Chandie’s Comments (group member since Jan 08, 2017)

Chandie’s comments from the Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge group.

"Girl" in the Title

Rules for Being a Girl by Candance Bushnell and Katie Catugno. YA about the difficulties of being a teenage girl. Good read. CW: teacher/student relationship.

holiday other than Christmas

Bone to be Wilde by Dani Lakely. 2nd in a romance duology. Set around Halloween. Adorable.

no prompts: from best to worst

If You're Out There by Katy Loutzenhiser. YA mystery. A friend "disappears" after moving away. Really enjoyed it until the reveal which was kind of clunky but I don't regret reading it.

Head Games by Onley James and Neve Wilder. Contemporary romance. I honestly really just enjoy the vibes. Check CW warnings though.

Pull Me Under by Zarah Detand. Contemporary romance. Really enjoyable but there were a lot of like epilogues including characters that were tertiary which I'm assuming the author was trying to get the page clicks for KU.

My First Time Fling by Spencer Spears. Contemporary romance. Enjoyable. Will read others by this author.

Dirty Forty by Mia Monroe. Contemporary romance. It was okay.


QOTW:
Probably Taylor Jenkins Reid. I tend to avoid the super hyped up authors because I don't get it. But I enjoyed her work (is it fantastic…no…but it's enjoyable) and sometimes I'm just about the vibes.

No prompts this week and a mixed bag of books.

The good

Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers. Fiction. The story is about a young woman trying to figure out what to do with her life after finishing her PhD. Really enjoyable. I do think it is miscategorized as romance and it does show up on romance recs on booktok and it's not romance. There are romantic elements but that is my only quibble.

Foolish Puckboy by Eden Finley and Saxon James. Contemporary romance. Loved it. Someone had one of their college hockey books on a rivals to lovers tik tok rec and I read it and then spent the next 2-3 weeks reading everything in that universe. They are an auto-read for me.

The not-so-good

Water Under the Bridge by Kels Stone and Denise Stone. Contemporary romance and another not so great booktok rec for enemies to lovers because that is barely present. Inconsistent characterization and rather immature leads and it was all a bit meh.

The Kissing Game by Marie Harte. Contemporary romance. I did not like this book. It is my second least liked romance of the year behind Talk Bookish to Me. The main was 33 but acted like my high school kids a lot. Like she wanted kids and to get married and got mad when the other main asked her out for coffee because she wants marriage and then when he tried to do nice romantic things…it was like why are you doing this. Also he had anger management issues which is not cute. I should have noped out when the male main was hit on by a woman and he turned her down and she said, "I know you want to nibble on this" while sliding her hand down her body. But I didn't so honestly, I did this to myself.
There was some shoved in white supremacist stuff and there is more than one review by people of color saying this author needed a sensitivity reader…so there's that. Would not recommend.


QOTW:
I've DNF'd 8 books this year so far. If I'm not enjoying it, then I'm not continuing. I do like Storygraph over Goodreads for the DNF feature.

published in spring of 2023

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld. This was a very enjoyable read. It's not as rom com as the title would suggest I think this is the book I've enjoyed the most from Sittenfeld.

no prompts: in order from best to worst

The Only Survivors by Megan Miranda. Thriller/mystery. A group of survivors of a van crash get together every year and one goes missing. Enjoyable. I didn't hate the twist as much as I sometimes do in these books.

Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young. If this book had leaned into the magic realism, it probably would have been a four or five star read for me. As it is, the fantasy part is basically non-existent for most of the book.

Romantic Hero by Jeris Jean. Contemporary romance. Enjoyable.

Pitch Prince by Matt Peters. Contemporary romance. Enjoyable rugby romance.

Prince of Lies by Lucy Lennox. Contemporary romance. Didn't love it but didn't regret reading it. I really enjoyed parts of it but it almost felt like it dragged on too long.


QOTW:
I 100% think they are useful and that's one of the things I like about Storygraph. I don't necessarily need them myself. But there was a book I was reading from Book of the Month (The Night Swim) and I think it needed a TW/CW for sexual assault because it made me uneasy and I'd imagine that someone who has been through that, it could be devastating.

I think it's been a month since I've done a check-in. I don't think I've checked off any prompts lately. Work has been crazy so I've been going through my comfort genre (romance).

no prompts: in order from best to worst

The Rest of the Story by Tal Bauer. Contemporary romance. Slow burn. 2 of the side characters have a novella on his website that needs to be a full book.

Read Me by Lauren Connelly. Contemporary romance. A pleasant booktok surprise. I'm side-eyeing a lot of their romance recs. This was thoroughly enjoyable. The 3rd act breakup didn't even annoy me as much as it usually does.

The Duke Gets Even by Joanna Shupe. Historical romance. Really enjoyable. Love her heroines.

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson. YA. A book about grief and the aftermath of loss.

Very Sincerely Yours by Kerry Winfrey. Contemporary romance. Really cute. Zero spice.

Merry and Sprite by Dani Lakely. Contemporary romance. One of the mains thinks he is cursed and the other helps him break it. Super cute.

Love and Monsters by Max Walker. Contemporary romance. Friends to lovers. Enjoyable.

The Mysterious and Amazing Blue Billings. Contemporary romance. I actually read the 2nd in this series first and DNF'd it. This was a good read.

Namesake by Adrienne Young. YA historical about the daughter of a pirate. 2nd in the series. Enjoyable.

Infamy by Mohamed Omar. YA fantasy. Enjoyable.

The Hammerhead Heist by Max Walker. 2nd in series. Romantic suspense. Ridiculous and over the top but enjoyable.

The Girl and the Goddess: Stories and Poems of Divine Wisdom by Nikita Gill. Coming of age story told through prose and poetry.

How the Wallflower was Won by Eva Leigh. Historical Romance. I would've given this a 3.5 if goodreads did half stars (one of the many reasons Storygraph is superior).

Love is a Revolution by Renee Watson. YA romance. The main kind of annoyed me with all of her lies but still a decent read.

The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth. Decent thriller. Woman falls off the edge of a cliff by another's house and it raises questions from the past.

I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai. This was a weird mix of thriller and lit fic that didn't always work for me.

The Politics of Black Women's Hair by Althea Price. A series of like essays about black women's hair. Short and informative.

Play Dirty by Onely James and Neve Wilder. Contemporary suspense/romance. I enjoyed this one more than the first. Hitmen on the run.

Estranged by Jason Collins. Contemporary romance. Slightly better than meh.

Unrequited by Julia Wolf. Contemporary romance. Second chance. Meh.

Her Greatest Mistake by Hannah Cowen. Contemporary romance. Second chance. This was almost a dnf. Honestly, I flipped right past all the flashback chapters. I didn't care about their teenage romance at all. Spice is okay but the emotions were seriously missing.

QOTW:
I live and work in a rural area and there is one owl near me and one near the school that I see a lot. I feel like if I saw 4 owls, I'd be like this is portentous of something.

I had planned to finish another book while I was with students at a competition in which I just sit around waiting for them and I forgot my bag with my book and my wallet and everything I needed that day. And then I remembered it the next day but we were super busy that day.

book with a map

The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson. YA mystery. I enjoy this series but this one was just okay for me. However, I was pleasantly surprised that it had a map in it so that box is ticked off.

no prompts

Colin by Cora Rose. Contemporary romance and completely enjoyable.

QOTW:
Not at all. I think they are more shocked at the volume than anything but I stay up late and read before bed.

book with your same initials
Not My Problem by Ciara Smyth. YA about a girl with a difficult homelife who ends up "fixing" problems for kids at school by trading favors. There was a thread going around last week about how they wished that YA wasn't only romance and/or the main person saving the world and there's a ton of YA that isn't that. This book has a romance subplot but it's more about friendships.

written during NaNaWriMo
The Wicker King by K. Ancrum. YA book about mental illness. There is a romance subplot but this would also be one of those YAs that isn't a romance or saving the world.

Celebrity book club
The Sanatorium by Sarah Pease. Enjoyable mystery/thriller.

no prompts
Heartbreaker by Sarah Maclean. I can't believe it took me this long to pick this up from my bookshelf. It's the perfect historical romance.

Hacked by Lucy Lennox and May Archer. Mid contemporary romance.

book with a love triangle

Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen. YA romance. Daughter of immigrants gets some freedom when she is sent to a summer program. Honestly, I hated a lot of the characters and their choices. Like the main uses someone she knows has feelings for her for sex and that's annoying. There is some revenge release of nudes that is promptly forgiven and it shouldn't be. And honestly, it's one of those books where it feels like the author thinks all women are catty and out for themselves except for the main who is of course different than other girls (although she totally uses the one guy). And I hate that whether it is a man or woman writing the book, I hate it when they write women as shallow and catty except the main character. That device can go die in a hole.

no prompts

Maniac by Onley James. Last in the Necessary Evils series. Contemporary romance but about psychopaths so there is murder. Nice end to the series.

The Geek Who Saved Christmas by Annabeth Albert. Cute Christmas contemporary romance.

Parachutes by Kelly Yang. YA. A Chinese girl is sent to America for school. CW: grooming, sexual harassment and sexual assault

To Love and to Loathe by Martha Waters. historical romance. It was a good read but I also read it after Talk Bookish to Me so I may have that wrong.

Talk Bookish to Me by Kate Bromley. Second chance contemporary romance. I would've given this ½ a star if possible. It was an okay book until page 200ish (about 80%) and the third act breakup over the worst reason. If this had happened earlier in the book, and she went to Italy and found love…3 stars. I just can't though.


QOTW:
Booktok and I've curated it so I see all the stuff I'm interested. I follow a lot of authors on Twitter. I used to spend a lot of time reading the blog Smart Bitches, Trashy Books but I haven't in a long time. And I listen to the Fated Mates podcast and All the Books podcast

book about divorce
Really good actually by Monica Heisey. A year or so in the life of a woman after she and her husband separate. I really enjoyed this.

no prompts

Ruby Fever by Ilona Andrews. The last in the
Hidden Legacies series. I've loved everything they've done but this one fell flat for me and based on the reviews, I was basically the only one to feel so. The buildup led to a rushed final confrontation. There was barely any romance in the book. And there was some weird random paragraphs about like the etymology of ciao or the importance of a quick marinade that had nothing to do with character or plot development and it was just odd.

The Writing Retreat by Julie Bartz. Thriller. A group of writers are invited to a writing retreat hosted by a super famous author and people die. This is another one that I feel like I'm on the other side of the reviews because I really enjoyed it. Is it great literature? No. Was it an enjoyable ride? Yes. But the BOTM facebook group apparently hated this book.

White Out by Danielle Girard. Mystery. I think this was a free book with Prime and it took me awhile to get through it. It really picked up at like the 70% and if it had that pace the whole way through, I probably would've loved it. It was okay but not enough to get me to pick up another.


QOTW:
I’m not actively seeking out black authors to read this month although my tbr is mostly black authors, gay authors, romance and lit fic as I've managed to curate my booktok to just be that.

Lit fic that is 5 stars The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett.
I would also recommend Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson.

YA- Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

fave past prompt: microhistory

The Housewives: The Real Story Behind the Real Housewives by Brian Moylan. This was kind of dry.
Not All Diamonds and Rose was better.

no prompts

Whatever: or How Junior Year Became Totally F$@ked by S.J. Goslee. Contemporary YA. This took about 50 pages for me to get into and there were things that needed to be addresses….why did the kid beat him up in middle school. But this honestly was a cute read in the end. (CW: main character is gay and one of his friends does not take the news well).

Damaged by Onley James. Novella in her Necessary Evils series and I generally do not like criminal romances but I devoured this series.

No Rings Attached by Rachel Lacey. Contemporary romance. This is my 2nd book by Lacey and probably my last because her characters are kind of whiny. Also this seemed to be incredibly light on romance until the 2nd main just did a turnabout and decided she wanted a relationship.


QOTW:

rabbit on the cover

Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo. Fantasy. It was okay. I really liked Ninth House but this one fell kind of flat for me.

no prompts

Until Him and Always Him by Cora Rose. Contemporary romance and decent reads.

QOTW:
I love historical fiction. I especially love Ruta Sepetys who tends to write about eras and events that aren't all over the historical fiction landscape.

Brandon wrote: "I read over 300 pages of the book (through the wedding night) and skimmed what followed. I found the scene with the bee absolutely ludicrous, and what followed did not redeem the story enough for me to finish the book in its entirety. As this was one of the highest-rated in the series on Goodreads, I think I will give a miss to the rest of the Bridgerton novels.
"

As a romance reader, Quinn does nothing for me and the way her fans hijack every discussion of the show with how it wasn't faithful to the book and it didn't include this scene and it's a travesty is annoying.

With that being said, the show is peak romance.

no prompts
Nothing More to Tell by Karen McManus. YA mystery. I really liked her first couple of books but this one kind of fell flat for me. I'd give it 2.5 stars if goodreads did half stars. Also, if the voices aren't going to be different, I need authors to stop writing from multiple perspectives.

QOTW:
YA: Legendborn by Tracy Deonn or Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

Romance: You and Me by Tal Bauer
Lit Fic: The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett

Meant to read in 2022

Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon. YA romance. Its cover and marketing suggest cute YA romance. It is not.

celebrity memoir

Spare by Prince Harry. There is not a lot of new territory from the Netflix documentary but I do feel for him because it's obvious that he wanted and needed an affectionate family relationship and that just was not there.

two languages

Gravity by Tal Bauer. Contemporary romance. Tal Bauer is quickly becoming one of my favorite romance author.

no prompts

What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall. A woman revisits the crime scene from where she was stabbed as a child. One of the better thrillers I've picked from Book of the Month lately.

Bite Me! by Fae Quin. Vampire romance and it was enjoyable.

Studious by Leslie McAdam. Contemporary romance. It was a good read

QOTW:
Instructions for Dancing and I've read her previous books and they aren't necessarily romance but the cover and marketing really made this seem more cutesy romance than anything. And I know the author doesn't have a lot of say in covers usually, but the cover and tone of the book should match.

self-published

The Sunset Job by Max Walker. Like a mix between Ocean's Eleven and National Treasure but gay. I mean it as absurd but I enjoyed it and am reading the 2nd in the duology.

debut author

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson. A family drama. I really like it.

no prompts

Lex by Cora Rose. My favorite of this series. Contemporary romance.

Unspoken Vow by Eden Finley. Contemporary romance. It was okay but I did end up reading the brother's book as well.

Unwritten Law by Eden Finley. Contemporary romance. Again, it was okay. CW: domestic abuse (from a previous partner not the one in the story).

A retelling of a classic

The Initial Insult by Mindy McGinnis. YA contemporary retelling of "Cask of the Amontillado". I wanted to love this but honestly it was kind of messy with way too many Poe references. A lot felt like they were just shoved in. An escaped panther gets its own POV that is in poem form so that's something.

no prompts

Babel by R.F. Kuang. Dense but like perfect literary fiction light on the fantasy and for some reason I thought it would be more fantasy heavy.

The Escape Room by Megan Goldin. Thriller. And honestly, one of the best thrillers I've read in a minute.

How to Bite Your Neighbor and Win a Wager by D.N. Bryn. Billed as a romance but it felt romance light…still an enjoyable read.

The Bride Goes Rogue by Joanna Shupe. Historical romance and it was okay.

The Herd by Andrea Bartz. Thriller about a woman only coworking space. It honestly felt like a tv script turned into a novel.

Dead Astronauts by Jeff Vandermeer. I think Vandermeer is just not for me other than the Southern Reach trilogy.

QOTW:
My first was going to be meant to read because it's the easiest because I truly mean to read my physical TBR but you know…and it was the next one on my TBR. But I realized it also fit a retelling.

I finished the challenge and everything is stressful so nothing but my comfort genre: romance.

Budding Attraction by Saxon James. Contemporary romance. Friends to Lovers. It's maybe my least favorite of the series but still enjoyable. Would work for a queer character on the 2023 challenge.

Protective Heart by Brighton Walsh. Contemporary romance. Grumpy/Sunshine. Like it more than the first in the series and I really liked the first one. Spicy.

Kiss Her Once for Me by Alison Cochrun. Contemporary romance. It is giving Hallmark movie (but more spice than a Hallmark movie and if Hallmark movies were full of queer characters). It has the absentee parents, kooky relatives, holiday shenanigans and meet cutes. I really enjoyed it. Would also work for a queer character on the 2023 challenge.

QOTW:

I always like the favorite past prompt one because I usually look for a microhistory specifically for that prompt.

I finished the challenge with these two books and I think this may be the latest in the year that I've finished the book.

book with a reflected image on the front

The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer. YA Sci-Fi. Rescue mission sent to space. This was just okay for me but also sci fi isn't my favorite genre.

Hugo Award Winner

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal. Alternative history. Meteor hits earth in the 1950s and causes chaos and the need to colonize space. Also involves the need to let women be astronauts. This was enjoyable and like I said sci-fi is not my normal genre but I really enjoyed this one and ordered the second one.

QOTW:
Probably not doing any other. I did the Read Harder one for a couple of years but stopped a couple of years ago because the categories were so niche that it was way to hard and I know it's Read Harder but…

Kenya wrote: "Am... I the only one who's not disappointed by the challenge list for 2023? Yes, there are a lot of repeat prompts, but there's still a lot of fun ones. And I dunno how I managed to predict the rabbit one when I was talking to someone yesterday (I said it would be cool to have a rabbit prompt, since 2023 is the year of the rabbit)..."

Mariah Carey's memoir was a great read. I'm not a big Mariah fan but it was a good read. And I need her alternative album that is buried in Sony's vaults.

Hollywood Park by Mikel Jollet also a good read.

And The Greatest Love Story Ever Told by Megan Mulally and Nick Offerman is excellent.

I will be reading Spare for this prompt.

Kenya wrote: "Am... I the only one who's not disappointed by the challenge list for 2023? Yes, there are a lot of repeat prompts, but there's still a lot of fun ones. And I dunno how I managed to predict the rab..."

I'm not. I mean there are some I'm like ugh (published the year you were born) but there are always some I feel that way about (the year that had the Western prompt).

And I get that repeats are going to happen especially after years because you'd have to get really niche to avoid it.

2-week check-in and I only have 2 prompts left to go.

A book with an onomatopoeia in its title

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach. Interesting. I think Stiff is still my favorite book of hers but still a good read.

An Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winner
Bunk: The True Story of Hoaxes, Hucksters, Humbug, Plagiarists, Forgeries and Phonies by Kevin Young. Non-Fiction and the content was so interesting but the way it was presented made it kind of a slog and I feel like there were often times where thoughts and ideas weren't followed through. I would have given it a 2.5 if goodreads let you do half stars.

constellation on the cover

When the Stars Lead to You by Ronni Davis. YA with romance elements. Enjoyable read, would recommend to my students. CW: depression, suicide attempt.

no prompts

All That's Left in the World by Erik J. Brown. YA Dystopia. It was on some list for man-made disaster but it's a virus that wipes out the population. This hit all of the familiar beats for a dystopian teen novel but it was also really good and one of my favorite books this year.

Bad Habits by Onley James and Neve Wilder. Contemporary romantic suspense. I love the Necessary Evil series by Onley James. This one was okay and I'll probably read the 2nd one.

Love Me Again by Max Walker. Contemporary romantic mystery. Honestly, the mystery was wrapped up way too slowly and too quickly at the same time, it took way too long to get there and just kind of ended. CW: homophobia, gay slurs

Undone by Kelly Rimmer. Contemporary romance. I really did not like the female lead in this as she was kind of annoying. CW: miscarriage.

QOTW:
I've done popsugar 3 or 4 years. I do the Read Harder challenge a couple of times but sometimes, their prompts are too niche, so I didn't do it this year.