Christian Fiction Bloggers discussion

Team Members:

Sam
Megan
Melody
Monique

Review Thread: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

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Hi team!

Hi! I'm so happy to be here!

I can't wait to start this game :D

Hi! :)

Hello team! :)

I wanted to let you all know that some of the books I am planning on reading for this challenge are:


Mitch Albom's "The Five People You Meet in Heaven," which will likely cover every challenge location because of the author's last name initial, A. This book also contains the t-shirt souvenir item in its text.


Wm. Paul Young's "The Shack," which I'd like to read either for our North America task or one of our sleeping accommodations tasks. I've been wanting to read this book for quite some time.


Janette Oke's "When Calls the Heart," which I would very much like to read for our horse transportation item (on the cover).


Eric Wilson's "Fireproof," which could cover North America and the jewelry souvenir item (there's a set of wedding rings on the cover).


Lois Lowry's "Number the Stars," which covers the Europe location (it's set in Denmark & Sweden) as well as the jewelry souvenir item (there's a necklace on the cover).


Elizabeth Camden's "Against the Tide," which has the boat/ship transportation item and sleeping accommodations (a large ship with sleeping quarters for the ship crew and passengers), as well as the water nourishment item (under the ship) on the cover.


Christina Baker Kline's "Orphan Train," which is set in North America (Minnesota and Maine) and Europe (Ireland) and has a girl looking out the window of a train on the cover--a transportation item.


M. L. Stedman's "The Light Between Oceans," which I would love to read for our Australia location (this book is set primarily in Australia).


Robyn Carr's "Four Friends," which I would love to read for our fruit nourishment task.


Vannetta Chapman's "Murder Simply Brewed," which would cover the hot beverage nourishment task.


Kathryn Stockett's "The Help," which is set in North America and has the mugs, jewelry, and candle souvenir items in its text.


I will undoubtedly be adding books to this list.

I'll determine which book(s) I start on when our first round selections are posted.

I am so excited to start this challenge with you all! :)

Great planning, Monique! :) I always want to plan things out, but rarely can.

ROUND ONE has started! Here are the five tasks that need to be divided up between team members.

#1 - Location: Africa
Read a book using one of the following options:
-Title starts with one of the letters in Africa (articles [a, an, the] do NOT count)
-Part of the story takes place somewhere in Africa (i.e. Egypt, Libya, South Africa, etc.)
-Cover has a majority color of green or white
-Author's First or Last Name initial starts with one of the letters in Algeria.

#2 - Transportation: Boat/Ship*
*must be found on book cover

#3 - Souvenir Item: T-Shirt*
*can be found in book's text or on cover

#4 - Nourishment: Dessert (cake, cupcake, pie, etc.)*
*must be found on book cover

#5 - Sleeping accommodations: Some type of building, house, tent, cave, etc.*
*must be found on book cover

Round One ends 5/17/17, reviews for books need to be posted in their team's review thread by then.

I'm sure I could find a book for anything, have a lot of books, so let me know what tasks work best for you and I'll take what's left. :)

RE: ROUND ONE has started!

Thank you for posting this Megan! :)

I'm starting with:


Mitch Albom's "The Five People You Meet in Heaven," which covers the Africa/Algeria location because the author's last name initial starts with the letter A. This book also covers the T-shirt souvenir item.

This author will likely come in handy for future rounds as well. :)


UPDATE: I'll be reading this book only to fulfill our Location/Africa/Algeria task. :)

I'll be starting in te next few days. There is a manor on the cover, so it could easily be for the location...

I might have time to read another book by the time this first round ends. So we'll see if we need anything else.

RE: ROUND ONE

Would anyone be interested in reading "Against the Tide" by Elizabeth Camden for our transportation/boat item? The ship on the cover could also work for sleeping accommodations this round.

If so, I believe the kindle version of this book is currently free on Amazon. It came up under Christian Fiction and received a lot of good reviews. This book also won some awards following its release.


UPDATE: I've begun reading this book and will rate and review it for our transportation/boat/ship task. :)

Monique wrote: "Would anyone be interested in reading "Against the Tide" by Elizabeth Camden for our transportation/boat item?

If so, I believe the kindle version of this book..."

Yes I did get it for free, unfortunately right now I have a few book I commited to read in exchange of a review... So I can't really read this one right now...

RE: ROUND ONE

No worries Sam. I am very interested in this book so I'll be reading Elizabeth Camden's "Against the Tide" for the transportation/boat task just as soon as I finish Albom's "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" for the souvenir/T-shirt task and/or the location/Africa/Algeria task, hopefully by the end of this week.

Thank you for covering our sleeping accommodations task this round Sam with Rachael Anderson's "The Rise of Miss Notley." :)

So we're still in need of a book with a dessert on the cover for this round. Also, a better book for our location/Africa/Algeria task (such as a book set in Africa) is welcome.

I'm currently reading The Things We knew and will finish it during round one. It works both for AfriCa (Catherine West) and for the T-shirt.

Oh wait! We have to spell out Algeria! Ok, so The Things We Knew would only work for the souvenir (T-shirt)... Sorry about that.

Ok so to be clear, here's a recap of what we have so far:

Monique:
The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
#1 - Location: Africa
-Author's First or Last Name initial starts with one of the letters in Algeria.

Option: Against the Tide by Elizabeth Camden
#2 - Transportation: Boat/Ship*
*must be found on book cover

Melody: The Things We Knew by Catherine West
#3 - Souvenir Item: T-Shirt*
*can be found in book's text (p.217)

#4 - Nourishment: Dessert (cake, cupcake, pie, etc.)*
*must be found on book cover

Sam: The Rise of Miss Notley by Rachael Anderson
#5 - Sleeping accommodations: Some type of building, house, tent, cave, etc.*
*must be found on book cover

No problem Melody, we’ve got the location task covered. Earlier I mentioned that I’d be covering the T-shirt task, however I see that you are already nearly finished with a book that has a T-shirt in the text, and you’d like to fill this task, so I’ll hand this over to you and focus more on filling our boat task.

(You guys are doing such good planning!!! Love it!)

Thank you Melanie! I am loving this team and this challenge so far! :)

Thank you for your flexibility Megan! :) I hope you don't have trouble finding a 100+ page book you're interested in reading that has a dessert on its cover. I'll let you know if I find something worth recommending. I've been looking...

Monique wrote: "No problem Melody, we’ve got the location task covered. Earlier I mentioned that I’d be covering the T-shirt task, however I see that you are already nearly finished with a book that has a “T-shirt..."

Thanks Monique for taking over the boat/ship task. We only need one book per category and a book can only be used in one category. So you should probably use the Mitch Albom one for the Location task ;)

Sam wrote: "Thanks Monique for taking over the boat/ship task. We only need one book per category and a book can only be used in one category. So you should probably use the Mitch Albom one for the Location task ;)."

Great point Sam! With your recommendation, I will read Mitch Albom's "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" to fulfill our Location/Africa/Algeria task and Elizabeth Camden's "Against the Tide" to fulfill our Transportation/Boat/Ship task. :)

So far, this is how it seems Round One is looking for our team (updated with everyone's picks):

Team Flying Dutchman
ROUND 1 -- AFRICA

#1 - Location
-Africa/Algeria*
*Author’s First or Last Name initial starts with one of the letters in ALGERIA.

“The Five People You Meet in Heaven” by Mitch Albom
Read by: Monique (in progress), finished ?/?/17, rated ? stars
How it works: Author’s last name starts with A.
Link to review: In progress...

#2 - Transportation
-Boat/Ship*
*must be found on book cover

“Against the Tide" by Elizabeth Camden
Read by: Monique (in progress), finished ?/?/17, rated ? stars
How it works: A boat/ship is on the cover.
Link to review: In progress…

#3 - Souvenir Item
-T-Shirt*
*can be found in book's text or on cover

“The Things We Knew” by Catherine West
Read by: Melody (in progress), finished ?/?/17, rated ? stars
How it works: Text: "He hovered in the doorway baggy pajama pants, T-shirt, and tousled hair…” Page 4
Link to review: In progress...

#4 - Nourishment
-Dessert (cake, cupcake, pie, etc.)*
*must be found on book cover

"Asking for Truffle: A Southern Chocolate Shop Mystery" by Dorothy St. James
Read by: Megan (in progress), finished ?/?/17, rated ? stars
How it works: Truffles on cover.
Link to review: In progress...

#5 - Sleeping accommodations
-Some type of building, house, tent, cave, etc.*
*must be found on book cover

“The Rise of Miss Notley" by Rachael Anderson
Read by: Sam (in progress), finished ?/?/17, rated ? stars
How it works: Manor on cover.
Link to review: In progress…


We need to be sure we finish, rate, and review these books by Wednesday, May 17th, 2017. :)

Monique wrote: "So far, this is how it seems Round One is looking for our team:

Team Flying Dutchman
ROUND 1 -- AFRICA

#1 - Location
-Africa/Algeria*
*Author’s First or Last Name initial starts with one of the l..."

Looks good to me :D Now we just wait for Megan's choice

Monique wrote: "Thank you for your flexibility Megan! :) I hope you don't have trouble finding a 100+ page book you're interested in reading that has a dessert on its cover. I'll let you know if I find something w..."

Nope, I have that should work for it. It's 304 pages and has truffles on the cover. :)

Sam wrote: "I'll be starting in te next few days. There is a manor on the cover, so it could easily be for the location...

I might have time to read another book b..."

I hope you enjoy this one. I read it last month and loved it!

I hope you enjoy Monique. I read it several years ago and really enjoyed it. :)

Megan wrote: "Monique wrote: "Thank you for your flexibility Megan! :) I hope you don't have trouble finding a 100+ page book you're interested in reading that has a dessert on its cover. I'll let you know if I ..."

Sounds good to me! So we're all set for this first round :D Let's get reading!

Great job, team! :)

I'll let you know when I finish reading The Things We Knew and post my review. It should be this weekend or at the beginning of next week.

I'm starting The Rise of Miss Notley today :D

Hi, everyone!

We're 4 days into this round and I wanted to know how everyone's reading is going :)

I'm about halfway through my book. So I should have it finished by the end of the week.

I finished Mitch Albom's "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" last night and will be posting my review for that tomorrow. I really enjoyed this read!

I also started on Elizabeth Camden's "Against the Tide" last night. :)

The Five People You Meet in Heaven is on my TBR list, so I'm looking forward to your review Monique. :)

I just finished The Things We Knew. I'll be posting my review tonight.

Good job everyone! :D

Monique wrote: "I finished Mitch Albom's "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" last night and will be posting my review for that tomorrow. I really enjoyed this read!

I also started on Elizabeth Camden..."

That's great, Monique :D

Melody wrote: "The Five People You Meet in Heaven is on my TBR list, so I'm looking forward to your review Monique. :)

I just finished The Things We Knew. I'll be posting my review tonight.

Good job everyone! :D"

Yay! Two down and three to go! ^_^

Finished for Round One are:

#1 - Location
-Africa/Algeria*
*Author’s First or Last Name initial starts with one of the letters in ALGERIA.

“The Five People You Meet in Heaven” by Mitch Albom
Read by: Monique, finished 5/7/17, rated 5 stars
How it works: Author’s last name starts with A.
Link to review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

AND

#3 - Souvenir Item
-T-Shirt*
*can be found in book's text or on cover

“The Things We Knew” by Catherine West
Read by: Melody, finished 5/8/17, rated 4 stars
How it works: Text: "He hovered in the doorway baggy pajama pants, T-shirt, and tousled hair…” Page 4
Link to review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

We're making good progress! :)

Monique wrote: "We're making good progress! :) "

Yes we are! :)

I love your review for The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Monique.

I added both links to our reviews on our team review thread: Here

Not finished with mine, haven't started it yet, but it hopefully will be an easy read and I'll try to get it finished this weekend. :)

Megan wrote: "Not finished with mine, haven't started it yet, but it hopefully will be an easy read and I'll try to get it finished this weekend. :)"

No problem, Megan. There is still time. :)

Melody wrote: "I love your review for The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Monique.

I added both links to our reviews on our team review thread: Here"

Thank you Melody! :)

I am making slow but steady progress with Against the Tide for our boat task.

Hey, I'm finishing mine today and posting my review soon.

Since I finished the book a lot faster then I had originally planned, I wanted to know if you would like for me to read another one.

I have found this one with a boat on the cover:


And I don't know if grilled marshmallow count as a dessert, but if it does I have this one I could read:


Just let me know :)

Sam wrote: "Hey, I'm finishing mine today and posting my review soon.

Since I finished the book a lot faster then I had originally planned, I wanted to know if you would like for me to read another one.

I have found this one with a boat on the cover..."

That's great that you finished reading for our sleeping accommodations task Sam! I look forward to reading your review for this book. :)

I will definitely be finished reading, rating, and reviewing for our boat/ship task before our Round One deadline. I'm working on my review for this book as I'm reading it... Very interesting read so far that has captured my attention! :)

I'm not sure about the dessert task...

Do you still plan on reading and reviewing by next Wednesday (the 17th) Megan?

Thank you for the offer Sam!

No problem, Monique!

Though Melody did rise concerns about the grilled marshmallow being considered a dessert :P
If Megan is struggling to get this reading done, I can always ask Melanie about my suggestion ^_^

By the way, I'm working on writing my review right now. So it should be up in a few minutes.

#5: Sleeping accommodations
- Some type of building, house, tent, cave, etc.
*must be found on book cover

- read by: Sam, March 12th 2017, rated 4 stars
How it works: Manor on cover.
Link to review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

*I would accept marshmallow for dessert. :)) I'm sure Megan is reading her book, though, and she'll probably comment soon. :)

Melanie wrote: "*I would accept marshmallow for dessert. :)) I'm sure Megan is reading her book, though, and she'll probably comment soon. :)"

Thank you!

She probably is, it's just in case she finds it harder to fit it in her reading schedule ;)

Great reviews Melody and Sam! :)

I just didn't have the time to start it until today, but it seems like a very fast read and I'll probably finished it no later than Monday. :)