Slightly More Challenging Summer Reading Challenge.

[UniquelyMoi ~ BlithelyBookish, Your Humble Servant]

***UPDATED****

June, July and Augusts Slightly More Challenging Challenge

For those of you who like a little more challenge to your Not So Challenging Challenges, we’re adding an additional twist. Again, you must read 4 books per month, for a total of 12, but the qualifying categories are a little tighter.

For June, your 4 books must have to do with weddings. Someone in the book must be getting married or going to a wedding, or helping plan the wedding, etc. And, the wedding should actually take place in this book.
***OR, the title of the book must begin with at least one of the letters in the word June J.U.N.E
***OR, any June holidays celebrated in the book you’re reading will count. Updated to add: Matings or other bonding ceremonies also count.

For July, the 4 books must be about Independence Day in some way. This can be historical, such as the signing of the Declaration of Independence or contemporary Independence Day celebrations, etc. A family or person going on a 4th of July weekend getaway works.
***OR, the title of the book must begin with at least one of the letters in the word July J.U.L.Y
***OR, any July holidays celebrated in the book you’re reading will count.

For August’s read, your 4 books must be about Hawaii. On August 21st, Hawaii became our 50th state. So, this book needs to be in some way related to Hawaii. It can take place there, or characters can be from there, or grew up there, etc. As long as there has a fairly good (and that’s up to you to determine) amount of Hawaii in the book, it counts.
***OR, the title of the book must begin with at least one of the letters in the word August A.U.G.S.T
***OR, any August holidays celebrated in the book you’re reading will count.


Keep in mind that the books you read for this challenge can be counted (if they fit) towards your All Things Summer Challenge.

Remember to sign up for this challenge in this thread and post your updates like this: x/4, etc.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.


If interested, you can sign up for the All Things Summer Challenge here:

All Things Summer Reading Challenge


Attention!!!! Our very own, wise, BJ Rose, pointed out that August is Romance Awareness Month. I feel that since that's an important part of who we are as a group, that for August any romance novel should be allowable.

Of course, feel free to complete August how YOU see fit.

Thanks, BJ!!!

[UniquelyMoi ~ BlithelyBookish, Your Humble Servant]

Participants:


Melanie--------------14/14 - - - Completed!!!!!
Carolyn F.--------------14/14 - - - Completed!!!
Dina ------------- 12/12 - - Completed!!!
Robin---------------- 13/12
Dhestiny-------------- 14/14 - - - Completed!!!
Lady Danielle----------- 13/13 (7/7 June 4/4 July 5/5 August) - - - Completed!!!!
Suzanne--------- 12/12 - - - Completed!!!!
BJRose-------------12/12 - - - Completed!!!!!!
Mandy-----------------8/12

[UniquelyMoi ~ BlithelyBookish, Your Humble Servant]

Ladies,

If this challenge is too restrictive or daunting and you can think of a way to make it less so, let me know.

But keep in mind that this is meant to be a little more challenging than the others.

[Dina]

UM, August is a tough month. I've been reading books for more than 30 decades now and I don't think I can fit anything in that category. I have nothing against Hawaii, but could we change it for something else? What other important events happened in the month of August?

[UniquelyMoi ~ BlithelyBookish, Your Humble Servant]

I did a search to see what was there for August and Hawaii was the best I could come up with... but I agree, that one is tough!!! Maybe I'll change August to a "however YOU can make it fit" catagory.

[Kathy]

Thanks for the invitation!! I'm out though. Looked good until August. I read quite a bit and Hawaii just isn't a place I have found in any of my recents reads. Now, if you make it England or Scotland, hehehe, no problem. :-)

[Melanie]

UniquelyMoi *~*Dhestiny*~* wrote: "I did a search to see what was there for August and Hawaii was the best I could come up with... but I agree, that one is tough!!! Maybe I'll change August to a "however YOU can make it fit" catagory."

Switzerland's National Day is on August 1st:-)

Or August comes from the roman emperor Augustus (Cesar's nephew), so we could do Italy (as a setting, characters, etc..

"august" means 'exalted, glorious or ceremonial', so we could have a famous character as protagonist, or some kind of religious cult/group (Templars, wicca,...??)

There is also a National Dance week (dancing as an issue/job in the book), Elvis week (Las Vegas or Tennessee), Friendship day (the characters could be friends first), coastguard day, Annie Oakley's birthday (cowboys anyone?), Davy Crockett's birthday(frontier men/women), International Indigenous people day, National Aviation Day (Air force, pilots, plane crashes..), India and Indonesia Independence Days..

:-) Just some suggestions, if there is something you think you can use UM :-) I imagine it would be tough to find categories!

[Melanie]

There is also a Twins Day festival :-)

Or, on a slightly more somber note, the bombing of Hiroshima, so it could be a WWII / war setting?

[Melanie]

Ooooh And the Edinburgh Festival is in August... Scotland?? :-)

[Melanie]

BTW, I'd love to participate ;-)

[Karen]

Most kids start school in August, don't they? (at least they do here!) The theme could be that one of the characters must have children.

[UniquelyMoi ~ BlithelyBookish, Your Humble Servant]

LOL August threw me for a loop too! LOL I'll read through your suggestions and see what I can do to ease it up a bit.

Maybe... In addition to the Hawaii thing, we could do the book titles have to start with the letters from the word August? A. U. G. S. T? or H.A.W.I?

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Certifiable St. Vinnie's Ninny]

I like that idea of spelling out August. I'll try. Your challenges have really built my confidence, Dhestiny!

[UniquelyMoi ~ BlithelyBookish, Your Humble Servant]

Thanks Danielle!!! I want the challenges to be things people can actually finish. I'll change August's up. Maybe June and July too.

[Dina]

I like the idea of spelling out August too, but the "problem" is, it's like the RRRC Read the Month Challenge. I know that not everyone participates in the RRRC challenges and it would be most useful (to me) to kill two birds with one stone, LOL, but I'd like to see something different in this challenge. Just my two cents. :)

[UniquelyMoi ~ BlithelyBookish, Your Humble Servant]

Thanks for the input Dina! I think I'll go with the spelling out thing because, as you pointed out, not everyone participates in all the challenges. Now, that doesn't mean that you can't tie it into August some other way, like the other holidays that were mentioned.

I'm adding a couple of different options, based on input. Thank you!

[Dina]

Sounds good to me, UM. :)

[Carolyn F.]

I'm in this one too.

[UniquelyMoi ~ BlithelyBookish, Your Humble Servant]

Alycia asked if the books for June must be read in June, and the July books in July, etc. While that was my intention originally, I'll leave it up to you to decide. The challenge stats won't be posted by months, but by overall books read. The stats will look the same as always... x/12 books.

Make this challenge work for you however you can!

[UniquelyMoi ~ BlithelyBookish, Your Humble Servant]

Welcome, Carolyn!!!

[UniquelyMoi ~ BlithelyBookish, Your Humble Servant]

You're in, Melanie! Thanks for joining!

[Julianna]

I'm working on a bazillion challenges in the RRRC group, but I think I might be able to cross-post with this one. I'll give it some more thought and let you know before the start date.

For anyone who's looking for books set in Hawaii, here are couple off the top of my head:
The Shadow and the Star by Laura Kinsale
Glass Beach by Jill Marie Landis

[Dina]

Made up my mind. I'm in! :) I'll post my book list later.

[UniquelyMoi ~ BlithelyBookish, Your Humble Servant]

Dina, excellent!!!

[Robin]

Not sure I did the Invite thing correctly I said Maybe but provided I can count some of the books in both challenges please count me in on both. I'll officially reply to that one as well.

As for my books I hope its ok to list as I complete them.

[UniquelyMoi ~ BlithelyBookish, Your Humble Servant]

You can list them as you go, Robin! And you did right by coming here to sign up. With the first challenge, I added people who replied at the invite only and then they never came here to participate. It was a lot of work to go to to have them never show up. In the more recent invites, I mentioned that you have to come here to sign up.

[Robin]

I started reading Secrets of A Summer Night but didn't get very far having been side tracked by other books. I think I finished Chapter 1. In order to count a book do you have to start and finish it within the parameters of the Challenge? I'm thinking the answer is yes.

[Maureen]

IM in will post my list in the next couple of days:)

[UniquelyMoi ~ BlithelyBookish, Your Humble Servant]

Welcome, Maureen!

[Julianna]

OK, I made up my mind. I'm not going to be able to cross-post as many books as I thought I would, so I'm going to pass on this one, but I'll do the Not So Challenging Challenge. Good luck to everyone who's giving it a try.:-)

[UniquelyMoi ~ BlithelyBookish, Your Humble Servant]

Thanks for letting us know, Julie!!!

[Maureen]

Dhes, I hope these are ok........

JUNE books--Weddings
[image error]

JULY--Spells J.U.L.Y...
J= U= L= Y=

AUGUST..
A= G= S= T=

[UniquelyMoi ~ BlithelyBookish, Your Humble Servant]

If they work for you, they work for me!

[Maureen]

Brilliant!!!

[Dina]

Here's my very tentative list:


Slightly More Challenging Summer Reading Challenge
Duration: June 1 - August 31

0/12 completed

JUNE - Weddings
1. Vision in White by Nora Roberts
2. Bed of Roses by Nora Roberts
3. Savor the Moment by Nora Roberts
4. Married By Morning by Lisa Kleypas

JULY - Book titles spell the month
5. Jude's Law by Lori Foster
6. Untamed by Pamela Clare
7. The Last Man in Town by Susan Kay Law
8. Your Scandalous Ways by Loretta Chase

AUGUST - Cowboys (in celebration of Annie Oakley's birthday)
9. Hard Case Cowboy by Nina Bruhns
10. For the Roses by Julie Garwood
11. The Princess And The Cowboy by Lois Faye Dyer
12. Texas Glory by Lorraine Heath

[image error]

[UniquelyMoi ~ BlithelyBookish, Your Humble Servant]

Oh, Dina, I loved For The Roses.

Another great list you have here!

[Dina]

June is going to be easy to finish, as I managed to use the same books I have in the easier challenge. Now, July and August... I'd better brace myself, considering all the other challenges I might join then. We shall see how it goes. *fingers crossed*

[UniquelyMoi ~ BlithelyBookish, Your Humble Servant]

I think you'll be fine!!!! You've certainly got some awesome books!

[UniquelyMoi ~ BlithelyBookish, Your Humble Servant]

OK, I'll need to go through my mountain of books for this.

[Dina]

LOL, UM, you're really signing up for this challenge?! I thought you were kidding.

[UniquelyMoi ~ BlithelyBookish, Your Humble Servant]

I might accidentally drop off the participants list. Accidently. LOL

[Dina]

Sneaky, sneaky! LOL

[UniquelyMoi ~ BlithelyBookish, Your Humble Servant]

Heh heh heh.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Certifiable St. Vinnie's Ninny]

My tentative list:

June:(wedding theme)
The True Love Wedding Dress by Catherine Anderson, et al
Weddings From Hell by Maggie Shayne et al
Veil of Midnight by Lara Adrian (brides wear veils)
Marrying The Captain by Carla Kelly

July:
Jackson Rule by Dinah McCall
The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes by Anne Stuart, et al
Love Is Blind by Lynsay Sands
Yours Until Dawn by Teresa Medeiros

August:
Ashes of Midnight by Lara Adrian
Upon The Midnight Clear by Sherrilyn Kenyon
The Gilded Web by Mary Balogh
Shades of Midnight by Lara Adrian
To the Edge by Cindy Gerard

[UniquelyMoi ~ BlithelyBookish, Your Humble Servant]

I really need to get working on my list! So far I have:



June

June -

1. Three Weddings and a Kiss Anthology
2. Wild Fire - Wedding takes place in book.
3. The Untamed Bride
4. Innocent On Her Wedding Night - Word "wedding" in the title.

July

1. "J" - Jackson Rule
2. "U" - The Untamed Bride
3. "L" - Lawless
4. "Y" - You Slay Me

August

1. Angels' Blood
2. Archangel's Kiss
3.
4. Texas Destiny

[Suzanne (Under the Covers Book blog)]

Took me a while but I think I have them alright now!

June- Weddings
Annabelle's Courtship by Lucy Monroe
I Thee Wed by Amanda Quick
The Nymph King by Gena Showalter
You Belong to Me



July- Had to do the letters!
J Jacob by Jacquelyn Frank
U Unleash the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon
L The Lord Next Door by Gyle Callen
Y You're So Vein by Christine Warren



August- Again going with letters!
A Archangel's Kiss
G Garden Spells
S Sugar Daddy
T To Sir Phillip, With Love

[UniquelyMoi ~ BlithelyBookish, Your Humble Servant]

Great books, Suzanne! Congrats, you've managed the hard part. LOL

[Suzanne (Under the Covers Book blog)]

Thanks : ) Have you sorted out wht you are reading yet?

[UniquelyMoi ~ BlithelyBookish, Your Humble Servant]

I'm still sorting through my books. This challenge is more challenging than I thought. On one hand, that's a pain in the butt, on the other hand it helps me find new authors/books/series, so it's a good thing!

[Suzanne (Under the Covers Book blog)]

Same here, I couldn't find any books with Hawaii in! And I have no 4th July books either, it always seemed to be Thanksgiving that was being celebrated!