Rated YA-MA discussion

Something old,
something new,
something borrowed,
something blue,
and a sixpence in her shoe.
This is a traditional rhyme that details what a bride should wear at her wedding for good luck.

Happy Spring! Welcome to the Spring Nuptials themed challenge.
The second quarter challenge runs from April 1st through June 30th. The idea is to choose a book that goes with each good luck line in the rhyme

Something old- A book published in 2000 or earlier (because really can we call something less than 20 old?) or a reread that you originally read 5 or more years ago. This is also a perfect tie in to our April Throwback group read! Come join us in April!

Something New - A new release - a new series - a new author to you

Something borrowed -(sorry I planned this before Corona isolation - digital loans are probably safest) here is a chance to check out your local library and what it has to offer (paper, e book or audio all allowed) or you can share your love of reading with a friend and borrow a book from somebody you know.

Something Blue - Choose a book with a blue cover or the word blue (in any language) in the title

Love - Choose a book that has characters that become romantically involved (does not have to be a romance book or have a wedding)

Gift - My gift to you is that you get to choose the last book and how it relates to a wedding (or divorce?) just let us know your thoughts!



Rules breakdown:
♦ Audio books are allowed.

♦ All of the books MUST be at least 150 (paper) pages in order to qualify for this challenge. If the kindle or eBook pages are different than the paper count, please provide the correct number, so no books are left out unjustly. If you are reading an ebook only book, the word count MUST be a minimum of 45,000.

♦ 5 out of 6 of your books for this challenge must be YA.



I'll be keeping track of participant’s progress (as much as possible) in post #2. Participants will be listed alphabetically by their name.
When posting the Title of your book let us know how it fits the challenge.
It is also nice, but not necessary, to tell us what you thought of the book just in case it grabs the interest of another member also.

Participants:

Dee
Diane - 2/6 borrowed - old-
Jennifer - 3/6 borrowed- gift- Love -
Laurel - 6/6 New - Borrowed - Blue - old - love- gift FINISHED!
Melanie - 6/6 borrowed - old - Blue- Gift - new - Love FINISHED!
Melanie round two - 1/6 new
Mich- 3/6 blue - Love- New -

I'm in!

My general pool:


Completed 6/6:
something old (Adult, but I read it last when I was a teen?)
something new
something borrowed (my library classifies as YA)
something blue
love
gift (weddings!)

Melanie's Books

ROUND 1
[1] 4/7 The Outsiders [old]
[2] 4/8 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix [borrowed]
[3] 4/11 The Time Paradox [blue cover]
[4] 4/27 Girls with Razor Hearts [love]
[5] 5/20 Internment [new author]
[6] 5/21 The Forest of Hands and Teeth [gift- fictional wedding customs explained]

ROUND 2
[1] 5/21 Flunked [new author and series]
[2] 5/27 My Lady Jane [romance]
[3] 6/5 Anna Dressed in Blood [wedding]
[4] 6/12 The Wrath and the Dawn [borrowed]
[5] 6/17 The Horse and His Boy [old]

Of course I'm in :)

Something borrowed - Something old

Finished 3 of 6:


Something Blue


Love


Something New

me but no idea what books yet - i have 9 days off coming up

It never hurts to join a challenge even if you don't complete it! It is not like you pay in advance :)

I finished the first book
This was borrowed in audio from the library. This was also our throwback book of the month for April so if you would like to join in it can also be something old.
This was shorter than I thought it would be but packed full of beautiful writing and emotion. It is my daughters favorite book so I am happy to be able to discuss it with her and we plan on watching the movie together now that we are staying at home. I gave this book 4 stars.

Diane wrote: "I finished the first book
This was borrowed in audio from the library. This was also our throwback book of the month for April so if you would like to join in it ca..."

I love that you are going to watch the movie with your daughter :)
It's such a fantastic one.

I'm in as well.
Possibilities:

Something old-

Something New - A new release -
Something borrowed -

Something Blue -

Love -

Gift -

Finished:

I love I Hunt Killers and Angelfall for your borrowed books. You should borrow them both!

Diane wrote: "I love I Hunt Killers and Angelfall for your borrowed books. You should borrow them both!"

My town's public library was awesome. For 3 days before they closed their doors in mid-March they allowed people to to put as many books (or anything really) on hold as they wanted. Then the librarians gathered everything up and put them on carts for you. All I had to do was walk in, grab my humongous stack of books and movies, use the self checkout scanner, and walk out.

So those 2 books are in my stack. They both look really good :)

Finished - this was my something borrowed - got it from the library. This book was exactly what I needed to get out of my reading slump. I read the whole thing yesterday in one sitting. I gave it 4 stars.

I enjoyed that book - it got very creepy toward the end!

Diane, have you read any of the other books in the Angelfall series?

And it really did get creepy!

I read all three. The creepiness continues so if that was off putting then you may not like the others. I liked the second book but the third was not as good if my memory serves (these days it is hit or miss :)

Book 1 [old]


Book 2 [borrowed- digital library book]

Audio re-read. It was my least favorite book in the series, but I saw more in it this time around.


ON DECK:
[new]
[gift-white dress]
[blue]

Finished my first one (something blue)



I couldn't get on board with the heroine (she was a total brat) so it overall didn't go over very well with me. There was definitely good stuff in the story though, particularly with the guy's POV side.

hey, sorry, but what are the rules for this again? Do we have to read one book from each category, or can they all be from just 1 or 2 categories?

The reason I ask is that I was looking thru my kindle and I have a weirdly large number of books with blue covers, and this seems like a good way to get myself to tackle some of those older ones... :)

Honestly I intended it to be one from each category but If you want to go all blue I am fine with that.

Finished my something old it was a reread first published in 1977 and first read by me in 1979 in middle school. This is my personal classic post apocalyptic book. It is the first I read and started me in that genre. I have never forgot this book and have had things bring up the memory of this book through out my life. I have probably read it 6 times and besides children's books I have never reread a book so many times.

Finished my gift - - I chose it because the title is something people say in their vows, but also because the serial killer has been named The Groom. This is an adult book. I gave it 4 stars. It was another good book to help me get out of my reading slump. It was a quick read.

Diane wrote: "I read all three. The creepiness continues so if that was off putting then you may not like the others. I liked the second book but the third was not as good if my memory serves (these days it is h..."

I do want to see how it progresses, so whenever the library opens back up, I'll definitely get book 2.

Finished book 3, Love - - This book is all about how Love is a disease and they have found a way to "cure" it. I really enjoyed this book. Good dystopian fiction. I give it a 4.5.

Diane wrote: "Honestly I intended it to be one from each category but If you want to go all blue I am fine with that."

oh ok, thanks! I'll try to go with true intention though :)

Finished my 2nd book. It's under the love category since there's love declarations in this thing (be warned though: it's total insta-love). Premise was cool, but i wasn't into the romance and the heroine was kinda annoying. Gave it 2 stars.

Finished my 3rd book (something new).



I read this super fast. Best friends to lovers story. It was cute!

Book 3

[blue cover]

Book 6 of this YA series is much like the others in the series. There is not much special to say about this edition. It continues the exploits of Artemis as he continues to grow a conscience. The funnest part of this caper is that it involves time travel, so Artemis ends up in a battle of wits with his younger self. Another enjoyable installment in the series.

ON DECK:
[new] finishing soon
[gift-white dress]
[love]

Edited post #3

Completed 3/6:
something new
something borrowed (my library classifies as YA)
something blue

Woohoo I have a chance with this one!

Finished round 1!!
[Book 4] 4/27 Girls with Razor Hearts [love]

This is book 2 of an on-going series. It was similar to book 1 minus the early surprising twist. I was hoping to learn more about the deep past of the world, but I guess I'll have to wait until book 3. It was enjoyable all the same (3.5 stars).

[Book 5] 5/20 Internment [new author]

I thought I would like this book more than I did, but the MC reads as a little more juvenile than I feel merits the age/situation and several adults in the books make really bad choices in a way that just irks me. I do appreciate it as a diverse text and as a list of how-to protest. (3 stars)

[Book 6] 5/21 The Forest of Hands and Teeth [gift]

This book also had a frustrating MC and an unsatisfying ending. The world building was quite complete, which is why I did not DNF the book. There is a very elaborate marriage process explained in the book, which is why I'm putting it as my gift pick. (2.5 stars)

And because I like starting things I cannot finish ...

round 2
[Book 1] Flunked [new author and series]

This was a more delightful read. Set in a world where all fairy tales are real, there is a distinct class separation between royals and everyone else. A lot of former villains have traversed over to the path of the straight and narrow, and have started a school to reform wayward youth before they turn true evil. Enter the story's MC (Jilly) who is a thief. In part she does it so her family can eat, but she also enjoys pulling one over an anyone royal. She gets caught and sent to reform school, but it's never that simple. A wicked witch not yet caught is trying to use the school to get revenge on the royals and Jilly has to decide what she really stands for, and who to trust.

The story had good pacing and a warm ending. (3 stars)

Future Plans:
[old- published 1998] [blue]
[love] [gift]

Wow congratulations on the finish! and the start of round two :) Great job.
I loved Cinder - and the whole series! I hope you enjoy it too.

Diane wrote: "Wow congratulations on the finish! and the start of round two :) Great job.
I loved Cinder - and the whole series! I hope you enjoy it too."

I never seem to complete a round 2, but what's life without ambition?

Even if you only read 2 how can that be a bad thing?

Completed! This was fun!

something old (Adult)
love
gift (it has a lot of weddings)

Updated #3

Congratulations on finishing Laurel!
I have not been in the right frame of mind to focus on a book but I am going to try to pick it up in this last month.

Yeah Laurel!!

Diane wrote: "Congratulations on finishing Laurel!
I have not been in the right frame of mind to focus on a book but I am going to try to pick it up in this last month."

Thank you! It look me a week to finish a book recently. It's been hard to focus. You've got this—and sometimes audiobooks can help :)

Melanie wrote: "Yeah Laurel!!"

Thanks! I've been sucking at these challenges recently. I'm happy to finally finish one lol

I finished 4 more books -- I think I might make it through all of round 2!!

[book 2] 5/27 My Lady Jane [romance]

This was just a ridiculously fun, alternate history set in 1500's England. It was delightful to listen to. I definitely recommend the audio-book. 4 stars

[book 3] 6/5 Anna Dressed in Blood [wedding- white dress]

This is a ghost hunting book with a male protagonist. It had a nice mystery, good character building, and nice story arc. I probably wouldn't have picked it up if it wasn't on the YA-MA bookshelf, but I'm glad I did. 3.5 stars


[book 4] 6/12 The Wrath and the Dawn [borrowed]

I borrowed this from the digital collection of the Free Library of Philadelphia. I liked it better than the book blurb implied. It was definitely all in on the romance, but the world-building and character building were well executed. 3.5 stars

[book 5] 6/17 The Horse and His Boy [old- published 1954]

This is book 5 of the Narnia series, but 2nd chronologically. The 4 kids are all grown up as kings and queens. They are not actually the main characters of the book. They are a boy and a girl and 2 enslaved Narnia horses trying to escape into Narnia. It was a rather quick read. I liked it, but it's not my favorite in the series.

The details for the next challenge are posted here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I've been done with this for about 2 weeks, but I have been slow at updating.

Last 3 finished:
- Something new
- Something blue
- Something old

Final book!!!

[blue]
*This is a murder mystery set in rural America. An aging DA needs help from his HS intern because his sight is failing, she has to be his eyes. It was engaging. It had a romantic subplot. It alternates POVs between the 2 romantic leads and the killer. It was a good story. **3.5 stars**