Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Addicts discussion

Rules & Guidelines

It's so crazy! This will be the 3rd year that PNA&N-PNR&UF has hosted these year long challenges. This will be my second time doing them, and while I've enjoyed running them I also want to blow my brains out! Thankfully Goodreads has a new Challenge feature that we can finally use. (I've been drooling over this since the beginning of 2012!) So . . .

PLEASE READ - DIFFERENT TO USUAL CHALLENGE RULES

Here's how it will work:

1. Decide which challenges you'd like to participate in. The types and rules are posted below. Some have "levels" and you will have to decide how many books to read, while the rest are standard 26 books.

2. To "sign up" for the challenges simply click here or use the individual links below.

3. To use the new challenge system you have to create a shelf in your bookshelves. You can use whatever name you want like "c1" or something longer. Remember that a book can be used for more then one challenge so you might want to pick something short.

If you're worried about your bookshelf getting cluttered you can delete it at the end of the year, it's not permanent.

4. Some challenges have different rules so you just need to make sure you've read them. All challenges are linked to take you to their individual rules, or read the rules below.

5. Keep it updated. Simply add the book you're reading to the right shelf and you'll keep your challenges updated!

See it's nice and simple this year!! ;_;

The challenges
Author names A-Z
Book title A-Z
Character name A-Z
New to you authors (3 levels)
New to you series (3 levels) - challenge is just first book in series the rest is up to you!
Urban Fantasy (3 levels)
Paranormal Romance (3 levels)

New for 2013 - Full year challenges

Author names A - Z

Get steps here.

Select books based on the authors name - you can use surname or first name.

Eg..
A Alyson Noel
B Patricia Briggs
C
D
.
.
.
Y
Z

Notes and guidance:

For difficult letters like Z or X cheating is allowed - if you can not find an author with that letter use one that has it somewhere in their name!!

Most of the books should be PNR/UF (define it as you like!) but some can be anything you choose.

A book can count in more than one challenge if you wish.

Another tip, it's hard to keep track of which author counted for what when you place it on the challenge shelf. So set up an A-Z list on the comments for your updates under the "view books". (See example here.)

Enter goal as 26 for books for this challenge.

New for 2013 - Full year challenges

Title A ~ Z Challenge

Get steps here.

Select books based on the title - you can ignore The A etc in the title if you like (or include?) ie. The Darkest Night can be counted as your D title.

Eg..
A Angelfire
B
C
D The Darkest Night
.
.
.
Y
Z


Notes and guidance:

For difficult letters like Z or X cheating is allowed - if you can not find an author with that letter use one that has it somewhere in their name!!

Most of the books should be PNR/UF (define it as you like!) but some can be anything you choose.

A book can count in more than one challenge if you wish.

Another tip, it's hard to keep track of which author counted for what when you place it on the challenge shelf. So set up an A-Z list on the comments for your updates under the "view books". (See example here.)

Enter goal as 26 for books for this challenge.

2013 Full year challenges

Character Names A - Z

Duration 1st January 2013 to 31st December 2013

Get steps here.

Select books based on the name of the major character (or one of them) - You can use the first name, surname or other name if commonly used in the book.

A Anita Blake ~ Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K Hamitlton
B
C
.
.
.
.
Y
Z


Notes and guidance:

For difficult letters like Z or X cheating is allowed - if you can not find an author with that letter use one that has it somewhere in their name!!

Most of the books should be PNR/UF (define it as you like!) but some can be anything you choose.

A book can count in more than one challenge if you wish.

Another tip, it's hard to keep track of which author counted for what when you place it on the challenge shelf. So set up an A-Z list on the comments for your updates under the "view books". (See example here.)

Enter goal as 26 for books for this challenge.

2013 Full year challenges

New to You Authors

Duration 1st January 2013 to 31st December 2013

Get steps here.

How many new authors are you going to read this year? Challenge yourself! Take your pick from three levels of challenge

Beginner: 5 new authors
Dedicated: 10 new authors
Obsessed: 25 new authors

Notes and guidance:

Thankfully this one is easy to keep track of! Just save the book to the right challenge shelf.

Most of the books should be PNR/UF (define it as you like!) but some can be anything you choose.

A book can count in more than one challenge if you wish.

2013 Full year challenges

New to You Series

Duration 1st January 2013 to 31st December 2013

Get steps here.

How many new series are you going to read this year? Challenge yourself by reading one book in a new to you series. Take your pick from three levels of challenge:

Beginner: 5 books
Dedicated: 10 books
Obsessed: 25 books

Notes and guidance:

Thankfully this one is easy to keep track of! Just save the book to the right challenge shelf.

Most of the books should be PNR/UF (define it as you like!) but some can be anything you choose.

A book can count in more than one challenge if you wish.

2013 Full year Challenges

Urban Fantasy Challenge

Duration 1st January 2013 to 31st December 2013

Get steps here.

Just read books from the Urban Fantasy genre! It's OK if it borders on being PNR or it has PNR flavors, the two genres are so similiar they're bound to cross paths.

Beginner: 5 books
Dedicated: 10 books
Obsessed: 25 books

Notes and guidance:

Thankfully this one is easy to keep track of! Just save the book to the right challenge shelf.

A book can count in more than one challenge if you wish. However, a UF book can not be used for the PNR challenge!

2013 Full year Challenges

2013 Paranormal Romance Challenge

Duration 1st January 2013 to 31st December 2013

Get steps here.

Just read books from the Paranormal Romance genre! It's OK if it borders on being UF or it has UF flavors, the two genres are so similiar they're bound to cross paths.

Beginner: 5 books
Dedicated: 10 books
Obsessed: 25 books

Notes and guidance:

Thankfully this one is easy to keep track of! Just save the book to the right challenge shelf.

A book can count in more than one challenge if you wish. However, a PNR book can not be used for the UF challenge!

I think I will join again

I'm so confused! I never know how to define PNR vs. UF. Help!

Yeah!! It's going to be so much easier to keep track of things this year!

Zoe wrote: "I'm so confused! I never know how to define PNR vs. UF. Help!"

Here's a link to defining them and telling them appart Zoey:

https://sites.google.com/site/sherabo...

also here are some links to UF and PNR books.

Of course this is all my own personal opinion. ^_-

thank you!

Yep, hope it helps!

As the saying goes;"in for a penny, in for a pound" ;o)

Cool this will help me in deciding what to read and remembering to update GR. 3 challenges for me: 25 UF, 25 PNR, and 25 new to me authors.

Good luck Tasha!

Sooo, I'm all in. Some categories I'll have to overlap. Let the reading begin!

I signed up for challenges, but none of the books I've added to those shelves are showing up on my challenge score. Any ideas?

Catherine wrote: "I signed up for challenges, but none of the books I've added to those shelves are showing up on my challenge score. Any ideas?"

I got it figured

Thanks Shera.

It took me a try or two to get the books showing in the challenge also Catherine. Yay to figuring it out. :D

yeah, they take a bit to "update" but if it says 0, and you click on it they'll magically be there!

Renee wrote: "Sooo, I'm all in. Some categories I'll have to overlap. Let the reading begin!"

Oh, I hear you!! But that's OK!

I'm in...will post as I'm planning :)

Can the A-Z challenges be a mix of UF and PNR? Or is it A-Z for PNR and then A-Z for UF? so I'd read the alphabet of both genres.

I just joined this group and will do the title challange. This will make it fun picking the next read.

A-Z can be a mix. Heck you can even use none fantasy titles. The only ones that are genre specific are UF Challenge and PNR challenge.

PNR 25 challenge - if I read a series of books can the individual titles be used for this challenge?

Yes, that will work Fiona.

Yay! Thanks. I only just joined this group last night and am really looking forward to discovering some new books and authors

Shera (Book Whispers) wrote: "2013 Full year challenges

New to You Series

Duration 1st January 2013 to 31st December 2013

Get steps here.

How many new series are you going to read this year? Challenge yourself by reading on..."

Thanks for hosting these challenges again! New to You Series is one of the challenges I just signed up for, but it looks like it's only set to run Jan 1st-31st 2013. The site wouldn't let me change it for myself.

I just signed up for the A-Z titles. urban fantasy and paranormal romance. I will probably have to cross the UF and PNR with the titles challenge but I am excited

Rach3975 wrote: "Shera (Book Whispers) wrote: "2013 Full year challenges

New to You Series

Duration 1st January 2013 to 31st December 2013

Get steps here.

How many new series are you going to read this year? Ch..."

Thanks for letting me know! Will fix it.

Just joined the UF challenge :) Trying to look up the differences between PNR and UF but my computer hates me atm :P

Here, Katy, this might help you and save you some time:

https://sites.google.com/site/sherabo...

Thanks Shera!

Yep. ^_-

Wow this is such a good idea :) Let the reading begin!!

Glad you're liking it Louise.

Okay Im in this and plan on doing alot of reading this year!! :)

Welcome to the challenge(s)!

OK I'm in. I'll keep the UF and PNR separate but the authors, titles, new author, new series are going to overlap. I don't know if I'll do characters yet. So a minimum of 50 books but more likely many, many more. Already have books from January and February to figure out where to put them.
Fun, fun, fun.

I'm definitely in...Can books I've already read since Jan. 1 be included, or do I need to start fresh as of today? I'm going to try and do all of them. :)

As long as they're in 2013 they count.

A lot of the challenges will overlap. The only ones that can't are the UF and PNR challenges.

This is great! Also, the first time for me to do challenges in this group. Now to decide which ones to do, probably all of them ;)

Well welcome and jump right in!

Question/Suggestion... I have been on the fence on how to classify 2 books I've read this year. On the Edge has Urban Fantasy all over it, except each book has a new lead couple. Then we have Angels' Blood which feels more like a PNR but continues with the same lead couple. Anyone else have this problem or am I alone in this?

Yes I have a few series that are bordering on either! I just flip a coin for category in that case lol!

Nichole wrote: "Question/Suggestion... I have been on the fence on how to classify 2 books I've read this year. On the Edge has Urban Fantasy all over it, except each book has a new lead couple. Then we have Ange..."

I've been treating the UF and PNR genres as "highly subjective" for these challenges. :-)

So basically, if On the Edge feels UF to you, count it for that challenge. But if the next book in the series feels more PNR to you, I'd call it that (or maybe it too will be UF).

Likewise, for Angels' Blood, if it feels PNR to you, I'd count it for your PNR challenge.

This is how I've been doing my sorting for these challenges. I'm assuming this is okay, since I'm doing either/or. I hope this helps you, Nichole!

On the Edge is shelved in the Fantasy section at the book stores and the spine states that is Fantasy. So I'd probably toss it in UF.

Angels' Blood on the spine states it is Urban Fantasy Romance, but all the other books have PNR on the spine. I'l probably classifiy it as PNR.

However, like Jen said, go with your gut instinct. As long as you just use one for each genre challenge.