Romance Readers Reading Challenges discussion
Archive - Pass The Parcel
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PtP - Team Chewbooka (11)
1. Introduce yourself to your team. Let your team members know where you are from. This is a great to know when themes are announced and when team-mates can expect other members to post their book choices.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.
Key selection and completion post information. You must have ALL elements in your book posts.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.
I'll track each team's progress separately, using the Captain's summary in each team's thread to check for accuracy.
Tracking Weeks 1-4✔️✔️Week 1 - DONE
(view spoiler)
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✔️✔️Week 2 - DONE
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✔️✔️Week 3 - DONE
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✔️✔️Week 4 - DONE
(view spoiler)
Tracking Weeks 5-8✔️✔️Week 5 - DONE
(view spoiler)
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✔️✔️Week 6 - DONE
(view spoiler)
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✔️✔️Week 7 - DONE
(view spoiler)
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✔️✔️Week 8 - DONE
(view spoiler)
Tracking Weeks 9-12✔️✔️Week 9 - DONE
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Week 10
✔️🔹LaurLa - Christening - Selection Post 183 - Completion Post 195
✔️🔹Sarah - Hot Winter Nights - Selection Post 184 - Completion Post 187
🔹CB - Shards of Frost - Selection Post 194 - Completion Post XX
✔️🔹Logan - Scandal in Spring - Selection Post 182 - Completion Post 198
✔️🔹Shinnie - Fantastical - Selection Post 185 - Completion Post 186
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Week 11
✔️🔹LaurLa - Welcome to Temptation - Selection Post 204 - Completion Post 209
🔹Sarah - XX - Selection Post XX - Completion Post XX
🔹CB - Gifts - Selection Post 207 - Completion Post XX
🔹Logan - Overruled - Selection Post 206 - Completion Post XX
🔹Shinnie - Lord Heartless - Selection Post 208 - Completion Post XX
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Hey team! Thank you for captaining us LaurLa!I love this game. I need to check the lists and make sure I have something picked out. :)
Hello, my name is Mariana and I'm from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I'm a college student, graduating in International Relations.I love to read romance novels, my favorite genre is New Adult Romance. This is my second challenge here, and I'm excited to see what is it gonna be like. I found out I'm not a fast reader, as I wish I was, but there's always room for change.
I can't wait for us to start this!
Hi team!
My name is Sarah and I am from Toronto, Ontario, Canada! This is one of my favorite challenges and am so excited for another round.
I love romance of all kind (except maybe paranormal) and I also love historical fiction, thrillers and cozy mysteries!
My name is Sarah and I am from Toronto, Ontario, Canada! This is one of my favorite challenges and am so excited for another round.
I love romance of all kind (except maybe paranormal) and I also love historical fiction, thrillers and cozy mysteries!
Hello! This is I think my third PtP challenge, and am greatly looking forward to it, and getting to know everyone on the team. Although I see a friendly face already - Hi, Mariana! Fancy meeting you here 😂. This will be two back-to-back challenges for us!I live in Northeast Ohio, and am still working from home - and am reading more than ever these days. I love Urban Fantasy and all kinds of romance, including paranormal, sports, contemporary, and sci-fi/fantasy romance.
I know we’ll need to come up with potential team names, which I’m never good at - but I’m a definite Star Wars fan, so I’m going to put my thinking cap on and see if I can come up with a few theme ideas.
Hello team! I am Shinnie, recently turned 36 and from all over the place. I grew up in Austria but am currently living in Serbia and hopefully soon in the UK.I am super excited to participate in my first reading challenge ever... I am sort of new to being active on Goodreads to begin with. I was using it for years to read book reviews and mine it for quotes but this year I decided I actually want to start using it to meet people and maybe find a reading buddy that will groan, sigh and gush with me together.
I read mostly Fantasy with a dash of sci-fi. Romance was something I got into about 1-2 years ago. While I did read a lot of fan-fic and unpublished short stories all over the internet, I never really read any Romance novels. I think mostly due to me giving into prejudice and thinking that a Romance novel couldn't possibly contain a good story and proper characters. Gawd, was I wrong! I have mostly devoured historical romance over the last year and I am profoundly hooked now that my mind and heart have been opened to this amazing genre.
I am looking forward to this challenge and to discovering all sorts or exciting books. :)
P.S.: As for naming the team... since I'm a massive geek, all I can think of are obscure Star Wars references that probably nobody knows about, like "The Eleven" which was a resistance group against the Galactic Empire or the "Eleven of the Mistryl" which were the ruling council of Emberlene and the Mistryl Shadow Guard (an elite group of all female mercenaries).
Hi all! Glad to be joining another PtP team! I think this is my 6th? 7th? I've lost count but it's one of the very first team challenges I ever joined on GR, so it always holds a special place in my heart :-)I live in Indiana, near Indianapolis, so I'm kinds sorta neighbors with CB! We can commiserate over the random unpredictable weather we get here in the mid-west! Although we can't complain since it's been mild-ish this summer compared to the coastal areas of the US this year.
Anyway, I love romance and read almost all genres of it. Not crazy about YA or some NA but will give it a go if I have to!
I'm not a huge chat person but love to read what others have to say, so don't be surprised if I don't post a lot - I'm still here and paying attention :-) As for being captain, I'll try to keep us on track and making sure posts are correct, etc.
I am competitive and would like to win but am good with however you all want play. Winning/losing doesn't actually come into play until the last call, so as long as we are up to date before the last call, we will have a chance. We can decide at that point how hard we want to push to be done first :-)
Looking forward to getting started!
OH - edited - I looked it up and I started playing PtP in 2015 so this must be around my 10th round, I think ;-)
As for team name - I got nothin'! So if Here are some (probably lame) ideas:
Hans (not)So11o
Mi11ennium Falcon-ettes
Star Wars Episode 11 (or Episode XI)
I came up with a few name ideas, and like you, LaurLa and Shinnie, I always think it’s good to throw name ideas out there, and you never know if a particular one just strikes everyone’s fancy or if they will get the creativity going and another name idea comes up. Here is what I have come up with so far:The Empire Strikes Paperbacks
R11-D11
This is Not the Book You’re Looking For
Book Book Binks
Chewbooka
The Force is Strong with this Eleven
Shinnie, you sound like you have a lot of Star Wars lore knowledge, which is great!
Hahaha I really like Empire Strikes Paperback!
I like this one only because we say it all the time in our family, replacing 'book' with whatever we're talking about -This is Not the Book You’re Looking For
But Empire Strikes Paperback and Book Book Binks are cute too. Or switch it up to Jar Jar Books?
Oh, and I like Chewbooka alot too!
Oye, I love them all!
Chewbooka!!! I love it! Love "This is Not the Book You're Looking For" too! :D
CB wrote: Shinnie, you sound like you have a lot of Star Wars lore knowledge, which is great!I'm so sorry, I forgot to respond to this. I was in the process of coming home from a visit to my mom's and I completely blanked out. Yes, oddly enough I am actually not that much of a Star Wars fan (I was always more of a Trekkie) but I used to play Star Wars themed Roleplay Games, as well as KOTOR and KOTOR 2 which got me looking into a whole bunch of the extended universe lore. What can I say? I'm a walking database of completely useless knowledge. :D
Someone else is using the "This is not...." phrase.I like Team Chewbooka. Any other votes?
Chewbooka is a great name! I love Chewbacca ♥️
I’m in for Chewbooka! It makes me laugh, I love it
Seems like we got our name! Wooo!
Sorry for being MIA all! I'm here now :) Love the team name by the way. My hubby is a huge Star Wars fan (our wedding rings are Star Wars related) but I have never seen any of the movies lol
Week 1 is up early!! We get a head start! I'll post it below. Don't forget you do need to post a selection post and then a separate completion post once you finish your book.
One thing I'd like to ask is to include a broken link* to your book - it makes things lots easier for me when pasting your book into the team completion post. Still add the correct link in the post but put the broken link at the bottom somewhere.
*broken link: leaving off the first bracket or adding in an extra space or character in the GR link:
book:Pride and Prejudice|1885]
[ book:Pride and Prejudice|1885]
[*book:Pride and Prejudice|1885]
Week 1Option 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.
SELECTION POSTWeek #1, Option 1
Book:
Pages: 450 (GR)
How it fits: less than 8 letters as seen on the title.
SELECTION POSTWeek #1, Option 1
Book:
Pages: Kindle Edition, 327 pages
How it fits: Science Fiction
Man, finding something in the Science Fiction Romance genre is HARD. The one I actually wanted to read I couldn't get, so I had to settle for this one.
Edit: Here's the broken Book Cover link for our glorious Jedi Knight: [*bookcover:Fury|31920787]
Shinnie wrote: "SELECTION POSTWeek #1, Option 1
Book:
Pages: Kindle Edition, 327 pages
How it fits: Science Fiction
Man, finding something in the Science Fiction Romance genre is HARD..."
I think this challenge does not have romance as MPG, I do think you can read only a science fiction
Mariana wrote: "I think this challenge does not have romance as MPG, I do think you can read only a science fiction"So, I am completely new to goodreads lingo and challenges. As far as I understood, the book has to have "Science Fiction" on the list of MPGs (which this book does, btw) - is there a rule I overlooked and does the book have to have "Science Fiction" on top of the list of MPGs to count as valid?
You are correct, the book just has to have “Science Fiction” listed as one of the MPGs, it does not have to be listed first. Mariana is also correct in that in the PtP challenge, the book also does not have to have a “Romance” MPG too - that was one of the requirements of the Bachelor challenge that just concluded and probably others as well, but not this challenge.Hope this helps!
CB wrote: "Hope this helps!"Thank you kindly. Both to you and Mariana. It helped a lot because for a moment there I was worried. I chose to go for a Sci-Fi Romance because I actually never read one and wanted to give it a try. So here's my try. Wish me luck, you guys!
CB wrote: "You are correct, the book just has to have “Science Fiction” listed as one of the MPGs, it does not have to be listed first. Mariana is also correct in that in the PtP challenge, the book also does..."Yes! I remember you talking about this with Annette!
Shinnie wrote: "CB wrote: "Hope this helps!"Thank you kindly. Both to you and Mariana. It helped a lot because for a moment there I was worried. I chose to go for a Sci-Fi Romance because I actually never read o..."
Good luck! Just have fun, I'm sure you'll end up liking it
SELECTION POST: Week 1, Option 1
Book: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Pages: Penguin Classic Edition, 532 pages
How it fits: 8 letters in the title
[*bookcover:Jane Eyre|10210]
Book: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Pages: Penguin Classic Edition, 532 pages
How it fits: 8 letters in the title
[*bookcover:Jane Eyre|10210]
Shinnie wrote: "[*bookcover:Fury|31920787]"
Thank-you for this!
I have no idea what I'm going to read! Maybe my next In Death book - I think almost all of them have MPG of science fiction....
I edited mine to add the broken link... so sorry about that! :)
Sarah {The Bookish Knitter} wrote: "I edited mine to add the broken link... so sorry about that! :)"no worries! it's helpful but not required :-)
COMPLETION POSTWeek #1, Option 1
Book:
Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
Review: Ooof, where do I start? Probably with a warning that there might be spoilers ahead. So we have Ellie, a nurse. And Fury, a test subject in the lab she works for. It started out bad because the author apparently could not decide whether Ellie's badass, an idiot, a creep or all of the above. She is a nurse. She is also secretly working for the government to get enough information about a drug company who secretly spliced human and animal DNA to make test subjects to test drugs on. Evil drug company is evil. Every single person working in those labs is evil. They don't just do this awful things but they also torture the subjects and enjoy it. Oh, and they made special test subjects that they gave as gifts to investors so they could rape and torture them. See? Evil! Super evil.
On the other side, the human hybrids are super capable and so smart they need to see or hear something only once to instantly learn it... but that doesn't stop them from having really dense misunderstandings.
The book is good in the middle. Sort of. There are repeated issues that break immersion because of how blatantly silly things are and unrealistic. The amount of mental and physical abuse all the mutated humans suffered keeps being mention but then just as quickly brushed under the rug, cuz mental trauma ain't sexy so let's just quickly go back to the steamy sex, amirite?
All the test subjects were rehabilitated within 11 months to the point of being allowed to mostly take care of themselves and even have their own organization and the leader talks to the president and what not. Buuut... Fury doesn't understand that tying a woman to a bed and going down on her is sexual assault even if she does get wet and even orgasms. And Ellie was okay with it because she had the hots for him anyway. I want to point out that I understand that rape fantasies are a thing and I myself am a big fan of Little Red Riding Hood retellings with a werewolf and steamy twist to it. But the way this world building was set up, Fury should've been 100% aware that what he was doing was not even remotely justified. He might have not understood her actions in the lab due to knowing nothing about how modern society works. But 11 months later, when he was made second in command to that super capable spliced human organization and with the things he found out until that point, what he did was downright daft for reasons that were even more daft. There were some consent issues later on, which the author resolved with "but it's okay because she actually wants it so her NO is really a YES" but then again, I think it's written that way to serve the "alpha male" and "true mate" narrative. Still, personally, in this specific case, could've done without it.
It's an okay read. The prose is not bad. It was by no means painful to read when it comes to the writing itself. There are way worse offenders out there that sold way more books.
All in all: it could've been worse. I survived. xD
Your review, Shinnie, had me literally laughing out loud! I have read this author before but didn’t really care for her books for the exact reasons you mentioned. She’s not my style either.I think for this week I’m going to read something by T.A. White - if you’re looking to dip your toe into Sci Fi with an element of romance, this would be an author I’d recommend. Her Firebird Chronicle series has been excellent so far.
Selection Post - Week 1Option 1
Pathfinder's Way by T.A. White
[*book:Pathfinder's Way|29893140]
Pages: 442 (GR)
How it qualifies: Science Fiction is listed as MPG
COMPLETION POSTWeek #1, Option 1
Book:
Rating: 2 stars
Review: Well, I don’t know how to say this, but... I hated it.
First of all, I’m truly frustrated that I didn’t like this. It took me so long to get into the story, and even then, I was not interested on the side plot, the whole mystery. I don’t know if it was because it was poorly developed on the first book, or if it is because I was just not feeling it. It was very well explained later, but it went on forever. Like I hadn’t already waited for it after a whole book.
It COMPLETELY throws away the story from the first book. It changes pace completely, and I’m just not sure I understood why everything in the first book happened. And this relationship is abusive. This is the exact example of a hate-to-love relationship I don’t like at all, there’s a very thin line between a toxic relationship and an enemies-to-lovers cute stuff.
The problem is, none of the characters know what love means. So they think that this abusive crap is something you can actually call love and care. They’re very damaged and to be with each other is like a ticking bomb. They are so much better apart, honestly.
The way the characters from the first book are completely underdeveloped here: why? Why would Kate do this, make you get invested in them just to not develop them.
Yeah, Cecelia annoyed me here, big time. She can’t move on and she keeps repeating it all the time, she can’t make amends with it after knowing she needs to back away. She was so resolved at the end of the last book, what happened? She changes mind all the time, and she’s like that throughout the entire book. But I do feel like she is a consistent character, and I really did like her development. I was not disappointed by her character for itself.
And I the worst part is that I actually appreciate Kate’s writing, which made me stick through the book and get even more frustrated.
I did enjoy the ending for the side characters and for the whole mystery surrounding it. As for Cece’s ending, it should’ve been chapter fifty one.
The way Kate romanticized toxic relationships was a no for me. Terrible. And it was also a super dark read; so I do recommend if that is what you’re looking for. But if you want to keep on loving the first book, I suggest you don’t read this.
Selection ~~ Week 1Option 1
Call: 8. The Star Wars movies are a major attraction to the streaming service
Task: Read a book with Science Fiction as a main page genre
Book: Time Trap
Pages: 337
How it fits: mpg science fiction
[*book:Time Trap|17282259]
Hi team - looking good so far! Just need a selection post from Logan :-)
Selection Post - Week 1Option 1
Book: The Wives
[*book:The Wives|43299266]
Pages: 352 - Kindle 1st ed linked above
How it fits: Title has exactly 8 letters
Romance Readers Reading Challenges
Books mentioned in this topic
Devil's Daughter (other topics)Overruled (other topics)
Shards of Frost (other topics)
Overruled (other topics)
Gifts (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Lisa Kleypas (other topics)Suzanne Wright (other topics)
Brynne Asher (other topics)
Suzanne Wright (other topics)
Jill Shalvis (other topics)
More...
Jedi Knight
LaurLa
Wookies
Sarah
CB
Mariana
Logan
Shinnie