pg shortie type books I have to kill time.



Week 1
Option 1:
8. The Star Wars movies are a major attraction to the streaming service.
* Read a book with Science Fiction as a main page genre (MPG) OR read a book with a title of no more than eight letters. Eg Bond, Kaleb, Desire, I Was Here
Series titles do not count for this task.
You must specify which option you are using in your post when showing 'how it fits'.
Option 2:
Key date - 4 March 2020
A book on your team mates 'read' list AND rated at least 3 stars and read on or after the key date.
Option 3:
Pass
This can only be used once each 5 weeks. Only one team mate can use this option each week.

Week 1: #8

A Killing Frost by Seanan McGuire
Pages: 362
How the book fits: MPG Science Fiction Fantasy (approved by Jane)
(The MPG is the last on the page so could disappear at any time so I've done a screenshot and can send for proof if needed!)

Week 1: #8

My Fair Captain by J.L. Langley
Pages: 244
How the book fits: MPG Science Fiction

My hubby loves Star Wars but I'm just like they're ok. I much prefer the Marvel movies :D i'm trying to talk him into re-watching the whole series from the beginning. We have plenty of time working from home!

My hubby loves Star Wars but I'm just like they're ok. I much prefer the Marvel movies :D i'm trying to talk him into re-watching the whole s..."
We watched the Marvel movies in March - all 23 of them! I enjoyed them more than my hubby did, but I think he just didn't like that there were 23. 😂
We watched Star Wars last night - it will forever be Star Wars to me, not A New Hope. It was just Star Wars when I saw it in the theaters! (I just aged myself didn't I? But it was junior high and we had to rely on others to drive us to the one theater in the county that was airing it!)
I am a big sports fan and we both love the Tour de France - which started (2 months late) this week. We keep forgetting to watch it because it is supposed to happen in July and now we are a couple of stages behind. So I think the movies are going back on the shelf until the race is over. 😉

I started one that fits this theme yesterday before it was called (of course)! I have others on my short list though so I'm good. Because this is a longer week though, I think I will squeeze in another book so I am not sticking in one genre back to back - the books can run together a bit if I do that. I will still easily finish before the next call. 😊

Selection Post

Science Fiction > Dystopian is MPG. (Screenshot available if necessary.)

My hubby loves Star Wars but I'm just like they're ok. I much prefer the Marvel movies :D i'm trying to talk him into re-wat..."
Wow, all 23! That's dedication I love it! How long did that take? That's what I want to do, start all the way from the beginning. But don't think the hubs is down for it. He only liked the Iron Man, Guardians and the last 2 so I'll probably have to watch them by myself. But gotta take advantage of the Disney subscription since there isn't much on it that I want to watch.
Enjoy the Tour de France! Star Wars will still be there after :)

Week 1:
Read a book with Science Fiction as a main page genre (MPG) OR read a book with a title of no more than eight letters.

Choosing Theo
Pages: 383 (Kindle Edition)
How it qualifies: MPG Science Fiction
Books mentioned in this topic
Midnight in Death (other topics)Vengeance in Death (other topics)
Holiday in Death (other topics)
My Fair Captain (other topics)
Faith & Fidelity (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Rachel Caine (other topics)Amy Lane (other topics)
Madeline Miller (other topics)
Jennifer Estep (other topics)
J.L. Langley (other topics)
More...
Jedi Knight
MountainKat
Wookies
Shelby
Courtney
EugeniaCathyM
Danielle Gypsy Soul