Team POP

[Christina]

that's awesome Judy! someone from around town who was in our restaurant only a few days ago has covid as well now 🙃 and one of my mum's closest friends sat across from her 🙃

[Christina]

on a brighter note though, it'll be my birthday on tuesday and I got picked for DQs for How to Sell a Haunted House for wednesday!! (yes I do believe it's a gift from the universe lol)

[Christina]

Quick reminder that "◈ Only one incomplete spell-out is allowed." at the end of each round - which is exactly why I can't stop worrying about those U's lol

Other than that we're doing extremely well though (except for a few more V's of course x)), and we've already read way more as a team than we had originally signed up for weekly :) great job so far everyone!

[Judy]

Christina wrote: "that's awesome Judy! someone from around town who was in our restaurant only a few days ago has covid as well now 🙃 and one of my mum's closest friends sat across from her 🙃"

ah yikes 😬 fingers crossed you'll scrape by! I assumed I had it four weeks ago when I got sick and the symptoms all matched (but all tests were negative) so I wasn't super careful when both of my parents caught it last weekend 🙃 but also idk how I could've avoided it living with them lmao

[Judy]

Christina wrote: "on a brighter note though, it'll be my birthday on tuesday and I got picked for DQs for How to Sell a Haunted House for wednesday!! (yes I do believe it's a gift from the universe lol)"

whooooo!! definitely a birthday present to you from the wheel gods ;)

[Judy]

I'll definitely finish another two Us, plus at least one V... and I have a couple more options for either of these letters but I don't yet know how much I'll actually be able to read as my work week might turn unexpectedly busy (the way they tend to do when everything looks clear and breezy...)

[Aoife]

I can get a few U's in and I'll check V's as well!

So far to make sure we have no incomplete words (using what people have claimed not the back up options)

U - 7
V - 6
Z - 2
A - 1
E - 2
L - 0

[Alyana]

I'm finishing my U book today, I can probably take one more. I'll look for some Vs as well.

[Judy]

Alyana wrote: "I'm finishing my U book today, I can probably take one more. I'll look for some Vs as well."

That'd be awesome!

Can you double-check the page count for Under Her Care? Seems like that annoying glitch struck again :/

[Alyana]

Judy wrote: "Alyana wrote: "I'm finishing my U book today, I can probably take one more. I'll look for some Vs as well."

That'd be awesome!

Can you double-check the page count for Under Her Care? Seems like ..."

I fixed the edition on the ss.. :)

[Judy]

Awesome, thank you :)

[Keli]

Alyana wrote: "For anyone who fancies mystery thrillers, Undone is from the Cora Shields series. All books start with 'U'. I'll try the first book.."

Scribd have these in audio. So I will try to get a few of these in. Depends on how they monitor usage. I defo have the first one.

[Judy]

Keli wrote: "Scribd have these in audio. So I will try to get a few of these in. Depends on how they monitor usage. I defo have the first one."

That'd be awesome!

[Judy]

🚨 UPDATE 🚨

We have completely spelled out VUZUZELA six times - amazing job! 🥳

We also have five more in progress at the moment, only one of which we can leave incomplete. Lots of these letters have already been claimed, but we will definitely need minimum two more Us and one more V in addition to what is claimed.

In total we currently have open:

8x U
6x V
2x Z
1x L
1x A

I assume we're going to end up starting another word, which primarily means we will just need even more Us and Vs, so keep them coming and keep looking out for them, please!

[Aoife]

I'll have 2 U books hopefully finished by tomorrow - one I'll have this afternoon! I'll be starting Rhythm, Chord & Malykhin for Z as well later on

[Aoife]

Forgot I have the full vampire academy boxset for V I could have been using all week!! If we need a sneaky last minute V I can get them in lol

[Judy]

Perfect! 😅 I finally just started the first book I put on the spreadsheet... better late than never I guess 😬

[Alyana]

I'm halfway with my V book, I'm not sure if I can finish one more, hopefully yes. I also started another U book, thanks for the book that Judy added on the ss. Thank you Judy! 🤗

[Christina]

Alyana, is the Z character in None of This is True significant to the plot? Because her name isn't mentioned anywhere on its GR page, but it would be great if we could use the book for a Z instead of an L.

[Alyana]

Christina wrote: "Alyana, is the Z character in None of This is True significant to the plot? Because her name isn't mentioned anywhere on its GR page, but it would be great if we could use the book for a Z instead ..."

The character's name is Zoe. She's a supporting character, she was mentioned a few times in the book. She's the sister of the MC, Alix.

[Christina]

Alyana wrote: "Christina wrote: "Alyana, is the Z character in None of This is True significant to the plot? Because her name isn't mentioned anywhere on its GR page, but it would be great if we could use the boo..."

I know, I did find her through some googling, but is she significant to the plot?

[Alyana]

I would say yes since she is always with Alix on her journey to find out the truth.

[Christina]

okay that's great, thanks Alyana! :D

[moved NOTIT to R185-Z so we could use Christene's Naked in Death in its original R123-L place]

[Judy]

Alyana wrote: "I'm halfway with my V book, I'm not sure if I can finish one more, hopefully yes. I also started another U book, thanks for the book that Judy added on the ss. Thank you Judy! 🤗"

Hope you like it! I found it by chance browing my library and I think it's super interesting so far - looking forward to finishing it later

[Judy]

🚨 UPDATE 🚨

We've officially cracked the number of books we signed up to read - incredible job everyone! We're doing great, but as has been the theme of this round, if you can squeeze in another U or V that'd be awesome 😉 so far we've spelled out VUVUZELA eight full times and have books claimed for two full more as well as one partial.


ℹ️ ROUND 2 INFO

Our next word is HARPSICHORD! (finally a break from those pesky Us...)

Cover color: red


Bonus challenge

During round 2, we'll be travelling to musical cities around the world! Some of these should be pretty easy, others a bit of a challenge - but that's the fun of it, right? 😉

- only 1 bonus word per book
- max. 10 bonus words (50 bonus points)
- setting must be at least 50% in the listed city
- we can only visit each city once

City list:
Austin, USA
Berlin, Germany
Bogotá, Colombia
Brazzaville, Congo
Chengdu, China
Chicago, USA
Detroit, USA
Havana, Cuba
Johannesburg, South Africa
Kingston, Jamaica
Liverpool, United Kingdom
Manchester, United Kingdom
Melbourne, Australia
Milan, Italy
Montreal, Canada
Nashville, USA
New Orleans, USA
Paris, France
Seoul, South Korea
Shanghai, China
Sydney, Australia
Tokyo, Japan
Toronto, Canada
Varanasi, India (also known as Benares)
Vienna, Austria

[Judy]

I was going to read The Right Move soon anyway so that's Chicago covered :)

[Aoife]

Some of the cities will be tough!!

I'll make a list of books and where I got them for some cities to get ideas this evening :) I'll check what translated books are in the library too for some of the harder ones

XOXO by Axie Oh was a cute YA romcom set in Seoul for the most part (bits in the US but like 80%) I got from my library
The Stand-In was cute, romcom set in Canada ( can't remember which city rn) that focuses on the friendship/ other relationships just as much as the romance

[Aoife]

I'm hoping to get Unveil done tonight - ended up meeting up with some friends last night so didn't really read anything at all!

I'll see if I can find a V book on audio for this afternoon

[Christina]

I thought I could cover Vienna, Austria with a book that's next up in a cozy mystery series but looks like it's more set in Salzburg, another city in Austria :/

[Christina]

I could do XOXO though, thanks for the recommendation Aoife!! :) I saved it on scribd a while ago actually but had no idea where it's set!

[Aoife]

Christina wrote: "I could do XOXO though, thanks for the recommendation Aoife!! :) I saved it on scribd a while ago actually but had no idea where it's set!"

it was a really cute, light YA read but was fun!

[Aoife]

Broken Glass might work for Brazzaville, Congo?

[Aoife]

I also have a book for Tokyo i think!

[Christina]

Random because I need it for another challenge, but can anyone recommend a book about a holiday that's not Christmas?? Preferably set in one of the cities from the list above, but it's ok if not either!!

[Aoife]

https://www.goodreads.com/genres/hall...

Night of the Living Deed - halloween happens, set in New Jersey
Dirty Billionaire - new years, new york
A Partridge and a Pregnancy - new years, can't remember but USA 100%
The Ex Hex - halloween Georgia US
Bottling It - halloween, Dublin Ireland

Does it have to be about the holiday or just happen in it?

[Alyana]

Christina wrote: "Random because I need it for another challenge, but can anyone recommend a book about a holiday that's not Christmas?? Preferably set in one of the cities from the list above, but it's ok if not ei..."

This is hard! I mostly found Christmas books. I'll keep looking...

[Alyana]

So far, I found these books that are set in the cities on the list.

Redwood and Ponytail - Austin, TX
Getting His Game Back - Detroit, MI
Killer Chef - New Orleans, LA
The Bromance Book Club - Nashville, TN

[Christina]

About 48 hours left until Round 2 starts, but yes of course you can still read your vuvuzela books for Round 1 until then!

We (the captains) only have 30 mins after each round ends to update the official spreadsheet and check in with the mods. After those 30 mins we cannot add any more books which have been read for this round.
Please remember to share all your finished books with enough time to spare, and if you know you won't finish anything else in time for this round, please do let us know :)

[Christina]

Aoife wrote: "https://www.goodreads.com/genres/hall...

Night of the Living Deed - halloween happens, set in New Jersey
Dirty Billionaire - new years, new york
[book:A Partridge..."

I guess there should be some acknowledgement of it but one of these should work I think, thanks :)

[Judy]

Oh nice, I just found one for Sydney on my immediate TBR!

[Aoife]

Christina wrote: "Aoife wrote: "https://www.goodreads.com/genres/hall...

Night of the Living Deed - halloween happens, set in New Jersey
Dirty Billionaire - new years, new york
[bo..."

I really like halloween so I like finding books with it in it lol

[Aoife]

Alyana wrote: "So far, I found these books that are set in the cities on the list.

Redwood and Ponytail - Austin, TX
Getting His Game Back - Detroit, MI
[book:Killer Chef|29605483..."

killer chef is great name for a book

[Christina]

How's everyone's reading going? Are you on track to finish all your books which are on the tracking sheet for round 1 by tomorrow?

I'm most likely done for this round as I won't have enough reading time until tomorrow due to work :(

@Robin we miss your chatty self which we got to know in TTX, I hope everything's okay!

[christene_littlelibrary]

Christina wrote: "How's everyone's reading going? Are you on track to finish all your books which are on the tracking sheet for round 1 by tomorrow?

I'm most likely done for this round as I won't have enough readin..."

Same I'm done for this round too. I'm currently looking books for next round.

[Judy]

Thanks for the update, Christene!

[Alyana]

I just finished my one V and one U book and updated the sheet. I should finish my last V book before this round ends.

[Judy]

Awesome, thank you!

[Aoife]

I'll have my last book (either U or V) done tonight and then to search for bonus books! I have a few for the easier cities but trying for the less likely ones as well

[Judy]

I need to buckle up and try to get as far as possible in my last V tonight so I can actually finish it tomorrow. I'm really enjoying it, but I can hear the Sims calling my name...

[Aoife]

Judy wrote: "I need to buckle up and try to get as far as possible in my last V tonight so I can actually finish it tomorrow. I'm really enjoying it, but I can hear the Sims calling my name..."

ahaha fair tho the sims are always calling