Romance Readers Reading Challenges discussion

Team members

Team Captain: Gle

Members:
Grace
Tammie
Becky (fibrobabe)
ThatEzi
Medavis66 (Elaine)

1. Introduce yourself to your team. Definitely let your team members know where you are from. This is a 'nice to know' when categories are announced and when team-mates can expect other members to post their book choices.

2. You already have your Team Captain. The team captain will track the books read by the team and double-check that your book selection complies with the rules - eg make sure that the selection and completion posts are as per the formatting and information requested below (msg 3).

The Team Captain should reserve a couple of posts in this thread to track their team's book selection and completion. (Alternatively they could convert one of their chat comments to the tracking post/s.)

3. Name your team. This is not mandatory, but it is fun. Given we are an open/public group with no age limit, so please make sure any chosen name is smart, not smutty ;)

Please PM your name to Jane(PS) by 9 March.

4. If you have a private profile, please 'friend' your team-mates. This is really important, because without this, your team-mates can't see your shelves to select a books under option 2.

5. Please post your book selections/completions in the format provided below. (This format is also posted in both the Q&A and Sign-Up threads.) We need to know the week that each book corresponds to, the page numbers, and how the book qualifies including links to lists/shelves (where applicable), etc. I can't stress this enough. When in doubt - link it*!

* please don't link to your review in your completion post - reviews in your completion posts should be included in full in that post.

You don't want to start reading a book and then find it doesn't meet the requirements because some information (eg page count or theme link) was missing from your original post.

I will be monitoring this and your book will not be considered complete until I am satisfied that your selection and completion posts comply with the format rules of the challenge.

Remember - you can ONLY change your book selection in the week that the theme is called.

6. You MUST check in with your team each week, ideally once the theme is announced. Please let your team know if you expect to have spotty communication or are on holidays or having an operation.

7. When you post the completion of your book, you must post a review; enough for us to know you have actually read the book. Please don't link to a review. You must post the review in this thread.

8. Re-reads are allowed but you can't read the same book twice within this challenge.

9. There is no prize for the winning team - bragging rights only :)

10. Each week, the theme will be announced in the Q&A/Announcement thread. The full list of themes announced during this round will be maintained in msg 1 of that thread.


The Rule on the Pass Option
* Each team can only have ONE member using their pass each week.
* Each member can only use that pass once each 5 weeks.
* No-one can use the pass option in the last week of the challenge.
* In the final week Option 2 has altered and I will be allocating each team another team from which their book selection must be chosen :)

Key selection and completion post information. You must have ALL elements in your book posts.


For the initial selection post Option 1 I need:
Week #
Bookcover/link
Page numbers
How the book qualifies - please insert a link to the qualifying bookshelf/list. ~ If the theme is based off the bookcover or a letter in the title etc, please just repeat the theme.

For the initial selection post Option 2 I need:
Week #
Bookcover/link
Page numbers
Name of the team-member, their star rating, the date they read the book.


For the completion post I need:
Week #
Bookcover/link
Rating (1-5)
Review


Please DO NOT CHAT in these selction/completion posts. It needs to be super clear.

If you 'waffle' about your decided book - please REPOST your selection once you decide. DO NOT go back and edit your waffling post.

I'll be tracking each team's progress separately, using the Captain's summary in each team's thread to check for accuracy.

A summary chart will be posted in the last week to let teams know their progress against other teams :)

Week #3: As of 3/31/16, 2150 hrs CST, everyone in our group has selected their books. Only two members have not completed them yet.

Week #4: As of 4/7/17, 2037 hrs CST, everyone in our group has selected their books. I'm the only one who hasn't finished.

Also, we still have an outstanding book from Week #2.

Week 5: As of 4/15, 1005 hrs CST, everyone on our team has selected their books. Two team members haven't completed the books yet.

Also, we still have an outstanding book from Week #2.

Week 6 As of 4/22, 1718 hrs CST, everyone on our team has selected their books. Two team members haven't completed the books yet.

The two outstanding books from Week 5 are both completed.

We still have an outstanding book from Week #2.

Week #7: As of 4/29 at 2212 CST, everyone has selected their books. As far as I can tell, only Tammi, Grace and ThatEzi have not posted a completion yet.

And, we're all caught up on Week #2! :)

Week #9: AS of today, everyone has selected their books. Three of us haven't completed our selections yet. Otherwise, we're good to go!

Welcome to each and every Team #5 member! I'm already convinced we have the best team ever and we'll all going to have a grand time together. :)

Seems pretty clear that we should start thinking about a team name first. All suggestions are welcome. I wish I could say that I'm creative, but I'm not. Maybe if we each try to come up with 3 suggestions and then we can vote from those?

I live in the great state of Iowa. I do work nights so my schedule is usually out of whack with the rest of the world. Feel free to contact me anytime for questions or concerns but likely I won't be able to respond before the next day.

I'm anxious to hear about the rest of you!

Hello Team!

My name is Grace. I have participated in all of the Pass the Parcel challenges and have enjoyed them all and usually manage to add several books to my never ending TBR list. I live in San Diego, California and am on Pacific Time, which means themes are usually called at 3 pm my time. I am an elementary school teacher. I love all types of romance books and will try any genre. My only requirement is it must have a happy ending!

I suck at team names but here's my best try.
Beauties and the Book
Once Upon a Book

Hi team.
My name is Ezinwanyi. I claim Dallas, Chicago and Nigeria as homelands. I've played this before and enjoy it.
I'm a mod at The Challenge Factory but I'm all over GR. I'm excited to play.

Team Names: the 5th Element; the 5th Wave; the 5th sense.

I also like both of the names Grace proposed.

Hello, Team #5! I'm Becky. I live in Indianapolis (which is on Eastern time, even though people expect Central), and I mostly read m/m, but I dabble all over the romance spectrum, with the occasional mystery or fantasy mixed in for flavor. This is my third Pass the Parcel challenge.

I just want to give you all a heads up- I'll be out of town for two weeks in April, first visiting with a friend in California, and then roadtripping over to Las Vegas for RT. I'll probably be able to access the internet with no problem at my friend's house, but internet is always a crap shoot in a hotel. The way the dates fall, I should be able to get the first pick in before we leave California, and I'll be home before the week is up for the second pick, so I should be OK. If anything changes I'll let you know, but for right now it doesn't look like I'll need a pass.

My only team name idea so far is The Fabulous Fives, but I'll keep thinking and try to come up with a couple more.

Sorry I'm so late checking in...this is my first time doing ppt
I live in the St. Louis area...am a Real Estate agent. My husband and I are empty nesters.
It's my busy season for work, but will try to check in for messages at least once per day...I love to read and am a bit of a challenge addict. I love GRs...so this challenge is right up my alley so to speak.
I do travel quite a bit...but have my phone...so always accessible for the most part.
Team Names...
Fab 5 Chiclits is one idea....I am fine with anything really.

Hi Team! I'm Elaine, in Illinois, and love this challenge. I craft and read all of the time. Both are much more interesting than sleep! I also substitute teach in the area. I was a fulltime teacher ages back, before my daughter was born (she's 15). My husband and I are homebodies, for the most part. I can check in any time needed, but always check on the post for the themes on Fridays and pick my books fairly quickly. I am a romance junkie, and almost must have those HEAs. I read mainly contemporary/ new adult, but also slip in paranormal and modern westerns often.

I'm good with any team name you come up with. I just love to get this challenge going. I look forward to the posts and books.

:-) Elaine

Hey Team! We need to work out the team name...I want that theme called! lol I'll compile the names suggested and add a couple from me, just to lengthen the list.

Possible choices:

Beauties and the Book
Once Upon a Book
The 5th Element
The 5th Wave
The 5th Sense
The Fabulous Fives
Fab 5 Chiclits
Fab 5
High Fives
Team 5 is Alive (I'm channeling Johnny from Short Circuit)
5 to the 6th Power (just the corny math teacher in me!)

Any others? Any preferences/ removal suggestions?
:-)

Any would be absolutely fine with me...some creative minds in this group!

How about Once upon a Book 5?

It's hard, isn't it! I've been racking my brain.

I'm ready to go!

Medavis66 wrote: "Team 5 is Alive (I'm channeling Johnny from Short Circuit)"

And to that I say, your mama was a snowblower! :P

I kind of like The Fifth Element, the Fab Fives, or the High Fives. But I'm good with any of them.

Everyone should list their top 2 so we can start eliminating so I'll start.
1. Once Upon a Book 5
2. The Fifth Element

I'm good with any, honestly.

My faves would probably be Once Upon a Book or Fab Fives.

:-) Elaine

Fab keeps coming up...I like Fab 5's too.

Hey y'all, I don't think we need more names. We should vote on the ones we have. Everyone should just list the top two names so we can narrow it down. We just need 1 name. So let's get that done so we can get ready to slay in this challenge.

My top two picks for names remain the same.

My top 2:

Once Upon a Book
Fab Fives

:-)

Anyone is welcome to make suggestions and I hope they feel free to do so. We realize that everyone has different schedules and availability and we want to respect that.

At this point, it looks like a tie between Fab Fives and Once Upon a Book. I should probably point out that we have 6 team members rather than five. That may change some minds?

I'll check back in later in the day to see if anyone else has had a chance to pick. And then I'll let Jane know our choice.

We're all looking forward to Friday when the first theme is announced! First and foremost, let's have fun!

I'm going to go ahead and notify Jane that our team name is Fab 5. Seems like that came up the most often and had the most support. Thanks for everyone's suggestions!

Hey - you are a tribute team! In honour of George Martin ~ The Fifth Beatle :D

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/mu...

Jane (PS) wrote: "Hey - you are a tribute team! In honour of George Martin ~ The Fifth Beatle :D

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/mu......"

Do You Want to Know a Secret? We read romance Eight Days a Week and even on A Hard Day's Night we know that All You Need is Love. ;)

Nice one Becky!!

LOL, Becky! I love it!

Week 1

Option 1
18. Widower/Widow romance (stated in the precis or shown on listopia or shelf)
Optional lists:
Widower: A Man Who Loves Can Love Again
Gay Romance Featuring A MC who is Widowered
Single Fathers of Romance: Great Family Men
Historical Widows
Best Widow Romance

These are optional lists. You do not need to use them. However you DO need to show how the book fits ~ either from how it was shelved, the precis/summary or the name of a list that it appears on.

Option 2
Key date: 4 September 2015


Please ensure you follow the format shown in msg 3 of your team threads.

Week 1


The Air He Breathes by Brittainy C. Cherry
354 pages/Goodreads

Qualifies: #9 on
Widowers: A man who loves can love again

Love, love, love....our team!

Week #1--Option 2

389 pages
Gle's Shelf, rated: ★★★★, 10/06/15

Week 1 (Option 1): 18. Widower/Widow romance

Book: Consolation by Corinne Michaels
Qualification : Precis
Pages: 303

Option #1
Week # 1 Widow/Widower Romance
Mackenzie's Mountain by Linda Howard
Page numbers: 375
How the book qualifies: Listopia, Single Fathers of Romance - Great Family Men, #13
Mackenzie's Mountain

Week #1
When We Met by Susan Mallery
Qualification: #44 on list Widower: A Man Who Loves Can Love Again:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...
352 pages

Week #1: Widower/Widow romance
Bookcover/link: After Ben
Page numbers: 300
How the book qualifies - #3 on the Gay Romance Featuring a MC Who is Widowered list

What an awesome team we are! Everyone's picked their book and we're ready to go. Here's hoping our picks are all 5 star books!

Completion Post
Week # 1
Mackenzie's Mountain by Linda Howard
Rating: 4
Review: This is a new series for me and a new author. And, I'm impressed. The H/h were both likable and the plot had some unexpected twists and turns, which I like. There's a significant emphasis in the plot on racism. It's Wyoming so the racism is targeted at American Indians. I'm interested in knowing if that exists in real life....really hope not. It's quite ugly. On the positive side though, it's a sweet love story, it'shot when you want it to be and it's a HEA. Gotta like that!

COMPLETION POST
Week 1 (Option 1): 18. Widower/Widow romance

Book: Consolation by Corinne Michaels
Qualification : Precis
Pages: 303
Rating & Review:★★½.
I have to admit that I am ambivalent on about this story. I can't imagine the loss and pain those in this life have to endure so I want to acknowledge that. I was just unable able to connect to the main characters and the story itself.

Pregnant Leslie "Lee" was finally happy. Her husband Aaron was out of active duty as a Navy Seal and now just had a routine operation to attend and then they can continue preparing for the birth of their first child. Aaron kissed Lee on her nose and told her he would be back soon. But what came next was a commander knocking on her door bearing the news all military wives dread. 6 months later, Lee is struggling to raise her daughter Arabella and working hard to move on from the loss of the man who was her world.

I haven't lost a great love but the pain and grief dragged for a long time, encompassing about 56% of this story. Then all of a sudden the great love story was painted as a figment of Lee's imagination. Friends began hinting that Lee was having revisionist history regarding her relationship with Aaron. I was torn by that because I didn't think the author had to tear down her marriage in order to validate her new love with Liam. People can have more than one great love in their lifetime. Especially when married so young as Lee and Aaron had been.

My second issue was lack of depth. All the characters were kind of one dimensional with the exception of 2nd half Aaron. Aaron was put on a pedestal but now Liam was being put on a pedestal. I would have preferred a more human or complex character, kind of what Aaron turned out to be. I liked Liam but I didn't love his "perfection". The story was shallow and it was predictable. I did like the ending. I suspected the drama that the new love would face, but I see the author already gave herself an out with the funeral visitor. The ending save this story for me. I want to know, I am hesitant to read book 2 because I don't want another 8hrs audiobook on grieving.

**let me add that I have the utmost respect for all military families. The sacrifice is humbling.

Completion Post
Week #1: Widower/Widow romance
Bookcover/link: After Ben
Rating: 4 stars
Review: A year ago, Theo's partner of 15 years, Ben, had a massive heart attack and died. Only two things have gotten him through the grief- his job, and a local politics forum. Arguing with strangers on the internet is infinitely easier than facing the gaping hole in his life where Ben used to be. I hesitate to classify this as a romance, even though there are several significant romances in the story. It's more about Theo's journey back to the land of the living. He does find love again, but the story ends with that romance very up in the air. The story ends when he has quite literally let Ben go and steps into the future with Morgan, but we don't get to see them resolve anything. We're just left to hope that they're able to work things out. Which sounds like a downer, but since the spine of the story is about working through his grief and regrets, not a love story, it still feels complete and hopeful.

Week #1 Completion Post

Rating: 5 stars
Review: I was between a 4 and a 5 on this one until I got near the end. Then, no choice and no doubt, a 5 for certain. I loved Angel and saw him as such a wounded and beautiful man. Taryn had her scars too. She was tough and beautiful. I like the family she has built for herself with the boys. I laughed at the Grove of Acorns they (Angel and Taryn) were helping to grow and develop. Well worth the read!

Week #1
Completion Post--Option 2
★★★★
Review: Kristen Ashley is one of my favorite authors. Witty, creative and a very good writer. She has a definite style that comes out in most of her books. What I love most about her is that she allows you to make up your own mind about how her characters look. She writes a bit 'older' and not all her MC's are 'fashion models'.
I don't believe I give away any spoilers by saying that the title 'Jagged' represents, for Zara, how Ham breathes when he's 'in to her'. The author does a nice job of weaving this through the book. Ham and Zara have loved each other for a long time. Life's significant events finally bring them together. This author does write longer books...and if there was one thing that was frustrating to me, it was the amount of time Zara took to figure out Ham. I rated this one 4 stars...but the first half was 3 stars for me because of Zara...I had a hard time understanding why it took her so long to 'figure things out'. Nonetheless I can definitely recommend the Colorado Mountain series to those who don't mind a higher page count.

The only problem with getting the first call a little early- it makes the wait for the second call longer! How is everyone doing? Have you read anything good in between?

I read the new Fire Touched last weekend, which was another great story in the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. And earlier today I finished So Sweet by Rebekah Weatherspoon, which was also excellent.

I'm working on my other challenges...I love the monthly word hunt...just finished Double Trouble...it was ok...very 'sarcastic' dialogue to start...improved after about half way through. I'm getting ready to start book three...Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night..in Kresley Cole's IAD series...Very well written and so far I'm enjoying the series.

I wish it was two a week. I read Midnight Pursuit by Elle Kennedy. I'm about to listen to Out of Time by Beth Flynn.

I'm reading the Virgin River series by Robyn Carr. I finished one yesterday and started the next.

I could easily go with two books a week.

I've also got both brothers on hand to finish out the Wyoming Sky trilogy by R.C. Ryan. I found these books when I needed a male character name that fit the letter 'Q'. It doesn't take much for me to be encouraged to read about sexy cowboys, so it wasn't a hardship at all.

:-)

Sometimes I wish it was two a week, but I suspect I'd get burned out on the challenge if it was. My TBR is kind of ridiculous, and challenges really help me to narrow down the options and pick something. I'd be too overwhelmed by the choices to read anything at all if I had to page through my Kindle every time I wanted to read a book. But getting too locked into a challenge can make reading start to feel like a job. A mix of short- and long-term challenges, with the occasional "I just feel like reading this today" book thrown in seems to help keep me from getting too bogged down in either direction. And the more social challenges, like Pass the Parcel or Meet and Greet, give me the chance to get to know other readers a bit, which is nice.