Romance Readers Reading Challenges discussion
Pass The Parcel (Team Challenge)
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PtP R25 - Prose & Consonants (8)
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1. Introduce yourself to your team. Let your team members know where you are from. This is a 'nice to know' when categories are announced and when team-mates can expect other members to post their book choices.2. Linguist (Captain) - reserve a couple of posts in this thread tracking your team's book selection and completion. (Alternatively they could convert a chat comment to the tracking post/s.)
3. Name your team. Using this round's theme, come up with a fun name. Given we are an open/public group with no age limit, so please make sure any chosen name is smart, not smutty ;)
Please PM your name to Jane(PS) by 6 November
4. If you have a private profile, please 'friend' your team-mates. This is really important, because without this, your team-mates can't see your shelves to select a books under option 2. (It will also help with one of the categories in this round!)
5. Please post your book selections/completions in the format provided below. (This format is also posted in both the Q&A and Sign-Up threads.) We need to know the week that each book corresponds to, the page numbers, and how the book qualifies including links to lists/shelves (where applicable), etc. I can't stress this enough. When in doubt - link it*!
* don't link to your review in your completion post - reviews in your completion posts should be included in full in that post.
You don't want to start reading a book and then find it doesn't meet the requirements because some information (eg page count or theme link) was missing from your original post.
I will be monitoring this and your book will not be considered complete until I am satisfied that your selection and completion posts comply with the format rules of the challenge.
Remember - you can ONLY change your book selection in the week that the theme is called.
6. You MUST check in with your team each week, ideally once the theme is announced. Please let your team know if you expect to have spotty communication or are on holidays or having an operation, etc.
7. When you post the completion of your book, you must post a review; enough for us to know you have actually read the book. Please don't link to a review. You must post the review in this thread.
8. Re-reads are allowed but you can't read the same book twice within this challenge.
9. There is no prize for the winning team - bragging rights only :)
10. Each week, the theme will be announced in the Q&A | Announcements thread. The full list of themes announced during this round will be maintained in msg 1 of that thread.
The Rule on the Pass Option
* Each team can only have ONE member using their pass each week.
* Each member can only use that pass once each 5 weeks.
* This means that one or two team members (dependent upon the size of your team) will miss using a pass in each 5 week block.
* No-one can use the pass option in the last week of the challenge.
* In the final week Option 2 has altered and I will be allocating each team another team from which their book selection must be chosen :)
Key selection and completion post information. You must have ALL elements in your book posts.For selection post Option 1 you must have:
Week #
Bookcover/link
Page numbers
How the book qualifies - please note which qualifying bookshelf/list you are using or the tags that justifies that it works.
If the theme is based off the bookcover, post the cover. If there is a letter count in the title, publication date etc, please note these details.
For selection post Option 2 you must have:
Week #
Bookcover/link
Page numbers
Name of the team-member, their star rating, the date they read the book.
For selection post Option 3 you must have:
Week #
PASS
For the completion post you must have:
Week #
Bookcover/link
Rating (1-5)
Review
Please DO NOT CHAT in these selction/completion posts. It needs to be super clear.
If you 'waffle' about your decided book - please REPOST your selection once you decide. DO NOT go back and edit your waffling post.
IF YOU NEED TO CORRECT A POST FOR MISSING INFORMATION or because the didn't qualify etc, please REPOST this information in a NEW post, particularly when the request is more than a day old. Its difficult to find older posts when going backwards in the threads.
Themes1. Sea | See - read a book with glasses or sunglasses on the cover.
2. Bear | Bare - read a book where the cover model is half-naked.
3. Hear | Here - read a book available in audio.
4. Birth | Berth - read a book with kids or pregnancy in the story.
5. Mail | Male - read a book with a male cover model.
6. Canon | Cannon - read a book with MPG Military or Suspense.
7. Creak | Creek - read a book with ghosts per the precis or with tags 'ghost' or 'spook', or MPG Horror.
8. Hole | Whole - read a book from a series that is complete. For this to count, there must be NO unpublished books on the series list.
9. Incite | Insight - go to My Books. Scroll down to My Year In Books and click. Record the avg page length. Read a book that is +/-50 pages of that page length. Eg avg page length is 240. Read a book that has a page length between 190 and 290 (inclusive). Please note - the minimum page number requirement of 100 pages must still be met.
10. Week | Weak - read a book with a non-alpha MC.
11. Eight | Ate - read a book with at least one 8 in the publication date.
12. Blew | Blue - read a book with blue on the cover.
13. Cell | Sell - read a book tagged 'crime', 'prison', 'lawman' 'law enforcement', 'LEO'. These words are the ONLY tags that will work. They may appear in combination with another word but it must complement that word, not contradict the meaning.
14. Knows | Nose - read a book where the nose of the cover models is shown. This can be in profile or front on, but the whatever the angle, the nose must be completely included.
15. Won | One - read a standalone book.
16. Hour | Our - read a book that is found on one of the RRRC Moderator's shelves.
17. To | Too | Two - read a book written by two authors or a book with an audio version that utilises two narrators.
18. New | Knew - read a book first published in 2025.
19. Rain | Reign - read a book with MPG historical.
20. Tail | Tale - read a shifter book or a book with a pet (must be stated in the precis or on the GR book page eg MPG shapeshifter)
Weeks 5-8
Weeks 9-11
Pass Tracking
ShelvesMM Jessica MM-PTP shelf
MM Kelly MM-read shelf
MM Julia Read shelf
MM Teresa MM PTP shelf
MM & MF Jamie MM Finished shelf
MM & MF Shandrea Read shelf
MM Michaele Read shelf
Oh, I get to be first!I'm Kelly (she/her) and I live in Seattle with friends and my 15-year-old dog Cupcake. In addition to reading, my hobbies include sewing and crafts, word games and I captain a trivia team. My funny, smart and kind granddaughter means everything to me and I'm obsessed with dogs, dogs, dogs.
Useful shelves of mine:
M/M Romance read (approx. 2700)
M/F Romance all (about 20 read)
Read (approx. 5600--includes everything, sorry).
I don't have any team name suggestions but almost anything is okay with me.
Hi everyone! I believe I know most of you already - lovely to be teamed up again 😊I'm joining from Austria, so I'm on CET. When I don't have my nose stuck in a book, I'm usually at the riding stables or travelling. Or, you know, working - I teach German and English.
Some suggestions for team names:
Prose & Cons
Hear for the Books
The Homophone Heroes
Hello and good morning! I see a few familiar names (Hi Jessica, Jamie, and Kelly!) but look forward to getting to know you all!I live in southern Alberta, Canada (MST) with my husband, two young adult children, and 3 cats. I love reading and crocheting and collecting craft supplies 😆
I have no suggestions this time, but I really like Prose & Cons!
Hi Team! I'm just about to start work but will come update everything and introduce myself later.Lovely to see some familiar faces, and also some new ones!
Hi everyone! I live in Alabama (CST) with my husband and three of my kids, and two dogs. My oldest lives in New York. I don't really have any hobbies other than reading. Well maybe watching hockey and going to my kids games right now lol
Team name suggestions:
Bound by Books
Shelf Indulgence
Book It Like It's Hot
The Last Word
I've had a team called Shelf Indulgence before so I'd prefer not to use that one. Hi, Teresa, Jamie and the others I know!
Hi Team!For those that don't know me, I'm Jessica. I'm a mum of two little ones and live in the UK.
MM Romance is what I love, but I do read other things for challenges and enjoy most genres. Fantasy Enemies to Lovers is my favourite sub-genre/trope so if you have any recs let me know.
I feel like I live half my life on Goodreads but when I can tear myself away, I love going to cafes, watching Korean dating shows and of course hanging out with my kids.
For Team names I like both Prose and Cons, and The Last Word.
I'll add A Parcel/Present of Pages to the mix and do a proper vote when everyone's here.
I have put all the romance I've read in the past 6 months in a shelf linked in message 9 to make things easier for you.
I created a shelf for ptp that shows my 3+star mm reads since April 8. I'll try and keep it updated for the rolling 6 months!!MM Read PTP
Hello - I'm Michaele, pronounced like Michael. I live in Utah, so MST, with my dog Jack. I work 2 jobs so I am always busy, but luckily I can listen to books while I work.
Prose & Cons is a great name!
Hello team, my name is Shandrea.I live in Southern Idaho, also MST.
I am 34, I have four kids, and I've been married 14 years.
I have a gaggle of house pets, couple of cats and dogs and some fish. It's pretty wild and crazy at my house, when we're here and not at some kind of children's sporting event.
I enjoy arts, crafts, music, cross stitching, and watching sports - I really enjoy rooting for the team my middle schooler is going against.
We're all here now 😄Prose and Cons has been mentioned a few times, so are we all happy with this team name?
Feels a bit dickish to vote for my own suggestion, but yeah, works for me 😂
Works for me, although it makes me feel like we're all in prison. ;)
Kelly (Maybedog) wrote: "Works for me, although it makes me feel like we're all in prison. ;)"Maybe it should have been Prose and Consonants
Happy to update the name but put it in there to reserve the general words so other teams don't use it ;)
I love it! I think we should go for the update.
Oh, yeah, I like that better, too!
Interesting. I thought option 2 would be easier not harder. It's doubly harder because it's not only a more recent date but it has to be on a team member's shelves. I thought we were changing our name to Prose and Consonants?
Week #1 Selection Post(Option 1)
How to Hack a Hellhound
240 pages
Qualifier: First published January 2, 2025
Kelly (Maybedog) wrote: "Interesting. I thought option 2 would be easier not harder. It's doubly harder because it's not only a more recent date but it has to be on a team member's shelves. I thought we were changing our..."
I was hoping to get input from more members before changing it. I don't know if it's too late now 😅 How does everyone feel about changing the name to Prose & Consonants ?
Week 1Option 1
18. New | Knew - read a book first published in 2025.
Please use the date on the main book page. If there are a few editions, click on 'Show all xx editions' to work out the first date of publication to ensure it fits the task.
Option 2
Key date: 2 May 2025
Team mate read on or after this date and rated at least 3 stars
Option 3
Pass
A selection post must be made for whichever option you choose - INCLUDING A PASS
Refer msg 3 in your team thread for formatting of all 3 options.
Jessica wrote: "I was hoping to get input from more members before changing it. I don't know if it's too late now 😅 How does everyone feel about changing the name to Prose & Consonants ?"
Sure, let's go for it!
Week 1: Selection Post - Read a book first published in 2025.Option 1
Only For Tonight by Natasha Madison
463pgs
How it fits: published 9/12/25
[*book:Only For Tonight|231124910]
I'm ok with the name too (with or without change).
Week #1 - Selection PostOption 1: Read a book first published in 2025.
Bump Start by Eve Holmes
422 pages
First published November 4, 2025
Selection PostWeek 1
18. New | Knew - read a book first published in 2025.
Gloves Off by Stephanie Archer
Pages - 464
Qualification - Publication date: June 17th, 2025
Week 1: Selection Post - Read a book first published in 2025.Option 1
The Best Parts of Him
230 pgs
How it fits: published 10/28/25
Selection Post - Week 1: New/Knew - read a book first published in 2025Ghostlighted by E.J. Russell
Pages: 251
How the book qualifies: Published 08/06/25
Week #1 Completion PostHow to Hack a Hellhound
3.5 stars
This was a typical shifter/human romance. It was very similar to the first book with the human, Quinton, being held captive and then rescued by the hellhound, Liam. Then the hellhound finds all the people involved and kills them. It’s not a pretty romance.
The story was entertaining and I love hellhounds but this could have been any supernatural being or for that matter, a human. I believe the hellhound sends the bad guys to hell after he kills them but that’s irrelevant. The only on page depiction of him being a hellhound is when a little fire comes up in spots on his body. I really wanted more. I love hellhounds as I said and I wanted Liam to act like one not just an alpha male. But he’s very considerate and not all controlling.
I liked the characters but there were more that I think I was supposed to know than I remembered from the last book. I’m thinking they rescued someone else in addition to the hero that I forgot about. They also kept describing Quinton as snarky but he didn’t show that much at all. Bummer.
There’s a series by Louisa Masters, I think, which has hellhounds that are extremely entertaining. This book didn’t live up to that. I was disappointed. I do intend to read the next one though.
The narrators, Iggy Toma and Alexander Cendese, are pretty good. One of them, I think it’s Cendese but I’m not positive, kind of sounds like he’s shouting. He’s definitely always excited which can be annoying. But it’s less obvious in this title than in some he’s read.
Week 1: Completion Post - Read a book first published in 2025.Option 1
The Best Parts of Him
230 pgs
How it fits: published 10/28/25
Read: 11/7
Rating: 3 stars
Review: book was just ok. It was a good set-up and there were some fun moments, but it felt like much more telling and not much showing. I was a bit bored. The book just didn't meet its potential.
Romance Readers Reading Challenges
Books mentioned in this topic
The Best Parts of Him (other topics)How to Hack a Hellhound (other topics)
Ghostlighted (other topics)
The Best Parts of Him (other topics)
Gloves Off (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
E.J. Russell (other topics)Stephanie Archer (other topics)
Eve Holmes (other topics)
Natasha Madison (other topics)
Linguist
🎤Jessica
Listeners
🎧Jamie (AL)
🎧Shandrea
🎧Teresa
🎧Michaele
🎧Julia
🎧Kelly (Maybedog)