Romance Readers Reading Challenges discussion
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TART Challenge - Round 4 - Fast like Molasses (4)
Elizabeth wrote: "#11 | 40. Read 6 books with over 500 reviews | Book 1Book:
Pages: 353
Rating: 😍😍😍😍
Completed: October 12, 2021
Qualifies: 692 Reviews"
#11 | 40. Read 6 books with over 500 reviews | Book 2
Book:
Pages: 448
Rating: 😍😍😍😍
Completed: October 13, 2021
Qualifies: 1,091 reviews
Completion Post - Task #1140. Read 6 books with over 500 reviews.
Assumption
Pages: 213
Completed: 10/13
How it Qualifies: 1346 reviews
Rating: ⭐️⭐️
Review:
I have a soft spot for romances where the characters can look past appearances and really fall in love. It's one of the reasons I like romances with strippers because the other MC realizes that their assumptions are wrong and learns how great the other person is. Unfortunately, this book isn't really like that.
First of all, it appears even the author couldn't handle Autumn actually being a stripper. So even though Autumn refers to herself as a stripper many, many times throughout the beginning of the book, when we actually go to the club where she works, we find out that she's not actually a stripper. She's a hostess. And not even a hostess that sits with patrons and flirts with them. She basically stands off to the side in their private booth/room and waits for them to order drinks. Then she orders them for them. And that's it. So why is her job a big deal?
And the author also made her a nurse in training because being JUST a stripper would probably be too hard for our hero to get over.
Then we meet Kenton, who Autumn moves in with while she's hiding from some bad guy. And Kenton is a total A-HOLE! He so ridiculously judgmental because he thinks Autumn is a stripper. Like over-the-top judgmental. Autumn eventually overhears him telling a friend that he could never introduce her to his mom because she's a stripper, and she gives this great speech about how she's always given him a chance and never judged him. It was great, and I really thought "OK, here we go. This dude is going to start to change and really get to know Autumn and this is going to be awesome."
No, Kenton finds Autumn working at the hospital, and he's pissed because she "lied" to him. And then he forces himself on her despite her saying she doesn't want to be with him because she doesn't trust him...but he doesn't listen to her because now she's an appropriate person for him to be attracted to and he doesn't care that he's treated her like garbage up until this point.
I'd like to say that Kenton redeems himself, but he never really does in my opinion. At one point he even tells Autumn that if he don't know the payoff would be worth it, then he wouldn't bother dealing with her emotional baggage.
My big problem, though, is that the back part of this book feels so darn scattered. The scenes end abruptly. There are new characters constantly popping up that are talked about as if we know them when we don't. Seriously, this is the first book in the series. Who the heck are Nico and Sophie? What was the point of mentioning Sophie was at home when her house was broken into if we've never met her character and the break in has nothing to do with this story? And why is it later mentioned that she was actually kidnapped during the break in?
And then there's all this ridiculous stuff happening on page, like Kenton chasing down the bad guy, and then the Vegas crime family and some other random friend showing up to help, but then stuff that would actually be interesting for Autumn and Kenton's story, like Autumn finding her father and what her mom did, all happened OFF PAGE! WTF? The entire first half of the book is about Autumn's personal issues and how awful her childhood was, and then the actual closure to that story is given in one freaking paragraph after we've sat through chapter after chapter of Kenton looking for bad guys and Autumn watching some guy play Call of Duty while he babysits her that does nothing to actually move the story or build the relationship between the characters at all.
This was just a total mess for me.
I'm seriously not having much luck this month 🤣.
Chan wrote: "Yep. there are a couple of scene jumps in there that confused me. It takes away from the story, but by the time I read Assumption, i had a few ARR books under my belt and was a lot more forgiving than I would be with a 'new to me' author. "So, I thought the name November rang a bell, and turns out this is the author the wrote Until November, which I really liked. It's really confusing how she mixes characters from different series. I guess I was supposed to read the whole Until series first? I don't know. I don't think it added anything to have those cameos in here 🤷🏼♀️.
I'm thinking she has serious mother issues, though 🤣. November and Autumn both had crazy ones.
Here is your next task!Task 12 - 86. Read at least 1500 pages in books with a hat on the cover.
Books selected for this task need to have a hat on the cover. You can use any edition's cover to qualify. Please include the qualifying cover in your completion post. Any kind of hat will work for this task. Remember to use the first edition Kindle page count.
Courtney wrote: "Chan wrote: "Yep. there are a couple of scene jumps in there that confused me. It takes away from the story, but by the time I read Assumption, i had a few ARR books under my belt and was a lot mor..."ohh I see. yeah. i had completed all of the Until series, before reading Assumption. I can see how you would be confused about some elements because ARR does like to draw from her other books.
Kenton is related to the Mayson men in the Until series, so there is overlap. ARR writes Assumption with a lot of liberties, assuming her audience is familiar with her previous books.
For this task, it would be 375 pages per person. I found a book i want to read, but it's only 350. Is anybody planning on reading a book longer than 375?
Chan wrote: "For this task, it would be 375 pages per person. I found a book i want to read, but it's only 350. Is anybody planning on reading a book longer than 375?"Go for it, Chan. I have to go hunting for mine, but everything I'm thinking of that might be an option is going to be 400 pages or more - most likely closer to 500. Also, if we get stuck I have one that BARELY qualifies (151 pages) that I can tack on at the end if it looks like we're going to come up short.
YAY! thank you, karen. I'm reading
350 pages
Ok guys, lots of leeway if any of you want to read shorter books. I'm reading Whiskey Beach using this cover:
(approved by Kat). It's 770 pages, which I'm sure isn't correct because the book isn't nearly that long, but that's what the first edition Kindle version says, so it works!
Woohoo. you have given us a huge break in page count.770 pages (Karen) + 350 pages (Chan) = 1120
Courtney and Liz - 190 pages each
That’s fine my book has 386 pages.
😂 Well Courtney, it looks like you don't need to read anything.I'm kidding, but with our 3 books we are over the min 1500 pages. So, you can read whatever you want 😊 but with a hat.
Chan wrote: "ohh I see. yeah. i had completed all of the Until series, before reading Assumption. I can see how you would be confused about some elements because ARR does like to draw from her other books. "Darn, GR is usually good about marking that a series is a spinoff, so I normally go back and do the original first.
I'm going to do
. It looks a bit cheesy ridiculous cute, so hopefully it'll be good. I haven't tried this author before 🤞
I can't finish my book tonight. I'm too sleepy. It's good though. I was excited for the The Russian and his elusive wife's story. Not sure how i feel about her backstory with her father's journalism career. It's such a serious thing, but the author doesn't devote enough time to it. Either way, I'm having fun with this story, but my eyes are sleepy 😴
I'll finish the remaining 3 hours tomorrow.
Chan wrote: "I can't finish my book tonight. I'm too sleepy. It's good though. I was excited for the The Russian and his elusive wife's story. Not sure how i feel about her backstory with her father's journal..."
I'm looking forward to that one too, but I forgot to put it on my M&G picking shelf this round! Oh well, something to look forward to!
No rush in finishing your book...we can't get our next task until Friday morning at the earliest, so no reason for anyone to rush through and try to finish that quickly. I certainly won't be done before sometime tomorrow either!
#12 | 86. Read at least 1500 pages in books with a hat on the coverBook: Isn't It Bromantic?
Pages: 350
Rating: 🧀🧀🧀🧀
Completed: October 14, 2021
Qualifies: The book cover has a book cover of a man holding a hat
~KarenH~ wrote: "Chan wrote: "I can't finish my book tonight. I'm too sleepy. It's good though. I was excited for the The Russian and his elusive wife's story. Not sure how i feel about her backstory with her fat..."
It's good, Karen. Liz, read this a week or two ago during this challenge and rated it 4 stars. So, I decided to read it soon.
Vlad is cuddly and cute. He's a huge softy. I wanted to hug him. Gah! He made my heart melt.
#12 | 86. Read at least 1500 pages in books with a hat on the coverBook:
Pages: 386
Rating: 😍😍😍😍
Completed: October 14, 2021
Qualifies: The book cover has a book cover of a man wearing a hat
hey liz, it may not matter, but your cover doesn't have a man holding a hat. he's wearing it.
Oh it says just to have a hat on the cover I didn’t think it mattered it the person was holding it or wearing it. I can ask on the other thread so I can start another book right away. I don’t want hold us back.
oh dear. I'm sorry Liz. I was not clear in what i was trying to convey. the 'qualifies' section of your completion post does not exactly describe where the hat is located. Actually, your post states exactly what mine states, but your hat is being worn, while my hat is being held.
Again, i'm not sure if it matters; I was just letting you know.
Chan wrote: "oh dear. I'm sorry Liz. I was not clear in what i was trying to convey. the 'qualifies' section of your completion post does not exactly describe where the hat is located. Actually, your post sta..."
Lol ohhh ok yeah I didn’t even notice that. I update on my phone bc I’m hardly by my computer, and I learned a hack to be able to do everything on goodreads using my phone. But I always copy the previous persons to make it easier. So I’ll fix that. I reread the description thinking huh why would the character wearing the hat matter. Thanks for letting me know.
Chan wrote: "It's good, Karen. Liz, read this a week or two ago during this challenge and rated it 4 stars. So, I decided to read it soon.Vlad is cuddly and cute. He's a huge softy. I wanted to hug him. Gah! He made my heart melt."
Good to know - thanks, Chan. I actually added it to my M&G picking shelf last night just to be sure it doesn't get missed again next round!
Task #12 - 86. Read at least 1500 pages in books with a hat on the cover.Book:
Whiskey BeachPage Count: 770
Rating: 4 stars
Completed: Oct 14, 2021
Qualification: Hat on this cover -
(approved by Kat)
Sorry, still working on mine. Had to get some stuff off to work last night, and lost all my reading time. On the bright side, my book is adorable! 😊
that's fine, courtney. I wasn't planning on reading much today. I have a few fun things planned. so, take your time 😊
Yep, what Chan said. We'll get our next task when we get it and that's just fine. Stressing over not finishing soon enough takes the fun out of it. It's much more important that you're enjoying your book, especially since you've had some real clunkers lately!
Completion Post - Task #1286. Read at least 1500 pages in books with a hat on the cover.
Carbon Dating
Pages: 268
Completed: 10/16
How it Qualifies: Cowboy hat on cover
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Review:
I just love a good character-driven romance, and this story is definitely that. Laura is such a great character. I loved her background with her brother and the dinosaurs and the military and the engineering. Just great. And Ted was fantastic, too. I loved the dynamic of a good 'ole hometown boy and a woman who had traveled the world and done things few had tried. It was a great mash-up of personalities, and definitely a great take on "opposites attract" type relationships.
Ted talks with Laura at his sister's engagement party, and he's immediately attracted to her and her brain, which is seriously fantastic. A dude turned on by a woman who decides to go into rocket engineering after serving in the military?
Ted asks Laura out, but she thinks he's way out of her league, so she turns him down. So, Ted does what every man would do...asks Laura to come see his bone.
Ted happens to have some sort of bone sticking out of the ground in his field, and he invites Laura to check it out as a way to spend more time with her. Turns out it is a dinosaur bone, and luckily Laura has palaeontologist connections, so now Ted gets to see more of Laura.
He eventually wears her down, and Laura agrees to go out with him, and total cuteness ensues.
Unfortunately, Laura has self-esteem issues and issues with people leaving her, so she's always second-guessing the relationship and doesn't think it's possible for Ted to actually be attracted to her. To be honest, it does get to be a bit too much by the end, which is why this isn't quite a 5-star read for me. Just too many self-depreciating remarks.
Overall, I thought this was super cute and fun. The writing is great, the characters are well-developed, and the story was original. This can definitely be read as a standalone, too.
I'm so glad that was a good one. I was really taking a chance on an author I'd never tried before 🤣. But definitely feel like it helped me out of my slump.
Here is your next task!Task 13 - 51. Each teammate reads a different book by the same author, no pass for this task.
As a team select an author and everyone read a different book by the author. Make sure you don't select the same books!
Ok, looks like we've got Pamela Clare...yay!!! Since this one was my pick, I'll give you a little info on my personal preferences. Historical - MacKinnon’s Rangers series, and as a bonus, it's set in New York so works for this weeks PtP task.
Contemporary Romance (with just a hint of RS) - Colorado High Country
Romantic Suspense - I-Team
Oh, and all but Colorado High Country and Cobra Elite (another RS series) are available in audio, and Overdrive has access to everything so (depending on your individual library system) available from the library.
Courtney wrote: "I'm so glad that was a good one. I was really taking a chance on an author I'd never tried before 🤣. But definitely feel like it helped me out of my slump."So happy you found a good one, Courtney!
Nevermind...I'm doing a reread (since I'm current in all the series that have audio), so I might go with this one...it's one of the few I've only read once, and it does double duty with the PtP, but it's also not available in audio like the rest of the series is, so not completely sure yet.
I hope nobody started reading Upon a Winter's Night based on what I said...it's long enough to qualify for the PtP, but not for this challenge. I'm so easily confused these days!!!
I might do MacKinnon Rangers again 🤔. It's been so long, but I know I really liked them. I've been meaning to try I-team, so that's actually what I had loaded on my eReader for this one....decisions, decisions 🤣
Courtney wrote: "I might do MacKinnon Rangers again 🤔. It's been so long, but I know I really liked them. I've been meaning to try I-team, so that's actually what I had loaded on my eReader for this one....decision..."I know you're not a big fan of RS, so I'd be concerned that you'd have another dud on your hands with the I-Team book...especially since the first book in the series has a heroine that a lot of people don't like, and has a couple of TSTL episodes in the book. I enjoyed the whole series, but the first book isn't my favorite. I think I've decided on a reread of
Yeah, the first one didn't sound good. I was actually planning to start at book 5.Buuuuuutttt, I've decided to do
instead 🤣.I had it on my eReader already, and I have childbirth on the brain right now anyway. Not sure if it will make it more interesting to read or harder to read, but all the reviews say her writing of midwifery in Afghanistan is really accurate, so I'm intrigued.
I'll finish up mine tomorrow. I have close to two hours left. 
Chan wrote: "I'll finish up mine tomorrow. I have close to two hours left. "That's about what I have left in mine too, but it's also 3 hours earlier here than there, so I might finish tonight. Not that it matters, we won't be eligible to get a new task until Monday at the earliest either way.
#13 | 51. Each teammate reads a different book by the same authorBook: Extreme Exposure
Pages: 356
Rating: 📝📝📝
Completed: October 17, 2021
Qualifies: Book 1 in the I-Team by Pamela Clare
Task #13 - 51. Each teammate reads a different book by the same author, no pass for this task.Team chose Pamela Clare
Book:
Dead By Midnight: An I-Team ChristmasPage Count: 236
Rating: 5 stars
Completed: Oct 17, 2021
Qualification: Written by Pamela Clare
13 | 51. Each teammate reads a different book by the same authorBook:
Pages: 384
Rating: ❤️❤️❤️
Completed: October 17, 2021
Qualifies: Book 6 in the I-Team by Pamela Clare
Courtney, usually i say take your time. We're in no hurry, but come on. Hurry up! I wanna know what you thought about book 1 in Cobra Elite. It looks good, but i felt the same way about Xtreme exposure. The synopsis has all the elements i enjoy in books, but I cannot connect with it. This was my second read and I still felt distant. I'm on the fence about trying book 2, but i'm hoping you like liked Cobra Elite so i can tryout that series instead.
So c'mon already. post your thoughts 😂
🤣🤣🤣 I'm almost done....honestly, it might be the best romantic suspense I've read.
Completion Post - Task #1351. Each teammate reads a different book by the same author, no pass for this task.
Team chose Palmela Clare
Hard Target
Pages: 261
Completed: 10/19
How it Qualifies: Written by Pamela Clare
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Review:
I'm not a big fan of romantic suspense, so I went into this not really expecting much, but it was really, really good. The setting for this was really well done. I liked how it wasn't so much a damsel-in-distress rescue mission, but more of a "good thing he's here when sh*t hits the fan" story. I think Jenna had a lot more personality than I typically see in these types of stories, and she definitely felt strong, just in a vulnerable position at the moment.
One of the difficulties I have with military type romances is that it can start sounding too technical and feel overwhelming, and you lose the people and personalities in the story. But I think this was perfectly done. You never lose Jenna and Derek's story, but the action plot is clear and easy to follow. I liked the reveal at the end too. It wasn't totally unexpected, but wasn't obvious either, so I think the author did really well with the set up.
Might be the best romantic suspense I've read. I can't remember one that I enjoyed every bit of as much as this anyway. Usually I kind find something to nitpick 🤣, but this was just really good.
Here is your next task!Task 14 - 68. Read a minimum of 1200 pages in books with one word titles.
Books selected for this task need to have one word titles, articles and exclamations included. So books such as NautiCal would work, but books like The Thief would not. Remember to use the first edition Kindle page count.
Courtney wrote: "Completion Post - Task #1351. Each teammate reads a different book by the same author, no pass for this task.
Team chose Palmela Clare
[book:Hard Target|44773650..."
whoa! you rated an RS 5 stars?!??! 😲
I'm definitely reading this one.
Good review too. You explained very well the elements of the story that appealed to you without giving the story away.
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Yep. there are a couple of scene jumps in there that confused me. It takes away from the story, but by the time I read Assumption, i had a few ARR books under my belt and was a lot more forgiving than I would be with a 'new to me' author.