KayLynn’s Comments (group member since Aug 17, 2025)

KayLynn’s comments from the Bookish Challenges group.

To earn a Trident of Tides.

Book: On the Hippie Trail: Istanbul to Kathmandu and the Making of a Travel Writer
Author: Rick Steves
Date completed: 11/19/2025
Task: Read a book with a journey or voyage.
How it fits: Rick and Gene travel along The Hippie Trail across multiple countries in Asia.

Book: The Butcher and the Wren
Author: Alaina Urquhart
Date completed: 11/19/2025
Task: Read a book set near water.
How it fits: Set in New Orleans, LA. Uses the swamps of the bayou as his hunting grounds. Also New Orleans is along the Gulf of Mexico.

Book/Author: The Butcher and the Wren
Author: Alaina Urquhart
Date completed: 11/19/2025
Task: Read a book with nature, plants, or animals playing an important role.
How it fits: The Bayou of Louisiana and the life it contains, is almost a character in itself.

Book/Author: On the Hippie Trail: Istanbul to Kathmandu and the Making of a Travel Writer
Author: Rick Steves
Date completed: 11/19/2025
Task: Read a book featuring a dangerous journey, climb, or extreme adventure.
How it fits: Rick and his good friend Gene, go on an extreme adventure to follow The Hippie Trail in the 1970s, a trip that goes through multiple countries and over thousands of miles.

ROUND FIVE, part one

Connect: C1 [Page No : 5], E1 [Wild : Wild]
Book: Unbirthday
Date completed: 11/17/2025
How it fits:
C1: 512 pages
E1: Wild

To earn a Golden Talon.

Book: The Vampire's Fake Fiancée
Author: Kristen Painter
Date completed: 11/11/2025
Task: Read a romance or emotional story.
How it fits: Romance MPG

Book: Firestorm
Author: Donna Grant
Date completed: 11/13/2025
Task: Read a romance or emotional story.
How it fits: Romance MPG

To earn a Silver Stake.

Book: Dracula
Author: Bram Stoker
Date completed: 11/12/2025
Task: Read a gothic or horror story.
How it fits: MPG Gothic & MPG Horror.

Book: The Christmas Murder Game
Author: Alexandra Benedict
Date completed: 11/16/2025
Task: Read a book with suspenseful or creepy elements.
How it fits: Very suspenseful. Maybe could have been called 'Most Of My Family Are Murderers and I'm Locked In A House With Them' but I guess that is a little wordy.

I would also like to use my newly earned Flamebrand Sword to slay the Widow Spinner which is the third monster killed!

To earn a Flamebrand Sword.

Book: Murder Under the Mistletoe
Author: Erica Ruth Neubauer
Date completed: 11/7/2025
Task: Read a book with a brave protagonist.
How it fits: Jane Wunderly is very brave, always ready to jump in to solve a crime or protect someone she cares for, sometimes to her own detriment.

Book: Mirror, Mirror
Author: Jen Calonita
Date completed: 11/8/2025
Task: Read a heroic adventure.
How it fits: Snow White goes on a heroic adventure to save her kingdom (and her prince) from the Evil Queen.

I would like to use a Silver Stake to slay The Ash Serpent.

I would also like to use a Dagger of Whispers to slay Goblin of the Broken Quill.

Book/Author: Mirror, Mirror
Author: Jen Calonita
Date completed: 11/8/2025
Task: Read a book with a "mirror" or "reflection" in the title.
How it fits: Title 'Mirror, Mirror'.

To earn a Dagger of Whispers

Book: The Christmas List
Author: Maren Moore
Date completed: 11/3/2025
Task: Read a book with a secret or betrayal.
How it fits: Lucy's mom (Wyatt's wife) leave them both when Lucy is just three months old.

Book: State of Wonder
Author: Ann Patchett
Date completed: 11/6/2025
Task: - Read a book that changed the way you thought about something.
How it fits: Changed how I looked at how pharmaceutical drugs are created and whether they are worth it.

To earn a Silver Stake

Book/Author: The Titan's Empire
Author: Daniel Scott
Date completed: 11/2/2025
Task: Read a book with suspenseful or creepy elements.
How it fits: Suspenseful thriller and character Luke Titan is exceptionally creepy.

Book/Author: The Chain
Author: Adrian McKinty
Date completed: 11/5/2025
Task: Read a gothic or horror story.
How it fits: MPG Horror

May I please move on to the next round? Thank you!

ROUND FOUR, part three

Connect: D3 [Color : Pink], D1 [Wild : Wild]
Book: Scrappy Little Nobody
Date completed: 11/4/2025
How it fits:
D2: Cover 51.3% pink, per TinEye
D1: Wild

Book/Author: The Daydreamer Detective Opens a Tea Shop
Author: Steph Gennaro
Date completed: 11/3/2025
Task: Read a book where a character uncovers a hidden truth or secret.
How it fits: Mei discovers the real reason her boyfriend, Yasahiro, broke up with his ex. It causes some issues in their relationship.

Book/Author: The Titan's Empire
Author: Daniel Scott
Date completed: 11/2/2025
Task: Read a book where a character faces their double or opposite.
How it fits: Christian Windsor is having hallucinations of himself. He calls this version 'the other' and it is kind of the devil on his shoulder. He has to stand up to his 'other' in his mind in order to save his mom and the woman he loves.

Nistha wrote: "So sorry! should be corrected now"

No worries! Thank you. :-)

Just a heads up, my name is misspelled. No 'T'.

3/4 completed!

The Costume Party
a) Read a book where a character hides behind a façade, either literal or emotional.
b) Choose a story about role play, performance, or living a double life.
c) Pick a book where appearance is everything (your interpretation).

Mirror, Mirror
Book: The Titan's Empire
Author: Daniel Scott
Date completed: November 2, 2025
Task: Choose a story that explores identity, self-deception, or fractured perspective.
How it fits: Christian Windsor has been so manipulated and brainwashed by Luke Titan that he has a fractured sense of self and reality.

The Reveal
Book: The Chain
Author: Adrian McKinty
Date completed: November 5, 2025
Task: Read a story where a long-kept secret is finally exposed.
How it fits: Rachel Klein and Pete O'Neill uncover and expose a criminal 'game' where innocent families are forced to kidnap children to keep their own families safe.

The Aftermath
Book: Confessions of a Christmasholic
Author: Joss Wood
Date completed: October 31, 2025
Task: Read a story that explores the consequences of a revelation or of revealing a secret. & Choose a book where characters must rebuild or redefine themselves after everything changes.
How it fits: Gus's wife dies and he finds out their relationship wasn't what he thought it was. He has to rebuild his life with his two kids and deal with the aftermath of her betrayal.

Book/Author: Our Lives In Between
Author: Billie Kowalewski
Date completed: 10/29/2025
Task: Read a book with mirrors, reflections, or doppelgängers.
How it fits: Mirror: Pg 78 "I checked myself over in the full-length mirror that hung on the back of the washroom door. Reflection: Pg 51 "I learned forward a little, and my eyes refocused as I caught my reflection in the water."