Romance Readers Reading Challenges discussion

Blue Notes is our June m/m buddy read. I am very excited to read this one!

This was a recent Dreamspinner Press freebie. If you missed the freebie, is $5.38 on Amazon and it's also lendable. $5.24 on Dreamspinner.


Hope to see some new faces here this month!

Yay! Now I can almost finish planning out my month :)

I will try this month. I have it. I really want to read this one. :)

I'm in too - well, I haven't bought it yet, but I intend to ;)

That price on DS has just dropped - must be to do with the author promos this month...

its part of DSP's anniversary month sale - so you probably want to grab it soon - I think June - prices are going back up

It was just posted on twitter that today is the last day for the 25% off sale.

Breann wrote: "It was just posted on twitter that today is the last day for the 25% off sale."

Thanks Breann and Dee - I'll do it today :)

I' m in when are we starting?

How about starting on the 10th? That should give everyone enough time to purchase the book if they need to.

Does that start date work for everyone? You can always read it any time during the month of June that is convenient for you and comment on it when you are done. No worries if you can't make the specific start date work for you :)

Fine by me at this stage... :)

Sounds good

Okay so I started ahead of schedule but so good, these two are so sweet together.

From one buddy read to the next :D Starting this now!

I'm going to try and start this one tomorrow, but may not get to it for a few days. Down London Road is calling me....

I'm starting this evening, too! :D

I'm not far off starting I think...

Will start when I finish my current book...probably tomorrow

Just finished and it was just ok for me. I liked the MC's enough but I didn't find myself caring about their HEA all too much. Jason went from straight to insta-love way too fast for me to believe it and all the "younger man" and "older man" stuff grated on my last nerve towards the end. I dunno... I might be being a little picky but those things just really bothered me. :D

I'm about 35% in and I like it so far. Breann, I totally get the 'older man' reference being annoying. It's mentioned so often, I thought he was close to 50. When it was stated that he was 34 I was shocked. That's old? Not that 50 is old, but I could see where 50 and 22 could be a bit too far apart for comfort. But 22 and 34 doesn't seem so bad.

But I do like the guys, I'm enjoying their interactions, being in Paris.

I enjoyed the book but I hated the old man and kid references. even the Frenchman and the American references started getting on my nerves. loved Jason's sister Rosie...we all have someone that butts into our business when we don't want them to but she was a loving and understanding sister who had his best interest at heart.

I just finished, and I liked the storyline, liked the characters, but I agree with everyone else about the older man/kid and Frenchman/American labels...very irritating. A 12 year age difference is just not enough to warrant the constant reminders - I could understand it if Jules was underage, or like Fran said if the difference was much greater, but not 12 years. I'm really torn about how I want to rate this one - without the age and nationality overload it would have been a solid 4 stars, maybe even getting close to 5, but I'm just not sure how much I want to lower my rating because of that annoyance...

I was waffling on my rating for the same reason. I wasn't sure if me being annoyed warranted a 2 star rating. So, I guess mine is more of a 2.5, I just can't confidently say that I liked it to make it a 3.

Well, it sounds like either your annoyance level was higher than mine or you didn't like the book as well disregarding the annoyance factor, because I'm thinking more like 3.5! :D

A little bit of both probably. But I've been kind of nit-picky about my books lately, maybe I've been reading too much :D

I finished it this morning, and I really enjoyed it. I liked Jules and Jason a lot, as well as Jason's smart, good-hearted, meddling sister- everyone needs one! Like everyone else, I had issues with the constant references to the age difference between the guys. Repetitive and exaggerated. But aside from that, I really enjoyed the Paris setting and their relationship. This was about a 3.75-4 stars for me.

did anyone read Knowingit tells you about the teenage encounter Jason had with his friend Robbie...I read it last night. It's only 13 pages but it's helps understand Jason a little more.

Nadine wrote: "did anyone read Knowingit tells you about the teenage encounter Jason had with his friend Robbie...I read it last night. It's only 13 pages but it's helps understand Jason a little more."

Thanks Nadine! I am going to download it now :)

Nadine wrote: "did anyone read Knowingit tells you about the teenage encounter Jason had with his friend Robbie...I read it last night. It's only 13 pages but it's helps understand Jason a little more."

I downloaded it a couple of days ago, but haven't had a chance to read it yet - looking forward to it, though!

I finished Knowing, it was a nice glimpse into Jason's conflicted feelings as a teen. I would love to read a story about Robbie all grown up....he is very intriguing!

I wonder if Shira Anthony has any plans for him....

I hope she does I would like to read more about Robbie too! I have added the other three books in the series to my to- read shelf...

I'm lagging on this one, but I hope to get to it in a couple of days. I've had a few other books I really needed to knock off first :)

...I'll be intrigued as to how annoying I find the name 'tagging'...

I finished it this afternoon on the plane. Took me forever to read the book because I was playing with my niece. She was a big distraction!
Just going to copy the comments I made in my "review". Too tired to do more, but I agree with a lot of you and now I'm going to check out Knowing!

Other than two issue with the writing style, I really enjoyed this book. The characters were likable and the story was nice, with a good epilogue - that is always a plus! The issues with the writing? First and foremost, the repetitive use of phrases to distinguish the characters the characters. Primarily older/younger but also Frenchman/American. It was almost as if the author wasn't sure what to do since she couldn't use pronouns - they were both he's. The second issue was the overuse of French phrases without offering a translation. Some of them were easy and more common, but not all.

Has everyone finished this one that wanted to?

Any thoughts on next month? So many recent Dreamspinner Press freebies to choose from...

I don't really have any preference; unless someone else has something that they can't wait to read, maybe just a poll of several of the later freebies? I know some of us didn't get a lot of the earlier ones, so starting at the end would probably be a good thing! :D I'm easy though, I don't mind buying something, but it seems a waste to pay for a book when we have such a treasure trove of freebies to choose from!

I have nothing on my agenda - at least that most of you haven't read yet! I'm good with the freebies or whatever.

Should we nominate a couple & then have a poll like last month?

I'm open to whatever you guys want.....a poll or just an informal list to choose from in this thread...

I do like the idea of nominating some.....do we each want to nominate one title and then have a poll? We can take the first 6 titles nominated? With one nom per person? More or less titles?

I'll start :) I want to read Woke Up in a Strange Place by Eric Arvin.

Breann wrote: "I'll start :) I want to read Woke Up in a Strange Place by Eric Arvin."

That one was high on my list too, Breann! But since you picked it I'll go with the other one that was up there...Little Squirrels Can Climb Tall Trees.

LOL! That was my other choice! Simply because I like the title :)

Just took a quick look and since I want to read so many, it was hard to pick! But for no particular reason, this one jumped out at me Masters & Boyd by S.J.D. Peterson.

Breann wrote: "LOL! That was my other choice! Simply because I like the title :)"

That was what grabbed me initially too, although it does sound good...

They all sound good!

I will go with Good Bones. I haven't read a shifter book in awhile and the next one in this series recently came out, so no waiting if the first one goes well :)

Nominations for July Buddy Read-

1. Woke Up in a Strange Place
2. Little Squirrels Can Climb Tall Trees
3. Masters & Boyd
4. Good Bones
5. Like a Sparrow Through the Heart

We still need a few more choices......

I'm still reading Blue Notes - about 1/3 of my way through...

I'll nominate Like a Sparrow Through the Heart which wasn't a DS freebie, but it is a freebie for download anytime...

OK, my m/m friends....Jane and I have decided to use random.org and randomly choose July's buddy read from the list above. So here goes.....

And the winner is..... #1 - Woke Up in a Strange Place.

Woohoo! I have this already down as a need to read in the next few months :) Very highly rated too.

Great idea with the random.org! It did choose my nomination after all... :)