You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

Read a book whose author's last name begins with a letter found in FEBRUARY.

General Rules:

1. The book may be in any format - paperback, ebook, audiobook.
2. The book may be in any genre.
3. The book may NOT be combined with the Year Long Serial Killer Challenge.
4. The book must be read between February 1 to February 28 (based on your own time zone).
5. The challenge is for one book. You may read more books if you chose, but only the highest scoring book will apply.
6. The book must be 175 pages or more determined by the issue you read. If reading eBook or audiobook page numbers will be determined by the issue that comes up on a Goodreads search.

Note: If an author has more than one last name (Francis Hodgson Burnett), we will go with the last name (Burnett) unless the two last names are hyphenated. Names with prefixes like Van Dyke and de Mille will be considered as the name. So, Van Dyke would be considered V, and de Mille would be D.

Note: If there is more than one author, we will go with the first one listed. Anthologies will have the editor listed first.


Scoring Score all that apply:

TITLE :
5 pts - Is one word and starts with one of letters in FEBRUARY (excludes a, the, an, etc)
4 pts - Contains the word FEBRUARY
3 pts - Contains the word HEART

AUTHOR :
5 pts – If the author was born in February (may have to do some research)
4 pts – If the author is from France
3 pts – If the author walks amongst us (is living).

GENRE :
5 pts - Romance
4 pts - Historical Fiction
3 pts – Paranormal Fantasy


COVER : (based on the edition you read)
5 pts – Has snow on it
4 pts – Has more than two people on it
3 pts – Has a dog on it

PAGES :

2 pts - 200-299 pages long
3 pts - 300-399 pages long
4 pts - 400-499 pages long
5 pts -500+ pages long

Bonus Points :

3 pts – In honour of Heart & Stroke month, 3 pts if there is a doctor in the story.
3 pts – In honour of Hula in the Coola Day, 3 pts if the book is set in Hawaii or a trip to Hawaii is made.
3 pts – In honour of Grapefruit Month, 3 pts if someone eats any fruit but tomatoes and anything else that doesn't fit Janice's connotation of "fruit".

yes! more gophering!
(view spoiler)[rule 3 still says "chunksters challenge" :) (hide spoiler)]

Sandra wrote: "[spoilers removed]"
Lol, yes, it has

Love the last bonus points item! Do you not like tomatoes Janice?

Ha! Fixed. Thanks for proof-reading it for me.

Fun! This looks like it can be pretty lighthearted. I'm looking forward to searching my physical and digital shelves.

Interesting already starting to hunt

Lilisa wrote: "Love the last bonus points item! Do you not like tomatoes Janice?"

I used to hate them when I was a kid, but have grown to like them. It's just that I think of them more as a vegetable although they are technically a fruit. I was just anticipating any questions about whether or not they're included in the bonus question. They're not. :)

... oh I am resisting the devil's advocate role...

~hunts for a historical romance with paranormal elements~

Janice wrote: "Lilisa wrote: "Love the last bonus points item! Do you not like tomatoes Janice?"

I used to hate them when I was a kid, but have grown to like them. It's just that I think of them more as a veget..."

I don't care what "they" say - I think of tomatoes as a vegetable and love them whether to cook with or in salads.

Rusalka wrote: "... oh I am resisting the devil's advocate role..."

Haha Rusalka - still resisting?

Rusalka wrote: "... oh I am resisting the devil's advocate role..."

I'll join you guys for this one! May get my points wrong first time I try to figure it out, but I will learn :-)

Wow that was hard trying to find a shortish book which wasn't part of a series for this one! I've whittled it down to three books - Dark Eden, Time and Time Again and The Water Knife. The last two I need to write reviews for as I got them from netgalley so I think I probably should read one of those. The latter sounds good and I really liked the author's other book The Windup Girl.

My first option is "Fried Green Tomatoes an the Whistle Stop Cafe", Janice. I'm not kidding!

Great challenge! I'm off to gopher.

Sarah wrote: "Wow that was hard trying to find a shortish book which wasn't part of a series for this one! I've whittled it down to three books - Dark Eden, Time and Time Again an..."

Ooo I didn't know Paolo Bacigalupi had a new book coming out!

Rusalka wrote: "Ooo I didn't know Paolo Bacigalupi had a new book coming out! "

Nor did I until I saw it listed on Netgalley so I thought I'd snap it up. Sounds like it will be another interesting, realistic (and therefore scary) read like Windup Girl was. It's out sometime this year. I am definitely swaying towards this one for this challenge. Will let you know what I think.

Sandra wrote: "My first option is "Fried Green Tomatoes an the Whistle Stop Cafe", Janice. I'm not kidding!"

Hah!

Lilisa wrote: "Rusalka wrote: "... oh I am resisting the devil's advocate role..."

Haha Rusalka - still resisting?"

lol.
Okay. By popular demand.
Do strawberries count? As they are not technically fruit. Their seeds are on the outside and are described as ovaries.
And so all nightshades out? Coz I'm guessing if tomatoes are out, then eggplants and capiciums are too.
...

IT'S OKAY, I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN!

*ducks and covers*

I have got it down to two books, Rubbernecker and The Paris Architect. Not sure which one to go for as they both sound really good.

lol!

I can't decide between Georgette Heyer's Frederica or The Foundling. I've read Frederica before, and I would love to read it again. I haven't read The Foundling yet and it sounds like a delightful book. Decisions, decisions.

Thanks to Mariab's timely intervention, I am on the right track. I'm now thinking of reading Fairchild by Jaima Fixsen, Fable by Lisa Fender or The Loyal Heart by Merry Farmer. More decisions. *sigh*

@Lanelle. Does Georgette Heyer's pass the criteria about last name's first letter?

Rusalka wrote: "*ducks and covers*"

Too funny :-) ducks and that Australian saying about low-flying ones?!!!

Mariab wrote: "@Lanelle. Does Georgette Heyer's pass the criteria about last name's first letter?"

Ah. I missed that. Thanks for making me take a second look at the rules. Back to gophering.

Berit wrote: "I'll join you guys for this one! May get my points wrong first time I try to figure it out, but I will learn :-)"

I'm glad you're going to join us Berit. We'll help you figure out your points. Take a gander through this folder and look at previous reporting threads to get a feel of how the scoring works.

Sandra wrote: "My first option is "Fried Green Tomatoes an the Whistle Stop Cafe", Janice. I'm not kidding!"

Ha! That's funny.

Rusalka wrote: "Okay. By popular demand.
Do strawberries count? As they are not technical..."

Hush you!

If it's sweet - count it. If it's savoury - spit it out.

@Lanelle. No thanks needed. I have hoped Georgette has a second last name, which start with te right letter

Looks like Lanelle was looking at title and not author, perhaps.

I will advocate for avocado. It is not sweet or salty...

Sorry, Mariab. That's a big no to avocado.

I've changed the wording in the challenge description:

3 pts – In honour of Grapefruit Month, 3 pts if someone eats any fruit but tomatoes and anything else that doesn't fit Janice's connotation of "fruit".

In other words, you're going to need a ruling if you can't read my mind. Only ask for a ruling on books that you are actually considering on reading, and one that is in your short-list of choices.

I have about 5 books with a b author an a author and 1 more. Ends up 7-8 books to choose. I seem to like m authors. Got about 100 of those

Found a great book to win some bonus points, but my library doesn't carry it!

Of the 64 books on my really-really-want-to-read shelf, 17 fit the challenge. I think I own most of them, so I'm going to have difficulties choosing!

Kazen wrote: "~hunts for a historical romance with paranormal elements~"

Kazen, try Amanda Quick.

Melissa wrote: "Found a great book to win some bonus points, but my library doesn't carry it!
"

I bet the library here does ;-)

You're welcome Steph ;)

Melissa wrote: "You're welcome Steph ;)"

Haha, thanks but I just looked, and they don't :-(
That's what I get for talking smack :-)

Stephanie wrote: "Melissa wrote: "You're welcome Steph ;)"

Haha, thanks but I just looked, and they don't :-(
That's what I get for talking smack :-)"

Remember that for next time bwahaha

I think I'll just end up reading a Bohjalian book...

Sounds like some of you will need the fruit machine!

I thinking Seed by Ania Ahlborn could be my choice, and it could fit the Toppler. Double dipping! Thankfully, it is not a series book.

Sorry Janice. It was just too amusing. Love your clarification. I should start adding those in two. You are expected to be just as silly to my MArch challenge

Urgh *too

Janice wrote: "I thinking Seed by Ania Ahlborn could be my choice, and it could fit the Toppler. Double dipping! Thankful..."

I'll be interested to see what you think of it, I have it in my TBR list as well. I think both Sarah and Connie have read it and rated it highly. I think I would like to read a book that is genuinely scary; not so easy to find such a book nowadays.

I'm thinking of going with Dark Eden; to my surprise I did not have that many books with suitable authors at the moment. It's a series book but with only two books published I cannot use it for the series challenge.