Team POP

[Judy]

How's everyone doing?

Work has been killing me the past three days and I've barely done any reading at all :( I was hoping this week would be okay because of how next week is looking, but no dice... maybe I'll find some time over the weekend at least 😬

[Christina]

Hi! Finished both my currently reading tonight and will start my U book next, although I'm sure if I'll get around to it before Monday or Tuesday even because just like you, Judy, work is b u s y ...

[Alyana]

Hello! I'm doing okay. I'm just listening to what I can for this round. Trying to make my books work for multiple challenges that I signed up for which makes it harder for me 😂🤦‍♀️

[Aoife]

I've definetitly hit a bit of a slump 😭 I just haven't really been loving anything I've been reading.. They're all grand but nothing is amazing :( hopefully something works a bit better for me

I had my Christmas party on Friday night and ended up staying in the hotel when I had planned on going home 😂 the lack of sleep made concentration yesterday very baad but it was a great party!

[Judy]

Ooops, but happy to hear that it was a good party!

I didn't get any good reading time yesterday either, but I FINALLY just finished the Lost Bookshop and am free of this torture

[Aoife]

It was! In fairness the girl I ended up staying with had offered to share her room with me but I was like "nope I'm going home to my own bed 100%" 🤥

At least you don't have to force yourself with it anymore!

[Aoife]

Alyana, the edition of The Storm Sister you have on your shelf has a different page count to what you have on the SS - SS says 513, logged on says 720. Which one did you have? 😊

[Alyana]

Aoife wrote: "Alyana, the edition of The Storm Sister you have on your shelf has a different page count to what you have on the SS - SS says 513, logged on says 720. Which one did you have? 😊"

Oops sorry, I'll fix it.

[Alyana]

Aoife wrote: "Alyana, the edition of The Storm Sister you have on your shelf has a different page count to what you have on the SS - SS says 513, logged on says 720. Which one did you have? 😊"

It's fixed now :)

[Judy]

Aoife wrote: "It was! In fairness the girl I ended up staying with had offered to share her room with me but I was like "nope I'm going home to my own bed 100%" 🤥"

hahahaha I love that, ooooooooops!

[Judy]

Alyana wrote: "Aoife wrote: "Alyana, the edition of The Storm Sister you have on your shelf has a different page count to what you have on the SS - SS says 513, logged on says 720. Which one did you have? 😊"

It's fixed now :)"

I'm still seeing 720 on your shelf and 513 on the spreadsheet 🙈

[Alyana]

Judy wrote: "Alyana wrote: "Aoife wrote: "Alyana, the edition of The Storm Sister you have on your shelf has a different page count to what you have on the SS - SS says 513, logged on says 720. ..."

Oh I forgot to change the page count on the ss, but the link should be good now. Sorry, I'm just hungry I guess lol

[Alyana]

I need help, I'm looking for books that has an MC's name John. Any suggestions?

[Aoife]

John Dies at the End is the first book i can think of lol

[Judy]

Alyana wrote: "Oh I forgot to change the page count on the ss, but the link should be good now. Sorry, I'm just hungry I guess lol"

all good, thanks! hope you had something to eat by now ;)

[Judy]

I both feel like I've only just read a book with a John and at the same time can't think of a single one

[Christina]

If I were to read The Honeymoon Crashers for the U should I also have read The Unhoneymooners before or does it work as a standalone too?

[Judy]

I think it works as a standalone... I think it recapped everything relevant that happened in the Unhoneymooners and since it's a romance, I don't think there are any spoilers either (wow they get together by the end... who would've thought...)

[Judy]

I knocked out a couple of Us the past couple of days and am halfway through another, but no guarantees I'll finish it before Friday - just started three really intense and long work days...

[Christina]

WOW our reading has dropped these last two rounds 😅🙈😂

Less than 4 days to go y'all, let's go out with a bang!

[Judy]

Crazy busy time right before the holidays... I'm sure we're all trying our best 😅

[Aoife]

I should have the 600 pager done today and will hopefully be able to get some more done over the next few days!

[Christina]

🚨 only about 44 hours left🚨

I will definitely finish Girl Gurl Grrrl: On Womanhood and Belonging in the Age of Black Girl Magic and also started The Love Hypothesis as my last popsugar 2023 book but I'm not entirely sure I'll be able to finish it until Saturday (evening, in my case). I'll try my best though! I also need to prepare for travelling next week and I'm feeling Stressed.

[Judy]

I'll definitely finish the two books I've got on the spreadsheet and we'll see if there are any additional last minute surprises - today is my first not incredibly busy day this week and I kind of just want to lie down flat and stare at a wall or something 😅

[Judy]

🚨 Just 24 hours to go! 🚨

Please everyone check in and let us know where you're at with your reading and what we can expect you to finish! Realistically we won't be making any big waves at the end here, but you never know – and we might as well finish with a bang 😉

[Alyana]

I'm halfway with my U book and will try to finish a short book by the round.

[Aoife]

I've been away from my pc all day - ended up on site all day trying to fix a huge install and it was chaos 😭

[Keli]

I'll finish Urban Shaman. Not sure about Uncle Tom's Cabin. I don’t think I will get that done.

[Aoife]

Getting one U in is good! You've gotten so many lol

I'll finish my 2 on and can get a small U in if needs

[Christina]

I just finished The Love Hypothesis but now ain't sure if I'll be able to finish Girl Gurl Grrrl in time. I'll definitely be cutting it close after work tomorrow, but I think it will be possible!

[Judy]

There's only about two hours to go so any last books would be appreciated soon (or at least a heads up that it's going to be tight)...

Christene? Robin? Sanz? We haven't heard from you at all about any last books, so now's your chance!

(Christene - I've taken the liberty to pick up two more books from your shelf that weren't on the spreadsheet yet)

[Aoife]

Ive just finished Key Lime Pie Murder and have 10 mins left in undead & unemployed - not sure its needed!

[Aoife]

nvm it was over just nonsense at the end...

[Christina]

I'll finish!

[Christina]

Just will need someone to add finish date to ss pls

[Judy]

Awesome! I'll grab it from your shelf :)

[Christina]

Done!

[Judy]

Got it!

[Judy]

I've checked us in for the last time, which means this is it!

In round 5, we've read our four letter word ERHU 20 entire times plus one partial, which also means we've read 21 U books - not bad, I think!

(If anything, we've accumulated a nice resource for future spell-outs here 😉)

[Keli]

Dang, i was at the work's Xmas do and forgot to check in my final U book!.

[Judy]

Keli wrote: "Dang, i was at the work's Xmas do and forgot to check in my final U book!."

all good, not sure we could've fit it anyway 🙈

[Judy]

Thanks everyone for playing! This has been another super fun challenge taking all of us to musical places we've probably never been before 🎶

Despite a bit of a slow finish to the challenge from us - completely understandable, considering the circumstances of our word and it also being the busiest time of the year for probably a lot of us - we ended up in 7th place, right where we started round 5. Pretty good, I think!

I total, we've read 504 books for this challenge, which is absolutely incredible! That's an average of 101 books per round / per two weeks, which is a mind-boggling number to me (especially because at eight people we're such a small team!)!

I hope all of you found some new favorites aaaaand I'm sure I'll see you around NBRC and the wider Goodreads lands! 💕

[Keli]

Thank you Judy, Christina and Aoife for all the work. Another really fun wheel challenge, I had a great time and read some fab books. And it really helped me knock some books off my tbr. Thanks team! Merry Xmas and happy new year!

[Aoife]

Thank you all for the fun challenge!

50 books a week between us is a good stat to have 😄

[Alyana]

Thank you all for this fun challenge! To all our caps Judy, Christina and Aoife, thank you all for the hard work! I will see you around here in GR :)

Also, let me take this opportunity to invite you to join our group but I think most of you are already a member. There will be a new challenge next year and you can find the details here.