May - Pick It For Me Challenge

[Cinquetta]

I am in but please no m/m books unless it is threesome with a woman.

[Polina]

yes, I'm in :)

[Pam]

I'm in too!

[Cathy]

Sign me up!

[Miss]

I'm in! This sounds really interesting and I'm happy people won't be picking from my tbr, I'm pretty tired of the same books, and it's difficult to get started on them. Oooh, new and shiny, gimme! :)

[Britta]

Here I am! (:

[Tania]

Miss wrote: "I'm in! This sounds really interesting and I'm happy people won't be picking from my tbr, I'm pretty tired of the same books, and it's difficult to get started on them. Oooh, new and shiny, gimme! :)"

LOL! The answer to that is to have a tbr list that's so big you could hide a small country in it.

Well that's my theory anyway :)

[Betelgeuze]

I'm in!

[Tuğçe]

Of course I am in! This is my fav challenge :) And will have to work hard this month with all those sub genres...

[Tania]

I've had a few PM's so I just edited the rules to show the links for the genre pages, however I noticed that many of the goodread sub-genre pages a. don't have descriptions and b. the same books are classified as different genres.

So, as a guide only, here's my basic description of the sub-genres, in case some people aren't familar with these particular ones.

Historical - romance set in times prior to 1945

Contemporary - romance set in current times.

Urban Fantasy - deals with some form of paranormal/fantasy element but is set in (near)current times. In a series what usually distinguishes a UF from a PNR is that the series follows one character all the way through the series.

Paranormal Romance (Vampire)
Paranormal Romance (Something other than Vampires)

a romance that features a strong element of paranormal within the central storyline (vampire, witchcraft, fae, demons, shapeshifters etc). Unlike UF in a PNR series each book focuses on a different couple even though there may be recurring characters

Sci-Fi / Futuristic Romance - a romance set in either a space / futuristic setting. You'll see descriptions of new technologies, space travel etc in these books.

Romantic Suspense - a romance that features a mystery/crime/thriller as the central plotpoint

Erotic Romance - a ROMANCE with more graphic sexual content. An erotic romance still has all the elements of a romance book (i.e. the development of a HEA) but is a bit more detailed in how the characters go about it :)

I hope that helps - it's not a hard and fast guide. Some books/series may fit into a couple of the subgenres so just use your own judgement.

[Ashley♥Alexis]

my favorite challenge. of course i'm in!!

[Rebecca]

I'm in!

[booklovinrn]

Count me in. This is my have to participate challenge each month.

[Melanie]

Sure why not!

[Regina]

I`m in!

[Ann]

I'm in!

[SandyC]

I'm in!

[Shell]

I'm in. :)

[Suzanne]

Me Too! I want to try it!

[Laurentiu]

I'm in! :)

[taita]

I'm in too.

[Noor]

I am in!

[Christine (Cagnes)]

I'm in!

[Coffeentea]

I am in.

[Sue]

I'm in as well!

[Laura]

I'm in!!!

[Kayla]

It's my first time getting involved, I'm in!

[Daffodil]

I'll join for May. I've been eyeing the Pick It For Me Challenge the last couple months, but haven't ever participated.

[D.G.]

I can't believe you've never participated Daffodil!

I'll be interested in how the picks work out. I know my way around most categories except Sci-Fi romance. :)

[Gigi]

I forgot to say that I'm in! Wow, the rules look good!

[Ari]

I shall participate.

[Cacophony]

I'm in!

[Tania]

Gigi wrote: "I forgot to say that I'm in! Wow, the rules look good!"

Thanks Gigi, as I said I was inspired by all the new to goodreads members we had last month. I had actually designed a whole other set of rules when inspiration hit. Oh well, they'll just have to get used another time.

[~Sara~]

I'm in and I love how you've switched it up this month!

[Autumn]

Yay Tania your hosting this challenge once again! ;)

count me in!!! :)

so, there cannot be any rec from TBR`s.. right?

its going to be interesting.!

[Tania]

Autumn wrote: "so, there cannot be any rec from TBR`s.. right? its going to be interesting.!"

They can be in their TBR's but you don't have to take their tbr's into consideration.

That being said, if you were debating over two books/series to recommend and the person has one of them in in tbr the nice thing to do would be to recommend that one. But, you don't have to look through their tbr to find something you would recommend.

Best way to think of it is to think of having a conversation with a friend who wants to try reading romance for the first time after reading strictly crime novels that have no hint of romance in them at all. Perhaps this friend has some predjuice about romance (thanks to all the bodice-rippers they saw their mum read in the 70s) and you're going pick books from the different sub-genres to change their mind. In that circumstance - what would you choose?

[Melanie]

In please! Sounds like fun!

[Tanya]

im in :D sounds like fun!

[Freya]

I'm in :) I'm new to a lot of these genres so don't know how well I'll be able to choose but I'd love to read them.
Looking forward to the recommends...

[Autumn]

Tania wrote: "Autumn wrote: "so, there cannot be any rec from TBR`s.. right? its going to be interesting.!"

They can be in their TBR's but you don't have to take their tbr's into consideration.

That being s..."

Gotcha! :) xx

[Kris-10]

I am most definitely in!!! :))

[Rachel]

Sounds like fun - I'm in!

[Alexis]

I have a question, if I don't have any experience in a field, how should I go about with the recommendation? I don't read down out erotica. I think the most risque I get is Erin McCarthy would she count or should I just recommend a book from that field that is popular, but perhaps the person hasn't read. Sorry if I sound ignorant, but I don't want to mess up with my picks.

[Tania]

Alexis wrote: "I have a question, if I don't have any experience in a field, how should I go about with the recommendation? I don't read down out erotica. I think the most risque I get is Erin McCarthy would she ..."

Don't be sorry for asking - it's the reason why I put up the rules early. I figured there would be people who would need to do a bit of research or have questions on this one. I know I do for a couple of the genres.

My general advice is to look at the sub-genre pages which I've added as links in the rules. Also look at my post #62 and look at the what I've described each sub-genre as. Do any of the books you've read fit even though you may not have thought of them as that genre?

If you really don't have any reads that fit then look at the links in the faq for this challenge (link in the first post), also try google for some recommendations. Also down the bottom of the genre page are lists that have been tagged with that genre, so you can see what goodreaders are voting for. And then just say to the person you're picking for "I don't really read... but everyone is recommending ..."

In the particular instance you're talking about Erin's books do sometimes get put under the Erotic Romance genre, it depends on the book. If you look at the book page on the righthand side is a list of genres it's been put in. Remember that we are talking about erotic romance not erotica.

It's about what you want to recommend - so if you were telling a friend to try an erotic romance would you recommend Erin McCarthy? Are they a well written interesting story with a unique POV that happens to fall within the erotic romance genre? If so, you're all set.

[Tania]

JUST A QUICK NOTE

Classifying books into sub-genres can really depend on personal preferences and experience reading the genre.

So if you're not sure about what to classify a book then please read message number #62. If you think it fits because of your reading experience then it does.

For example Sydney Croft's ACRO series could be called erotic romance (development of a HEA with lots of steamy goodness), PNR (a series that has paranormal element and that has the development of a HEA for a different couple each book) or even UF (follows Dev's story throughout the whole series).

There isn't a wrong answer. Well unless you try to pass a regency period book off as a contemporary. Then I might have to say something :)

[Monica]

I'm in, please! This is only my second challenge, but I already feel like I wouldn't know what to do if I didn't have this. Addictions... *sigh*

[Dee]

if people want rec's for erotic romance series let me know...I read quite a bit of them (and well, most of the other genres as well)

[taita]

Looks like I'll need to back out of this challenge. Sorry! Next month is looking busy and I don't want someone else to be left hanging if I can't do the recs or reading on time. I'll see if I can do it again in June. Thanks and good luck!

[Brenda]

I'm in again! Loved lasts months book, can't wait for a new one!

[Mandy]

I'm in!! I'm really excited about getting new recommendations.