Romance Readers Reading Challenges discussion
The Amazing Race Archive
>
TART Challenge - Round 3 - Fast like Molasses (11)
message 351:
by
Chan
(last edited Apr 01, 2021 08:10PM)
(new)
Apr 01, 2021 08:09PM
I finally decided. I'm going to listen to 
reply
|
flag
There are so many characters. It's hard to keep them all straight. I've been rewinding, but i might need to take notes.
I've been wondering about that series. I think the reviews said it follows four separate couples simultaneously? Sounds like a lot to keep track of.
Chan wrote: "Not yet. i'm still trying to decide. I have so many good ones. I blame you, Karen and Liz for this dilemma."Happy to be of assistance! 😁😁😁
~KarenH~ wrote: "Chan wrote: "Not yet. i'm still trying to decide. I have so many good ones. I blame you, Karen and Liz for this dilemma."Happy to be of assistance! 😁😁😁"
I plan to return the favor 🤗
Courtney wrote: "I've been wondering about that series. I think the reviews said it follows four separate couples simultaneously? Sounds like a lot to keep track of."I finally got the hang of it, but the book is almost over and it seriously took me that long to keep everything straight. because it follows more than just the four couples.
Now that i have the characters sealed in my mind, the rest of this series is probably going to be mind blowing...seriously!
Completion - Task 9 - 63. Read a minimum of 1200 pages in books tagged 'magic' or 'magical'.Book 1:
Pages: 268 (Kindle version)
Rating: 3 stars
Completed: 4/2/21
How the book qualifies: MPG Romance > Tagged 'magic' by 3 people on page 1 of tags
Liz, can you post the page count of your book? I have another one that qualifies that I just finished, but won't bother posting it unless we need it for the total page count.
Completion - Task 9 - 63. Read a minimum of 1200 pages in books tagged 'magic' or 'magical'.Enchant: Beauty and the Beast Retold
Pages: 248 (Kindle version)
Rating: 3 stars
Completed: 4/2/21
How the book qualifies: MPG Fantasy > Tagged Fantasy>Magic by 13 people on page 1 of tags
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
#9 | Task 63: Read a minimum of 1200 pages in books tagged 'magic' or 'magical'.Book: The Beginning of Everything
Pages: 412
Rating: 🧚🧚🧚🧚
Completed: April 2, 2021
Qualifies: MPG Fantasy > Magic
Current page count:Karen - 268
Liz - 248
Chan - 412
Total - 928
Remaining - 272
If Courtney is reading A Lair So Sinful then we don't need another book. Her page count is 289.928 + 289 = 1217
Ok, I won't worry about it then unless Courtney tells us she's changed her book for something shorter.
No, I'm still doing the same one! It's soooooo good! I was up until 3 am reading it last night. My husband kept waking up and going, "You're still reading?" Yes, dear, now go back to sleep and leave me alone 🤣🤣🤣I didn't manage to finish because I needed at least a few hours of sleep, but I should wrap it up by this evening.
haha. i'm glad you are liking. those are the best stories...the ones that keep you up until the wee hours of the morning. don't feel rushed to complete it. Take your time and enjoy it.
Completion Post - Task 963. Read a minimum of 1200 pages in books tagged 'magic' or 'magical'.
A Lair So Sinful
Pages: 289 (Kindle version)
Completed: 4/3
How the book qualifies: MPG Fantasy>Magic
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Review:
I just love picking up a new Zoey Ellis story. I always know she's going to give me something new and special. I really feel she's such a standout in this space. Great characters, amazing world-building.
The Two Realms world she created in this one is still dark with magic and warring factions similar to the Myth of Omega series, but I loved the kind of demi-god type feel of the dragorai-alphas that she did here. The idea that these alphas live separated from the regular mortals in their mountain ranges, not really connected to the lesser-mortals and their struggles, was a nice change from other Omegaverse books where it's always the alphas in charge of and directly controlling everyone. Gave me kind of a Greek god, Mt Olympus type vibe.
In the Two Realms, there are only five Dragorai-alphas left. There are still regular alphas down with the lesser-mortals, but the dragorai-alphas are special because they form a life-long bond with a dragon partner and have greater connections to the magic in the world. Nyro is the most aloof and unconcerned with the regular mortals of all the dragorai. He has no interest in getting involved with issues in the Two Realms, and prefers to spend his days hunting and screwing his harem of ladies.
I’mya wakes up inside Nyro's moutain range with no knowledge of where she is or what she's doing there. She's informed that she applied to join Nyro's group of ladies, but she always feels like there must be something more to it than that. I'm not a super big fan of amnesia plots, but I actually think this one was really well done. Ellis did a great job of giving just the right amount of knowledge at just the right time so that when everything finally become clear, it's unexpected but makes a whole lot of sense.
I'mya and Nyro were really a great couple in this, and they rank up there with the best I think Ellis has done. I think Nyro was just that perfect amount of gruff alpha and super sweetheart. Totally loved him. That part where he confesses that he was waiting to purr for her until just the right moment?
This book just totally sucked me in from the first page. I really didn't want to put it down. When the big reveal comes near the end, it was just perfect. The story behind it, the reason the person still goes through with it, the truth behind the set up...
From the beginning up until that climax, I was so totally in the story, and this was shaping up to be my favorite Ellis ever, but if I'm completely honest, everything after that was a bit lackluster. I'm glad there wasn't a whole bunch of dragging out the forgiveness because it is easy to overdo it, but I really feel that there should have been some kind of grovel after what happened.
It was all just a little too easy, and then everything went a little too sappy and perfect. I still really liked the book overall, but the end just didn't have the oomph that the rest of the story did.
So it wasn't a prefect read for me, but it was a pretty darn good one. Ellis certainly can write steam!
Can't wait for the next book in the series!
Here is your next task!Task 10 - 13. Read a minimum of 750 pages in books tagged/shelved as sports.
Books selected for this task need to be tagged/shelved as sports. The qualifying tags can be the generic 'sports' or more specific such as 'hockey' or 'baseball'. Please include a link to the top shelves page with your qualifying tag along with the number of tags and the top shelves page number. This extra information in extremely helpful if the link is broken or the tag moves and both happen frequently! Remember to use the first edition Kindle page count.
Yay a new task. gonna look through my MnG list
Guess what i did last night - i spent hours organizing my books. I was so proud of myself. I created shelves in GR so that I will know where to look for the book. I had paid for a couple of books twice and figured i needed a better system LOLI still have to finish adding my kindle books, but I was tired and utterly appalled by the sheer volume.
I'm going to read Undercover Bromance. Note to self - tagged sports on page 2
750 pages - 348 pages = 402 pages
Congrats on getting your shelves organized, Chan! Since a good chunk of the books I own don't even make it onto my shelves until I read them these days, you're obviously way better about it than I am! I've never even attempted to organize by genre/theme/etc.I'm reading Wylde.
Continuing on from Chan's count:
402 pages - 201 pages = 201 pages remaining
~KarenH~ wrote: "Congrats on getting your shelves organized, Chan! Since a good chunk of the books I own don't even make it onto my shelves until I read them these days, you're obviously way better about it than I ..."Oh no. genre/theme/etc is too much for me. I just need to know where the book is located LOL! Audible, kindle, public library, etc. I'm amazed at how people can do all of those tags and shelving. I can't keep up with it. But had to organize where my books were for my finances sake :o)
Oh perfect! I'm going to do
because I need a Aus/NZ for PTP! 201 - 184 = 16 left
Congratulations on organizing Chan! I always want to do it.....but I'm lazy 🤣
I’m going to do head over heels.Kindle Pages:320
Completion - Task 10 - 13. Read a minimum of 750 pages in books tagged/shelved as sports.
WyldePages: 201 (Kindle version)
Rating: 4 stars
Completed: 4/3/21
How the book qualifies: MPG Sports
#10 | Task 13. Read a minimum of 750 pages in books tagged/shelved as sports.Book: Undercover Bromance
Pages: 348
Rating: 👩🍳👩🍳👩🍳👩🍳
Completed: April 4, 2021
Qualifies: Shelved sports by 7 people
Task 13. Read a minimum of 750 pages in books tagged/shelved as sports.Book:
Pages: 320
Rating: ❤❤❤❤
Completed 4-4-21
Qualifies: Shelved as "Sports" by 66 people https://www.goodreads.com/work/shelve...
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Completion Post - Task 10 13. Read a minimum of 750 pages in books tagged/shelved as sports.
Playing By Her Rules
Pages: 184 (Kindle version)
Completed: 4/5
How the book qualifies: MPG Sports
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Review:
Can you love and hate a book at the same time?
I'm just so torn with this one, and I'm not sure what to say. It's really well-written, and I absolutely love the characters. They're witty and sweet; they have great chemistry. And I love the whole high-school sweethearts reconnecting and falling in love thing. But I hate, hate, hate what the hero did, why he did it, and how all of this wrapped up.
The story starts with Matilda being told by the paper she works for to do a story on her high-school boyfriend, Tanner, who is the captain of the Sydney Smoke Rugby team. She hasn't seen or spoken to him since she caught him kissing another girl at a party back in high school eight years ago and he broke her heart. She doesn't want to see him again, but she's offered a move up to features writer if she does a good job, so she accepts. In the eight years since they split, Tanner has climbed the ranks and become a big celebrity. He has been following Matilda's career since she returned to Sydney after university overseas, and later claims that he still loves her and regrets what happened....but, honestly, I just had a hard time buying it.
For one thing, he never reached out to Matilda after she left for school. And even when she moved back to Australia, nothing! Then, when she comes to meet him to set up their first interview, he's nice to her, and he notices that she looks unhappier and more uptight than he remembers, so he decides that he wants to help her find her joy again. And that's it. He wants to help her find the sweet, adventurous girl she used to be. It initially sounds like he just wants to reconnect on the friends level. It isn't until their first interview, when he sees her all dressed up that he decides that he wants to date her again.
So, I just wasn't feeling this undying love for Matilda or much remorse from this guy, and it's obvious that Matilda was totally torn up over what had happened. However, as they go along, Tanner grows on me, and I really really hoped this guy would come good. But honestly, he just never got all the way there for me.
Matilda's side of this was just so well done and totally soul-destroying emotional. How she laments that because of Tanner's actions, she was robbed of building a life with the man she loved. How she had trouble trusting any other men and sabotaged all her relationships after him. How she questioned whether she was good enough.
And Tanner? He just moved on. He dated other girls, he kept living a good life, and he assumed Matilda would just get over him while at college. The author spent a lot of time showing how Tanner was a great guy with everyone else, but never showed him doing anything particularly good for Matilda.
There was just never enough in here to show that Tanner actually cared as much about Matilda as he claimed to. The only thing he ever did for her was force her to break up with him so that she would use her scholarship, which is actually a pretty sh*t thing to do. At least if he had tried to reach out to her while she was in college, or when she got back, or there had been some indication that he hadn't rushed into dating other people after her, or he had immediately tried to win her back the first time he met her again....something! Then maybe I could have been able to buy it.
While I did love them together, I just couldn't forgive this guy. And, honestly, I'm super pissed that the author had Matilda's grandmother tell her to just get over what happened and get back together with him. That was total BS. Matilda should have had what she went through validated, and Tanner should have done a lot more to make up for it. He took her choices away from her, made her suffer through watching him become famous and date other women, and ruined her chances at really letting anyone else in. There needed to be more to show that he realized what a colossal douche he had been.
So, I'm giving this book a reluctant 4 stars because it really is very well written and the overall plot is good; it's just missing that little bit that makes you believe in the relationship and want it to work out.
Here is your next task!Task 11 - 35. Read 6 books first published between 2011 and 2020.
Books selected for this task need to have been initially published between 1.1.2011 and 12.31.2020. If there is a date at the top of the editions page use it. Otherwise I will be looking for the earliest dated English language edition regardless of format for the qualification. Please include the initial publication date in your completion posts.
This is good! I only have a few books on my M&G list that don't qualify, and they're all things that for various reasons I don't want to read right now anyway! I can easily read 2.
I could read two as well. I'm going to start on Beauty from Love to finish up the Beauty series by Georgia Cates.
If no one else is planning on reading two, I can add Rock Chick Reckoning. I'll check back in after I finish the first one.
Oh yeah! I'm going to do
! We wanted to read it in a buddy read, and I was super hoping it would line up with our next task here so I could do it 🤣.
I know, right? 🤣🤣🤣 I make most of my book decisions based on the cover 🤣🤣
#11 | Task 35: Read 6 books first published between 2011 and 2020Book: Beauty from Love
Pages: 292
Rating: 🎵🎵🎵
Completed: April 6, 2021
Qualifies: Originally published January 28, 2014
I didn't see anyone else besides Karen post they were reading two books, so I'm going to start my second one - Rock Chick Reckoning
#11 | Task 35: Read 6 books first published between 2011 and 2020Book: How to Catch a Wicked Viscount
Pages: 352
Rating: ❤❤❤❤
Completed: April 6, 2021
Qualifies: Originally published August 27th, 2019
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Elizabeth wrote: "#11 | Task 35: Read 6 books first published between 2011 and 2020Book: How to Catch a Wicked Viscount
Pages: 352
Rating: ❤❤❤❤
Completed: April 6, 2021
Qualifies: Originally publis..."
The book's storyline sounds similar to something I've read before, but I remember that story being a little darker. From your review this one seemed light and funny.
Completion - Task 11 - 35. Read 6 books first published between 2011 and 2020.Book 1:
BTW: By the WayPages: 270 (Kindle version)
Rating: 4 stars
Completed: 4/5/21
How the book qualifies: MPG Romance > Original publication date is May 10, 2020
Book 2:
TargetedPages: 352 (Kindle version)
Rating: 4 stars
Completed: 4/6/21
How the book qualifies: Original publication date is June 7, 2016
#11 | Task 35: Read 6 books first published between 2011 and 2020Book: Rock Chick Reckoning
Pages: 484
Rating: 🎙️🎙️🎙️🎙️
Completed: April 6, 2021
Qualifies: Originally published November 13, 2011
Karen, targeted sounds interesting. Is this something I could handle? the suspense and whodunnit are calling to me, but wanna make sure there it's not scary as it's MPG thriller.
Chan wrote: "Karen, targeted sounds interesting. Is this something could handle? the suspense and whodunnit are calling to me, but wanna make sure there it's not scary as it's MPG thriller."That's really hard for me to answer...I don't have a real good feel for where to draw the line for you. I don't think the violence/gore is any worse than an In Death book though, so I THINK it would probably be ok. It's 4th in the series though, and I wouldn't recommend reading them out of order - there's a pretty strong sub-plot that runs through, so while you could probably read it on its own, it will make a lot more sense if read in order.
I've found I really like both Kendra Elliot and Melinda Leigh...they each write stuff on their own, and also collaborate on several series. Best of all, all of their stuff is on KU, both for kindle and audio.
Chan wrote: "Elizabeth wrote: "#11 | Task 35: Read 6 books first published between 2011 and 2020Book: How to Catch a Wicked Viscount
Pages: 352
Rating: ❤❤❤❤
Completed: April 6, 2021
Qualifies:..."
Yeah, I think I've read similar books about a young girl during this time period caught up in a scandal that were very dark. And to be fair there were some darker topics in this book, but the way the author approached them were very light and funny. Sophie is desperate to marry well in order to help save her family from financial ruin, but she gets caught up with her friends. I really loved that although Sophie could have been really down, and depressed she continued to look on the bright side of things. I also loved that the author flipped the normal trope of the bad rake, and made the girls a little bit naughty. It definitely screamed of this time periods idea of feminism.
Elizabeth wrote: "#11 | Task 35: Read 6 books first published between 2011 and 2020Book: How to Catch a Wicked Viscount
Pages: 352
Rating: ❤❤❤❤
Completed: April 6, 2021
Qualifies: Originally publis..."
I just put this on my TBR last month! It sounds like it would be fun. I always like a good "accidentally fall in love with the person I was helping find a spouse" troupe.
Sorry, I'm only about half way through mine. It was a bit slower in the beginning than I expected. Now that the heroine has FINALLY moved in, it's moving along a bit better. Hopefully I'll finish up tonight.
~KarenH~ wrote: "Chan wrote: "Karen, targeted sounds interesting. Is this something could handle? the suspense and whodunnit are calling to me, but wanna make sure there it's not scary as it's MPG thriller."That'..."
Although I typed Targeted, i was referring to Vanished. I read the synopsis for Book 1, not book 4.
In Death is a good gauge. I'm good with suspense, but i really cannot handle a lot of gore description. A book illustrating someone was shot is okay, but going into details of carving someone open...blech!
I've heard of Melinda Leigh, do you have any book recs for her? I added Vanished to my tbr.
Courtney wrote: "Sorry, I'm only about half way through mine. It was a bit slower in the beginning than I expected. Now that the heroine has FINALLY moved in, it's moving along a bit better. Hopefully I'll finish u..."No rush, Courtney. I'll probably be away most of the day, so I wouldn't be able to start a new book if we received a call today anyway.
Glad the story is picking up though :o)
Courtney wrote: "Sorry, I'm only about half way through mine. It was a bit slower in the beginning than I expected. Now that the heroine has FINALLY moved in, it's moving along a bit better. Hopefully I'll finish u..."Take your time, Courtney!
Chan wrote: "In Death is a good gauge. I'm good with suspense, but i really cannot handle a lot of gore description. A book illustrating someone was shot is okay, but going into details of carving someone open...blech!I've heard of Melinda Leigh, do you have any book recs for her? I added Vanished to my tbr."
This is kind of hard for me to judge because I'm really good at just skimming over/zoning out if anything gets too specific or graphic for me, so I don't tend to remember it unless it's REALLY bad. As an example, I'd never recommend Karen Rose to you because she spends way too much time inside the bad guy's head, including when he/she is committing the very grisly murders. I like her stuff though, because I can skim past that - get the idea, but not really take in the details. I don't think either Melinda Leigh or Kendra Elliot get anywhere near that kind of ick though.
With Kendra Elliot, her series kind of build on each other - no storylines that carry through, but characters from a previous series might pop up in a current one. For me, as obsessive as I am about series order, I'd want to read the Bone Secrets series before Callahan & McLane, but you wouldn't be lost or confused reading Callahan & McLane first.
As far as Melinda Leigh goes, I started with her debut book, She Can Run, and then just gradually plowed my way through her backlist. I don't recall her series having the connectivity that Kendra Elliot's do though, so I'm pretty sure you'd be fine starting with any of her series.
I wouldn't recommend that you start with one of their series collaborations - they tend to be short books, almost like a serialized novel but not quite. Knowing how you generally feel about shorter books though, I don't think you'd get the best impression of their stuff from them. Maybe down the road if you find you like their stuff, but not to start with.
Completion Post - Task 11Task 11 - 35. Read 6 books first published between 2011 and 2020.
Shacking Up
Pages: 480 (Kindle version)
Completed: 4/8
How the book qualifies: First published in 2017
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Review:
I really wanted to like this more than I did. I adored the Pucked series, and it still ranks as one of my all time favorites, but this one kind of missed the mark.
Maybe it's the current climate or whatever, but listening to a rich girl complain about not making it in New York as an actress and maybe needing to go work for Daddy to make ends meet just doesn't get me going. It just feels cringy. I think the author intended for us to respect Ruby for trying to make it on her own and be more than a regular trust fund baby, but the girl has been living in New York in an apartment without a roommate for five years and had her rent paid for and a credit line from her father. And even when her father stops paying for things, she hasn't saved up enough in five years to afford another place and has to move in with a rich friend. Listening to her complain about not wanting to be "kept" is just ridiculous.
This girl was surviving in New York doing off-off-Broadway bit parts with no extra part-time work. No, I don't feel sorry for her. No, I don't think she's super awesome and amazing for "surviving". It was just so hard to go through her complaining about not living in luxury for all of five years and Banecroft thinking she was so different and special because she had done so.
I just couldn't get invested in this relationship because it felt so surface and shallow. I did love the stuff with the wacky pets, and Banecroft had some good dirty talk, but overall this wasn't nearly as sexy or funny as the Pucked series, and I just didn't like the heroine much.
And I got really sick of Ruby constantly referring to her step-mother as whore-mother. Seriously? Her father was the married one who cheated on his wife with his secretary. How about we put the blame where it actually belongs?
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...
