Romance Readers Reading Challenges discussion
The Amazing Race Archive
>
TART Challenge - Round 3 - Fast like Molasses (11)
Here is your next task!Task 15 - 50. Read 6 books set in the same location, teams decide the location.
As a team select a location and read 6 books set in that location. If you select a major city it is easy enough, but you are free to use the state if within the US and the country if outside the US. Please include the selected location in your completion posts. Remember to let me know how you know your book qualifies, be it title precis, book details, tags or lists - I need to know where to look to confirm your books!
Yay, an easy one! We picked NYC, but since the state is allowed, if we just say "New York" it will also work if anyone has something outside of the city they want to read. I have at least 4 on my M&G list that qualify, so can easily read 2.
woohoo a new task! gonna browse my MnG shelves
I know I have some New York stuff around here somewhere 🤣. Time to hit my shelves!
I’m reading Queen of Babble by Meg Cabot. I might be able to read a second one after this one.
Darn, I was hoping Tempt the Boss would fit. It looks like I've got
and
for sure. Nothing is super calling to me, though. I think I'm still in a sports mood from Bishop 🤣. But I'm not a big fan of the Brooklyn Bruisers series, and nothing else is coming to mind for sports in New York.
I started with
and will finish it easily tonight, then decide where I'm going next.
i won't be around much tomorrow. I'll be reading, but won't have access to my computer and doing anything GR related via cellphone sucks. I'll try to post my completion tomorrow evening, but at the latest I'll post Saturday.
No worries! It always takes me a bit longer to get through mine anyway 🤣. Although this book is sooooo good. It might be
level good, which is saying something. Hopefully I didn't just jinx it, though 🤣🤣🤣. Are you using the desktop version on your cell? I hate the mobile version, so I had to switch it.
Omg, this book is so funny.She wore suits so sharp they likely cut anyone who tried to brush past her, and had a smile that managed to be pleasant and sarcastic at the same time. Like she was being polite but knew you were an idiot. 🤣🤣🤣
I'm sitting at my daughter's basketball practice laughing like an idiot while I read this.
I'm almost done with both my books. I'm doing
and
I should be done by tomorrow morning.
I've just got a couple of hours left in my 2nd book, so will be finished this evening easily.
and
Completion - Task 15 - 50. Read 6 books set in the same location, teams decide the location.Team chose New York.
Book 1:
Frisk MePages: 385 (Kindle version)
Rating: 4 stars
Completed: 4/15/21
How the book qualifies: From precis: Officer Luc Moretti had no idea that his dive into the East River would have him drowning in a media frenzy. No matter how many times he tells reporters he was just doing his job, they're determined to make him into NYC's newest hero.
Book 2:
A Lethal LovePages: 238 (Kindle version)
Rating: 4 stars
Completed: 4/16/21
How the book qualifies: MP setting is New York City, New York
I've got about 40 pages left in mine, but I have to drag myself away to do some adulting....
But I should be able to finish up by this evening if I can get all my work done!
Completion Post - Task 1550. Read 6 books set in the same location, teams decide the location.
Team chose New York State
Illegal Contact
Pages: 251 (Kindle Edition)
Completed: 4/17
How the book qualifies: Setting on book page is New York
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Review:
Could this book be any more perfect?
Gavin is a gruff alpha football stud that gets stuck with six months of house arrest after a fight. Not able to do so much as go to the grocery store for himself, his manager insists that he hire a PA. Eventually he settles on geeky sweetheart Noah, who is desperate for a job to help support his dad and pay off his student loans. They're immediately attracted to each other but also love antagonizing each other, so there is a lot of teasing and snark (which I always love). Soon, Gavin realizes how trustworthy Noah is and feels comfortable enough to let him know about his bisexuality, and the two start a relationship that is totally sweet and totally steamy.
I think Gavin was just perfectly done. Totally hard and rough on the outside, but super sweet and yummy on the inside. As his relationship with Noah develops, you just see so much of who this guy really is and how much of the tough-guy persona is really an act.
The drama in here is all really thoughtful, too. It never felt like drama for drama's sake. All the feelings and reactions felt very honest and real, especially Noah's concerns about the power structure of their relationship potentially causing issues.
I really just loved every bit of this and don't think it could be any better. Lots of laugh-out loud moments, as well as touching confessions that I dare you not to tear up over. And not to mention the heat level. My goodness!
So, I never read reviews before I start a book because I'm too afraid of spoilers, but after I'm done sometimes I'll flick through to see what other people thought. I noticed there were a lot of rating removed for this one, so I started searching, and it looks the author might have done some shady stuff....So now I'm not sure how I feel about everything. The book was sooooo amazing, but if the author is jerky it kind of ruins it. So, I don't know, I left my rating for the moment, because I did really love it, but I might change it later.
Book 1:Queen of Babble in the Big City
Pages: 322 (Kindle version)
Rating: 3 stars
Completed: 4/16/21
How the book qualifies: MP setting is New York City, New York
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Book 2:
The Pretending Plot
Pages: 202 (Kindle version)
Rating: 3 stars
Completed: 4/16/21
How the book qualifies: MP setting is New York City, New York
Review: Book 2: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Courtney wrote: "So, I never read reviews before I start a book because I'm too afraid of spoilers, but after I'm done sometimes I'll flick through to see what other people thought. I noticed there were a lot of ra..."I had the exact same experience with this book...read it and loved it, then heard about the actions (or alleged actions I guess I should say) of the author. I ended up not rating it and was really glad I'd gotten the book from the library rather than paying for it. I don't pay much attention to a lot of the "authors behaving badly" stories you hear...I don't have to like an author or think they're a good person to like their books, but it crosses the line for me when an author actually defrauds their readers, whether it be in the form of plagiarism or something like what this author apparently did.
#15 | Task 50: Read 6 books set in the same location ~ New YorkBook: Forgive and Forget
Rating: 😊😊😊😊
Completed: April 16, 2021
Qualifies: Main page setting is New York
Am I the last to post?I'll check page 1
Yep. sorry for holding everybody up. I'll post in the main thread now.
KU with audio updated.I spoke with a KU rep and they do not have a feature to search for KU with the audible/audio for free. She wants the feature too.
She forwarded my suggestion to the Amazon team, so maybe they will consider making this change.
Courtney wrote: "No worries! It always takes me a bit longer to get through mine anyway 🤣. Although this book is sooooo good. It might be level good, which is saying something. Hopefully I ..."i don't have the GR app. That made me angry. I used to growl at my phone. The desktop version on the phone is easier, but it still doesn't work properly on my phone.
~KarenH~ wrote: "Courtney wrote: "So, I never read reviews before I start a book because I'm too afraid of spoilers, but after I'm done sometimes I'll flick through to see what other people thought. I noticed there..."Wow. i never heard of this guy or should I say person(s). I did some snooping after your post. This is really crazy. SH was dropped from his publishing company and Amazon is offering refunds for those who purchased the books.
I don't know how much of what happened is true, but it appears something happened and it doesn't look good.
Chan wrote: "KU with audio updated.I spoke with a KU rep and they do not have a feature to search for KU with the audible/audio for free. She wants the feature too.
She forwarded my suggestion to the Amazon ..."
Thanks for the info!
Well that was quite the rabbit hole I went down after Courtney's comments...! Dropped from not just one, but two publishing companies, for an author whose works appeared to be well liked, says A LOT! I do believe in supporting the good/not supporting the bad with my $$ - if you keep your life private that is enough for me, but when the bad comes out I'm not going to be buying or reading your stuff. Though it is really kind of amazing the bad that comes out, sometimes they just shoot themselves in the foot. The lies or misrepresentations are often so unnecessary! Oh well...
Here is your next task!Task 16 - 82. Each teammate reads a different book from the same series.
As a team select a series, then everyone reads a different book in the selected series. Please include the selected series in your completion posts.
MountainKat wrote: "Well that was quite the rabbit hole I went down after Courtney's comments...! Dropped from not just one, but two publishing companies, for an author whose works appeared to be well liked, says A LO..."Hahaha. Kat i was in that same rabbit hole. before i knew 30 minutes had passed by.
And I agree. I don't expect anybody to perfect, but some of the stuff that came out about SH is really crappy.
This is what we had:82. Each teammate reads a different book from the same series.
https://www.goodreads.com/series/4649...
I plan to read book 2 in the Mackenzies' series
Ok, we picked the Mackenzies & McBrides series. I'll be doing a reread since I've read the entire series, so once I know what the rest of you are reading I'll pick from what's left.
I haven't read any so I'm going to start with book 1. 
Yeah, the whole thing is really weird. Like, if it was just that the author had been writing under a different gender penname, I wouldn't think it's a big deal. I think there are few authors that do that. But the fact that they reached out to fans and made up stories and took money from people under false pretenses that just really takes this to a whole other level. I did want to give the author the benefit of the doubt because I know sometimes things get blown up, but the fact that they were dropped from their publisher and even Amazon was giving refunds makes me think there must have really been shady stuff going on. Such a shame too because the author seemed really talented and likely could have made more money the honest way anyway. But, yeah, I'm glad I borrowed this one instead of bought.
Ugh! I can't decide 😭. I'm up to
but I haven't been a fan of any of the old brother's stories yet, so I'm not sure if I'll like it. I've read all the novellas except
, but it sounds a little boring. My favorite book in the series was
, so I'm not sure of I should do that or
because it was my favorite of the novellas and I remember it seemed kind of separate from the other stories so I shouldn't be lost if I've forgotten some things 🤣
Ok I'm going to do
. I desperately need 2014 books for my Countdown challenge 🤣
Chan wrote: "i don't have the GR app. That made me angry. I used to growl at my phone. The desktop version on the phone is easier, but it still doesn't work properly on my phone."I hate the Goodreads app so much. I like to pretend it doesn't exist 🤣
Courtney wrote: "Ok I'm going to do . I desperately need 2014 books for my Countdown challenge 🤣"LOL i'm glad you worked that out. I laughed while reading your post because i do the same thing sometimes when I'm trying to decide between several books.
Courtney wrote: "Chan wrote: "i don't have the GR app. That made me angry. I used to growl at my phone. The desktop version on the phone is easier, but it still doesn't work properly on my phone."I hate the Goodr..."
I tried to delete it from my kindle. I even called Amazon b/c i couldn't do it. They told me it was a factory setting. I scoffed and told them it sucked.
I moved it to the bottom of my screen and I too pretend it doesn't exist.
When I visit the website on my phone, it sometimes asks if I want the app. And I'm that crazy person in public who talks to the phone and says out loud "are you kidding? your app is garbage!"
🤣🤣🤣 When I got my new iPhone somehow I accidentally downloaded app. I don't know if it was on the cloud or something from my ipad from years ago and just automatically did it or what. Anyway, it kept automatically opening whenever I tried to look at a book in my browser, and I swear I was going to murder someone! Made me crazy! I couldn't figure out how to stop it, but luckily I could at least remove the darn thing 🤣
Chan wrote: "LOL i'm glad you worked that out. I laughed while reading your post because i do the same thing sometimes when I'm trying to decide between several books. .."Sometimes it's easier for me to make a decision when I have everything written out in front of me 🤣🤣
#16 | Task 82. Each teammate reads a different book from the same series - Mackenzies & McBridesBook: Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage
Rating: 📜📜📜📜
Pages: 338
Completed: April 18, 2021
Qualifies: This is book 2 in Mackenzies & McBrides
#16 | Task 82. Each teammate reads a different book from the same series - Mackenzies & McBridesBook: The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie
Rating: 3 Stars
Page: 315
Completed: April 18, 2021
Qualifies: This is book 1 in Mackenzies & McBrides
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Completion Post - Task 16Task 82. Each teammate reads a different book from the same series
Team chose Mackenzies and McBrides
Scandal And The Duchess
Pages: 160 (Kindle Edition)
Completed: 4/19
How the book qualifies: Book 6.5 in Mackenzies and McBrides
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Review:
I first read this book a few years ago when I originally binged the Mackenzie series. I couldn't remember too much about it before I started this re-read, but as I went through it, I realized I might have forgotten it because the story just doesn't hold up with the rest of the series.
The characters are great, don't get me wrong. I think Ashley has a wonderful knack for creating really fleshed out characters with tons of great quirks that you have to adore. Rose is probably one of the sweetest heroines I've read that isn't also annoyingly-naive and overly-innocent. And Steven is an all-around nice guy. They're a cute couple, and their romance is nice. Not earth shattering or anything, but pleasant.
The issue I have with this book is honestly that it's just kind of ridiculous.
So, Rose was married to an older Duke who passes away. The Duke's son doesn't like her and doesn't want her to get any part of the ducal estate. When the story opens, she's fleeing the Duke's London home, and there are like regency paparazzi waiting for her outside (which is weird, too). They're shouting questions at her, and then drunk Steven comes up and falls on her, and she feels bad and ends up taking him with her to where she's hiding....the coachman's house behind the estate.
Yeah, she gets in a carriage to wing around the block and come up the back side.
It made absolutely no sense to me, but this really is what happens because the next morning she walks back out of the coachman's house to go through the Duke's house so she can meet Steven in front with all the reporters because he wants to announce their "fake" engagement.
Now, the backstory with Rose is that she was married to an older man who died on their honeymoon, and she's been widowed for a year and three months. But the timeline makes absolutely no sense in this book.
Rose keeps talking about all these things her and the Duke used to do, and even mentions at one point that they enjoyed having relations with each other, but when did this happen? Were they getting it on before they got married? Were honeymoons much farther after the wedding back then? She talks throughout the book as if her the Duke knew each other really well and did lots of stuff together. But when? She talks about going through his house with him and learning the stories of all the people in the pictures, but when did they have time for this? Certainly they weren't betrothed for very long. Her family was dead, and he was old and lonely. I imagine it would have been a pretty quick engagement. And when in the heck did the old guy have time to plan this crazy scavenger hunt for her??? Like the day after the wedding, he's stuffing papers into old furniture "just in case".
Besides the weird marriage timeline, Rose's time as a widow doesn't really work out either. The night Steven meets her, she's being kicked out of the Duke's house in London because the son doesn't like her....but it's a year and three months after the Duke died. Why did it take him that long to get around to it? For a man that seems to hate her so much, it doesn't make any sense. And in a year, Rose still hasn't seen the will to find out if she was left anything. What was her solicitor doing for a year? It's bizarre.
And don't even get me started on the secret house in the woods that no one knew about that the Duke had set aside for her. The housekeeper was waiting for over a year for Rose to show up and claim the place, and she never once went up to the ducal estate to ask about the hold up? It's down the freaking street! It's not like it was a secret door to Oz or something.
I think Ashley writes really well, but this just didn't feel really thought out. It was honestly a bit hard for me to really get into this one because I couldn't help but get hung up on the things that don't make enough sense. I definitely don't think I'll come back to this a third time.
That cover though!
Completion - Task 16 - 82. Each teammate reads a different book from the same series.Team chose Mackenzies & McBrides.
The Wicked Deeds of Daniel MackenziePages: 384 (Kindle version)
Rating: 5 stars
Completed: 4/18/21
How the book qualifies: Book 6 in the Mackenzies & McBrides series
Chan wrote: "#16 | Task 82. Each teammate reads a different book from the same series - Mackenzies & McBridesBook: Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage
Rating: 📜📜📜📜
Completed: April 18, 2021
Qual..."
Please add the first edition Kindle page count (338). Thanks!
Elizabeth wrote: "#16 | Task 82. Each teammate reads a different book from the same series - Mackenzies & McBridesBook: The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie
Rating: 3 Stars
Completed: April 18, 2021
Qu..."
Please add the first edition Kindle page count (315). Thanks!
Romance Readers Reading Challenges
Books mentioned in this topic
Love on Lexington Avenue (other topics)Risky Play (other topics)
Happy Singles Day (other topics)
A Husband's Regret (other topics)
6-Pack Rancher (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Ilona Andrews (other topics)Jack Davenport (other topics)
Jacob Chance (other topics)
Ruby Dixon (other topics)
Weston Parker (other topics)
More...
71. Pick another team and each member reads one book that was read by a member for this challenge. No pass for this task.
Team picked Team 16
Bishop
Pages: 221 (Kindle Edition)
Completed: 4/15
How the book qualifies: Read by Lea on Team 16
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Review:
This is one of those books that I really wish there were half star ratings for. It's definitely more than a three-star, but just not a four-star.
The best part of this book is definitely the couple. Brooke and Bishop were a great pairing, and I enjoyed reading about their relationship developing. They were super sweet together. And I actually liked how the author did all the drama with the psycho, Nanette. I was so relieved that this wasn't a rehashing of that overused idea of a woman not trusting her man to be faithful and assuming he messed around with someone else. The fact that these guys worked together and were super open about everything was really great and made the whole thing feel much more real.
But where this failed for me was the actual fake relationship aspect, which is unfortunately the major plot line for the story. I just couldn't buy it. It seemed absolutely unnecessary for them to have the fake relationship in the first place, and they kept bringing it up like it was some huge deal and they could never let anyone know because the fallout would be terrible. But why? Nobody actually cared about them dating. Not even Brooke's dad, who is given as the reason for the whole thing, didn't seem to care enough to make it necessary. Once they both agreed that their relationship was turning into something real, the charade didn't matter anyway, so why keep going with it? I just couldn't get into it.
So, great couple, not so great use of the fake-relationship troupe.